Some things are just completely review-proof and there’s no real reason to spend any time critiquing them. Harry Potter books and Transformers films fall into this category, and of course, so do any of Good Smile Company’s Black Rock Shooter figures. GSC is gonna make them, people are gonna buy them, and you know what you’re going to get, so we may as well spend our time talking about other things. So let’s begin: have you noticed that not many figure review sites are updating anymore? Or have you noticed that there are a helluva lot of figure news websites these days? I’ll often look at the link feed on Tsuki-board and see the same promo pictures over and over as a half dozen or more sites post the same news. Over and over. Weird. Oh, and have you noticed that Hobby Search only has their Japanese site up? Maybe they’re planning on shutting down international sales! Wait, it’s back up? Never mind then, let’s talk about this figure instead.
This is the third scale-size Black Rock Shooter figure that Good Smile Company has done, coming after the original rock cannon and black blade versions. It’s titled the “animation version” though I’m not entirely certain why, as it’s not especially different stylistically from the other figures. Doubtless someone more familiar with the franchise will be able to discern any differences. She does arrive after the release of an anime OVA – months after, so if she was intended to drop in concert with that show, Good Smile Company missed the mark badly.
Speaking of the OVA, the anime is a plotless, pointless mess of a show with dual personalities, as poorly-animated scenes of the Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master characters battling each other intermesh with the trite, undeveloped story of how schoolgirls Mato and Yomi became best friends forever before falling out. The transitions between the schoolday scenes and fight scenes are jarring and the plot development – such as there is – during the Mato and Yomi parts is poorly explored, and one gets the feeling that the creators were either bored and just wanted to get back to the fight stuff, or they realized they were running out of time and needed to get to certain plot points. Character development is also relegated to an afterthought, with much of the characters’ personalities being defined by familiar archetypes rather than the show itself.
Given that the anime seems to solely be a marketing vehicle to expand the popularity of the Black Rock Shooter franchise beyond just figure collectors, I think it would have been better served being made into a hentai show. Okay, okay, I know you’re rolling your eyes and thinking, “Of course you think that” but my reasons aren’t entirely perverted. First, the lack of plot isn’t nearly as much of a problem in an h-anime. And second, anime shows are becoming more risque every season; broadcast shows like Yosuga no Sora and OVAs like Aki Sora and Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo show that there’s a general market for softcore material. And third, Good Smile Company’s other favorite source – Fate/stay night – has its roots in eroge, so such a move would present a symmetry of sorts. As it is, the OVA is creatively bankrupt, and while there is a lot of potential for the characters, the creators don’t seem to be interested in exploring it.
The best scene in the anime, hands down.
Anybody who avidly follows figure news knows of Good Smile Company’s mistake regarding this figure: they forgot the star on her jacket. Oops.
GSC has issued a somewhat wishy-washy apology with an offer to either send out a star decal or repair the figure if you send it to them. None of this applies to anyone outside of Japan, of course; Amiami has said they’ll be sending stickers but Hobby Search has not, and as I bought this figure from the latter retailer I doubt I’m going to be getting a sticker. It’s a shame since while I’m not particularly perturbed by this error, I’d like to plant the sticker square on her ass, just because I think it’d be amusing and distinctive. There are going to be thousands of these figures out there, but mine would be unique. Oh well.
And while I’m not too bothered by this defect, it does provide evidence of a disturbing trend. There is sentiment among some figure collectors that Good Smile Company’s quality is declining. I recall that James had a number of issues with his World is Mine Miku figure, and Aka’s Rina Ogata evinced a surprising level of sloppiness. Then there’s their Rin Tohsaka figure, which went from one of the most anticipated figures to most controversial once her painted sample debuted, with the resulting outcry forcing GSC to go back to the drawing board. This error, though, seems to go beyond their previous foibles because it affects their entire initial production run, which is just a colossal quality control mistake. Now, an honest mistake is perfectly understandable but this isn’t an honest mistake. People make honest mistakes; international corporations make stupid mistakes. I don’t plan on taking a pitchfork and torch onto an airplane headed for Tokyo, but it would be extremely regrettable if this trend represents the new norm for them rather than a set of peculiar but unconnected aberrations.
