Odin Sphere is a RPG game that was released in 2007.  What set the game apart is that it was released at a time when many companies were migrating to the newly released Playstation 3.  Not only that but the developers went with 2D side-scrolling graphics, a throwback to earlier console games.  But don’t let the 2D graphics fool you, the game sports some of the most impressive and intricately painted textures and backgrounds you will find on any system.  The game itself is heavy on story-telling and action-oriented combat.  The story/gameplay is divided into chapters, each of which gives the player control of a different character, beginning with Gwendolyn and later Mercedes.  Although I didn’t finish the entire game myself (gotta do that!), I do recommend checking it out if you haven’t already ^^

As for the figures themselves, Alter has really hit the mark here.  They are stunningly detailed in every aspect; the sculpting, the painting, the posing, and the bases are all top notch.  The wings on both figures are highly detailed.  Gwendolyn has dozens of tiny feathers sculpted on her two valkyrie wings while Mercedes’ fairy wings feature a textured and translucent material that gives her a light, floating feel.  Both characters include their in-game weapons, Gwendolyn with her sharp Psypher spear and Mercedes with her magical Psypher crossbow.  Oh, and let’s not forget the bases.  Most figure bases are a necessary annoyance as they often clash with the figure.  In fact, quite the contrary is true for both of these figures; the bases actually complement the figures themselves and indeed are part of the figure.  The bases not only serve the required task of holding the figure, but they also blend seamlessly in with the figure and enhance the overall product.  Strange day indeed when I think a base improves a figure’s value ^^;

Would you believe these are my first Alter figures?  Rather strange considering they have a reputation of creating the highest quality figures but to be honest most of their figure characters don’t interest me ^^;  Well, now I can finally confirm their figure quality for myself and I have to say I am impressed ;)  Hopefully Alter will release more figures to my liking as I am eager to see more figures of this caliber.

Anyway, for this post, I wanted to do less rambling in between photos and simply let the photos speak for themselves.  As always, you can click the images to get to a larger version.  Please enjoy the photos! :)

And now we have Mercedes ^^

I’ve actually had Gwendolyn for over a year now, but had been holding off until I could do a worthy photo review for her ^^;  Luckily, she was so positively received after her release last year that Alter has decided to re-release her this fall.  Now all the folks that missed her the first time around (like I almost did) will be able to pick up this gorgeous figure.  You definitely don’t want to miss out this time!  Oh, and Mercedes who was just released in May is also getting a re-release in September so you should be able to get your hands on both of these lovely ladies ;)

Thanks for viewing!

Related posts:

1. Alter Odin Sphere Mercedes Up for Reserve
2. The Girl of Knowledge and Shadow
3. Toradora Figures!

Black Rock Shooter, for those who live under anime rocks, is a character from a Vocaloid song ingeniously titled “Black Rock Shooter“.  An artist named huke drew a picture of BRS, some one thought it was awesome and made a song for it.  That’s how BRS became famous.

Illustration of Black★Rock Shooter with Black Blade and Cannon by Sharufu Shuttse.

I’m not normally fan of Vocaloid (it sounds terrible to be blunt), but I fell in love with the character from the many lovely fanart images I’ve come across like the one above.  I think for a lot of other fans as well she is more than just the character in a Vocaloid song.  She’s spawned tons of fanart and there’s even going to be an anime based on her!

Even the box she came in was impressive.  Sure, a bit wasteful to have so much cardboard for a figure of this size, but fancy ^^;

Thankfully, Good Smile Co. manages to pull off a high quality figure with the Blade version.  I’ve been hearing GSC figure quality has been on a gradual decline for the past year so I was relieved to see BRS received high quality QA.  Since BRS is wearing limited clothing in this version you mostly see skin.  This is fine with me, of course ;)  The good thing is that her skin tone is nice and even with no noticeable blemishes or impurities.  Still, it’s rather flat skin tone, with pretty much nill for shading/contours.  Definitely not bad quality, but could have been better.

BRS is posed with her black sword behind her, drawing back with her right arm in preparation for a powerful attack.  Who’s about to die? ^^;

Mesmerizing gaze with glowing blue eyes ^^

Scars are intact.  I know some people don’t like them but that’s part of her character.

