Dead blog is dead? Actually no. I know, I haven't been posting much the last couple months. Ok fine, I haven't posted at all in the last two months. About a week after my wife and I got back from Kumoricon we found out that we were pregnant. This will be our second child and we're due in early June. My father, who rents the third bedroom in our house, will be moving out sometime before the baby is born; thus we will be shouldering the full rent here. Because of this I am considerably cutting back on hobby-related spending. For a while I was buying two figures a month which would average about $200 with shipping and handling costs and about $250 a month on DVDs. Needless to say that's a bit excessive at nearly $500 a month on hobby stuff. Speaking of figures, I will no longer be doing reviews because I'm cutting back from two figures a month to one figure every two months or so. This is not including current pre-orders that I have out (I have two figures coming in November, one in December, and one due out in late March of '10). I will be fulfilling these figure orders. I will still post pictures of any new figures as apart of my now monthly update post (as opposed to an update every couple of weeks). Since my last post I have purchased a few anime DVDs and have two new figures and will post a picture update the next nice day.
Well that's about it.
As I said earlier, I'll post an update as soon as the sun decides to shine again. Actually, come to think of it, I have three figures to take shots of.......
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Kumoricon '09
It's been a while since I posted but not due to laziness, but the anime convention I told you about in a previous post. I had a really good time and got some cool stuff. My wife and I ended up cosplaying but I'm not going to tell you what LOL. The following pictures are what we picked up at the dealers room. The first four pictures are my wife's stuff and the last six pictures are mine.
First we have the brand-new Sebastian Nendoroid, I'm not sure what series it's from. The second picture is of a couple of prize nedoroids from the anime 2loveru. Ashley picked up a couple key chains, she has a thing for Gaara. Finally an Orihime plushie. My wife and her plushies haha.
Picture five features two more prize figures, this time of Konata and Kagami! Got a couple issues of Megami magazines with a full poster in each. Next is a Haruhi key chain and Lucky Star button. Picture eight is another Haruhi wallscroll - my new favorite wallscroll for that matter. The last two pictures of the full posters in the Megami magazine. Although I don't have pictures of them, we bought four shirts and our outfits.
Short and sweet, right? Thanks for reading!
First we have the brand-new Sebastian Nendoroid, I'm not sure what series it's from. The second picture is of a couple of prize nedoroids from the anime 2loveru. Ashley picked up a couple key chains, she has a thing for Gaara. Finally an Orihime plushie. My wife and her plushies haha.
Picture five features two more prize figures, this time of Konata and Kagami! Got a couple issues of Megami magazines with a full poster in each. Next is a Haruhi key chain and Lucky Star button. Picture eight is another Haruhi wallscroll - my new favorite wallscroll for that matter. The last two pictures of the full posters in the Megami magazine. Although I don't have pictures of them, we bought four shirts and our outfits.
Short and sweet, right? Thanks for reading!
Friday, August 28, 2009
A pretty good haul!
It's been a while since I had bought some DVDs, sorry about that. Konata was so expensive I couldn't afford any DVDs on August 5th. I usually buy anime twice a month; once per paycheck. Well I took advantage of the Funimation sale they were having over at Rightstuf and picked up some of the titles that had fallen through the cracks. First a couple of Bandai titles: Kannagi and Lucky Star OVA. I'm really disappointed that the Lucky Star OVA didn't get a dub as I'm a dub fan, but I'd rather have it without a dub then not at all. Speaking of dubless R1 anime... Kannagi! Yep, Kannagi is sub only as well. No big deal, right? This better not become typical, that's all I gotta say. Now for the Funi titles. Got the latest and greatest One Piece set. Season 2 Second Voyage I believe.
In the next picture we have D. Gray-Man which I've been putting off in lieu of a Funi sale. D. Gray-Man comes in a think pack much like One Piece which is a great space saver, so that's nice. Next Kenichi the mightiest disciple. Another series I've been putting off, another series in a think pack. Yay. Next is Dragon Ball Z Season 9. What can I say about DBZ? I finally got the last one so that's good. Now Dragon Ball is being released in season sets so it looks like I'll be buying more Saiyan shit for a while yet.
Finally I bought a hentai title. So if you're under 18 please turn away.
Kumoricon is right around the corner so look for a post after September 7th... I should have some pretty cool stuff from the con. Well that's all folks, thanks for reading.
In the next picture we have D. Gray-Man which I've been putting off in lieu of a Funi sale. D. Gray-Man comes in a think pack much like One Piece which is a great space saver, so that's nice. Next Kenichi the mightiest disciple. Another series I've been putting off, another series in a think pack. Yay. Next is Dragon Ball Z Season 9. What can I say about DBZ? I finally got the last one so that's good. Now Dragon Ball is being released in season sets so it looks like I'll be buying more Saiyan shit for a while yet.
Finally I bought a hentai title. So if you're under 18 please turn away.
