I finally got her. I’ve been wanting to own this figurine ever since I saw her master mold in the hobby sites and now she’s finally standing on my office desk and I absolutely love it!

This is 1/8 Scale Oboro Mumaramasa Momohime by Alter and she is just absolutely gorgeous. There is but one other figurine that I would want to own aside from this and it is the two versions of Yabyu Jubei also from Alter.

I’ll let my shots speak of how beautiful this figurine is. Continue Reading

Musha Gundam, Blue Destiny Gundam, Psyco Gundam Mk. I

My recent posts were most about Nendoroids and with the new camera, I figured I should also shoot the robots that I have at the office so I decided to break them out from confinement and take some shots. Dynamic mode works wonders for the robots even in flourescent lighting.

I just love how close you can shoot pics with this camera, something I couldn't do with the 50mm f1.8 lens on my 400D.

The wide angle of the lens allows me to shoot from this angle with ease.

Makes you know how Spike Witwicky felt when he first saw Prime.

Of course, I also had to shoot my PVC Miku Hatsune but the barrel distortion isn’t helping the photo come out well. It works wonders for robots to give that huge size illusion but doesn’t work well with Miku-chan.

UPDATE: Click on this link to view more pictures of Sennin Narika courtesy of Hobby Stock blog.

This is quite a mecha musume fix for me and it’s definitely in my wishlist. It’s a mechafied version of Sennin Narika from Chouko Sennin Haruka and it’s something Coffeebugg and I are already considering for pre-order. We’re waiting for it to show up in Play-Asia. This 1/8 PVC figurine is done by Alter and appears to clock in at around 8,000+ yen. Definitely a worthy purchase. The one that wins me over are the mecha details and the cute and very revealing pantsu. The detail on the figurine looks awesome but of course, it may vary once it comes out in production.

So are you willing to dole out cash for this one? Alter’s been releasing quite a number of winners lately and this one doesn’t fall short from the pack of top quality figurines. Click on the image to see the rest of the gallery at Amiami.com. ^_^

Pardon the image quality. This one was edited using Flickr’s new partner Picnik. The quality prior to resize was nice. And then the resize happened so now it looks grainier. Anyways, I recently acquired a Canon 50mm f1.8 II lens for my 400D and I’ve been testing it out with my PVC Miku Hatsune. This is one of the pics I took. It was desaturated on purpose and no editing on Photoshop was done. The aperture is f2.8 which, for most people who have reviewed this lens, appears to be the best aperture to take pictures with if want a decent bokeh. Given that this lens only has 5 aperture blades, taking shots at f1.8 produces pentagon shapes instead of nice round bokeh on the background so f2.8 appears to be the one that produces the best bokeh at the largest aperture you can use.

Of course, if you had a 75mm USM IS f2.8 lens, then you’d get far better results since that lens costs an arm and a leg and right now, with all the stuff I need to pay for, this is the only lens I can afford. But it does its job despite its price and I’m quite happy with its results.

Don't I look happy?

On thing’s for sure, taking portraits of oneself is a lot more fun with this lens. I also bought some extension tubes that allow me to do some macro photography but I painfully realized that since extension tubes cut your lens off from the electric connectors that run the AF motor, you need to manually focus your lens if you tend to sway a lot when you’re focusing on something, you’re bound to end up with a lot of blurry pictures. I’ll be shooting some macro shots of the Gundams when I find time but the closest I could shoot at the moment was the GFF Metal Composite Psycho Gundam Mk. II. I used a single step extension tube for this one.

It's like the Psycho Gundam is cackling. Only without a mouth to cackle with.

He’s dusty, I know. Need to find time to dust my Gundams, this one in particular. Anyways, the lens was already preset to f2.8 before I put the extension tubes. Given that there’s no power to run the lens motor, you need to set the aperture to your preferred size already before putting the extension tubes. I was shooting the Psycho Gundam’s head to as close as three to six inches. The quality is nice and I love the depth of field. All that blur almost makes it almost real. Like tilt-shift with a telescope, only to discover that this mecha doesn’t care about friend or foe.

I CAN HAS EKSTENSHUNCHOOBS

So that’s the 50mm f1.8 II lens from Canon. Nice lens to buy if want a new lens for your DSLR but can’t really afford the more expensive ones. It’s nice with shooting your figurines.

Finally found time to shoot pictures of my recently acquired GSC Miku Hatsune (much thanks to my mate Mark aka Coffeebugg). Because of all that’s going on with my work and the sudden need to switch to North American time has prevented me from shooting pictures of stuff as they come.

This was also a good time to test my recently-acquired popper or a diffuser for the pop-up flash for my DSLR. The diffuser prevents flash flares from showing up especially on shiny figurines like Miku who has glossy leggings, skirt, sleeves and top. I shot this outside my house, under cloudy skies on ISO 200/400 with flash and diffuser. I think it looks nice and helps compensate for the lack of light. I tried shooting without the flash and just adjusting the shutter speed accordingly to get the right exposure. I get shadows in the front area which I don’t like so this diffuser stays for the rest of the shoot.

