Garage Kit Haven

ques Q Online Shop - Kousaka Kirino, Yakumo Yukari and Last Order

2011-12-20T03:43:00.002+08:00

Yakumo Yukari (Taoist Robe Version)
Limited Edition Resin Kit
Sculptor: Keroriso (XELFLEX)
Price: 13,650 yen
Note: long and short hair parts included
Order link for deputy service

Kousaka Kirino (Swimsuit Version)

Limited Edition Resin Kit

Sculptor: Yuma (Swan Boat no Suza)

Price: 8,400 yen

Note: happy and unhappy expressions included

Order link for deputy service

Uchidome "Last Order"

Limited Edition Resin Kit

Sculptor: HIDE (@AKIKA)

Price: 8,925 yen

Note:

- coat is removable (additional arm parts included)

- happy and ecstatic expressions included

- two types of front hair parts included (for visor/no visor)

- two different right hand parts included

- base not included

Order link for deputy service

Treasure Festival in Ariake 6

2011-12-20T02:14:00.000+08:00

Kobe 3 was disappointing. It had the misfortune of being scheduled too closely after the major summer event. Even though a large number of dealers were present at Kobe, they were still carrying the same old goods. Not surprisingly, the event was glanced over by most (myself included).

While I'm happy to see more GK events like Garage Works Communication, it's still too small in scale to be compared to the likes of Wonder Festival or even Treasure Festival (only 27 dealers were present at GWC act.9). It's just too unsatisfying as a filler event.

In the month leading up to Ariake 6 I'd been taking note of all the cool new kits, but at the time of writing this post I'm still frantically taking notes thanks to a good number of dealers withholding info until the last minute. Let's just say I'm a bit overwhelmed right now.

(DAMN IT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE UP BEFORE THE ACTUAL EVENT!!! Orz)

"Sea Girl" from SAGAMI FC

"Yukiko-hime" from essence

"Mikazuki Yozora 4" from Seidou Circus

"Kashiwazaki Sena 2" from Seidou Circus

"Hatsune Miku" from Toushirou

"Hatsune Miku 2020" from Grizzry Panda

"Akemi Homura" from Grizzry Panda

"Merry Nightmare" from Ringo Renmei

"Maekawa-san" from Doll House Utsunomiya

"Acony" from Nikemeyo

I had to remove a good number of kits from this list after realizing that they were either a) unavailable until WF2012, b) a color resin kit, c) a PVC, d) old, or e) not really that great.

My favorites are "Hatsune Miku", "Maekawa-san" and "Acony". They're the only three that I would consider adding to my collection.

Now I just need to see the first two in color. >_>

Source:

-http://abc-labo.com/

Online Mail Order - ATOMIC-BOM and 一期栄華一杯酒

2011-11-05T14:15:00.004+08:00

The following are all resin kits. A deputy service (like SMJ or Rinkya) will be required as they don't ship outside of Japan.

Dealer: ATOMIC-BOM

Messenger Girl

- 3rd production run

- pre-order starts at noon, 11/6/2011 JST

- pre-order quantity limited

- 11,000 yen

- size 215 mm

- does not come with cable and decal

- first sold at WF2011 Winter

Original Bicycle and Girl

- 2nd production run

- pre-order starts at noon, 11/6/2011 JST

- pre-order quantity limited

- 11,000 yen

- size 220 mm

- first appeared on display at WF2011 Summer

Asuka Test Suit (2011 ver)

- 2nd production run

- pre-order starts at noon, 11/6/2011 JST

- pre-order quantity limited

- 10,000 yen

- size 200 mm

- first sold at WF2011 Summer

Dealer: 一期栄華一杯酒

Maneki neko no hito (beckoning cat girl)

- 6,000 yen

- 1/8 scale, 165 mm tall

- 19 parts

- in stock

Source:

-http://abc-labo.com

Online Mail Order - Jet Stream

2011-10-24T22:57:00.002+08:00

1/8 Panty Uniform Version

- Sculptor: Tanaka Masanori
- 18 parts
- 8,500 yen
- white resin kit
- Japan only (use deputy service)
- order link

non-scale Asuka Test Plug Suit Version

- Sculptor: Tanaka Masanori
- Displayed at WF2011 Summer
- 20cm
- 68 parts (O_o)
- 15,000 yen
- White and clear resin kit
- Japan only (use deputy service)
- order link

Source
- http://www.abc-labo.com/index.php/item/2588

Online Mail Order - ACCEL and TANDEM TWIN

2011-10-22T23:52:00.005+08:00

ACCEL - Honey Bee

- resin kit (bust)
- 5,500 yen
- pre-order only (kit will be released at a later date - TBA)
- limited to Japan only so use your favorite deputy service
- cut off time for ordering is 10/26/2011 10AM JST

TANDEM TWIN - Various

- all items for sale are resin kits
- the top 3 kits are new
- only the top 9 kits are in stock with the exception of the beer girl Yuina (number 7 from top)
- click on the picture of the kit you want and you will be taken to its respective page
- scroll down and click on the link below the "Mail order receptionist" heading
- scroll down a bit to find out the number of parts (number beside "パーツ") and the price for the kit (number beside "定価")
- to place an order via email, click on "ガレージキット通信販売を希望します" at the bottom of the same page
- please note that the sculptor MAY be able to understand English (however please note that any email containing English may be filtered as SPAM) :)
- they will ship overseas
- not sure if they accept PayPal or foreign credit cards
- use your favorite deputy service if they don't accept either

Source:
- http://www.abc-labo.com/index.php/item/2582

2011 GK Acquisitions

2011-09-19T15:43:00.003+08:00

(Update 2011/12/18 - Yuuka and Princess Bitch are both available at Tokyo Hunter.)

As a result of some unscrupulous individual making off with my camera during a recent trip to Taiwan, posts of this nature had to be put off until a later time. But since recent events have been mediocre at best, I've only added 4 new resin kits to my collection since last October.

1/7 Yoshii Yuuka by Ishiyama Satoshi (Orchid Seed)

Availability: WF2011 Winter only, 100 copies

While I found Tsundero to be an enjoyable eromanga, I wasn't exactly blown away by the intricate plot or the subtle characterization. The whole time while reading the titular chapters (starring Yuuka) I couldn't help but feel like I was reading a less drawn-out (but much less endearing) version of B Gata H Kei. When Orchid Seed first announced their WF2011 Winter GK lineup, she was quickly passed over in favor of the more amusing Princess Peach (which I didn't pick up at the time either due to lack of funds).

Still, this wouldn't be the first time I've come around to a kit (the 9,000 yen starting bid and the prospect of combined shipping were also contributing factors) so I went for it. Eventually though I had to raise it to the edge of my comfort zone (12,500 yen) so now I'm undecided about the whole affair.

1/7 Princess Bitch by OSIRIS (Heavy Gauge)

Availability: WF2011 Winter only, 40 copies

From eromanga F.S ISM (fair warning: avoid). I'm happy but also amused that nobody ended up bidding on her because 9,000 yen is a steal considering the sculptor and the very limited quantity run (prior to I had been eyeballing this 19,000 yen listing for months in hopes that either the seller would drop price or a cheaper option would present itself). I might attribute this to the notion that Japanese fans in general do not consider well-rounded body types to be attractive, but then again F.S ISM is quite terrible so they may just hate it by extension. It's a toss-up really.

1/7 Ignis of the Endless Winter by Ishiyama Satoshi (Orchid Seed)

Availability: WF2011 Summer only, 40 copies

So I paid 24% extra up front for Tokyo Hunter's service to avoid the drawn out bidding wars and to avoid missing out. Boy am I glad I did in the end. Although 10/39 copies eventually ended up on YJA, each auction winner paid on average an additional 58.6% on top of retail (values ranged between 39.7% and 70.7%). This is not even taking deputy bidding fees into account.

I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said this kit made WF2011 Summer for me, so it wasn't particularly reassuring when the day of the event had passed (JST) and I still haven't received confirmation whether the hunt was a success or not. By morning of the 25th (JST) I was already a nervous wreck, staring at the multiple auctions of Ignis that had now been listed on YJA and wondering if I'd made a terrible mistake. Well in hindsight the fact that I wasn't contacted hours after the event regarding a full refund should've been enough to clue me in; but it didn't, and I sat there all depressed for 4 more hours.

1/5 Kousaka Tamaki by Toushirou (Cobra-Kai)

Availability: Wonder Festival 2006 Summer, World Hobby Festival Yokohama DASH-1 and Wonder Festival 2007 Winter, >150 copies (est.)

Just hours before the auction was about to end I found out my SMJ bidding limit had been reduced to zero. I hadn't used the deputy service since July 2010 and my credit card on file had expired. Luckily I remembered that I had a PayPal account with Rinkya so off I went.

Even though I had an account set up there I never used it. Although I'm not fond of the repeat log-in requirement just to see your bidding history, I'm starting to come around to their service for the sole reason of better exchange rates. Though Rinkya charges more for commission, they only take about 2 yen off the current exchange rate (whereas SMJ will always take 5 yen off the current exchange rate). This was something I stupidly overlooked before and for that I apologize if I've mislead anyone into thinking SMJ was all-around superior to Rinkya.

Here is a comparison of what I paid for Tama-nee (Rinkya) vs what I paid for Yuuka (SMJ). There is a difference of 2,000 yen between the items but I feel this is sufficient as a reference:

Tama-nee (aka Rinkya)

Date won: July 26, 2011
Price: 14,500 yen
Commission: $30
Exchange Rate offered: 76 (historical exchange rate for this day: 78.101)
Price in US: $190.78
Handling Fee (YJ to Rinkya Japan warehouse): $15

Total (item stored in Japan) = $190.78 + $30 + $15 = $235.78

Note: Item weight is 530g

Shipping via EMS from Japan to Canada = $34 (already marked up 25% by Rinkya)

Grand Total: $269.78

Yuuka (aka SMJ)

Date won: Sept 6, 2011
Price: 12,500 yen
Commission: $15
Exchange Rate offered: 71 (historical exchange rate for this day: 77.374)
Price in US: $176.05

Processing Fee: $3.00
SMJ internal shipping: 1,790yen <- this 2nd conversion is easily overlooked
SMJ internal shipping converted using exchange rate offered: $25.21
Handling Fee (YJ to SMJ USA warehouse) = $3.00 + $25.21 = $28.21

Total (items stored in USA) = $176.05 + $15 + $28.21 = $219.26 (actually rounded to $219.30 on invoice)

Note: Yuuka was shipped together with Princess Bitch (total weight is 620g)

Shipping via EMS from USA to Canada = $35.35

Grand Total: $254.61

Despite the initial 2,000 yen difference, in the end the difference is only about $16. It's still tough for me to say if it's better/just as good to use Rinkya for higher end auctions as SMJ's commission becomes a flat rate of $35 once you go past 33,000 yen (up to 100,000 yen); but for items between 6,000 to 33,000 yen Rinkya offers competitive rates. Anything below that though it's probably best to stick with SMJ.

If you guys know of other comparable deputy bidding services that offer real-time bidding I would love to hear about it.

Can you believe the size differences? Tama-nee is supposed to be 1/5 scale, but she's dwarfed by the 1/7 scale Ignis (oh I assure you the box is quite full). And I'm finding it difficult to swallow that Yuuka and Princess Bitch are also 1/7 scale. On my way home after the clerk at Canada Post handed me this tiny ass box which supposedly contained the pair I couldn't help but wonder if either SMJ screwed up or if Bitch got confiscated at customs.

The box wasn't even full.

Taiwanese Sculptor PKking - Purchasing Instructions for Foreigners

2011-07-29T17:44:00.008+08:00

(Update 01/09/2012 - Minor update. Sturgeon King sold out.)
(Update 12/18/2011 - Everything.)

(Update 10/19/2011 - Baphomet is back!)

Good news fellow GK lovers.

PKking has informed me that he is willing to sell his original kits to English speaking fans outside the country. He does not speak English however; and he sells his goods predominantly via ruten, an online auction site - not unlike eBay - that requires both a Taiwanese citizen ID number and a Taiwanese cell phone number just to sign up (for security purposes).

The reason I added him to the new "Buy Originals (foreigner friendly)" sub-section - despite the hurdles to ordering - is because I am willing to offer language assistance to anyone who's interested in ordering from him. That and because I love this guy's stuff so I want to help him stay afloat.

Please note that all prices are in New Taiwan Dollar (NTD):

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Baphomet

Official name: 九天衡-邪羊
Scale: 1/7
Height: 36 cm
Materials: Grey color resin and metal
Parts: 29 grey resin parts, 2 clear resin parts and 3 metal parts
Price: 10,800 NTD
Pre-order Status: 5/10
Availability: 10 pre-orders required for production. 50% minimum deposit required to place pre-order.

Additional Reference Images

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Dark Fox

Official name: 九天衡-闇狐
Scale: 1/7
Height: 22 cm
Materials: Grey Color Resin (plus 2 metal parts)
Parts: 27
Price: 4,000 NTD (pre-order price: 3,600 NTD - limited to first 15 pre-orders)
Pre-order Status: Filled
Availability: 4 in stock

Additional Reference Images

Sculptor's comments:

Curse those scum at e2046 for recasting this kit!

(ed. note: he sold this kit at WF2009 Summer and in just a week's time it showed up on e2046's website. Coincidentally I haven't seen him attend WF since.)

