Woo hoo!  At long last we finally have the gal for whom the series is named after ^^  Looking back on Alter’s release history… looks like it’s been almost 2 years since they started StrikerS releases with rein!  Guess I’d say it was worth it given the general trend of pvc improvements we’ve seen.  Nanoha has some big shoes to fill not only as the main character but also coming right after feito-chan ^^;

I think by now with hayate and feito’s boxes having arrived, the shock of such a large package has finally worn off ^^;

For some reason I completely lost my sense of scale when viewing the promo shots and was totally surprised with how big she turned out.  Yet another figure that barely fits in a detolf… and having done so, hogs a whole shelf ^^;

The downside to using a makeshift studio (read: cardboard boxes) appears in my pic above… blaster bits weren’t exactly level ^^;;;

I kinda felt like she seemed a little plain when looking at others’ review shots… but seeing her in person… with her impressive size and execution, those thoughts quickly left me.

I do think her pose could be little more energetic sometimes, though the blaster bits help add some flavor.  Also for a firing pose I guess they’re likely keeping it close to the series’ canon.

Back to the space thing… jeez she needs a lot of space.  With nanoha’s arrival, my short lived achievement of getting all my scaled figures into detolfs comes to an end.  For the moment, miku, tama-nee and nida must brave the dust again ^^;

For nanoha alter went with clear attachments to attach her feet to the base – I think I like it better than the white blocks used for hayate, though I still wouldn’t say it looks good ^^;;

Each foot gets three wing attachments which fit in pretty easily.

One thing I’ve loved about these releases has been alter’s execution on the faces.  Not that I have super high standards or anything, but personally the works delivered match up perfectly with my internal image of everyone ^^

Wouldn’t have minded some more definition in her bangs, though perhaps this way is closer to her anime portrayal?

A little closer look at the back of her head

Raising heart looks superb, decked out in its winged exceed mode… or as the back of the box states… “Exced Mode” ^^;;;;  Strangely it’s spelled “exceed” everywhere else.

Sadly, “ace of ace” is everywhere… even making its way onto the base -_-

‘course engrish has sort been one of nanoha’s defining traits, no? ^^;;

Nanoha’s outfit is reproduced as it is in the anime, so no intricate designs or frills ^^;

Something about the size, shading and flow of  the garment help it from turning out boring though, imo.

In fact it’s flapping up precariously in the back :P

white pantsu.

You may have seen my strikers group shots in the past… had to take more now that nanoha had arrived ^^

Unfortunately… being an amateur photography with no training, I have absolutely no idea what goes into a good group shot orz  Tried a bunch of things, so bear with me as I just post ‘em all ^^;

While I’d love to just blame everything on lack of more expensive equipment, I’m pretty sure I could’ve done a lot better simply with better technique ^^;

With everyone spread out so much it was really hard when trying to get everyone in focus.  Went all the way down to f/11 and things were still blurry.  I think the math says I still only had a about a foot of depth of field so that would make sense…

If nothing else, at least I got everyone in the frame to give a comprehensive look at alter’s strikers lineup ^^;;

From a higher angle you can see the sort of depth I was dealing with.

Trying to get a better shot, started playing around with the lighting a little more… then some post processing.

Actually kinda like how the above turned out.  Not super happy with it, but I think with the added contrast and highlights gave the shot a little more flavor.

Lots of possibilities for positioning the blaster bits.  Actually put the ones on the taller stands in front for the group pic because the box I was using was lower ^^;

The rest of riot force 6 adds some bokeh ^^

Closer look at the blaster bits, which can be angled up or down.

Somehow this review ballooned up to almost 40 pics ^^;

For nanoha i’ll allow it though :P

Next up will be shamal i guess?  Somewhat of a let down ^^;;  Well, though I guess loli nanoha will actually be out before her…

Japan looms close, we’ll see if I can churn out mio & miyafuji reviews before then ^^;

More nanoha coverage all about teh web~

~foo-bar-baz – i need to figure out how he gets such nice looking pics of the packaging :P
~The Dis-Jointedzone – a much more timely review you may have already seen ^^

hmm that it?  i’ll have to keep my eyes open.

