Mecha Musume

German Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.G Conversion

OK! I’m going to be doing another Mecha Musume post over the coming period. Featured this time is the German Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.G found at the Konami Mecha Musume figure site

The StuG III will be converted to a Finnish StuG III “Sturmi”, specifically the Ps.531-33

Like the previous customised T-34 Mecha Musume, I’ll provide photos of progress to give you an idea of how I went about things.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to get Finnish tank-swastika model decals (besides printing them myself) I’d be more than grateful!

Newish stuff

Figures everywhere!

Since this blog was inactive for quite some time, I think it’s a good idea to show off some of the new figure additions! This also gives me a chance to ask you guys which figures you would like to see featured in future photo shoots as well. Some of these figures can be classified as “old”, but I did receive them within the last few months ^^;;

Before I start I’d like to take this time to thank pp of Otakurean for sending me this lovely clearfile of Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na (The bright blue light before the dawn). I know it’s been months since I actually got this prize, and it’s been a looooooooong time coming. So, thank you pp~ :3

Figure Acquisitions

Since I have some spare time, I decided to show you guys the new stuff I’ve gotten over the past few months. Surprisingly I’ve managed to keep the figure purchases steady, I had to cancel a few figures since I was running low on cash and not to mention the falling Aussie dollar =/

Mikumikumiku, I snagged the Max Factory and Volks figures of Miku, but in the end I parted with the Volks to a friend of mine. I still hope that Max Factory could make a Haku Yowane figure ;_;

Blanc Neige was kind of an impulse buy for me, but her hips are…are just so distracting! She accompanies the old Max Factory Kureha on my shelf. Seriously… look at those hips! *drools*

One of the most expensive and biggest figure in my collection, second only to my Dollfie. Asakura is part of the FREEing 1/4 scale bunny girl set of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi series. She was shipped, and subsequently paid for on the day that the Aussie dollar fell to 55 Japanese yen… ;_; paincakes were had.

Griffon figures can be hit and miss for me, so this Sasara was a pleasant surprise to me when she arrived in her school swimsuit and maid apron. Her delicious pose just makes my skin tingle with anticipation….of…something… o_O

Nekomimi Nono Nekomiya in mizugi. I just LOVE cats, and thus nekomimi has a special place in my heart, so I couldn’t resist this figure. Now, some of you may notice a school swimsuit trend, but I assure you it isn’t a huge fetish of mine XD

Shana’s first appearance in my figure collection! With this particular figure, they released a regular version, and two store exclusive versions. The regular was the black haired beauty, one was a pink haired and blue uniform with striped stockings which has a resemblance to Alice in Wonderland. This version you see is the Strawberry Version exclusive to the GEE! online store. Not sure why strawberry as it could prolly be more appropriately be called Cherry or Peach…. but oh well~

iDOLM@STER

Alter released the second half of the FA4 iM@S trading figures a while back, so now I managed to grab myself a full set of the girls! Well, at least the black version of the set ^^; These trading figures are quite the build, and I must say Alter has done an excellent job on these.

Max Factory has also released Miki Hoshii in two versions, the blonde in green, and the brunette in blue. I opted for the blonde since I’m a sucker for Miki in blonde. The friend who has been supplying me with most of these figures went for the brunette, so if we ever get bored we could always trade XD

Kaiyodo’s latest iM@S Fraulein girl to take the stage is also Miki Hoshii. I had to grab her to produce the various poses I had imagined. She comes with an additional head for those who love the brown, and since they are using the Revoltech joints I used a spare Saber Alter body XD

Nanoha StrikerS

Reinforce Zwei! I love this lil figure and it’s mini-ness. It’s like a 1/1 scale of her XD I’m not a huge fan of the StrikerS season, but Reinforce is so cute!

Hayate has recently come out as a figure as well, and in my opinion she’s aged the best >.> She also comes with a mini-mini-boss! Reinforce is even smaller now. Alter has done a nice job of sculpting and painting the really tiny figure, it’s about the same size of those Warhammer miniatures! Hayate’s box is also a force to be reckoned with. It’s even bigger than the massive Fate Testarossa box!! Now where to find space to put the box…

Alice in ???

