Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid


Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

Way back when I was in college, I was interested in making electronic music, and being that I did not and still don’t have any musical talent to speak of, I figured the easiest way to do it would be via computer. I had a copy of ReBirth for drums and a MIDI controller that I could use for basslines, my roommate played the guitar so I could ask him for samples, but one thing I didn’t have was vocals. While I might have been able to fake some sort of musical ability with instrumentals, there was no way I was going to embarrass myself by trying to sing. One day, while reading the news from that year’s NAMM on Harmony Central, I learned that Yamaha had developed voice synthesis software intended to provide musical vocals. They had a couple of voices, and I listened to the samples; one of them was of a voice called “Miriam” singing old traditional songs like Auld Lang Syne and Scarborough Fair. They were interesting and innovative in an academic sense, but they were still rather rough and being a broke student, I couldn’t buy the software anyway, so I quickly forgot about them and the whole enterprise and went back to doing my homework.

Fast forward years later; I’m out of college, I’m buying figures, I see a ton of people talking about some young green-eyed girl in dire need of a haircut. Wondering what anime she was from, I Google her name and find out that she’s from “Vocaloid.” How curious, I think, that an anime was named after voice synthesis software. Then I find out that she’s not from an anime at all; Yamaha made a mascot character to ostensibly represent one of their voice packs and it succeeded beyond their wildest expectation. I’m not certain if this whole phenomenon is an ingenius example of marketing or a demonstration of how simple it is to get money from anime fans.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

Normally I talk a bit about a character’s background and personality when I write about a figure, but as a character developed solely to pitch a product, I’m not aware that Miku has either, so I’ll dispense with that and go straight to the figure. Miku comes from Max Factory and is sculpted in 1/7 scale and is about 22 centimeters tall. She comes with no accessories so getting her ready for display is as simple as sticking her onto her base and putting her on a shelf. That sort of simplicity is refreshing, given how many loose parts from other figures I have rolling around on my desk.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

I like the paintwork on her clothing a lot; she’s got a simple charcoal, black, and green color scheme with something of a satin finish on her socks and blouse. The green necktie gives some vibrancy to her simple, achromatic dress, and overall the effect is quite striking.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

I’m less enthused about her hair. I don’t particularly like translucent hair – Alter’s first KOS-MOS figure originally showed opaque, Carolina blue hair, but the final product had translucent hair and I didn’t like that change. Miku’s hair isn’t quite translucent – it’s far too thick – but it has a strange glossy tone that is strongly reminiscent of solidified Daiki gel. That reminds me, I ought to think about picking some of that stuff up from Amiami while they’re doing half off on overseas shipping; it looks like good stuff and I bet I can find all sorts of things to do with it.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

Miku is a skinny girl and her body proportions are a bit unusual even by anime standards. Her shoulders are thinner than her head, and her waist is thinner still. The flare of her blouse and skirt contrasts with the slenderness of her upper body. The flatness of her eyes, her antenna-like hair, and her reed-like limbs and long torso all combine to give her something of an insect-like appearance.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

Max Factory, Good Smile Company, and Volks have all released figures with similar poses: stance spread out with feet canted in, hair splayed out, and torso leaning backwards. Of these, I like the Max Factory version the best by far; the GSC one is aight but I don’t care much for the sideways D mouth, which is sort of the default mouth shape for this sort of girl character, and the Volks one looks okay as a thumbnail but looks rather more horrifying up close, not to mention that it appears that someone has snapped poor Miku’s neck; I’ve seen pictures of lynched people whose heads are positioned like that.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

MF Miku has a bit more personality. She’s got a confident stance with a cocky, showy backwards lean, a mysterious smile and a sideways glance to go along with her mantis-like body build. I don’t plan on getting more than one Miku figure and I wanted one with her in her familiar outfit, and so I think that Max Factory’s version was the right choice for me.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

Curiously, off the top of my head I don’t recall seeing too many reviews of this figure. There’s one up on foo-bar-baz and Ashlotte has one up on Tsuki-board.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