以上！

Feeling a bit rusty in the review department so thought I’d take some quick practice shots with reimu.

I hope my copy is legit, seemed to good to be true getting her at toranoana for 3000 yen ^^;  Used goody japan as a proxy so the entire transaction still cost a bit, but given what she’s probably going for on ebay I imagine I didn’t overspend ^^;

Only a fraction of the number of pics that I usually put up for a full review so that along with the extremely late timing… again, more of a test shot post then a review ^^;

One of the things I was testing was my new circular polarizer!  Mostly got it for outdoor shots but was curious to see what sorta uses it might have in figure photography.

One thing to note is that a polarizer won’t magically eliminate all the reflections from your photo.  As you can see above there’s still some angles reflecting the light straight in the lens.

The above pic was taken without the filter.  In the upper right you can see the reflection on the text “CANON LENS”.  Adding the filter back:

Much better right?  Well, that’s sorta cheating since the light is reduced by the filter, changing the exposure.  Trying to get back to a similar exposure:

Still a noticeable improvement.  In general you can use polarizing filters when shooting water (may allow you to see through the water rather than get a reflection), through glass (may allow you to see through the glass), or outdoors (to bring out vegetation, skies).  Wouldn’t really recommend dropping huge bucks on one for figure/product photography ^^;

reimu!  love that face ^^

Did another set of test shots for the polarizing filter with brs:

Here you can see kind of dramatically how certain reflections were completely eliminated.  Nice tool to have but I can’t wait to test it outside ^^;

One final thing I was testing throughout the shoot:

If you’re having white balance trouble and your camera supports custom white balance… totally recommend getting a gray card.  Shoot a pic of the card under the lighting conditions your subject is in (fill the frame with it), then (on canon’s at least) just set the custom white balance to use that pic.  The rest of the pics you take under that lighting will turn out perfect ^^  Been using it at my parent’s house, where there’s a terrible mix of fluorescent and incandescent light… been working out perfectly.

ooo, and i almost forgot, another one of my completely self indulgent announcements, but i’ve 1cc’d mof!!!

this is the quickest i’ve progressed from one touhou to the next, though technically i’ve been playing mof on and off since i started last year ^^;;  i think that pofv insanity really helped with kanako’s last card (shown above).  I’ll have to do a post with vids of my replay later, though those are just 200% self indulgent also :P

Alrighty, that’s all for today ^^;

以上！

click for gelbooru

1cc on normal! woooooo!  4 touhou’s down, 3 to go ^^  東方花映塚 (tôhô kaêzuka (kunrei-shiki)) is the ninth game in the series and very very different from the previous ones.  In pofv you battle against an opponent split-screen as faeries, spirits, and bullets randomly spawn and attack you.

The white bullets get sent over to your opponents screen if you can destroy them by killing a nearby fairy or activated spirit.  Other features include powering up your spell gauge which lets you unleash more powerful attacks (while also clearing your screen of enemies).

If you charge up your gauge all the way and unleash your level 4 spell, a copy of your character will appear on your opponent’s screen and start attacking.  Not quite the same as a boss battle in the other touhou games, but it still makes things more hectic due to the randomly generated clutter that’s already attacking you.  You can read more about the gameplay here if you’re interested.

click for gelbooru

Chose to unlock and use aya after reading this thread on the character strengths and weaknesses.  Not sure how credible the original thread author is but it worked out for me ^^  Reimu’s 360 field wasn’t working out for me as I’d activate spirits all around me and not destroy them in time (which spawns 3 red bullets aimed at you).

click for gelbooru

Now I’m on to Mountain of Faith.  Ironically aya is kicking my butt in stage 4 orz  Keep trying to capture her last 3 cards and getting caught off guard.  Think I just need to get back in my bombing groove and I’ll churn out that next 1cc fairly easily ^^

quick update on figures, just got an e-mail from hobby search:

“Also, please note that order recombination is not possible any longer,
since the shipment process of the item(s) is already underway.”