I guarantee that the quality of their recasts are greatly inferior to what I have to offer, seeing as how I'm making the casting mold from my original sculpture (retouched for molding). Furthermore, I am offering this kit at the same price as e2046 so why not support the original sculptor?

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Nie Long ("The Dragon Whisperer" - ad lib translation)

Official name: 九天衡-聶龍
Scale: 1/7
Height: 28 cm
Materials: Grey Color Resin (plus metal parts)
Parts: 57
Price: 6,000 NTD (pre-order price: 5,500 NTD - limited to first 15 pre-orders)
Pre-order Status: Filled
Availability: 5 in stock

Additional Reference Images

Sculptor's comments:

Enjoy additional discounts if you pre-order this along with Dark Fox!

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Li Ji and Xiao Wei

Official name: 九天衡-麗姬&曉薇
Scale: 1/7
Height: 25 cm
Materials: Grey Color Resin (plus metal parts)
Parts: 45 + 2 metal parts
Price: 7,500 NTD
Availability: 2 remaining

Additional Reference Images

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Barretta

Official name: 九天衡-巨獸-巴瑞塔&場景底座
Scale: 1/20
Dimensions: 60Lx30Wx28H (cm)
Materials: Grey Color Resin (plus metal parts)
Price: 12,000 NTD (pre-order price: 11,000 NTD - limited to first 15 pre-orders)
Pre-order Status: Filled
Availability: Unknown (currently not listed on ruten)

PKking has confirmed that he will sell the special base + small soldier separately to any North American/European customer that previously purchased Barretta from him. The price is 4,500 NTD. To confirm whether this offer extends to you, please email PKking (pkking1288 at yahoo.com.tw) using the following template:

"想訂購巴瑞塔的場景底座. 我的地址是[insert your shipping address here for verification]. 請慶仔告知是否一切OK. Johnson會幫我翻譯所以請安心用中文答覆."

Once he replies, just let me know if you need help with translating (Johnson at gkhaven.com).

Additional Reference Images

Sculptor's comments:

Please note that the special base and the small soldier are both included with this price. A minimum 50% deposit + 4.5% of amount sent (for PayPal fee) is required to pre-order (the buyer's name will be added to a list). Once the product is ready to ship the buyer will be required to pay the remaining balance + shipping + 4.5% of amount sent (for PayPal fee).

In an effort to fight against Korean and Hong Konger recasters, the special base + small soldier will not be sold separately! This will not affect customers who had previously placed orders for just the special base + small soldier; however, from now on this will be strictly enforced!

The reason for this is because Korean and Hong Konger recasters stole my Barretta kit (which I spent many months sculpting). They're selling the recast for 6,000 to 6,500 NTD while I'm selling my original for just 7,500 NTD (ed. note: Barretta can be purchased separately; please see next product for more info). Furthermore, the quality of their recasts are greatly inferior to mine as they're simply making recasts from one of my casts; whereas my casts are made from the original sculpture (which has been touched up to produce the best quality mold).

Also, from now on all my originals (save those that are already pirated) will not be sold to those that are suspected of being Korean recasters (ed. note: basically this means no shipping to Korea unless the sculptor can somehow verify that you're not going to backstab him)! All shipments to Hong Kong will also be heavily screened and delayed until the final run of a kit.
Lastly, a disclaimer to anyone who is planning on recasting my stuff: I will personally mark each and every kit that goes out so that I will be able to tell right away which buyer was responsible. I *will* take legal action against you so consider yourself warned.

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Barretta

*Please note this price does not include the special base nor the small soldier!*

Official name: 九天衡-巨獸-巴瑞塔
Scale: 1/20
Height: 28 cm
Materials: White Color Resin (plus metal parts)
Price: 7,500 NTD
Pre-order Status: Filled
Availability: 9 in stock

Additional Reference Images

Sculptor's comments:

A minimum 50% deposit + 4.5% of amount sent (for PayPal fee) is required to pre-order (the buyer's name will be added to a list). Once the product is ready to ship the buyer will be required to pay the remaining balance + shipping + 4.5% of amount sent (for PayPal fee).

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Nuwa

Official name: 九天衡-女媧
Scale: 1/7
Dimensions: 21x46 cm
Materials: Grey color resin, clear resin plus metal parts
Parts: 72
Price: 8,500 NTD (pre-order price: 7,500 NTD - limited to first 15 pre-orders)
Pre-order Status: 5/10
Availability: Production begins as soon as there are 10 pre-orders. Production time is roughly 1 month.

Additional Reference Images

Sculptor Comments:

A minimum 50% deposit + 4.5% of the amount sent (to cover PayPal fees) is required for pre-ordering (the buyer's name will be added to a list). The buyer will be notified of estimated shipping date once production begins. Once the product is ready to ship the buyer will be required to pay the remaining balance + shipping + 4.5% of the amount sent (for PayPal).

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Anwu ("Dark Warrior" - ad lib translation)

Official name: 九天衡-闇武
Scale: 1/7
Height: 30 cm
Materials: Grey color resin, clear resin and metal parts
Parts: 63
Price: 7,000 NTD (pre-order price: 6,500 NTD - limited to first 15 pre-orders)
Pre-order Status: Filled
Availability: 6 in stock

Additional Reference Images

Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Sturgeon King

Official name: 九天衡-王鱘
Scale: 1/7
Height: 35 cm
Outer Box Dimensions: 43x32x26 cm
Materials: Beige color resin, clear resin and metal parts
Price: 8,400 NTD
Pre-order Status: 0/15
Availability: Production is not expected for some time.

Additional Reference Images

Additional Reference Images 2

Sculptor's Comments:

The waves are cast in clear resin to give it a more realistic touch. I recommend incorporating LED's to give your final product a unique finish.

Lineage II - Unicorn & Elf

Official name: 天堂II-獨角獸&精靈
Scale: 1/7
Height: 17 cm
Material: Grey color resin
Parts: 58
Price: 2,800 NTD
Availability: 2 in stock

Additional Reference Images

Purchasing Instructions

Unless otherwise stated, all pre-orders require a deposit of 50% of the purchase price + 4.5% of amount sent (for PayPal fee). All payments need to be sent in New Taiwan Dollars (TWD on PayPal) to "pkking636178@hotmail.com". In your payment email, please also provide the following information:

- name of kit(s) in Chinese ("official name")
- quantity
- your name
- your address
- your phone number

Once the kit is ready to ship, you will be notified by email to send the remaining 50% + shipping expense + 4.5% of amount sent (for PayPal fee).

Due to the value of these kits, EMS will be the default shipping method.

For kits that are already in stock, please be sure to add 4.5% to the total amount that you are sending. PKking will then get back to you with the invoice for shipping charges for your country, of which you will also need to account for the 4.5% PayPal fee.

[Examples]

Pre-ordering a 5,000 NTD kit:

Initial deposit = 2,500 +(4.5% of 2,500) = 2,613 NTD

Shipping comes out to 500 NTD.

Remaining balance = (2,500 + 500) + (4.5% of 3,000) = 3,135 NTD

Total sent = 2,613 + 3,135 = 5,748 NTD

So the total PayPal fee is 248 NTD.

Paying for a 5,000 NTD kit that's already in stock:

Initial payment = 5,000 + (4.5% of 5,000) = 5,225

Shipping comes out to 500 NTD.

Paying for shipping = 500 + (4.5% of 500) = 523

Total sent = 5,225 + 523 = 5,748 NTD

So the total PayPal fee is 248 NTD.

As you can see, the total PayPal fee is always the same regardless of whether you make a lump sum payment or multiple payments.

[End Examples]

If you're still confused about how much money to send, please feel free to email me at "Johnson@gkhaven.com". Please note that PKking may not be able to provide you with the shipping quote until the kit is actually ready for shipping. Rest assured however as he will only charge you what is required by the post office.

Lastly, please be patient with PKking's ETA. He puts in a lot of care to ensure that his fans receive only the best quality castings. To achieve this he always gives his factory 2 month's production time (rather than the 1-2 weeks for typical recasters) and each mold is only used 20 times. Often, rather than waiting until he receives the full 15 pre-orders, he'll take a leap of faith and start the casting process at 10+ pre-orders to shorten the wait time for fans.

Even if he doesn't, I assure you that it is well worth the wait.

-Johnson

Wonder Festival 2011 Summer - Late Preview

2011-07-24T16:35:00.002+08:00

Oh man this is going to be so good.

I've put the following first-time WF kits in order of preference from least favorite to must buy. For aesthetic reasons many kits were omitted from this report. I will however continue to update this post provided that I see more of what I like:

non-scale "Aegis" by REFLECT

After spending 200+ hours on Persona 3 and P3: FES, I can safely say my Aegis fever has died. Still, I am on the fence about this one. I like the overall modest color tone, but the face doesn't do Shigenori Soejima's original artwork justice; it seems off even.

"Standing Garako" by Kitsutefu

If my disdain for anything cute/chibi/loli/SD haven't been made clear enough already on this blog it bears repeating. Garance the original rendition remains elusive to this day.

Being the cool guy that Kitsutefu is, you can actually buy many of his kits (including this one) through his online shop that, get this, caters exclusively to foreign customers. One of the many perks of original creations - they're not bound by character licenses that restrict all commercial activities to within Japan.

Griffon Enterprises

(from left to right)

1/8 "Komeiji Koishi" by i-con
1/8 "Komeiji Satori" by i-con
1/7 "Ookami Ryouko" by deru

I know not a thing of relevance about these characters. Ookami's pose and outfit is very much to my taste is all. The Touhou sisters should really be at the beginning of the list, if at all.

"Melty Snow - Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins" by Ishinaga Sakurako of Shokubutsu Shoujo En

After 4 years in the works, she's finally complete. "Melty Snow" naming bit aside, I've always been fascinated by Grimm's Fairy Tales so she'd be right at home in one of those stories.

"Black Rock Shooter" by hiyoko (fg-site)

By now I'm well aware that I've no eye for judging kits in their unpainted form. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to include her on the list. There hasn't been any word from the sculptor since mid-March of this year despite this being a work-in-progress for this summer WF. Hopefully we'll see more coverage of her (elsewhere) after the event.

1/7 "Akemi Homura" by Toda Satoshi of Principality of Kagutsuchino

Seeing how the anime run ended just this April, Puella Magi Madoka Magica has quickly become the focus of this WF.

Admittedly I only came to know the series through a secondary source (manga) so I'm not particularly attached to the original anime character designs. Even the manga character designs were pretty plain so I couldn't be happier with what Toda did here. The man is a great sculptor AND a great revisionist.

Final thoughts on the series? The manga was interesting enough but I think I'll pass on the anime.

"Ignis of the Endless Winter" by Ishiyama Satoshi of Orchid Seed

With the ridiculously limited run of 5 kits selling out within a matter of minutes at WF2007 Winter, Ishiyama Satoshi's 1/7 scale "Ignis the White" remains a bitter memory (I seethe with controlled anger whenever I see the PVC version). Yet the resin kit also marked my gradual departure from recasts and my foray into the ugly yet fascinatingly addictive world of Yahoo! Japan Auctions. As such, I can think of no kit more influential and desirable.

This version kicks way more ass to boot.

Those with good memory should remember her from WF2010 Winter where her prototype was on display.

(Sorry this post is so hopelessly late. I had originally intended it to be a preview of the event.)

Dastardly Late, but Thoughts Nevertheless

2011-04-29T18:25:00.000+08:00

Reading about Wonder Festival should never be akin to watching paint dry, and yet as I peruse galleries after galleries of event photos I can think of no comparison more worthy. One would expect that an event adorned with the adjective "Wonder" would elicit a basic sense of the word (i.e. astonishment and/or admiration). But hey honest marketing be damned!

Originally I wanted to cement my case by posting all the event kits that are, well, shit; however, I quickly realized that I wasn't interested in going through 46 pages of kits again, eliminating 3% of the ones that don't suck and then making you guys scroll through the rest just to prove a point. So here's a simpler (and better) alternative that sums up the latest Wonder Festival 2011 nicely:

My pet theory is that the stagnating GK scene is the unfortunate result of too many old talents leaving in favor of more profitable ventures (PVC, dollfie, etc.) and not nearly enough new talents filling the void left behind. What we have left is basically a cesspool of "mediocrity".

(Just out of curiosity, I did a little research to find out the annual salary of top Japanese figure sculptors. Averaging figures from several sites produces a staggering 20,000,000 yen (~$233,338.41) which totally explains why they're all jumping off the GK ship. Hell I would too.)

As such, I can't help but wonder about these "new talents": is the WF committee just handing out these one day licenses left and right to anyone that bothers applying? The alternative - that these sculptors were carefully hand picked, out of the many hundreds or even thousands that applied, based on the quality and originality of their work, is truly disheartening.

Volks Fate/Unlimited Codes 1/4 Scale Saber Lily GK by Chorosuke

2010-11-29T07:30:00.007+08:00

Source

Coming soon to Wonder Festival 2011 Winter. Look forward to it!

For good measure:

Treasure Festival in Kobe 2 - Aftermath

2010-11-01T09:32:00.006+08:00

Didn't really pay much attention to this event (aside from just checking out the available dealer/sculptor links on the Treasure Festival website).

All-in-all I didn't find any eye poppers, but 3 kits were pretty cool:

1/4 Asuka by Millimeter Modeling

Prototype was on display during the event. The sculptor will be taking orders for her in late November.

1/4.5 Azami ver. 2 by ACCEL (original design by Tsukasa Bullet)

10 kits were sold during the event. Will be available for mail order through his website late November/early December. Retails for 18,000 yen.