I was looking at the figures that I’ve preordered and I noticed that I don’t have a single Good Smile Company figure in that list. Miku’s sort of become the poster girl for Good Smile Company, with GSC’s logo being on the back of this box. I checked how many Miku figures GSC has put out: 21! Then again, I suppose nobody can blame them for milking their best cow, since other manufacturers have their pet characters as well, like Griffon and Kanu, Alter and Nanoha and Fate, and Kaitendoh and Tamaki.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

No idea what this is supposed to be.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

I have to include a pantyshot, don’t I? Yep, they’re white.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

I’ve got no better place to mention this, so I’ll just say it here: screw you, University of Kansas basketball players, for screwing up my bracket. Way to go, guys.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

I wonder why her vest is fringed with zippers? That looks like it could be uncomfortable.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

You know, I wonder why more companies haven’t tried coming up with cute anime girl products to pitch their products. Like the National Football League, for instance; they play a preseason game in Japan every year, they could come up with some sort of manga with a mascot girl to explain the rules of the game to young adult Japanese males who might otherwise have no interest in watching American-rules football. Or take Microsoft; why not develop an official 360-tan character? They could have an animated version of her on the desktop to greet you in a squeaky synthesized Vocaloid voice whenever you powered on your console, perhaps even parsing the player’s gamertag so that someone with the handle “LBJ23” might be cheerfully met with an exuberant “Konbanwa, Erubi-sama!” Perhaps a little chibi version of her could be animated on the bottom part of the dashboard depending on what games you’ve played recently, so if the last game you played was Madden NFL, she could be playing catch with the gamer’s 360 avatar, or if you played Halo 3, she could be running around with an oversized MJOLNIR power armor helmet with holes cut out for her twintails to poke through (she’d have to have twintails, of course). Or somesuch.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review



When one is reviewing a Vocaloid figure, it’s almost compulsory to include a music video. I went to Youtube to check out some of Miku’s music and I found it to be quite difficult to listen to, so instead I’m going to just put up one of my favorite songs here instead. Robert Randolph & The Family Band is one of my favorite musical groups and the only group I’ve ever listened to live; they tour often and if they do a concert near you, I’d encourage you to check them out if you like rock and funk music as they do a very energetic and entertaining show. What does this have to do with this review? I haven’t the faintest clue.

Incidentally, this recording comes from the band’s show at Asbury Park. The Internet Archive’s Live Music Archive has the whole set available for download for noncommercial use.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

This is figure review #100! I got here faster than I thought I would.

Max Factory Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid Figure Review

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41 Responses to Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid

  1. Lightoss says:

    You are very creative with your shot’s!
    nice review!

  2. Wolfheinrich says:

    I am one of those who never quite got or understand the so call Vocaloid hype, I tried listening to the song when it first got started and I just have to say it sounded quite awful, the pitch is always too high for me. I did manage to get a Miku figure because I was at minimum curious about it. Nice job on the review as always.

  3. Leonia says:

    I like the painting effect on this figure, but the sculpture could be better (hair for exemple). I prefer Good Smile Compny version for that. But it’s a nice figure for Miku or Vocaloid fans ^^ Personally I don’t like Vocaloid and Miku Hatsune.. Thus.. But it’s a nice figure I admit ^^ And you made a lovely shooting !

  4. Aka says:

    “pitch a product” Nice pun! oh that wasn’t a pun? I laughed anyway.

    I also enjoyed the random ruined bracket comment and the required but out of place music video. Creatively done good sir.

    You should work for Microsofts marketing team, I’d buy an xbox 360 if it did that. Ok no I wouldn’t, but Forza’s tempting me, and if I could race a cute avatar, it’d certainly make the game harder. Pretty girls are distracting.

    Oh yeah this was a figure review…

    I actually like GSC’s version of Miku, in her original clothing. I recently managed to finally get a hold of her for a pretty penny, but no where near what eBay seems to think people will buy her for.

    I think she’s quite cute a character and I’m totally fine buying her multiple times. I think I’ve only ever considered the Max Factory Miku to look insect-like, rather I thought alien-esk personally.

    I wasn’t sure where you got 21 from, but then I checked MFC. Lots of Nendoroids mostly. Don’t think that’s fair to count as figures necessarily, but definitely a lot of product for one character. You could add Black Rock Shooter into the mix too if you wanted, while not Miku, is so often associated with her. One could think her popularity is really just overflow popularity from Miku.

