Monthly Archives: September 2011

Dakimakura Review – Teresa Beria from Seikon no Qwaser

Teresa Beria Dakimakura Review

It’s pillowcase time and while this one is not nearly as salacious as the ones I usually buy, I’m a fan of Seikon no Qwaser and I particularly like Teresa Beria, the reserved and taciturn Maria. In anime and video games, I like quiet, duty-minded girls. I’m more of a Rei fan than an Asuka fan and more of a Yuki fan than a Haruhi fan. I like KOS-MOS a lot though that sentiment is tempered by how bloody awful Xenosaga is. Fate is my favorite Nanoha character, though admittedly I’ve only seen the movie and the first few episodes of StrikerS. I really liked Noir, and that’s mainly because the female characters weren’t whiny, tsundere, or clingy – they just went around doing their business. And that’s what Teresa is like; she’s a quiet tulip enthusiast who helps out series lead Sasha in his quest for revenge. She occasionally steps into the fight with a bow and arrows. And she occasionally gets sexually assaulted, but that’s par for the course for all the Qwaser characters – including Sasha – so it’s all good.
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Shot Breakdown – Triela

I always like it when a figure reveals some aspect of its personality in its sculpt. Not many of them do; for example, Junko Hattori sports sort of a generic angry anime girl expression, Kiriko Hattori has a satisfied, happy look, Dizzy has kind of a neutral, unemotional expression, and Heat Blade looks like a robot. If I didn’t know a thing about those characters, I couldn’t tell you much about them – I probably couldn’t even make a first guess as to what they are like. Triela, however, conveys a strong sense of detachment and loneliness. It’s easy to guess that she hasn’t had an easy life, and unlike Cryska, the way she hugs her gun suggests it’s more than just a prop to her. The mood that her look invokes informs the way I want to photograph her, unlike Junko, Kiriko, Dizzy, and Heat Blade, where it was much more difficult for me to figure out how to shoot them. All this is to say that I am lazy as hell and I really like it when a figure gives me ideas right off the bat, rather than being forced to actually think about how I want to shoot a figure.
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Felicia Andress from the Fantasy Figure Gallery

Felicia Andress from the Fantasy Figure Gallery Review

Continuing the girls with guns theme, this is a saucily-dressed character named Felicia Andress. She’s a figure sculpted by a Japanese artist and manufactured by a Japanese company, but the box says Yamato USA and as part of their Fantasy Figure Gallery collection, she is clearly targeted at a western audience. Personally, though, I think that regardless of where you come from, what color your skin might be, what religion you believe in or even what gender you belong to, everybody can appreciate and respect an ass like Felicia’s.
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Figure Photo Wallpaper

How long has it been since I’ve put up some photo wallpapers? More than a year, that’s how long. Looking back at my old stuff, it’s a bit odd how not only my style and preferences have changed, but I’ve also completely forgotten how I got some of those older shots. Anyway, here’s a few pictures that I like that are suitable for use as wallpaper. My site stats and my own experience in shopping for a new monitor tell me that a great many people now use 16:9 aspect ratio displays, so I’ve made wallpapers in that proportion as well as the 4:3 and 16:10 wallpapers that I usually make.

Dizzy

Gotou Matabei

Black Rock Shooter

Rin Tohsaka

Saber Alter

Fate Testarossa

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Cryska Barchenowa from Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse (Lingerie Version)

Cryska Barchenowa from Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse Figure Review

Girls with guns time continues with a look at Alphamax’s rendition of Cryska Barchenowa. Previously known for their lineup of exorbitantly expensive polystone statues that seemingly nobody bought, Alphamax has in recent times redirected themselves towards mainstream PVC figure production. Many of their figures come from the usual franchises – Ikkitousen, K-On!, and To Heart, among others – and so I was surprised to see that they were going to make figures from Muv Luv Alternative Total Eclipse. Personally, I would have much preferred to see figures of the girls in their military data suits, but as there are so few Muv-Luv figures despite its long history and expansive cast, beggars can hardly be choosers.
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Triela from Gunslinger Girl

Triela from Gunslinger Girl Figure Review

It’s girls with guns time. I’m a big fan of the genre in anime but I skipped over Gunslinger Girl entirely. I like girls with guns but there’s an unstated qualifier there – which is to say, I like attractive girls with guns, and the cast of Gunslinger Girl does not exactly drip with sex appeal. However, the boxy heads and rectangular eyes of the characters appear to be peculiar to the anime, and this figure features a more conventional face – a welcome decision that shifts the principal focus from the atypical facial proportions to the attractiveness of the character and in particular, the mood that she expresses.
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