Elf-san by Plum

It's rare for a newcomer's kit to catch my fancy, but when it does you can bet I'll search high and low for more info.

Sadly the name was the best I could scrounge up. That and her website.

How to Order Feature - Satomi Design

2010-09-28T15:26:00.006+08:00

Whether you're new to the hobby or actively expanding your GK collection, a good store to keep tabs on would be Satomi Design. They carry a good selection of kits from Eva, Nadesico and Ikkitousen, not to mention a near complete selection of Kurushima kits. In addition, the store is closely affiliated with the Cerberus Project Team which allows them to sell Sunny Day's Emaretta-chan and French Doll's Heat Blade exclusively year-round.

Since most of the kits are not in danger of selling out right away, you may wish to take advantage of the "Daily Special" feature (at the bottom of the page) and wait it out:

Having bookmarked the store for almost 2 years without using it, I finally took the plunge last Saturday (Tsukasa Jun x French Doll ultimately proved too much to resist). My habit of prioritizing funds for convention exclusives had been the main impediment. That and it didn't help that some of the kits that the store carried were offered on Y!JA for a lot less. As a matter of fact I just saw Heat Blade on Y!JA today for 7,000 yen. Man oh man, taking the bitter high road.

Anyhow, the website accepts VISA/MasterCard/AMEX like any respectable online store so ordering is a breeze with Tenso (just follow the instructions below):

1. Finish shopping.

2. Enter your payment information.

3. Enter you billing information.

4. Enter you shipping address.

IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE YOU USE THE SAME NAME AS YOUR TENSO ACCOUNT FOR SHIPPING!

I emailed Tenso and they told me that if it isn't clear who the package is for, they will put the package in their “unknown receiver” pile (I guess like lost & found). Don't go there.

(Yes I know the picture is all casual about it. Don't be.)

5. Wait for Satomi Design to email you.

You will receive an order confirmation email shortly after placing your order. Keep it on file.

Within 24-48 hours, you will receive a second email with the subject line "ご注文ありがとうございます、返信をお願い致します。".

Reply to this second email with the following Japanese:

"これでOK.　　よろしくおねがいします。"

You will receive a third email shortly after with the subject line "発送致しました".

In the body of this email look for the following paragraph for your tracking number:

ヤマトお問い合わせ伝票番号は
123456789012です。(scheduled delivery date)にお届け予定で、本日(today's date)に発送しました。

6. Track your order.

And that's all folks.

Update: 10/07/2010

The goods arrived yesterday.

Sample Finished Product (what I would give to paint like this):

New Arrival: Satanikus ENMA Kerberos Yukihime Garage Kit

2010-09-22T15:53:00.003+08:00

So hey that worked out pretty well with the kit arriving in just 9 business days. I was actually under the impression that this was a pre-order and that production wouldn't take place until a month or two down the road.

The casting is excellent by the way, as to be expected from YAMATO.

Old news: The ones sold at WF2010 Summer didn't come with the finished photo as YAMATO forgot to include it. Luckily I didn't go through the backdoor this time.

YAMATO is still taking orders for Yukihime (not to mention Asuka). Those who need help ordering can check out my tutorial.

The Most Expensive Post of 2010

2010-09-13T13:52:00.002+08:00

Time to put up with my bragging.

After nearly 2 months time and traveling over 13,500 km, my WF2010 Summer kits have finally arrived. Granted, my anticipation has waned considerably since the last week of July, the height of post-convention frenzy; nevertheless, I'm still happy my kits made it safe and sound (after the shipment was detained by Canada Customs for a week for "review"). It was a long week with zero updates.

At the time of my 7/27/2010 post, I mentioned that I was gunning for 5 kits on Y!JA (which I wouldn't reveal until later). Well that number has fluctuated much since then so I've totally lost track of what they were. I apologize to anyone who was actually waiting for the big revelation.

Here's what I actually got:

Mirei-san by Otsuyama Houjun for Kotobukiya

Scale: 1/7
MSRP: 12,000 yen
Winning Bid: 12,000 yen

This was a very surprising find as the GK version must date back to 2007 at least. She had a buy-it-now option so I instantly picked her up.

Ayanami Rei by Koneko Koubou

Scale: 1/6
MSRP: 5,000 yen
Winning Bid: 17,000 yen

Definitely the highlight of this show for me. I have spent many hours on Y!JA since his Asuka first appeared at WF2010 Winter, and I didn't feel like doing the same for his Rei. I'm still reeling from this one though.

Asuka Langley by Koneko Koubou

Scale: 1/6
MSRP: 5,000 yen
Winning Bid: 21,000 yen

She only appeared twice this time around, so I put everything into the first auction. I definitely
stretched my funds thin with this one.

The problem with lesser known sculptors is that their stuff will almost never appear on Y!JA since popular kits are more likely to fetch a premium for resellers. Guess I should consider myself lucky she showed up at all.

Revy by Fujiura Toui for RC Berg Ltd

Scale: 1/6
MSRP: 11,500 yen
Winning Bid: 10,000 yen

When Joseph of Tokyo Hunter first offered his services for ordering this Hobby Japan Magazine exclusive, I fancied the notion but ended up not following through on it. For reasons that are no longer clear to me, I became fixated with this kit nearly 8 months later and came back to Joseph for help. He was able to find locate one, but the marked up price by the store plus Joseph's commission killed the deal for me.

So now as I look back I'm very glad to have waited another 7 months.

Rider by Ikeda Ryouichi (R.S.B) for Orchid Seed

Scale: 1/7
MSRP: 10,000 yen
Winning Bid: 10,000 yen

Rider was not high on my list initially. I liked her enough but I had already allocated funds for a few others such as Koneko Koubou's Eva girls, Melting Neuron's Mina Tepes and Shokubutsu Shoujo En's Miku.

It was Masa of GKJapan.com that gave me the final push to hunt her down (after seeing his post in the Wonder Festival 2010 Summer thread). And as luck would have it she was available for order through Orchid Seed's website.

The lesson that I've learned over the years when it comes to buying GK's is that a moment's hesitation usually results in many months of regret, which is why I still invest in the "buy it now, regret it later" mantra.

Yoko by Buster Seven

Scale: 1/6
MSRP: 10,000 yen
Winning Bid: 10,000 yen

Been eyeballing her since Treasure Festival in Ariake 3. I emailed the sculptor in early July but sadly PayPal wasn't a payment option. Luckily, the sculptor was very accommodating and told me that he'd put the kit up again for mail order after the upcoming Wonder Festival.

And he did.

Ryomou Shimei by Toushirou (Cobra-Kai) for Daiki Kougyou

Scale: 1/4
MSRP: 45,000 yen
Winning Bid: 22,000 yen

And what a steal. Insufficient funds during WF2009 Summer and WF2010 Winter prevented me from participating in any bidding wars, but again this turned out to be pretty great. Pretty great save for the last half of year of fruitless searching.

Group shot:

Save for the Eva girls, I got a sweet deal out of this convention. But strictly speaking there's only 2 WF2010 Summer exclusives.

YAMATO Online Shop Exclusive - Satanikus ENMA Kerberos Yukihime Garage Kit

2010-09-10T09:49:00.009+08:00

Previously an event exclusive at Wonder Festival 2010 Summer, YAMATO is now offering this resin kit for a limited time through their online shop.

Below I will be providing an in-depth guide on how to order this kit via the YAMATO online shop using Tenso as my Japanese address.

3 things are required:

1) A valid credit card (VISA, MasterCard or AMEX should work)
2) A Tenso Account (sign up here)
3) A language patch so you can enter Japanese characters (download via language tools in control panel)

HOW TO ORDER

First, go to the order page.

Finally, in your confirmation email look for the following section:

---------------------------------------
◆お支払い方法
---------------------------------------
クレジットカード
在庫商品・前払い商品を「クレジットカード」支払いにて処理致します。
以下のURLをクリックしていただき、表示された画面の指示に従って
クレジットカード決済処理を実行してください。

Here is the link.

＊複数回実施しないよう、ご注意下さい。

※予約商品で「クレジット決済」もしくは「銀行振込」を選ばれた場合は、
出荷日決定後にお支払方法の詳細をご連絡いたします。
※お支払い方法を変更される場合には、マイページより行ってください。
http://www.yamato-toys.com/ec/mypage/index.html
---------------------------------------

Once you're at the payment page, you should see a button at the top that lets you select English.

The rest should be fairly intuitive.

HOW TO CHECK ORDER/PAYMENT STATUS

Sample Finished Product:

Source

This has been a fun feature and I just might continue it in the future. :)

Yahoo! Japan Auction - Regular vs Premium Accounts

2010-08-22T19:40:00.006+08:00

This is hardly news I'm sure for all you regular YJA users, but gone are the days when non-Japanese residents can deal directly with the few vendors who accept PayPal.

Free or regular accounts now have a max bidding limit of 4,999 yen. For those interested in doing some real bidding in the above 5,000 yen category, a premium account is now necessary - but in order to sign up you need a) an address in Japan, b) a Japanese credit card and c) to not mind paying 346 yen/month for the privilege of buying stuff online. Essentially, everyone now needs a seller's account.

In recent years, Yahoo! Easy Payment (Yahoo!かんたん決済) has become the norm for both buyers and sellers on YJA (think PayPal and eBay). When YJA first introduced this system a few years back, I was only too eager to set myself up for disappointment.

So why do I even let myself be surprised anymore, given YJA's track record with foreigners? :o(

Jet Stream Presents Hitagi of Bakemonogatari (WF2010 Summer)

2010-08-02T15:02:00.004+08:00

Source

Baby, where have you been all my life?

Wonder Festival 2010 Summer - Aftermath

2010-07-28T14:31:00.011+08:00

Despite not being able to attend as usual, I was very satisfied with the kit offerings on Y!JA. Save for the super popular kits, markup was surprisingly minimal (I saw at least four Ooki Futaba from C. Project sell for near retail). Most importantly, I managed to pick up the kit I've been looking for since the last Wonder Festival among a few other unexpected gems.

Currently 2 more kit to go until I hit 5 for 5. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, entertain yourselves with this prospective kit of Asuka from Millimeter Modeling:

Source

Scale is 1/4. Release date is currently scheduled for September 2010. He will likely sell through his website so stay tuned.

Oh what the hell. Here are a few more great kits from the event that I missed to report on:

Melting Neuron Presents Mina Tepes

Source

HachiHachi Presents Asuka Langley

Source

Ishinaga Sakurako of Shokubutsu Shoujo En Presents "Love is War"

Source

Koneko Koubo Presents The Original Evangelion Girls

(The sculptor doesn't seem to have a website. Not that he needs to market his stuff or anything.)

My God, will this Asuka fever ever end?

Volks 1/4 Bayonetta by Chorosuke - Incomplete but this is as good as it gets folks

2010-07-24T10:16:00.005+08:00

Source

Oh boy, the amount of detail here is impressive. Even as a complete amateur builder I can tell the braids will be a pain to paint well. If Volks told me painting took longer than expected which is why they had to delay the final pictures, I'd almost believe them. Wow.

But the face - it's not doing it for me...am I just not attracted to her facial structure? When I try to visualize the kit as a whole I get even more discouraged. But to be fair I should probably wait until the painted version to make my final assessments.

Still, there is a good side to this - I'm now going in with lowered but more realistic expectations. In addition, while a lot less numerous in quantity, I do own kits which I absolutely did not care for in the beginning; and now I've grown to treasure these a great deal more than the majority of the rest which were purchased under the influence of initial zeal.

Wonder Festival 2010 Summer - Preview 2

2010-07-18T01:23:00.036+08:00

This should cover all the event exclusive kits that I'm currently aware of and curious about:

diskvision Presents Original No.5 ELSA (summer ver)

Source

Very gorgeous and very close to my female ideal.

essence. Presents Ryofu Housen

Source

Scale: 1/7
Price: 11,000 yen

Nice. He's been teasing us with this sculpt for long enough now.

Orchid Seed Presents "Rider" of Happou Bijin's Artbook Sweet Body

Source

Scale: 1/7 (12cm tall and 13.5cm long)
Price: 10,000 yen (tax included)
Sculptor: Ikeda Ryouichi (R.S.B)
Availability: 100 (a limited number of the 100 will be sold on the Orchid Seed website via mail order starting 7/27 19:00 JST)

Yamato Presents Yukihime of Satanikus Enma Cerberus

Source

Price: 18,000 yen (tax included)
Sculptor: Fujiura Toui of Toy's Brand

Always had a thing for these yuki-onna types. Ones like Yukihime from Kikoushi Enma and not ice cold bitches though.

This distinction is like, super important?

Shiragami Takayuki Presents Chouun Shiryuu

Source

Scale: 30cm tall
Price: 16,000 yen (tentative)
Parts: 28

Kanu then Chouun, how pleasantly predictable.

Don't get me wrong though - I love what he's done here.

Epoxy Parfait Presents Vash the Stampede

Source

Scale: 1/10
Price: 9,000 yen

Vash is all about the clothes.

Hiroshi of Sakura Zensen Presents Misaka Mikoto of Toaru Majutsu no Index

Source

Based on the manga. Didn't enjoy the series but this kit managed to strike a chord.

Ishinaga Sakurako of Shokubutsu Shoujoen Presents "Koi wa Sensou" of Supercell feat. Hatsune Miku

Source

I'm giddy with anticipation. Her World is Mine Miku and Lineage II Elf easily top my list of favorite PVC's. How could another Miku be bad, given her track record?

