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Clayz 1/8 Hiiragi Tsukasa & Takara Miyuki

anonymous_object — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:39:34 +0000

Finally, new Lucky Star figures have arrived! It’s been 6 months since I first received the first half of Clayz’s 1/8 Lucky Star set, which included Kagami and Konata. Now, it’s Tsukasa and Miyuki’s turn ^^.

First up is Tsukasa, the cute, slightly air-headed twin sister of Kagami. Having recently discovered the joys of texting, she is clutching her beloved keitai ^^;

She also has her school bag in the other hand.

Used my 100mm macro lens for the photos here. Works great for figure photography. After reviewing the images, I believe I shot most of the photos with a slightly too narrow aperture as the background did not blend as much as I wanted >_<.

Tsukasa with her classic yellow ribbon. She never goes without it (or her keitai) ;)

One thing I don’t like about Tsukasa’s pose is that she is looking down slightly. Not a big deal, but required me to shoot from a low angle to get her face plus the rest of the figures in the set are looking straight forward or up.

Tsukasa’s school shoes.

Tsukasa looks looks great when viewed completely. I really do love her pose in this figure. The way she is grasping her phone and holding her bag look really cute. Plus, she is standing with her legs apart and her feet turned in which gives her a really moe appearance ^^; Her big smile and blushing cheek deal the final, uber-kawaii blow >_<

Her pose even looks good from behind. The way she is holding her bag behind her back gives her a super cute look ^^.

There is a bit of strange yellow coloration on her legs. It’s somewhat visible in this photos around her knees and socks. Not sure if that was intentional with the design…

Looking at other people’s photos of Tsukasa, it looks like the yellow areas were intentional.

These macro shots reveal flaws in the paint job, but also show that the sculptors kept their white underskirts. I like that ^^;

And for the final Tsukasa shot, you get a massive nosebleed for moe overdose XD Time to move on to Miyuki!

Here we have the pink moe shoujo Miyuki ^^.

Not a lot of detail on the hair.

The clumsy, moe meganeko is the largest and tallest of the set. Like the rest of the girls, she is dressed in her winter serafuku but comes with the bonus of dark stockings ^^

Gah, meant to crop this one but uploaded the wrong version >_<

Poor Miyuki often gets overlooked when Kagami and Konata are around. I’m sometimes guilty of it myself ^^;

眼鏡はどこですか！

The build and paint quality on these Clayz Lucky Star figures is a bit hit or miss. When I first acquired the Clayz Kagami and Konata back in February, I thought the quality was good (enough). I’ve purchased a other few high quality figures since then and looking at the Clayz Lucky Star figures more closely, I realize that the overall quality is actually a bit subpar. The white lines on their skirts, for example, are sloppy at some places. Seams on the hair and school uniform are also visible enough to be distracting. Not terrible but definitely not so good ^^;

The redeeming features of these figures is that they’re relatively inexpensive at ~5,700￥, they’re actually pretty cute, and they’re Lucky Star ;) Good enough reason for me to get them.

It would have been nice if her glasses had rims around them ^^;

Sorry, no zettai ryouiki here ^^;

And finally, the complete set all together!

Looking at all four of Clayz’s Lucky Star figures, I think that Tsukasa is the best made and most appealing of the set. And for me, the reason is the pose. It’s just really well done in my opinion :D

A good set overall, especially for the big Lucky Star fans out there (like me). I couldn’t find any online shops that had all four of the girls in stock. Toylet looked the most promising but they haven’t started shipping Tsukasa or Miyuki yet and they’re a bit more expensive. Konata seems to be the most difficult to get a hold of but I don’t think any of them are permanently sold out. Keep looking around if you’re set on getting them!

Clayz 1/8 Hiiragi Kagami & Izumi Konata

anonymous_object — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:17:04 +0000

Yay, they’re finally here. These are the first real figures I’ve purchased since last August when I received my last set of Lucky Star characters figures. Here we have Hiiragi Kagami (Kagamin) and Izumi Konata as made by Clayz. From preview images of these figures, they looked a tad plain but upon arrival and further insepection, I have to say I like them. They’re fairly simple but they capture the characters pretty well ^^

Also noteworthy, when these two lovely figures first arrived last week, my initial photo shoot did not produce very good results. I don’t have much experience photographing figures and I just couldn’t get the lighting right. It’s rather cold in Indiana in February and it was a overcast day so I was shooting indoors. I gave up on those initial photos and resolved to try again later. I received some good advice from Smithy who directed me to the HappySoda blog where super rats had written an excellent tutorial for figure lighting. I made a trip to the general store and returned with all the materials needed for a mini figure studio. Though not quite perfect, the results were much better this time around ^_^

Starting off with my favorite, Kagamin. She is dressed in her winter serafuku and is in the process of brushing back her famous twin tails.

She has a small mouth in this pose. I guess she’s not yelling at Konata right now ^^;

Hmmm, I wonder why Kagami chose that dark brown color her hair ribbons. Ah well, she makes them look cute anyway.

Both of these figures were released in late January but due to me being cheap and using SAL, I received them a full 2.5 weeks later orz.

Nice legs ^^

I like the detail on her socks with the slight wrinkles on the top.

Full body view. She’s quite tall. The proportions are a bit more realistic than in the anime.

Other side…

And that’s it for Kagami :) Up next is Konata.

Konata! While Kagami will always be my favorite, Konata is still quite cute. Ignore the background being cut off in the corner… it’s my first real figure shoot -_-

Konata’s long hair.

I like Konata’s pose. Very cute ^^

For some reason, Konata comes with two accessories. A choco cornet on a stick (^^;) and that round cat thing.

Full body shot. Not quite as tall as Kagami but still a good height.

I wonder what’s she gesturing at… or is she spontaneously breaking into dance? Lecturing Kagami maybe? ^^

Special bonus! So close, but I won’t let you see it =P

Sorry, can’t let you see Konata either ^^; These shots were a bit more difficult to take with camera positioning >_<

The two together at last. The difference in height is apparent here.
That’s it, folks! Hope you enjoyed the photos :)