Category Archives: Anime Figure

Blog 138 > Operation Rebox – Completed

by

4

Mission accomplished! You didn’t think I’d make it, did ya? ^_^;

Back on June 22nd, I launched Operation Rebox. And now, less than 2 weeks later, the operation is complete (sorta, since I don’t really wanna take apart Darth Vader or Storm Trooper). If you threw your two cents of reluctant encouragement, thanx, lol. So to commemorate the event, here’s a nice sampling of the cleaned and *reboxed* figures… Photo Set 1 and Photo Set 2.

P.S. By the way, thanx *Chun* for our debate on commissioned art, thanx *Kris* for our discussion on anime blogging, as well as *Gordon* and *Meronpan* for your random blue-haired replies, lol. I’ve added u guys to my blog list. (If I missed someone, yell back!) Without doubt, the interactivity of the anime blogging community is another reflection of Danny’s tireless efforts. Speaking of tired… Orz

P.P.S. Ahh, what the hell~ *Team Blue* did it, so why not? Self Portrait 1 and Self Portrait 2.

P.P.P.S. Here’s the link to my DC Member News post, hehe.

Blog 137 > Operation Rebox

by

12

Ah, my sad but necessary “Operation Rebox”…

Whoa, while I can’t beat the number of boxes in the earlier “Room O Boxes” post, I’m grateful too! Especially if I have to “rebox” all of my opened figures before my eventual house-move in the next few months. So, as a loose follow-up to the Triple Monitor post, here’s my 12-step “Operation Rebox“. Wish me luck! T_T;

P.S. Here’s the link to my DC Member News post, hehe.

Blog 134 > Blue-Haired Babes

by

4

Thanx *nomadicotaku* for the idea… Got a fave blue-haired babe? (Bad captions not included, lol.)

Here are pretty much all of the blues in my collection. Seems like anime has the monopoly on blue hair, lol… Though I’m not including Kaname (from FMP) since her hair is kinda aqua-turquoise green, or Hazuki (from Moon Phase) since her hair is kinda violet-purplish. I think? ^_^;

Blog 132 > Triple Monitor Goodness

by

Yeah, why not? A photo of my *anime*-style workspace at home. Very little attempt to clean up. Just 48 of my 79-figure collection, plus lots of goodies (and bills, argh).

My setup: (1) Left. 15-inch laptop. About 2.5 years old. My main machine, hooked up to center monitor. Working on Akiko. (2) Center. 20-inch monitor. To watch anime, movies, and check Photoshop graphics. Akiko on top of Purple Mirai. (3) Right. 17-inch desktop. About 4.5 years old. For BitTorrent and Pandora to free up laptop resources. Shiro Otoko & Mirai.

P.S. Planning to buy a 24-inch iMac and 50-inch plasma after I sell my house. ^_^;

P.P.S. Wow, lots of international comments too, hahaha. ^_^;

Blog 129 > Motorcycle Asuka, Baka!

by

Damn, over two months since my last anime post! Sorry about that, lol. Crap happens. Nevertheless, better late than never, eh? ^_^

Well, back on Feb 28th, when I received the E2046 Newsletter #110 “Asuka with Motorcycle 2” in my email, I was totally blown away!!! A breathtaking 1/6-scale depiction of the fiesty Asuka from the classic anime “Evangelion”, boasting her sexy leather outfit, straddling her heavily detailed bike, and grasping a tall can of who-knows-what in her left hand, haha. In both a red version and a black version! Simply amazing! Obviously not PVC material, but is she still worth the $280.00 USD price tag? Wow, if I could only add her to my collection…

Hmmm, I think I like Asuka more in her signature red, but then again, she looks good in black too! If you could, which would you choose? ^_^

Blog 119 > Sepia Death Girls!

by

Finally! Full photoshoot is finally ready! As I teased in my previous Blog 118 > The Joy of Sepia, this month we welcome my latest “Death Girls” — 1/6-scale “Morte from Noir et Blanc” (Toranoana, June-July 2007) obtained in August 2007, and 1/6-scale “Misa from Death Note” (Jun Planning, June 2007) obtained in September 2007.

For this Canon photoshoot, I ended up with 65 shots, taken with the backdrop of a Japanese cemetery. And for the first time, I experimented with sepia! May not sound like much, but as my brother observed, anime and sepia aren’t usually associated with each other, right? In any case, I really like the Gothic atmosphere created with a simple change in color and contrast. I hope you do too. Enjoy the rest!

Warning > I recommend Firefox or Safari since IE 6/7 tends to break under the photo pressure, argh.

