Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou (Queen’s Gate Version)

Junko Hattori figure

One of the nice things about Hobby Japan’s Queen’s Gate series is that it gives a spotlight to a few characters who wouldn’t otherwise get a lot of love from figure makers. Dizzy was one, at least until Alter made their figure, and I’ve also ordered Ivy Valentine’s figure, since she’s only gotten a few thus far. I gave some thought to trying to get the Queen’s Gate figure of Katja from Seikon no Qwaser, but while I like the character, I would’ve liked the figure more if she were in her dominatrix outfit. Curiously, Lily from Namco’s Tekken series stands out as the sole Queen’s Gate character not to get a figure thus far. That’s a shame; I wouldn’t mind seeing a figure of her, especially in her 3P costume. Oh well. Junko Hattori is another character that would seem an unlikely candidate for a conventional, mass-market figure; she’s not generally regarded as one of the best characters from her show, and her show is primarily known for its absurd level of incoherence. At any rate, I do like both the character and the way that she looks, so even though having to go through a proxy service is a bit of a hassle, I ordered her right away and here she is now.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

Junko Hattori is one of the female love interests in the anime Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, or Demon King in the Back Row. The show stars Akuto Sai, a well-meaning young man who has the misfortune of being the prophesied demon king. Junko is one of the first students he meets at his new school, but when his future avocation is revealed she misjudges his intentions and reacts violently, only to suffer repeated abuse and humiliation. Various other girls are subsequently introduced and for a while the show looks like it’s going to be a fairly typical school-based harem anime.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

Every November is National Novel Writing Month. On November 1st, aspiring writers from around the world – contrary to the name – shove aside priorities and life in an attempt to hammer out a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month. The objective here is to go for quantity rather than quality, and as such it comes as no surprise that writers will often write themselves into a corner from which their stories cannot be extricated. One remedy broached on the Nanowrimo forum suggests rescuing a doomed plot by dropping ninjas into the story. No matter what the story is, if you’re stuck, just drop in some ninjas and see what happens. Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou champions the uninhibited spirit of this approach, adding in not only ninja, but also a flying battleship, tentacle monsters, nude bondage, samurai miko androids, and a dragon, all for no discernible reason. In addition, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou uses a clever method to sidestep the problems with pacing, character development, and plotting that plague many anime – it simply omits these things altogether. Coherence and plausibilty go out the window in favor of surfboard broadswords, naked flight, deicide, and general badassery. I enjoyed watching the show, though I still have no idea what it was about.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

The female cast of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou is taken right out of the handbook of stereotypical harem anime girls. Junko is the tsundere girl, continuously distancing herself from Aa-chan before succumbing to the fire in her loins. Normally I detest the tsundere archetype, but I don’t really mind it with Junko – mainly because every time she gets bitchy, she gets beaten up, knocked out, bukkake’d, or otherwise humiliated. That sounds misogynistic as hell, now that I think about it, but fortunately, all of these characters are fictional. And to be fair, Junko does become absolutely adorable when flustered, such as when she game-plans her love proposals.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

The Queen’s Gate figures have been made by various manufacturers, but Junko is the only one to be made by Good Smile Company. As an upper-tier manufacturer, expectations are automatically set higher for them. Good Smile Company offers a good initial impression by making Junko appear relatively large for a 1/8 scale figure; she’s about 19 centimeters tall, including her flame base. Her sculpt is also very eye-catching, particularly her pose and her clothing.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

However, her clothing is going to be a point of contention for owners of this figure. Good Smile Company published pictures demonstrating that Junko’s clothes are removable; however, they are actually glued to her body, meaning that you’re not going to be stripping her without a fight. I’m not sure why GSC showed the shots of her in her underpants if they weren’t going to allow her clothes to be taken off, and it’s a regrettable thing, coming after they messed up the star on their Black Rock Shooter figure. If you want to see what Junko looks like without her ninja suit, this Japanese review has pictures.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

