Tag Archives: bodysuit

Thalia from ORI Infinity

written on March 31, 2014 by Tier
ORI Thalia figure

Ostensibly, one of the best things about reviewing stuff is getting free figures from manufacturers. Not that I would know for myself; in the first five years of this website I’ve never gotten a review sample. Personally, I think I prefer it that way; as nice as it is to get free stuff, they tend to come with strings attached, whether explicitly defined or merely suggested. I run this website purely as a hobby and as such I don’t like taking on unnecessary work or responsibilities.

A few months ago, a representative of E2046 asked me if I would be interested in reviewing their figure of Thalia. I was a little hesitant to accept, being that I take great pride that this site is completely independent and is, at least in my perception, detached from the larger figure-collecting community, which is how I like it. However, I find it difficult to turn down free stuff, even if strings are attached, and in this case, the only obligation I would undertake would be to photograph and review the figure, which I’ve been doing for years, anyway. Therefore, I agreed that I would review Thalia; they shipped me the figure and here she is.
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Mary Stuart from Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere II

written on January 13, 2014 by Tier
Mary Stuart from Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere II

Despite its impressive array of attractive characters, there still aren’t that many figures from Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon. What few there are are distributed by a wide variety of companies, and that means that those few figures comprise a myriad of looks, styles, poses, and sizes. Further, for some reason or another many of those figures were not sold through normal retail channels. Such was the case for Mary Stuart; she was supposed to be a Dengeki Fan Shop exclusive or somesuch, but HLJ stocked this figure and that’s where I bought her from. That was a fortunate thing, as I wasn’t inclined to get this figure if I needed to put in a special order, but since I have her, let’s take a look at her.
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Meiya Mitsurugi from Muv-Luv Alternative (Kotobukiya Version)

written on November 15, 2013 by Tier
Meiya Mitsurugi from Muv-Luv Alternative

Continuing with the tight bodysuit theme, today we’ll take a look at Meiya Mitsurugi, the heroine from Age’s eroge Muv-Luv Alternative. Kotobukiya, of course, has made a number of figures of the characters from Total Eclipse – quite probably the best-known property of the Muv-Luv franchise, thanks to its recent anime adaptation. It’s a little bit surprising that Kotobukiya has gone to the older title, since few manufacturers aside from Volks and Good Smile Company have ever shown interest in making figures of its characters. Nonetheless, I’m glad that they have, since its character designs are quite appealing, particularly because of their pilot suits.
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Horizon Ariadust from Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere (Volks Version)

written on November 8, 2013 by Tier
Horizon Ariadust figure by Volks

A figure that is released late is nothing new; many collectors breathed a happy sigh the other day as Alter finally shipped the figure of that one Steins;Gate girl with the bicycle, nearly fourteen months after it first went up for order. A figure that goes almost two years between availability and shipment, though; that’s a bit more uncommon. Looking through my e-mail, I found that I originally ordered this figure on January 31, 2012, and I received it on October 30, 2013 – a time span of 638 days. Putting up money nearly two years in advance for a little plastic doll might seem insane to many people, but I suppose it’s something that figure collectors are perfectly accustomed to. We’re an odd species, being like that.
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Cryska Barchenowa from Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse (Eishi Strengthening Equipment Version)

written on July 23, 2013 by Tier
Cryska Barchenowa figure from Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse

Kotobukiya has followed up their Yui Takamura figure with one of Cryska Barchenowa, one half of Total Eclipse’s Soviet duo. This is the third Cryska figure that I own and that Yui figure is the third one that I own of her, as well. When it comes to figures, it seems like these two girls plus Inia Sestina are the only ones to exist; one wonders if Stella and Cui Yifei will ever get their turn to shine. Oh, and Tarisa too, I guess. It’d be nice to see them get some love from figure makers, but for now, let’s take a look at our favorite commie mech driver.
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Tomo Asama from Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere

