Color+Sound = Gundams, Figures, Otaku etc.
For those who read my last post know that I’m leaving the figure blogging to the pro’s and closing down mine, after my next figure arrives (Tuesday)
However I’ll still be taking photos and buying figures, and I plan on posting these images on Picasa.
Thanks again for reading, it has been fun.
It’s been a few days since my Rei has come, and I haven’t had much time to even look at her! Sculpted by the talented REFLECT, and designed by spectacular Shunya Yamashita… probably one of the best combos I’ve seen. There are some major issues however and it’s the paint app. The sculpt makes up for much of the lousy paintwork, but more on that later.
First Impressions: Since pretty much everything from Yamashita and REFLECT are beautiful, that was the initial thought. At first glance it’s a beautiful figure, sexy, and looks like a grown up Rei.
Upon further inspection, I noticed terrible paint application, which from what I understand is typical of Yamato. I can’t blame anyone else for me buying this figure, I expected as much. This is my first figure from Yamato, so I’m not sure what flaws are common for the company. Most of the paint issues are sharpness, pieces that are two seperate colors like the silver bars on her hips or the black lines on her legs. The one thing that gets me the most is the paint (or lack of) on her chest. Definitely looks like there was a paint shortage or something in one spot, showing a dull color underneath. Not sure what it is about the paint on her butt cheeks, in a certain light it gets wavy, making it look like she’s got cellulite. It’s only noticable in harsh lighting, so it didn’t show up in the pictures. Overall skintones are really weird, especially in her cleavage area.
Enough complaining! All is not lost! The figure itself is not that bad. The sculpt really pulls it out from the dirge. The seam line on her head is pretty basic, but attention is directed towards her hands, so it’s not such a big deal. Her body proportions are perfect, REFLECT has a nack for beautiful women. Her rear just looks so real! While some would agree he didn’t quite capture the hotness of Yamashita’s drawings, he came pretty damn close. In a league of her own, this Rei is perhaps my favorite figure based off of Yamashita’s work.
(My most viewed picture from this batch at the moment ^^;)
(Although it comes with a basic blue base with fancy lettering, it beats Alter in terms of quality.)
While I’ve seen HobbySearch sold out of this figure since it came out, it doesn’t seem to be selling out in America…Makes me wonder if it’s the Yamato name.
As a sidenote, a postcard came with the figure, with another, more suggestive Rei Ayanami, courtesy of Yamashita ^^
(sooo blurrry)
Manufacturer: Yamato Creators Labo
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Scale: 1/6th
Sculptor: REFLECT
Released: Late December 2007 (Japan)
American Price: Around $60.00+
Japanese Price: Around 6500+ Yen
(Available in America now via KidNemo)
I really wish I were one of those otaku that haul bunches and bunches of figures… but that’s not the case ^^; I think over time as an otaku-with-little-money, I’ve grown selective, almost too selective, of what to buy.
Here’s a list of things I’ve ordered recently:
- Anime Legends : Big O, Complete Collection 1
- Mighty Muggs : Han Solo x2
- Creators’ Labo : Rei Ayanami 1/6th Scale Yamato
Being a long time fan of Big O and all of Roger’s shenanigans, I felt nostalgic after seeing this sweet new Big O figure of some sort at one of Danny Choo’s festival coverages. After receiving a gift card last month without anything to buy, I decided to get the 1st season of Big O. While I’m sure it’s much too late to cover each episode like my failed Outlaw Star attempt, I’ll probably mention it here and there until I finish the 13 or so episodes.
Hmm…..Mighty Muggs…I still don’t know exactly why the hell I bought these. The package was nice and stylish, similar size to Revoltech boxes, and the figures looked.. well… I don’t know. To be honest it was mostly an impulse buy, I only saw 2 Han Solo’s and 1 Chewbacca. I didn’t want to spend all of my cash on 3 figures, so I bought 2 Han’s, 1 of which will be on Ebay soon. I’ll probably end up selling the opened one too if anyone’s interested. Please leave a message if you’re interested.
Ah, Rei Ayanami. One of the most beautiful characters placed in a violent and disturbing atmosphere. I’ve loved everything about Rei since I watched Evangelion. I’m still waiting for the Kotobukiya “You Are Not Alone” Rei figure (the good stuff via Mukyaa), but I decided to go ahead and order the REFLECT version first. This is why I love the otakusphere, it’s very common that bloggers in Japan etc. will already have the figures I want, and so it’s easy for me to decide whether or not the quality is worth the price, yadda yadda. However, what I found with Yamato’s Ayanami was that no one has her… I’ve looked high and low for pictures but to no avail. I found one flickr account with some pics but no real review. I assume everyones just either disappointed in their figure or just avoiding the Yamato name in general. I took the stab to contribute to the otakusphere by buying my own figure. I’m crossing my fingers for an above average figure, but I realize that might not be the case. I ordered Rei from the wonderful KidNemoCompany. Hopefully via USPS Priority, I’ll have her within the week.
