official (i assume) pic found at hobby search - link below for more

Back at Hobby Search I found myself adding figures to my cart ^^;  Ah nanoha.  No way I could pass her up.  Series is named after her!  With all the bits flying around her, I really have no idea where to put both her and fate orz.  *ahem*  Sorry blowfish, I’ll try to keep the nanoha bits to a minimum :P

Two others made the cut – first we have Freeing’s Kanu.  Really love the pose and had been wanting a kanu from koihime musou.  Giga Pulse had released her earlier… but with her oppai exposed and a very subdued pose I passed.  The link goes to their more recent clear version, but there was a normal colored version too.

pic also from hobby search - click link above for more

I was able to see the prototype at wonhobby and had been impressed then, despite the lack of painting.  Now seeing the fully colored prototype I think this is going to be a winner (assuming she doesn’t lean ^^;).

Last to end up in my cart was Alter’s miyafuji.

pic found at hobby search, link above for more

I’m not exactly a pantsu witches fanatic but despite all my complaining, I love sets… and the prospect of an Alter pantsu witches set was tantalizing.

Had to stop myself there or my plans to purchase a dslr would be liquidated ^^;;

The Unfortunate Unchosen

Some others that I had to cut (but am still considering… if budget constraints let up ^^;)…

Click for pic source (hobby search listing)

More queen’s blade ^^  Alleyne (sp?) looks pretty dang good but when trying to trim down my cart, I just couldn’t help but think… I’m not really a devoted Queen’s Blade fan… no need to push this one.  But on the other hand she’s an elf!  Pose could also stand to be a bit more dynamic… but yeah, gonna wait and see.

Max Factory’s realistic Yoko was another…

Click for pic source (hobby search listing)

I totally love the execution but again thinking about it… am I that much of a yoko fan?  I’m going to have Alter’s & Enterbrain’s release in hand… and perhaps I should get Gift’s rendition first…  But yeah, hesitated so gonna sit on this one too.

Completing the haruhi gekisou set was also tempting… and having just finished watching Candy Boy, kanade and yukino were also calling to me.

Pics from hobby search listings. Click links above for more

And finally there was Alter’s Saber Lily and Silfa.

Click for hobby search source

With GSC’s version already on order I couldn’t bring myself to get the Alter one.  Looks like her outfit may have some finer details (and that scabbard looks beautiful)… but I am not (yet) a Saber fanatic.  Plus the GSC pose and base grab my attention more.  Can definitely see how people may prefer this one, just saying I couldn’t justify a 2nd saber lily purchase ^^;

Click for hobby search source

Though ToHeart2 holds a tight nostalgic grip on me, silfa wasn’t really a favorite of mine.  The figure looks fantastic but just reminds me how disappointed I am that Alter hasn’t released tama-nee ^^;

That actually only scratches the surface of my 96 figure wishlist (‘course that has everything, including the kitchen sink) but the above are probably the ones most on my mind at the moment.

Have preorder announcements incurred much damage to you lately?  Anything you’re looking forward to?  I’m still trying to figure out if I’ll nab the actSta subaru when she goes up for order…  and bikini-Fate is probably just around the corner, which is another must buy ^^;

以上！

Pic from official listing (click to go there)

…And it figures just as I’m writing this I get the GSC newsletter officially announcing the World is Mine Hatsune Miku release orz.  Ok, well I *almost* got through the month without placing an order.  Dark brown frame for me ^^

Yes, as implied above, I’m gonna order her.  Can’t resist.  After joining nico nico and seeing the countless miku videos, my casual fandom has leveled up… no way I can pass this up now.  There’s just an amazing community of folks producing original stuff and talented singers to let you enjoy each (popular) song twice as much!  Think I’ve… yes, I’ve posted previously on my current favorite, うさ-san’s rendition of world is mine… thanks to aaron for alerting me to romeo & cinderella… rin fans may like 炉心融解 (niconico, youtube)… I’m probably just scratching the surface, seeing as how I’m pretty new to all of it ^^;

Anyhow, miku aside… at the moment I have 16 orders open, though Lulu just shipped ^^

click for listing @ hobby search

…sakura is in stock too… hopefully metatron will join her soon ^^

The complete gang, detailed on my tsukiboard is as follows… (pics from official sources… I think they’ve all been linked sometime… in the past… ^^;;;;)

Now that most of the StrikerS gang has been covered and my collection has engulfed most of the characters from series I was/am really into… think I’ll be able to make it through the year without going broke ^^;