By the way, if you want to see more about the BRS anime that I mentioned earlier, there is a trailer out:

More details on the upcoming anime are supposed to be released very soon!

Hmmm, I didn’t get many decent shots of her sword.  Oops ^^;

The base has been significantly scaled back from the BRS Cannon version which I’m totally okay with.  It helped drop the price 3,000 yen or so ;)

One thing I think GSC has done a good job with here is BRS’s hair.  Not only does she sport long, flowing twintails (yes!) but they’re not just blobs of plastic.  Rather, they’re nicely detailed and as a result of the more complex contours and shading on her hair the head seam is much less noticeable.  And consider this figure has a swappable front hair piece, that’s saying something ^^.

For this shoot, I used some new lighting equipment.  I purchased two 70W CFL bulbs (about equivalent to 130W tungsten bulbs) for my umbrellas and a new soft box with an additional 70W light.  This allowed me, for the first time, to take very close macro shots without the use of a tripod.  I was able to shoot all these photos handheld ^^.  I have a nice tripod but it can still be difficult to get that perfect angle versus immediate feedback while looking through the viewfinder via handheld shooting.  I had to bump the ISO up a bit, but my 5D2 handles that well ;)  Overall, I think they turned out nicely.

Without her coat on, the tsurupettan side of BRS is revealed xD

One thing I would have liked to see improved is the painted area on her shorts and belt.  The white belt paint is, at least on my figure, slightly sloppy but is only really apparent by staring closely at it.

Main difference between this version and the Cannon version (aside from the obvious change of weapons) is that BRS is not wearing her large black overcoat.  We get to see her instead ;)  She carries her coat in her left hand this time around.

She also comes with an alternate front hair piece which has her blue eye flame.  I know this is her regular appearance but I prefer her look without it so only snapped a few with it on ^^;

Not a perfect figure (I haven’t seen one yet ^^;), but overall it’s hovering around top-notch.  And given it’s relatively low price at around 5,500 yen, it’s a bargain!  Certainly not a regretful purchase for me.

BRS’s nemesis, Dead Master, is getting a figure rendition by GSC.  I’m wondering if I should order it or wait.  BRS has gotten 3 figure renditions so I’m thinking Dead Master might follow suite.  Anyone want to guess? xD

If you want to own a Black Blade version of BRS, you’re in luck.  Both Hobby Search and Amiami still have her in stock for 5,505 yen and 6,100 yen, respectively.  Definitely a good buy by my opinion!  I hope you enjoyed the review and the pics ^^

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2. Cospa Hinagiku Katsura, Shima Knee Socks Ver.
3. Spice and Wolf’s Horo by Good Smile Co.

Yutaka is from one of the younger classes, maybe that’s why she gets bloomers?  She’s super cute!  I think we’ll be seeing more of the other girls coming in the future too.  Good Smile says this “The Lucky Star gym uniform series from FREEing is set to continue, this time bringing all the characters in the other classes to join their older friends!”.  Even more of the other girls to follow? :D

Yutaka will be released in October and will retail for 14,095 yen.  A bit pricey, but she is 1/4 scale.   She is available for pre-order at Amiami for 11,250 yen and Hobby Search for 11,981 yen (plus 599 points!) so you won’t have to pay the full retail price :)

Anyone going to be getting her?  I am very tempted by her moe-ness!  I already have the original 4 figures by FREEing and I’m compelled to get all the girls in the set.  Very possible get for me!

More info at Goody Smile Company’s website.

Related posts:

1. Good Smile announces 1/4 Lucky Star Figures by FREEing
2. FREEing 1/4 Scale Lucky Star Outfits
3. Even more Lucky Star figures announced

Hinagiku has a great pose here in her school gym outfit.  She has a sort of “Hey, what do you think you’re looking at!?” look to her.  Well, given that she appears to be in the process of undressing after gym, Hayate probably walked into the girls’ dressing room and is sure to be beaten to a pulp very shortly ^^;

Hinagiku preparing for a shower after an exhausting gym class?  Epic nosebleed!