Alter has been doing the 3D incarnations of the POP Wonderland series, and I decided to pick one up! The photo is a lil bland so it does little to bring out the wonder~

Alice from Queen’s Blade was love at first sight, I remember picking up the Hobby Japan magazine…or was it Dengeki Hobby… and seeing the first unpainted prototype. That point on I was watching the pre-order scene with the eyes of an eagle. And here she is.

Queen’s Figures

Speaking of Queen’s Blade, Ymir has been released as a black coloured princess now. I couldn’t resist at the time, so I had to pay for her presence. As like the regular version, she can undress nearly everything, even her pantsu! o_o

Next up is the Hobby Japan magazine exclusive Queen’s Gate Ink-tan from Moetan! I had to cut a tiny lil stamp out from the Hobby Japan magazine and send it to a friend of mine in Japan….express…since the cut off date was approaching. Which means that huge envelope in the background with ALL THOSE STAMPS was used to deliver a stamp the size of my thumb…

Queen’s Gate Ink-tan is awesome! Lots of her armour is cast off and it shows, her armour was practically falling off when I try to get her to grip those button batons. It’s highly distracting trying to do something when you get constant mune flashes @_@

Mecha Musume

Aaah, how I love Mecha Musume~ I just had to buy these two figures when I saw them, not to mention they’re both based on Shimada Fumikane’s artwork of Sky Girls/Strike Witches fame.

The M4A1 Early Type Sherman “Elizabeth” has a lot of accessories, you can even de-mechanise her but…why would I do that? o_O Her nonchalant expression is big boon for me :3

The Kawasaki Ki-100 Type 5 Fighter, the main appeal was admittedly the cast off feature >.> BUT her fierce gaze was also appealing for me :3

Blackout

A few months ago my apartment had a blackout and I had nothing to do… so I decided to take a few photos for the hell of it. My room has changed a bit since then…more figures…less ceiling space for posters… I also took a few photos of Saber, and it turned out somewhat ok, so I decided to share it here too~

Photo shoot choice

With all these bland photos, I was wondering which of these figures you people would really like to see in a photo shoot, mind you, I tend to do outdoor ones XD
I’ve updated the poll which should appear shortly on the blog as well, so please have your say :3
I’ll see which figures on the poll have a higher demand so I’ll place a higher priority on them when I decide to go on a photo shoot~

Again, thanks to those who visit regularly too~ :3

Old Package

Smoked Cheese?

I couldn’t blog about this the day I got it since I was really busy with an assessment (which was due today!), so here it is. Received this on the 13th, which is a while since it was released before then. You may of heard I had some troubles with HLJ’s shipping as it was supposed to be shipped with another figure for a friend of mine, but it was sold out =/

Where’s Tsuruya??
Well, she’s here, being played with Evelyn (the Yuki Dollfie…yes, I named her…yes, I scare myself sometimes)

Tsuruya by Max Factory is quite nice, it even comes with cat ears, tail and a extra hand. I’ll talk about this figure in detail with the photo shoot, which I may be a while with the way my workload is at the moment >.<

Here’s a comparison shot with the Alter version of Tsuruya:

So ya, I’m sorry about the slow updates, especially since the updates aren’t even outdoor photo shoots ^^;
Hopefully I can do something about it over the coming weeks, I’ll try to squeeze in time for it. I do however, have some photos of Evelyn, tho they are somewhat….ecchi , but not that ecchi. Here’s a preview anyway:

I dunno if I should do this like a glamour photo shoot, the original photos aren’t too great since they’re taken indoors, and knowing my horrible indoor lighting it isn’t a surprise ^^; But I think I might be overdoing it a lil…. any comments?

Other news, there’s going to be TWO new iDOLM@STER releases for Ace Combat 6, Mirage 2000-5 “Yayoi” and F-22 “Haruka“….there goes 800 M$ points >.<

Polls polls polls

New poll!

