Update! Barnaby Brooks Jr. Figuarts ZERO PVC is up for preorder!

Both Casual wear Tiger and Bunny figures will be exclusive items sold only at Bandai’s online store. The good news is that they will be made-to-order and each person can order up to 24 pieces.

These guys are looking very good!

Title: Figuarts ZERO Barnaby Brooks Jr. PVC figure フィギュアーツZERO バーナビー・ブルックスJr.
Price: 3,675 Yen (w/tax)
Official order page: http://p-bandai.jp/category/0001/item-1000014179/
Preorder deadline: from 23 January 2012 till ??? TBA
Availability: June 2012. Store exclusive and made-to-order, so if you must have it, then don’t miss it!
Description: Approx 155 mm tall. Includes: figure, additional hair part, additional face part, sash (2 types), base

Title: Figuarts ZERO Kotetsu T. Kaburagi PVC figure フィギュアーツZERO 鏑木・T・虎徹
Price: 3,675 Yen (w/tax)
Official order page: http://p-bandai.jp/category/0001/item-1000013283/
Preorder deadline: from 25 October 2011 till 23 January 2012
Availability: April 2012. Store exclusive and made-to-order, so if you must have it, then don’t miss it!
Description: About 155mm tall, includes figure, base and additional arm part (holding the birthday present)

Try ordering from:
1) biginjapan.com and
2) tokyohunter.com
3) CDJapan

It works out to approximately the same as if you go through a proxy.

Store exclusive action figure: Tiger & Bunny Barnaby Brooks Jr S.H.Figuarts Tamashii Nation 2011 Limited Edition
Price: 4,5oo Yen
Date: April 2012

Check out the official site of Figuarts for more  updates!
Official site: http://tamashii.jp/special/tiger_bunny/index.html

Title: Tiger & Bunny (タイガー＆バニー)
Rating: Recommended

Summary (from wiki):
The series takes place in a fictional, re-imagined version of New York City called Sternbild City, where 45 years before, individuals with superpowers called “NEXT” started appearing and some of them became superheroes. Each of a city’s most famous superheroes work for a sponsor company and their uniforms also contain advertising for real-life companies. Their heroic activity is broadcast on the popular television show “Hero TV”, where they accumulate points by each feat accomplished and the best ranked hero of the season is crowned “King of Heroes”.

The story mainly focuses on veteran hero Kotetsu T. Kaburagi aka Wild Tiger who is assigned with a new partner, a young man named Barnaby Brooks Jr. However, Barnaby and Kotetsu usually have trouble working together as they have conflicting opinions on how a superhero should act.

Cast:
Hirata Hiroaki as Kaburagi T. Kotetsu 鏑木・T・虎徹 (Wild Tiger)
Morita Masakazu as Barnaby Brooks Jr. バーナビー・ブルックスJr
Kotobuki Minako as Karina Lyle (Blue Rose)
Inoue Go as Keith Goodman (Sky High)
Tsuda Kenjiro as Nathan Seymour (Fire Emblem)
Ise Mariya as Pao-Lin Huang (Dragon Kid)
Kusunoki Taiten as Antonio Lopez (Rock Bison)
Okamoto Nobuhiko as Ivan Karelin (Origami Cyclone)
Yusa Kouji as Yuri Petrov (Lunatic)

Comment:

This is one of my favourite animes from the last season. Besides fast-paced, action-packed animation characteristic of Sunrise’s works, the plot is engaging and entertaining. There are colourful personalities with interesting backstories and refreshing villians and side characters. And having Yusa Kouji voicing one of the good/bad guys is an icing on the cake for me.

The Kotetsu x Barnaby (reversible) pairing is also very popular among the fujoshi and BL mangaka. Thanks to the BL fan-service in the anime lol.

That’s Bunny (in suit) giving Tiger (in old suit) the ohime-sama dakou
(lit. Carrying the Princess in his arms)

Figuarts are planning to release the whole series of characters from the anime. Fortunately I’m not aiming to collect all of them ^^;; maybe only the ones of Kotetsu and Barnaby if they look good.

The first two mecha suit releases of Tiger and Bunny (right) were snapped up in a flash.I would like to get those two on the left, so I’ll be watching their release closely. Update: For those who missed out preordering Tiger’s mecha, they’re now bundling him with the character setting guide.

Release dates for some of the other figures are not announced yet. I’m quite sure we can buy most of them from usual online hobby stores but they’ll probably sell out fast.

And not to forget, these cute goods of the characters in chibi form <3 Rubber keyholders.

And trading figures… I haven’t bought any of them tho… lack of $$$. ^^;;;

And of course the evil Animate Japan exclusive Blu-Ray DVD tokuten Deformation chibis. Preorders are already sold out.

Year-end survey by Kotobukiya for female-oriented goods and figures!

Kotobukiya has opened a survey soliciting suggestions for their es series of figures that are targeted for the female audience. But hey, I think fanboys are definitely welcomed to take part too.

1) Title: Kotobukiya Year end (female targeted) figure/goods survey コトブキヤ 年末年始 女性向け商品化希望アンケート！
Survey for Japanese works. Link: http://enq-maker.com/hE3xvoG
(Survey for general audience figures. Similar questions: http://enq-maker.com/I4qa82)
Closing date: 7 January 2012

I’ll most probably add similar requests from the previous survey. How about you? Any new additions? But I think they definitely take our suggestions seriously! Cos our combined efforts to request for ero ero male dakimakura/mousepads yielded the DRRR!! Dream Cushions lol~

Let’s discuss and share your wishlists here before we post so that we can make a full offensive for characters we want XD

I suggest entering the Japanese names of the titles and characters. If you’re not sure how to write them, please discuss with us :D As always, Google is your friend too.