    I do wish they’d branch out and do a few more Kagamine Rins, or maybe a Meiko, or Luka. I don’t like MF’s recent Kagamine Rin though.

  5. Raiga says:

    I didn’t get the hype about Vocaloid at first, either, but then I happened across a couple of the really good songs out there and got hooked. I also thought her voice was too high, but I quickly got used to it; now I like it. ^^

    The thing with getting into Vocaloid music is that it all depends on what songs you hear; the software just does what the user tells it to, so it all depends on how good the person writing the song and using the program is. I highly recommend Supercell’s Miku songs. I’m also currently addicted to “Dear” by 19’s Sound Factory, though the rest of the songs from the Sound Story didn’t make much of an impression on me.

    I don’t collect figures (… yet) but if I ever do get one Miku’s pretty high on my wishlist.

  6. Ami says:

    I still prefer GSC’s Miku over this one. As you’ve stated in your review it looks too alien and bug like. I don’t like that. :/ But Max Factory really did an incredible job on her. If I didn’t already own the GSC one I would’ve went for this one since its superior in quality. And I actually don’t mind owning several Miku figures because Miku’s look can vary. I’ve always liked her character design. I’m looking forward to Max Factory’s VN02 and Love is War versions.

    I have to admit I couldn’t stand listening to Vocaloid songs in the beginning but the more you listen to them the less annoying they feel. You just need to get used to the robotic voice. I prefer Len’s voice over Miku’s voice. His voice sounds more natural. His versions of her songs tend to be better too! xD

  7. DaSaru says:

    Am not infected by Miku and her ilk as much as my friends are. She’s cute but not that cute.
    Shows the power of design though. She gets people just by looking like that. 😛
    Agree about the lumpish hair. I like the other versions.

    Don’t be giving MicroSoft any ideas for the 360..they already did OS Idol Win-Chan so if they read your ideas.. imagine the carnage.

  8. Tier says:

    >> Lightoss
    Thanks!

    >> Wolfheinrich
    Yeah, I feel the same way … I mean, she’s cute, but there are a billion cute anime girls out there. The concept fascinates me, how someone or a company can basically invent something very valuable without doing anything innovative (or even trying at all).

    >> Leonia
    OMG there is one person on the anti-Miku platform. I know there are more out there … maybe I should start up a Anti-Vocaloid Response Team club on Tsuki-board … I think I’d get run off that site if I did that, though.

    >> Aka
    Microsoft should totally hire me to put this into effect. I’d have the artists make up clothes for the little 360-tan avatar that you could buy with Microsoft points … I’d make Microsoft millions. Okay, I probably wouldn’t, but something might this might be able to at least carve out some mindshare in Japan … right now when Japanese people think of the 360, they probably think about hardware failures before anything else.

    I’m not a big BRS fan but I do appreciate that the character designer tried to go with something a bit different than what you might normally expect a generic anime girl to look like. Her popularity is still a mystery to me though and yours is probably the best explanation.

    I counted nendoroids mainly because you see them friggin’ everywhere. I tried to get an ad blocker running solely to block that Otacute ad on Tsuki-board (the one with that one K-On nendoroid in a pose that is supposed to be cute but I find to be utterly repellent). I don’t visit figure.fm as much now because if it isn’t Dollfie stuff (which I don’t mind so much as I’m just tired of seeing the same dolls over and over), it’s nendoroid stuff and I do mind that very much. It makes my blood pressure rise and at my age, that’s not good for my health.

    Hmm, I’m going to think happy thoughts now. Ah, I see Maryland lost today! That makes me very happy indeed. Giddy, even. Oh, and while I’m talking about the tournament, I’d also like to say screw you to Georgetown, whom I penciled in to get to the Elite Eight to play … Kansas. Great.

    >> Raiga
    I listened to, uhh, Love Is War, I guess it’s called. I really liked the beat but the vocals detracted from it, I think. Maybe if they’d lowered her pitch a bit, maybe ran it through some filters to make it sound even more computerized … that was what I had hoped to do way back when I was in school, since I figured that would be the only way to get an appealing voice out of the software. Little did I know that a bunch of pop singers would basically use Autotune to do that a few years later.