Anyway, on to the figure. Ms. Shooter is sculpted in 1/8 scale and she’s about 21.5 centimeters tall from the bottom of her base to the tip of her gun and about 20 centimeters in length. She looks a little smaller to me than the rock cannon version, but I took a tape measure to examine the length of her limbs and they’re about the same length on both figures. The animation version’s head might be a little bit smaller; it seems to be about a millimeter or two shorter, and her left hair tail is definitely shorter than the rock cannon version.
Unlike the rock cannon version, the chains on the animation version are made of plastic, and they have to be in order to maintain their shape. Speaking of the chains, putting her together was quite an effort; GSC provides an instruction sheet but it’s a bit difficult to match up the black and white photographs with where all her pieces are supposed to go. Her chains don’t seem to stay in place all that well, which is probably a consequence of me not assembling her correctly. I never did figure out where to attach the chain that runs over her hair; the sheet indicates there’s a socket somewhere on her head but I didn’t see it. At any rate she’s sturdy enough as long as you’re not moving her around, and her gun attaches securely to the base, unlike the first figure.
This version of Black Rock Shooter has a much more interesting pose than the previous figures, depicting her dashing forward, tresses and chains streamed out behind her. It’s a dynamic sculpt that looks great. She’s got a swappable forehead, one with her glowing eye and one without. I prefer the glowy eye, and it looks better than the one supplied with the rock cannon figure; its transparency is graduated, with a deep blue color over her eye fading to a lighter aqua at its tip.
Black Rock Shooter’s character design is growing on me; I can’t hate on a girl wearing a bikini top and booty shorts, even if she doesn’t really have much to fill out either. I also find it difficult to dislike a girl with a gun, though I’m disappointed to learn that her gat doesn’t actually shoot big black rocks. Her clothing has a glossy finish that gives her a futuristic, fetishistic look that complements her chains and scars well.
It’s not all great stuff, though; GSC gave her boots a yellowish trim which is quite apparent when one compares her with the earlier figures. I’m not sure why they didn’t paint the trim white. Oh well. Fortunately, the striping on her jacket and the star on her jacket – the sole star – are white, as they should be.
She’s a remarkably detailed figure that is a pleasure to admire. Her zippers have teeth, her jacket features numerous creases and folds that dramatically enhance the energy of the sculpt, and her hair is intricate, eschewing the flat helmet hair that you see on so many figures. Her gun has a weathered, antique appearance that contrasts with her modernistic fashion. Her base comprises a set of black and off-white cubes arranged in a checker fashion, a trademark style of the franchise. These details look wonderful and make one wonder just how the heck Good Smile Company screwed up the small star on her jacket.
I think I ought to pay less attention to the hype and hoopla that surrounds the Black Rock Shooter franchise and just enjoy the figures on their own merits. I have a peculiar but consistent tendency to dislike anything that becomes enormously popular for no apparent reason, and the anime taught me nothing about her character, but I do like this figure a lot on its own. I like action girls, girls with guns, and girls who don’t wear a lot of clothes, and she fits all three. Her pose is particularly attractive, and I think it elevates her far over the rock cannon version, which is a lot less interesting to me. Okay, I wouldn’t mind it if she had a more substantial chest, but one can’t have everything. And yeah, the star thing is annoying, and it’s certainly understandable if people are bothered by it, but to be honest, I didn’t even notice until the internet firestorm began. I’d rather that GSC had gotten the figure right but its omission doesn’t seriously detract from my enjoyment of this figure; she still looks fantastic.
I’m surprised that Good Smile Company hasn’t debuted any figures of schoolgirls Mato and Yomi yet, though it’s probably just a matter of time until they do. Me, I’d like a figure of Black Rock Shooter chained up with her legs spread, like in the picture above. Hey, it’s a canon scene, right?
She does look great, and I agree with you I think… ignore the hype, ignore the show… thinking like that, I really feel I should order the other version of Dead Master as well as it’s so interesting to look at and really has a distinct character to it, even if in the OVA she had no character whatsoever. I also agree, BRS in that pose would be an interesting figure as well, though perhaps you could buy the figma (buy mine? ;)) and just place her in that pose forever.
Oh, actually, I disagree with you on one thing, I think she has enough ass for her booty shots, sure it’s not big and round and out there, but there’s a definite ass there which is more than you can say about many other figures.
