Tag Archives: sword

Kiriko Hattori from Enka Oudou Dai Shogun

Yamato Kiriko Hattori from Dai Shogun Figure Review

Here is a riddle: gather together a major figure manufacturer, a world-famous anime artist, and a graphics studio whose portfolio includes contributions to Metal Gear Solid 4, Tales of Vesperia, and Valkyria Chronicles, and what do you get? The answer is absolutely nothing other than a pair of boobie mousepads and a figure. Enka Oudou Dai Shogun was touted as a multimedia event, but I haven’t seen any of its media apart from a couple of illustrations in Shunya Yamashita’s One Voice artbook. It looks like nothing more will come of it and presumably it will thus be consigned to the dustbin of memory, just like Shuraki. Anyone remember Shuraki? There were some good figures from that series. Fortunately, Kiriko is a fine figure as well.
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Kaguya Nanbu from Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier Exceed (NSFW)

Volks Kaguya Nanbu from Super Robot Wars Figure Review

There’s been some supposition that every figure I buy winds up in the bargain bin. I guess that’s partly a function of me buying a lot of figures and is also indicative of a curious trend in the figure hobby. In recent times we’ve seen VN02 Miku Hatsune, the first and the latest Black Rock Shooter figures, Dead Master, Vivio, and tons more figures receive huge price cuts and I’m not sure why so many high-profile releases are getting their prices chopped so hard. I’m sure this situation pleases collectors worldwide but I’m still a moron who pays full price for everything so I seldom get to partake of this happy occasion. I wonder what it says about the health of the industry. Regardless, here we have a figure that I’m sure won’t end up in a discount pile any time soon.
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Tamaki Kousaka from Manaka de Ikuno!! Final Dragon Chronicle – Guilty Requiem

Kotobukiya Tamaki Kousaka Samurai Figure Review

One of the more lamentable trends in entertainment media during the last couple of decades is the phasing out of the action girl in the battle bikini. They used to be commonplace, particularly in video games, where examples include Golden Axe’s Tyris Flare, SNK’s Athena, the valkyrie in Gauntlet, Sheena in Contra Hard Corps, and a bunch of characters from the early Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games. Nowadays, not only are they not nearly as common, you often see a peculiar aversion to sexiness on the part of female characters. World of Warcraft hasn’t had adequate bikini armor for two expansions now, much to the lament of my four paladins. I hear that the people running Tomb Raider want to place less emphasis on Lara Croft’s appearance, which explains why Square Enix can’t make good games anymore. Sonia Belmont got torched from Castlevania continuity altogether. This trend may be due to an attempt to be more inclusive and more appealing to larger audiences, or a desire to create more realistic characters, or a perceived lack of maturity associated with creating scantily-clad warrior girls. Whatever the cause, it sucks. Fortunately, Kotobukiya and Leaf agree, so here we have Tamaki Kousaka, the first of many Tamaki figures scheduled to drop this year.
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Leina from Queen’s Blade (NSFW)

Daiki Kougyou Leina from Queen's Blade Figure Review

Some might say that going into a fight in nothing but your panties isn’t very smart. Well, when your first fight is against a lady with acid for milk, it’s the only thing to do. I mean, anybody who’s seen Aliens knows what happens when you get splashed with acid while encased in body armor; you wind up getting your arm burned off after it goes right through the plating. Nah, when you’re fighting jelly demons and fire mages, less is definitely more when it comes to protective gear.
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Darth Talon from Star Wars: Legacy

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

Having been born in 1980, I was a little too young to get into Star Wars. I vaguely remember getting my dad kicked out of the movie theatre by crying during The Empire Strikes Back, and I think I remember liking the Ewoks (thus proving what a dumb kid I was), but I never had any Star Wars toys or a lunch box, and I never saw any of the original trilogy movies in their entirety until their re-release back in the 90s. I was much more of a Star Trek fan, those movies being released just as I was becoming old enough to appreciate movies. I never got into the whole Star Wars versus Star Trek thing either, though; I mean, you got one franchise with green-skinned slave girls in bikinis, and the other offers red-skinned Sith in bikinis – with a particular badass example being Darth Talon – why choose between two beautiful things?
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Fate T. Harlaown from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS (Cobra Kai Version)

Cobra Kai Fate T. Harlaown from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Review

One day back in June, I woke up and went through my normal morning routine: brush my teeth, make lunch, and shut down every emotion but rage and spite in preparation for the drive to work. Before heading out the door, I checked my e-mail, checked Statcounter, and loaded up Moeyo. Then I saw this figure. Treasure Festa was in full swing and Cobra Kai was showing off their rendition of Fate T. Harlaown. It looked so unusual that I had to think for a moment whether I liked it or not – Toshirou’s sculpts are sort of eccentric, and they’re not something that everyone is gonna love. I’ve got a couple of his figures – chained-up Kanu and gangsta lean Saber – and I like them a lot, so I decided that this version of Fate was pretty dang cool. Plus, Toshirou’s circle is called Cobra Kai. How cool is that, that they named themselves after the villains that brutalized Daniel-san? Sweep the leg … do you have a problem with that?
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Fate T. Harlaown from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS (Shin Sonic Form Version)

Alter Fate T. Harlaown from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Review

Now it’s time for a tale told by an idiot who proved his idiocy not just once but twice: first by passing over this figure, and then, having changed his mind months later, paying twice its list price for it. It ain’t no thang to me, though, as I’ve come to terms with my limited mental faculties and I’m not about to let something like common sense get in the way of me owning this figure. I’m a year late and quite a bit more than a dollar short, but all that matters now is that Fate is in my collection.
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Momohime from Muramasa: The Demon Blade


Alter Momohime from Muramasa: The Demon Blade Review

I was very surprised when I saw the first pictures of Alter’s Momohime figure; she was one of those characters that I had hoped would get a figure but didn’t expect to. Alter had already shown some love to Vanillaware’s properties, having produced Gwendolyn over a year before and having announced Mercedes by then, but I had thought that they would unveil a figure of Velvet next. Instead, we got a figure of Momohime, and I’ve got no cause for complaint as it is a gorgeous figure indeed.
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Psylocke from the Uncanny X-Men

Kotobukiya Psylocke from The Uncanny X-Men Figure Review

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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Zabrina from Cabal Online

E2046 ORI Zabrina from Cabal Online Figure Review

With the exception of a brief moment of weakness during the recent Star Trek Online beta test, I’ve been MMO free since kicking the Warcraft habit a year and a half ago. I don’t miss the games at all, but I still like looking at the character designs that populate the various games in the genre. Apparently E2046 does as well, as they’ve turned time and again to MMOs for inspiration, and so here we have Zabrina, their latest figure.
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