One of two june arrivals, after recently finishing k-on vol. 3 and catching up with the second season… decided to go with azunyan first ^^

Nice petite little box to match azunyan’s figure ^^

Not exactly my favorite pose but hey, it’s alter and nothing else on the market persuaded me otherwise :P

As you’d expect, nothing special going on from her sides and back so let’s just get the once around over with real quick…

Something about her face/expression seems not quite right to me… well… more like, not quite to my taste… but meh, nothing major.

Takin a closer look at her guitar…

If you check out the full size you can see there’s actually some sort of texture on the white part.

pic hand

あずにゃん可愛い～　＾＾

As always I wouldn’t mind more detail in her hair, but guess ya can’t expect too much from a 1/8…

gomen azunyan, chotto shitsurei…

I like the clear plastic better than solid colors… but metal bars or something would be best… azunyan’s foot supports are quite… impressive ^^;

matching base isn’t bad

azunyan is just such a great name ^^

As you probably noticed by now she comes with both regular hair and nekomimi ^^

Was looking for something to add some color to the background and just couldn’t find much ^^;

nyan nyan nyan

^^

Decided to stick with yui, mio & azunyan.  maybe i’d pick up ui if they decided to release her but for now gonna save some money ^^;

Yui’s strange face angle really clashes with my lighting setup ^^;;

guess we’ll relegate her to bokeh duty :P

A pretty nice azunyan release in what’s shaping up to be a very nice alter set. Recommended if you want the set or are just looking for the good execution alter provides. I guess it’s in her character to be more reserved but I woulda preferred something more energetic like yui or mio’s pose.

…and again i’m at a loss for linking other reviews. or maybe i put too much faith in the google reader search ^^; ah well, lemme know if ya see others.

Oh, and before I sign off, a little preview of next review~

以上！

To be quite honest I wouldn’t have picked her up if I weren’t completing the set, perhaps that’s why I was pleasantly surprised ^^;

Another thing about not being too enthusiastic about her… for some reason that made me think she was 1/8 or something.  That’s anything but true as you’ll see in some comparison shots later… for now, here’s the huge box!

…that doesn’t really tell you much without a reference does it?  Well, it’s about as tall as nanoha’s box.

She definitely feels like the most simple of the gang with just the book.  And poor zafira is tiny.

Is he supposed to be in puppy mode? ^^;

Don’t mind saber in the background :P

…i really shoulda shot this with the lights on to give a little more color to the background ^^;

…let’s put zafira out of his misery.  Just have 2 more shots of him ^^;

On the bright side it’s nice to have the whole gang ^^;

Hey let’s try something… 800 width images!

woo!  Apologies in advance to my 1024×768 viewers… a little over a year ago you guys were about 14% of my readership (or at least, the readers who voted :P) and as time goes on I assume people keep upgrading.  I’ll run the poll again to see what ppl think (i remember even some higher rez folk actually preferred small pics) but I must say one of the few things I can deliver is sharp pics… so rather than try to be foobarbaz or artistic like Tier I’d rather just build on my strength ^^

Speaking of sharpness check these out:

…for examples of not sharp!  ^^;;  Alas, that’s the trade off shooting wide open on my 50 f/1.4.

If nice creamy bokeh from a fast lens is something you’re aspiring for, be sure to check reviews and be ready for less than optimal results shooting wide open (sharpness wise).  Here’s some ISO 12233 shots from a great Canon review site I frequent.  Of course, being able to shoot at f/1.4 can be the difference between having a shot or no shot, so it’s not terrible by any means.  But moral of the story, remember that your lens performance may vary quite a bit throughout its aperture range!

Here’s my 100mm @ f/2.8

And a side by side comparison:

Both shots were focused on the eyes.

Alright, enough geeking out with camera babble.  gomen!

Then again, not really much to say about shamal ^^;  Her outfit is relatively simple and she lacks the exciting accessories everyone else has.

You can see the clear plastic support bar included to suspend the 闇の書 above.