Kumoricon is right around the corner so look for a post after September 7th... I should have some pretty cool stuff from the con. Well that's all folks, thanks for reading.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
PVC Review: 1/4 scale Konata Izumi (FREEing)
After about three months of waiting I finally received 1/4 scale Konata Izumi in the mail. This figure was released July 30th in Japan and is sold out practically everywhere now. I picked up this figure at www.hlj.com for $130 before shipping and imports. If you can manage to hunt her down you may want to think twice before buying as FREEing is releasing 1/4 scale Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki - which, if you are a completionist, means shelling out about $600 for all four of them. Needless to say I have pre-ordered the other three and am very much looking forward to them. The box Konata comes in is about 20 inches tall and has a baby blue and white theme. The box is littered with blue and white stars and has a large "01" on five of the six sides indicating that Konata is the first in the line.
Now, I had originally considered canceling this pre-order because I wasn't overly fond of what I saw in the stock photos. There was also the Clayz Lucky Star line that had just come out, and they looked great. What made me stick with this one was the 1/4 size. After looking around I found the only 1/4 scale figures available were the seven FREEing Haruhi Suzumiya bunny girls which are now virtually out-of-print but looked really nice. As it turned out the stock photos did not do the figure justice. The base Konata stands on is a blue and white star with a star-shaped mirror in the center; which is in keeping with the blue and white theme. The stock photos, however, showed Konata standing on a brown, bland, hexagonal base. There also seemed to be some lighting issues in the stock photos which made the paint job look off.
If I were to pick one thing I thought was particularly great about this figure (other than the size) it would be the eyes. The dark green really captures the essence of Konata who, when it comes down to it, is not a visually intricate character. I do have to say that there is a lot I don't like about this rendition of Konata. For one the gym clothes, particularly the shorts, are just plain. It leaves me wondering why they didn't take the typical gym shorts route; that is, ass tight short shorts. I don't really have a problem with the shirt, but it's not something that stands out at all. Her shoes are also a bit bland, white and blue if you can believe it.
One final order of business before I move onto the judgment: this figure is castoff-able. You can take the shirt by removing the head and the left arm. Underneath her shirt is a kind of painted on sports bra. You can also take her shorts off by removing her legs revealing blue and white striped panties. Some of the stock photos I've seen on the internet shows a shorter pair of gym shorts underneath the longer ones but my figure didn't come with those. And no you can't take off her panties, they're also painted on. Putting the gym shorts back on is a bit of a challenge. The shorts themselves don't stretch much making it difficult to get them on. What I do is put the shorts over the pieces of plastic that connect her legs to her body and connect it that way.
Paint and craftsmanship: 8/10
Packaging: 8/10
Price: 8/10
Likability: 10/10
Overall: 34/40
Even though this figure isn't perfect it may just be my favorite one. The fact that it's Konata and 1/4 scale certainly helps me look past the flaws. I've already pre-ordered the other three 1/4 Lucky Star girls and will be reviewing them as they arrive. Also, some of the pictures had to be taken indoors and don't look as good, sorry about that. Thanks for reading.
Now, I had originally considered canceling this pre-order because I wasn't overly fond of what I saw in the stock photos. There was also the Clayz Lucky Star line that had just come out, and they looked great. What made me stick with this one was the 1/4 size. After looking around I found the only 1/4 scale figures available were the seven FREEing Haruhi Suzumiya bunny girls which are now virtually out-of-print but looked really nice. As it turned out the stock photos did not do the figure justice. The base Konata stands on is a blue and white star with a star-shaped mirror in the center; which is in keeping with the blue and white theme. The stock photos, however, showed Konata standing on a brown, bland, hexagonal base. There also seemed to be some lighting issues in the stock photos which made the paint job look off.
If I were to pick one thing I thought was particularly great about this figure (other than the size) it would be the eyes. The dark green really captures the essence of Konata who, when it comes down to it, is not a visually intricate character. I do have to say that there is a lot I don't like about this rendition of Konata. For one the gym clothes, particularly the shorts, are just plain. It leaves me wondering why they didn't take the typical gym shorts route; that is, ass tight short shorts. I don't really have a problem with the shirt, but it's not something that stands out at all. Her shoes are also a bit bland, white and blue if you can believe it.
One final order of business before I move onto the judgment: this figure is castoff-able. You can take the shirt by removing the head and the left arm. Underneath her shirt is a kind of painted on sports bra. You can also take her shorts off by removing her legs revealing blue and white striped panties. Some of the stock photos I've seen on the internet shows a shorter pair of gym shorts underneath the longer ones but my figure didn't come with those. And no you can't take off her panties, they're also painted on. Putting the gym shorts back on is a bit of a challenge. The shorts themselves don't stretch much making it difficult to get them on. What I do is put the shorts over the pieces of plastic that connect her legs to her body and connect it that way.
Paint and craftsmanship: 8/10
Packaging: 8/10
Price: 8/10
Likability: 10/10
Overall: 34/40
Even though this figure isn't perfect it may just be my favorite one. The fact that it's Konata and 1/4 scale certainly helps me look past the flaws. I've already pre-ordered the other three 1/4 Lucky Star girls and will be reviewing them as they arrive. Also, some of the pictures had to be taken indoors and don't look as good, sorry about that. Thanks for reading.
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