Category Archives: Figure Review

Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier

written on September 11, 2009 by Tier


MegaHouse Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier Review

I hadn’t planned on buying Sheryl Nome, but after seeing early reviews of her, I decided that she passed the eyeball test and that I should acquire her. To my consternation, she was sold out everywhere I looked. HLJ and Hobby Search briefly restocked her the day that she was released; she sold out hours later literally as I was removing my credit card from my wallet (one would think that I’d have my number memorized by now). As I resigned myself to the reality that she wouldn’t be entering my inventory, I took a look at BeNippon, a retailer that I hadn’t ordered from before, much less heard of. Hope was rekindled as they listed her as in stock with one unit left, and I quickly paid up and now she’s here.
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Narika Shihoudou from Beat Blades Haruka

written on September 5, 2009 by Tier


Alter Narika Shihoudou from Beat Blades Haruka Review

Alter’s Narika is a figure that I’ve been anticipating since she was announced. I really like Alicesoft’s character designs and given Alter’s history of producing superb figures, I had high expectations for Narika. As usual, Alter does not disappoint, as they’ve made another amazing figure.
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Mirim from Queen’s Blade Rebellion

written on September 4, 2009 by Tier


MegaHouse Mirim from Queen's Blade Rebellion Review

Up to this point I’ve passed over the figures from Queen’s Blade, but when I saw the promo pictures for Mirim, I knew she was going on my buy list. With a profession given as “Ultra-Vibration Valkyrie,” how could I resist her? Add in a cute outfit and a chainsaw sword and I was sold.
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Sumika Kagami from Muv-Luv Alternative

written on September 1, 2009 by Tier


Good Smile Company Sumika Kagami from Muv-Luv Alternative Review

I hadn’t planned on getting any more of Good Smile Company’s Muv-Luv figures after Meiya Mitsurugi, but I can’t deny that Sumika really is cute. Furthermore, my Rogue preorder at BBTS was scheduled to ship at the end of August, and as fate would have it, that same store had Sumika on sale for a relatively cheap price. How could I not take advantage of such a serendipitous occurrence? It is like the planets have aligned, the cards have turned up just so, fates have intersected at a confluence of capitalism and happiness. It was meant to be, and so I tossed her in my shopping cart, added her to my order with Rogue, and now she is here.
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Saber from Fate/stay night (Clayz Version)

written on August 27, 2009 by Tier


Clayz Saber from Fate Stay Night Review

Saber has been in the news quite a bit recently, so with a bit of a respite before the impending flood of figure releases at the end of this month, now is as good a time as any to go way back in history and take a look at one of the earliest Saber figures. This particular Saber is from Clayz and is sculpted in a mighty 1/6 scale. If I remember correctly, I picked this figure up in early 2006, and even then it was rather hard to find.
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Nadie from El Cazador de la Bruja

written on August 20, 2009 by Tier


Alter Nadie from El Cazador de la Bruja Review

With no figures in the mail, I turn to my existing collection for photography practice. Let’s take a look at Nadie, one of the heroines of El Cazador de la Bruja. Nadie is a fairly old figure and she’s been on my shelf for a while; I had to clean some spiderwebs off of her before I took pictures. Yucko.
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Dark Elf Female from Lineage II

written on August 11, 2009 by Tier


Good Smile Company Dark Elf Female from Lineage II Review

Now this is a figure that I never thought I would own. The dark elf female was originally produced back in 2007 and sold in limited quantities in Japan. Those on this side of the pond had to contrive alternate means to acquire her, which usually entails exorbitant expenses. As my means were quite limited back then, I had to pass on her, much to my chagrin. My regret was compounded by the reality that in this hobby, if you miss out, you seldom get a second chance.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that she would be sold this summer not by Japanese retailers like Hobby Search or HLJ, but by Entertainment Earth and Big Bad Toy Store, each an American toy retailer that principally offers American products. I got my preorder in with the quickness and the dark elf arrived last week. There are lots of reviews of her already – this figure being two years old – but here are my thoughts.
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Marie Mamiya from Starless (NSFW)

written on August 7, 2009 by Tier


Volks Marie Mamiya from Starless Review

It’s yet another figure from an H-game. Looking at my traffic statistics, my ero-figure reviews are by far the most popular pages on this site. Here’s hoping that this review continues that fine tradition!
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Kotone Ousaka from the Art of Tony Taka (NSFW)

written on August 1, 2009 by Tier


Native Kotone Ousaka from Taka Tony Review

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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Black Widow from Marvel Comics

written on July 26, 2009 by Tier


Kotobukiya Black Widow from Marvel Comics Review

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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