In order to get these very limited cheerleader outfits, owners of all four of the original 1/4 scale LS girls had to send in their proofs of purchase to FREEing and they would send you the outfits for free ^^.  Quite a nice way to reward customers who bought all of the figures.  Unfortunately, this offer was only available for folks with a Japanese address so I wasn’t eligible myself.

I really didn’t want to miss out on these cute cheerleader outfits so I asked around for folks in Japan who would be willing to mail in the offer for me and found a kind soul who was willing to do it ^^.  Selidor from over at figure.fm was in Japan at the time and let me mail the proofs of purchase to her and several months later the outfits were mailed to her.  She then mailed them to me in the US.  All worked out nicely.  Thanks again, Selidor! ^^

As for the outfits themselves, they may look familiar if you’ve seen the anime series.  These are the outfits featured in the opening sequence and at the end of the anime ^^.

They’re pretty simple but quite cute, don’t you agree? :3

Konata commanding her moe forces

Tsuntsun Kagami ;)

Silly Tsukasa ;)

And dojiko Miyuki :)

Together, they are Lucky Star! xD

Sure, they were expensive and their 1/4 scale size takes up lots of display space, they’ve turned out to be well worth it.  FREEing definitely knows how to keep a customer interested.  These cheerleader outfits brings the total to four unique outfits for each of the characters.  And these ones were free from FREEing (though I had to pay a bit to get them all the way to the USA ^^;).  So, yeah, quite satisfied as a Lucky Star fan and I plan to acquire at least a few of the new 1/4 Lucky Star figures that FREEing has lined up.  More on that in a few months ;)

Related posts:

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

As with Yui, Mio, and Mugi, Azusa comes with her instrument.  Ritsu was the only one to not have her instrument.  I guess drums were too much work to reproduce?  Anyway, Azusa’a guitar is pretty decent quality, though it’s hard to keep the strap from slipping off her shoulder ^^;

Azusa features a new body type, Pure Neemo Flection S.  It’s slightly smaller than rest of the Azone K-ON! girls.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take a comparison shot but I’ll get to it eventually.  Maybe when I put Azusa in this cute maid outfit I have here… kekeke ;)

Although Azusa is the last official member of the Keion club girls, Azone is trying to cash in on the K-ON! craze and will be releasing even more characters from the series.  They released Sawa-sensei as a limited release at Wonder Fest but I wasn’t willing to spend the premium to acquire her.  Nodoka and Ui are also coming and I wouldn’t doubt if we saw Jun and some of the other minor characters as well.

Neko mimi mode!

For me, I think I’ve satisfied my Azone K-ON! quota and will stop at Azusa.  I love the K-ON! characters but these dolls aren’t cheap and the more I pose (or attempt to pose) the Pure Neemo bodies, the more frustrated I become with them ^^;  They seem to be made rather cheaply despite their high price.  They don’t pose well due to limited join flexibility and the joints tend to come apart far too easily.  Elbows detach, feet come loose, they fall over, etc…  My 1/6 scale Mama Chapp girls don’t exhibit problems like this ^^;

Nyaaaa~

Still, I’m glad I have the five K-ON! girls.  They’re a great set together and I have the ability to dress them in lots of different outfits (which I take full advantage of!) so they have plenty of replay value ;)  Now I just need to do one final group shot with all the girls together.  Will get around to that at some point ^^;

Thanks for viewing!

Related posts:

1. K-ON! Mugi-chan by Azone
2. K-ON! Ritsu and Mio by Azone
3. Introducing Yui Hirasawa by Azone International!

Yui in “goth” lolita!  It seems to be a good style for her ^^

Tsunamidelta’s Moiraine Rin.  Quite a stylish girl.

The goth lolita outfit is Moe’s Goth Dress Set by Volks.

Yui and Moiraine Rin have become fast good friends ^^

Moraine Rin cools off near shallow pool by the Canal.

They really have become good friends quickly ^^;

Do you prefer Yui?

Or Moiraine Rin?

Or how about both? ;)

Vertical docking!

We headed further down the Canal and gave the girls a chance to change their outfits (and a wig in Yui’s case!).

Super cute Yui <3

My sassy girl :3

Pantsu peak! >_<

“Hey, where do you think you’re looking?”

Tsunamidelta spotted these turtle statues and it just seemed perfect for Yui.  It’s Ton-chan all grown up xD

While Yui and Rin were playing with the turtles, a guest arrived!

It was a very unusual coincidence, but while we were taking photos, another BJD owner spotted us and came over to greet us.  Turns out she also had her BJD, Toki, with her and let him join the girls for a few photos.  Never expected to meet another BJD owner in such a random way! xD

Meanwhile, Moiraine Rin is acting a bit naughty ;)

We said goodbye to our new friend and continued our journey along the Canal.

After grabbing some lunch, one more change of outfits was in order.  Yui here is wearing a very cute Chinese dress borrowed from Moiraine Rin.

Moiraine Rin in an absolutely gorgeous Victorian style dress set.  Tsunamidelta mentioned this was one of his favorite outfits and I can see why!  It’s quite lovely ^^

As it was getting late in the afternoon, we decided to make our last stop.  Earlier, we had scouted some water stairs with shallow pools at each landing.  It seemed to be just a perfect scale for Dollfie Dreams ^^

After a long day of posing, Yui wants to cool off and relax a bit.