In case you’re not sure what the questions mean, here’s the quick translation:

————————————————————————————–
Year end Survey for Japanese works and titles (female targeted) for FIGURES & GOODS
コトブキヤ 年末年始 女性向け商品化希望アンケート！
Link: http://enq-maker.com/hE3xvoG

The format of the survey is slightly different this time, so I think we have to choose only the top 3 characters we want.

————————————————————————————–

※同じIPアドレスからの二回以上の回答をカウントしません。
Multiple submissions from the same IP address will not be counted.
(;_;) But what about people on shared IP networks???

1) フィギュア化して欲しいキャラクターはなんですか？「キャラクター名・作品名」の形でご記入ください（その１）
Is there a character you want to be made into a figure? Please write the character name and  title of the work. (1st)

2) フィギュア化して欲しいキャラクターはなんですか？「キャラクター名・作品名」の形でご記入ください（その２）
Is there a character you want to be made into a figure? Please write the character name and  title of the work. (2nd)

3) フィギュア化して欲しいキャラクターはなんですか？「キャラクター名・作品名」の形でご記入ください（その３）
Is there a character you want to be made into a figure? Please write the character name and  title of the work. (3rd)

4) 問１～３で答えたキャラクターのスケール（リアル）フィギュアかデフォルメ（ワンコイングラ ンデなど）フィギュアのどちらが欲しいですか？（複数回答可）※必須
For each of your answers in 1, 2 and 3, please choose whether you want the character to be realistic (scaled figures) or deformed (eg. one-coin chibi) Can choose more than one option.
Question 1 問１：リアル Real
Question 1 問１：ディフォルメ Deformate
Question 2 問２：リアル Real
Question 2 問２：ディフォルメ Deformate
Question 3 問３：リアル Real
Question 3 問３：ディフォルメ Deformate

5) 今後、一番注目している作品はなんですか？（1つのみ 複数回答無効）
Which is the one title that you’re currently interested in? (Only 1 answer. Multiple answers not accepted)

6) 一ヶ月でフィギュアに掛けるご予算はおいくらぐらいでしょうか？
What is your estimated budget for figures per month?

7) フィギュアをご購入する際に一番の決め手となる要素はなんでしょうか？（購入動機）
What is the one most important factor that help you decide to buy the figure? (purchase motive)

8) コトブキヤに対するご希望・ご意見がありましたらご記入ください。
Please write any other wishes or feedback you want here for Kotobukiya. (enter up to 400 characters)

This is probably where we can throw all our wish lists for consideration. The following text I grabbed from my previous post for the survey:
1/8 and 1/10 figures and Oppai mousepad. Eroero dakimakura cover (male character) voice mascot figures, chibi-chara figure…
Some examples- 1/8フィギュア、1/10フィギュア、男性キャラのおしりと胸マウスパッド、エロエロ抱き枕カバー(男性キャラ)、音声ボイス入りマスコットフィギュア、ちびキャラフィギュア。
————————————————————————————–

My list compiled in the previous survey. (Not in order of preference) Some items are just plain wishful thinking tho OTL; I’ve more or less skipped the titles/characters that are already in production or picked up by other good companies.

1. sweet pool
崎山蓉司、城沼哲雄、三田睦、翁長善弥 Youji, Tetsuo, Makoto, Zenya
2. 咎狗の血 Togainu no Chi
ケイスケ、狗、グンジ、キリヲ、リン Keisuke, Kau, Gunji, Kiriwar, Rin
3. No.6
紫苑、ネズミ Shion, Nezumi
4. DRAMAtical Murder
5. 薄桜鬼 Hakuouki
原田左之助 Harada Sannosuke
6. ニトロプラス キラル Nitro+Chiral
ナイトウ Naitou
7. Lamento Beyond the Void、
シュイ、リークス、カルツ、トキノ Shui, Leaks, Kaltz, Tokino
8. エルシャダイ El Shaddai
9. 大正メビウスライン Taisho Mebusline
10. ラッキードッグ1 Lucky Dog 1
11. ハローキティといっしょ! 倉花千夏 Ver. Hello Kitty to isshoni Kurahana Chinatsu ver.
12. 同級生/卒業生　中村明日美子 Doukyousei/Sotsugyousei by Nakamura Asumiko
佐条利人、草壁光 Rihito Sajou, Kusakabe Hikaru
13. 鬼畜眼鏡 Kichiku Megane
佐伯克哉、御堂孝典 Saeki Katsuya, Mido Takanori
14. 清澗寺家シリーズ 4 罪の褥も濡れる夜 Seikanji ke Series 4
清澗寺冬貴、伏見義康 Fuyuki, Fushimi
15. 黒執事 2 Kuroshitsuji 2
クロード・フォースタス Claude Faustus
16. 純情ロマンチカ Junjou Romantica
17. 是 ―ＺＥ―
18. 間の楔 Ai no Kusabi
イアソン、リキ Iason, Riki
19. クリムゾン・スペル　やまねあやの Crimson Spell
バルドリーグ・アルスヴィーズ、ハルヴィル・フロプト Havi, Valdrigue
20. オメルタ～沈黙の掟～ Omerta ~Chinmoku no okite~
21. 炎の蜃気楼 Mirage of Blaze
仰木高耶、橘 義明 Takaya, Tachibana Yoshiaki (Naoe)
22. 熱砂ノ楽園 Nessa no Rakuen
23. DARKER THAN BLACK -黒の契約者-
黒 Hei
24. Are you Alice?
25. 最後の約束の物語 Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari

I’ll definitely buy it if he looks this good…

This is a custom nendoroid a Japanese fan made during the Summer holidays lol~ Time well spent! Origami Cyclone in casual wear looks fantastic!