Unfortunately her device is a ring… not the most exciting thing in a figure ^^;

And the other hand~

A little more camera babble… sorry, can’t help myself ^^;  But another reason to get a circular polarizer… shot without:

With polarizer:

Much better, darou? ^^

Not having much to work on, the sculptor perhaps put all the effort into her pantsu?

fancy pantsu!  not expecting that ^^;

The support for shamal’s foot is built in to the base/pre-attached so no futzing around with that ^^

Closer look at 闇の書

Maybe if shamal was less of the team mom she’d be more exciting? ^^;;

close up!

below shot prolly woulda been better without that support bar ^^;

i think it is the impressive 1/7 scale that makes this figure for me ^^

Speaking of which, here are those comparison shots i promised:

Saber’s…1/6? and you can see Shamal’s raised hand gives her a definite height advantage.  (ignore my stupid f/2.8 putting saber all out of focus ^^;;)

Here we go.  f/10 ftw ^^;  KOS-MOS is 1/6!  Haruka is 1/8.  Shamal wins ^^;

Sorry for the delayed review.  She was set to ship together with another May release, I forget who, but whoever it was was delayed and I forgot to change her to ship immediately.  Hobby Search’s system doesn’t really take care of those sort of things by itself ^^;

Check out foo… wait… foobarbaz didn’t get her? ^^;; hmmm… did anyone else put up a review? ^^;;;  My google reader search isn’t turning up with anything and as you’ve probably noticed my starcraft playing has cut deeply into my blog reading ^^;;;  Well, let me know if you see a review up.

At nearly 10,000 yen I can see why people were hesitant to pick her up, but hey, I had to catch ‘em all ^^;

以上！

If you already own Alter’s previous Saber maid release, you know what to expect in terms of quality and execution.  We’ve got yet another awesome maid figure from Alter, such a shame it was not up for sale through the usual channels.  I opted to get her from Goody Japan this time, and that ended up being 13,400 yen (including EMS shipping).

Making a statement from very beginning, we’ve got a nice box with no windows.  Not sure if that was to cut down on costs or just to make it more elegant looking, but I thought it was a nice touch.

Sides of the box give you some indication of what awaits inside ^^

Was so excited to finally have her in hand, forgot mini saber was included as a little bonus ^^

As usual, click through for 1920×1280 versions when you want to see every last detail ^^

Figured I’d stick with a black background and kind of build on saber’s serious, almost kind of pale/goth look.

Upgrading from the original saber maid, alter saber maid now has a bucket ^^

Loved all the details in the original saber maid and that’s all back in this release.

Lots of people had issues with the execution on the previous saber maid’s  face… personally I didn’t really mind but nevertheless, like this version better ^^

The mop is back at well, making it the second mop in my collection :P

Love all the frills and details on her outfit

mmm delicious ^^

Just love the pose and how she’s got the bucket swung over her shoulder ^^

Frills everywhere, here’s the bow on her back~

just look at her, just excellent execution ^^

Her hair is also very nicely done, great detail work

Love that short skirt.  Not enough skirts here in the bay area :P

Obligatory pantsu examination.

I think some of my white balancing shenanigans has added some color to her skin but this saber is actually quite pale.

Like how this next shot turned out ^^  Focused on her bangs, wide open at f/2.8.

Let’s do a little comparison with the previous saber, shall we?

Here you can really see how pale saber alter is (or how yellow my original saber made is ^^;;;)

saber alter is definitely my new favorite maid figure now ^^

yum

With the base had pegs for the original saber maid too.  They look great together!

Looking at the base (which is huuuuge!), it’s just a very simple checker pattern.  Like it a lot though ^^

Hmm forgot to put some nendo comparison shots in but for reference the mini saber is about nendoroid puchi size.

All the food is not included :P (that’s from the phat classroom set)

Matching base to boot ^_^

Back to the main attraction~

Again too bad this was a limited/special/whatever it’s called release.  A great get for saber/maid fans

low angle :P

Adjusting to a more tasteful (?) angle~

Ack, forgot to shop out that bit in the corner.  ah well :P

So there ya have it, sorry for the pic spam, it’s been awhile ^^;

Beautiful beautiful saber maid figure, I hope fans have gotten their hands on her already or else i’m sure the only options at this point are likely expensive auctions.  Love the different pose and adjustment to her face.

foobarbaz has a much more cheerful lighting setup so that you can better see all the details.  Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.

guy also has his review out as well!