What do you use for the smoke? I think I’ve asked previously but I see people use it all the time and I don’t want to set off any fire alarms…
Yeah, I think that’s a good plan. Especially for a character like this, which had a personality constructed for her after she became popular. There are a lot of characters out there that I like less once I found out what they are like. Funny how a lot of them are tsundere types.
You should totally get that other version of DM. You could have the two BRSs and the two DMs and have them square off in two on two beach volleyball. Just string up a net between them and have the animation versions charging it. And now that I write that, I realize that the animation versions are probably named such because they are lunging forward, while the other versions are just standing up. I ought to think harder about these things before I start writing the review.
Yeah, you’re right, she does have some curvature to her backside, now that I look at her. It’s not that bad, she’s a skinny Japanese girl so I guess it looks appropriate.
Funny that you bring that up, I was sitting here thinking to myself that I might want to get the Figma BRS just so I can put her into compromising positions, which I’ve already done with Aegis and Meiya (not Yomi Isayama though, since she’s too badass to be subjugated and her skirt just gets in the way).
The smoke is incense, I guess you could always pull the battery out of your smoke detector or something XD
Unfortunately my smoke detectors are wired into the house and connected. When one goes off, they all go off. Though there is lag between the rest going off, so you have some time to clear it and hope it doesn’t set the rest off.
The anime versions are … animated? Where as the Original are static. Works for me.
Ah, I guess that option is out then. The incense doesn’t seem to make a lot of smoke, so you might be good; I light up like four or six sticks at a time and the smoke dissipates fairly rapidly. My bigger concern is whether inhaling this stuff is harmful, since I shoot up close to my figures.
Sticker on her ass would rock. Got mine at HS, though haven’t received it yet, but that means no sticking the star on her butt.
Yeah, that’s unfortunate. There’s a good spot on her left buttcheek where it’d look pretty good. Hopefully HS will reverse themselves and send them out.
The key difference between the animated and original styles seems to be the eyes. Personally, I prefer the original style’s aesthetic appeal, since even though the animated style is capable of being more expressive, such an advantage is lost on this character, who has all the personality of a brick wall. Still, the pose and the chains on this figure are definitely pleasing to the eyes. I imagine a display of all three of the animated version BRS figures would be pretty amazing, what with the chains flying left and right and the checkerboard floor being obliterated all over the place.
You’re certainly not alone in considering the chain bondage scene as the best thing about the OVA. That particular scene provides the segway for a good few H-doujins, I bet this is totally the intended purpose of that scene. What better way to promote your material than by having fans draw porn of it, free of charge?
That’d be a pretty awesome scene, with all three of them. Shame that the Dead Master character design doesn’t really move me much, what with her capri pants and her pumps, so I’m gonna be skipping all her incarnations. She needs a slinkier look, I think. Maybe I can try to arrange some sort of epic scene with GSC’s 1/7 scale Fate/stay night figures, all gathered in worship of Daiki Kougyou’s alien-looking 1/4 scale Saber. Man, I gotta get around to taking her picture one of these days.
I have one such doujinshi XD It’s a great book. As BRS’s popularity seems to stem from fan-based works (which I suppose makes sense, given that it’s a fan-based work in itself), they should reward their fans by expanding on this scene to give them more material to work with.
Im getting this. The missing star business will hopefully push down the price 🙂 I sold my entire BRS collection, time to start buying again. I hope GSC does fix the problem, because once a figure maker is labeled as bad, it will be very hard to work its way back up to the top.
I think it’s a good buy, and who knows, it might; I thought VN02 Miku Hatsune and GSC’s jumping Saber would sell out quick, but then both of them got dumped in the bargain bin just weeks after their release. I guess it wouldn’t surprise me if GSC did another production run that fixes this problem, which is probably going to greatly confuse the market. Me, I just want my sticker so I can put it on her butt.
I thought in the animu she did shoot rocks though?
Hmm, did she? I thought they looked sorta like blue lasers but maybe they were rocks; I’ll fully admit that I wasn’t paying much attention to the fight scenes once I figured out that no plot development was going to happen in them.
Was this a review of the OVA or the figure? Haha, in any case great review as always and I would have no problems if they decided to take the series down a more risque path, with a few corresponding figures to boot. Maybe they could use it to explain the scars and why she has the personality of a rock…
As for the missing star, seems like GSC is shipping out packs with 8 of them along with a couple of postcards. Kind of makes me wonder if I should ask one of my friends over there to get a pack for me if Hobby Search decides to play the victim in all of this. If not hopefully some people online would be willing to mail some of their extras out. Oh well, no big deal either way although if the distributors started putting more pressure on GSC to deliver maybe that would kick their ass more in gear.