written on June 5, 2013 by Tier
Tomo Asama figure by Max Factory

Over a year after Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere (or Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, if you prefer the more-grammatically-correct American title) concluded its two-season run, figures have been slow to trickle out. The few that are available have come from a variety of manufacturers; Wave has released a few figures in its Beach Queens series, as well as an anomalous figure of lead girl Horizon Ariadust, which we looked at a while back. Alter, as is their wont, is going with a minor character in an action pose. (I previously expressed some trepidation regarding the figure’s price tag and size but lately I’ve been thinking she’d look pretty cool battling my Yamato 1/48-scale VF-1 Valkyries, and that could also make for some pretty cool photo ops.) Volks’s figures show a lot of promise but nothing yet substantive. Kotobukiya has a few in the pipeline, including an action-oriented one of Tomo Asama, who is who we’re looking at here. This figure, by Max Factory, is decidedly not action-oriented; instead, it is pretty obvious what attributes they wished to emphasize.
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Yui Takamura from Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse (Eishi Strengthening Equipment Version)

written on May 21, 2013 by Tier
Yui Takamura figure by Kotobukiya

There have been a number of figures of the characters from Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse. To date, most of them have put them in swimsuits or their underwear. Not that that’s a bad thing (would you trust a heterosexual man who said he didn’t like panties?), but given the appeal and distinctiveness of Muv-Luv’s pilot suits, it’s a shame that figure makers haven’t chosen to adapt the most iconic look of the Total Eclipse characters. That is, until now; Kotobukiya has finally made a figure of lead girl Yui Takamura in her pilot suit, and that’s who we are looking at here.
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Horizon Ariadust from Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere (Wave Version)

written on March 8, 2013 by Tier
Horizon Ariadust Figure Review

Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere was one of my favorite shows from the fall 2011 anime season. It features a compelling setting, a likeable cast, a delightfully dense plot, and some of the nicest character designs in all of anime. Those designs, plus the sheer volume of characters in the show, would suggest that the series would be one that would get a lot of figures.

So one would think, anyway; however, it’s now been about a year and a half since the show debuted and only a handful of figures from the series have made their way to retail. Even more perplexing is that all of those figures come from Wave. Unsurprisingly, the great majority of those figures belong to their 1/10 scale Beach Queens line, but they did make one anomalous figure of Horizon Ariadust, which is what we’ll be looking at here.
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Dakimakura Review – Kimi Aoi from Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere (NSFW)

written on January 19, 2013 by Tier
Kimi Aoi Dakimakura Review

The last few dakimakura covers featured here have been mostly of rather young-looking, physically-undeveloped characters, so to speak, so this time we’ll look at a pillowcase depicting a full-grown lady. This character is Kimi Aoi, the older sister of Toori Aoi, the lead male character of the light novel and recently-concluded anime series Horizon on (or in) the Middle of Nowhere. Although the anime seems reasonably popular – surely due in no small part to its attractive and expansive cast of colorful, likeable characters – it hasn’t gotten a lot of love from the figure industry. That’s rather unfortunate, since I really like the character designs and they would lend themselves well to figures. However, we’ll talk more about the anime and the few figures it has spawned later on; for now, let’s take a closer look at this dakimakura cover.
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Samus Aran from Metroid: Other M (Zero Suit Version)

written on August 27, 2012 by Tier
Samus Aran from Metroid Figure Review

I have to admit that lately, I haven’t been too enthusiastic about Good Smile Company’s or Alter’s figure lineups. It doesn’t take any extraordinary talent at prognostication to look at a seasonal anime chart and guess which shows are going to get Good Smile Company figures and lately, Alter’s been eminently predictable as well. Unfortunately – for me, specifically – many of the characters they make figures of don’t interest me or come from shows that I don’t know much about. That leaves Max Factory in the role of the eclectic scale-size figure maker. They’re not nearly as capricious as, say, Daiki Kougyou or Yamato, but well, when one tires of buying Nanoha or Vocaloid or Strike Witches figures, one takes what one can get. Fortunately, Samus Aran surely doesn’t count as a compromise.
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