    >> Ami
    Yeah, I think her alien-like (a good way to describe her, now that I look at her) appearance is part of her appeal to me; she looks different and I appreciate that, while GSC’s version looks a bit more normal, if there’s such a thing in anime character designs. With a character as ubiquitous as this, I like seeing more unusual interpretations, particularly given my penchant to automatically dislike anything mainstream (if an anime-style character could be called mainstream). I like the VN02 version, except for her hair. I even like the version of the blonde girl, uhh, what is her name … Rin or something I guess … the one where she’s holding a bass that strangely has no strings. I thought it looked pretty bad at first but I like it quite a bit now that I look at it again. I’m hoping that Max Factory lets the sculptor use that style on some non-Vocaloid figures.

    I’ll have to give the other Vocaloid voices a listen on Youtube then … just as soon as I stop listening to this Stanley Clarke album (and my old gangsta rap CDs, I’ve been on a gangsta rap kick since I preordered MegaHouse’s Saya Tokido figure).

    >> DaSaru
    She does! And I still don’t get it. I mean, yeah, she’s cute, and yeah, it’s sort of novel to listen to a software-synthesized singer, until you realize that it doesn’t sound very good. Well, I don’t think it sounds very good, other people’s opinions certainly differ.

    That sounds vaguely familiar … I recall seeing a figure or two of that character … I even wanted one (where she’s sitting wearing a tank top and bikini and looks a bit older) but never did get it.

  9. radiant says:

    Shot 15 with the two lit tiles totally reminds me of Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean video.

    I’m not really into Miku’s music, but I am into buying an occasional Miku figure, though so far, I only own three (one nendoroid, the Good Smile Miku, and World Is Mine).

    I think the whole Miku craze is definitely a cult following with strategic marketing. The concept that the fans can participate in content creation using Vocaloid just fuels that popularity culture.

  10. Ashlotte says:

    For me it’s the the fact that she feels like something that finally delivers on some of those SF fantasies we have about Ai and cyberspace. While she may not be intelligent the songs help lend her emotion and a personality…If you watch her latest concert where they used the clear screens to basically make it appear like she was “real” and the crowds reactions it might give a better idea of the whole “Virtual Diva” idea.

    Ah but I’m a hopeless dreamer so I get sucked into stuff like that… >_>

    Haha I see we disagree on the hair though…For me I think it fits her perfectly, but then I’m a lover of this type of hair so meh. :p

    I’m guessing thats why you didn’t take any backlit shots to show off that aspect? Such a shame!. T_T

    But I’m grateful for the ones you did take. ~_^

  11. TheHunterKiller says:

    Microsoft may already be on the path of anime mascots. Windows 7 has an official OS-tan named Nanami Madobe. It even had a special edition theme for japanese copies of windows. I bet MS knew it would leak on the internet and didn’t care. Anyway, with just some wallpapers and some sounds it can actually make an OS look cute. I bet they know and are getting ready to make the next gen Xbox actually like that.

  12. Aka says:

    I suspect carry-over popularity because Black Rock Shooter came out of a song sung by Hatsune Miku. Huke did artwork for supercell… or something along those lines anyway. Also why many people seem to think she’s a reinterpretation of Miku.

    I hate Nendoroids. Massive heads and tiny bodies have always given me the creeps. Because of them I’ve started avoiding some blogs I used to frequent because I just don’t care about Nendoroids enough. I’m cool with the Dollfies though but I’ve never been a big visitors of figure.fm, I’ve posted a little bit but meh. I’d like to get a Dollfie or three, but too expensive.

  13. GREW says:

    I’m not a fan of this Miku. Her eyes… are pretty much “cold” or “dead”.

    I like the GSC Version more then this one. Looks more alive then this.

    But nice pics though ^^

  14. Tier says:

    >> radiant
    OMG someone understood the reference. I feel so generation-gapped when I put up an homage to the greatest music video of all time and nobody under drinking age gets it.

    I guess I can’t really rag on Miku that much, I did buy this figure after all. One’s enough for me though, like BRS.