Now then, a little site update before I sign off – May this year was probably the busiest I’ve been at work in years… so that combined with excessive Starcraft 2 and Touhou playing has cut deeply into my usual activity on the figure blog scene.  So yeah… down but definitely not out.  I won’t make any promises for more posts or comments or anything but I will say that when figures come in I have been able to churn out reviews in a somewhat timely fashion.  As such, you can blame all the figure manufacturer delays for my lack of posts :P  Been chatting with blowfish on msn lately and on the off chance anyone else would like to drop a line, you should be able to add me through my gmail account.  What, you don’t know it?  Go check my about page.  Or I guess I could just tell you -  madaminu.　：P

以上！

うんたん♪うんたん♭うんたん♯

放課後ティータイムギター担当の平沢唯でーす。

With the second season currently airing I would guess she’s pretty hard to find anywhere now ^^;

Tried something different today… was originally planning to shoot on white since a lighter color seemed to go with her personality better… but ended shooting with no background.

Or rather, just whatever I happened to place her in front of ^^;  Recognize the anime I had on?

How about now? ^^

Anyhow yeah, above is still without the usual backdrop… it’s just that exposing for my main light, the ambient light quickly drops out, blackening the background.

A nice cheerful expression, which, though cute on mio, is much more in character for yui ^^

I think ‘cuz of the way she’s facing her face seems a bit flat from some angles?

Like above ^^;  So yeah, I would recommend finding display space for her that’s eye-level or below.

Guitar is nicely done, enjoy some macro shots~

I need to remember to really narrow up the aperture for these shots… dof becomes insanely shallow…

Was having a bit of trouble with glare on her eyes, even with my circular polarizer ^^;

And i must say it’s a bitch trying to adjust the thing when your lens hood is like 3 inches deep orz

Getting down to some lower angle shots…

Black pantsu.

I think it’s been a long time since I’ve had an alter figure that stood on both legs ^^;

and a little more on her expression… personally seems a little freaky from some angles…

Well, perhaps mostly just in the sort of generic moe below ^^;

yui’s pick hand

portrait~

and of course had to bring mio in the mix ^^

Shooting groups you definitely get an appreciation for depth of field.  Had to make sure they were exactly lined up to have both faces in focus at f/3.2 ^^;

Could’ve stopped down of course but wanted to keep the background as diffuse as possible.

Ah, yui’s taken the spotlight again :P

All in all,  pretty much what I expected from this release.  Pairs nicely with mio capturing her energetic, care-free nature.  Expression might look a little off from some angles… take care where you place her :P　　Not feeling particularly chatty today so hopefully the pics spoke for themselves ^^;

Now the question is whether Alter will release mugi & ritsu… and whether i’ll succumb to set completion ^^;;

stop by foo-bar-baz for the usual excellence~

以上！

nanohaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~ a.k.a. white devil magician girl :P (if you aren’t familiar with the vids, a whole series of them were/are on niconico ^^)

After seeing the movie, doubly pleased to have nanoha-chan ^^  Alter nanoha release, need i say more?

huzzah, my usual crappy box pics, this time taken at iso 1000 ‘cuz i forgot to adjust it! … orz  Ah well.  Resized down to this resolution I can’t really still blame the iso for the pic quality :P

Took quite a few pics this time… over 120.  Tried experimenting more with the lighting so that combined with all the shots I took… hopefully there are some good ones ^^;

Pretty much all the pics should be at 1920×1280 should you need something high rez.

I’m liking these metal bars Alter used for nanoha & earlier with fate.  Fairly unobtrusive, they fit in really easily, feel nice and sturdy.  Think I prefer them to any sort of plastic stand off.

The wings fit in really easily!  I think that’s the first time I’ve thought as such – having gone through subaru & exceed mode nanoha ^^;

For the transparent components I thought lighting them up would make for a more interesting shot.  Unfortunately sometimes I didn’t really balance the exposure like above, where her foot’s dark.  Ah well, at least you get a pretty good look at the wing ^^;

If you haven’t seen the movie, they updated nanoha’s appearance to be a bit more in line with her strikers look.

nanoha a's ep 1

Main things are her bow and cuff things I guess?