Ibuki of Resetsu Presents Celty Sturluson of Durarara!!

Source

A female dullahan for a protagonist. I must admit I'm intrigued - and this wouldn't be the first time a kit has prompted me to research the source material (Princess Waltz and Sengoku Rance to name a few).

MegaTechBody Presents Nana of Nana and Kaoru

Source

Scale: 1/8
Price: 7,000 yen

Not exactly my pose of choice but it's faithful to the source material.

Principality of Kagutsuchino Presents Circlet Girl "Shin Sekai no Mon"

Source

Finally a picture of the completed kit!

This is vol 11 of the light novel. See the resemblance?

Cerberus Project Presents Bayonetta

Source

Goodness. When I first saw a small thumbnail of this kit (painted in grayish tone no less) I wasn't exactly blown away (see source link, last picture). But after seeing this kit in daily ranking 2nd place on Fg-site I figured I owe it to myself to check again - and how unpleasantly correct I was.

Gotta set aside about 130,000 to 150,000 yen if I want a stab at everything, and this isn't taking into account the unavoidable markup on Yahoo! Japan Auction during the post-convention week. Probably closer to the 250,000 yen range I'd guess?

Good God this is just for this post too. o_O

Wonder Festival 2010 Summer - Volk's Offering

2010-07-17T13:06:00.012+08:00

What, you thought I would miss reporting on my favorite GK company? :)

These are my top three picks for the upcoming ∀-Brand series:

Character: Celia Kumani Eintree
Series: Walkure Romanze: Shoujo Kishi Monogatari
Scale: 1/8 (18.5 cm tall)
Sculptor: Misaki Serika
Parts: 33
Price: 12,000 yen
Availability: Wonder Festival 2010 Summer Exclusive
Source: Here

Character: Kisaki Mio
Series: Walkure Romanze: Shoujo Kishi Monogatari
Scale: 1/8 (18.5 cm tall)
Sculptor: Misaki Serika
Parts: 34
Price: 12,000 yen
Availability: Wonder Festival 2010 Summer Exclusive
Source: Here

Character: Raira Ria Soreru
Series: Shiden ~Enkan no Kizuna~
Scale: 1/8 (20.5cm tall)
Sculptor: D-Paul
Parts: unknown
Price: 12,000 yen
Availability: Wonder Festival 2010 Summer Exclusive
Source: Here

Of course, last but not least, there's Chorosuke's Bayonetta that I'm sure we're all dying to see:

But you won't be seeing it from me today (hah!) because the jerks over there love to pull our chains.

Wonder Festival 2010 Summer - Daiki Kougyou's Offerings

2010-07-17T03:46:00.006+08:00

Product Details:

Character: Akiyama Mio
Series: K-On!
Scale: 1/6　(26cm tall)
Parts: 42 (additional parts include 1 decal for amplifier, 4 strings for base, 1 amplifier cord and 3 color photos)
Sculptor: Hagii Shunji (Circle: Studio Saru Bunshitsu)
Price: 15,000 yen (tax included)
Age Recommendation: 15 and up (^^)
Availability: 40 (WF2010 event exclusive)

This is a very nice Mio sculpt (high praise from a non K-On! fan). I used to think that Hagii was only good at realistic faces but he's obviously proven me wrong here.

I'm a little tempted by this one. A 7/10 on my list of desirables at the moment.

Product Details:

Character: Tsuneko (Back Cover Girl)
Series: Maid Yome by Kizuki Aruchu
Scale: 1/6　(30cm tall)
Parts: 26 (of which 6 are clear parts); 3 photos included
Sculptor: Hagii Shunji (Circle: Studio Saru Bunshitsu)
Price: 13,000 yen (tax included)
Age Recommendation: 18 and up (>>)
Availability: 40 (WF2010 event exclusive)

I would place Maid Yome in my top 20 H-manga going by art alone (the story is not worth mentioning). Aruchu's Monster Hunter doujin series however is lame and I do not recommend any of it.

So the GK - sadly it pales a bit in comparison to the original artwork that made it so great, but I do see a shadow of its former glory. I only wish that I could see the face more clearly as that's my main gripe with this sculpt.

For additional photos please visit Daiki Kougyou. You won't regret it!

Wonder Festival 2010 Summer Preview

2010-07-15T08:31:00.040+08:00

It's that time of the year again! Forget the disappointment that was Treasure Festival in Ariake 3 because if fg-site is any indication, this year's Wonder Festival is going to rock like it's 2007 again.***

Here are the guys (and girls?) that you want to watch out for:

Principality of Kagutsuchino Presents

Saber (again)! But it's extra version(?) this time!

The heroine from the light novel "Circlet Girl". The completed sculpt will be revealed at Wonder Festival.

It's based on the cover art for volume 11. Never heard of this light novel before but she's cute enough to warrant a kit, sure.

Po-chan (fg-site handle) Presents

New Queen's Blade character Moon Dancer Lunaluna.

Based on this page from Queen's Blade Rebellion artbook. If not for her weird cock strap-on she'd be pretty fine~.

Kitsutefu Presents

Shiro no Hyakujya (aka The Hundred Year White Snake) completes his five colors deity series. I'm sure a good handful of you are familiar with the other four.

Aside from being the strongest deity of the five (according to the sculptor himself), she's also the best looking sculpt of the five (according to me). I would gladly add her to my collection even if it means I have to bear the shame of having an incomplete collection (I mean, you do *have* to buy the others if you buy even one).

Sec.C.Noin (fg-site handle) Presents

Dead Master from Black Rock Shooter (don't know much else aside from this).

Personally I don't enjoy looking at this kit as a whole. The overall balance seems strange. Maybe I'm tired of kits where a tiny character is holding an improbably large weapon.

But I do like how the face was sculpted. Also I still think his Horo kit rocks so I wanted to feature this foreign sculptor.

RINGO (fg-site handle) Presents

Fuck this such a sweet looking kit of Youmu. Sadly it doesn't seem like it'll be ready in time for WF.

Cerberus Project (TM) Presents

Yowza. So remind me again why I stopped reading Amanchu!? This sculpt of Ooki Futaba is definitely doing it for me. I knew it wasn't blind loyalty that keeps me coming back for more (and it certainly wasn't due to their recent line of ball-jointed kits - I blame brain lapse on their part).

Another kit to get excited about.

Plastic Garden Presents

Simple is truly best. There's a Chinese proverb that states that the more basic the cooking ingredients, the better you can see a chef's true culinary skills. This proverb certainly lends some credibility here - despite the not-so-exciting pose he's managed to create something beautiful.

My hats off to him.

To drive the point home - did I mention that I harbor no love for the series nor the characters? Ok good.

ehenmushi (fg-site handle) Presents

Makise Kurisu from the Xbox 360 game Stein's Gate.

This isn't exactly a mind blowing kit. In fact you might even say it's pretty average.

But this is a good counter-example to my previous assertions. The pose chosen by the sculptor adds a good degree of realism to this otherwise plain sculpture. I'm not saying I'm going to devote hours into hunting this kit down on YJA - God no - but I will unabashedly say that I like it. In fact I like it a lot.

This is the sculptor's entry work on fg-site (pretty good actually). I'm interested in seeing more from this guy in the near future.

Team Yukariko Presents

Joker Undead from the Kamen Rider Blade series. Don't know anything else about this guy.

M Field Presents

Alice Margatroid (lol) of Touhou Project.

This is a collaboration project between Teruyuki of M Field and Yukiusa of Nekojimu. Yukiusa's sculpt is not shown because I like Teruyuki's part a lot more, is all.

G-Rug Presents

Utsuho Reiuji of Touhou Project.

Another in-progress work that won't make it on time for the big day. :\

By the by, expect to see a huge influx of Working!! kits this time around. Whether it'll be the next biggest thing since K-On! will remain to be seen.

Now let the big day commence!

Disclaimer: Keep in mind that my opinions/criticisms here only apply to the unpainted versions shown. All it takes is a fresh layer of paint to turn the best sculpture into a piece of crap.

***last great year for new GK releases, according to me

The Balance of the Nine Skies - Liji and Xiao-Wei, in Color

2010-06-10T16:50:00.005+08:00

Not Treasure Festival related but eye candy nonetheless:

Before

After

Different Color Scheme

What do you guys think? I'm more a fan of the black and red.

Ordering

Those interested should contact Steve (cyberkid) on Hobby Fanatics. He's the official overseas rep for the Davyace team.

The Balance of the Nine Skies - Baphomet, in Color

2010-05-08T15:38:00.008+08:00

It's amazing what a fresh layer of paint can do for a kit:

To be honest, the recent Treasure Festival in Ariake 3 made me reconsider my choice of hobbies. Save for Buster Seven's Yoko, the convention was very disappointing.

Really, I haven't been this tempted to pick up a kit in a long time. Now I just have to justify to myself the 12,000NT (~$372US) price tag.

More Images

Those interested should contact Steve (cyberkid) on Hobby Fanatics. He's the official English rep for the Davyace group.

Treasure Festival in Ariake 3 Preview - Teruyuki, Asai and Saeki Kazuhiro

2010-05-04T11:26:00.007+08:00

Some interesting kits I pulled from fg-site:

M Field (Teruyuki) - 1/6 Original Devil Girl

Looks nice with color.

Asai (fg-site handle)/やしの実と黒猫 - Original Cat Girl

Only gripe would be her ridiculous hair.

Tick Tock Rabbit (Saeki Kazuhiro) - Hakurei Reimu (Reitaisai 2009 Catalog ver.)

Not really a big fan of this sculpt overall but I feel like there are a lot of people who'll like her. Only included her because the decals are totally cool.

Siji - Ajari

2010-04-26T01:46:00.007+08:00

Ajari, originally sculpted by Takayanagi Yusuke and featured in Amemiya Keita's Red Mausoleum artbook (copyright 1999), is once again brought to life by the talented Siji:

Original (for comparison)

Siji is now taken pre-orders. Details below.

Material: Resin
Scale： Length 21cm/Width 24cm/Height 30cm
Pre-order Period: April 18, 2010 - May 18, 2010
Pre-order Price： 1350RMB (RMB = Chinese Yuan)
Retail Price： 1450RMB
Deposit required for Pre-order: 350RMB
Quantity Available: 45

He accepts PayPal (through a friend's account). He speaks some English too if I'm not mistaken.

Just leave him a comment telling him you're interested. I think you need to sign up first for a sina account (free).

If you need help with the ordering process let me know.

YAMATO Online Shop Exclusive - Soryu Asuka Langley

2010-04-25T00:54:00.005+08:00

After what seems like forever, she's finally ready for pre-order through YAMATO's online shop.

Deadline for ordering is May 25th, 2010 noon (JST). The orders will ship some time in July.

Sadly she did not turn out as well as I've hoped. Her face is a little off putting.

Hobby Round Premium - Choun Shiryu

2010-04-13T14:36:00.005+08:00

Picture at last:

Sculptor: Takami Toshiaki (Volks a-brand sculptor)
Scale: 1/7
Price: 11,550 yen

Not fond of this one. Mainly the helmet-like bangs and the unnatural cut of the clothing.

I think it goes without saying that his Kanu is way better.

via Hobby Round 3.

Hobby Round Premium - Kanu Unchou

2010-04-01T10:36:00.004+08:00

Sculptor: Takami Toshiaki (Volks a-brand sculptor)
Scale: 1/7 (26.7cm)
Price: 13,440 yen

Updated April 1, 2010: New pictures. Same old Kanu.

via Hobby Round 3.

Geteru - Yoko Cosplay

2010-03-28T03:18:00.003+08:00

I can't stare at this kit in the face for more than 5 seconds. She frightens me in ways I cannot explain.

I have to hand it to this guy though - that is one realistic looking face.

She'll be up for grabs in late April (online mail order?). No set price yet.

via fg-site.

Treasure Festival in Ariake 3 Preview - M Field

2010-03-28T02:09:00.005+08:00

Here's what sculptor Teruyuki is cooking in his shop:

This is original kit number 2 of his Modeler Girl series. Not sure how a devil girl in a school uniform has anything to do with the modeling theme though.

1/6 scale, no set price yet.

I'm liking the base sculpt so far. Wonder how it'll look with color.

Coming this May to Treasure Festival in Ariake 3.

via fg-site.

Dengeki Hobby Online Shop Exclusive - 1/7 Original Resin Kit Shinigami Shoujo "Jichuu"

2010-03-27T12:37:00.009+08:00

Scale: 1/7 (22cm)
Manufacturer: R.C.Berg
Retail Price: 12,600 yen

Sculpted by Yukishiro.

But I guess the face and the disproportionately large breasts give it away. It is his trademark after all. :D

If you can maneuver your way around the Japanese ordering screen, then Tenso should be sufficient. I imagine Dengeki Hobby will accept foreign credit cards.

You can also pay an additional 2,100 yen for a book on how to assemble this kit (step-by-step). New builders may want to consider it.

via Tokyo Hunter.

Treasure Festival in Ariake 3 Preview - Principality of Kagutsuchino

2010-03-22T15:56:00.006+08:00

Head sculptor Toda Satoshi of Principality of Kagutsuchino is currently working on the last two of the main heroines from the PS2 dating simulation Game "Amagami":

Nanasaki Ai

Nakata Sae

Amagami seems to be a pretty big hit among the Japanese sculptors these days.

via Kagutsuchino.