3 alter releases in 1 month!  Can’t wait ^__^

以上！

Thought I’d combine a little site update with the pics I took during my (business) trip to Singapore last year.  For those more interested in figures, I’m anticipating Hobby Search will send out my preordered goodies next week… which means… well crap I may not have time to put up reviews before I leave for Japan.  Did I mention I’m headed back to Japan?  I’m headed back to Japan for vacation ^____^

I’ll be leaving mid-February and will be in Tokyo for the greater part of a week.  Unfortunately I’ll be missing WonFes but on the other hand I’m not too keen on lines anyway :P

I think I may have lucked out on some movie timing though… is the Nanoha movie gonna be in theatres?  And the haruhi movie?!  Considering my lack of hardcore dedication I’d say I’m a casual fan of both series (despite what my figure collection may suggest :P) but will be ecstatic to see both ^__^  ooo and Fate/Stay night should be out too???

So that’s my trip in the works…  That, combined with my hobby renaissance has lead to some pretty slim pickings for my blog posts ^^;  Gaming has been the biggest time sink, though there are others.  Currently trying to balance my time between:

• bayonetta
• JLPT lvl 1 prep
• touhou (pofv at the moment)
• assassin’s creed
• braid (just finished)
• gyromancer
• this blog
• keeping current on everyone else’s blog
• getting caught up on anime (currently struggling through sorakake)
• getting caught up on manga (only thing i managed to complete recently was yotsuba)

The last two are especially daunting ^^;

…and that list conveniently excludes any self improvement or progress in my career ^^;;;

there's solution for that too...

Guess I’ll continue rambling to make it through the rest of my pics :P

Was a very different experience visiting Singapore.  Very convenient that everyone speaks english ^^;

Really hot and humid, glad I didn’t destroy my camera ^^;;;  Though I think I might’ve slightly damaged my 50mm lens orz

Feels like there’s some increased chromatic aberration… wouldn’t be surprised if I messed up and didn’t properly protect the lens from the environment.  Didn’t really think far enough ahead when I was doing the last minute packing for the trip.

A surreal experience with all the Christmas decorations amidst the warm weather.

Good thing I was on business or I might’ve spent all my money shopping.  So many malls!

Recently got a circular polarizer, which, if I understand correctly, would’ve help a lot with the reflections in the above pic ^^;

Alrighty, think that’s most of the pics I had worth posting ^^;

Any suggestions for Japan?  Though I could easily fill up 5-6 days with more shopping in akiba I always feel a bit guilty doing so and should probably set up some other goals :P  Well, I will be in northern Japan before that for an onsen excursion, but there’s still time for other things when I’m back :P

以上！

Two slightly harder to obtain figures today.  First off is Kotobukiya x Ichijinsha’s rendition of TOKIAME sensei’s illustration of Kirisame Marisa (of touhou fame for those of you un-ZUNified out there :P).

Not really sure if she’s a limited release or what, but she wasn’t available through my normal channels.  Ended up getting her at Hobby Stock.

With kotobukiya involved I was a little hesitant but after seeing some preview pics and the fact that I didn’t have any touhou figures pushed me to an acquisition.

Unfortunately the first thing I noticed was…

You can’t get clear shots of her face!! -_-  Here’s a shot from kotobukiya’s site:

…I don’t think they really delivered the same figure ^^;;;  Tried a buncha different angles but I don’t think it’s possible to reproduce that perspective -_- ma, しゃーないな～

For a clear face shot this is as close as any I was able to manage.

Other than the inconveniently hard to photograph pose… details are pretty nice.  Her boot has a little strap that’s loose for you to position…

Nice bamboo broom~

Speaking of the broom I had a hell of a time getting her attached to it… and of course the peg giving me trouble was the one in her butt.  So yeah, I spent like 10 minutes jamming the dang thing up her… … you know what I mean.