Struggled a bit with white balance on these shots.  The high contrast with the sunlight from the window in the background made it a bit difficult to keep the shots consistent.  I tried to correct in PP as best I could ^^;  Right after this shoot, I decided to finally pick up a grey card so hopefully I won’t run into this issue again.

I didn’t set up any shooting environment for these photos.  I just placed her on my kitchen table and shot some pics.  I kind of like they way they turned out with the glass table though.  I might try it again ^^

This is the first Cospa figure I’ve purchased and I was a bit skeptical about how the quality would be.  Well, it’s certainly not Alter quality but they manage to create an attractive figure.  The notable flaws I spotted were some splotchy paint on her knee socks, what appeared to be a bit of excess glue on the torso/pants seam, and the usual large head seam.  So, yeah, the build quality could have been better, but they still managed to pull off a pretty appealing figure so I’m happy.

Tsundere?  Cute + embarrassed + about to kick your butt.  I think that qualifies!

“Limited” edition shima knee socks.  Do you prefer these or the regular black socks?

This figure was purchased from Amiami, where the “limited” Shima Knee Socks version was sold.  Hobby Search was only selling the normal version.  The normal version has Hinagiku wearing black socks whereas with the Shima Knee Socks version you get, well, shima knee socks ^^;  Right now you can still pick up the limited version from  Amiami which is in stock for 6,200 yen.  If you’re a Hayate fan or just a Hinagiku fan, I recommend this figure :)

Related posts:

1. Black★Rock Shooter Black Blade Ver.
2. Kotobukiya 1/6 Sanzen’in Nagi
3. Osaka + Sakaki by Kotobukiya

Well, well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything of worth, hasn’t it? ^^;  I aim to change that starting tonight with a new figure [review]!

This time I’m branching off a bit from my usual figure-collecting behavior.  Normally I collect figures of characters I know quite well from an anime, manga, or game, but this time it’s of a character I know only fleetingly ^^;  As you probably realized from the title image, it’s Patchouli Knowledge from the Touhou Project.  So why did I choose this Touhou figure out of the ever-increasing onslaught of Touhou figures available these days?

This is why :3

She’s just too cute!  Really, I’ve never played any of the Touhou games and probably never will (not much of a shmup fan) but I’ve seen so much Patchii art that I kind of fell for her anyway ^^;  So when I saw the preview photos of this lovely figure, I just had to have her!  Well, enough of the rambling… how about some pictures of our cute little bookworm witch? ^^

I decided to experiment a bit with lighting here.  I took my small LED flashlight and used it as the sole light source for these photos.  In order to get the directed light, I made a rudimentary snoot for the flashlight out of foam board.  Seemed to work well enough ^^;  For the background, I used a couple of my college textbooks.

I got a bit carried away with playing with the light and forgot to get photos from other angles.  Oops! >_<  I think this is the best shot of the bunch.

Turned the lights back on for a final few shots.  Oh yeah, you can take her hat off.  I’m sure Zun wouldn’t want you to do that though.  He sure loves hats on his girls ^^;;  Also, I had her hat on backwards.  Please ignore that. orz

So how about the figure itself?  It’s labeled non-scale but is probably about 1/8 scale.  It is manufactured by a company named ques Q.  I’ve not heard of this prior to this figure but the build quality of this figure is really pretty decent.  Not up to Alter standards, but definitely better than others (like some of my Clayz figures…).  Patchii’s hair is a tad clumpy and her hair ribbons could have been more detailed.  The stripes on her dress are a bit sloppy in some areas too.  Still, not bad overall ^^b  The books-as-a-base idea is also nice.  I should have just ditched the black circular base for these photos (oh well…).  Speaking of books, the book she is holding is removable but she looks kind of silly without it.  It’s also nicely detailed as you can see in the photo below.

Short review desu ne?  Better than boring you all with too many photos, right? xD

Patchouli Knowledge, The Girl of Knowledge and Shadow was released in March 2010 and retailed for 6000 yen.  Sadly, it looks like she is out of stock at the shops I just checked but you can probably find her on Ebay or YJA if you really want her ;)

Anyway, thanks for looking!  I’m going to try very hard to stop being busy [read lazy] and post more often than once a month.  I have a pretty healthy stack of new figures to go through in the next couple weeks ^^.