Oh yes, and as you can see above I believe they added raising heart’s gun like trigger and such.

Used blue for background throughout though ‘cuz of the lighting ended up black sometimes.  Guess that’s just my defacto look ^^;

That white and yellow blur above is actually raising heart ^^;  For this shot had to actually fit it inside my lens hood ^^;

After getting umbrellas and a softbox I’ve become so accustomed to soft light I forgot that hard light isn’t necessarily bad ^^;  The above shot is practically the same as the top pic but the softer light gives it a much different look.  Better for reviews I guess in that you can see more of her details clearly but less stylized?

Speaking of stylized, was goofing around and tried another silhouette.  Some b+w pics for the heck of it too ^^;

Similarly framed shot, thought with different lighting and in color…

Twin tails… has anyone written a doujin with nanoha as a tsundere? :P

I suppose with the amount of doujin out there there must be at least one :P

ごめんなのはちゃん、フィギュアレビューですから…

Guess they decided to change things up from strikers nanoha ^^;

Speaking of strikers nanoha, if you have her you’ll notice a lot of the same details in her outfit ^^;

Well not the thing above, but her dress ^^;

More hard light~

Mmm let’s take a closer look at raising heart, shall we?

Since I still use my camera mostly for figure reviews I don’t have to deal with lens flare much.  Taking one of my lights and moving it around near the subject I finally got an appreciation for the problems it presents though ^^;  Shot above was where the flare wasn’t so bad.

Still with me?  I still have a lotta shots to go ^^;

Still strikes me as ridiculous that she uses her staff like a rifle, but in a strange way that’s part of the appeal for me ^^;

One of device mode for good measure~

Base is a pretty nicely detailed magic circle

I think the metal bars were necessary for this base ‘cuz otherwise you’d have nasty blocks of plastic covering up sections

I assume you notice the smaller base?  Really like that they included it – it’s a stand for the extra raising heart.  That’s right, nanoha comes with two complete raising hearts so you can display the one she’s not actively holding!  As usual I ordered her without thinking and didn’t read up on any details, so this was a pleasant surprise ^^;

Comes with a metal bar to hold the staff in place.

More black and white shenanigans.  I should do some reading on b/w photography to see what sort of things make for good shots…

As much as I like canon mode, I think the pose is more natural with device mode.  Unfortunately I took almost all the pics in canon mode ^^;

Tried experimenting a little with the highlight priority mode but not as much as I’d like.  Seemed like it was helping but didn’t know it required iso 200 or higher?  Not that that level of noise should really matter much but wanted to fully understand how would effect things before shooting a whole session with it ^^;

Will need to get some gobos to experiment with lighting more in the future…

nanoha x 2

Tiny by comparison, but remember, grown up nanoha is huge :P  makes brs seem tiny ^^;

And that, my friends, is finally the end of this review ^^;;

Think I talked more about taking the photos than the figure, but hopefully the pics spoke for themselves ^^;  Need I even say recommended for nanoha fans? :P  The full 2 copies of raising heart & separate stand were a great idea – makes me wish i had a stand for fate’s zamber bardiche (it sure is big enough to merit one :P)

As usual, for an exhaustive (and extremely well shot) look at every detail and every angle, foobarbaz has you covered.

James seems to be working on his review too ^^

James’ review is up at Exelica Meteor!

以上！

Pantsu witches is an amazing series.  I mean… you’ve got chicks flying around in their pantsu shooting guns.  What could be more amazing than that?  Well maybe pantsu that fly by themselves… but this series takes itself much more seriously I’d say ^^;

miyafuji yoshika, the main character, but alas not my favorite ^^;  got her mostly ‘cuz i thought i’d collect the entire set at the time ^^;;

Was happy that mio & miyafuji had significantly less parts to fuss with.  Must’ve taken me like 30 minutes just to unbox and assemble nanoha ^^;;

Though she’s only 1/8 miyafuji’s rifle is nearly as tall as her.  Adds quite a bit of height.