Treasure Festival in Ariake 3 Preview - Yoko by Buster Seven x Yamashita Shunya

2010-03-15T12:25:00.004+08:00

How about another Yoko kit?

The sculpt is based on Yamashita Shunya's art, but unfortunately I couldn't find the picture that verifies this.

She was only on display during Wonder Festival 2010 Winter.

Here's to hoping his application for Yoko is approved for Treasure Festival in Ariake 3.

via fg-site.

Treasure Festival in Ariake 3 Preview - Fate/Extra Red Saber (Real Arrange) by doS

2010-03-13T15:57:00.005+08:00

I only know this upcoming sculptor by her pseudonym "doS" on fg-site, but I feel that this sculpt will be a hit at the next Treasure Festival:

Sure, it's a bit rough around the edges.

She's currently applying for a booth at Treasure Festival in Ariake 3. The kit is 1/6 scale with a projected price of 6,000 yen.

via fg-site.

Rei Tai Sai - Konpaku Youmu by Biifuru, Now in Colour

2010-03-13T15:51:00.003+08:00

He picked a really pleasant color scheme:

via fg-site.

Rei Tai Sai - Konpaku Youmu by Biifuru (be-full)

2010-03-07T15:19:00.006+08:00

Biifuru (or be-full) will be attending the March 14th Rei Tai Sai - 7th annual Touhou Project Convention held at Tokyo Big Site - with this kit:

30cm tall.

No other information is available at this time.

For those with no knowledge of the Touhou Project series (like myself), Youmu is the part-human, part-phantom gardener of Saigyouji Yuyuko. Her two halves are not intermixed like one would expect from a cross-breed, but they actually exist in physically separate bodies. For more information, please refer to here.

As for the kit itself, I like it. The eyes are a bit far apart, but I suppose it is being faithful to the source material.

Via sculptor's site.

ACCEL - Devie & Pooch for International Mail Order

2010-03-05T15:01:00.004+08:00

Well, looks like he's finally got the international order page set up. Took him a while.

Both are original characters (4th and 6th respectively).

POOCH - 13,000 yen
1/5 scale
First appearance at Wonder Festival 2007 Summer

Devie - 9,000 yen
Non-scale, 24cm + 3cm base
First appearance at Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

Please go to the sculptor's site to order. PayPal works great.

_d_i_s_k_ v_i_s_i_o_n_ - Sculpt in Progress

2010-03-05T14:52:00.004+08:00

This is his fifth original kit.

It's about 1/5 in scale, or 40 cm.

She's currently unnamed.

I'm liking the face but the breasts seem a little...too perky to me.

via sculptor's site.

Latest Offerings from Volks Online Store - Rio and Ayane

2010-03-03T13:19:00.004+08:00

Here's the 3rd entry for Volks's TRY GK line:

Sculptor: Misaki Serika
Dealer: Volks
Series: Super Black Jack (Pachi-slot company Net x Tecmo)
Character Name: Rio
Price: 10,500 yen
Scale: 1/8

Volks will start accepting pre-orders on March 5th, 2010. The expected ship date is April 24, 2010.

Rio is a mascot character for titles from video game publisher Tecmo. She appears often in the Rio de Carnival casino games. She's scheduled to appear in the upcoming Dead or Alive Paradise game for the PSP (which is due sometime this month actually).

Sculptor: Chorosuke
Dealer: Volks
Series: NINJA GAIDEN Σ2
Character Name: Ayane
Price: 32,800 yen (34,440 yen tax included)
Scale: 1/4
First Appearance: WF2010 Winter

And then there's Ayane. Yesterday's newspaper, right?

Well in case anyone missed out the first time, she'll be up for grabs until 10AM March 8th, 2010 Japan Standard Time.

Go with Tenso for either (or for both). The service is awesome and it's cheap.

Some Small Changes to the Blog

2010-02-17T14:52:00.005+08:00

First of all, new domain name! Word to the wise - if you plan to buy a domain name for your blogger blog, DO NOT buy it through Goggle Apps.

Secondly, new email contact is "Johnson at gkhaven.com".

Lastly, all recasts for sale have been removed from this blog. I can't with good conscience bash recasters when I'm selling off my old recasts on the side. Even more important of all, I should not be compromising my stance for a few hundred dollars.

For that I do sincerely apologize.

trepang - Mail Order for Yakumo Yukari and Chen

2010-02-15T10:12:00.008+08:00

Look what Yoshi's got up for mail order on his site:

Product Name: Yakumo Yukari
Series: Touhou Project
Material: Resin Cast (Unassembled, unpainted)
Scale: 1/8 (25cm tall)
Parts: 28
Price: 12,000 yen (shipping and middleman fees not included)
Ordering Period: 02/11/2010 - 03/08/2010

Product Name: Chen
Series: Original (I think)
Material: Resin Cast (Unassembled, unpainted)
Scale: 1/8 (20cm tall)
Parts: 21
Price: 8,000 yen (shipping and middleman fees not included)
Ordering Period: 02/11/2010 - 03/08/2010
NOTE: Very limited stock so mail order may be canceled.

Interested buyers should contact Shopping Mall Japan or Tokyo Hunter.

Cerberus Project - 1/6 Melty Blood -Re.Act- Ciel by French Doll

2010-02-12T13:56:00.005+08:00

Now that WF2010 Winter is behind us, all things GK-related have already started to die down. This is not a bad thing though, mind you, as I could definitely use a break from scourging the net for new kits.

What better time than now to sit back and reflect on all your recent purchases, good or dumb?

Won her off YJA through Shopping Mall Japan last December, but I finally requested shipping for her last week. Came home for lunch today and found 3/4th of the box poking out of the mailbox, under assault from heavy rain. O_o

On the plus side Canada Post no longer leaves a slip of paper telling me to go pick up my package at one of their postal branches the next business day after 1pm.

I'll take a slightly wet box any day thanks.

Ciel by French Doll is the last Cerberus Project kit of 2007 that I've been dying to get my hands on. That was their golden year I feel.

I'm so sick of their latest posable resin kits and their ball joints. If I wanted that shit I would just get an action figure. And don't get me started on kits that come molded in color.

Got her for 12,000 yen. With commission + shipping + low bank exchange rates it came out to be $184.88 CAD.

Clothes on...

...and clothes off. I think it goes without saying she looks way cooler with clothes. I might mix and match the weapons a bit though, who can say.

Last two images via Cerberus Project.

The Balance of the Nine Skies Series - Guard Beast Barretta

2010-02-10T13:17:00.006+08:00

Came home for lunch today and found this baby lying in front of my entrance:

Canada customs was all over this, so the outer box was in pretty rough shape. Luckily they had enough courtesy not to tack on their 25% customs manhandling fee.

Didn't really have time to inspect the contents then. There was lunch to be eaten!

...content unveiled 7-8 hours later. I cannot thank the shipper enough for using 4 layers of bubble wrap. Everything arrived in perfect condition. The smaller parts were further protected by another small box within.

This kit is heavy! It weighs 3.12kg at 39 parts (1/20 scale).

Not sure if this kit is supposed to go by Barett or Barretta. The former is printed on the manual but the latter sounds much closer to the Mandarin pronunciation so I went with that.

At 7500 NTD (approximately $236 US), this kit is a steal. Give cyberkid (Steve) a shout if you don't want to miss this fantastic kit. There's only 6 left in stock the last time I checked (Feb 4th, 2010).

And yes, Steve is the official English distributor for davyace. I confirmed already with PK-king on his blog.

Yamashita Shunya x REFLECT - Soryu Asuka Langley Completed

2010-02-08T13:37:00.004+08:00

These pictures are totally overdue:

You know what? I dig it way more than his Rei. If YAMATO will take my visa then it's going on my list.

Strange that it hasn't shown up on Yahoo! Japan Auction yet though.

via REFLECT's blog.

Wonder Festival 2010 Winter - The Aftermath

2010-02-08T11:22:00.007+08:00

So I spent the better part of today on Yahoo! Japan Auction, browsing through 1500+ auction items (about 39+ pages on image view). And I did it 3 times spaced out over the day. It's been a long time since I've subjected myself to these YJA grinds (and now I remember why). >_>

I can't speak for the convention itself since I wasn't there, but this is definitely the worst line up of post-convention YJA listings I have ever seen. I can actually count the number of kits that I want with one hand. t(^_^)

Still, I like to think it wasn't a complete waste of a Sunday. I came across a few more choice kits that I owe some coverage to:

Cherry Blossom - 1/7 Nadia (Fushigi no Umi no Nadia) - sculpted by Ousaka Miki

Ousaka Miki of Cherry Blossom is a huge Nadia fan. This is actually her 10th Nadia.

Nadia's a total bitch. I hated her and that show (by extension).

Cherry Blossom - 1/7 Ayanami Rei - sculpted by Toria

Well he's got Asuka in Yoko's getup already, so why not? His Rei managed to grow on me (whereas his Asuka didn't).

Little Pink Summer - Nanasaki Ai (eroge Amagami) - sculpted by Kouzuki Hajime - 8,000 yen

"I'm pregnant."

It is a rather crude kit even by my standards. Her glare is just that beguiling (if I had to say why).

Koneko Koubo - 1/6 Soryu Asuka Langley

"Nice" - Johnson

Seriously, who is this sculptor? I can't find his/her site anywhere. :(

Sources:
Cherry Blossom
Little Pink Summer
Koneko Koubo

The Final Stretch Before WF2010 Winter - Monsters, Monster Hunters and an Old Mech from the late 80's

2010-02-05T15:31:00.011+08:00

Less than 40 hours remain (at this time of writing) before the start of Wonder Festival 2010 Winter. Let us have one final look at some of our prospects:

Ryunryun Tei (D27-01) - Naruga Equipment (Female) - 10,000 yen

It's hard to say what about this kit attracted me enough to post it in the first place. I don't even like dwarfish women.

Maybe it triggered a sense of relief/familiarity at the time (when I realized I wouldn't have to spend another hour on the Monster Hunter wiki looking for the English name of this equipment).

Tekkoryuu (D21-01) - Andou Kenji x Nakayama Eiji - 1/8 Rathalos Blademaster (Male) [Dragonsword] - 12,000 yen

Hunting down the official English name for this kit was a total pain. I had to rely on the small jpg associated with each armor (on the Monster Hunter wiki) to correctly identify the armor shown (the Japanese version calls it Reusu Swordsman Equipment). Then I had to repeat for the sword.

It is a pretty cool kit though. Probably wouldn't buy it, but still nice.

Veteran sculptor Andou Kenji sculpted the hunter and armor. Nakayama Eiji of Tekkoryuu sculpted the sword.

HigeMegane - Tora

Yay another Tora kit (Ushio and Tora must be making a comeback in Japan or something). No idea who the sculptor is or which booth he'll be at. HigeMegane is just his fg-site handle.

MARU - Ken-oh Ryujinmaru

I'm hardly a fan of robots, gundams or mechas, but the mashins in Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru are an exception (fond childhood memories have a way of distorting things).

The show relies on a very predictable monster-of-the-week formula for the first 35 episodes, with every episode ending with Ryujinmaru slicing the enemy mashin in half with a power slash. Did I mention the mashin summoning sequence takes up 1/10 of the show? It also repeats every single episode.

Oh yeah, Ryujinmaru actually looks like this in real life. The gundam look is refreshing however.

MARU is another fg-site handle. No idea what the sculptor's calling himself during WF.

HEADLONG (C32-10) - Zodd Bust - 8,000 yen

This one is a no-brainer. Only complaint I have is that it's a bust.

List of vendors by booth at Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

The Final Stretch Before WF2010 Winter - Essence

2010-02-03T11:35:00.003+08:00

Essence will be at booth D23-04 on February 7th, 2010. Do you guys remember this kit from my WF2009 Summer post? I was wondering what happened to it.

Sculpted by Yasuhiro Uchijima.

via essence.

The Final Stretch Before WF2010 Winter - Sakura Zensen

2010-02-02T12:59:00.005+08:00

Shikieiki Yamaxanadu by Masaki - 11,000 yen

...Really? This was the kit that I gave such high praise half a month ago? O_o

Hinanai Tenshi by Hiroshi - 13,000 yen

Thank God for Hiroshi (now I don't have to take back everything good I said about this duo). orz

If this kit isn't marked up exorbitantly on Y!JA post-convention then who knows. But I do need to get my purchasing priorities straight.

Expanding my tastes beyond what the Japanese GK community has to offer can only be a good thing at this point. Don't want another Masaki incident. >_<

via Sakura Zensen.

Davyace - Taiwanese Sculptor Quartet

2010-01-31T10:52:00.013+08:00

Davyace is a group of 4 very talented Taiwanese sculptors comprising of PK-King, HIKARU-TIKI, R.C and KARAS. Their sculptures are insanely rich in detail and easily rivals anything that comes out of Japan. Their works utilize many fantasy themes such as elves, mythical beasts and empyreal beings. Operating as a dealer at Wonder Festival 2009 Summer was definitely a great first step for them in gaining international acclaim.

PK-King is easily my favorite of the four (The Balance of the Nine Skies series is my favorite):

The Balance of the Nine Skies - Dark Fox

The Balance of the Nine Skies - Barretta

The Balance of the Nine Skies - Liji and Xiao-Wei

The Balance of the Nine Skies - Baphomet

The Balance of the Nine Skies - Sturgeon King

Here's one kit by HIKARU-TIKI that I really like:

Angels and Demons (yeah it's Dizzy from Guilty Gear)

Davyace is currently taking request orders for all the kits above (and a few more that I didn't list) through an English speaking representative on HobbyFan's forum. Please use this link for information on how to order.

