Those in this hobby know that if you sleep on a figure, you can miss out. I had already preordered Kotone Ousaka from a domestic retailer, but with no assurance that they’d be able to fulfill my purchase and encouraged by the spate of reviews popping up on Japanese websites, I went ahead and picked her up off of eBay. Reactionary? Certainly. Worth it? Oh hell yeah.
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Curiously, the pop culture comics industries of Japan and the United States do not intersect all that often. Sometimes an American property like Star Wars gets a manga adaptation, and Witchblade has the very rare honor of becoming a full-blown franchise with an anime series and all the ancillary accoutrements – soundtracks, figures, its own manga spinoff, and so on. On this side of the ocean, the two big comics companies toy with Japanese visual style – Marvel occassionally churns out titles in their Mangaverse line, and DC has its Ame-Comi series, a catalogue of mediocre toys done in pseudo-anime style. Usually its up to smaller publishing studios like Udon, Devil’s Due, the long-defunct Dreamwave, and very minor imprints like Alias (who I think are also gone) to create comics in anime style.
So imagine my surprise when I learn that not only will a major Japanese toy manufacturer be making 1/8 scale figures of Marvel characters, but that Shunya Yamashita is going to be the one to do the source designs. This has to be the best thing that’s ever happened in the history of humankind, right? Well …
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HARUHI: Alright, since our last movie was so great, our next movie has to be even better! And we need to make sure that it appeals to the Americans.
KYON: Why America?
HARUHI: Because all the best movies are big in America! If we can make a movie that hits it big over there, we can expand the SOS Brigade overseas. We’ll start the SOS Brigade North American Division! I’ll still be the leader, of course.
KYON: … I see. And just what sort of movie are you planning to make?
HARUHI (pacing in a circle): It has to be profound. It has to speak to the cultural sensibilities of Americans. It has to emphasize their rich history, their resiliency, their unshakeable passion for freedom and their love for life. And it has to have sex. And lots of violence. And sex. (looks up) I’ve got it!
KYON (thinking): Oh no.
HARUHI: The movie will be called … “Mikuru Asahina in Escape from Guantanamo Bay!”
MIKURU: No!
I liked Griffon’s first Sasara so much that I picked up their second. This particular offering retains the school swimsuit motif, albeit in a more conventional manner by dolling Sasara up in a standard-issue blue swimwear under her school uniform.
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Another Rei! They never stop coming. What is the world coming to? I’ll tell you what the world is coming to. Obviously Rei and her army of clones have become real. They’ve jumped from the small screen and big screen to reality. To conquer the world and then the galaxy beneath the weight of their multitudes. There is no thwarting them. There can be no defense against their replication. They’re coming for us.
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The re-shooting project continues apace, with my first three reviews ever getting do-overs. Looking back at my older pictures, I cringe at how bad they are. I haven’t been taking pictures for very long but I think I’ve made some improvement. I’m not saying that I’m any good now, mind you, only that I’ve begun doing things differently as of late.
Here’s a few comparison pictures of Haruka:
And a couple from my Nanjyou Ran photo sets:
And finally a couple before-and-after sets of Senhime:
I like how the flowers turned out, particularly on Nanjyou Ran’s shoot; they’re kinda psychadelic. I usually use plain black or white backgrounds but I think I might try to change things up a little bit with props every now and then.
Part of me says that I should keep the old pictures the way they are as a sort of historical record that shows how bad my pictures were. On the other hand, a much more strident and overpowering part of me says that this is my blog and I should do what I feel like and that newbie pictures aren’t something that I want to show off to the world.
Next up for reshoots are probably Lala and Canal. I’d like to re-shoot Alter’s Senhime too; I have some ideas for what sort of setting I’d like to use but it’s going to take some time to put it together.
Here is Villetta Nu, a character from Code Geass, yet another anime series that I am wholly unfamiliar with. Her hotness is obvious even to one as clueless as myself, though, and it wasn’t a difficult decision to pick up this figure.
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Sometimes I like to use figure pictures as wallpaper. Here are a few that I thought turned out okay:
Rei:
Caroline
Gwendolyn
Senhime
Metatron
Sasara
Villetta
Orchid Seed dispenses with pretension when it comes to understanding their niche in the figure industry: they make ero figures, and good ones at that. The Hustler girl, sculpted in a solid 1/7 scale, is the latest in Orchid Seed’s burgeoning lineup, and there is a lot to like about her.
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I didn’t get everything I expected today. How tragic. I did get three things though: the Hustler (they should’ve given her a real name rather than naming her for a porn rag) and Mikuru from HLJ and an Itsuki Kannagi dakimakura cover from Hobby Search. I’m still expecting stuff from E2046 (which was shipped by SAL so I guess it’s not surprising that the package is delayed), Amazon (selected free shipping so I guess I’m getting what I paid for), and Kid Nemo (well, it’s Kid Nemo, so this ain’t surprising. I wonder if they’ve actually shipped my figure?).
The Tonberry was not part of today’s loot but he insisted on being in the picture anyway.