Oh yeah, that chain that sticks to her hair goes in a tiny hole on one of the strands above the canon, idk if you can figure it out from this pic where it crosses her hair about a third of the way up the barrel, right after that fork in the strands when looking at it from above.
It’s both! Sorta. I’m kinda interested in how anime characters become popular; it’s obvious with some characters like the girl in the little sister anime (which I’m contemplating watching and doing a review of just because I think it’d be hilarious) but I’ve yet to hear a good explanation for the BRS characters; scars, chains, and anorexic body builds don’t seem to fit any of the classic moe archetypes.
Yeah, that’d be great … I was surprised that they didn’t explain the scars or even why they were battling. Setting up for a sequel is one thing, but in this case, there wasn’t even any setup at all.
I want postcards 🙁 Not that I’d have any use for them but I like collecting things. I’ve got the feeling Hobby Search is just going to keep quiet and let this blow over; they didn’t even have the product listed on their site anymore, last I checked. I’d be happy if they’d just toss the sticker in the box with my test suit Asuka order, since she’s supposed to ship soon.
Ah, cool, thanks a lot; I see where it’s supposed to go now. Heh, I was trying to attach it to the wrong hair tail; I crossed it over to her right tail and just hooked it where a couple of her tresses cross over each other.
Hmm, looks like Hobby Search is shipping out the stickers with the postcards. Finally got my reply with a tracking number. Already asked my friend to get it for me so I guess I’ll have two sets lol. I wonder if they are only sending them to people who e-mailed about it or to everybody that ordered it :/
What the hell, I haven’t heard anything about that. I guess your supposition is correct, since I didn’t contact them to ask about their intentions. I sent off an e-mail to them just now for my stickers, so we’ll see what happens. Thanks for the heads-up; hopefully they will send me my rightful stickers and my BRS girl will be as she was meant to be.
Heh, I’d watch a BRS hentai. Don’t think I’ll bother with the OVA otherwise.
Also, it’s interesting to note that AmiAmi doesn’t sell GSC to foreigners anymore; apparently because GSC was pissed that they were selling some of the figures at greatly reduced prices. You can still find them on their English site, but there’s a note that says “Japan Only”. Can still add it to the cart, though, so I’m not sure if they’d ship it, or if it’s like Hobby Search’s “Cannot be paid with Paypal.” Had to have been fairly recent though, as I just picked up a GSC company figure from them a couple weeks back.
I think it’s only their bargain bin figures that are locked out to gaijin; I can still order stuff like Rin Tohsaka and Dead Master but I heard that their jumping Saber was on sale, and sure enough, she is not available on the English site. Weak. I dunno why it’s okay for Japanese people to get Saber at a heavy discount but not overseas people.
Thanks for the review. Tempted to get this to complete my BRS collection, as I already have the two non-animated versions.
You’re welcome! If you’re a BRS fan or you like her design or you like action girls in action-oriented poses, I think she’s a good buy, star mishap notwithstanding.
Hey the pictures with the violet touch are looking really good =)
I had no intention to buy anything BRS related until preview shots of this figure appeared
personally I found these two previous standing version pretty uninteresting.
Since I liked the artworks and the outfit of BRS I was happy that GSC made a more dynamic BRS figure.
I don’t care about the missing star, but I ordered with AmiAmi and they are so nice that they’ll will send me the sticker(I hope that wasn’t a hollow promise).
I had the same idea with sticking the star somewhere else.
unfortunately mine is still at the outward office in Tokyo, the ems rate was so high that I changed it to SAL 🙁
I hate capri pants the most so I have no interest in Dead Master, maybe if GSC makes a nice Mato figure I will buy a second figure of this “cash cow” franchise.
mhh thinking about that I’d rather want that some good figure manufacturer would eventually makes a good figure of Sohara XD
*lol* I can claim that liked the OVA, I expected a dumb action OVA but got something different.I also liked this kind of not so perfect animation style. Well tastes are dfferent.