Going once around… you’ll notice I opted for the discreet propellers rather than the motion blurred disk.

…though I think i prefer the motion blurred look ^^;

The strike units are very nicely detailed, which is unfortunately contrasted with some (imo) plain seifuku ^^;

A closer look at a strike unit…

I like the clear light blue base.  Doesn’t seem to stick out as much and doesn’t take your attention away from the figure.

宮藤 芳佳　- miyafuji yoshika
所属 扶桑皇国海軍 – member of the fusou empire navy
遣欧艦隊第２４航空戦隊２８８航空隊 – hmmm i don’t know my military vocab very well ^^;; europe dispatch 24th squadron flight 288? or something like that? ^^;;
階級　軍曹 – rank sergeant
身長　１５０ｃｍ – height 150cm
誕生日　８月１８日（１４歳） – birthday 8/18 (14 years old)
使用機材　零式艦上戦闘脚二二型甲 – mmm curse this specialized vocab.  Basically it’s a description of her strike unit – zero-style warship grade(?)/version(?)/style(?) 22?  something like that ^^;
使用武器　九九式二号二型改13mm機関銃 – her weapon… 99 style #2, type 2 modified 13mm machine gun … ??? something like that hahaha ahhhh and i’m supposed to be taking the lvl 1 jlpt this year ^^;;;

In case you haven’t seen them in other reviews, pictured above are the alternate propellers.

Not really sure what’s up with the seams in her seifuku.  They’re so prevalent it almost seemed intentional? ^^;

I don’t remember… did they ever explain/try to justify why the ears and tail sprouts out?  Besides the obvious fan service reason? ^^;;

Another look at her rifle/machine gun

Was afraid of breaking off the fine spike thing (which i assume is for aiming?) ^^;

again, though she’s not my favorite character from the series, i think alter did a pretty good job with her

You actually have to take off one arm to get her gun in place, was a little more fuss than I expected but nothing like shuraki stuff :P

pants…iya, mizugi ne

Somehow I need to come up with a system for more varied backgrounds ^^;  If I ever go flash I think that’ll open up a lot of possibilities… gobos and gels ftw … spensive though ^^;

aaand one more shot to wrap this up with~

Had meant to translate this review too but feeling a bit under the weather (gads, it’s the day before my flight, what terrible timing orz) so gonna have to stay with english ^^;

If you like yoshika i think this is a pretty solid buy.  Seams on her uniform might bother some, but if you can look past ‘em the other details are nice and I think her face was done really well (one of the more important aspects for me, personally).  Given her character I think I prefer a non-action/shooting pose so that turned out fine as well.

Check out foo-bar-baz, and exelica meteor for more coverage!

以上！

At any rate, today’s subject… mio!　とにかく、今日は澪ちゃんです！

萌え萌えキュン♥

Not really sure what to say… I assume you’ve already seen k-on! ^^; Or maybe not?　何書けばいいんでしょう。　皆さんはもう『けいおん！』を見たんでしょう。　見てないのかな？

If not, I guess it’s pretty quickly summed up as a slice-of-life-school-club-moe-band anime.　見てないのなら…一覧と言えば、日常学校軽音楽萌アニメ…かな？　＾＾；

Personally I didn’t really understand the hype at first.  After seeing the first episode I still wasn’t really into any of the characters.　実は、これ、どうしてそんなに人気あるのかなと思ってさっぱり分かりませんでした。　第１話見た後で誰にも萌えなかったです。

But, remembering having had a similar reaction to hyakko, which I ended up loving, I kept watching.　それでも、大好きなヒャッコと同じようなリアクションを覚えて、もうちょっと見ることにしました。

mio and azusa go the top of my character ranking for the show… straight black hair (or twin tails) ftw ^^　一番好きなキャラと言えば、澪と梓ですね。　やっぱ黒いストレートヘア（ツインテールも）いいな

Girl in seifuku… I’d say the off balance pose and guitar help this one from being too boring ^^;　制服と少女それだけで何だか普通って感じかな…バランスを崩してベースを持ってこのフィギュアはもっと面白くなったと思ってます。