I have a feeling no one will answer this question ^^; but I’ll throw it out there anyway : what do you fellow otakus enjoy about the otakusphere?
Here’s some kooky photos of my Mighty Muggs Han Solo. (I’m practicing to get the black background but it’s not good enough. -_-)
REFLECT is known for his quality sculpts, and this rendition of Shunya Yamashita’s envisionment of Rei Ayanami from Evangelion is no exception. Absolutely gorgeous and stunningly beautiful, it is perhaps in my opinion one of the best non-anime versions of Rei yet. The question is, could Yamato pull it off? Don’t get me wrong, Yamato is a solid company, but after seeing the shoddy work on Final Fight’s Poison, my opinion strayed off a bit.
Looking at the pictures from Hobbysearch, the paint seems decent. Since her hair is shorter I wouldn’t expect any noticeable paint flaws. Overall, the added bonus of being 1/6th scale, I think this figure is well worth the $60 dollar tag.
Rei Ayanami has been out in Japan since late December, and is around ¥6,460
For those of us in America, I believe Ayanami is available now at Kidnemo for $60.89
(Image courtesy of AnimeXing, who has the figure for preorder.)
What do you guys think about her? I haven’t seen any posts on her yet, so the only pictures I have to judge are the ones taken at HobbySearch.
So I tried to take some pics with my Cybershot, and I would say some, (minority) of the pictures turned out alright. I think the main reason I had such an issue with these pictures was my crappy lighting setup. To compensate I found myself using some blur etc, which I usually try to avoid. I’ll give it another try tomorrow when I have more time.
It’s too late for me to make little buttons at the bottom of this post, so I’ll link you to my flickr.
All the pictures were done on 10/23/07.
Just picked up volumes 2 and 3 of Claymore, and Gunslinger Girl volume 1. My first impressions of Claymore Vol.1 were pretty good, the art is different, and the story seems to be moving along quite nicely. Characters are cool, a lot of mystery still not yet understood. I’ll have to re-read Vol.1 and start 2 and 3 when I get the chance.
As for Gunslinger Girl, I’ve been avoiding this manga for a while, but not on purpose, I usually go to the bookstore to buy more manga from series I have already started. But, I’ve heard so many good things about it, so I decided to go ahead and grab a copy. I’ve only finished a few chapters and it’s looking good. I can’t say I’m too interested in the story just yet, but it doesnt seem bad at all. The art is also pretty nice! I’ll have to finish the volume to judge.
While as at the dollar store looking for construction paper, I stumbled upon ANIME VHS on a shelf for $0.50 each! They had a ton of Slayers, Record Loddoss, and some other oldies I couldn’t recognize. I only managed to grab volume 3 and 5 of Votoms though, now I gotta dig up my VCR ^^;
Shii’s having a tough time deciding what color to use for her backdrop.. I’ll have to find a box to make a diffuser!
Isn’t that stand just so sweet? ^^
After a few days of waiting patiently, I came home from school to find a big box on my door step :D My first purchase from Big Bad Toy Store was a great one. My package came in near mint condition, there was even a “FRAGILE” sticker on the shipping box! Really good store that emphasizes collector value, I mean.. the corners of Shii’s actual box weren’t even dinged up at all. I highly recommend BBTS! (Big sale going on, and it ends tomorrow I think.)
As for Arisugawa herself, I can’t describe how awesome she is. The sculpt is great, minus the few flaws on her lower half (not too bad considering the skirt covering it up) The paint job is crisp and clean. This figure is another reason for me to continue buying Kotobukiya, the quality is always consistent. As for leaning, it’s hard for me to picture it happening, she feels so solid. I’ll try to keep up with her in case she does start leaning.
I took some quick shots of Shii next to a window with the box backdrop that came with her. I’ll be attempting a proper photoshoot later tonight with the Sony Cybershot I have. (These photos don’t look too bad right? I’ll try to make this Sony work for me tonight.)
[There's more pictures in the photostream that didn't make the cut.]
So the first time around didn’t work out for Shii Arisugawa, but I decided to reorder her from Big Bad Toy Store. No idea how fast BBTS ships, but they’re quite reputable among the Spawn community ^^ so I may be receiving her within the week or so.
My last (also my first) Kotobukiya figure was Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 3, and the quality was very very consistent, so hopefully it will be just as great.
It seems to be a habit of mine to purchase old figures, but Shii’s hard to pass up a second time ^^;
More pictures here.
(Just read about the leaning problem, hopefully that won’t be too big of an issue with mine.. I guess it’s also a bad habit to order figures without researching too much..)
Either way, wish me luck guys, I don’t want to end up with another Saber mishap.
Just ordered my ((Shii figure)) from Anime Arigato, and I can’t wait for it to come. Danny Choo’s rave about the Mirei figure was rather convincing. The entire Shunya Yamashita line is dazzling. Will post pics when she comes in.
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