Related posts:

1. A little Hinamori Amu
2. Gwendolyn & Mercedes by Alter
3. Spice and Wolf’s Horo by Good Smile Co.

I say persisted because while I definitely wanted them, they were a difficult purchase.  Not only were they dreadfully expensive at 4,000 yen per girl (4,000×4), they were exclusive items and had to be purchased through a deputy service (thanks Goody Japan!).  So, yeah, quite costly in the end ^^;

But look!  It was worth it :).  Lucky Star girls in sailor uniforms.  Very, very cute!

Miyuki was a bit difficult to dress due to her more shapely body ^^;

Kagami, my favorite!

The school uniform looks great on Kona-chan too ^^.

And cute little Tsukasa.

Each set of clothes came with both the school uniform as well as a miko outfit.  Yuki was once again difficult to dress >_<

The miko outfits are more complex than the sailor uniforms and took like 40 minutes to get all the girls properly dressed ^^;

Kona-chan’s pose looks good in any outfit xD

The miko outfits were somewhat wrinkled.  I probably should have ironed them ^^;

All four girls together!

Now I just need to decide which outfit to leave the girls dressed in.  Gym uniforms, sailor uniforms, or miko outfits? ;)

Related posts:

1. New outfits for FREEing 1/4 Lucky Star set
2. Lucky Star OVA!
3. Good Smile announces 1/4 Lucky Star Figures by FREEing

I have purchased several Toradora figures recently and have decided to review them all in a single post.  I’d like to start with Kotobukiya’s 1/8 scale Taiga Aisaka which was released in October last year.  Sadly, she was a mail order exclusive and thus was a tad more difficult to obtain.  Thankfully, Tokyo Hunter was able to order it for me ^^.  It was the first time I had used his service and he was able to promptly ship it out when it arrived :)  Was a bit more expensive than most deputy services but if you want to order an actual mail order-only item when there isn’t even a Japan-only web order form, I would recommend his service.

Palm-top Tiger Taiga is wearing an amazingly cute yellow, white, and pink swimsuit with some added frills and ribbons.  Now that I think about it, how did Ryuuji convince Taiga to wear this? xD  This is something that’s too cute for Taiga to just willingly put on.  Well, not that I’m complaining, of course!  The swimsuit you see here is not one that she wore during the anime but there are some artworks floating around with her wearing this suit.

So the swimsuit may not have been seen in the anime, but those odango look pretty familiar, don’t they? ^^  In episode 7 of the anime series, Taiga does wear her hair in this fashion for the school swim class.  かわいいでしょう？

I know some other owners have mentioned build quality concerns with this figure.  I don’t have any glaring issues with my copy but there are some problems.  Parts of Taiga’s skin has light scuff marks.  These are only visible upon close inspection and even then only from some angles.  The seam on her hair is the only really obvious seam to me and it’s only apparent when looking at her from straight above.  Paint quality is nothing special but isn’t notably bad either.  One thing to keep in mind is that this is a very small figure.  She is 1/8 scale, but she’s Taiga!  You know, the palm-top tiger?  To view these problems on such a small figure, you do have to look closely and doing this would reveal problems in nearly every figure.  In other words, to me, she is of acceptable quality ^^.

Taiga has a cute upside-down ‘V’ for a mouth xD

View from behind.  She’s cute from back here too :D

I just love her sitting pose.  So cute!

Taiga also comes with a nice water-float that can be placed on her lap.

Super cute, right?  Well, I thought so!  That’s why I bought her even though she was an mail-order exclusive figure.  She retailed for 6,300 yen but is probably difficult to acquire these days.  Perhaps on YJA (haven’t checked) but I’m guessing she will be expensive ^^;  Sculpt and paint quality aren’t top-notch but aren’t remarkably bad either.  I will say that this is quite possibly the cutest figure I own.  Really, look at her.  She’s just adorable :D  That alone makes up for any quality problems :3

More reviews at: shadonia, The Inferno Project, OMGWebsite.