Speaking of the guitar… took some rather lousy macro shots for ya :P  I say lousy just because the framing and subject matter didn’t really end up being terribly aesthetic.  But it’s sharp!  ^^;;　ベースと言えば、下手に接写撮影しちゃいました。　あんまり面白くなくて綺麗じゃないと思うんですが…シャープに見えます　＾＾；

Just a warning for those eyeing macro lenses… easy to get carried away :P　マクロレンズを買おうと思う人に注意：接写撮影しすぎしやすいですよ～　（ん～ん何か変な日本語書いたかな、今の…＾＾；）

Well, I almost like how the above shot turned out.  … Almost.  For those who like lens talk, it took all of f/11 to get that single machine head in focus (is that the popular word to use? i know nothing of guitars/basses/stringed instruments ^^;;;)　まぁ、上の写真が好きかな。　F/11も必要でペグ一つだけはシャープに見えます。

I love the cold, but the only downside is that it makes skirt sightings like this even more of a rarity.　寒い天気が好きだがそうなったらこんなスカートも見えなくなっちゃいますね。

Not much to complain about, but not much to praise for the seifuku.  Standard fare, nothing to drop your jaw.　嫌いなところはないが、これは超素晴らしいところもありませんね。

Mmmm almost didn’t include the below shot but a little more post processing and I think I saved it ^^; (was a bit under exposed)　下の写真は使わないところだったけど何とかPhotoshopで救いました。 （ちょっと暗かったです。）

Highlights maybe too strong on her hair now, but better than how I originally shot it ^^;　今はハイライトはちょっと強いと思ってますが前よりましかな。

no review is complete without pantsu.　フィギュアレビューと言えばやっぱ…パンツ？

I wonder if someday I’ll look back at this blog and marvel at my insanity.  … … nah :P　いつか、このブログを読んで、何考えてたんだろうと思っちゃうかな。　…　…　いや、ないな　：P

In case you’re new here, lots of these pics are uploaded 1920×1280 (or 1280×1920) so click on ‘em if you’d like to see a huge version.　初めての方へ、一つ伝えたい事があります。写真の大分は１９２０ｘ１２８０（もしくは１２８０ｘ１９８０）だからもっと詳しく見たいのならどうぞクリックして下さい。

aaand saving the best for last… or rather, my favorite shot for last:　それでは、最後には僕の一番好きな写真：

I dunno, but I really really like how that shot came out ^_^  Actually, excuse me a sec while I change my wallpaper… ^^ … … hmmm prolly shoulda closed up the aperature a little to get both eyes perfectly in focus…  ah well.　よく分かんないけどすごく好きです。　＾＿＾　ちょっと待ってね、今壁紙変えますから…　＾＾　…　…　え～っと開口をもっと小さくした方が良かったですね。そうしたら目は両方シャープ…　仕方ない…

A very nice figure though if you’re not afraid of her going out of stock, it may be best to wait for the wonfes aftermath to see if there are any other versions which catch your fancy.  It seems we’ll have quite the selection ^^　なかなかいいフィギュアと思うけど完売が怖がらない場合…もっと待って他の澪フィギュアと比べればいいんでしょう。きっとたくさんから選べられますからね。　＾＾

If a more shy mio is your thing, punynari’s got some sexay pics of future mios here.  I don’t know how I could not buy the moe moe kyun maid ^^;;　もっと恥ずかしがる澪が好みでしたらpunynariさんのブログにはそのフィギュアの写真もありますよ。　萌え萌えキュン♥の澪ちゃん…絶対買っちゃいますね、僕。　＾＾；；

More mio love can be found:　澪のレビューはもっとありますよ～

~foo-bar-baz – i think you know the drill by now.  lovely review ^^　もう知ってるんですよね。foo-bar-bazさんのレビューはいつも最高です。

~tentacle armada – i think tier wins a prize for most words talking about her bass ^^　tierさんはベースの事を以外とたくさん書きました。　＾＾

aaand I think that’s it for now?  As usual I’ll update as I come across others.　では、そこまでかな？　他見つかったら追加します。

以上！

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！

Finally back!  It’s been a while since I”ve taken a trip that lasted so long.  Was really getting home sick (and then actually sick ;_;) towards the end, especially with such a long anticipated release sitting my room.  Without further ado, alter’s feito-chan!