Me likes the bokeh effect at the back.

GSC has amazing knack for detail as always.

Same goes for the skirt

Skirt is removable and reveals her cute panties. Nice to see that they were consistent with the turquoise ribbon like in Nendoroid Miku. Haven't checked Figma Miku though... >_>

More panchira

Teh skirt

Miku has one cute bottom ^_^

Back shot. Nice detail all the way till the back.

This is my first PVC figurine and I'm definitely liking the fact that it is. GSC Miku is such a must-buy.

More bokeh. Can't wait to set my camera up for macro photography. I already have the stuff I need to purchase listed down and it's not going to be as expensive as an actual large-aperture macro lens.

Figma Miku joins the fray. This shot be a liiiiiiiiiittle bit darker than the rest. Flash must still be recovering this time. >_>

Nendoroid Miku joins the fray.

These are all my firsts outside of mecha purchases. And they’re all Miku Hatsune! First Nendoroid, first Figma and first PVC figurine.

Next up would be the Hiiragi sisters once they arrive at my desk. For those who are interested in what the popper looks like, I’ll post pictures of it mounted on my rig. They’re quite cheap but they do a lot of good when you need to use the flash and don’t want flash flares.

Felt that this place was missing Yoko so here’s something to refresh your memory of our beloved sniper. This is Alter’s Yomako Sensei in 1/8 PVC goodness. I like how the skirt, her oppai and the face turned out. Definitely better than hamster-face Yoko of Revoltech fame. Ugh, that one was quite the disappointment. I’m praying to the gods that be that Figma would release a Figma Yoko and trump Revoltech’s Fraulein Yoko.

Anyhoo, selling price for this gorgeous figurine is 6,090 yen and will be out February of 2009. Thanks to coffeebugg for the heads up on this gorgeous figurine.

[polldaddy poll="1032495"]

Real Drive is set in 2061 AD, fifty years after the development of the Network society. The new infrastructure was to create a utopia where people could directly connect at the level of consciousness. But new social problems, such as personal data leaks and disinformation surface. People still must rely heavily on the Network and are unable to abandon it.

In due course, a new Network realm with more effective security measures was developed. This was called Meta Real Network, nicknamed “The Metal.”

The Metal holds personal memory data in bubble shells. These are supposedly protected virtual online organic cyber-enclaves. The Metal eventually pervades the everyday lives of people.

People gradually learned to release and explore their instincts within the environment of the Metal. The unleashed instincts cause some individual’s consciousness to drown in the sea of information and to be exposed to the pressures of desire.

Meanwhile, norms and regulations continue to bind their real world lives. Friction between the two worlds manifests as troublesome aberrations.

Cyber Divers are experts who investigate and decipher these aberrations in the Metal.

Megahouse released a Minamo Aoi figurine as well as she definitely doesn’t lack in the curves, oppai and thighs department either.

From Wikipedia:

An intern for hired by Masamichi Haru and Sister of Souta Aoi. Originally hired to replace Holon during a leave for maintenance, she became a permanent employee after she helped guide Masamichi back from a dive gone wrong. Unlike the other humans and some animals in the story, she does not possess a Cyberbrain augmentation, and requires electronic accessories to access The Metal.

Both figurines are to be released late January 2009 and are worth 5,800 yen each. Info from HobbySearch. As always, click the image to get to the gallery.

[polldaddy poll="983211"]

Yes! Oppai goodness! And remember my fixation over chicks with big swords? (Ehhhhh?! That didn’t sound right…)

Anyhoo, this figurine of Rangiku Matsumoto by Megahouse was already released several moons ago and now, it appears that the figure-collecting  community lacked some oppai goodness down Shinigami street so they have heeded the calls of despair from the cleavage-depraved and re-issued this wonderful 1/8 PVC figurine. The release is slate for January of 2009 and is worth 4,000 yen.

Info from HobbySearch. Click on the image to look at the gallery.

[polldaddy poll="983188"]

This is Megahouse’s release of Nanael from Queen’s Blade. Queen’s Blade figurines of Nanael are rare. The only one I can remember is the WonFes exclusive. Echidna, Leina and Nix are some of the others that have been given the figurine treatment already. This cute angel is due for release late November and has a price tag of 5,500 yen (details from HobbySearch).

Image and link to gallery is from Amiami.com. It’s a figurine I would by. But I’m blogging this from the laptop at home so I can’t put the WMB badge on it. I’ll update the image when I get back to the office. But seriously, this looks like a worthwhile purchase. The oppai look nicely sculpted. Her butt and thighs are done well too plus those white panties with baby blue polka dots are just way too cute. Plus, she’s blushing. *^_^*

[polldaddy poll="971374"]

I’m liking this PVC figurine of Tessa Testarossa from Full Metal Panic! Imagine having a captain this cute! I’ve always like Tessa. In fact I’ve always had a preference for Tessa over the other girl (see? I can’t even remember her name) Kaname Chidori.

This figurine allows you to remove her white long-sleeved shirt to reveal the nice undies inside. But that’s pretty much it. No cast-off for some oppai action. But seeing it up close still makes me blush.