Random Thoughts VI – Fixed-up Meiya and Cheap Lens Impressions

written on August 5, 2009 by Tier


I got Meiya put back together and as one can see, she’s actually holding her sword now. Am I making a note here, huge success? Hardly; I did an awful job of reattaching her arm, but fortunately the paint is dark and her armpit isn’t visible from the front. Given a choice between ugly arm joint and a straight sword versus a clean arm joint with her sword passing over her right hand, I prefer the former.


I’ve been playing with the new cheap lens; it’s tempting to abuse its capabilities by jacking aperture width as wide as it’ll go. It’s noticeably sharper than the kit lens I’ve been using for all my earlier shots, but it seems more difficult to focus where I want it to. It’s also unusual in that I have to position my camera farther away from the subject than I’m used to; with the kit lens, I’m usually no more than a foot away from the figure, but with the f/1.8 lens I usually need to move back a meter or more to get it in the frame. It’s fun to experiment with, but it does provide a humbling indication of how little I really know about photography.

In miscellaneous news I looked at my preorders and I have something like ten figures scheduled for release this month. It’s gonna be spensive.

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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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Random Thoughts V – New Cheap Lens and Fixing Meiya

written on July 28, 2009 by Tier


I got the famous cheap Canon f/1.8 50mm lens today, although I haven’t had a chance to do much with it yet. I’ve heard that it’s a pretty good portrait lens though, so my hopes are high.


Instead of taking pictures, I spent most of the evening wrestling with Meiya, and not in a good way. As I mentioned in my review of this figure, Hobbyfan screwed up her arm positioning so that her sword doesn’t line up properly. It bugs me to have a nice figure with such an obvious error, so I figured I’d tear off and re-position her arm. As I found out, that’s much easier said then done; her shoulderguard and hand make it near impossible to saw through the joint, and I discovered that my Dremel is busted. I resorted to using a hobby knife to cut through it; I was really tempted to try batoning the blade but I guess that wouldn’t have worked all that well. After cutting maybe half of the way through, I pried the arm off with a can opener. Let me tell you, the can and bottle openers on Victorinox tools are some of the most useful things around. I don’t think I’ve actually ever used them for their intended purposes, but they are outstanding small pry bars.


I think I can position her arm so that the sword is reasonably straight, but as one can see, doing so leaves a conspicuous and hideous gap between her arm and armpit. Sigh. I do have some modelling putty around here, but having never used it before, I have no clue what to do with it. I’ll also have to paint over the putty as well as the damage I inflicted on Meiya’s paint job. I hope the results turn out okay.

As everyone in the figure collecting hobby knows, the summer Wonder Festival recently ended. Lots of good stuff was shown, but Good Smile Company didn’t unveil any new Sora Kake Girl figures. Come on GSC, where’s the Itsuki figure? Don’t let your sponsorship of the show go to waste.

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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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Mikuru Asahina from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Orchid Seed Gothic Punk Version)

written on July 22, 2009 by Tier


Orchid Seed Mikuru Asahina from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Review

HARUHI: Alright, since our last movie was so great, our next movie has to be even better! And we need to make sure that it appeals to the Americans.
KYON: Why America?
HARUHI: Because all the best movies are big in America! If we can make a movie that hits it big over there, we can expand the SOS Brigade overseas. We’ll start the SOS Brigade North American Division! I’ll still be the leader, of course.
KYON: … I see. And just what sort of movie are you planning to make?
HARUHI (pacing in a circle): It has to be profound. It has to speak to the cultural sensibilities of Americans. It has to emphasize their rich history, their resiliency, their unshakeable passion for freedom and their love for life. And it has to have sex. And lots of violence. And sex. (looks up) I’ve got it!
KYON (thinking): Oh no.
HARUHI: The movie will be called … “Mikuru Asahina in Escape from Guantanamo Bay!”
MIKURU: No!

Orchid Seed Mikuru Asahina from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Review

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Sasara Kusugawa from To Heart 2 (School Swimsuit Version)

written on July 21, 2009 by Tier


Griffon Sasara Kusugawa from To Heart Review

I liked Griffon’s first Sasara so much that I picked up their second. This particular offering retains the school swimsuit motif, albeit in a more conventional manner by dolling Sasara up in a standard-issue blue swimwear under her school uniform.
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Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion (Volks Version)

written on July 18, 2009 by Tier


E2046 Volks Rei Ayanami Review Review

Another Rei! They never stop coming. What is the world coming to? I’ll tell you what the world is coming to. Obviously Rei and her army of clones have become real. They’ve jumped from the small screen and big screen to reality. To conquer the world and then the galaxy beneath the weight of their multitudes. There is no thwarting them. There can be no defense against their replication. They’re coming for us.
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More Figure Picture Re-shoots

written on July 16, 2009 by Tier

The re-shooting project continues apace, with my first three reviews ever getting do-overs. Looking back at my older pictures, I cringe at how bad they are. I haven’t been taking pictures for very long but I think I’ve made some improvement. I’m not saying that I’m any good now, mind you, only that I’ve begun doing things differently as of late.

Here’s a few comparison pictures of Haruka:

And a couple from my Nanjyou Ran photo sets:

And finally a couple before-and-after sets of Senhime:

I like how the flowers turned out, particularly on Nanjyou Ran’s shoot; they’re kinda psychadelic. I usually use plain black or white backgrounds but I think I might try to change things up a little bit with props every now and then.

Part of me says that I should keep the old pictures the way they are as a sort of historical record that shows how bad my pictures were. On the other hand, a much more strident and overpowering part of me says that this is my blog and I should do what I feel like and that newbie pictures aren’t something that I want to show off to the world.

Next up for reshoots are probably Lala and Canal. I’d like to re-shoot Alter’s Senhime too; I have some ideas for what sort of setting I’d like to use but it’s going to take some time to put it together.

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Site slowness

written on July 16, 2009 by Tier

This site has been very, very slow recently, with some extended downtime, and I don’t know what’s causing the problem. My webhost’s support staff suggested that the poor performance might be caused by my site’s theme, so if this issue persists, I might revert back to the default theme for a few days to see if that clears things up.

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Villetta Nu from Code Geass

written on July 14, 2009 by Tier


Alpha Omega Villetta Nu from Code Geass Review

Here is Villetta Nu, a character from Code Geass, yet another anime series that I am wholly unfamiliar with. Her hotness is obvious even to one as clueless as myself, though, and it wasn’t a difficult decision to pick up this figure.
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