The last poll indicated that people wanted to see the Soviet T-34-76 as the subject of weathering. Right now I’m half way through the actual weathering, I should be able to post the tutorial and results early-mid next week (I forgot I needed some moddleing supplies…).

A new poll is in effect, I couldn’t think of anything so it’ll be another list of Mecha Musume I have that I’d like to start weathering in the near future. Click on the name to see a picture~

I’m doing a lil more work than usual for this particular Mecha Musume as I wanted to challenge myself a lil so it’ll take longer than a normal weathering session. The effort should pay off tho, so stay tuned!

Au au au~

Upcoming stuff

Okie dokie. This is a post about stuff that I’m getting, might get, and decided not to get. Reason for this was because I needed to evaluate my monetary standing and the possibility of the Japan trip at the end of 2008.

This is a basically my shopping list of such in terms of figures and possibly dolls, so if you don’t want to pry into this, just ignore the post ^^;

But if you like to see some new upcoming stuff that you may be interested in, go on ahead and continue.

Possible Purchases

Yes, first thing on the “maybe” list is a Dollfie. It’s been a long time since I first saw Dollfies, and it’s always been on my mind about bringing one home. Recently it’s been really tempting to get one, since I have a friend in Japan who could help. For those not versed in asian ball-joint dolls, check the previous post: Dollfie Euphoria

Dolpa 18, or known as Doll’s Party 18 will be happening this Christmas like clockwork. For those who don’t know what Dolpa is, it’s an event much like Comiket, held twice a year in May and December. Volks, a major Japanese doll maker, basically hold the show. They sell their limited edition dolls at these events which require a lottery system for the order of the purchasing line ^^; Other shops also sell custom made clothes, accessories and parts.

New additions to the SOS Dollfie Dream line! Haruhi was release a while back and two new additions will be coming to Dolpa 18 and Comiket 73. Yuki and Mikuru look great, and for some reason the Yuki is really warming up to me. Now, I’m not a huge Yuki fan, but this Dollfie Dream is really uh, calling for me…o_O

I’m seriously considering Yuki as my first Dollfie, but it does depend on a number of things. Most important of which is availability, my friend may be able to get her at Comiket, but she could be all sold out by the time he gets to her >.< Not to mention she’s over 50,000 yen, which is about $500 AU…

Yuki and Mikuru are based on the Dollfie Dream II (DDII) base body with normal skin tone, only difference with the two bodies is that Yuki uses M sized erm, bust and Mikuru uses L size.

The next two is the Suigintou and Hinaichigo & Kunkun nano~! Oh GOD I want Suigintou, unfortunately she costs over 100,000 yen, which is well over my budget in a sane state of mind. These two will also be available at Dolpa 18, but I don’t see anything about Comiket 73 =/

Links

Dollfie Dream
Yuki Nagato — 50,400 yen (with tax), and the idea of grabbing her is still in the air.
Mikuru Asahina — 50,400 yen (with tax)
Super Dollfie
Suigintou — 102,900 yen (with tax)
Hinaichigo & Kunkun — 60,900 yen (with tax)

Definite Purchases

Image from Akibablog.net

During the recent Revoltech Expo where all the new and exciting developments of the Revoltech series are shown, they showcased their Fraulein series, the latest addition to the Revoltech family. What makes teh Fraulein different from the others is that it features an extremely feminine figure that has both the asthetics of bishoujo and poseability of the Revoltech line. Rei Ayanami was their first, with Rin Tousaka their second. Haruka Amami and Ami Futami…or was it Mami? No, I think it was Ami…I think…

Anyway, I’ll be grabbing at least one of the iDOLM@STER girls (can you guess which one?) when they are announced. Right now I’ve pre-ordered the Rin tho, she has this mind blowing flexible skirt, or at least is to me.

Links

Revoltech
Official Fraulein site
Akibablog’s review of the Expo
Lyrical Spark’s iM@S Revoltech entry

Image from Hobbystock.jp

Miku <3
I’ll be grabbing this Nendoroid as well. I’m not a huge fan of nendoroids, the only one I have is the limited edition Black Saber. I’ve made a few exceptions to this, one being Miku, for the sole reason of being a Vocaloid, and the Nekomimi version of Konata, which is currently being ordered by the friend of mine in Japan. It was a little difficult for him to order since it was only available through a magazine order.