Hopefully you get your soon, I get antsy whenever I get stuff shipped via SAL because the delivery times are so variable. You ought to stick it someplace interesting and take pictures of it; I’ll vicariously enjoy your figure’s distinctiveness, then.
I like girls in leggings, girls in tights, girls in bike shorts … but I really don’t like capri pants. I dunno why. It’s one of the reasons I’m not too interested in the Dead Master figures. I might get a Mato figure if they announce one, since she’s cute and I like basketball and cute girls playing basketball hits on one of my fetishes. Yeah, I’ll admit it, I’m weak for moe like that. A figure of Sohara would be awesome though. Hopefully with the proper animal print on the seat of her panties.
Haha, do not let my hating on the OVA affect your enjoyment of the show XD I hate everything, and I have no problem saying such here, but I’m not going to try to influence people to hate the same things I do. I will, however, try to promote and spread my love of tentacles around.
I check this damn package tracking page two times a day and it’s still in Tokyo since Novemer 13th, but *lol* I saved around 10€ .
No, problem when you hate something I like,
your refreshing straightforwardness is one of the reasons I like to read and visit your blog =)
I get everything via EMS because I’m an impatient moron; I really don’t want to think about how much money I could have saved by selecting SAL and waiting for figures to hit the bargain bin. I’m sure it’s over a thousand dollars for just this year alone.
Thanks XD I’m a big fan of spreading perversion across the internet. Not too many people seem to do it but I’m hoping I can kick off a trend with figure review sites, at least.
Well… I find your opinion about the OVA okay.
But I have to say: What should you expect from 50 minutes?
A NGE storyline? Gigantic battles over and over?
It’s really damn hard to pack all kind of stuff in 50 min. So I do not understand some people is raging over “that was is – shit” saying. It’s may be their opinion and they can have it. But it’s not entiry right. I can only say from me that I found the 50 min were okay.
To the figure itself:
They gonna take out every drop of money of the BRS stuff. It’s like those Pokemon stuff with their cards and so on. But when I do like the design, the poses, should I care? No one says that I should buy it. Only my Otaku voice inside me.
To the problem with the sticker:
See it as a feature! xD
I for myself caught in the BRS stuff already with the Canon Version and the Nendo. And can’t wait to get this Animation version, and the rest of the cast. Because… well… I just like the art. It’s fresh and not full of moe whore.
Sorry I forgot to mention that the Animeversion and the orginal version should be the design of the eyes.
Well… at least it’s the only thing that you can be sure to be different.
In 50 minutes? I’m hoping for something I can fap to, but for a show like this, I’d like something resembling a normal level of plot development … you know, beginning, rising action, climax. Fifty minutes is a pretty long time for any sort of show; I’ve watched feature films which could’ve (and in some cases, should have) been done in fifty minutes. It would have helped if they’d made better use of the fight scenes, which didn’t serve much purpose other than showing off. Maybe they were supposed to be dramatic, but conflict without a point isn’t dramatic. It’s like watching a preseason NFL game; yeah, it’s the same teams playing by the same rules as in the regular season, but it’s boring as hell because the games serve no purpose other than for filling out the bottom of each team’s roster.
Yeah, I like the character design; it’s unique and distinctive, which is why I’m kinda baffled how she blew up so fast. If I were a figure collecting newbie and I asked someone what the most anticipated figure of this year was, I’d be astounded to learn that it’s a skinny scarred girl with chains, a giant gun, and no personality at all.
Great angles on the photos! I think I ordered this figure at the last minute – wasn’t planning on getting her since I have the first version already. But after looking at more and more pictures of this version, I liked her more and more – and it’s easy to see why.
Didn’t even notice the missing star on her jacket, not a big issue for me. Who knows, this may actually increase the value of this first batch since there’s an error. I remember the days when we collected baseball and hockey cards and looked for the “error” cards. They were worth more than the normal cards. LOL
That compromising position is great, I think I’ll try a shot with my BRS Figma from that scene. 😛
I really want to get back to the reviews, have so many great figures to write about but just can’t seem to find the time. I have a really limited window to work on the photos and reviews, and that time is constantly being competed with other hobbies (video games mostly). So many games out lately, CoD: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas, the new Assassin’s Creed, etc. I’m really impressed at how you can keep hammering out these reviews! ^_^’
Haha, yeah, I remember those days, though I collected football and basketball cards. I think there was a Jim Jackson rookie card that was pretty valuable back when I collected because it had an error.