If you’re interested almost all the pics are 1920×1280 resolution.

It’s been what… 10 months-ish since I saw her at wonhobby?

Was stunned then and just as impressed now ^^

She’s massive, packed in a massive box, though as alter’s own blog has shown, not as large as hayate’s.

Almost as tall as nanoha’s box…

And dwarfs saber lily…

Packaging consists of 3 plastic sandwiches… took me a while to get through all the dang tape and ties ^^;

First thing that jumped out at me was that her zamber form bardiche is pretty much the whole length of the package.  i love it!

Unfortunately I have no room for it! ^^;;

You’ll have to forgive these first pics, they get better (i think ^^;) ^^;  Totally forgot to light up bardiche…

Absolutely love her hair.  These are the twin tails to end all twin tails :P

I should try fitting fate in a detolf to get her out of the dust… though there’s just no way this bardiche will fit.

Massive!

This version also seems to be bustier than I remember from the anime… ufufufu

All you 変体ども out there will be pleased to know the shots above and below are also 1920 :P

Nice strong metal bars to hold her up.

Seeing these feet for the who knows what’th time, kinda wish they took some artistic license and made it fancier ^^;

Another shot of her oppai for good measure.

As per her character, somewhat simple outfit… pose hair and face are the winners for me.

A better look at fate’s face without bardiche in the way:

Was trying to get some shots of her hair but they didn’t really turn out how I’d like.  Nevertheless, here they are :P

I remember when the first prototype pics came out there were some unsatisfied with the details… then they added the alter touch to it ^_^

Time to switch things up with the riot zamber

Anyone tried getting her in a detolf in this form yet?

yum

Will have to make myself another wallpaper after this review ^^

Sorry saber lily, your wallpaper time is up :P

Love this expression ^^

The metal bars in the zambers feel comically large until they’re in fate’s hands.

Pop the ends off and add the… what the heck is it anyways? energy rope… link… thingy? ^^;

Awesome base is… awesome. -_- *sigh*  /broken record: c’mon alter, something a little fancier would be appreciated!

‘Nother look at her hair with the zamber blades connected

And now, to extend what is already one of my longer reviews… I got a light tent! …cube.   Thing.  Yes I’m insane.  One of the more excessive purchases I’ve made.  But kind of like figures it fell in the cart during a large order ^^;;

The light shed comes with red, white, black and blue backgrounds.  You can see how I didn’t iron them out yet above ^^;

With the right depth of field you can hardly tell thou :P (above.  not below.  Below you can see it all too well ^^;;)

One of the main reasons I got it was for a better white/gray background.

Still getting used to working with it, but these shots turned out fine for my expectations.

Pretty even color all around, which is more what I was going for.

How’d I fit feito-chan inside this thing?  Easily, I got the big one.  ^^;;;;

I believe it’s an 80cm cube ^^;

Backgrounds simply velcro in, easy to change.

Not really sure the blue goes well with feito but I wanted to try out all the different backgrounds.

While I’m at it, quick random pic.  I got a new detolf recently, but a large part of my collection still remains battling the dust.

By the way I have a new appreciation for IS (image stabilization) after shooting so much with my non-IS primes.  The above shot was taken with a shutter speed of 1/3s!  Not the best pic I’ve ever taken but sooo much better than I would ever manage on a non-IS lens (and definitely usable resized).

Alrighty, about time to wrap things up… with group shots!

First the obligatory Alter StrikerS shot:

Wish I could fit them all together in the detolfs but I’d have to waste too much space to keep them segregated…

Next up, feito power!

Forgot my action figure versions ^^;  Ah well.

One last one… can has blonde?