Moving right along, we come to Wave’s recent 1/8 scale Miss Contest Aisaka Taiga release.  I’m a bit late in getting this figure because my package from Amiami seemed to have gotten temporarily lost by the USPS (imagine that!).  I had to call them up and get them to track it down.  After over a month, it finally arrived intact ^^;

Taiga is modeled wearing the outfit Ryuuji made for her in episode 13 for the Miss school contest.  Though it appears Taiga is wearing the dress before it was ripped.  Not familiar with the ripped dress?  Watch the series!

I absolutely adored Toradora and was my top series for 2009.  If you haven’t yet watched it, you should.  It’s classified as a love comedy, but it’s got some good characters.  I wrote up a review for it a while back.  Check it out :)

Although her dress is not ripped, Taiga is wearing the tiara which was given to her for winning the contest.  So she is wearing her unripped dress but also has the tiara she got for winning?  Hehe, don’t ask me xD

Taiga hair.

A unique feature with this scaled PVC figure is that it includes 3 swappable faces.  The default face is the happy face you see in the above photos.  Also included is this sad, resigned facial expression.  I tend to like the happy face the most but am also fond of this more melancholy expression.  Given the situation that occurs in episode 15, this face is fitting.

Or maybe this angry look is more realistic? xD  I think Taiga is more likely to get angry before getting sad..

Oh yeah! You can remove her dress… ^^;

Part of her outfit are these cute little angel wings.  I kind would have liked them to be a tad more detailed, but they are still nice.

So how is she?  She is made by Wave whose quality is hit and miss.  I do like her face.  The eyes and blush shading looks good.  Her dress, though, has some problems.  For one, it’s really clumpy and doesn’t look very real as fabric and also has some visible blemishes where it should be a solid white.  Since you can change the face on this figure, there is a rather large seam on her head where her face is swapped.

So, yet again, not high quality but passable.  I wish Alter or Max Factory would stop making Nanoha figures and make some Toradora ones >_<  You can grab this Taiga figure by Wave for 7,500 retail but is currently out of stock at Amiami and Hobby Search.

Lastly, I have a small bonus for Toradora fans.

Ok, they’re just cheap prize toys by Taito.  But for only 2,000 yen for both, I made the investment xD

Well, let’s just say that there’s a reason they were only 2,000 for the two xD  Still, they’re cute!

This post is way too long so that’s all for now!  Thanks for visiting.

Related posts:

1. Wave’s Taiga Preording + Some Chiaki
2. Toradora: All for the Journey
3. Wave’s Aisaka Taiga Preview

Hmmm, I’m not doing a very good job at keeping up with figure posts ^^; Well, these arrived about a week ago so they’re not that old ;)

What we have here is Osaka and Sakaki from the excellent 4koma and anime Azumanga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma.  The 4 paneled manga was released from 1999 through 2002 and an anime of the same name aired during 2002.  If you’ve never heard of Azumanga, you’ve probably been living under an anime rock (what are those like?).  Anyway, the manga is probably better than the anime, but both are great xD.

Kotobukiya has released the first two Azumanga girls from their Legend Girls series, Osaka and Sakaki.  Let’s start with Ayumi “Osaka” Kasuga ^^.

In this 1/7 scale figure series by Kotobukiya, the Azu girls are all donning their favorite swimsuits.  Osaka here prefers her red one piece suit.  She kind of has a zoned out look to her, as she seemingly stares off into space.  Of course, if you know Osaka, you also know that this is not entirely unlike her xD

Osaka has an optional water float that you can put around her.  Her legs are removable and must be taken off to put the float on.

I think Osaka looks incredibly cute from this angle ^^

*jiiiiiiiiii*

Released alongside Osaka is the fan-favorite Sakaki.  Never has there been such an difference in, ahem, physical stature xD  Poor Osaka is as flat as a board ^^;

Sakaki has a rather small yellow bikini on and is catching some rays.  Quite nice ^^

Sadly, however, the build quality of these two figures is a bit lacking.  Osaka, for example, does not really fit her water float.  When I tried to attach it, her arm and hand do not rest where they should.  Instead you get a big gap between her hand and her leg, when her hand should be resting comfortable on her knee.  Also, Osaka in general is not balanced correctly.  With or without her float, she does not sit level on both legs.  Her right extended leg is lower and causes her other leg to hang a bit above the surface on which she is placed.  Also, when you put her float on, her legs don’t give enough room for the float and as a result don’t fit entirely back into their sockets, leaving a small seam.