So. To be honest, I’m disappointed but not distressed. I didn’t plan on removing her clothes, since I think she looks better with her ninja outfit. Many figures with removable clothing either look good naked or look good in clothes, but not both, and I think Junko definitely falls into the latter category. Also, given how many figures I own, I’m not predisposed to fussing around with figures anymore. These days, I want to take the figure out of the box and put it on a shelf without worrying about how to take it apart and put it back together.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

That’s not to say that Junko is ready to roll right away, though. She comes with a couple of weapons – a katana and a kunai – that need a bit of care to get into her grasp. In particular, her sword is quite flimsy, being made of thin, lightweight plastic. Her base comes in two parts but everything holds together quite securely; you can lift Junko by her torso without any fear of her feet coming loose, even though the base is relatively heavy.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

Scowling, heavily armed, standing atop a sweeping arc of flame with cleavage and crotch exposed to both the elements and appreciative stares, Junko effects a powerful sense of energy and presence. Her costume highlights the various aspects of her personality; her armor emphasizes her martial nature, and the mismatched leg armor, left gauntlet, and loose right sleeve add a hint of nuanced asymmetry to her ensemble. The Japanese-style robe and sash obviously point to her cultural origins, and the scarf provides a touch of elegance and a splash of bright color. And of course, her skimpy fundoshi underwear – or outerwear, as it’s just about fully visible – shows her complete lack of common sense. Or perhaps it shows she doesn’t mind that her ass is hanging right out of her outfit. The fishnet stockings and low neckline further jack up her level of wanton sexuality, or utter cluelessness.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

I’m shameless enough to admit that one of the major motivations that impelled me to watch the show was Junko’s fundoshi. I like figures of cute anime girls in thongs, and I specifically tag all such figures on this site. Good Smile Company has done a very nice job with Junko’s underwear; the strap does go all the way back, unlike many figures I own. Her ass looks great and there’s a bit of cameltoe in front, which is an admirable sculpting decision. One of the things I really like about this figure is how from some angles, she looks like a fairly typical sexy anime kunoichi, but from the angles where you can see her fundoshi, the effect is about as subtle as a donkey punch.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

I’m generally not too enthusiastic when figure makers try to sculpt special effects out of translucent plastic. Usually it just winds up looking fake as hell. Here though, the flame effect actually looks really cool, and there’s the added bonus of her bottom base being transparent, thus making it easy to blast a flash pulse right up into Junko’s crotch.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

So while the lack of a castoff display option might be salt in the wounds of some collectors, I’m not too unhappy about it. It’s pretty weak of GSC to pull this kind of switcheroo but at least her outfit and pose look fantastic. Junko is an action girl with a sword and a thong, and anybody who’s read this site for a while knows that that’s exactly the sort of anime character that I like. With Dizzy being amazing and Junko being beautiful and with Saber Alter actually hitting her release date – and also looking astonishing, it’s a very, very good time to be a figure collector. Junko was a Hobby Japan exclusive so she might take a bit of effort to track down, but she’s definitely worth both the time and the money.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review

For another review of Junko and more pictures, check out Biotoxic’s site.

Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Figure Review
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48 Responses to Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou (Queen’s Gate Version)

  1. Shashin says:

    Wow, awesome figure, and it’s certainly nice to actually know the character the series is from (other than the mainstream staples, of course.) I generally agree with you about the plastic effects, but it looks like it turned out fairly well. The lack of cast off is a shame, considering it was shown in the sample shots, but I guess it works out since it always appears that companies struggle with getting the character to look good in both forms and she looks great clothed.

    Hmm, despite my dakimakura collecting tendencies that require me to scour YHJ and obscure blogs, I really haven’t gone far out of the mainstream with figures; I think I’ve purchased two from YHJ (black miko Kanu and Gigapulse SouSou) and maybe 4-5 from Mandarake, with the rest coming from AmiAmi or HobbySearch. I’ll have to take a look at Hobby Japan’s website and see if there aren’t any exclusives I’d be interested in. I haven’t seen the Katja figure you mentioned, and while I still crave a good figure of her in a devious mood, I’d definitely consider any good Katja offering.