Just figures that the first thing I do after flying back from Taipei is get my fate review out the door ^^;  Got home, passed out about 3pm, then woke up around 10pm and started taking pics ^^

Expected nothing less from Alter.  An epic sword and beautifully crafted hair won me over from the get go.  Pose isn’t bad… nice and dynamic but it doesn’t feel like the pose of the century or anything :P  Details are spot on, but unfortunately that means… nothing special on her outfit since it’s not very detailed to begin with ^^;  With shipping she cost an arm and a leg, but I’ve prolly never put less thought in such a massive purchase.  Was an autobuy all the way.

foo-bar-baz’s review has been up since 11/25, take a look if you haven’t already.  Beautiful pics as always, along with a much more detailed look at the packaging among other things.

James and Smithy recently got their reviews up too, stop by if you’re not over-fated at this point ^^

Alrightythen.  And that’s that.

以上！

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Narika hails from 超昂閃忍ハルカ (choukou sennnin haruka) ~ Beat Blades Haruka, an eroge by Alicesoft and recently released eroanime.  Hadn’t expected this follow up release by Alter, seeing as how haruka had been ready to order just 2 months after the game went on sale late last February (2008).  Yet again I would like to voice my desire for a subaru figure!!! (she’s the third heroine in the game).  At any rate, back to the girl at hand!

Unlike haruka, who wields her trademark kunai (?), narika comes equipped with a… I have no idea what it is.

I admit I wasn’t so thorough in getting through every last bit of the game, so I have no idea if her weapon here is unique to this figure or what.  Whatever it is it gives a nice mechamusume flavor to the figure, which I love ^^

Once around, shall we?

The huge weapon thingy actually has some pegs and attach to narika’s bow, which in turn is affixed to her back.

Once you’ve gotten everything secured you then have to get her hand around the handle…

But luckily her fingers are flexible so it’s not too bad.

According to the text I guess it’s actually a “Beat Blaze Assault Arms Unit”.

The blaze part at least would go along with narika’s fire based attacks.

Again, not sure if I remember correctly, but I thought narika’s signature weapon was a huge shuriken?

The more I write about this thing the more I wonder just how the heck you attack with it ^^;;

Seems like you could slice with this side, but being on the rear of such a large contraption, not sure how that’d work ^^;

Lots of nice details on this weapon thing.

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Wonderful execution that you can expect from alter.

Some sort of crazy utility belt?  And I assume the 02 numbering is ‘cuz haruka would be 01?

Behold the power of a macro lens trained on…

completely uninteresting armband! woo! *ahem* moving on…

Some tiny imperfections on her hair, but I can barely see them with my naked eye so no biggie.

pantsu time, brace yourself:

Think I actually commented on her pantsu last time I was talking about beat blades haruka… in that, yes, this is her normal battle outfit:

I guess that part kunoichi and part eroge – defeat your opponent by distracting them with your ero-power ^^;

Vocab review: 丸見え＝＝まるみえ＝＝completely visible.

Was hard to frame this next shot in such a way that it would draw your attention to the right place… just trying to give you a better look at her back…

Do you already have haruka?  The base design will look familiar…

To counter haruka’s oppai, narika fulfills the pettanko role.

Kotobukiya actually did a release of narika also, which I also have.

Koto’s was based on the cg above and was done pretty well… I think it’s my love for kunoichi that pushed me to make this purchase ^^;  You might also notice the coloring scheme is different… not sure where then red/white scheme came from… does narika go into some super mode with that crazy weapon and new outfit?  I totally don’t remember.

Looking into getting a tripod upgrade so that I’m not stuck with horizontally oriented photos all the time (current one can’t support the weight shooting vertical ^^;;)… luckily narika’s weapon lent itself to the horizontal layout.

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And the obligatory haruka combo shot ^^

Really like how haruka looks… makes me want to redo my old review ^^;

If you like beat blades haruka, pettanko, pink hair, kunoichi, mecha-ish elements… alter’s narika is the figure for you!!  Extremely satisfied.

Be sure to stop by Tentacle Armada for a more artistic review!  Check out Kodomut for an awesome outdoor photo session!  Oh yes, and if you’re interested in the story of beat blades haruka (and/or a subaru figure), stop by wolfheinrich’s world!

次回予告

Next review will be kanu!  No, she’s not 1/4, but her packaging certainly gives you that impression ^^;

1/4 nanoha, 1/8 miku, 1/8 moka included for comparison.

以上！