I sorta have no other hobbies now. I keep hearing about all these great games and I want to play Halo Reach and Fable 3, but I haven’t even beated Halo ODST or Fable 2 yet. It’s kinda weird, a lot of times, I’ll find myself just thinking about my blog and how I want to photograph a figure that I’ve preordered.
I’m actually very impressed how quickly this seems to have sold out everywhere, though I have to admit that I’m not really interested in her myself – decided to pass a few months back.
I’d normally expect to see some surplus on HLJ as it never seems to discount, but even that is showing a sold out/discontinued sign in the very month of release. Unusual.
Still, anyone hoping to get this can probably get it from the pre-order sites for a little while yet as unpaid pre-orders start being relisted again. Then again, given her popularity there may not be many who neglect to pay.
I was surprised too, since jumping Saber and VN02 Miku ended up in the bargain bin and I thought there might be some blowback from the star fiasco. I guess she really is just that popular, or maybe GSC cut down the initial production run once they discovered their quality control oversight. I’m guessing there will be a reissue of her sometime shortly in the future, with the star appropriately positioned.
I never jumped onto the BRS bandwagon and even now, the popularity of the figures boggles my mind. I am in agreement with you on the OVA though, except that my opinion would me even more scathing and venomous. I still can’t believe I wasted an hour watching that crap…
GSC seem to be having quality control issues and Alter are scaling down their kits and people are complaining that they look bland. Will Kotobukiya be next? Well, I’m just watching this BRS fiasco unfurl with minor interest.
I don’t think I’ll even understand the lure of BRS and I certainly am not going to go out and buy one. I have exactly 1 figure from the series. A Dead Master, and lets just say that you don’t get her via the usual channels…
Haha, you should write one up. I’ve kinda avoided reading reviews of it, so I’m not sure how well it was received apart from getting individual critiques from a few people. I actually didn’t hate the show as much as I thought I would. That’s not to say I liked it though; when I finished watching it, I didn’t really feel anything other than I probably should have spent that hour doing something else. I guess I was kinda sad that there seems to be a lot of unrealized potential for the characters, and that this is what passes for a popular show these days.
Yeah, it kinda seems like figure manufacturers are in a bit of flux; GSC has their QC problems and they seem to be more interested in nendoroids, MF seems to be mainly a Figma company these days, even Native’s latest figure is kinda WTF.
I’ll look forward to seeing your DM thing, I’m not too excited by the two GSC figures but if your one is cool, I can certainly learn to like her, even if her fashion sense is all backwards.
I think I will decline writing a review simply because it means that I will have to recall the fact that I wasted an hour watching it! ^_^’
I do remember going in with an open mind and hoping that the OVA would give the characters some CHARACTER rather than some blank slates with no personality or reason to exist. Sufficed to say, we didn’t get that. Even as an advertisement for the figures, it failed on so many levels, from the terrible animation (it looked like they tried to do a stylised action look which Gainax are renowned for, but forgot about the “style”) and even black gold saw got a mere few minutes to appear yet already has her own figure and figma (and nendo, no doubt) waiting for release! everything about the OVA was paper thin, from the characters, to the plot to the damn budget (I’m guessing) yet they have the gall to announce a second OVA? Sometimes, I really do despair over the fanbase.
but now, along with that long ass post about zombie consumerism by Radiant, I’m really starting to think about why I do what I do. Whatever the case, I’m sure it’s better than spending money on an endless list of identical and less interesting mass produced stuff.
True indeed, I guess it wouldn’t be worth going back over it. Not that there’s a whole lot to go over, I guess. I was hoping for the same, though after the OVA was released, I’d heard enough general complaints that I wasn’t expecting much by the time I sat down to watch it. I’d probably describe it the same way; it was superficial as hell, and I’m not really sure what the director (if the show had one) was trying to do.
I was thinking of an earlier post he wrote, about why people buy the figures they do. In this case, it’s because I thought she looked cool and would be a fun subject to photograph. Sometimes I buy figures that I’m more interested in photographing rather than collecting. Maybe I ought to wait for those sorts of figures to hit the bargain bin to save some cash.