If you look at the larger version of the above pic you’ll see I still didn’t get the broom flush ;_;  Also visible in the below pic.

Didn’t wanna break it so gave up after it was stuck in a bit…

No pantsu :P

Her precious hakkero

best attack ever.  MASUTAAAAA SPAAAAAAKU!

Hat can be cast off, stays in place with a magnet.

Oh yes, and how could we forget the LED gimmick?

Perhaps it was that the batteries I put in weren’t exactly fresh, but the light wasn’t very strong, had to turn off my other lights to see it ^^;;;  Takes 2 AAs and there’s a switch on the bottom of the base to toggle it on and off.

All in all a nice solid rendition of marisa, happy to add her to the collection ^^

Oh yes, a random addition to my inventory of expensive photography crap…

Actually still need a gray card to set the white balance, but at least now I can tell exactly how far I’m off ^^;;

So then, on to our next challenger!  Reimu!

A toranoana release, the full listing was actually とらのあな 東方ソフビシリーズ 09 博麗の霊夢 イラスト:大沖 (toranoana touhou sofubi (?) series 09 hakurei no reimu illustration: daioki).  Loved his comics and simple art, couldn’t resist this figure ^^;

Something about the blank expression really resonates with me :P

Turned out to be muuuuch larger than I expected (thought she was gonna be like nendoroid sized).

oi, reimu, come back!

She comes with a large yin-yang base, gives the appearance of a paper weight ^^;

Also acquired, matching cirno ^^

Hmmm, and now for a completely anti-climatic ending, here’s that miku charm semi-recently released.

My phone is getting heavy…

Not as many pics as usual for marisa… was getting kinda frustrated ‘cuz it seemed like I was just getting a frame full of her dress from so many angles -_-  More conservative collectors may want to stick with the griffon release.  On the other hand I like how her face was done and the energy of the pose (though hard to appreciate from all angles).

Though it seems like most figures earn 3-4 stars, foo-bar-baz actually gave marisa 5!  I should read through his comments to see why… ^^;

and with that I think I’m suddenly complete with my backlog of new arrivals.  Maybe it’s finally time for another japanese lesson post… ^^;

yoroshiku~

以上！

Another figure for vocaloid lovers, world is mine miku!  Like BRS, this interpretation of her comes from a well received supercell release.  Well… technically i think i heard that brs wasn’t actually based off miku…?  Anyhow, on with the review~

Yet another release with a non-standard base.  Extremely non-standard ^^;

Huge and fitted with a frame and stand so you can either prop it up or hang it on your wall.

Rose petals for a touch of elegance?

headphones in the corner

Was dissapointed that you can’t remove the frame.  Don’t plan on hanging her on my wall so I woulda preferred something less conspicuous.

miku sticks pretty dang well to the base thanks to some magnets so you should have no fears hanging her.

After reading james’ review I was on the lookout for flaws and unfortunately they certainly turned up.  Above you can see the sort of sloppy looking execution of the black bow.

At this magnification the pattern on her shirt looks a bit unrefined although I think it’s fine at regular viewing distances.

Perhaps the bigger flaws in my copy were on her hair.

Luckily you can’t really see them unless you’re really looking.  Unless you view the view resolution version of the above pic you might not notice:

and

Kind of looks like her hair got chipped or something ;_;  At least her pantsu look fine :P

macro power!

Personally the only time I really look this closely at my figures is for the review so the flaws won’t bother me so much.

Hmm looks like I didn’t do the lighting properly above to see the things in her hair ^^;;

Paint job aside I love how her hair was done ^^

They did a weird translucent finish with the tips, not quite sure why ^^;

Dress looks alright, nothing special I guess.

Stockings black with reflective finish.

You can kinda see another flaw in her hair below ;_;  In the pic right above her eye.

miku goes into neet mode on chizuru’s pillow

Really love her expression

Didn’t really both much with different backgrounds since her base acted as the bg for the most part ^^;

Overall, despite her flaws I like what they’ve done for this release.  Obviously coulda been cleaner on the quality control but take a look at the source pic…

Click for official wim page (contains this and other wallpaper downloads)

…and I think most will be happy with the final product.  Also available with a lighter colored frame if you prefer.