    • Tier says:

      I get annoyed when companies sacrifice sculpt quality to facilitate a castoff feature; I’m still displeased with FREEing’s Senhime figure, since they bulked out her clothing to make it removable and then made her body overly slender to allow her clothing to fit, thus making her look bad in both setups. I don’t know if I’d say GSC made the right call – I guess I wouldn’t, actually – but at any rate, they did a fine job with her clothes.

      I gotta admit that oddball figures definitely appeal to me. The bulk of my collection comes from the usual sources – Alter, MF, GSC, though I do seem to have a lot more Yamato figures than many collectors – but I also enjoy collecting stuff from makers or series that aren’t very well known. I’ll admit that part of the reason I collect vmf50 dolls is because they aren’t nearly as popular as other vinyl dolls.

      The Katja figure was this one here, under the pillowcase. Yokatta has a bigger picture. It’s a nice figure and now that I’m most of the way through Seikon no Qwaser’s first season, I kinda regret not ordering it.

  2. Ashlotte says:

    Wow that was one bizarre jump you made in that third paragraph…I was going “Wait what did he copy paste something from a different article accidentally?” haha.

    Ah but yea even though I can’t stand her as a character I won’t deny she has a very nice butt thats for sure! Probably like her from behind the best because of that awesome gold pattern she has on the back of her clothes there!

    I am disappointed there is no Lily figure…Oh well since its Queen’s Gate it would have been exclusive anyway. T_T

    • Tier says:

      I was wondering if anybody was actually going to read through that. It’s good to know that people are reading what I write, since I assume that everyone just scans through the pictures.

      Yeah, I would like a Lily figure; Alisa would be good too. Tekken’s not really filled up with moe-type characters but I guess Alisa might come closest. Until her head comes off, anyway.

  3. Saber says:

    I almost pulled the trigger on this one also, we seem to have a lot of similar tastes in figures.

    But I’ve started collecting Hot Toys figures, so I can’t afford her now. A figure this good, should have had a mainstream release though. Looks like I’ll just have to go without.

    • Tier says:

      Those Hot Toys figures are crazy expensive. I was thinking of picking up one of the Iron Man figures a while back but I decided I couldn’t afford it. And I really wanted one of the Alien xenomorph toys but I decided I couldn’t afford it. I’m hoping they re-release some of their Aliens toys though, since I could stage a lot of cool battles between it and the president.

      Yeah, it would’ve been very nice if this figure had gotten a general release; it’s a definite step up in quality from Dizzy and MegaHouse’s Yagyu Jubei. Heck, I didn’t even remember that I owned that version of Yagyu Jubei until just now.

  4. Wow, excellent job with the lighting! Love what you did with #7!
    I didn’t pay that much attention to this figure, as it wasn’t all that appealing to me (no attachment to this figure). But it’s good to see just how well she turned out, GSC certainly did a great job with this one. Like Ashlotte, I found the third paragraph odd – but in a good way. It felt like it came out of nowhere and drew my attention right back in. It’s like having ninjas drop down out of nowhere. Surprise!! 😉 LOL

    • Tier says:

      Thanks! Yeah, part of the reason I wanted this figure was because I liked the character … sorta odd since she’s normally the sort of person I detest but I also enjoyed Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou.

      Ha, I’m just seeing who’s paying attention XD Demon King really is one weird-ass anime though. I remember seeing screencaps of Junko in her ninja outfit and I had no idea who that was at first, and then I thought she must be cosplaying or something.

  5. Tian says:

    Her face looks really generic but the rest of the figure is pretty sweet (especially awesome when you fired the flash through its base). Good Smile’s detailing is impressive indeed. Given the subject matter, it’s kind of weird that GSC didn’t give any cast-off options.

    • Tier says:

      I wonder what the rationale was for that … I mean, they could’ve easily foregone the glue if they wanted to. I can’t imagine licensing would be a problem, since boobs are a staple of Queen’s Gate figures and the anime features fully nude characters. I dunno, it’s just a weird thing, I guess. I wonder if the GSC blog ever provided an explanation.

  6. Fabienne says:

    Wow, that’s really an action pose, this figure has 😉
    In general I comment about the pictures at last, but not this time. These are really bad ass flash effects in junko-hattori-01.jpg, junko-hattori-07.jpg and junko-hattori-12.jpg, very impressive o-o.
    I remember watching Demon King and I liked it quite a bit, but the end was completely rushed without any consideration XD, somehow I also forgot what the show really was about.

