Tag Archives: Figures

My Five Favorite Figures of 2010 & Year-End Thoughts

written on December 31, 2010 by Tier

It’s the end of the year and in accordance with tradition, it is time for a list of my favorite figures of 2010. As with last year, this list only includes mass-produced PVC figures.
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Posted in Figures | Tagged buddy, Figures, momohime, Random Thoughts, tamaki kousaka, velvet, vivio takamachi, year-end review | 55 Comments

Asuka Langley Shikinami from Neon Genesis Evangelion (Test Plugsuit Version)

written on December 26, 2010 by Tier

Alter Asuka Langley Shikinami from Neon Genesis Evangelion Figure Review

Alter released their second Rei Ayanami figure back in 2008. Collectors waited for an Asuka counterpart but none was forthcoming. That was strange because when you have Rei, you have to have Asuka too. They need each other, like Mario and Luigi, peanut butter and jelly, Asians and rice, schoolgirls and tentacles. Time passed and Alter’s Rei faded from memory until they finally got around to making a movie version of Asuka. And yet, it doesn’t really feel like a counterpart to me. She’s stylistically dissimilar from Rei – she’s got a perch of stone and twisted metal rather than just a flat black plate to recline on, and from observing her, it’s easy to discern how Alter’s production quality has improved since Rei’s release.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, Alter, asuka langley soryu, bodysuit, epic ass, Figures, neon genesis evangelion, Review | 34 Comments

Preorder Outlook VIII

written on December 20, 2010 by Tier

It’s been a while since the last one so it’s a good time for me to collect my thoughts on some figures that I’ve either already ordered or am thinking of ordering. 2011 is looking like an excellent year for figures, and there are a few in this post that have already shot to the top of my wishlist. The pictures here are from Hobby Search, as always my favorite place to buy figures from. I don’t have any advertising on this site and I probably never will, but if I did, I’d roll with Hobby Search. Speaking of Hobby Search, they did send me my Black Rock Shooter stickers – for free, even including EMS shipping – but I haven’t gotten around to slapping one on her butt yet; when I do, I’ll get pictures up here right away.
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Posted in Preorder Outlook | Tagged Figures, Preorder Outlook, Random Thoughts | 49 Comments

Kagari from Ninja Girls

written on December 16, 2010 by Tier

Back in the day, it was all too common for US anime and video game companies to westernize Japanese titles to make them more commercially viable. Mazinger Z became Tranzor Z, Space Battleship Yamato became Star Blazers, and a whole bunch of titles were rolled into Robotech. My personal favorite title change is Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, which translates to “The Eternity You Desire” but was localized as the much less poetic and much more hilarious “Rumbling Hearts.” The first time I saw the new title, I thought it referred to a wrestling anime. Thankfully, with anime becoming more acceptable, if not mainstream, title and content changes have become much less frequent. However, Del Rey Manga reminds us of history by bringing us Hosana Tanaka’s series Rappi Rangai as “Ninja Girls.” Seriously, that’s the best title they could think of? One of the “girls” isn’t even a girl so what the hell?
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, embrace-japan, Figures, kagari, ninja, ninja girls, Review, shorts | 19 Comments

The Ideas That Didn’t Work

written on December 8, 2010 by Tier

When I started doing figure photographs, I stuck with plain-colored backgrounds: first a hideous blue curtain and then a lot of black and white. I got pretty bored of doing that so now I try to do weird stuff. However, being that I’m not a very experienced photographer, a lot of my ideas don’t turn out very well. Some of them are salvageable with some modifications or liberal Photoshopping, some of them require some re-thinking before becoming viable, and some of them are just so bad that I look back at them and wonder what in the world I was thinking in the first place. They say that there’s no teacher like failure, so this post is a tribute to the value of education.
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Posted in Photography | Tagged Figures, photography, Random Thoughts | 45 Comments

Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion (Creator’s Labo Version)

written on December 2, 2010 by Tier

Yamato Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion Figure Review

For years it’s seemed like Rei Ayanami was the it-girl of the Evangelion franchise, particularly when it comes to figures, and Asuka has been a bit overshadowed in comparison. Alter never bothered following up their movie Rei figure with an Asuka, and Mari has gotten a lot of love in recent times. Yamato also did not look like they were going to follow up their own Creator’s Labo Rei figure, leading E2046 to roll out their own version as part of their ORI line. However, there’s been something of a resurgence in Asuka’s popularity – at least in figure form – as Kotobukiya and Alter announced versions of her in her test suit and Yamato finally decided to give their grown-up Rei a counterpart. It’s a good time to be an Asuka fan, though this Asuka is a bit different than the usual redheaded fireball we are accustomed to.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/7 scale, asuka langley soryu, Figures, leotard, neon genesis evangelion, reflect, Review, Yamato | 38 Comments

Buddy from Voices from Har Megiddo

written on November 26, 2010 by Tier

‘Tis the season to be thankful and hopeful here in the United States, and I’ve had a lot to be thankful for in my life. Some of the things that I’m thankful for are my figures and dolls – which are the entire reason this website exists, my camera equipment that gives this site its content, gaffer’s tape – an absolutely vital aid to my photo shoots, hip hop, tentacle porn, Wikipedia, and Fate Testarossa’s thong – sadly ignored these days. The things I’m hopeful for are that Irma and Subaru get figures, that Good Smile Company doesn’t screw up Rin and Saber Alter next year, that the Lakers’s team plane explodes in mid-flight, and that this ridiculous postal embargo blows over. I was also very hopeful that Alter’s Buddy figure would turn out well, as she was one of the figures I was looking most forward to. Now that she’s here, I have another thing to be thankful for.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, Alter, buddy, Figures, panties, Review, scythe, voices from har megiddo | 48 Comments

Black Rock Shooter (Animation Version)

written on November 21, 2010 by Tier

Good Smile Company Black Rock Shooter Figure Review

Some things are just completely review-proof and there’s no real reason to spend any time critiquing them. Harry Potter books and Transformers films fall into this category, and of course, so do any of Good Smile Company’s Black Rock Shooter figures. GSC is gonna make them, people are gonna buy them, and you know what you’re going to get, so we may as well spend our time talking about other things. So let’s begin: have you noticed that not many figure review sites are updating anymore? Or have you noticed that there are a helluva lot of figure news websites these days? I’ll often look at the link feed on Tsuki-board and see the same promo pictures over and over as a half dozen or more sites post the same news. Over and over. Weird. Oh, and have you noticed that Hobby Search only has their Japanese site up? Maybe they’re planning on shutting down international sales! Wait, it’s back up? Never mind then, let’s talk about this figure instead.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/8 scale, black rock shooter, Figures, Good Smile Company, gun, Review | 57 Comments

Ikaros from Sora no Otoshimono

written on November 17, 2010 by Tier

I don’t watch a ton of anime, so it’s rare that I get a character from a series that I’m familiar with. I preordered Ikaros before watching Sora no Otoshimono, but I’m going through the first season now and I like it a lot. It’s a fun, unpretentious show that knows what it’s trying to do and does it well. One of its goals is to establish a cast of sexy female characters that can be exploited commercially, and Ikaros here is a big part of that plan.
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Posted in Figure Review | Tagged 1/7 scale, angel, Figures, grands, ikaros, Review, sora no otoshimono | 32 Comments

Tamaki Kousaka from To Heart 2

written on November 12, 2010 by Tier

Here are a few certainties in life: music that people half your age like will always suck, politicians will always lie, the Washington Redskins will always make terrible personnel decisions, and figure manufacturers from Alter to Yamato will always turn to the Ikkitousen and To Heart franchises for inspiration. In particular, Kanu Unchou and Tamaki Kousaka are consistent winners, and with a barrage of Tamakis scheduled to drop in the near future, now seems like a good time to look at the Tamaki that Max Factory released in May of this year.
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