Origami Cyclone is the name of a hero character in anime, Tiger & Bunny. His real name is Ivan Karelin and he is voiced by seiyuu Okamoto Nobuhiko 岡本信彦 (Okumura Rin in Aoi no Exorcist, Kisa Shouta in Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi etc). More information about the anime in this post.

Official character designs. Casual and hero suit.

OMG!!! (O_O) I just noticed for the first time after watching 22 episodes, that Origami Cyclone’s hero suit actually shows him using a stylised nipple sticker OTL;;;

Love that face. Origami Cyclone’s weapons include the shuriken used by ninjas.

The fan did awesome work with the paint job.

I think these faces are from Konata (Lucky star) and Miku nendoroids.

Blu Ray DVD cover design of Origami Cyclone’s episode.

Source: http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-3688.html

Doesn’t matter how you ship this pairing, may all your yaoi dreams come alive with these highly poseable and -strippable- Naruto action figures.

Title: PROJECT BM! No.63 Uzumaki Naruto project BM!: うずまきナルト
Title: PROJECT BM! No.64 Uchiha Sasuke project BM!: うちはサスケ
Series: NARUTO Shippuden NARUTO-ナルト- 疾風伝 -
Price:  17,800 yen each. Diffierent stores have varying discounts.
Available: March 2012
Description: 12 inch figures made with Medicom Toy’s modified RAH301Kai body and additional parts.

Considering how popular and long-running this series is, I’m surprised that Medicom Toy didn’t pick them up earlier. I don’t follow this series but these boys look fabulous to me as a collector :D I won’t be pre-ordering them so soon since lots of things can transpire during this 6 month period. If budget allows, they’re definitely going straight into my shopping list when the release date draws nearer :)

Naruto has a beautiful and well-sculpted face. He comes with an extra smiling face as well as accessories to make this a very worthwhile buy for the collector. And with the extra option of the ability to help him get naked with Sasuke, you’ll agree he is any BL fangirl’s dream come true.

Not sure if his shoes can be removed but I don’t think that’ll be too much of an issue for delusional fujoshis out there.

Oh my, this boy is quite a beauty here. I think Sasuke’s sandals are removable. Hmm.. and they did well with the zipper. Some of the older/earlier Medicom Toy RAH figures have ridiculously huge and awful looking zippers, like two to three times bigger than the proportion you see in the images here.

More pics :) It’s obvious I like him better lol ^^ I hope both Naruto and Sasuke are wearing removable tights inside so that we can barbie-fy/ken-doll them and make them wear other nice casual clothing and yukata for the fun of it. (Having the two go for a Summer Festival date wearing yukata would be quite nice isn’t it?)

Here’s your chance to get your favourite male characters made!

Kotobukiya has opened a survey soliciting suggestions for their es series of figures that are targeted for the female audience. But hey, I think fanboys are definitely welcomed to take part too.

Update! I found another Kotobukiya survey that is meant for suggesting titles and characters from overseas works.

1) Title: Kotobukiya Summer Holidays (female targeted) figure/goods survey コトブキヤ 夏休み女性向けフィギュア・グッズアンケート！
Survey for Japanese works. Link: http://enq-maker.com/aamXUuo
2) Title: Kotobukiya Summer Holidays Overseas contents figure survey コトブキヤ 夏休み 海外コンテンツ フィギュア化希望アンケート！
Survey for Overseas works. Link: http://enq-maker.com/1p9KM3L
Closing date: 31 August 2011

Make ours voices heard! I’m still compiling my list. Let’s discuss and share your wishlists here before we post so that we can make a full offensive for characters we want XD

Personally I prefer more dramatic looking figures (poses, costumes, long hair etc) although I also love some of the schoolboy/salaryman characters :-\ Hmm… decisions, decisions.

I suggest entering the Japanese names of the titles and characters. If you’re not sure how to write them, please discuss with us :D As always, Google is your friend too.

In case you’re not sure what the questions mean, here’s the quick translation:

————————————————————————————–
Survey for Japanese works and titles (female targeted) for FIGURES & GOODS
コトブキヤ 夏休み女性向けフィギュア・グッズアンケート！
Link: http://enq-maker.com/aamXUuo

Update: According to Kotobukiya, for this particular survey, they will only count the first title and character name entered in question 1 and 2 for statistics purpose but they will take the rest of the suggestions into consideration. Yay! At least we know we can write our wishlists. However think carefully about your must must have and write them as your first entry!

————————————————————————————–

※同じIPアドレスからの二回以上の回答をカウントしません。
Multiple submissions from the same IP address will not be counted.
(;_;) But what about people on shared IP networks???

