[Kotobukiya] Kudryavka Noumi - Waffu Ver PVC Figure Review

A few days ago, my Little Busters PVC arrived from Japan. The character name is Kudryavka Noumi from Little Busters, a visual novel made by Key. This character was even popular enough to spawn her own visual novel where she stars as the main heroine. It was called Kud Wafter. So its no surprise that a number of manufacturers created figures using her character. From all the ones I've seen, this is probably the best version yet. Read on for a full review.

I've bought many figures in the past. So many that I can't even count. But for most of the purchases, I've had to think about whether I wanted to buy it or not. Questions like "Is the price ok?" or "Does it look great enough?" or even "Do I like this character?".

But this figure for me was an impulsive buy. I just HAD to HAVE it. Atleast that was what the prototype pictures had me sold. So I preordered it first thing. Waited a couple of months and here it is.

ITS JUST SO CUTE !! !!

While I knew who Noumi was prior to this figure's debut, that had no relation to why I bought it. It was just... *faints*

Ok, finally we can start the actual review. (I finished my prologue. *cough cough*)

Box

Starting with the box, while there is nothing surprising about the exterior, the interior plastic holding the figure in place was kind of unique. Of all the ones I have, it has always been 2 pieces of plastic held together by 4 or so buttons. But this one was a single piece of plastic which folds at two lines to conform to a 3D shape. Interesting. Does it mean anything...? Probably not.

Interior Plastic

The figure itself was as adorable as the prototype. On first impression it did appear to be more glossy than other ones that I own. While not the greatest news, it was alright. Everything else was still perfect.

The smile and pose still captures me just as it did 3 months ago. The sculptor did a great job expressing the character's cuteness naturally. The pose feels just right at home. It gives off a childish aura which breathes out happiness all over which corresponds to the type of character she is.

Smile !

I didn't notice any defects in the product upon inspection and the details on the figure is very well done. The hat especially, unlike other figures with hats I've own, this one has specific engravings on the inside of the hat so that at one specific position, the hat will fit snugly.

Hat (Those weird engravings are for the hair to interlock itself with the hat to create a great fit)

There were other details such as the ribbons on the shoes, socks, and rear side of the shirt. While those weren't factors which would be detrimental to the whole figure, the fact that they were done well and properly helps to improve the image of Kotobukiya.

The hair and her cape was also full of life as it danced in the wind. A common feature with practically all figures of characters with long hair. Here is no exception, creating compelling volume as the wind carries it about. This was anything but dull. And frankly, dull figures just aren't interesting enough to store in my cabinet.

Focus of the Hair and the Cape from behind. (Notice all the different strands of hair and the amounts of bends on the cape. Alot of work was put into this portion to create this energetic sculpture)

In terms of the paint... Nothing too spectacular but nothing disturbing either. Just like any other quality figure by big name companies. I quite like the shading though.

Lastly, the base. Its a generic base. Just a white piece of plastic with the name pasted on the top. The figure is stuck to it by a bolt (or something). So I didn't try taking it out.

Base (Nothing special about it)

I generally like characters who are more cheerful than not. So this figure was a great buy for me and will fit nicely into my cabinet of other goodies. Anyway, the gallery and Amiami link for the product is below. Thanks for reading !

Aside: I apologize for the picture if its a bit dark. On my camera when I was taking them, they were just fine... On my Samsung monitor is not too bad also. But on my NEC one, its a bit dark.

Gallery:

[Kotobukiya] Kudryavka Noumi PVC Figure

Amiami shop: Link.

...

Oh yeah.

There was a hidden surprise in the figure.

What the...

O_O?!

Slightly NSFW

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[QuesQ] Moriya Suwako Figure Review

July 6, 2011 was when my first figure from QuesQ arrived. I really had no expectation from a company who I have not yet purchased from. So I could not say how the figure would turn out. I would be delighted if it turn out like the prototype. But most figures I've preordered had been spectacular and I haven't been devastated yet. Lets hope it doesn't start now. Read on for the full review.

I first read about it on Nekomagic, my one stop place for figure news. And instantly I was sold on the face. Usually if I buy a figure its because I love the face. While the pose or other elements are important, when I look at something, its the face. Regardless or if its a person, an artwork, a photo, everything.