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (65) >>

Blog 118 > The Joy of Sepia!

by

Sepia! When I saw my friend Lena‘s “Mad Elephants” sepia photos in her LiveJournal, I had to do it too, lol. So I tried it with my “Death Girls” photoshoot taken earlier this month — my 1/6-scale “Morte from Noir et Blanc” (Toranoana, June-July 2007) obtained in August 2007, and 1/6-scale “Misa from Death Note” (Jun Planning, June 2007) obtained in September 2007. Hmmmm, I think their gothic outfits match the sepia style quite nicely! Their full photoshoot coming soon!

Continue reading →

Blog 116 > Saber Trooper!

by

Triple damn!!! More than 2 1/2 months since my Vader Versus Haruhi photoshoot in mid-August! Tied up with work, anime, my brother’s wedding in September, and the completion of my latest Mirai masterpiece in October. But finally, we welcome my 1/6-scale “Saber in White Swimsuit” (Clayz, June 2006) obtained in August 2007, 1/6-scale “Bunny Girl Yuki Nagato” (Atelier Sai, April 2007) obtained in May 2007, and 1/7-scale “Storm Trooper” (Kotobukiya, November 2003) obtained in July 2007.

For this Canon photoshoot, I ended up with 59 shots, taken with various backgrounds. And for the first time, I experimented with the “Auto Levels” function in Photoshop. Wow, it automatically adjusted the color and contrast pretty well!… But what’s the funniest of all is that this looks like a trooper-armored Danny Choo kidnapping Saber and Nagato! Just like he “kidnapped” the easy-on-the-eyes Aya Hirano, hahaha! Enjoy!

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (59) >>

Blog 112 > Rebuild of Gothloli Asuka!

by

Sugoi! Asuka finally came! Haha, no, not what you’re thinking, but close enough, haha!… During my routine anime figure sweeps, I found the matching 1/6-scale “Gothloli Asuka” (Dec 2007) figure for my 1/6-scale “Gothloli Rei” (Dec 2006) figure, both preassembled in polystone, sculpted by Suzu (Atomic-bom) and manufactured by Amie-Grand. Yes! So I ordered her immediately! Unfortunately, Asuka is likewise in the $120 USD range, which means more ramen for dinner, lol. Both who cares? The figure looks fantastic! Plus, by the time she’s released in mid-December, she’ll easily be sold out in the midst of the new “Rebuild of Evangelion” movies. I won’t regret missing this chance… By the way, did I mention Asuka’s detachable skirt? =)

Otakurl it! >>
Blog 020 > Going All the Rei! >>
Blog 042 > Evangelion Lolitas! >>
Blog 085 > Does Faking It Matter? >>

Blog 108 > Figures of Air, Snow & Death

by

1

Anime Figures
Photo 2292 by xJAYMANx | Click to enlarge
Can’t wait for her photoshoot, lol.

Wow, more than two months since my last collection update! Unfortunately, my 17 boxed figures have grown to 23. Argh, too busy for photoshoots! Nevertheless, here are my latest 7 of those 23 still-boxed figures, including Morte the Death Bringer (Noir et Blanc), Misa (Death Note), and the genuine-not-fake Gothloli Asuka (Evangelion), as well as characters from the breathtaking Kanon and Air series. Enjoy the rest of the photos!

Continue reading →

Blog 105 > Vader Versus Haruhi!

by

Double damn, it’s been 7 busy weeks since my Ghost in the Shell photoshoot. Busy with work, friends, and my Mirai project, lol. But finally, this month, we welcome my 1/7-scale “Darth Vader” (Kotobukiya, July 2005) and 1/6-scale “Bunny Girl Haruhi” (Atelier Sai, December 2006) figures!

For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 38 shots, then narrowed it down to these 28 shots. I must admit, with the huge 13-inch ultra-black figure, the lighting and lack of screen background made the raw shots horrible. Hence the delay in salvaging the shots via Photoshop. Luckily, the final results aren’t half bad. Enjoy!

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (28) >>

Blog 102 > Black Angel of Death!

by

Whew, a frackin’ made it! Back in my Blog 030 > Half-Naked Death (January 2007), I remember seeing “Morte” when she was a 1/7-scale “Morte the Death Bringer” resin figure (HobbyFan.com; purple image below). Yeah, she was definitely a Gothic Lolita with a cute-yet-corrupt edge of Sex and Death! And still is! So while I procrastinated past both the pre-order and order periods for the larger-but-cheaper 1/6-scale “Morte” PVC figure (ToysLogic.com; red image above), I finally found her at AnimeCornerStore.com, smashed away the financial guilt, and snatched her before I could lose her again, forever! Whew!