    >> Ashlotte
    I didn’t know that she had concerts and while I am very interested in the convergence between reality and virtual worlds and characters and possessions, Miku’s music is defined by its lack of personality, since Yamaha can’t constrain what people use its software for. Sharon Apple in Macross Plus had the personality of an insane, obsessive lover and Rei Toei in Idoru was inquisitive and ethereal, but if I had access to the Vocaloid software, the first thing I would do would be to make Miku sing a song about slinging rock, busting caps, and killing cops. If I had any artistic talent, I’d make a music video of her doing these things, perhaps by making a Miku skin and inserting her into one of the various 3D shooting games, machinima style. I’d make her the baddest, hardest twintailed gangsta idol of all time, the Vocaloid that ya love to hate.

    I probably should’ve done some backlit shots … I did like three or four different shoots and dumped most of the photos I took. It sucks when I have an idea for a shoot and it turns out poorly, but I learn something from it so it’s not all a waste.

    >> TheHunterKiller
    I saw some pictures of the character and it looks sorta, hmm, like an office lady I guess. If they do a 360-tan, they need to break out all the fetishes that hit on the things that young single anime-watching males in Japan like. Stuff like headphones … and high socks … neckties or scarves … I guess they’d have to go with green hair since that’s sort of the Xbox’s color but this is sounding very much like a Miku ripoff … hmm.

    >> Aka
    Man I need to learn how to draw. I know I can get rich if I draw the right character and get it up into a video on Youtube and Nico Nico and then control its licensing rights. It’s like that one scene in Jurassic Park (or maybe it was The Lost World) where some corporate types were talking about how they could exploit and monetize their dinosaurs once they bred them, except since my franchise revolves around a fictional character I don’t need to worry about feeding anything or cleaning up dino poop.

    I should start up the Committee for the Final Solution to the Nendoroid Question club on Tsuki-board, but I get the feeling that I’d absolutely get run off of that site, for more reasons than one.

    >> GREW
    Yeah, GSC Miku seems a lot happier. That’s one reason I like MF’s Miku more though, since she seems to be a bit more enigmatic and mysterious and … wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, GSC Miku’s skirt is removable? How is it that I’ve never noticed this before? That immediately vaults it much higher in my esteem. Shame she’s not wearing a thong like every other pop singer does these days, though.

  15. Persocom says:

    I used to dabble with electronic music online, and play instruments for samples and stuff too, but I never really kept up with it and the interest faded over time. I guess that’s one of the reasons Miku appeals to me so much too. I would have loved having her when I did my music but now that she’s out I haven’t really felt like making it anymore. Originally I avoided finding out what she was about because I started seeing her everywhere, until I stumbled across a video, read the description of what Vocaloid is and got sucked into it all XD I actually feel quite odd not owning this figure, but I guess with a Nendo, 2 petits, a gashapon style one, Figma and World is Mine version, I took care of that problem. Only thing I don’t like about this Miku is that with the cast-off feature they should have at given her better looking pantsu, maybe some shimapan or something.

  16. Aka says:

    Tier, I’d join.

    In fact, I’d love to be a ranking member of such a community. Though I suspect the name would be taken in bad taste instead of humour. Which is unfortunate, but I suppose I can understand why.

    Miku in a thong is wrong. But so are white pantsu. GSC’s Miku should have had shimapan/striped pantsu. Can’t find the link but someone modded theirs.

  17. Tier says:

    >> Persocom
    The Vocaloid software is very interesting to me on a technical and music-making level, but I’d guess that a large majority of Miku fans are not aware that she’s the mascot for Yamaha software. I wouldn’t call myself a Miku fan but I’d enjoy being able to play around with the software, in the same sense that when I play Tomb Raider, I enjoy making Lara Croft grunt while climbing up ledges and watching her limbs contort when she topples off a cliff to her death. (That brings to mind the game Full Spectrum Warrior. Full Spectrum Warrior was a game that was touted to be a realistic simulation of US Army fireteam tactics, in which you had to coordinate the movement and target selection of your two groups of soldiers. However, my favorite way to play the game was to make one squad member throw grenades at the other squad to try to launch their bodies up onto the roofs of nearby buildings. My roommate also enjoyed playing the game in this manner, and I had hoped that we could show this to his dad [who was a longtime Army veteran who’d served in Vietnam], but we got bored pretty quickly and forgot about it.)