First thing I saw when I looked at the box was... its SMALL ! D8 Kind of the same feeling I got when I received the the Ameri figure. Then I looked at the box, and didn't find a scale ratio. Boo.

But size isn't everything, yes, it looks strange when put beside my other 1/8 Touhou figures, see below.

But adding details on small figures is much more difficult than on larger ones. Atleast thats what I believe.

In terms of the photos, I first took them using the photo shooting box my dad got me a long time ago in broad daylight. I thought it was fine, but when I got on my computer they were dark +_+. Someone must have messed with my camera setting cause when I checked it afterwards, the exposure setting was set to -1.0 (0.0 is normal). Not cool. And by then it was already evening, so I took the stuff up to my room and shot it there with a desktop light lying around.

Here was the contraption, because the nature of the lamp, the colour was tinted yellow. (Don't give me those eyes if you see spongebob, its a great show. And I happened to have won it at Seaworld on my trip to California.)

This was taken in the morning with the reduced exposure setting. But notice how the image is not tinted yellow like in the ones below. Would be perfect if the settings wasn't changed.

Anyway, moving on to the review.

Luckily, the product arrived as anticipated from images I've seen online. Not much deviation was spotted and I like it as much as I did the prototype images. Great thing considering prototypes are usually meant to be perfect copies for the product to appeal to customers.

The face still captures me like a rock versus paper... (ok, thats bad.)

Smile ! ^_^

The colouring was well done upon closer inspection (Unfortunately, macro shots are not possible with my camera, so you'll just have to take my word. Sorry, hope to get a macro lens later.). Also, I didn't see errors like chipped or cracks. I think for quality this is pretty well done.

The gimmicks are pretty nifty too. It comes with 2 right hands which uses a tube mount to connect to the figure. Part of the tube and the mount is squared so you wouldn't be able to rotate the hand and there is only 1 correct way to connect the hand onto the figure. This is actually nothing new but as T's System's Kochiya Sanae had it too for the head (Though, why the head was removable on that figure remains a mystery to me.)
The second thing was the hat. It sticks on magnetically, just like the Pixie Hiyori from Good Smile Company, but a bit poorer made. The hat on Hiyori didn't have grooves from inserting the magnet, but it clearly shows up here. Luckily, if you put on the hat, no one knows. They won't even see the line across the forehead thats on basically every figure.

Magnetically attached hat but you can see the groove where the PVC was cut to insert the magnet.

The left hand softly wraps around the hat when you put it in place. Very life-like !

Nice detail on the clothes, the decal (?). Those are frogs because Suwako is portrayed as a God whose a frog. However that may work.

The pose fits the character, Moriya Suwako very well as being cute and childish. While I don't exactly know her personality in the official Touhou Games by ZUN. But fan works have given her that kind of chara. She can also be portrayed as a dark character. Clearly not the case here.

I've rarely regretted buying anything and certainly I haven't regretted buying this. Though the price was somewhat expensive for something this small. Its a nice piece of addition to any Touhou Project fan or just any collector looking for a cute figure.

My display case as of July 6, 2011. The new figure is on the top level to the right.

Gallery is below, thanks for reading.

[QuesQ] Moriya Suwako PVC Figure

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HobbySearch was Hacked!

I just found out today when I read it on Nekomagic. The source will be linked to after the jump.

The good news is that paypal users were unharmed but if you used a credit card on HobbySearch, you might want to check your statements or contact the card company. Just for safe measure, I will check my own card as well. Make sure theres nothing going wrong.

But on a side note, I haven't ordered from HobbySearch for a long time now. Amiami has all the stuff I need. And at a better price (most of the times).

Source: Here.

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[T's System] Kochiya Sanae Figurine Review

Recently, I bought another figurine from Amiami, I tend to use them more than HobbySearch or BeNippon (Previously shopped at, online retailers).

Its mainly because selection is good and I've only looked at some Touhou goods. But I like Amiami's service. Its quick and its done right. Not that I've had any problems at any retailer thus far. All I needed were a paypal account and an account for their website. Full review below.