1) 貴方のフィギュア・グッズ化して欲しいタイトル名（アニメ、ゲーム、漫画名）を書いてください。
Please write the title of the anime, game, manga that you want to see made into figures and goods.

2) 貴方のフィギュア･グッズ化して欲しいキャラクター名を書いてください。※必須
Please write the name of the character you want to be made into figures and goods. *Compulsory field.

3) どのようなフィギュア・グッズが欲しいかお答え下さい。（1/10フィギュア、ストラップ、キーホルダー、クリアファイル、レターセット等）
Please write the kind of figures/goods you want. (1/10 scaled figure, strap, key holder, clear file, letter set, etc) (enter up to 400 characters)
Planning to write 1/8 and 1/10 figures and Oppai mousepad (of the boys lol~) I want those that look like Youji’s but with actual padding for RSI prevention (yeah right) Backside pose is cool too… yum mousepads with padded asses XD
Some examples- 1/8フィギュア、1/10フィギュア、男性キャラのおしりと胸マウスパッド、エロエロ抱き枕カバー(男性キャラ)、音声ボイス入りマスコットフィギュア、ちびキャラフィギュア。

4) コトブキヤに対するご希望・ご意見がありましたらご記入ください。

Please write any other wishes or feedback you want here for Kotobukiya. (enter up to 400 characters)
For this part I’m going to ask Kotobukiya to not have so many exclusive figures cos all those Animate exclusives are painful for international wallet cos of proxy fees OTL;; I’ll post the comments in Japanese here after I craft them properly ^^;; Urursaii rightly pointed out that we shouldn’t mention about getting proxies to buy since the figures are only meant for the Japanese market. SIGH. I’ll not add that feedback in case it gets us into trouble.

————————————————————————————–
Survey for Japanese works and titles for FIGURES only (Overseas works)
コトブキヤ 夏休み 海外コンテンツ フィギュア化希望アンケート！
Link: http://enq-maker.com/1p9KM3L
————————————————————————————–

ハリウッド映画のあのキャラクターやアメコミ・ゲームヒーロー等の希望アンケートです。
Survey for Hollywood movie characters, American comics, game hero, etc.
※同じIPアドレスからの二回以上の回答をカウントしません。
Multiple submissions from the same IP address will not be counted.

1) 貴方のフィギュア化して欲しいタイトル名（アニメ、ゲーム、漫画名）を書いてください。（一つのみ。複数回答無効）
Please write the title of the anime, game, manga that you want to see made into a figure. (Please enter only ONE title. Multiple titles are invalid)

2) 貴方のフィギュア化して欲しいキャラクター名を書いてください。（一つのみ。複数回答無効）※必須
Please write the name of the character you want to be made into a figure. (Please enter only ONE name. Multiple names are invalid) *Compulsory field.

3) 貴方の2011年に買ったフィギュアの数を教えてください。
Please tell us the number of figures you have bought in 2011.

4) その中でコトブキヤのフィギュアの数を教えてください。
Among the total number of figures you bought, how many of them are Kotobukiya figures?

5) 特典物として付属していると嬉しい物は何ですか？
What kind of freebies (tokuen) would you be happy to have with the figures?

6) コトブキヤに対するご希望・ご意見がありましたらご記入ください。
Please write any other wishes or feedback you want here for Kotobukiya. (enter up to 400 characters)

————————————————————————————–
Anyway, I love Kotobukiya! ^-^)/
————————————————————————————–

Still in the process of sorting out my list. Here’s a sneak peek. (Not in order of preference) Some items are just plain wishful thinking tho OTL; I’ve more or less skipped the titles/characters that are already in production or picked up by other good companies.

1. sweet pool
   崎山蓉司、城沼哲雄、三田睦、翁長善弥 Youji, Tetsuo, Makoto, Zenya
2. 咎狗の血 Togainu no Chi
   ケイスケ、狗、グンジ、キリヲ、リン Keisuke, Kau, Gunji, Kiriwar, Rin
3. No.6
   紫苑、ネズミ Shion, Nezumi
4. DRAMAtical Murder
5. 薄桜鬼 Hakuouki
   原田左之助 Harada Sannosuke
6. ニトロプラス キラル Nitro+Chiral
   ナイトウ Naitou
7. Lamento Beyond the Void、
   シュイ、リークス、カルツ、トキノ Shui, Leaks, Kaltz, Tokino
8. エルシャダイ El Shaddai
9. 大正メビウスライン Taisho Mebusline
10. ラッキードッグ1 Lucky Dog 1
11. ハローキティといっしょ! 倉花千夏 Ver. Hello Kitty to isshoni Kurahana Chinatsu ver.
12. 同級生/卒業生　中村明日美子 Doukyousei/Sotsugyousei by Nakamura Asumiko
    佐条利人、草壁光 Rihito Sajou, Kusakabe Hikaru
13. 鬼畜眼鏡 Kichiku Megane
    佐伯克哉、御堂孝典 Saeki Katsuya, Mido Takanori
14. 清澗寺家シリーズ 4 罪の褥も濡れる夜 Seikanji ke Series 4
    清澗寺冬貴、伏見義康 Fuyuki, Fushimi
15. 黒執事 2 Kuroshitsuji 2
    クロード・フォースタス Claude Faustus
16. 純情ロマンチカ Junjou Romantica
17. 是 ―ＺＥ―
18. 間の楔 Ai no Kusabi
    イアソン、リキ Iason, Riki
19. クリムゾン・スペル　やまねあやの Crimson Spell
    バルドリーグ・アルスヴィーズ、ハルヴィル・フロプト Havi, Valdrigue
20. オメルタ～沈黙の掟～ Omerta ~Chinmoku no okite~
21. 炎の蜃気楼 Mirage of Blaze
    仰木高耶、橘 義明 Takaya, Tachibana Yoshiaki (Naoe)
22. 熱砂ノ楽園 Nessa no Rakuen
23. DARKER THAN BLACK -黒の契約者-
    黒 Hei
24. Are you Alice?
25. 最後の約束の物語 Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari

What happened to your face, Moritaka? SIGH.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing the Bakuman バクマン。boys being made in Real Action Heroes figures since the series is by the same mangaka, Obata Takeshi 小畑 健 who drew Death Note. But this turned out to be quite a disappointment :( I don’t like Mashiro Moritaka’s face sculpt at all.  Maybe it’s the angle of the photo but something about it just doesn’t look right. What do you think?

Title: Real Action Heroes No.536 Bakuman. Mashiro Moritaka 真城 最高
Publisher: Medicom Toy
Price: 17,800 Yen (w/tax)
Size: appx. 300mm
Available: September 2011
Accessories: Pen Parts, Hooded Parka and Striped Shirt, etc (Outfit), Sneakers, Figure Stand. Based on the RAH 301 Kai body.

To look on the bright side. I can save quite a lot of money by not buying him.

Hopefully there’s a better looking Takagi Akito/Shujin 高木 秋人 when he is finally released.

As for Nizuma Eiji 新妻 エイジ (Available July 2011), both of his face-sculpts look pretty awesome to me and at the same price at Moritaka, I think is a real bargain. He is currently on my watchlist “of to-buy-eventually” figures. Not a big rush to grab him since the release date is still quite far away.

♥ ♥ ♥ I’m in love ♥ ♥ ♥

Sigh~~~~~~ I have ♥ ♥ shaped eyes when I see my anime character crush, Hei 黒, from Darker than Black 黒の契約者

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ A few more wafuku pix :3 Moe!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Hey, stop taking pictures of me… or I-will-grab-you *wiggles fingers*

Ignored :D Actually the figure can’t kneel all the way :-\ but at this angle it looks ok.

Calm before the storm.

Hei would fit in perfectly during Japanese Summer Festival (夏祭り Natsu Matsuri ) in this get-up and mask :3 I think I haven’t had so much fun dressing a figure up since Project BM! Lelouch. OTL;; Typical girl’s Barbie doll syndrome.

I love how good he looks in this yukata :3 Let’s go on a date! XD

One thing missing is a pair of geta sandals. I bought the yukata from Yahoo Japan Auctions. After bidding, middleman fees and shipping, it was expensive enough to buy a nendoroid or 2 ~$_$~

Random shots. Gaa… Too bright! >_<

If you haven’t realised… since Hei’s hands are all in (unremovable) black gloves, I borrowed Project BM! Code Geass Lelouch‘s hands for these shots. However, they don’t fit perfectly so they kept dropping off when I was posing him. I tried to fit Night Head Genesis RAH Naoto‘s hands too but their joints are a little too big to fit the holes on Hei’s wrist.

Anyway, miniature tatami mats and Japanese style bamboo blinds from Daiso. Japanese Tea (Ocha お茶) from Rement sushi set.

Review of his actual figure coming soon~ :) Sorry for the picture spam. I was terribly distracted and moe-ed by yukata-donning Hei figgy ^///^

The smex. Thank God he can be stripped! :D

♥ ♥ ♥ Hei made it in time for Valentine’s Day ♥ ♥ ♥

I don’t have time today to unbox him and shoot him properly. I’ll post more a detailed review of him (yep, I’ll strip him too Bwahahaha~) as soon as I can! :D In the meantime, find out more about him in this post.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody ^3^)/~♥ chuu ♥

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

]]> http://ponytale.lalaparadise.com/special-be-my-valentine-hei-darker-than-black-real-action-heroes-rah-hei/feed/ 8 http://ponytale.lalaparadise.com/goods-yagami-light-is-back-death-note-figutto-griffon-enterprises/ http://ponytale.lalaparadise.com/goods-yagami-light-is-back-death-note-figutto-griffon-enterprises/#comments Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:30:11 +0000 ponytale http://ponytale.lalaparadise.com/goods-yagami-light-is-back-death-note-figutto-griffon-enterprises/

The many faces of Yagami Light (Raito) 夜神 月

More surprise figure releases! And this time Yagami Light and Ryuk the Shinigami (Death God) from Death Note (デスノート). Definitely brings back nostalgic feelings for those exciting moments when we were chasing after plot developments of the anime/manga :)

Title: figutto! DEATH NOTE Light Yagami Action Figure [Griffon Enterprises]
Price: 4,380 yen (w/tax)
Available: May 2011
Size: about 160 mm (non-scale)
Includes display base and has 16 points of articulation and original jointing. Includes numerous option hands and faces. Sculpted by Piron.

Quite reasonable for the price considering the number of accessories included. I already have the Real Action Heroes version that has a beautiful face sculpt of Light, so I have no excuse to spend extra on this figure :-\ and with my bank account potentially crippled by RAH Hei… sigh… he is out of the question.