Sakaki also has some problems.  While she does lay level on a surface, the molding quality (or lack thereof) seems more apparent.  Although these figures are in swimsuits and thus have minimal clothing details, the edges on Sakaki’s bikini is quite rough in some areas, especially on the bottom piece.  Also, Sakaki’s more skin-exposing suit reveals some flaws in the skin tones.  Both of the figures have a very white skin tone, which certainly could have been the desired look, but some parts of Sakaki’s skin looks a bit rough, almost as if it were scuffed.  Also, Sakaki’s hair design is extremely simplistic (overly so).

Don’t get me wrong, these figures are not horrible, they’re just not high quality ^^;  And seeing as how there’s not many Azumanga Daioh figures around, they’re still a bit unique.  Plus, they were pretty cheap!  Scored Osaka for 3,840 yen and Sakaki for 4,650 from Amiami.  If you like Azumanga, you want want to pick them up.  Kotobukiya is releasing Kagura soon and I’m betting more of the Azu girls will follow.

Speaking of Azumanga, I still need to read the new parts Azuma wrote for the anniversary edition.  And I still need to pick up Yotsubato! vol. 9.  Love that series ^^.  Maybe I should get one of the Revoltech Yotsuba action figures?

Related posts:

1. Toradora Figures!
2. Kotobukiya 1/6 Sanzen’in Nagi
3. Clayz 1/8 Hiiragi Tsukasa & Takara Miyuki

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WAVE has rendered Kyou in the school gym uniform she uses during her basketball activities.  The key parts of the outfit are, of course, the distinctive red bloomers and white thigh highs.  Sure, it’s a completely unrealistic outfit for an actual high school student to be wearing, but that’s what makes it fun xD  This is the outfit Kyou wore during the infamous ‘locked in storage shed’ scene.  You remember that, right?  Here’s a reminder, just in case ^^

Yes, that scene.  3/4 through episode 17 if you want to see it again ;)

At 1/7 scale, this Kyou figure is slightly larger the 1/8 scale that most figures come, but the size difference is barely noticeable and I would probably easily mistake it for 1/8 if I didn’t know the actual scale.

WAVE paid nice attention to the important parts ^^;

Kyou carries the basketball from practice.  It’s perhaps a bit too shiny/smooth.  Anyway, do you like this photo?

Or do you prefer this one? xD

One of my main gripes with this figure is Kyou’s hair.  It’s a bit clumpy and simplistic but beyond that it had rough molding.  Some of the edges and corners weren’t cleanly cut and had small fragments loose.  From normal viewing distance, this is not really apparent but with these macro shots, it can be seen (in this photo in particular).

I do like the figure’s pose.  Kyou is in her gym uniform, basketball in hand, seemingly in the middle of practice.  It’s quite fitting that she has a look of confidence on her face and her pose is with her in a self-assured mid-step forward.  Seems like an accurate reflection of her strong-willed, athletic personality.

As a final parting shot, I’ve included Wave’s 1/7 scale Kyou beside Kotobukiya’s 1/8 scale Kyou from 2005.  That Kyou was one of my very first  figures and is still one of my favorites.  She is very well made, especially her hair ^^.  I wish I had the other Clannad figures from Kotobukiya’s set >_<

Anyway, this review is about Wave’s Kyou, not Kotobukiya’s ^^;  Wave’s Kyou was released back in August 2009 and retailed for about 7000￥.  Upon writing this post, I discovered that Wave is re-releasing Kyou in May 2010 ^^.  Unfortunately, it looks like pre-orders are already closed at Hobby Search and Amiami but she might still be up for order elsewhere.  So, my verdict on the figure?  The hair problems and an imperfect paint job keep me from recommending it highly, but for any Kyou fan (or even Clannad in general), I would say yes as it is the best Kyou figure since Kotobukiya’s 2005 version (released before the anime aired).  Personally, I am a satisfied owner :D

Another review for Kyou over at Tentacle Armada.

Related posts:

1. Wave’s Aisaka Taiga Preview
2. Good Smile announces 1/4 Lucky Star Figures by FREEing
3. Wave’s Taiga Preording + Some Chiaki