Lets start like always with the box. Nothing too special there. Its a very plain box. By very plain, I mean, VERY PLAIN. As you can see below.

The front of the box. All there is, is the company which sells the product and a hole to see the front of the figure.

Same with the back, just a couple of words like where its made, who the sculptor is, and a couple of warnings.

Personally, I don't mind the box, since its just a box.
The insides are whats important.

The base wasn't that great. Like the box, it looks plain. Though that can be said for most figures. Atleast the Griffon Enterprises Touhou figures has a nice name tag on them. The T's System's figures doesn't have anything on the base. Oh well, thats just too bad.

As plain as you can get.

The 4 dots are there to make sure Sanae is nice and snug. Wouldn't want to be bumping left and right. Right? They fit nicely into the shoes of the figure. As expected. Though the leg had to bend slightly to fit. I don't think its a problem though.

Moving on.

The figure itself was well done. It felt like any other professionally made figures. I've never bought anything from T's System so that was my main worry when ordering this. I love the face on this Kochiya Sanae. Also, its not like Griffon Enterprises made any figures of her either.

Cutest/Bestest face ever!!

*Aside

Kochiya Sanae is a shrine maiden in the Touhou Project games, similar to the main character Hakurei Reimu, but the shrine they each belong to is different. Sanae serves as shrine maiden of
Moriya Shrine. Serving the gods Yasaka Kanako and Moriya Suwako. You can read more about her at the Touhou Wikia. Where you can get more information than you ever need. Thats not in the scopes of this review, so I will just give you a link.

Touhou Project is originally a shoot em up game made by Team Shanghai Alice. But has seen been expanded to include music, doujinshi, and doujin games. You can find them all over the web. Just search Touhou.

End of Aside*

I think the figure looks great. It was the reason why I bought it even though it costed quite a bit more than any Griffon Enterprises ones. It looks calm, a good representation of who Sanae is. Though in fan fic, shes seen to be excited with robots. Lol. I'm excited with robots myself. GUNDAMS ! Can't wait for PG Strike Freedom. Though thats completely irrelevant.

Love the face and pose. Its got a calm aura about it. Maybe it will make me feel less stress from school and work.

The figure feels heavy, atleast it feels like its a product for sale. The details on it seems appropriate and professional. There were few errors with paint or other things. Something completely different from Orchid Seed. The two figures I have from them both have some sort of imperfection. This one from T's System is much better. No scratches, no junk stuck on the figure.

The snake looks well painted.

As the shoes. Not to mention the nice details.

And on the hairpin.

Mmmm... I like this angle :P The wrinkles adds nice depth to the figure.

The paint and decals on the dress are well done as well.

I also love the hair. Long flowing hair is so alluring. Damn.

Long hair *_* !

Theres 2 things which I would have liked more. Because you know, nothing is perfect.

1. I wish the finish could be more transparent. Im not saying that its not good as it is. Because its pretty faint. The lines that shows the different PVC pieces used. Or whatever those lines are.

Weird lines? Or are these showing me that they used several pieces of PVC to make the dress? Either way, if it wasn't meant to be seen, I would like it if it didn't show up. But its great nonetheless.

2. I wish there were some things I could do with the figure, I don't mean moving hands, or legs like those figmas, but more in terms of castoffable or even some things you can put on and off, like the Marisa and Flandre figurines from Griffon Enterprises.

But I like the figurine alot as it is. Of course, more never hurts.

Oh, and the head comes off. I haven't figured out why it comes off, but it does. Here are some pictures. If you have any idea, feel free to express your opinion in the comments below. I'm guessing, maybe its for swapping heads of other T's System figurines. But that would be bizarre.

The headless Sanae O_O... Wah?

Finally, its a size comparison with something else I own. A 1/144 HG Double 0 Gundam. I never bothered measuring the figure, but it felt pretty big. Though when I put it with my other Touhou figurines, the size wasn't too much bigger. Maybe I should get real measurements someday. It is suppose to be a 1/6 scale figure though.

Notice the 00 Gundam's stance. (Hehe, no, Sanae is not that young, wikia says "mid-teen")

I quite like posing the HG gundam, because they balance easier and they have less parts. So even if they fell and broke apart (pieces still intact), its relatively easy to rebuild. While for the MG, they are difficult to pose and some of them (my ZZ and Unicorn) are extremely feeble.