    Hattori has a good face expression especially in the first two pictures it looks so nice.
    The outfit of this Hattori Ninja girl looks also nice, it has so many details and the sexy elements like the cleavage and the butt of Hattori are very well inserted in the whole outfit.
    I really like the fishnet stockings and the armor around the legs, it looks so cool.
    Mhh does the sword fit in the scabbard on her back eventually?
    Well, congratulations for getting her, to me she appears like a very good figure ^_^

    by the end of this month I should hopefully get my Queens Gate Hyper Nurse Painkiller Kotone-chan from Tokyohunter.

    • Tier says:

      Thanks XD I didn’t finish watching the anime until a couple of months ago, but I had already heard about the bizarre turn it takes halfway through the series. Even so, I wasn’t prepared for just how bizarre it gets. I found that refreshing though; there are so many pretentious anime shows that take themselves way too seriously, and I find myself rolling my eyes when I watch them. It’s nice to see a show where the writers are just like, “Forget it, let’s just throw in a big-ass dragon and see what happens.”

      Unfortunately the sword doesn’t fit in the scabbard, I think. At least, I didn’t try it, but that’s what I’ve heard, and the sword feels so fragile that I don’t want to take it out of her hand yet.

      Ah, cool, that’s a very good looking figure XD I had thought about getting it and I think I would’ve gotten it if it didn’t require going through a proxy, but I decided to go with the Gotou Matabei figure that went up for preorder about the same time. I’ll be looking forward to seeing your pictures of Kotone-chan!

  7. Aka says:

    What a terrible series that was. I watched it but I thought I just didn’t pay attention when nothing made sense.

    It’s nice to see a proper thong, ok it’s a fundoshi, but it’s nice to see it follow through up between the cheeks. It’s annoys me when they don’t do that. I don’t much like thongs generaly, but if you’re going to make a figure with one, you must do it correctly!

    It’s too bad she’s not cast-off as advertised. I previously bought a figure like that (Sill Plain) and was severely disappointed at the time when she arrived and wasn’t. However, older and wiser now, looking back at the photos I’d seen of her being cast-off, she wasn’t that appealing anyway as a cast-off. However she still had the price and seams of a cast-off figure, so even in my forgiving older and wiser self I still sold her because she was a disappointment.

    • Tier says:

      It doesn’t surprise me one bit that you feel that way.

      Yeah, I always think it’s kinda weak when a figure maker skimps on that. Orchid Seed especially likes to do that; it’s a big reason I didn’t go for their Ziska figure. Alter also did it with Dizzy, which is a bit surprising but I guess understandable since she’s pretty small. It’s less understandable with Alphamax’s big-ass Mai Shiranui figure.

      I’d be much more displeased if Junko’s ninja outfit didn’t look so nice, but I still have to wonder why in the world a manufacturer would put up photos of a figure in castoff mode, only to prohibit it in the production figure. I just can’t see any upside to doing that – though looking at the price of that charity plush that GSC is selling, maybe they did it simply out of arrogance.

  8. DaSaru says:

    Ah. I was wondering why there was no nude shot of a cast-off figure. So the reason is; there is not cast-off.
    Too bad. Maybe GSC is not ready for topless castoff since their previous ones only strips them down to their bra and panties..which makes it weird why they would take on this project if they won’t go all the way.

    I cry for Lili..I was expecting her figure too.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I don’t get it either. They’ve done a few topless figures before, Pixy Hiyori and some character from Chu Chu Astram whose name escapes me … I want to say that Unity Marriage Yuno could also be rendered topless but I’m not sure about that. Oh, and there was also their Lineage II human mage figure which could be cast off, but had no nipples. Yet another bewildering design decision … actually quite a bit more bewildering than gluing down Junko’s clothes, I think. Man, it’s been a while since I’ve thought about that figure.