Seriously, I know right? Sculptors selling originals on a recast forum? Apparently e2046 were up to their old tricks again (color me surprised) so some people got fed up and decided to help Davyace process international orders. Now people should have no reason to buy recasts right?

Davyace will also have a presence during Wonder Festival 2010 Winter, though I'm sure the majority of the kits above will only be sold via request orders.

On a final note, Davyace is located in Taichung City, Taiwan (my old hometown) so I'm definitely paying them a visit next time I'm back.

Something for the Ladies, ThunderRoad Style - Mail Order

2010-01-30T15:45:00.011+08:00

Sculptor: Kasai Akijirou
Dealer: ThunderRoad Style
Series: Tokukyou Retsuden GK Series
Kit Name: Tsurigane Chouhan
Price: 17,000 yen
Scale: 1/6 (33 cm)

Order Page

Please contact Shopping Mall Japan or Tokyo Hunter if you are interested in placing an order with this sculptor.

Torory Works - Upcoming Kit for Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

2010-01-28T16:42:00.007+08:00

What's better than an accomplished GK painter? Why, an accomplished GK-painter-turned-sculptor of course.

Professional GK builder/painter Torory (of Torory Works) has painted over 80 commissioned kits, all of which I would proudly put on display at home if I could. Since I can't, I've opted to display his site on my blog (it's actually been there for some time now in the links section).

Over the last few years he's been accumulating experience sculpting (mainly) original figures, using original designs he'd drawn himself. While his previous 3 kits failed to garner any buying interest on my end, they were good enough at least for me to instantly recognize them on subsequent viewings.

He seems to have hit the mark with his 4th and latest kit:

Torory will be selling this 1/7 kit of Amami Eri for 10,000 yen at booth C25-01, courtesy of clips.

REFLECT - Upcoming Kit for Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

2010-01-27T14:14:00.007+08:00

I'm sure you guys remember this collaboration between artist Yamashita Shunya and sculptor REFLECT:

First released as a garage kit in May of 2007, she quickly became one of the must-haves of the year. It's no surprise that people soon began asking the big question - So, where's Asuka?

Little did we all know that the question would only be answered nearly 3 years later:

This kit will be sold at REFLECT's booth (B34-04) for 11,000 yen on February 7th, 2010.

For the rest of us, there's Yamato's Online Shop and Tenso. There's no ETA at the moment, but the price has been set at 12,000 yen.

I'll keep an eye open for the date, so stay posted!

via Moeyo.

Chorosuke's Ayane for Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

2010-01-25T12:29:00.003+08:00

Well, here she is in her full glory:

Sculptor: Chorosuke
Dealer: Volks
Series: NINJA GAIDEN Σ2
Character Name: Ayane
Price: 32,800 yen (34,440 yen tax included)
Scale: 1/4
First Appearance: WF2010 Winter

I like the angle of her face in the last picture, but this is an uninspired kit (for Chorosuke) and I can't help but feel disappointed.

Moenori - Upcoming Kit for Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

2010-01-24T11:04:00.002+08:00

Lol, so many Touhou Project kits that caught my eye this time around:

Sculptor: Moenori
Dealer: Moenori
Series: Touhou Project
Character Name: Saigyouji Yuyuko
Price: 5,000 yen
Scale: no idea, but likely on the smaller side
First Appearance: WF2010 Winter

I'm not sure what to make of the two bunny-ear-like blobs (are they souls?), but I like how this kit forms the letter 'y' which is also the first letter of her name.

This sculptor will be at booth C25-12 on D-Day.

trepang - Upcoming Kit for Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

2010-01-24T07:30:00.009+08:00

Here's Yakumo Yukari of Touhou Project sculpted by YOSHI of trepang:

No set price yet. Sculptor and kit will be at Wonder Festival 2010 Winter booth B29-11 on February 7th, 2010.

YOSHI has been around for a few years now and already has 4 kits to his name. Here's another nice kit of his from Wonder Festival 2009 Summer:

Sculptor: YOSHI
Dealer: trepang
Series: Touhou Project
Character Name: Kirisame Marisa
Price: 15,000 yen
Scale: 1/8 (25 cm tall)
First Appearance: WF2009 Summer

No news as to whether he's reselling this one at Wonder Festival 2010 Winter or not.

Modeler T - Quick Store Update and Upcoming Kit for WF2010 Winter

2010-01-19T11:35:00.008+08:00

I wrote an article/review on this sculptor back in December of 2008, mainly on my purchasing experience through his website.

If you want the short version of the review - BUY FROM HIM!

Anyways, I came across this nice sculpt of Cosette (Victor Hugo's 1862 novel "Les Misérables") on fg-site today and instantly recognized the sculptor:

This will be a bust model kit and he's hoping to have it ready in time for Wonder Festival 2010 Winter.

You can follow his stuff on fg-site here.

And that's not all! There are two more kits in his web store now:

Sculptor: Modeler T
Dealer: AraArakomatta-Dou
Series: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Character Name: Yoko (child ver.)
Price: 6,000 yen
Scale: 1/7 (15 cm tall)
First Appearance: WF2009 Summer

Sculptor: Modeler T
Dealer: AraArakomatta-Dou
Series: original (Design from Yamashita Shunya's Wild Flower Art book)
Character Name: Petra
Price: 7,000 yen
Scale: 1/7 (27 cm tall; 32 cm tall including staff)
First Appearance: WF2009 Summer

For those interested, be sure to provide the following information when you send your email order (taro at dynavector.co.jp):

- Item(s) name(s)
- Quantity for each item
- Your name
- Your address + zip/postal code
- Your phone number
- Additional comments

Remember, the guy speaks perfect English, accepts foreign visa and ships internationally. If emailing your credit card information is a concern, maybe you can still work something out with him (where you order by phone).

Source:
- http://arakoma.cool.ne.jp

Diamond Sculptors in the Rough

2010-01-19T10:08:00.009+08:00

I found these two on fg-site:

1/8 Loli Suigintou by RYK-TODO

Horo by Sec. C. Noin

Both are foreign sculptors (residing outside Japan), so I think it's safe to say that neither have showcased their stuff at figure conventions before.

Which is a shame too, because their sculpts are better than 90% of the convention kits that I see these days.

Wonder if they are selling these as kits...

Wonder Festival 2010 Winter - a Better Preview

2010-01-18T05:01:00.011+08:00

Wonder Festival 2010 Winter is only 3 weeks away now. I'm more hyped up about it than the upcoming Olympics (which is also in about 3 weeks time), but that's because I have these kits to look forward to:

MouseUnit Zwei! - Izayoi Sakuya by Ooyama Ryuu

Sakuya + Flamenco dress = :)

Plastic Garden - Asuka Langley by Kawasaki Kazufumi

I'm not sure what those veins are supposed to be, but I like 'em!

Sakura Zensen - Shikieiki Yamaxanadu by Masaki

Her sitting there in that throne with that matter-of-fact attitude - while removing her stocking nonchalantly - just...works.

Masaki is the same guy who sculpted this kit. His recent Marisa kit is also pretty cool.

Sakura Zensen - Hinanai Tenshi by Hiroshi

Another character that I'm unfamiliar with, but since she's so well crafted who really cares? I believe Hiroshi is the same guy who sculpted this kit which makes it a couple of years now since I've last been interested in one of his kits (interested enough to buy, anyways; I thought his recent Reimu and Marisa were pretty neat).

Unfortunately I'm not as fond of Lyrical Nanoha as he is. >__>

Update (January 21, 2010): sorry, the Rozen Maiden 7-in-1 is actually by Masaki of Sakura Zensen. Marisa is also by Masaki; however, Reimu is indeed by Hiroshi.

Bah, that's what you get for not doing enough research beforehand.

TK no Hakoniwa - Ushio to Tora

I am so excited about this one. I've been a Ushio and Tora fan for nearly a decade now so I've been dying to get my hands on a kit of the duo ever since I entered this hobby.

Needless to say, I'll be keeping an eye on this sculptor from now on.

M Field - Modeler Girl (Online E-mail Order)

2010-01-18T04:02:00.008+08:00

Series: original
Character: Modeler Girl
Scale: 1/6
Sculptor: Teruyuki (M Field)
Price: 8,000 yen
First Appearance: Wonder Festival 2009
Order Period: January 17, 2010 to unknown

To order, please go through Shopping Mall Japan or Tokyo Hunter.

Update: sorry, I forgot to provide the order page.

Zoukei Ketsukai - Izayoi Sakuya by figuephoto

2010-01-05T14:40:00.007+08:00

The endless possibilities of garage kits never ceases to be a source of amazement for me:

Here you can see Izayoi Sakura (of Touhou Project fame) in her original color palette, as seen at the dealer's booth at WHF Kobe years past.

Some readers may remember her from my 2009 Wish List and may have also noticed that she's conspicuously absent from the 2010 list. The reason? Her face got to me. The more I looked the more I started to regret including her in the list.

She is so ugly that a couple dozen knives suspended in mid air isn't good enough of a saving grace (especially after several months of searching on Y!JA with no luck). :[

But then we have figuephoto's rendition:

It's absolutely amazing what some good lighting can do for a kit. But most importantly of all, he/she fixed the face! It actually looks halfway decent now!

And for a final picture. He/she definitely put in some extra work on the knives themselves.

(And I thought the knives in the original picture looked cool!)

By using longer blades in the front and shorter blades in the back and playing with depth perception, (I think) the builder has tweaked what was already this kit's strongest point to perfection.

Fine piece of work.

For all the pictures, please go and visit his site - and give him the thumbs up that he deserves. I know he doesn't want people using his pictures, but I really want everyone to see his work on Sakuya so I'm going to have to disregard his wishes in this case. (>_<);

Very tempted to restart my hunt for her.

Loot of 2009

2010-01-04T15:02:00.005+08:00

Kept it real tight last year. Only 8 kits. :]

Ok I'll admit that it's ridiculous that I haven't even started building one yet.

(Should be on my list of resolutions.) :S

Johnson's 2010 GK Wish List

2010-01-04T08:15:00.010+08:00

Mostly remnants from the 2009 list (diminished considerably thanks to the initial buzz dying off and my acquiring 2 - Iseshima Aya and Naked Star Insert Cover Girl):

Morte by Vispo

Always the elusive one. \(>_<)/

SELEN by ACCEL

Tsukasa Jun is my new favorite artist (sorry Masamune Shirow). His tiger girl cover for Comiket 77 looks . Garage kits (based on his designs) that carry the same artistic caliber are few and far in between so I'm not letting this one slip away for good.

Nosferatu Zodd by Headlong

The only Zodd kit I'll ever need.

Kousaka Tamaki by Toushirou of Cobra-Kai

Anatomically impossible, but I love it anyway. :P

Dynamite Plan #001 Kanu Unchou by Toushirou of Cobra-Kai

Sexy, with a dash of S&M. Just the way I like it. ^^

Shimei Ryomou by Toushirou of Cobra-Kai (for Daiki-Kougyou)

Super expensive.

Guts on Horse by Art of War

The last time I saw this kit on Y!JA was more than a year ago. Jeez this must be more than 7 years old.

Chidori and Tessa by Tayland

This is the most accurate kit I have seen of the pair. It's a shame that it's bust only.

Revy by Fujiura Toui of Toy's Brand (for RC Berg Ltd)

Hobby Japan magazine mail order exclusive (Order Period 25 March - 30 May 2009). Thanks to Joseph of Tokyo Hunter for bringing this kit to my attention. (^_^)/\(^_^)

My favorite Revy sculpt.

Bunny Haruhi by Ｙ乙Ｊ of Cobra-Kai

Y otsu J's finest, also my favorite Haruhi sculpt. I only have the one from Bome, which is huge but not very impressive detail-wise.

Kanu Unchou by Chorosuke

Still at it.

If you'll notice, there are only two new additions to my 2010 list (and they're both by veteran sculptors). 2009 was sickening as far as the number of memorable new kits go.

Here's to a better new year I suppose. :\

New Year's Resolutions 2010

2010-01-03T03:54:00.004+08:00

...What the hell have I done in the last year? Let's see, here are my resolutions from 2009:

1. Survive BCIT term 2 and 3

No longer a full-time student and studying only one term 2 course by correspondence, so nope.

2. Pay off my student loans

It somehow paid itself off (a portion of the BC student loans anyways - $2,500 reduction to be exact; don't really know how it happened, but it did). They've just started to hound me for the rest though (starting December 2009).

3. Pay off the rest of the car loan on my Yaris

No bulk payments to date. Just the month to month so far.

4. Finish building Morte recast and acquire her original

Nope and nope.

5. Sell off the rest of my recasts

I wish.

6. Get a girlfriend without compromising my preferences

This one is dumb. And nope.

7. Stop being an impulse buyer when it comes to the latest kits

Sorta...?

Jesus. Well here's my new list for 2010:

1. Live up to my new year's resolution for 2010

2. Finish of term 2 and at least half of term 3 courses by correspondence (There are 7)

3. Pay off my BC and National Student Loans ($550 and $4,596, respectively).

4. Reduce my car debt with a few bulk payments (I'm leaving this one open).

Well on the plus side I finally have means of saving money now. Don't have to rely on winter snow shoveling anymore (not that there's any snow this year).