In case you were wondering what Sanae wears underneath her skirt. Two NSFW pictures below.
Here and here.

I am very happy to have bought this figurine. One because I'm a Touhou fan. Two because its of high quality and looks nice to have on my display case.

After this instance, I can trust the quality of T's System. If you, the reader didn't think this post was any use to you, atleast know that theres one person who owns something from T's System and that their quality is comparable to other big name companies in this industry.

Gallery link: Here.

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[Osu] Few More Videos of Mastery Progress

Hello again, I don't plan to upload every and any song I play on Osu! But here are a few more good songs which really stood out.

The first one above was the Portal credit roll song from the makers Valve. The song was sang by Jonathan Coulton & GLaDOS. I had never finished Portal nor did I search for the song previously. But after I heard it, I was addicted nearly right away. It'll probably be another few weeks until I get off it.

Below is the original version.


Another osu map I decided to upload was the following song, Omae no XXX de Ten wo Tsuke by Iwasaki Tarou. It was a BGM from the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.


One of the best BGMs I've ever heard. If not THE best.

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[Bandai] Gundam Exia MG Model Review

As previously mentioned, this Gundam Exia MG Model didn't belong to me, it was my brother's so this post had a fair share of his contribution to the construction and photographing process. The full review is below (For atleast as much as I could).

I did participate in part of the construction process even though most of it (head, torso, both arms, and 1 leg) was done by him. From what I could pick up from the construction, it seemed relatively complex and worthy of the title MG. I've always had a worry about the 1/100 models that didn't use the standard MG box. Though, I never built those Strike Freedoms and Destiny in their Full Burst Mode or what not.

Glad that wasn't the case. (Though it was kind of obvious as those didn't have MG on the box, but hey)

The blade was most likely the most appealing feature on the whole Exia suit. And the kit didn't slack in that department, it, along with the 2 swords attached to the waist (detachable, of course) had metallic coating as blades should.

Love the blades *_* !

Aside from the high level of detail in the suit, such as complicated knee joints and such, the joints were relatively strong, as the arms had to hold up that heavy blade. The joints I found were weaker than the joints on the Shinaju but stronger than the Unicorn. Which was acceptable. The leg joints were relatively weaker than the arms, surprisingly.

Some frustration went when posing the Gundam. One of the fold up beam saber/dagger holders on the shoulders was loose and difficult to keep it in the "up" state. Second, that large sword was difficult to put on. The hand's "stuck up part" was difficult to get to fit into the weapon handle's "slot". Although this is generally the case for most models since they don't want the "stuck up part" to take up too much space on the hand so its made rather short, so contact isn't deep. And the ones which can retract and frustrating in its own way.

I found Exia to be one of the best looking suits from 00, if not THE BEST from 00. I personally don't like how 00 Gundam looks. I know I might receive alot of flaming if word gets out. But this is afterall a personal blog. I see no reason why I can't state personal opinion.

The model kit was relatively expensive because of shipping, otherwise it was quite cheap, around 50 bucks, then like 30 for shipping. Boo.

Generally, the kit had no problems as far as I had experienced it. I didn't try to apply decals and my brother said that stickers were no problem.

The gallery was split into 2 because one of them was taken by my brother and the other was by me. Atleast he took most of the pictures from the Canon EOS 7D camera with some Tamron lens (I'm not a photographer, so don't ask photography questions). I was using some older Lumix DMC-FZ30 camera (his old camera that he discarded when he got the 7D).

You can probably tell for sure the 7D is much better at low light with much less noisy pictures. But other than that I think they're similar. Was it worth 1.6k (after discount) for camera and another 500 for the lens? I don't know.

Gallery: From Lumix / Canon.

Lastly, while taking pictures, I put together a fun photo clip of how Exia beat 00 ! YEAH !

Special thanks goes to Kev and King for their wonderful 00 Gundam HG. And yes, I know I'm using a Char Aznable Red Zaku base instead of the actual base from the 00 series. But there are some stuff I don't have with me.

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