Tag Archives: Kotobukiya

Mari Illustrious Makinami from Neon Genesis Evangelion

written on May 23, 2010 by Tier

The longevity and impact of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise is nearly without peer in anime, and a large part of its lasting popularity is due to its iconic characters, particularly Rei and Asuka. And what’s not to like about them? Both are young, sexy girls who are curiously well-developed for their age and wear tight bodysuits when going into battle. One is a taciturn, robotic introvert and the other is an assertive, mercurial hotshot with the temperament of nitroglycerin.

None of Gainax’s other properties have come close to the endurance of their foremost creation, and so they’ve taken the obvious course of action and remade the series, sticking in a new girl in the process. In this hobby, it’s the closest thing to having your own money printer.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/6 scale, bodysuit, epic ass, Figures, Kotobukiya, mari illustrious makinami, neon genesis evangelion, Review | 17 Comments

Psylocke from the Uncanny X-Men

written on May 18, 2010 by Tier

When Kotobukiya introduced the world to their Marvel Bishoujo line, I immediately thought that Psylocke was an obvious choice for that series. She’s Asian, she’s hot, she doesn’t wear many clothes, she’s a perfect match. Kotobukiya took their time announcing her, but announce her they did and while I was thrilled, my happiness was tempered by the fact that Rogue and the Black Widow fell short of what they could have been. Regardless, Psylocke is my favorite Marvel Comics character, so there was never any question of whether I would acquire her.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, Figures, Kotobukiya, marvel bishoujo, ninja, psylocke, Review, shunya yamashita, sword, thong, weapon | 18 Comments

Elwing from Shining Wind (Goddess of Forest Version)

written on May 9, 2010 by Tier

You know, character introductions can be really tough for me to write sometimes, especially when I don’t know jack about a character’s background. When I do, it’s pretty easy, but for a character like Elwing here, I don’t really know anything about her and I’ll sit in front of the keyboard trying to come up with something witty to write, but in this case, I want to go back to playing video games and admiring my new pillowcase, so I’m just going to say that I like Tony Taka’s art, I like big figures, I like cheap figures, and I like figures where the subject isn’t wearing many clothes. Put all those together and you’ve got my attention, and that’s why I have Elwing.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/6 scale, elf, elwing, Figures, Kotobukiya, Review, shining wind, swimsuit | 16 Comments

Dizzy from Guilty Gear XX Accent Core

written on February 13, 2010 by Tier

Curiously, figure manufacturers don’t often look to fighting games. I’m not sure why; fighting games are rife with awesome and awesome-looking characters. Okay, Iroha briefly achieved it-girl status and Mai Shiranui, Cammy, and Mina Majikina get figures every now and then, but there’s nothing from Tekken, nothing from The Last Blade, nothing from Virtua Fighter. Even the Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur, and The King of Fighters series – which feature some of the most iconic fighters in video games – are barely represented in the figure hobby. There are no scale figures of Helena or Lisa, Sophitia or Seung Mina, Kula Diamond or Mars People.

Above all of those, I’ve wanted a figure of Dizzy. She’s my favorite character in all of fighting games, but apart from Max Factory-produced figures of a Shunya Yamashita-inspired I-No and the transvestite Bridget, there seemed to be no inclination on the part of figure manufacturers to look at Guilty Gear X. But fortune works in strange ways, and thanks to the popularity of the Queen’s Blade series, there is now a figure of Dizzy, the Guilty Gear X character who was adapted into a Queen’s Gate book, which is itself an adaptation of the Queen’s Blade series, which is itself an adaptation of Scottsdale, Arizona-based (of all places) Flying Buffalo’s Lost Worlds game books. Strange ways indeed.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, dizzy, Figures, guilty gear x, hobby japan, Kotobukiya, Review, wings | 25 Comments

Isoroku Yamamoto from Sengoku Rance

written on January 27, 2010 by Tier

After playing through Sengoku Rance, I decided that I wanted more figures of characters from the game. I wound up getting Kenshin and Isoroku Yamamoto, and if Shikibu had a figure, I’d get that too. Sadly, she does not, and sadly, many other worthy characters from the game haven’t been so honored. Kotobukiya or Orchid Seed or someone should retool to make a figure of each female Sengoku Rance character; the world would be a better place for it.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, Figures, isoroku yamamoto, Kotobukiya, Review, sengoku rance, weapon | 30 Comments

Kotonoha Katsura from School Days

written on November 15, 2009 by Tier

As everybody knows Amiami is now accepting orders from international customers. I order most of my stuff from Hobby Search and HLJ, and seeing as how Amiami’s prices are quite a bit lower than either of those two stores, I was curious as to how good they are. I planned to order MegaHouse’s Aldra since she was on sale, but seeing as how they had one Kotonoha figure left, I tossed her in the shopping cart as well.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, Figures, Kotobukiya, kotonoha katsura, Review, school days, school uniform | 19 Comments

Rogue from the Uncanny X-Men

written on September 14, 2009 by Tier

Once when I was a kid living in Seoul, my uncle took my brother and I to a comic book shop near downtown, just a bit west of Gate 1 to Yongsan base. I doubt it’s still there, and I have no idea how my uncle even knew about this shop in that pre-Google Maps era. I was bewildered that such a shop even existed; I didn’t think that Koreans had much interest in American comics (despite being ethnically half-Korean myself, I’ve always identified with being American and I had no interest in Korean culture at that time). I remember the store had a barter system, and my brother traded off some of his books for new ones. I had no comic books of my own so I asked my uncle to buy the comics I wanted for me. One of the books I got was Uncanny X-Men #218, which had some of the female X-Men battling the Juggernaut. I didn’t know much about the X-Men, but one character in particular caught my eye – she wore a tight black bodysuit and a loose green tank top and had an awesome 80s haircut with a white skunk stripe through it. In the issue, she threw a punch at the Juggernaut, took one in return that launched her into orbit, and then she came back for more. It was a great book, and Rogue became one of my first childhood cartoon character crushes.

What? Stop looking at me like that. I know you had cartoon character crushes when you were a kid, too.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, bodysuit, Figures, Kotobukiya, marvel bishoujo, Review, rogue, shunya yamashita, x-men | 17 Comments

Black Widow from Marvel Comics

written on July 26, 2009 by Tier

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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Posted in Figure Review, Kotobukiya | Tagged 1/8 scale, avengers, black widow, bodysuit, Figures, Kotobukiya, marvel bishoujo, marvel comics, Review, shunya yamashita | 4 Comments

Masane Amaha from Witchblade

written on June 28, 2009 by Tier

Looking back at an older figure in my collection, we have here a figure of Masane Amaha, the heroine of the anime adaptation of Witchblade. This particular 1/6 scale figure is from Kotobukiya, who has put out three other Witchblade figures: one of Masane in casual wear, one in red Witchblade armor, and another one which is identical to this figure other than her paint job, which blackens her legs and torso. I guess the sort of half-nudity rife in the anime Witchblade wouldn’t fly even on Japanese television, so the original broadcast censored the character designs by giving them dark tights. That version seems to be all but forgotten now. As it should be.
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