    >> DaSaru
    Ah yes, I remember her. Hmm, who was the artist who did the source art, was he the same guy who did the art for the Parodius video games, or am I confusing different people?

    >> Aka
    Most unfortunate it would be. I suppose I do not wish to offend sensibilities over there. However, I am happy to offend everyone on my own site! Speaking of over there, Tsuki-board looks like freaking MySpace now with the animated GIFs. The first one was pretty cool. The second one was okay. The third one was like “Ehh … ” The fourth one and every one after that is like, “Aight, this has gotten old already.”

    Miku in a thong is right! Someone needs to make this happen. I’d say Daiki Kougyou could do it but they chumped out on 1/4 scale Saber. Maybe Orchid Seed can do Miku right.

  18. DaSaru says:

    Mine Yoshizaki. He(?) did Sgt. Frog/ Keroro Gunso.
    I think he(?) did Parodius as well. Same-ish style anyway.

    Judging from the figures of Win Chan, you’d think she was designed unclothed, which is not the case. LOL.

  19. phossil says:

    great pics you took! ^^

  20. Aka says:

    I’m done with Orchid Seed after my leaning Corti figure.

    Miku in a thong is wrong, and I stick with that. But if we do have to accept Miku in a thong, she needs a striped thong.

  21. Lylibellule says:

    Like Radiant, i recognized a scene from MJ Billy Jean. It’s impressive! You have great ideas! 🙂

    About Miku MF, i’m not convinced at all. I don’t like either her face due to too big eyes nor her hair appearance.
    Moreover MF could at least renew the pose who is too common to GSC and Volks.
    Too bad because her outfit details are perfectly worked.

    Unlike you, i prefer Volks version, i actually own btw.

  22. Raiga says:

    >>”The Vocaloid software is very interesting to me on a technical and music-making level, but I’d guess that a large majority of Miku fans are not aware that she’s the mascot for Yamaha software.”

    Really? o_O I dunno about other people but half the appeal for me is the music; I assume that was also the case for the hundreds of people at the Miku concert earlier this month. I knew from the start that she was the mascot character designed for the software. Rather, I think of her character design and voice as one entity, sort of.

  23. Tier says:

    >> DaSaru
    Ah, okay, I think I remember that name. I guess figure manufacturers know what the people want XD

    >> phossil
    Thanks!

    >> Aka
    That is a shame, I’m taking a stronger liking to Orchid Seed (although their gothic punk Mikuru is sorta sucky). I just got an in-stock notice for the Lineage II elf and I forgot that I had recombined it with another order, so I guess I’m going to have to wait a bit longer for it >.< Stripes are good. I'm not really a big fan of stripes but anything's better than boring white Jockey For Hers. >> Lylibellule
    Thanks! The idea unfortunately was thwarted by Max Factory’s last-minute design change, though -_- When I saw the prototype pictures on Akibahobby, Miku had a transparent base, which I thought was great, because I had intended to shine a light under ordinary typing paper to get the lit-up sidewalk look. Unfortunately for me, MF gave the production figure an opaque black base. I wound up mounting Miku’s feet on some stilts but it ended up being more trouble than it was worth, so I only took a few shots that way.

    Hehe, yeah, I can see why people may not like this figure much. I waffled on this figure for a while because I wasn’t sure if I liked the face, either; my main beef was with the puffy cheeks. I thought she looked kinda like an old person; you know how old people’s cheeks sometimes puff out? Like John McCain, he’s a perfect example of that. I thought her cheeks looked kinda like that.

    >> Raiga
    Yeah, you’re probably right. I really should’ve said that “I’d guess a large majority of Miku fans aren’t aware that the Vocaloid software originally had nothing to do with anime culture.” Dunno why I wrote that.