-Johnson

Two Beauties from HobbyLink Japan

2009-12-17T11:50:00.002+08:00

Bet you can't buy just one!

So I had been abstaining from buying kits for 287 days but with the pre-order of KOS-MOS I am back on an all-too-familiar downward spiral. But seeing as how I've been eyeing these two for 423 days and 221 days respectively (Thanks Excel spreadsheet!), what's my will power to do?

I am but a man.

It's very rare that one of zenko's kits strikes a chord with me. His designs are generally cute, simple and very lacking in what I like to call a key "damn that's nice" factor. And you guys know how much I care for cute.

I won't deny he's getting better and better though, as I've definitely considered (however brief) buying some of his latest kits:

http://www.rock.sannet.ne.jp/zenkoo/gallery.htm

Any of them ring a bell? Of the ones shown with pictures, I've shown a passing interest in Alice, Nagi and Sumeragi. I was actually quite excited about his Namae no nai Onna until I saw the sculpt. Instead of sexy, we got creepy.

Spunky he's got down though. Lucky me. :)

Naked Star Insert Cover Girl is the 2nd figure in the Dynamite Plan Series by Yamato. This is really a PVC line, but Toushirou (of Cobra-Kai fame) so far has been cool enough to release the garage kit version (limited quantities for Kanu aside) months before the official release of the PVC version.

I still remember being all hyped up about the 40 garage kits released for Dynamite Plan #001 Kanu Unchou. It was right after Wonder Festival 2007 Summer - Y!JA was in a frenzy, people were fighting and screaming, and she was the talk of the town.

"Do I hear a 40 thousand? - 45 thousand! - 45 thousand! Can I get a 50 thousand? - 55 thousand! - 63 thousand! I have a 63 thousand!...63 thousand, once...63 thousand, twice! - going, going...sold! Sold for 63 thousand yen!"

She was totally out of my league.

In comparison, Naked Star passed silently beneath the water without making so much as a ripple. When Yamato first unveiled her sample figure during Hobby Complex 06, I was definitely stoked....until I read somewhere (liars!) that she was going to be PVC only. Then she was promptly forgotten in the midst of all the other soon-to-come PVC releases.

It was only when I chanced upon a finished auction of her (shortly after Hobby Complex 07) that I realized that a few GK versions were actually in circulation. But long before then I had already told myself one hundred and one reasons why this figure was not worth getting plus the fact that barely anyone placed a bid for her only added to my delusions that I was totally right (again).

Well, it only took about half a year and a HobbyLink pre-order button for the truth to come crashing down. But in my defense I perused her finished pictures for a good 30 minutes before finally deciding to eat my own words.

It was a tough decision.

Sources:
-http://www.hlj.com/product/YMTGK-02
-http://www.hlj.com/product/YMTGK-03

New Member at Volks

2009-12-10T23:44:00.012+08:00

For the better part of this week until just 5 minutes ago, I was busy working on improving the labeling system. If you scroll down you can see that a lot of the posts have been relabeled and that some labels have been replaced with more fitting ones.

I had to look up a lot of individual sculptors because I feel that it's more fitting to label posts by their respective sculptors instead of the companies that contracts them (i.e. OrchidSeed, Daiki Kougyou, etc.). I kept Volks because they contract quite a few new/unknown sculptors for their ∀-Brand lines and I feel that the great compendium is long enough without their names cluttering the list.

If I like the sculptor enough he/she'll have his/her own label, simply put.

Here are two labels that I changed because I thought they were too confusing:

Money in the Bank -> Homeward Bound -> Deleted (changed my mind 12/14/2009)

~~For posts on kits I just won/purchased but have not received yet.~~ Forget it. One post when I actually receive the kit is good enough.

New Arrivals -> My GK Collection

Can be used for posts on any recent kits that I just received or any posts where I brag about my collection. This is one of those posts by the way.

With that out of the way, I present to you all my newest acquisition:

The purple card you see on the box is a Volks Members Card. There are 3 types of membership at Volks - the Volks Collectors Club (VC), the Volks Supporters Club (VS) and the Volks VIP Club (VIP). All these cards accumulate points depending on how much money you spend at Volks (some more quickly of course) and all members receive the latest news free-of-charge.

For every 1,050 yen you spend, you earn 1 point. For every 30 points you trade in, you get 1,500 yen of credit in return (so you have to spend 31,500 yen to get a 1,500 yen discount - not even 5%). I have the basic VC card (which you automatically gain when you make a purchase at Volks), and it only gains points when you purchase with cash. Needless to say, I didn't accumulate any points with this 51,240 yen purchase. Weak.

Regardless, considering that I never received a member's card when I purchased Chorosuke's 1/4 Uesugi Kenshin through Shopping Mall Japan (SMJ) I can't help but think they swiped my membership card.

There are special conditions for becoming a VS or a VIP member. For VS, you got to pay an annual fee of 1,050 yen. For this money you gain bragging rights, the added ability to earn points with credit card purchases and the right to attend their special VS&VIP members-exclusive events (among other things like coupons and first dibs at event exclusives).

The VIP membership is pretty much the whole package (VS rights and more), but you have to send in a special application form. Aside from an automatic 2,000 yen coupon for joining the elite rank of Volks members, I'm not exactly sure what the "and more" part entails as Volks is not willing to divulge that information on their pamphlet. If any one of my readers is actually a Volks VIP member and has not been forced by Volks to swear an oath of confidentiality, I'd love to hear from you. ;)

There was actually a point in this transaction where I thought I would lose her forever. This was a 2 month long ordeal.

On gundamjehutykai's recommendation I decided to try out Tenso. SMJ and Tokyo Hunter weren't viable options at the time as the former would be too costly after commission and the latter would require full payment up front via PayPal and I hadn't the funds. So I placed my pre-order on the Volks website using my Tenso address (this was the 11th of October, during Hobby Round SR) and started job hunting.

Roughly a month passed by without any notification from either company. Prior to this I had placed a pre-order for Chorosuke's 1/4 Kanu Unchou using my Canada address and I never heard back from Volks either. I didn't even get a "sorry we don't ship to international addresses" email that time. But deep down I knew it was on its way.

Then on the 5th of November I saw gundamjehutykai's post on KOS-MOS and realized he had gotten his already (We both placed our pre-orders during Hobby Round SR). I was a little worried until I realized he commissioned Tokyo Hunter for the job. "Keep on trucking", I told myself, "it'll come".

Sure enough, I got an email from Volks the next day informing me that they charged my card. This was fine and good, but shortly after I noticed the warning on Tenso's web page telling me that they were changing warehouses and that customers need to switch to a new Tenso address by the end of November. Thinking that the kit would go out anytime in the next few days (as they charged my card), I wasn't concerned.

two weeks later on the 19th of November, I received a shipping notification email telling me that KOS-MOS has been shipped (finally). You would not believe how many times I checked Tenso during the next 3 days. It was enough to drive a man mad.

Why 3 days? Because on November 22 Volks sends me another email:

"Dear Customer....we are very sorry blah blah blah...but please disregard our previous shipping notification email...your item hasn't left the warehouse yet as it has been delayed...blah blah very sorry...your item will not ship until the end of the month(!)..."

Thus began my nightmare of trying to get a hold of both Tenso for clarification on their "items purchased before November 30th using the old Tenso address are all accounted for" statement and Volks for an address change on the pre-order.

I'll spare you the gruesome details, but in the end I finally got out of Tenso's English speaking staff(?) that as long as the item reaches the warehouse by November the old address stands.

In the meantime I had sent 2 emails to Volks: one to the English contact in the States, requesting they redirect my email if they cannot help me and another to the e-mail that told me the previous shipping notification was wrong (in Japanese this time). Neither responded in the next 2 days so I took matters into my own hands.

I called the customer service support at Volks and the phone call went something like this:

"こんにちは、このボークスで、___に言えば、今日はどのように役立つ可能性がありますか？"
"Hi, does anyone speak English there?"
*Pause*
*Pause*
"お待ちください"
*Pause* x 10
"Hi this is ___ how may I assist you today?"

I was completely blown away. A customer service agent on hand that speaks perfect English? That's Volks for you. I explained my situation and she promised to get back to me as soon as she speaks to the department head in charge.

I received an email from her less than 5 hours later telling me that I caught them in the nick of time, as they were already preparing the kits for shipment early next week (this was the 26 of November). She told me that I needed to get the new Tenso address to her in the next 15 hours or it would be too late (I was only too happy to comply).

Almost forgot to mention: literally an hour after receiving her reply e-mail confirming that my new Tenso address is in their database, I get a reply to my email from 4 days ago (the Japanese one informing me the previous shipping notification was wrong). Guess what it said?

"NO ADDRESS CHANGE! YOU ARE TOO LATE HAHAHAHAHA!"

Freaked out of my mind, I emailed the nice lady again requesting clarification. She reassured me hours later that it was another mistake of theirs and that I should totally ignore it.

On November 27th I received notification that the kit had been shipped. Again I checked my Tenso account like a madman. Finally, I received email from Tenso on the 30th confirming the kit was in their hands. Things were finally looking up! I requested shipping 2 days later and a week later it arrived in my hands.

Overall, this has been a very satisfying shopping experience. I highly recommend Tenso for their amazing prices (They only charged me 980 yen to redirect my package) and Volks for their amazing English-speaking customer service agent (and KOS-MOS).

The only thing I regret from this whole experience is not learning her name. She was really great.

Raqel Lolita Completed - On Sale from November 29, 2009 to December 13, 2009 (JST)

2009-11-27T06:59:00.005+08:00

Check it out on vispo's site. She compliments Raqel Gothic well, but first impressions have not blown me away.

~~We can expect to see it at Wonder Festival 2010 Winter next February.~~

Update November 28th, 2009:

Looks like we won't have to wait until Wonder Festival 2010 Winter! Vispo is currently taking pre-orders for both Raqel Lolita (16,000 yen) and Raqel Gothic (also 16,000 yen). Interested buyers should place an email order before December 13th, 2009 (tentative cutoff date; this is vispo's stuff we're talking about here so I wouldn't take any chances).

In this case, Tenso is likely no good (as they only provide you with a Japanese address). I doubt vispo will accept foreign credit cards or Paypal. Unless you have a Japanese bank account and can initiate bank transfers, Shopping Mall Japan's special order service is your best bet.

Absolute Zone 1/4 Scale Resin Kit by Chorosuke - Ayane from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Announced

2009-11-26T17:02:00.010+08:00

Chorosuke has finally announced his next sculpt on the Volks website. There are no official pictures yet, but according to info it will go on sale at the beginning of 2010.

New Kit Exhibition 2010, anyone?

(Momiji would've been good too. She looks a bit like Mai though.)

Source:
-http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/figure_complete/index.html

Hobby Link Japan - "New" YAMATO goods

2009-11-20T17:21:00.022+08:00

For the longest time it felt as though Hobby Link Japan downright refuses to carry non-Musashiya resin kits. As such, pre-order choices have been quite limited - mostly to the likes of "Ryomou Shimei VIII" or "Kanu Unchou Maid Version XIII".

In what could only be called HLJ's most unexpected move of 2009, they've decided to stock 2 of YAMATO's online shop exclusives (previously event exclusives that I thought I missed forever). Well I'll admit these two kits are totally ancient now, especially with the herd mentality prevalent in this hobby (where the latest is the greatest).

Isejima Aya dates back to October 16th, 2008, when the 48th All Japan Model & Hobby Show took place:

Dynamite Plan #002 Naked Star first appeared May 6th, 2009 at the now defunct Hobby Complex 7:

I devoted an article to Isejima Aya in the past, so I won't do that here again. As for Toushirou's Naked Star, here are some stats:

Sculptor: Toushirou
Dealer: Cobra-Kai
Series: Oh! Great's 2001 Doujin Naked Star page 3 color illustration
Character Name: She doesn't have one
Price: 23,000 yen
Scale: 1/5 (25cm tall)
First Appearance: Hobby Complex 07 (May 6, 2009)
Final Appearance: Hobby Complex 07 (May 6, 2009) [convention-wise]
Availability: 30-40

Those of you who missed out the first time and didn't care to support recasters (and still don't), pre-order away! This kind of deal is as good as it gets.

1/5 Dynamite Project #002: Oh! Great Naked Star Limited Edition Resin Kit

Aya Isejima Limited Edition Resin Kit

For those who prefer to order straight from the source, YAMATO is still carrying both these kits (you'll have to go through Tenso.com or Shopping Mall Japan though). I guess good for those who've had a fall out with HLJ in the past?

As an aside note, I'm going to make a habit of checking YAMATO's website and HLJ more often now.

P.S. Can't believe these kits were available since May and June of this year. Totally flew under my radar.

P.P.S. Well this marks my 100th post. Hurrah.

Sources:
-http://hobisora.blog25.fc2.com/blog-entry-38.html
-http://akibahobby.net/2009/05/yamato_nakedstar_color_sample.html

Upcoming Resin Kits for 2009 and Wonder Festival 2010 Winter

2009-11-12T07:46:00.012+08:00

Here are some kits that will be going on sale within the next few months (mainly Wonder Festival 2010 Winter):

Volks

Yes the previous 2 are different kits.

Volks will be hosting another event near the end of 2009 for these kits. Characters are from the series Toushin Toshi 3.