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>

Blog 099 > Weapons in the Wind

by

3

Whoa! When I first saw her, I virtually fell in love with her! In fact, it’s been a while since I ordered a figure BEFORE seeing an anime portraying her. In this case, she’s 1/7-scale “Fumie” from the Edelweiss eroge (Japanese erotic videogame) with her long raven-black hair, white windblown dress, and old-style pistol and shotgun. There’s just something gothic yet classical, stoic yet carefree, angelic and demonic, about her! So yeah, I ordered her with a target release of November-December 2007. For those interested, the videogame story site is provided with the image below.

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>

 

Blog 094 > Ghost in the Figure!

by

Konnichiwa! For this massive 92-shot photoshoot, we step away from our Gothic Lolita Girls, and welcome the 1/7-scale “Purple Motoko” and approx-1/10-scale “Blue Tachikoma” figures released earlier this year!

Sculpted by Tuyoshi Takahashi, manufactured by a Vice & Alter collaboration, and released in January-February 2007, this faithful 1/7-scale PVC rendition of Motoko — from the long-running cyberpunk epic series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex — portrays her standing coolly and calmly in her gray combat suit with a black pistol hanging loosely from her gloved hand. Just as the Major should be, lol… Meanwhile, manufactured by Art Storm, and released in May 2007, this excellent approx-1/10-scale Soft Vinyl version of the blue Tachikoma — also from the same Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series — depicts the bubbly Artificially Intelligent spider-like mini-tank in a joint-poseable bright blue armor. Just as slick as its animated counterpart!

For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 117 shots, then narrowed it down to these 92 shots. While I used Photoshop to clean up an annoying dust particle which reappeared in Motoko’s hair for many of the shots, no color or lighting adjustments were made. Now, without further delay, enjoy the photoshoot!

P.S. Internet Explorer has now officially pissed me off. If Firefox can handle 90-100 images (4-10 MB total) per page without breaking, then why can’t IE? For instance, (1) both IE6 and IE7 erratically interprets pure black (#000000) in these images as transparent pixels, which results in white dots popping up through these holes (even if I change the [img] background color to black!), and (2) when using [div] tags, IE also fails to display the [div] content as the total number of images approaches 100. Ridiculous. So from this point onward, I can no longer promise my support of IE. Sorry.

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (92) >>

Blog 093 > Fateful Circumstances Revisited

by

I don’t know if this has ever been done before — creating a video by setting a figure photoshoot to music — but in any case, here’s my first one. Ever since my original Blog 044 > Fateful Circumstances anime-figure photoshoot (47 shots taken in March 2007) featuring Yukino & Arima (from Kare Kano) and Saber (from Fate/Stay Night), I’ve had this intriguing idea in my head, of somehow composing a slideshow and setting it to music. After a preliminary 3-photo test, plus a few hours composing this one, I think the video actually turned out pretty well for an experiment! Enjoy the show!

Original Photoshoot >>
Original Full-Size Video > 856×480 WMV >>

Blog 091 > Nope, Figures Won’t End Yet

by

So to answer my question from three weeks ago — Blog 078 > Will Figures Never End? — I guess not yet, lol. Since that post, 17 figures still boxed! While I unboxed two more figures — Shana and Himekuri Girl — I also received two more shipments — Haruhi Suzumiya (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) and Tenma Tsukamoto (School Rumble), two of the most-cluelessly stubborn and hilarious high-school heroines in recent anime. And now, their boxed pics…

Continue reading →

Blog 086 > The Pirate & the Lolita

by

Damn, I couldn’t help it! Not only a new Gothloli Asuka pre-order for August-September, but now grabbing two new pre-orders for October-November! First, a 1/8-scale “Space Pirate” (from Intron Depot 4) with bright-blue hair, black leather and yes, lots of skin, lol.

Second, a 1/8-scale “Gothloli Ryofu” (from Ikki Tousen) with bright-green hair, white stockings, plus removable two-piece top, removable bloomers and removable skirt! In other words, yes again, lots of skin, lol. Snatch ’em now before they disappear forever… or until a possible re-release, haha. Meanwhile, looks like several low-budget months of ramen for me…

Blog 085 > Does Faking It Matter?

by

4

So this morning, I come into work at my cubicle and check my emails. And oddly enough, just for the heck of it, instead of auto-deleting, I checked my home spams to find an “Anime Figure” email from another collector: “H-Gurl”. Definitely not your typical spam! And guess what? Her email was simply a friendly message complimenting my collection and noting some “red flags” concerning possible bootlegs or fakes in my collection. With my Tessa Testarossa (Full Metal Panic!), I agreed with her assessment, not to mention the scratches, deformities and poor finish. But for such a scarce version at the time, paying $1 or $2 (plus shipping) on ebay was better than nothing…

Continue reading →