For your convenience here’s the original vid (niconico):

and my favorite cover, this time by うさ (niconico)

foo-bar-baz took her off the base for a 360 view (forgot to do it myself ^^;), along with having great pics as usual.

james also has very nice pics along with a pair of ‘em to view, including the natural colored frame.

Marisa is up next, yoroshiku!

以上！

Like Fate, I was lucky to have the opportunity to see BRS in person at wonhobby 9.  Unfortunately at the time I had no idea who she was or what the big deal was.

Even after getting into miku music and niconico, brs isn’t my favorite or anything, though she did grow on me a little…

But after doing this review, I’m definitely into the figures!  Ended up liking this one a lot more than I expected ^^

As previously mentioned I ordered her through Tenso.  An interesting proxy service that gives you more control over the buying process.  Unlike Goody Japan (who I use frequently), Tenso provides you with a Japanese address so that you can place the order yourself.  You simply use your Tenso (Japanese) address to check out and they’ll ship it to the Tenso warehouse.  Once it arrives it’s like a usual proxy service – they’ll bill you for handling, domestic shipping, and finally shipping to your actual home address.

Their site’s pretty easy to use and available in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean so I’ll leave the detailed price comparison to you :P

As far as I was concerned it was a pretty painless process, even with a warehouse relocation that occurred while I was waiting for BRS to ship ^^;;

Back to the figure under review, shall we?  I was hesitant to do any black shots since she’s got so much black already… but after seeing my first shots I liked the effect ^^;  Kinda like she’s just melting into darkness or something?  Perfect for a nice emo moment, no? :P  ‘Cuz of that i left some of these purposely on the dark side.

One thing about this figure… it definitely has attitude.  Yeah she’s only 1/8 or what not but she has the presence of a 1/7 with a massive, beautiful base and her insane rock cannon.

Beautiful details from head to base.

Zipper is a little rough under macro scrutiny but very nice at normal viewing distances ^^;

Not sure if it’s worth the extra cost, but the base is definitely top tier material.  Looks great!

Based on the price of the next brs figure, the other thing you’re paying for is the rock cannon.  Again, maybe not worth it for everyone, but I think it really gives this figure some flavor.

The details on it are also very nice — it looks like a big heavy chunk of metal, despite its light plastic construction ^^;

Wasn’t quite sure exactly how to rest the cannon in the indented base – there’s not peg or anything to fix it there, it just rests in her hand.

You can kind of see in the above shot – brs’ right hand supports the canon.

One thing I don’t really like about figures is having to futz with them to get them set up… unfortunately brs definitely has this issue with the chain ^^;;;  It comes loose and it’s up to you to wrap it up and around her and her canon… there’s some instructions but I wasn’t really able to follow them very well… ended up just sorta improvising.

boots.

Nice detail on the hair, a must in my book ^^

Zipper on her coat.

Pettanko for dfc lovers.

and some very short shorts.

To give some contrast between the black and background, tried out red for some shots…

Just love her coat

and that hair ^^

Don’t have too many photography tricks up my sleeve so I apologize if you’re sick of my subject-off-center shots ^^;  Though I do like using them for wallpaper since it leaves a nice area for desktop icons.

Tried something new with my light tent… put my soft box in back of it and then used my other light as the main…

Took a lot of futzing but I think it ended up nice in the end.

Below, lovely hair, eyes, jacket + a look at the chain… but I’m not sure it makes a good shot ^^;  maybe?

‘nother look at that coat and her shorts

If you’re dexterous enough you’re supposed to hang one part of the chain in her hand, which I somehow managed ^^;

low angle… but i’m focused on her face :P  no pantsu anyway.

I almost finished the review without taking shots of her alternate eye ^^;;

A nice cast-off solution – the eye flame is just part of the hair and sits over her eyes.  As such you just replace her bangs, not the whole face.

