Triela from Gunslinger Girl

written on September 5, 2011 by Tier
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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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Random Thoughts IX

written on August 31, 2011 by Tier

I am old and the mind wanders when it gets old. Thus, this is the post in which I write about various random things.
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Posted in Random Thoughts | Tagged | 12 Comments

Heat Blade from Tsukasa Bullet (NSFW)

written on August 25, 2011 by Tier
Yamato Heat Blade Figure Review

I placed my order for Heat Blade with Hobby Search on June 15, 2010. She was originally scheduled for a fall release, but that got pushed back, and back, and back, and it was not until just this month that she finally hit stores. In the period between the placement of my order and the writing of this post, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks won NBA championships, the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and (effectively) Libya fell to populist revolutions, the NFL went through a lockout, Japan was devastated by an earthquake, the collective manhood of Washington, D.C. was devastated by an earthquake, Charlie Sheen somehow got fifteen minutes of fame despite already being famous, the exchange rate dropped from 91 to 77 yen to the dollar, and I wrote 58 figure reviews. And one tentacle stand review. What a busy time it’s been.
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Preorder Outlook XIII

written on August 20, 2011 by Tier

The period before last month’s Wonder Festival was weak with respect to preorders, but with the sequence of major conventions over and done with, figures have been going up with great speed. Figures are also getting released, but I wouldn’t know anything about that because Amiami is not shipping one of my orders, despite me e-mailing a request to do so. It’d be really nice if they had an automated order management system like a certain other retailer so I could get my stuff with a minimum of fuss.
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Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (Ichiban Kuji Version)

written on August 15, 2011 by Tier
Banpresto Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Figure Review

Fate Testarossa is undoubtedly one of the most visible characters in anime culture, and it’s no surprise that figure makers turn to her again and again. For example, Alter is on schedule to release or re-release five figures of her this year alone – an astonishing number for a character who doesn’t even take top billing in her show. Lesser-known scale figure manufacturers also enjoy showing love to Fate; this particular figure comes from Banpresto, who I know more for making trading-sized figures and mecha toys than 1/7 scale figures. Regardless of my unfamiliarity with Banpresto’s products, I have a mandate to be the world’s biggest Fate fan who hasn’t actually watched her television series, and so I went ahead and picked this one up.
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Haruka Morishima from Amagami

written on August 9, 2011 by Tier
Haruka Morishima from Amagami Figure Review

Here we have a figure from Amagami SS, a school romance show featuring a male lead who sleeps in a closet. Ordinarily, I’d rather have nothing to do with a harem-based school romance show, given how bad Princess Lover! was and how bad Mayo Chiki! is looking to be, but one guess should suffice to divine what aspect of this figure enticed me enough to buy it.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged , , , , , , | 38 Comments

Dakimakura Review – Takeda Shingen from Ouka Sengoku: Nobunaga-chan no Koishite Yabou!? (NSFW)

written on August 4, 2011 by Tier
Takeda Shingen Dakimakura Review

Time to give pillowcases a little bit of love. Lolis aren’t really my thing, but when the loli is named Takeda Shingen-chan, how can I say no?
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Shot Breakdown – Super Sonico

written on July 30, 2011 by Tier

Back when I talked about photographing Gotou Matabei, I talked about trying to establish a mood. That’s not an approach I take for every figure, though. Quite often, I’m just trying to make them look pretty. Such is the case with Orchid Seed’s Super Sonico. She’s dressed provocatively but has a surprised, perhaps even timid expression, and I didn’t have any great ideas for photographing her until I bought David Hobby’s Lighting in Layers DVD set. One of his shoots positioned the model in front of three tall, rectangular panels, and I really liked the geometry and texture of the backdrop. I decided that a 1/7 scale version would work pretty well for me, too.
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Charlotte Yeager from Strike Witches

written on July 24, 2011 by Tier
Charlotte Yeager from Strike Witches Figure Review

The love that some people have for certain anime character traits can be a funny thing. There are entire communities dedicated to some particular aspect, like flat chests, or glasses, or the tsundere archetype, or tentacle violation. Equally funny is the fervor with which some people will champion their chosen fetishes. There are some people who will lash out with unbridled hostility if you dare attack their favorite things. I’m definitely among their number – insult my doll collection and I will hate you forever.

Nonetheless, I will go ahead and simply say it – I really don’t like animal ears on anime characters. They bug the hell out of me. No, I don’t know why I feel that way – one may as well ask why my favorite food is my favorite or why I hate certain sports teams or musical groups or waking up early or why I go absolutely ballistic if somebody driving slower than me passes in front of my car. It’s just the way things are.
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Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion (Volks Figure Figure Version)

written on July 18, 2011 by Tier
Volks Rei Ayanami Figure Review

The child-soldiers of Neon Genesis Evangelion comprise some of the most recognizable characters in anime, and figure makers show no signs of jumping off of the Rei and Asuka gravy train. Thus, here’s another figure of Rei. Plugsuit, wreckage, blank stare, blue afro, you’ve seen it all before. Actually, wait – you probably haven’t ever seen this figure. Imagine that.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged , , , , , , , | 83 Comments