I like graphs… let’s look at this year’s spending so far…

The blue line represents the % change in spending.  i.e. 0% means I spent the same that month as the previous month.  Or -50% means I spent half as much.  The first column is labeled “Avg 2008″ – that’s the average amount per month I spent in 2008.  The faint red line are the actual dollar values, but without a corresponding axis to hide my shame :P (not that it would be hard to calculate).  Basically you can see that except for march, I’ve been making some good progress towards cutting back.  April would’ve been a zero if it weren’t for world is mine :P  Though I must mention that while I didn’t place many orders, April had a great deal of arrivals which was outstanding ^^

How’s your spending been looking?  Lately I’m seeing less and less at wcloudx‘s site that gets me all jazzed up… though multiple release annoucements have snuck up on me in the past.

以上！

Click for source (official GSC site)

I was being so good… so far January marks a record low for my preordering habits… leave it to GSC to announce a 1/4 scale beauty for preorder…

Looking back at the damage sustained this month…( I track my orders by date the order was placed)…

1.)  Technically Alice was not a new purchase since I simply replaced by Kid Nemo order with Tokyo Hunter.  Nevertheless, ordered and received Alice this month…

2.) Megahouse’s Lulu was an unanticipated release I decided to acquire…  I loved Code Geass and sadly I have no Code Geass figures so far.  What better way to start the collection than with the main character?

click for listing @ hobby search

3.)  Subaru was a given, lest my set be incomplete ^^;  I still haven’t done any posts on nanoha, but as far as strikers goes… was totally not into subaru/teana in the beginning but definitely warmed up to them by the end.  A welcome and necessary part of the collection ^_^

Pic from official site (click for listing)

4.) Saber Lily… man, hadn’t thought about getting another Saber figure, but once I saw the painted prototype… couldn’t resist.

Click for source (official GSC listing)

Love the way the did the hair.  Love the pose.  Love the base.  Love Saber.  Love larger scale figures.   I’m expecting great things ^_^

So that’s how the first month of the new year has shaped up for me.  Given my previous impulse buys I suppose adding Nanoha wouldn’t be that bad…  As mentioned earlier… I am at a record low for orders this month so it’s not like I’d be going broke or anything…  Yet I still kind of hesitate…

Pic from official site. Click for source.

I wish there was more detail in her hair.  Especially for this scale of figure.  I guess the smoothness on her head isn’t really as noticeable from the front, but it still bothers me.  Otherwise… the pose isn’t bad.  I’m usually not into swimsuit figures, but that didn’t come into play when I saw the pics ^^;

I guess the biggest source of doubt is that I didn’t really seriously start considering her until I read in the description that a similarly themed Fate (based on the same source art) was in the works…

Pic found at gelbooru, click for source.

So yes, it’d be nice to have both… but should I succumb to my set completion sickness again?  I’m afraid I might be dropping a lotta money just to have the pair, rather than on the merits of each alone ^^;;;  My honest first reaction to nanoha was basically, ‘pretty good, but i better save some money.’  On the other hand she looks really good and seems to be a faithful representation of the character… aaaaaa どうしよう？！ (what am i gonna do?!)

How’s your January been? And what will you do?  Have you ordered Nanoha?

Lately it feels like the only front I’m making any progress in is anime. As posted previously I recently got through Code Geass (Which I again highly recommend if you haven’t gotten around to it. I’d say watch the first 3 episodes to get a good feel for things. I’ll let ya skip this one if you’re not hooked by then :P)

Almost finished with 恋姫†無双 (koihime musou)… love the characters and the ED but the plot hasn’t really grabbed me that much. …Though I guess I didn’t really expect much from an eroge turned anime (not that that’s a bad thing… but I didn’t get the awesome plot vibe from this one ^^;)

Completed 乃木坂春香の秘密 (nogizaka haruka’s secret)… was a nice chaser for Code Geass ^^;

Good stuff, though mami-chan alone is often enough to keep my attention for a series ^^;  If you’re looking for a light hearted otaku-themed romantic comedy, you’re looking at a winner!