I wonder if a cheaper version figma is going to follow? And look at the long-chained hand-cuffs. Can we also expect figutto L to pop up in the coming months? Let’s wait and see. It seems that this is going be really exciting year for bishonen figures! :D

However, that’s a not so nice joint space on the arm… Does anyone own a figutto? How is the quality of the figure?

Anyway, Shinigami Ryuk will also be released in late May too at 5,700 yen (w/tax) Even if I buy Ryuk, I don’t think I’ll ever display him because of his scary face. Will definitely get into trouble with folks at home ^^;;

Limited edition and production exclusives are extremely depressing events!!!

But I know I’ll regret it if I don’t at least try to get my hands on him (T-T) He is the only anime character I had a major crush on (for some reason I can’t explain) ever since I watched the first Darker than Black season. It was like a love-at-first-sight (一目惚れ) kind of thing.  Probably the first time in my many years of anime watching lol~ It’s really strange ^^;;

About: Wonder Festival 2001 (Winter) ワンダーフェスティバル2011（冬）
Opening Commeration Limited Product 開催記念限定商品

The Black Reaper 黒の死神、「BK201」。

Real Action Heroes No. 529 ( リアルアクションヒーローズ No.529)
RAH Hei (RAH 黒-ヘイ-) from Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha 黒の契約者

Price: 18,000 Yen (w/tax)
On sale/preorder: 6 February 2011
Store links: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/project1-6/10001201/ and http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/project1-6/rahno529.html

Sculptor: 澤田 工房
Outfit:  秋元 みえこ

●Height: approx 300mm
●PVC material. Normal face and masked face. 2 types interchangable! (That’s generous :3)
●Synthetic leather coat, with suspenders and specialised knife weapon that are the same design in the show
●ABS material for knife in use. 2 types of knives accessories!
●Characteristic mask included as a separate accessory to recreate scenes from the anime.
●Various hand types included for recreating action scenes.
●Movable body made of ABS material modified from 「RAH301改」 in proportion to the character in the anime.
●Belt on waist recreates all sorts of unique equipment and Kungfu shoes accessories
●Includes figure stand
●Limited to only 800 pieces in Japan. 200 during event and 600 for online web sales.

With middle man fees and so on, you can expect to pay at least 24,000 Yen for him. It is -REALLY- depressing. The last time there was an exclusive Gundam 00 RAH figure of Setsuna F. Seirei which cost about the same but I’m ok with not having him since I wasn’t a big fan of him.

But this time, it’s Hei. I hope I can get him. His announcement totally killed all my budgeting plans. There’s no guarantee of securing a piece, so I can only keep my fingers crossed :(

Hei is voiced by Kiuchi Hidenobu 木内 秀信.

Read more about the anime at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darker_than_Black

Not exactly new information but these figures are now available in most stores in US for $39.90 ~ $42. I don’t follow Bleach (too many episodes! so maybe one day…) but I thought it is pretty cool when I watched the first few episodes.

Sorry Rukia, boys pics only. X3

(Hitsugaya Toushiro -left, Kurosaki Ichigo -right)

What caught my eye is that these Bleach 1/12 scale action figures are also sold in Japanese Hobby stores for almost 40% more expensive than the US$39.90 selling price in US (7,000 Yen!!!) ^^ and collectors in Japan will only be able to get their hands on them in December 2010. Add a few thousand yen, you can buy an Azone version of the boys that come with their own doll bodies with removable clothes! (+extra hands parts, etc) However, I have to admit, the faces of the boys in the Play Arts Kai version look more handsome than their Azone counterparts.

The good thing about Square Enix Play Arts series is that they get reissued/restocked quite regularly (half a year to a year) so there’s no big rush to grab them. Especially when your budget is tight ^^;;; I could be wrong but so far that’s the trend I see of other Play Arts figures. However, if you’re an international buyer, you might want to take advantage of the USD exchange rate now and grab them off stores like Amazon US or other US based hobby stores while it is still low.

Are there Play Arts Kai Japan versions of these figures? Makes me wonder what the difference is.

Oo~ guess whose cute little butt that belongs to? :3

After Sweet Pool’s Tetsuo x Youji one-coin chibi’s debut in the miniature bath tub, I took Banoni‘s suggestion to make Junjou Romantica bath scene too :D

It is possible to balance Nendoroid Petite heads on some one-coin chibi bodies as you can see in my previous Junjou Petite review. But this time, we’re using Y-shirt Akira’s naked body and Nendoroid Petite Misaki’s head. I tried but there was no way that tiny body could support the big head without some help.

So this was what I did. Notice that there are no ball-joints available to connect Misaki’s head to Akira’s body. So I used a plastic wire fastener and twisted it into something that will fit both holes.

The resulting wire fastener (is that what it’s called anyway?)

Don’t be shy Misaki, you look per…fect…ly…. cute -NAKED- now! :D~ Yay~

Misaki: Usagi-san…mi naide (don’t look)
Usami: Misaki… kawaii… *smoochies*
See? Usami agrees too…

Anyway, this is the scene I decided to recreate, based on art of a Junjou Romantica bromide I bought.