  24. VF says:

    Wait a minute!!! Something’s not right here. You didn’t mention anything about her cast-off skirt review!!! 😛

    I’ve just posted my review of the Sega 1.5 Miku, that figure pales in comparison to this one by Max Factory. Glad to see your review up and that you finally found the background to use (aside from the black ones). Love the lighting, it matches the figure well!

    My shots involved some silvery grids like on a disco ball. Will probably be posting that review up after my Max Factory Narusagawa and Native Collet (these are so yesterday’s news – lol).

    One thing I don’t like as much on this figure is the eyes, I find that having the pupil and iris colours so closely matched a little odd – it tends to make the character look lifeless.

  25. meronpan says:

    hmmm didn’t pick her up even though i really wanted a larger scale miku… i actually like the weird translucent thing they did with the hair but something about the face… maybe her eyes? doesn’t quite match my tastes. meh, in years past i’m sure i woulda ordered her 😛 getting picky for no reason nowadays to save some money ^^;

    enjoyed reading the comments about miku fandom and such, thought i’d add my $0.02 (or $20… hopefully i don’t get carried away :P)

    My interest in miku has always been centered around a vague sense of amazement. Growing up with dr. sbaitso, hearing miku’s voice for the first time really blew me away… think it might’ve been japan’s (otaku proclaimed) national anthem she was singing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4YlFd6BJ04).

    After that it wasn’t until I started poking around niconico that my interest flared up again… was really crazy to me seeing all the art, videos, and covers. Something about the enthusiasm really appeals to me. Her voice… yeah… it’s not like she sounds amazing or anything. I almost always prefer a well done human cover if available. (speaking of which have the heard the cover of love is war by some russian singer? her voice matches the song a lot better ^^)

    perhaps it’s kinda like indie games? the enthusiasm and love for the character or music or whatever really comes through in some works and that’s what i latch onto. That’s also why i understand when people aren’t into her i guess. It’s kinduva weird thing to like something because of the passion/effort put into it, rather than the actual quality of work ^^; Well, or maybe that’s not so weird…?

    ah well, i’ll leave it at that for now and mebbe do a miku post later if she’s still on my mind 😛

    thanks for the shots, nice to see how she turned out ^^

  26. Katsura-chan says:

    Ah i love Miku so much 😀 She’s an incredible character even if i know nearly nothing about the whole Vocaloid stuffs. The songs are great but i don’t listen them all the time.
    So i like Miku for what she looks like and that’s all.
    Good point you did a pantie shot, it’s an important characteristic of any skirt/dress figures to me 😀 ha ha
    Strangely enough i don’t have a Miku figure …. yet 🙂
    Like you i don’t really like the glossy effect on her hair, on clothes it’s not shocking to have a glossy style but hair … i don’t approve and on some shots it looks a bit ugly :/
    To bad because without this it would have been a perfect figure.
    Great job and happy #100 🙂

  27. Tier says:

    >> VF
    I don’t think MF’s Miku’s skirt can be removed … Good Smile Company’s Miku can, though. Neither’s got the green striped undies that so many people adore, though.

    Collet is a ton of fun to photograph XD I haven’t seen a lot of English-language reviews of her … I wonder if the price deterred people from buying her or people were too squeamish to put up pictures of her … she’s a little risque, I guess.

    Yeah, I agree about the eyes, that’s one of the things that I think gives her that insect-like look. It also made it harder to photograph her since I always focus on the eyes so I was sitting there twisting the focus ring not knowing whether I was getting it right or not. I think I wound up focusing on her mouth for a few shots, since her lower lip’s a bit more defined than you sometimes see on an anime figure.

    >> meronpan
    That’s an interesting perspective, one that I’ve never really thought of. I’m actually the direct opposite: the more obscure something is, the better the chance of me liking it. For example, I don’t mind mainstream music, but I think that most of the music I listen to isn’t very popular.

    I’m not a creative person (I can’t draw or make music), but if I were and I had the Vocaloid software, I’d use it to create my own characters. I’d run the voice track through enough filters to make it sound substantially different from Miku’s voice (admittedly, I haven’t heard enough of Miku’s music to know if she has a single universally-accepted voice or not) and I’d generate my own artwork; it’s a lot easier for me to become attached to my own work than to somebody else’s.