Aaaaand that’s about it!

Well, almost.  Here’s her new home in one of my two new detolfs.  Which reminds me, here’s proof you can fit fate inside one!

With room for nanael to boot! :P  Obviously there was no room for her blades but until I get a better dust solution, this will keep her much more protected than out in the open.  And did I say 2 new detolfs?  Yes, that brings my total up to 5:

My entire scaled collection!  Action figures and nendoroids (puchis & normal) didn’t all make it in, but everyone else did!  I think I might actually have room for one more in the very corner, but it hurts every time I buy more furniture.  Not only is it money that could be going towards other things, it’s one more huge pain when I (inevitably) move again ;_;  *sigh*  Ah well, better to enjoy the moment then wait ’till I buy a house :P (specially here in the bay area… who knows when that’ll happen -_-)

Congrats if you read this whole post :P  To sum up, a very nice piece for your collection.  Must buy for BRS fans, and if the rock canon/base aren’t too important to you, you have a second chance with the sword version coming out next year ^^

Stop by foobarbaz,  animatic figmation and tentacle armada for more review pics!

Update: also reviewed at shadonia!

Oh yes, and for those that haven’t experienced the original work (niconico):

and if you prefer human vocals, i really love this version by ちょうちょ… especially her rendition of the opening ^^　(niconico)

Hope to have the next review up soonish, but we’ll see how that fares with new years coming up ^^;

以上！

A belated happy holidays to y’all~  Kind of dashed off without warning… though I guess with my new posting frequency it’s no big deal? ^^;;;

At any rate, I’ve got a bunch of lewt that arrived while I was home for xmas!

First is 姫様 miku!  Looking forward to doing her review ^^

Next is a bunch of goodies I got through Goody Japan at toranoana (i think?).  Oh, except the miku charm thingy – got her at hlj.  The reimu on the right is modeled after daioki’s illustration.  She’s much larger than I expected!  And the little chiruno, also based on daioki’s version, is just a charm since I couldn’t find the full sized one in stock ^^;

Also in that package was touhou 12 (ufo) and darui (daioki touhou doujinshi).  ^___^

This marisa is interesting, also my first scaled touhou figure?  Lights up too, though I doubt I’ll be doing anything with that ^^;;

Last we have brs.  I ordered her through Tenso after getting runner up in a dannychoo contest a while ago.  (which reminds me I need to contact him again, I didn’t get my $20 refund -_-).  Will write up about Tenso probably in the brs review.

She’s very nice.  Happier than I expected with her.  Took photos last nite and hope to have the review up soon!  To whet your appetite:

1920x1280

Nothing like having a second xmas ^__^

以上！

Time for another touhou post!  I’ve 1cc’d my third touhou on normal, Imperishable Night!  I believe this is considered one of the easier (perhaps the easiest?) ones but nevertheless, I consider any 1cc of any touhou on any difficulty an accomplishment :P

IN was actually the one and only touhou I’ve ever 1-shot… kind of.  Back in August I had played a couple times on normal I believe, decided to give easy a try, 1cc’d it on my first attempt.  So technically it wasn’t the first time I had played IN but it was the first time I had played it on easy (and the first time I had ever seen lots of the later stages/cards).  Here’s the replay for that run:

As I continued to pound away at eosd and pcb I would often come back to easy IN to indulge in a low stress 1cc ^^;  Guess I partook in that more than I thought… got enough practice in to do a no-death run ^^;

Back to the normal run – I actually first 1cc’d normal with a ludicrously generous 7 lives… don’t have that run recorded yet though (and I’m sure you’re all dying to watch it start to finish, na? na? :P)

IN is the only touhou to feature spell card practice so I was happy to actually capture at least one of kaguya’s cards ^^;

Sadly I think my performance during the normal parts of the stage and non-card attacks is worse than usual ^^;

I believe a bunch of touhou goodies I ordered are in the mail now so hopefully I’ll have a post ready soon after Christmas.