      I would like a figure of Lili, though to be honest I don’t know much about her. I’ve got Tekken 6 but I haven’t spent much time playing it … for some reason I’ve never really been able to get into Tekken. I enjoyed playing Tekken Tag Tournament a lot with friends, but I never got any better with it, no matter how much I played.

  9. Chag says:

    Only 1 ass shot? WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH TIER?

    I think the thing I like most about this figure is the way the clothes seem like in the process of falling apart. I say this because both the “slit” and the neck of her clothes ride right into her obi. If feels like the obi is fighting a war with the forces of physics and is losing the battle, which is bound to have very sexy outcome.

    • Tier says:

      Only one shot! I must be mellowing in my senescence. Although that’s actually more than I did for Momohime.

      Yeah, that’s something I like too. From some angles she looks perfectly fine, like a stereotypical anime ninja girl and in other angles, you realize just how exposed she really is. The funny thing is, I don’t remember her getting her ninja outfit blown off in the anime; she always lost her schoolgirl clothes but her fighting outfit seemed to stay intact.

  10. drakanity says:

    Didn’t know they made a figure for her. Interesting. Too bad about the cast-off. Especially for that particular show, a cast-off would almost be necessary lol. Although seeing that it was from GSC, a cast-off that actually shows something would be rare for them I think.

    Since you’re cool with it, I guess that’s good. I would be severely upset though. I’m not a fan of censorship (if the original had it) or having some thing or feature taken away from me when they say it is included. Like when some games and anime that are released here tone things down or remove something from the original release, I’m disappointed.

    I remember buying the Akira? Bome figure and the Japanese version had a cast-off. The one sold here was glued on. It sucked.

    However, did they ever mention any reason for it? Or was it just “surprise!”?

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, it doesn’t seem right for this figure not to be castoff-able, given how her clothes keep exploding off of her. Now that I think about it, it’s also a bit weird she’s not wearing her sarashi here, though I’m certainly not complaining.

      I take things on a case by case basis; if the circumstances were a bit different, I’d be incensed. For example, while I’m not too bothered by Junko’s lack of castoff-ability, back when I got Daiki Kougyou’s huge-ass Saber figure, I expected the clothes to be removable since the garage kit had a very distinctive body sculpt and Daiki Kougyou is certainly not hesitant to sell explicit figures. After I’d already ordered it (and couldn’t cancel because of a Hobby Search policy), I found out that her clothes were partially glued down, her body had been given a bizarre skin tone, and her neck had mysteriously been extended to an unnaturally long length. Rather disappointing, that. That reminds me that I really need to get around to reviewing that figure, being that I’ve been kicking around a backdrop idea for something like a year and a half now.

      I never heard an explanation, and I don’t think they ever provided one. I guess that being this is a magazine exclusive, they don’t feel the need to go contrite like they did with the BRS mishap.

  11. Luth says:

    Loved the review! This was a figure that I liked the look of a lot but the exclusivity and cost turned me off for a character I had no idea about. Regretting it slightly after seeing these shots though. Really love the ones with the flash under the base, transparent bits in figures are meant to have lights blasted through them! xD The lighting it casts on her legs and such makes it look like she really is riding on flames.

    • Tier says:

      Thanks! I didn’t even think about the possibilities that Junko’s base provided until I decided to do a second shooting session and was like, “Oh hey, her base is transparent.” It’s a very nice aspect that opens up a lot of creative options. It’s something that I think I ought to explore more often.

  12. Sloth says:

    I love the outfit and how it turned out, those patterns on her cape and waist-cloth-thing, that armour and the scarf are all very impressive. This figure is pretty much perfect in every way IMO. The only reason I didn’t order her is that I wasn’t that much of a fan of the show nor her character.

    It does urk me that GSC continue to fail as a company though. Shoddy paint job, missing features that were advertised and less than generous in size of some scaled figures are my major complaints. I don’t know what to think of Junko though, as the exclusive nature and the collaboration with another company for this figure probably forced GSC to try and not screw up to avoid an expensive lawsuit.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, it’s kinda disturbing trend going on with them; I used to rank them even with Alter and Max Factory but now I consider Alter ahead of everyone and GSC and MF as second tier. Curiously, I didn’t get many GSC figures last year – I think BRS animation version was actually the only one I got – but I’ve already gotten three of their figures this year, with Saber Alter in the mail right now and Rin Tohsaka and actsta Fate in the preorder queue. Nadeko Sengoku looks great, Junko looks great in spite of the odd design decision to glue down her clothes, and actsta Nanoha isn’t very good. I’m looking forward to Saber Alter and I expect her to be awesome, but given GSC’s recent track record, I can’t help but think that the other shoe is going to drop.

