Tag Archives: sword

Yagyu Gisen from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Yagyu Gisen figure by Alter

Many, many companies make figures of the characters from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, but nobody does it better than Alter. It has been a while since we’ve gotten a new figure of a core character, though; in fact, it’s been over a year since they released Naoe Kanetsugu. Charles d’Artagnan is still MIA, with not even a hint of a prototype sculpt, but presumably she’ll be along at some point in the future. In the meantime, today we will take a look at Gisen, the erotic seductress whose fiery passion and icy resolve conceal a variety of secrets.
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Dakimakura Review – Pretty Girl Knight from the Art of Nakajou (NSFW)

%3 Figure Review

I have to admit that one of my favorite themes in pop culture is the scantily-clad female fighter. It’s not as common a motif as it used to be, I think, which is sort of unfortunate, but it can still be found in anime properties like Queen’s Blade or video games like Code of Princess, which I sadly doubt I’ll ever get to play, given my general bias against handheld systems (though I do actually own a PSP, purchased mainly to play Persona 3 Portable, but I’ve since lost the UMD somewhere). It’s never been a frequent theme in dakimakura cover artwork, though, so when I saw this pillowcase, my interest was piqued straight away.
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Samurai Katanako from 7th Dragon 2020

Katanako from 7th Dragon 2020 Figure Review

The schoolgirl-with-weapons theme is a very popular one, so much so that it’s made its way into Hollywood films like Kill Bill and Sucker Punch. Still, it is a quintessential theme associated with pop Japanese culture, particularly anime and video games, and as such one of the most common weapons for such a schoolgirl is a traditional Japanese sword. It’s odd, then, that looking at my collection, I see I’ve only got a couple of figures of schoolgirls with swords. This one here is one of them.
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Alisa Ilinichina Amiella from God Eater Burst

Alisa Amiella from God Eater Burst Figure Review

When this figure went up for order, I barely knew a thing about the character, but her exotic, elegant appearance and her enormous weapon appealed to my sensibilities. I vaguely remembered hearing of a game called God Eater, though I could not remember where. Later, I learned that it is a PSP game, which explains my unawareness; despite having owned a Game Boy, Game Gear, Game Boy Advance, and a PSP, I don’t really care for handheld games. I like to be able to sit down and devote time to video games, and that’s difficult to do when on the move, and when I’m at home, I’d rather not play a game on a relatively small screen. There are a lot of PSP and DS games with good character designs, though, I must admit. Alisa is one of those good designs and though I know nothing about her, I had no trouble deciding that she looks pretty good.
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Psylocke from the Uncanny X-Men (Sideshow Premium Format Version)

Psylocke Premium Format Figure Review

A couple of years back, I was thrilled when Kotobukiya made a figure of Psylocke. Psylocke is my favorite character in all of comics and I was happy to get any figure of her. Over time, my enthusiasm for that figure – and indeed, Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo line – has mellowed to a certain degree. Not that I dislike them, but it’s clear that the Bishoujo figures are meant to be fairly inexpensive products aimed at a mass-market audience. However, this statue is an entirely different proposition, with supposedly only 750 limited edition units manufactured and a price tag that would deter most collectors. How disappointing then, that once again my enthusiasm is tempered – indeed, extinguished; this time, because of a most peculiar and most irresponsible mistake made by the manufacturer.
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Yagyu Jubei from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls (White Swimsuit Version)

Yagyu Jubei from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls Figure Review

When you don’t have a belt or a strap to hang your swords off of, you make do the best that you can.
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Solange from Code of Princess

Solange from Code of Princess Figure Review

When you’re out swinging a big-ass sword that’s taller than you are, it’s best to dress right for the job.
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Ivy Valentine from Soul Calibur IV (Queen’s Gate Version)

Ivy Valentine from Soul Calibur Figure Review

There ought to be more figures of fighting game characters, and of the fighting game characters who deserves figures, Ivy Valentine should be near the top of the list. She has one of the most easily-identifiable designs in fighting games, she is one of the mainstays of one of the best fighting game franchises in existence, and yet, only three or four figures have ever been made of her, and one of those is from Todd McFarlane’s toy company. Fortunately for Ivy fans, Hobby Japan has recently shipped a brand new figure of her as part of their Queen’s Gate figure lineup. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as good as one might have hoped for.
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Sasara Kusugawa from To Heart 2: Dungeon Travelers (Paladin Version)

Volks Sasara Kusugawa Paladin Figure Review

Despite not being particularly religious, I always like to play as a paladin in role-playing games. I’ve always admired the ethos of the paladin: the self-sacrificing knight devoted to justice and charity. My party leader in the Bard’s Tale games was always a paladin. My Baldur’s Gate parties always had two paladins – my player character and Ajantis in the first game and Keldorn in the second. I played a paladin in EverQuest despite the hindrance of the hybrid experience penalty. I stayed away from World of Warcraft for years because I was told that paladins were only good for healing and I didn’t care to spend my game time staring at a CTRaid status window while mindlessly spamming the Decursive key (I wound up doing that after I bought the game, anyway). When Volks announced that their Sasara figure was called the “paladin” version, my curiosity was piqued, and when I saw the promo pictures, my interest was confirmed. I had some slight misgivings because Volks’s Moekore figures tend to not feature the cleanest production quality, but I figured Sasara looked good enough that I wouldn’t care. I figured correctly, because pally Sasara is a very impressive figure indeed.
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Heat Blade from Tsukasa Bullet (NSFW)

Yamato Heat Blade Figure Review

I placed my order for Heat Blade with Hobby Search on June 15, 2010. She was originally scheduled for a fall release, but that got pushed back, and back, and back, and it was not until just this month that she finally hit stores. In the period between the placement of my order and the writing of this post, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks won NBA championships, the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and (effectively) Libya fell to populist revolutions, the NFL went through a lockout, Japan was devastated by an earthquake, the collective manhood of Washington, D.C. was devastated by an earthquake, Charlie Sheen somehow got fifteen minutes of fame despite already being famous, the exchange rate dropped from 91 to 77 yen to the dollar, and I wrote 58 figure reviews. And one tentacle stand review. What a busy time it’s been.
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