Halfway through 怪物王女 (princess resurrection). Grabbed my attention because of good smile’s upcoming release:

Image from Good Smile Company's official listing, linked above

Not bad, although I think I’m still coming off the Geass high and any series that doesn’t have … mmm so as to not spoil anything I’ll just say… such epic content… seems tame by comparison ^^; Be that as it may, liked it enough to preorder ^^;

Also started and got midway through アイドルマスター XENOGLOSSIA (idol master xenoglossia). Also feels kind of flat but again I’m not sure if it’s just relative to Geass or what ^^; Feels like I’d be enjoying a bit more if I’d have played the game…

The mechs (errr “IDOLs” … ^^;;) are kinda weird and so far whenever they try to turn up the drama I’m just not really feeling it.  Something about using them to blast meteors out of the sky before they hit the earth, the mechs having feelings, bla bla… I am getting a strange evangelion vibe thou ^^;

Misato? :P

Misato.

deko-chan

Aside from that… I’m trying to stay current with the fall season:

とある魔術の禁書目 (to aru majyutsu no index)

Really enjoying this one so far. Index is great. Mikoto is great. Kaori… well, I think I’m right about to watch the episode where we see her actually do something. Katana/nodachi wielding, long hair, great outfit (^^;)… gave in and preordered the kotobukiya version ^^;

夜桜四重奏 〜ヨザクラカルテット〜 (yozakura quartet)

Not bad I guess. Not rocking my socks off, but I’ll probably see it through. Something about a monster city and a group that works to protect it from the monsters that don’t play nice.

ロザリオとバンパイア CAPU2 (rosario & vampire capu2)

As mentioned in my previous post the censoring is absolutely horrid. Be that as it may, I’m still watching to get my fill of moka, kurumu and mizore.

ケメコデラックス! (kemeko deluxe!)

Been enjoying this one a lot too. Picked up vol 1 of the manga, the nendoroid and M.M. ^^;; Something about Love Hina being one of the first manga I read… the osananajimi (childhood friend) theme is often a winner for me.

M.M.!

かんなぎ (kannagi)

Continues to deliver. <3 nagi ^_^

地獄少女 三鼎 (jigoku shoujo mitsuganae)

I love ai, but wished they would move away from the monster of the week sort of style. There is the question of how ai has come back… hoping they move on that issue more rather than saving all the plot for the last 6 episodes.

とらドラ! (toradora!)

kugimiya-san has such a distinctive presence, the show feels like shana – flamehaze + suzu… I love it. Keep forgetting to look for/order the light novel…

ヒャッコ (hyakko)

torako + tatsuki crack me up. At this point I’d prolly rank it under minamike or toradora but so far still worth a spot on my watch list.

あかね色に染まる坂 (akane iro ni somaru saka)

Now here’s an eroge turned anime that’s got my attention. I guess that’s to be expected from a series that successfully pulled off the superfecta (game/anime/manga/light novel) ^_^

In addition to all the characters, we’ve got kugimiya-san in the mix for extra win ^_^

今日の５の２ (Today, in Class 5-2)

Watchable I guess? That first episode was so bad though it’s hard to motivate myself to watch the new episodes ^^;

CHAOS;HEAD

This one’s looking promising… main character’s sense of reality seems to be messed up or being messed with… kawaii cast, as per its eroge roots… definitely following this one.

…phew. No wonder I’ve felt so “busy” lately ^^; Since my class is near Japan Town I’ve been heading to kinokuniya every week…

on to Manga!

From my last visit, picked up to aru majutsu no index, kemeko deluxe, hyakko & code geass: nightmare of nunnally.

Been reading kannagi lately, vol 2 as pictured above.

Nagi cracks me up.  Also love the art.  The anime is pretty faithful to the style, but the manga still has an edge over it.

Also from the above pic, shikabane hime and nichijyou… we’ll see how those go.

More from my queue, decided to try out the tetsuwan birdy manga since I enjoyed the anime so much.  If you haven’t read yotsubato!, you’re missing out!  yotsuba absolutely wonderful!  The epitome of the 平凡は日常 (ordinary, everyday life) sort of content.  As it proclaims, “enjoy everything.” ^_^

Unlike other series that resort to adding lame new characters to the mix to keep things alive, yotsuba has a solid, lovable cast, and to boot, I get to learn about all sorts of everyday cultural things. Surprised it hasn’t turned anime yet.

The lucky star manga lets me keep getting my fill now that we’re out of both anime and ovas ^^;

To wrap things up, I just went on a figure purchasing rampage…

Incoming Figures!

Placed a lot of orders, although lots of these were reorders after Kid Nemo bailed on me.  Finally a good word for them though – hallelujah they billed me for Vita and haruka!  Of all my orders with them, I worry about the Alter ones the most.