Hmm, but isn’t the desire to photograph a figure also connected to a “me first” mentality? Don’t you find it less interesting taking pictures of figures which has already been done by hundreds of other bloggers, even though you know you could do better?
I don’t think bargain hunting would work in this case. Besides, there’s always something newer to tempt you so you’d probably just end up forgetting about a figure and moving on! I don’t think you’d be able to wait until a certain figure hits the bargain bins (if they ever do!). You don’t strike me as that kind of person! ^_^
Yeah, that’s part of it too, though it’s not nearly as significant as it used to be. A year ago, I always tried to get my reviews up really fast but now I don’t care much if I’m first or not. For example, I recently reviewed Max Factory’s Tamaki, months after everyone else did their reviews. I enjoy taking figure pictures and trying out different things so if everyone on the planet has already taken pictures before me, I’ll just try to think up something new that I can try out when I shoot the photos (which is what I did with Tamaki. Unfortunately, the new things I tried out didn’t work quite as well as I had imagined in my mind.)
Incidentally, I’m really surprised that I haven’t seen any other reviews of this BRS figure out there. I kinda thought she’d be more popular than she seems to be.
Yeah, you’re right about that, I’m an impatient idiot so I probably wouldn’t wait for a discount. I always went for EMS shipping even before I started up this site just because I hate waiting and the lack of a tracking number with SAL (at least, I don’t think I ever got a tracking number when I had HLJ ship stuff via SAL). I’ve got my fingers crossed that a few upcoming figures (like Alter’s loli Fate) hit the bargain bin soon after they’re released, though.
Your work is beautiful…thanks for sharing these photos.
This figure is dynamic but I am not a fan of it. I’m not sure exactly why. I do agree on GSC quality though… I am a bit concerned about where it is going.
Thanks! I can think of several reasons why I’d feel that way … we’ve seen this character design before in the same scale size from the same company, you don’t really get a sense of personality from it (admittedly, that’s appropriate since she has none), and maybe she’s just too dang popular these days. I’m trying not to let that last reason affect me; I probably shouldn’t let communal sentiment influence what I like or don’t like.
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I don’t know whether someone already told you this (I’m a tad lazy to read through the comments, sorry), but if you send HS an e-mail asking for the stickers they’ll send you them. And the chain that goes over her head fits into a socket into her pigtail, not her head =)
Great review, all the pictures are superb! I almost got the Cannon version when it came out, but I’m glad I didn’t. The animation version is far superior! And I agree with you that not paying attention to the franchise/characters is the best, since it seems not even the BRS project cares for character development anymore. This is quite apparent if you see the game plot (spoiler: it has nothing to do with the anime. lol).
Yeah, I sent them an e-mail and first they said that they’d pack them in with one of my upcoming figure preorders that’s supposed to ship later this week. Then they sent another e-mail saying they’d shipped them by themselves. They were extremely apologetic; I wasn’t curt or demanding or belligerent or anything, but they still made it sound like it was their fault and that they were very sorry, and that made me feel kinda bad. And yep, I did figure out where to get the chain hooked in after getting advice as to where the socket is.
I’d kinda like to sell my rock cannon version since I don’t think it’s nearly as exciting or dramatic as this version, and they look pretty similar stylistically. Unfortunately GSC is thwarting my plans by re-releasing the older figure. Curses. I think the game description was pretty funny as well; I saw a quick blurb over on Andriasang and I was like WTF?
Excellent work as always, Tier!
I pre-ordered her awhile ago from Hobby Search but when it was time to pay up, I was ass out so I asked them to hold it until the following week when there’d be money in the bank… Friday came and they told me they wouldn’t ship it because of the star problem and would wait another week to decide what to do. This past Thursday came and they said my order was processed and ready to ship… Today, she arrived and as soon as I opened the box, there’s a Good Smile Company envelope with the stars, instructions (in Japanese of course) and 2 BSR post cards included. Also in the box was an official letter of apology…
That said, I was like you, Tier – I cared about the missing star but didn’t care. If nobody mentioned it, I wouldn’t have even thought about it. Funny how that worked out tho ’cause if I had the money like I should’ve, there’d be no stickers and whatnot.
I’m gonna have to send Hobby Search a thank you email ’cause they probably didn’t have to send anything with the figure.
