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！

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！

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！

Good Smile Companyからの無駄にでかい１／４スケールなのは！　まぁ、GSCだけどオフィシャルページでは「企画・制作協力」はGiftと書いてあります。　思ったよりずっとよくて水着フェイトちゃん期待してます。 A massive 1/4 release by Good Smile Company, though it does mention Gift for “Planning / Production Assistance” on the main site.  Turned out much better than I anticipated and now I really can’t wait for Fate ^^

涼子ほど凄くないけど１／４スケールだからあんまり期待してなくて満足。　Didn’t impress me as much as ryouko but perhaps it was because I wasn’t expecting much out of a 1/4 release that allowed her to exceed my expectations.

全高３８ｃｍって　高っ！38cm tall, she’s a beast!

水着…小さ過ぎない？　And perhaps a little too big for her swimsuit? :P

おっぱい～　oppai~

なのははこんなに胸大きいんだっけ？　ロリなのは好きファンに残念　＾＾；　Didn’t remember nanoha being so busty ^^;  Sorry loli nanoha fans, you’re out of luck ^^;;

水着の糸（糸って言うんでしょうか ＾＾；）どうしてか分かんないけど割りと好き。　でも下の写真にはあんなに綺麗じゃないかな　All strings on her suit were a nice touch.  Though perhaps not as impressive at this zoom ^^;

Nice pose.

ボイン～　boin~

その目誰の目？　Whose eyes are those?

大きいから髪の小さいディテールが出来そうけどそうならないね、普通。　You would think with the increased scale they could carve out very fine details in the hair but alas that never seems the be the case.

酷いと言わないけど髪は何か普通です。　Not horrible, but I’m just always looking for it ‘cuz it’s often my favorite aspect when done well.

可愛い水着だね kawaii mizugi ^^

ビーチでこんな水着見た事ありません。　他の探さなきゃな　Never seem to see anything like this at the beach… must be going to the wrong ones :P

お尻に注目！　＾＾；　A closer look at her oshiri~

ローアングルでこのレビューは完全！　Low angle for completeness

スリッパ可愛い　She even has interesting footwear ^^

Only one foot has peg holes.

この目が好き　Love her eyes

ツン～　tsun~

このレビューでは使ってないけどダボがあるんです。Did the review without her support bar, but note that she has one.

そのダボは足の後ろにあるから大分影の薄いパーツです。　必要なかったら使わないけどフィギュアにダメージが心配で、結局使います。　Luckily the metal bar is behind one of her legs so it’s pretty inconspicuous.  The clamp on her leg is… well, less so but hey, better than having a leaning figure I suppose.

ベースは相変わらずつまんないけどそれは期待してなかった。　Giftのフィギュアでよく使うミラーベースはよかったのに。　Really wish they did something more exciting with the base.  Just boring white.  orz

さて、サイズ比較！　最初に、水着フィギュア！　Now for some size comparisons… first, the mizugi comparison ^^

１／６ KOS-MOS、　１／７　すず…これで僕の水着フィギュア全体。　1/6 KOS-MOS, 1/7 suzu… I believe this is also my complete mizugi figure collection.

１／８　ミクと１／４涼子追加。　フィグマなのはも追加。　小さいね　＾＾；　Added in 1/8 miku & 1/4 ryouko… and figma nanoha ^^;  She’s so tiny ^^;

そして最後にシグナムとはやて。　And we’ll wrap it up with signum & hayate ^^

言うまでもなくなのははやっぱりでかい。　そのでかさで凄く目立つフィギュアです。　It hardly needs to be mentioned, but nanoha is massive.  If you’re looking for an attention grabber for you collection, she’ll fit the bill with her size alone.  Might warrant display apart from your main collection to not stick out so much :P

GSCのサイトによるとフェイトちゃんの出番は来てるようです。　The GSC listing also mentions quite explicitly that a matching Fate is in the works -

Pic found at gelbooru, click for source.