As mentioned above, hime, kaori, kemeko and M.M I added after watching the respective anime ^^;  Same for lulu, figured he’d make a good addition for reviews ^^;

My Alter obsession continues so Louise and senhime were shoe-ins.  Dunno why but I decided to pick up hiyori of chu x chu idol.  Another Blood has been eating away at my defenses after seeing so many great reviews, finally caved.

Finally we have the FREEing ryoko and figma kagami… ryoko i just couldn’t resist any longer and she happened to come in stock at hobby search.  Kagami has been a favorite of mine for awhile so it was high time I got some sort of figure of her.

…I really shoulda split this post up ^^;  Ah yes, all figure pics from official sites or hobby search, screenshots taken from anime.

Worst part is that a handful of preorders should’ve arrived by now, but thanks to the chaotic stocking of US based stores, who knows when they’ll come in ;_;  Recently started ordering more from Hobby Search and Hobby Link Japan… we’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime I’m going to obsess over my preorders…

From Alter…

Images from Alter's official site... except for Alice from AkibaHobby coverage

From the upper left, rei, haruka, hayate, signum, vita, KOS-MOS, Teana, KOS-MOS, and Alice.  Alter really kills me ‘cuz I can rarely resist their offerings…  Somehow they even got me excited over the rerelease of KOS-MOS.  I was not a fan of Xenosaga and lukewarm on KOS-MOS because of the game… but between Alter’s great figures and Mugen no Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga… yeah, I’m hopeless.  Looking forward to the nanoha releases and hope they have something great planned for nanoha herself ^_^

From Good Smile Company…

Pics taken from the official site, except for Exelica, snagged from tomopop

yoko, Excelica, shana, miku, shana, human mage, and shiki… Exelica and normal shana are burning holes in my wallet, those mischievous little nendoroids…  Can’t wait for miku, but again, she’s from a US based store so I’m worried how long I’ll have to wait before she arrives.

From Alpha x Omega…

Images taken from the official site

Looking forward to getting some ToLoveる added to my collection… had to reorder Alice because hlj didn’t get enough in stock orz.

From Megahouse…

Images taken from official site

Think I mentioned yumiru and airi previously… recently decided to take the plunge and order nanael…

From everyone else…Kotobukiya, Kurushima, Volks, Art Storm, Griffon, Shueisha, Daikikougyo, and Wave…

kanu, sairenji, shiro, kanu, chizuru, narika, limit gunz, kaguya and sasara…  kanu is actually poised to end my drought!  Danny’s coverage convinced me to take the plunge and get the kurushima cold cast… Combined with daiki kougyo’s release… my wallet is in really bad shape.

So yeah, that’s it ^^;;;  All this stuff is usually updated at tsuki-board, although I’m planning to add everyone to my figures page and perhaps color code preorders vs. items in hand.  What I should really do is get another job because this hobby is going to bankrupt me.

Supposedly kanu left Japan 41 hours ago via EMS… which would usually mean she’d be at my home in about 10 hours… but for some reason the tracking page hasn’t updated since the original departure message… no clue where she is now ;_;  Figures… /sigh  Anyhow, the waiting continues… this weekend I need to get everyone I do have back on display!!  Horray winter ^_^

It’s always bad when an older figure I’ve been eying gets re-released.  Bad because I always go into, “Oh, maybe I should pick up so-and-so while I’m at it… and her… and her…”  Today it was Alter’s KOS-MOS.  My wallet escaped only after sustaining the following casualties… ^^;

Yuumiru from Queen’s Blade…

Airi, also from Queen’s Blade…

As mentioned, Alter’s KOS-MOS Ver. 4…

And the recently announced Limit Gunz…

[images from the official sites. Megahouse, Alter, Good Smile Company]

As you may have noticed, I have a weakness for babes wielding weapons…

Reviews of the first three for those interested:
KOS-MOS @ foo-bar-baz (one of the uncommon 5/5 star reviews… i’ve found the ratings there to be fairly similar to my taste), wcloudx, panther
(next two are cast off and reviews are nsfw)
Yuumiru @ akibahobby
Airi @ akibahobby, vision of vixon, foo-bar-baz

Oh… and I nearly forgot. Earlier this week my last defense against Chizuru finally gave way…

[img from Akibablog]

Worst part is, I kind of want to get the fox edition too… orz