  13. BioToxic says:

    Lighting up her base is a cool effect – makes the base even more interesting to look at. I tried myself but failed miserably and gave up. Displaying her with the sword in reverse (blade pointing at the ground) also looks cool. Excellent photos as always.

    The Daimaou anime really was just a mash-up of anything and everything by the end. I could have forgiven this if I cared enough about the characters, but I really didn’t. Although I must admit now that Hattori is in figure form and in Queen’s Gate I’ve given her a little more attention than I had done when watching.

    I had a go at trying to cast her off myself. I even went out to get tiny magnets so I could put her back together. My attempt halted at the point where I had to cleanly cut her red scarf from her left shoulder. I’m certainly no modder, I just couldn’t commit to slicing her up any further. If only she wasn’t exclusive I’d get a 2nd “untouched” one. I’ve had to lock her away in my display case to prevent any further urges to break her clothing.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I had no clue what I was watching by the end. I liked the characters though, which is why I like the show. I hold great disdain for shows with spineless male leads and it was nice to see a show where the main character was a pretty good guy who didn’t mind stepping up and being assertive.

      I pulled her head off to clear out the plastic sheeting and gave her scarf a tug. When it didn’t come off, I was like, “Yep, not castoff-able.” Unless the figure is a wreck, I don’t think I want to try to try anything irreversible, particularly since her ninja clothes look pretty good.

  14. The Endless General says:

    Kinda regret not getting her now, she looks really awesome in your photos…….

    Oh, and I successfully found a shelf to display all three of GSC’s Sabers. Saber Alter is easily my favorite one, and I’ve only had her for a day. Maybe it’s the way her color scheme stands out next to the other two, or maybe it’s the titanic vortigern lol. Either way, she managed to topple Saber Lily from my favorite spot, and I didn’t think that could happen.

    • Tier says:

      I’m waiting on mine, I guess she’ll be here in a few days. Unfortunately her review is going to be delayed since I don’t have her set ready and I’ve got other things I have to get out of the way first. I’m expecting her to look great, though.

  15. armorknight says:

    So is Demon King a harem series where the male lead actually puts the bitchy women in their place. I might really enjoy the series if that’s the case since it’s almost impossible to find a male harem lead with any balls, much less enough balls to actually take charge of the female cast.

    As for the figure, it looks sexy, and I like the outfit as well.

  16. Phi says:

    Hey Tier.

    Not sure if this’s been around since forever or just recent but it seems your header changes everytime on refresh? Really nice effect! 😀

    • Tier says:

      Thanks! Yeah, I just put that in yesterday; I was getting kinda tired of the same Vivio picture all the time. I’m gonna try to make some more, I’d like maybe ten or fifteen different headers; I’ve only got five now and they kinda repeat too often, I think.

  17. Devastator001 says:

    Wait so clothes is glued to the body but they also did the details underneath? @_@? am confused! So they initially decided to make her cast-offable and at the last minute changed their minds? Quite strange considering they made Chu-Chu astram and Hyori Pixie cast-offable =/

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I’m not sure what they were thinking there. It makes no sense to me, at least. At least with Daiki Kougyou’s Saber that also regrettably went from castoff-able to glued-down, there’s a plausible explanation that Type-moon might not have allowed it (since I can’t think of any Fate/stay night PVC figure that had a castoff option) but here, I can’t think of an explanation.

  18. Cantan says:

    Had Hattori’s sword the other way around so tried to reverse it… bad move. Bent the ruddy handle which is very annoying.

    It’s funny that top-lit I keep thinking she has chubby cheeks (face) from the shadows of her hair. Quite like the effect as it detracts from the size of her eyes a bit – rather excessive I’d say.