Usami x Misaki <3 What do you think :D Pity I didn’t have the exact props though…

Usami: Come, Misaki. Let me scrub your back.
Misaki: *_* Iyadda! No… I don’t… want… you… to… *struggles & frowns & pouts*

To be honest, the pics I took after that turned out to be REALLY *coughpervycough* (yarashii) *_*
I decided to upload the milder one on photobucket and…

The NSFW one elsewhere (in case it gets flagged)

Misaki: Umm… Usagi-san Yame… (>_<)
Usami: Suki-desu, Misaki…

*****coughcoughcoughcough****
It’s scary how Usami’s hand is like… in such a -PERFECT- angle for this… *hides* OTL.
*****coughcoughcoughcough****
And Akira’s naked body’s hand also has the Tsundere-Uke-Resisting-The-Seme angle ^^;;;

Speechless? (^///^) *sweatcoughsweat*
Junjou Romantica Love!~

That’s because Misaki is a tsundere and cute little teddy bear! XD

Lots of photos shall follow…

Yes, after months and years, the much awaited Junjou Romantica Nendoroid Petit (Puchi) has finally arrived…

Title: Junjou Romantica Nendoroid Puchi Mail Order Exclusive Misaki & Akihiko & Suzuki-san set (純情ロマンチカ ねんどろいどぷち 通販限定 美咲＆秋彦＆鈴木さんセット)
Damage: 2,100 Yen (w/tax)
Size: about 65mm
Release Date: 26 August 2010
Available exclusively at Chara-ani

If I remember correctly, this set of figures was first announced after the end of the second season of Junjou Romantica anime and supposed to have been released in Oct 2009 but it was delayed a few times until they finally decided to delay it all the way till now. I think part of the reason could be the bad economy in 2008/2009 which would probably have made it a lot more expensive to manufacture.

Anyway, I’m so very very glad the set made it through and is released successfully! :D

Perfect pose for kissing
As I was shooting the figures, I found that we can achieve such a cute and perfect kissing angle with Usami’s arm positioned like this! And Misaki has the “I don’t want to be kissed by you but you are so persistent I can’t resist” tsundere frown. LOL SO CUTE! XD

The following is the box packaging of the figure set. It’s a pink and cheery box decorated with pink lace, dainty flowers and petals, crying out for your love and attention. Oh notice the also -pink- pen at the bottom. It’s a free gift that came with the order.

The package, side view and top. Just screams cute :P

Back view of the box. Looks like vital stats page and lists the contents of the package. Only 3 figures and their respective bases.

Unboxed. Notice that even the cover was given a cute design treatment with a flower :3 And a close-up of the pen. Nothing special though… except for the main logo design of the series.

The mandatory mugshot. The two boys are leaning against the backdrop while Suzuki-san can actually stand by its own without its base for support. The figures look really good in pics right? They are even cuter in real life :3 Usami’s oresama and slightly cheeky look is perfect. I just noticed one little detail that is off… Misaki should have been a bit shorter than Usami… but that’s probably asking too much for a Nendoroid Petit.

Another angle. See? Suzuki-san is standing away from the wall. I’m trying very hard not to type the word cute in every other sentence but I’m going to fail. Misaki is so cute!!! From this angle too!

Here’s the side view. I tried to make Usami and Misaki stand facing each other without their bases but Misaki’s bangs poked out and refused to cooperate, so they kept falling over. Putting them leaning against each other is fine tho’ :D Cute butt!

Back-view lol~ Doesn’t it look like Usami is whispering some secret to Misaki and Suzuki-san is trying to eavesdrop on them? I placed them flat, face-down.

Usami and Misaki disassembled heh… And when I did that, I realised that we were cheated of the opportunity to change Misaki’s arms because of his design. *pouts* But notice the cute detail of his belt. Actually you can’t even see it when it is attached to his body. I’m glad they didn’t skim on that. Painting details of the figures were crisp and nicely done.

I have to confess, when I first saw the planned release included Suzuki-san, I thought we were being ripped-off. That’s because although he is the mascot, I rather they made another character instead of the bear. But now that I have the actual Suzuki-san figure, I’m really glad he was made. Cos we can make teddy bear Misaki! XD Or any other Nendoroid Petit character you have into a ribbon bowed bear!!! See those paws Gaaa~ The whole effect is just too cute! (again)

They really could have made more accessories or interchangeable parts for this set of figures. I mean… look at the box. It can allow for so much more items! But only the 3 figures were made and Misaki didn’t even have removable arms. And they cost the same as the Bakemonogatari ones too… well, minus the fact that most of us have to go through a proxy to get them.

I’m praying that sales for this set go extremely well, so that we can get the rest of the couples made.

Oh well, complaints aside… I’m very glad to have them! And I think they are very much worth the wait and price cos they are so much cuter than I expected them to be. They are still available at Chara-ani, so grab them if your budget allows! :)

Before we go, here’s an omake pic of the couple… kekeke… I just couldn’t resist XDDD

Erm kinda random… this combination…

These accessories come with Figma Shizuno Izumi (志津野 泉) from an 18+ eroge (H-game) called Sekirara se・きらら. I’m not sure if I want to get this but that vacuum cleaner looks like something we can use if we had a Figma Misaki (Junjou Romantica) As for the cake, I already have LOTS of Rement cake and pastries =_=;;; what a let down. The pillow is so-so too. Nothing to shout about. I won’t be getting this girl cos I just remembered that I have a Rement vacuum cleaner already ^^

The character has a pretty face though. Nice breasts too :D

Damage: 3200 Yen (w/tax) Why does she cost more than the other similar figmas from the same series? *_*
Available: November 2010

Ooo~ bath accessories and a bra this time! :D

These accessories come with Figma Akiyama Nozomi (秋山望美) from an 18+ eroge (H-game) called Sekirara. Once again, if not for the accessories, I probably won’t buy this figure.