出ないと悲しいよ！　早くフェイトを！　They better make good on that promise!  Can’t wait to have the pair of them ^^

原作のなのはの表情はましだと思います。　それと髪のせいでこのなのはは絶対買わなきゃってフィギュアじゃない。　それでもなのはファンとして、エピックのフィギュアのファンとして、最近水着フィギュア好きになったファンとして、僕は後悔してません！Wish they had stuck closer to her expression in the source pic, which I like a lot better.  That and detailing on the hair that failed to impress keeps this from being a must buy in my book.  That said, as a nanoha fan, a fan of epic figures, and a budding mizugi figure fan, no regrets!  She’s awesome ^^

他のレビューを見て下さい！　Be sure to get your fill of reviews:

• foo-bar-baz – random tidbit – i was honored to be added to their blogroll recently! ^_^  ありがとうございました!
• Exelica Meteor – if you wished I did more on a white background, James has got you covered ^^

以上！

At first I didn’t think I’d get her but I was slowly convinced ^^;

She’s absolutely humongeous!

Not my first 1/4 scale, but the first standing one.

She towers above everyone ^^;

Sorry for the hasty pics, but it’s all I had time for ^^;

Have a great weekend!

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?

jya~n!

Hlj to the rescue! Soon as I figured out my shipment was delayed I looked around and hlj had her in stock! They also had a couple other things in stock so I kind of went overboard…

3 figmas, a miku, and a side of mikuru please~

the leaning tower of figma

^^;; Anyhow, back to the topic at hand… miku!  Been looking to get a hold of her forever.  She’s just too insanely cute to not have.

haruhi is eager to recruit new talent

Nendoroid owners are prolly familiar with all the goodies that come with her… extra faces, limbs… and a leek!

actually the disembodied parts are kinda freaky...

scene from a horror movie... ^^;

Finally free!

「じゃ～ん！」　{jya~n! (tada~!)}

haruhi gets miku to work right away.

「はい！歌ってちょうだい！」 {hai! utattechoudai! (ok, sing!)}

…haruhi never lets up.

「もう、許して下さい！」　{mou yurushite! (Please, let me go!)}

Ever.

「もう、限界です！」　{mou, genkai desu! (I can't take it anymore!)}

Saber to the rescue.

「いい加減にしろ！」　{iikagennishiro! (behave yourself!)}

Saber just wanted the leek.

「え？　セイバーさん？」 {e? seiba-san?}

One thing I found annoying when changing faces is that you have to remove miku’s two earpieces to do so. Can get a little tiring ^^;

「皆さん、歌いましょう！」 {minna-san, utaimashou! (Let's sing everyone!)}

Run faster miku!

「逃げるな！」　{nigeruna! (Stop running away!)}

Fate to the rescue?

「助けてあげます！」　{tasuketeagemasu! (I'll save you!)}

miku inadvertently steps onto a battlefield… [as always, click pics for higher rez versions]

「何ですか、これ？！」　{nandesuka, kore?! (What is this?!)}

Someday I’ll put my figmas in less violent poses ^^;

「いやあああぁ～」　{iyaaaaaaa~ (aaaaaaaaa~)}

nagato, ever stoic.

「。。。」

miku makes a hasty retreat.

「覚悟なさいよ！」　{kakugonasaiyo! (prepare yourself!)}

…only to be caught by a low angler ^^;

「パンツを見ないで下さい！」　{pantsu wo minaide kudasai! (don't look at my pantsu!)}

I love how her hair is adjustable. Unfortunately you need to keep her on the stand if you want to move it up, since normally it keeps her balanced ^^;

「ひどいです！」 {hidoi desu! (you're horrible!)}

About as much detail as you’d expect from a figure like this. It amazes me that the vocaloid text is so crisp.

「どうしてこんな事に…」　{doushite konna koto ni... (why did it have to be like this...)}

Seems haruhi and nagato decided to retreat for now…

戦勝！　{senshou! (victory!)}

「もしよかったら、このネギを…」　{moshi yokattara, kono negi wo... (If you'd like, please take this leek...)}

Poor miku!

「欲しくな～い！」　{hoshikuna~i! (we don't want that!)}

Be sure to stop by ..:: Anime Baka ::.. for intense miku love more coverage. Fariz Asuka has no less than 39 posts tagged hatsune miku at the time of this post ^_^

aaaand more at Excelica Meteor, Gordonator (ultra kawaii shots in a mini house), How a Girl Figures (miku + Lagann = win), foo-bar-baz, wcloudx, and I’m sure more on my blog roll that I’ve forgotten to list ^^;

And thus my review extras group doubled in size. You’ll probably be seeing a lot more of everyone in reviews to come ^^;