    Overall she has grown on me – was a little skeptical initially when she arrived – think the oversized head and eyes with such a slender frame was unfortunate – just a good thing she doesn’t do cast-off – ratios look too bad.

    Finally got round to setting up on MFC – a bit of an eye opener. Fortunately don’t have too many figures at the moment – 33+ a few extras I haven’t dug out yet (think there are a couple of knock offs I didn’t include), but I have 9 on order (+ another 3 from E2046 not listed) and most of them are due for release imminently or are already enroute… wait, make that 10 (+3) just realise I forgot PP’s Jubei.

    Mid-may resolution… cut spending quickly!

    • Tier says:

      I wish they’d made the sword out of stiffer plastic, it’s got to be one of the flimsiest figure accessories I’ve got. I had Ninja Turtle action figures that had sturdier weapons.

      Yeah, that was the main thing I didn’t like when I saw her castoff photos, she resemebled FREEing’s Senhime in that her head was huge and her body was too small since it had to accommodate the clothes. So I’m pretty happy to keep her clothes on, since she looks really good fully dressed. Wish I could say the same thing about that Senhime figure. I also wish I had time to torch my old photos and re-do them.

      I really ought to cut spending too, but I see Hobby Search discounted a bunch of figures and now there are a ton of Fate Testarossas in their bargain bin. It’s so hard for me to resist them, especially the Cospa one.

  19. zzzzzy says:

    Omgomgomg She looks so baddass! I’m so looking forward to mine to arrive, along with Dizzy and Matabei Goto. Just got a mail informing that the last one wont be ready to ship until mid june (which was supposed to be ready at the end of this month… -_-

    Your photographs always gets so good! I’m not that good photographer, although I want to be.. I usually just bring out the figures to a shady spot in my backyard to take photos, classic. But the result is of course not as good as yours. Sux to have the same figure but less impressive photos to impress with xD
    I read an interview of you somewhere, where you mentioned tips for taking photos. I guess I should re-read it!

    By the way! -I loooove Tsundere!!
    //Your review is great as always!

    • Tier says:

      Ah, I guess I’m not too unhappy, since while I’m very much looking forward to Matabei, I don’t have a backdrop ready for her yet. Or much of an idea. I guess I better start thinking.

      Thanks! Keep at it, practice helps a lot; I post my favorite pictures here, but I’ve got tons of atrocious, bewildering, and absolutely hilarious pictures that I don’t put online, except when I want to show off my failures. But I don’t mind that I often fail, since I learn a lot from them (admittedly, the major lesson I take is usually, “Don’t try anything this stupid ever again”).

      I guess I should say that I like the “dere” side but I really don’t like the “tsun” side. Junko was really cute when she did her one-person acting session. It helps a bit that she looks like a grown-up character; it seems to bother me more when the tsundere is a little flat-chested twintailed loli girl (and for some reason, it seems a lot of them are exactly that).

      • zzzzzy says:

        Thinking of my three about to come figures Matabei, Junko and Dizzy, it seems I got a sudden bomb of blue haired girls haha. I loved the facial expression of Matabei! Looks like she’s going to stick my eye with her spear if I’d stare at her too much! I kind of like the kick-ass type of anime characters =), but yeah, as long as they dont get too manly with the flatchest or the bitchy attitude.

        I don’t have so many figures yet though, but I believe we have a quite similar taste! although it seems I’m going for a more warrior-girl theme. maybe it is your reviews which is helping me making the decisions ^^. I was thinking of maybe buying the Tohsaka Rin GSC figure that everyone was anticipating. did you get it?

        • Tier says:

          We probably do, as I’m also a big fan of fighting girls. A lot of the figures that are in my review queue are fighting girls, hopefully Saber Alter will be next but if I can’t get her backdrop ready in time, I’ll probably do one of the swimsuit figures that I have boxed up.

          Yep, I definitely preordered Rin, I’m looking forward to her. Though I have no idea what to do with her pictures; I had a few ideas but then I noticed her base is some dirt with swords sticking out of it, and that pretty much destroyed my ideas.