Both of these will come with extra parts such as different faces and accessories, prolly my fav is Konata’s （＝ω＝） face and Miku’s (´ﾟДﾟ`) face with the leek.

Links

Nendoroid
Official Site

Now here’s the killer, my wallet’s worst nightmare, in no particular order:

The list of financial doom

Alice — POP Wonderland: Alice in Wonderland by Alter
Yuki Nagato Swimsuit Ver. — The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi by Alter
Reinforce Zwei — Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS by Alter
Death Teacher — Peace@Pieces by Alter
Tsuruya Cafe Ver. — The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi by Alter (On it’s way)
THE iDOLM@STER Trading Figure pt2 — THE iDOLM@STER by Alter
C.C. — Code Geass by alpha x omega (Alter collaboration)
Rin Tousaka Revoltech Fraulein — Fate/Stay Night by Kaiyodo
Tsuruya Cafe Ver. — The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi by Max Factory
Black Saber — Fate/Stay Night by Solid Theatre
Rin Kokonoe Snowglobe — Kodomo no Jikan by Pinkco
Moetan — Moetan by Goodsmile Company
Konata Nekomimi Nendoroid — Lucky Star by Goodsmile Company
Miku Hatsune Nendoroid — Crypton’s Vocaloid2 family by Goodsmile Company
Liu MeiFeng — Shuraki series figures by Goodsmile Company (On it’s way….hopefully)

I do NOT want to think about how much that all costs at the moment, but it’ll prolly be enough to support a girlfriend if I had one (hah hah, bad joke…)

But look! I’m no addict boy, no addict! I actually cancelled some items since I realised that I needed to spend less, here’s that list, perhaps it’ll suit your fancy?

Cancelled Items

Kagamine Rin/Len — Crypton’s Vocaloid2 CV series 02
I had a hard time cancelling this, I LOVE the idolisation of a piece of software but for the cost of it, I had to pass as my musical skills aren’t up for the challenge =/
T-Elos — Xenosaga III by Alter
Ikuno Komaki — ToHeart2 by Kotobukiya
The last two figures I had to let go, not because of any inferiority, but because my friend is also purchasing them, and with my constraints, I had to make the decision.
Kureha — Shining Wind by Kotobukiya
Another Kureha figure that lives up to the other recent release. As beautiful as she is, I had to resist her on the basis that I already have another Kureha Figure. You might be thinking, “But Aya, you’re already buying TWO Tsuruyas” and my explination is that it’s Tsuruya…’nuff said

I’ll be constantly reassessing the value of each figure to see if I can cut any from the list since I am trying to save, as hard as that seems…
Anyway, hoped you like seeing some things that interest me, and that some of it may interest you as well :3
Oh, for the Miki picture up the top, I have no idea who drew it, but whoever it is, it’s a lovely pic :3

Hmm, this post is prolly too text heavy?
Anyone else have that mountain of pre-orders that they’re looking forward to?

GOOD APPEAL!!

Japan Packages

Today, I got what I wanted for a whiiillee~
I have a friend who’s staying in Japan for a year on the JET program (teaching english etc). Now, he’s also a fairly obsessive otaku and a kind one at that, he’d get stuff that I wanted from Japan that would otherwise be unavailable, or too costly for me to get.Today two packages came in the mail from him :3

This is all the things he managed to get for me during that whole summer event period in Japan, I wish I had given him more money…

Again, apologies for crappy indoor shots~

800×600

I glee with excitement, my mouth salvating, my fingers wriggling, a gun in my pocket…
That’s how it was when I got home with the packages, I opened then up and began my exploration and documentation of the items for both this blog, and for my database of all things otaku (this is going past 14k AUD…and I still haven’t included some items…).

Aaah advertisements, I love the ones from Akihabara :3

Gao~! Finally got the Illya + Berserker plushie I’ve been trying to get for some time, and also the Saber Lion from Fate/Tiger Colosseum which is a Wonderfest Summer ‘07 exclusive.