Forgot to mention… VERY Glad you know what REAL Hip-Hop is! 🙂
Serendipity takes many forms. Kinda like how I won my fantasy football game today after Frank Gore got hurt; I was certain I was gonna lose because I have Adrian Peterson and he got hurt yesterday, and I had a tiny lead going into tonight’s game.
Yeah, the star thing doesn’t bother me much since as you say, I didn’t notice till I checked up a couple figure news websites and saw a lot of people talking about a missing star. I think I needed a comparison diagram to figure out what people were talking about. The thing that bugs me more is whether it’s symptomatic of a more persistent problem with Good Smile Company. Personally, I kinda wish they’d screw up more nenderoids and fewer scaled figures. At least Rin Tohsaka looks bangin’ now rather than like a Down’s patient.
I was looking at my MP3 playlist and I was reminded that one of my favorite songs back in the day was DJ Red Alert’s Buddy remix … I shoulda thought of a way to link that to my last figure review.
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I think I’m gonna borrow your idea and stick one of the stars on her ass lol.
Ha! A great plan. I’ve yet to do it but it’s on my to-do list.
If you do try be wary; I went through three of the stars before I got it to stick right, they’re so damn small!
I think that she was the most aggravating figure I’ve had to put together to date lol.
I will keep that in mind; I’ve always sucked at applying waterslide decals so I’m sure I’m going to screw up a bunch of times.
Yeah, I had a tough time putting her together, and an equally tough time getting her out of her box. I should’ve kept my wire snips handy. I’m probably going to throw those chains that attach to her base back in the box too, cuz they keep falling out and I’m sure I’ll lose them otherwise.
This review and whole page was great/fun read/ and hilarious. I agree with pretty much all of what you said. I don’t know a lot about who made BRS/who directed the OVA/etc etc but I just got into BRS. I just got the BRS Figma (the one you can pose) and it’s great. The one issue that I have is that the base seems…i dunno…too small? Unless people won’t be disturbed that the figure is hanging outside or swung 180 around the front of the base, seems kinda funny but that’s what I did.
The one thing that was okayish was her body, the fact that she’s thin, I feel the figure is pretty solid, I’m not exactly an avid figure collector (though a lot of us wish we are), but I was almost freaking out when i didn’t know how to have her almost close hands to hold the Rock Cannon until I realized I could somewhat flex her hand/fingers. Are PVC figures meant to be like this? I just want to know because I don’t want to break it.
Also I’m considering buying the BRS OVA Limited Edition Box. I thought the OVA was somewhat touching and the character design reminded me of K-On!. I’m buying the box mostly for the art book/nend. figures/etc. Sadly I don’t even have a Bluray player but I’ll get on eventually.
I’m also tempted to get the PSP game for BRS (Limited Edition) since it comes with White Rock Shooter, I’m guessing it’ll definitely be around 80-90 at cheapest once its out on the market.
Trailer 1 (i apologize that the quality is low, this still seems new. The date was supposed to be this Summer 2011 but I saw on wiki that they withdrew the date for ‘unknown’ reasons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuXy2vzHOVM
(Trailer 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IokPsdnvm98
Also, I know this might sound really really off subject of figures and anime/etc but is there anyone here who can help me get my hands on a Kamen RiderKabuto series DX Belt? Preferably Kabuto or Gatack?
Some PVC figures aren’t all that well designed and require an enormous amount of force to get weapons and stuff into their hands. I don’t remember having a lot of difficulty getting this BRS figure’s gun set in place, but it’s been a while since I got it. I’ve had some other figures – most notably Volks’s Kaguya Nanbu – that’ve been absolutely maddening in that respect.
I don’t have a PSP (yet) so I haven’t paid much attention to the BRS game thus far. I do like how the White Rock Shooter figma looks, though. And as grudging as I am to admit it, I’d probably be excited if they made a scale-size version of that character.
Unfortunately, I cannot help you out at all about the Kamen Rider thing … I know it’s a popular and long-running television franchise but that’s about all I know about it.
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Dude,you got a chain wrong look at the instructions again. It’s the chain that is beside or close to the plug of the cannon. Try to look at it again. Thank you!
Yeah, I’m sure you are correct. I don’t really like fiddling with figures and as I recall, this one was pretty annoying just to get out of the box.
굉장하군요 ~
Thanks! Given that I lived in Seoul for ten years, it’s sort of embarrassing that I need a machine translator to read that.