    Incidentally, this plan would have absolutely nothing to do with my ultimate scheme to become ridiculously wealthy by creating an anime-style character, giving her a generic personality that will appeal to the largest number of anime fans, and selling boatloads of merchandise at exorbitant prices that anime fans will nonetheless hesitate not one second to put down their skrills on preorders.

    >.>

    >> Katsura-chan
    Thanks! Hehe, yeah, I wonder how many people like Miku mainly for her appearance … she’s definitely cute XD I’m not a big huge fan of Miku’s hair in general just because it’s so huge. I’m passing on Max Factory’s other Miku figure (VN02 or something, I guess) just because her hair looks kinda like unripe bananas to me.

  28. VF says:

    Oh man, you’re absolutely right, I got this Miku mixed up with the GSC that has the cast-off skirt. I was wondering why you didn’t mention any of it in the review! I’m sure you would’ve if it did! LOL

    Not sure why there aren’t many Collet figure reviews, probably cuz of the bluntness and “in your face” nakedness? 😛 I actually think Collet is the most display friendly of all the other recent Native figures, she just seems more innocent. She was definitely fun to take pics of.

    Can’t wait till the new Max Factory Miku, I think it’s a pretty impressive sculpt – although the green hair is a little odd.

  29. Tier says:

    It could be! There’s nothing subtle at all about Collet, although I guess she’s not quite as blatant as Native’s Emuko figure. I wonder when Native is going to be releasing Shoujo M? It feels like I’ve had that figure on preorder for half a year now.

  30. Fabrice says:

    Very nice photoshoot!
    make her look even better =)

  31. VF says:

    I think Shoujo is slated for a July release – they can take their time if you ask me. My wallet needs a break. LOL

  32. Tier says:

    >> Fabrice
    Thanks!

    >> VF
    Shoujo S is scheduled for July, but Shoujo M was scheduled for this month … I think she was originally slated for release last November (but she got bumped so Native could get Collet out before Christmas). I guess it’s better to be fashionably late than never.

  33. The Endless General says:

    I’ve noticed that there are quite a few different interpretations of Miku, and some of the other Vocaloids, but no figures of Kasane Teto. I know that she’s a UTAUloid, and not actually the same as the others, but I’m sure they could put some of the energy they expend on yet another Miku to better use and add Teto to the ranks. I think there was a garage kit of her or something, but I’m not gonna go into how inept I am at that kind of thing.

    • Tier says:

      I had no idea who that is so I had to look her up. Man she looks a lot like Amy from Soul Calibur. Figure makers seem to be nothing if not risk-averse, but I agree that it’d be nice to see some new stuff. I’m thinking about hocking this Miku figure just because there are so many that look like it.

      • The Endless General says:

        It turns out E2046 actually sells the resin kit version of Teto. I’m not going to buy it since I suck at painting (I’m sure I could assemble it just fine), but I did add it to their choice station for future Gathering figures. I’m not gonna hold my breath on that, but I guess it’s better than nothing.

        Well, there IS a nendoroid………..but no, not happening.

        • Tier says:

          It could happen, I’ve seen some really oddball kits show up in their Gathering line, and I’m guessing that a few people added it to the choice station.

          Now that I think about it, it’s funny that there are so many nendoroids out there but I don’t think any of my favorite characters have been turned into them. Well, sorta, Uesugi Kenshin is getting a nendoroid and that annoys me but she’s my second favorite character in Sengoku Rance so I guess it’s okay.

  34. The Endless General says:

    She does look like Amy; they even had a side by side comparison picture of them lol. Come to think of it that’s probably why I like her; it certainly isn’t because of her songs, for they are just as bad as (if not worse than) Miku’s.

    Amy was kind of amusing to play; it was funny kicking the asses of huge guys like Astaroth with a pint-sized chick with a tiny rapier lol.

    • Tier says:

      I never did play much as her but I usually do pick the cute girl characters in fighting games. I think my favorite character in Soul Calibur was Seung Mina, and she wasn’t much bigger than Amy, relative to some of the bigass musclebound dudes, anyway. She had that great move where she smashed a dude’s groin with her polearm. Or a girl’s, which was sexy.

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