  20. zzzzzy says:

    I guess I should get Rin too! Although It’s going to be tight with money, I might regret it if I dont get her soon! =/. I’ll just have to hope I’m not going to have to pay customs charge for the Fate figure i just bought!

    • Tier says:

      You should! She looks like a figure that’s going to sell out upon release. Even though I could’ve saved a ton of money by waiting for discounts on figures, I usually preorder the stuff I buy just in case I don’t get a second chance down the line.

      • zzzzzy says:

        Aww! I’m kind of tight om money right now.. maybe I should had bought Rin instead of the 6000 yen Fate figure.. anyway.. I’ll definately get her sooner or later!

        By the way! I’m curious how your complete collection of figures look! You should make a blog post of your room or something like that =), or something like that =)

        • Tier says:

          Aww. Well, at least you’re still getting a really good figure. Hopefully you’ll get a chance to get Rin down the line, too.

          Haha, I bet it would be interesting, but my room is in such disarray that I’d be far too embarrassed to do a post like that. Apparently there’s this TV show called “Hoarders” which I only learned about very recently and it’s about people who keep lots of stuff. My room looks kinda like it ought to be on that show. I didn’t even know compulsive hoarding was a study area for psychologists; I think it’s perfectly normal.

          • zzzzzy says:

            Oh! I just got inspired of this guy that uploaded pics of his appartment, which looks cool! http://www.flickr.com/photos/28329384@N05/sets/
            I’ll pimp up my room like that one day…

            By the way! Have you seen the new Hyakka Ryoran figure of Naoe? I’m not that familiar with penguin parade figures. What do you think of the quality of their figures? I wanted Alter would make her though..
            Alters Yagyu, Senhime and Yukimura didn’t look as well as I wanted them to be.. at least on the photos. (Especially Senhime which was my favourite character of the series). so I convinced myself to not buy them…
            Well, they look good, but I wanted them to stick out more.
            At least I got the Hanzo and soon: Matabei (which looks awesome!).
            However, too bad Penguin Parades Naoe is for sale in Japan only anyways (Amiami) =(

  21. Tier says:

    A Redjuice fan he must be. His setup is very nice, I wish I had some free space so I could tidy up a bit. I also see this guy has Pixy Hiyori, that’s a figure I really regret missing out on (among quite a few others).

    I saw it just went up for preorder the other day. I’m not familiar at all with Penguin Parade though, other than knowing that they’re one of the companies under Good Smile Company. To be honest, I’m kinda wary about those companies; I’ve got one FREEing figure and it’s not very good, and I’ve got one Phat Company figure and I think it’s pretty bad. That’s not to say that Penguin Parade must be bad, though. However, Alter’s shown off a prototype sculpt and I’m not sure which one I like better.

    I’m really looking forward to Matabei as well. I’ve seen Naoe for sale on Hobby Search’s website, so you can still get her if you can order from them.

  22. Steve Chen says:

    With my Christmas stocking list being pretty bare, now the deluge comes! After Alter Dizzy, I managed to score a pre-owned Junko (with Queen’s blade being my primary collecting bishoujo fix) for Hobby Japan’s Queen’ Gate spin off.

    As usual, your pics do great justice to an already equally awesome figure.. The detail in person is quite outstanding. GSC never really disappoints (unlike Volks’ Iroha, such a wasted potential in the cast off department, though technically, I’m a bit hesitant in attempting it on her). From the subtle blush on her cheeks, the armor details, her thin fundoshi and the flame effect on her heels. She is a well made figure………and a pain in the @ss to find. Not to mention the wtf sized box she came in.

    • Tier says:

      I agree, this is a great figure, and I’d be happy if GSC did more Queen’s Gate figures or figures in a similar style. Though it’s funny that you bring up castoff potential when Junko can’t have her clothes easily removed, but she looks so good that I haven’t even thought about removing her clothes in a while.

      • Steve Chen says:

        At least based on your link reference, it is possible to remove her armor (which I won’t even attempt lol ) but my Volks QG Iroha…….the seam lines on her apron……..so freakin’ obvious that you’d think the feature was a given……….maybe SNK didn’t green light the feature too?

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