The rubber ducky is cute and lol~ bra… this is cos the character in question is a loli who is only 138cm tall, petite and has small breasts ^^ Now we need a bath tub included with a figma next time so that we can use it for Sweet Pool or something XD

The character’s face is very cute too :) I like her green hair! Reminds me of Minami Iwasaki from Lucky Star… also a mint-green haired girl… who also has a small breasts complex! Hey… is it an unspoken stereotype that green-haired characters have small breasts? ^^;;;

Damage: 3000 Yen (w/tax) More expensive than usual figma releases due to the extras.

Life is not fair! Here we have Figma Megurine Luka… but where is Kaito????? *pouts*

Damage: 2800 Yen but preorder prices are pretty good and you can save up to 20% off.
Available in October 2010

I’m going to order her like the sucker I am for the sake of ordering ^^;;; but she does look quite beautiful.

That’s a cute Elvis Presley mic pose and I like tuna too XD

I’ll probably buy this figma for the kitchen accessories OTL;;;

These accessories come with Figma Kawamura Yuu (河村 優) from a game called Sekirara (I have NO IDEA what it’s about Ok, so it seems it is an 18+ eroge ^^) The character looks sweet but I’m going for her accessories. I can imagine lots of uses for the apron especially with my other figmas ^^

Damage: 3000 Yen (w/tax) More expensive than usual figma releases due to the extras.

Temporarily sold-out. Like wow. Preorder was just announced a few hours ago. Lol~ I wonder if figmas of BL characters (IF they are ever released) will generate that kind of demand.

Anyway, I’ll wait a bit for more online shops to open their preorders :)

Broken and damaged…

On 6 January 2010. I was incredibly upset. Hands slightly shaking when I took the photos. I wanted to ask for feedback on their forum but my registration was being moderated so I can’t post anything yet. How frustrating, so I sent an email to the staff on 6 January 2010. No reply yet. I had to vent, so I wrote this post *_* It feels almost as bad as getting a bootlegged item for the full price. HAHA. But I’m not smiling.

Update 8 Jan 2010: Given some good advice by helpful forumers there who have many praises for Triad Toys stuff. Still haven’t heard anything from the staff though… Hmm… I guess the damage isn’t as bad as I thought. Well, I’ve recovered from the shock… *shrugs* I probably won’t ask for an exchange or whatever. A lot of hassle. x_x;; I was told that smudges can be easily removed by rubbing alcohol on Jin’s face and the mega-powerful magnets on Mugen’s sandal can also be easily super-glued back. BUT I’m not wrong to expect products in mint-condition right? :( [update end]

Depending how they respond, it will determine if this will be last time I’m buying anything from their online store.

1) Unbelievably flimsy packaging, no bubblewrap whatsoever

For something that costs about US$12o EACH and needs to be delivered overseas. Unbelievable. Maybe the figure’s own box packaging is supposed to give it protection but obviously it is not enough.

2) Broken sandal on Mugen (and some paint scraped off from his hair)

It is supposed to be removable BUT the sandal piece is broken. See last pic, so I won’t take him out before I get an answer from the staff.

3) Jin’s hairpiece flew off (and is probably the cause of ink stains on various parts of his face)

Okie, seems like his hairpiece is removable so that you can pose his eyes from behind but what a shock to see it… and I think due to this, his face was smudged in several parts with the ink.

I guess after such a long wait, expectations run really high and to receive the items in this condition, it truly is appalling. Shipping was not cheap either!

And I think if there are removable parts like the headpiece (I’m just guessing for now), they should include instructions in the box. These are my first Triad figures, so I’m not sure what to expect. To save customers the pain and shock, please do something about this or have some information at the website.

Highly poseable and looks pretty awesome…
Pre order now and get the First-press editions that includes extra parts for the figures.

At 2,400 Yen (w/tax) each… to be released in November 2009.

Imagine my BL-filter firing when I saw the condition of these boys when I opened up the delivery box.

Cloud and Sephiroth were staring at each other face to face the whole of their trip together from the store to me! XD

I’m sorry. This is such a dumb post ^^;;;

Beyond hope. This girl. *points at self*

In case you’re wondering, these figures are:
Play Arts Kingdom Hearts version (Boss mode I think)
Cloud and Sephiroth.

I didn’t complete the game but I rather liked the design of the couple when I saw the product photos. BL fangirls are suckers for one-winged bishonens. But it defies logic AND physics… How can you fly and maintain your balance with only one-wing? This is the stuff of fantasies.

I contemplated getting Halloween Sora to complete the set but decided against it in the end. Cloud and Sephy look better just the two of them together :P

Anyway, I couldn’t take a decently lighted photo cos of the packaging. From outside, Sephiroth’s hair and armour looks rather shiny. It’ll be interesting to see what the figures really look like after they’re unwrapped.

Better to pics to come later.

Been very caught up by work lately… :( But I promise to be back soon! Thanks for sticking around!