Seems Moiraine Rin agrees ^^

Moirane Rin takes initiative and tests the water toe-first.

Feels great!

Splish-splash!

And, for a final nose-bleed inducing blow, Moiraine Rin borrows Yui’s gym bloomers for a swim.

“Want to join me?”

Hope you enjoyed the pics, thanks for stopping by!

Related posts:

1. FREEing 1/4 Scale Lucky Star Outfits
2. Anime Central 2010 + BJD Meetup
3. Yui’s Day Out

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!

Started out the journey with a nice little sunflower field oasis in a desert of heat-radiating streets and parking lots.

The Canal is a popular place to spend leisure time downtown.  Decided to walk around the area ^^

That… actually looks pretty fun xD

A broken clock.  I just liked the look of it.

The IUPUI campus is right nearby so lots of students out and about.

Yui-chan enjoying a rare breeze in the hot afternoon sun.

Yui-chan wearing her new outfit.  It has a sort of military look to it with the camo top.

Got a lot of funny looks while taking photos of Yui in such a busy area ^^;

Water fountain!  So hot it almost makes you want to jump in >_<

Yui salute!

Outfit came with a cute cap which came in handy on this very sunny day.

Moving on, we came to the state capitol building. The sky is so blue it looks fake, but it’s not, I promise ^^;

Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in the center of the city.  The area is generally known as ‘The Circle’.

I worked in this building for a short time.  Had a nice view of the city from the top floor :)

Hehehe ^^  There was no one kissing here though!  I felt very disappointed :-/

Was getting to hot to walk, so we decided to explore a bit more by car.  Found this decrepit, graffiti-stained building near the railroad tracks.

Gotta say, old rusty metal and graffiti-ed walls make a good photo setting xD

Last pic!  Yui wanted to look down the railroad tracks.  Had to snap this one quickly since I didn’t want to be seen (not supposed to play around on the tracks, plus this was a rather seedy part of town ^^;).  Although hastily taken, I like the way it turned out :)

Thanks for viewing.  Despite the relentless heat, we had a good time exploring the city.  Hope you liked the pics!

Related posts:

1. Yui’s new wig and outfit
2. Yui’s New Outfit + Headphones
3. A Closer Look at DD Yui

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 ^^

Related posts:

1. Osaka + Sakaki by Kotobukiya
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

You can rest assured that Azone did an excellent job recreating Mugi’s wavy golden locks.  Not only that, but her cute, “daikon” eyebrows are present as well ^^;

Continuing the trend of including the girls musical instruments (except for Ritsu), Mugi comes with her electronic keyboard which is supported by its own collapsible stand for easy storage.

She looks incredibly cute standing behind her keyboard.  It’s a bit hard to capture in a photograph but I think this one does a decent job ^^

Mugi-chan on keyboard ^^

Mugi-chan does come with her summer vest (not pictured here) as it did with Yui and Mio.  I decided to just leave her in her default school blazer.  But what I want to know is when Azone is going to give us Mugi’s school live outfit?  They’ve already created them for Yui, Mio, and Ritsu.  I hope that Mugi’s outfit will also become available.

Mugi’s lovely golden blond hair ^^.  Azone did a nice job with the curly waves that she is depicted with in the anime.  Overall, Azone has done a great job converting beloved anime Mugi into doll Mugi.  The hair, the eyebrows, and the innocent cuteness is all here.  At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like her, but now I’m glad I kept her on pre-order.  She’s a really cute doll :D

The keyboard that is included with Mugi is intricately detailed with various knobs, sliders, buttons, and a display screen.  Sadly, it does not produce real music xD

And now, a special treat!  So far, I’ve collected 4 of the 5 keion girls and wanted to display them each in a special outfit.  Here’s what I have so far!

Alice Mio, Little Devil Yui, Ritsu in Lace, and Mugi in a black, ribbon-ed one piece.  What do you think?  Which outfit do you like the most?  Sadly, I did not have enough matching shoes to go around so Mio and Mugi had to wear their school loafers >_<

K-ON! rabu!

And with that, I will conclude this post.  Stay tuned for the Azone Azusa doll that is scheduled to be released in late July.  I might have one more review waiting for you :)

Related posts:

1. K-ON! Ritsu and Mio by Azone
2. Azone Azu~nya
3. Introducing Yui Hirasawa by Azone International!

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

You can see the stand in this shot.  Sorry, that’s the only photo where it’s visible ^^;  It’s a good, sturdy stand though!  It’s mounted to my tripod in this picture.

DD Yui with her Leeke World wig (that looks like Mugi) and her new shrine maiden outfit.  The miko set is an  official Volks item and is of high quality design like you would expect from Volks.  The red hakama is particularly lovely with neat pleats and is made of a soft, smooth martial.

The white kimono top was a bit wrinkled when I took it out of the packaging so I tried to iron it a bit.  First time I’ve done that with Dollfie clothes ^^;  I think it helped a bit but there are still some wrinkles.  The hakama, on the other hand, was perfectly smooth out of the package.  I think that was due to the different types of materials.

kawaii deshou?  Yui looks very cute in her miko outfit. ^^

Hope you liked the pics!

Related posts:

1. A Closer Look at DD Yui
2. Yui’s new wig and outfit
3. Yui’s New Outfit + Headphones