To recap I’m going through the touhou’s in order (only the integer numbered games atm), 1cc’ing them on normal.  That means pofv is next… not especially looking forward to that one ^^;  On a mission though, hopefully it’ll be over quick.

Barely on topic… anyone planning to pick up that gift reimu?

以上！

Well, my posting frequency has gone way down as my gaming has gone way up… but at least I seem to be able to keep up with reviews for incoming lewt ^^;

Today is subaru!  Again!  Except instead of Alter we have actsta behind this release ^^

The first thing that really stands out about these actsta figures is… well, for me it’s the price ^^;;

If you’re looking to obtain your own, hobby search still has her in stock for 8867 yen.  I guess if you justify it with the cost of a top tier 1/8 figure… then a premium for the extra parts and joints… maybe that doesn’t sound insane?  But when you compare it to the figma coming out in March for less a third of the price… pretty painful ^^;

…though I’d say still a better deal than the even more expensive CM’s Corp fate i got ^^;

Well, enough about price, she’s expensive and my spending is illogical.  How’s she look?

Pretty good I’d say.  Very much like a figma, only 1/8 sized.  I’ve always liked figmas for their depictions of characters… somehow they seem to align very well with my expectations.

You’ll have to forgive my clumsy posing… I’m such a clutz with these action figures.  Don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet but nanoha has joined my fleet of broken hand figmas ;_;

Unfortunately actsta subaru seems to share that aspect of figmas – joints are incredibly hard to work with… i had to apply excessive force to get her rollerblades off.  My fingers were raw at the end of the review -_-  And now I’m afraid to change her hands and stuff anymore, given my history with figmas…  Maybe it’s just me?  orz

Not terribly visible in my pics, but she comes with a clear blue base, complete with a belka magic circle… errr triangle?  or whatever you’re supposed to call that thing ^^;;

To pose her there’s a figma-ish plastic arm that has both a straight peg and attachable clamp that fits around her waist.  I couldn’t get the peg to fit in her skirt very well, gave up and resorted to the clamp for the review ^^;

Yeah, I’m sure every other actsta+Alter subaru owner has probably done this same shot but I never said I was original :P  Seems like the actsta body may be based on the figmas… seem to have a similar range of motion.  Couldn’t quite get her to match the alter version ^^;

Let’s see I think with the above pic I’ve covered the three faces she ships with… happy, angry/yelling, and this sort of angry/concentrating expression.  She also has regular/revolver knuckle versions of both arms and a pair of regular shoes.  For hands there are a variety of open and closed versions depending on which arm type you’re using.

saber makes a new friend ^^  Figma owners can get a sense of the scale from the above shot.  Quite a bit larger… she definitely is in that 1/8 range.

Quality definitely feels pretty solid (and a step above cm’s corp ^^;;).

Which kinda brings us back to the price thing…  can you really justify so much more for the increased scale?

If action figures are your thing I guess I haven’t seen anything better (well, take that with a huge grain of salt since I don’t really follow action figures ^^;;;).

3.5 figmas or 1 actsta? ^^;;

In retrospect I mostly got her for the novelty.  I seem to have a penchant for trying out crazy expensive figures ^^;  Somewhat lacking the creativity to appreciate poseability, she’ll probably by my last foray into the action figure sector for a while.

Still though, ignoring the price, very happy with the execution.

…and now a quick omake :P

Having upgraded my setup so much in so many ways over the last year I can’t help but grab random figures off the shelf at the end of a review ^^;

Reinforce was one of the subject of one of my first reviews… one of so many I’ll like to redo at some point ^^;

The depth of kanzaki’s hair makes for a nice effect ^^

And finally, for now i’ve perched fate high above my detolfs, where there’s room for zamber ^^

Alrighty, time to wrap up.  Subaru was it? ^^;;

foo-bar-baz has a great review with more poses and better photos ^^

…aaaand… hmm… are we the only crazy bastards that bought and reviewed her? ^^;  Hmm, well I’m sure there’s more out there, I haven’t been following blogs as judiciously as I would have liked orz

以上！