Rawr~! Nendoroid Saber Alter and the non-scale Saber & Irisviel of Fate/Zero, both by Goodsmile Company (MY BOX, MY BEAUTIFUL BOX~!!!!), both exclusive to Wonderfest summer ‘07.
It’s possible that I’ll be bringing the Saber & Irisviel to Manifest for a photoshoot~ I’ll be scouting for places this Friday.
I’ve been so busy today that I haven’t even opened the figure boxes yet >.<

( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ ＼ – ＼- ＼
I managed to nab myself a super limited edition of Lucy Maria Misora maid version. The regular is pictured to the left in a white and red with green trims outfit, the boxed version is the white and black with gold trim. Only 950 were produced, 400 for Wonderfest Summer ‘07 and 550 for limited online orders. You can check the site at Wave, although you can’t buy it anymore…
Excuse me while I drool all over the box…

The two Fate Fantasm Boxes come choc-a-block full of goodies that just shouts ｷﾀ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!!!! The first is Illya, it comes with a book with character illustrations and other articles, and the second half has some fan manga which was fairly cute. The box also includes Fate Character Trump playing cards, a bust of Illya with blood and a BerserCAR! >:3

The second box is Black Saber, my favourite, the book contains the regular stuff but the fan manga is so cute :3 Along with this box comes a Black Saber tapestry weighing approx 50 x 65cm, a Black Saber eyemask bust and a flashing LCD keychain

I now have three busts, from left to right, the one I got with Computiq magazine and also weathered, the Black Saber eyemask version, and the Illya + Berserker with blood.

Also, the BerserCar lights up it’s right eye when you push Illya down XD

YES! Ito Noizi’s new artbook which everyone and their uncle has, it just oozes（；´Д`）ハァハァ with all the Shana art and her other works, it also includes other characters such as Alulu/Elulu, Bridget, the Melonbooks mascot and much more. Like the previous artbook GU-RE-N, KA-E-N comes hardcovered and a beautifully illustrated jacket. My friend also managed to grab me a poster with it but he had to send it another time =/
The KA-E-N came with this photocopied sheet by Ito Noizi for animate, a chain store in Japan :3

Now onto the two doujins (he would of gotten more if I gave him more money beforehand…) that my friend managed to get from Comiket 72. I requested for iDOLM@STER and he delivered on the goods.

First up is NORTHANM@STER by Ojo-Noyokusitu.
It’s a Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) cross iDOLM@STER parody! I know i know… but trust me on this, it’s hilarious! I laughed for a good few minutes and now my stomach hurts (although it’s prolly rather to do with what I ate…). My Japanese language skills aren’t that great, so I couldn’t really understand the whole story =/

Enlarge to clear censorship

Second is i.D.M side A by U.R.C
Yes, it’s a H doujin, and a full colour one at that o_o
Story goes along the lines of the Producer having to interview candidates for a new idol group, he gets the first five girls details and goes off to “interview” them.
After “interviewing” he goes back to the manager and eagerly asks for the next batch… *drools*

There ya go, all my stuff I got today in the mail, time to stroke my e-penis…I mean open up my figure boxes ^^;

P.S. I’m gonna have small post images for non-photo shoot posts from now on so don’t think there’s something wrong with the small one :3

lolololol

Tsuruya

OH MY GOD!
1/4 scale of Tsuruya by FREEing was just listed on Hobby Stock. I didn’t expect that, I was thinking they’d do Yuki next, not Tsuruya. Well, I’m estatic, but I’m trying to hold my urges to purchase her as she is my favourite character in the Suzumiya Haruhi phenomenon.

550×600

UGH! To buy or not to buy, my wallet is crying! IT’S OVER NINE THOUSAND YEN~!!, 11,800 yen to be exact!
There’s more pics on the Hobby Stock site of delicious Tsuruya, her face does look a lil weird but I’m prepared to shrug that off >.<
Plus she’s standing, just take a look at her! She towers at 330mm~!!!

GAH! I’ll have to ponder over a cup of tea…