Kurushima (Kaihatsushitsu Sora Iro)

Available through their mail order department and Replicant magazine vol 38. Otherwise an event exclusive.

vispo

Raqel Lolita.

diskvision

Kanu.

Choun.

闇夜ノ光 (Yamiyo no Hikari)

Spica from eroge Sumaga. Took me longer than I would have liked to figure out her identity.

植物少女園 (Shokubutsu shoujo en)

Shiro Yukiko.

Ishinaga Sakurako is the sculptor behind the PVC's for Supercell feat. Hatsune Miku: World is Mine and Lineage II Elf, which are 2 of the best looking PVC's available these days. Despite her new found success in the PVC sector, it's nice to see that she's still catering to garage kit fans at every opportunity.

Though I wish she would make less kits of anorexic girls/decapitated girl in box (as excellently done as they are) and concentrate on creating more kits like World is Mine Miku and Lineage II Elf.

Tanaka of Jet Stream

Asuka.

Nekoban

Hachikuji Mayoi of Bakemonogatari and Takamachi Nanoha of Lyrical Nanoha. Couldn't get past episode 1 of Bakemonogatari but I would like to read the novels one of these days.

I'll pass on watching Nanoha.

M Field

I don't understand the phenomenon that is Mio.

Buster Seven

Yoko.

And that's all folks.

Sources:
-http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/figure_complete/index.html
-http://diskvision.org/
-http://busterseven.blog.shinobi.jp/
-http://www.kurushima.com/new.html
-http://freestyleblog.blog.shinobi.jp/
-http://homepage2.nifty.com/~zan/nekoban/index.htm
-http://botamoti.blog.shinobi.jp/
-http://www.vispo.cc/
-http://shokuen.com/blog/index.html
-http://yamiyonohikari.blog104.fc2.com/

Treasure Festival in Ariake 2

2009-10-13T15:00:00.010+08:00

Yay, another convention.

I've been concentrating mostly on a few major resin kit producers (like Volks) these days, so new and veteran garage kit producers alike tend to fall by the wayside. Not that I'm missing much though, if all the new kits popping up on YJA are any indication.

Cobra-Kai (and Daiki-Kougyou) came out with something pleasant for a change. His last few kits have been very disappointing (Fate/Stay Night, To Heart 2, ARIA etc.) so I haven't been paying much attention to him:

"Not another Ikki Tousen kit!" you say? Well I say that's all that series is good for - hot girls. And considering how many of these kits we've been hit with already, it's quite an accomplishment to produce one that turns heads (even for a veteran sculptor).

Some stats:

Scale: 1/4
Price: 45,000 yen (I fear Chorosuke's KOS-MOS has set a price standard for 1/4's)
Parts: 51
Availability: 40 kits, event exclusive; 6 copies circulating on YJA as of Oct 13, 2009 12:16 AM (PDT)

That's all this Treasure Festival does for me. I'm making it a point not to cover uninteresting kits from now on (waste of time really).

(I'm pretty sure there's another smaller convention sometime before Wonder Festival 2010 Winter so I'll look around and update accordingly.)

Update! October 19th, 2009 - Here are the 8 YJA ending prices for this kit (in chronological auction end order):

50,000 yen
61,000 yen
60,000 yen
68,000 yen
60,500 yen
61,000 yen
61,000 yen
60,000 yen

Average of 59,750 yen. These were the only 8 I found out of the 40 sold.

Source:
- http://www.daikikougyou.com/tf20091012/gk_ryomou_tf2009.html

Amanda Werner by Toy's Brand (Toui Fujiura) - Now Available for Web Order (ok I know I'm 17 days late, but I did see it when it was first announced)

2009-08-29T05:57:00.012+08:00

Using the original character design by artist Niθ, veteran sculptor Toui Fujiura brings us his GK rendition of heroine Amanda Werner from the 2008 anime Blassreiter (German for Pale Rider):

She will be available for pre-order until noon of September 25, 2009. For a 29cm garage kit, 15,000 yen before tax is not so bad.

Order?

For web orders, consider giving Tenso a try (Thanks to GundamJehutyKai for reminding me). When you sign up, they provide you with a Japanese address which you use as your shipping address (since as most of you know the Japanese don't ship the good stuff internationally). Once Tenso receives your item(s) they forward it to you via EMS. Pretty simple, and it's a lot cheaper than using deputy agents (save them for YJA).

A note of warning though - don't use C.O.D. (pay Cash on delivery) as your payment method. Tenso will just send the item back to the store. You have to pay the web store with your credit card on the spot.

1/4 KOS-MOS by Chorosuke - Now in Color

2009-08-28T04:33:00.004+08:00

Here she is, in her full glory. I was worried color would ruin her like it did with Mai (before), so I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. In fact I think she looks way better in color.

Chara Hobby 2009 (Aug 29, 2009) and Hobby Round 2 (Sep 20, 2009) event exclusive. If anyone manages to get his/her hands on one feel free to comment here and make me extremely jealous.

And what is up with Kanu? It's been nearly a month now. Well I guess it doesn't really matter cause it's not like I have $700 spare cash lying around.

Volks 1/4 Kanu Unchou by Chorosuke - coming soon to the Volks webstore

2009-08-02T03:38:00.006+08:00

It's about damn time.

First offered for a limited time online as part of Volks's 2009 new year's celebration, Volks soon promised to make her available again for web order starting March 2009.

Ahem.

My theory is that they took so many orders for her during that one week celebration (the online pre-order button was available for 168 hours) they hadn't been able to fill them all until now.

Well that's my only consolation for the long wait.

1/5 Pooch by Yoshinori Yatake (Accel) for Overseas Customers

2009-08-01T05:21:00.005+08:00

A little too "out there" for you anime GK fans?

Still, I'm sure a few of you can appreciate the fact that soon he'll be making this kit available to overseas customers (Scroll down for the English).

Hobby Complex no more?

2009-07-27T08:04:00.005+08:00

Hobby Complex 8 Tokyo and Hobby Complex GK02 Canceled

From what I can make out of the article, it seems that they decided the events weren't worth the money, time and effort.

The economic recession has hit the hobby industry pretty hard too.

No future Hobby Complex conventions are being planned at the moment.

Wonder Festival 2009 Summer - Best of

2009-07-26T16:43:00.016+08:00

~~I'll keep updating this as I find more kits I like from WFS 2009:~~

Updated! (07/27/2009)

Updated! Again! (07/31/2009)- The Yamato girl turned out to be PVC so I removed her; added Chie by Epoxy Parfait

Vispo

Daiki Kougyou (Sculptor: Studio Saru Bunshitsu)

OrchidSeed (Sculptors: Ishiyama Satoshi/Ranmaru + Cooperation from Hiromen)

Clips

essence

Long Long

M Field

Snow Cat

Sakura Zensen (Only for display. Better luck next time I guess.)

Gareki no 20 Dai

Epoxy Parfait

That is all!

Final thoughts: None of these are must-buys for me but they are nicer than the rest. There were a few monster kits that I also enjoyed looking at, but they would stick out like a sore thumb if I included them. Overall, this Wonder Festival was not too bad. I give it a "B-".

Sources:
-Pictures swiped from various blogs. Will remove upon request.

1/4 KOS-MOS Version 4 by Chorosuke - coming soon to all you lucky bastards living in Japan

2009-07-26T16:02:00.007+08:00

Who can deny what Ayanami Rei has done for the otaku scene when she first graced our TVs/computer monitors back in October of 1995? Although probably not the first of her kind, her stoic beauty won the hearts of many fans and spawned even more derivatives (Nagato Yuki from Suzumiya Haruhi, Vanilla from Galaxy Angels and Hoshino Ruri from Martian Successor Nadesico just to name a few).

I was no exception.

I had a huge thing for Rei back in grade 9 (which was when I first got into anime). The problem with liking anime characters is that they don't exactly age with you. Rei's what, like 14? Having a crush on her when you're 13-15 is bad enough, but 20+? Not cool. Luckily it was mainly her personality that struck a chord with me, so her numerous successors took over her role quite nicely and I got over my Rei obsession after a few more years (no thanks to Mogudan that it went on for that long in the first place).

Of all the Rei-clones that came and went, Aegis from Persona 3 and KOS-MOS from Xenosaga still remain my favorites to this day (though I guess they aren't exactly ancient). Which is why I knew I had to update when I found out about Chorosuke's upcoming sculpt of KOS-MOS (I knew it! I knew he would get around to her eventually!):

This 1/4 kit will retail for 50,400 yen(!) at Chara Hobby 2009 and Volks Hobby Round 2.

Finally, something to rekindle my passion. :o)

Source:
-http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/figure_complete/ff_kosmos.html

Reason for my absence

2009-07-25T07:47:00.006+08:00

Those amazing legs belong to "Golden Eagle" Tom Platz.

Needless to say, I've been totally into bodybuilding these past few months. So obsessed, in fact, that I stopped surfing YJA. But in a way, bodybuilding and GKs/figures are just two sides of the same coin (since they both deal with sculpting of the ideal human body).

Treasure Festival in Kobe 1 - A Slap in the Face is what this is

2009-04-30T20:27:00.007+08:00

Instead of Treasure Festival in Kobe, maybe they should've called it Griffon Enterprise in Kobe. There wasn't a single new resin/garage kit that stood out.

But with Hobby Complex 07 Tokyo so close by, I guess I should've seen it coming.

So yeah, I got nothing folks. Come back next week.

:\

Another Mai, a Sweet Revy and a Kiriko Hattori

2009-04-26T00:41:00.014+08:00

Here are 3 upcoming resin kits that I believe most are keeping tabs on:

Series: King of Fighter Series
Character: Shiranui Mai
Scale: 1/4
Price: 33,600 yen (with tax)
Sculptor: Chorosuke
Manufacturer: Volks
Release Date: May 23, 2009 (Volks Hobby Round event exclusive)

When I read KOF4 Maximum Impact--for some reason--I thought Chorosuke was working on a sculpt of Jam Kuradoberi from Guilty Gears (think Guilty Gear's version of Mai Shiranui).

That would've been cool.

Anyways, the pose is very reminiscent of Cobra-Kai's version. It doesn't help either that her face is kinda plain (see?). I'm letdown.

Series: Black Lagoon
Character: Revy
Scale: 1/6
Price: 11,500 yen (with tax)
Sculptor: Fujiura Toui (Toy's Brand! Been wondering what he's been up to)
Manufacturer: RC Berg Ltd
Release Date: mid-July 2009 (Hobby Japan Magazine Mail Order Exclusive)
Pre-order Period: March 25 to May 30, 2009

I really like this Revy even if she is milder looking than the rest. I get the feeling that lately more and more sculptors are trying to make her look as evil/bitchy as possible by making her eyes as slant as they will go.

Series: Dai Shogun
Character: Hattori Kiriko
Size: 34cm
Price: unknown
Sculptor: Reflect
Manufacturer: Yamato
Release Date: May 6, 2009 (Hobby Complex 07 Tokyo exclusive)

This is the original art by Shunya Yamashita that the resin kit will be based on. I didn't like the resin kit version as much so I didn't use it.

Yamashita is a talented artist, perhaps too talented for most sculptors to keep up with. I feel that most of the garage kit adaptations of his art fail to capture his style. Even Reflect--who's based his sculpts off of Yamashita's art more times than I care to count--fails to get it "just right". But this is a more an issue of Reflect forcing himself to conform to Yamashita's style rather than the former lacking proper skills.

Popular artist Masamune Shirow is also not exempt from this problem (I have not seen one good kit based off his artwork), which is a real shame because I really wish someone could get it right.

If you are interested in ordering any of the three kits above, I recommend you check out Tokyo Hunter's blog for more information:

Mai
Revy
Kiriko

If I didn't care what my family thought about me, I'd pick up that Revy in a flash.

Sources:
- Joseph of Tokyo Hunter
- http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/event/hobbyround/hanbai.html
- http://www.rc-berg.co.jp/products/gallery_revy.html
- http://www.studioanima.co.jp/dai-shogun/charactor/kiriko.html

Give Me the Goods

2009-04-24T21:34:00.009+08:00

And here's the final batch that I had stored at Shopping Mall Japan.

Well that'll teach me to buy a 1/8 kit. Rasetsu's Kousaka Tamaki was the first kit I pulled out of the box, and you would not believe the wave of disappointment that hit me as I realized I paid nearly $100 for this thing.

Luckily Vispo and Yukishiro saved it from becoming a total fiasco (the old dogs know a thing or two about product presentation).

After shedding a layer of dirty bubble wrap. It's surprising how much better everything looks (yes including Rasetsu).

Oh wow, what a deal this was. 50% off retail and 42 parts (less than $2/part)?

Definitely one of the more satisfying kits to simply pick up and hold.

It was a good deal. >_>

Moving on. I think I've made my feelings on this kit quite clear.

Though I must give credit where it is due - it was this kit that resulted in my purchasing the other four. Whenever I make an exception for a kit--after abstaining from kit buying for an extended period of time--I completely break apart and make all sorts of other "exceptions" (usually until I'm well on my way into my credit reserve).

She's my second Vispo kit after Diana. Sometimes I wonder how he does it (halberd/axe+clock+butterfly wings+goth maid+high heels+Medusa hair=???).

Yukishiro has hands-down the coolest packaging ever. I was a little turned off to be honest when I first saw all the parts laid out in a picture on Yukishiro's webstore (with no box in sight). It reminded me too much of the recasts that are currently circulating Yahoo! Japan Auction (i.e. also no box/packaging + cigarette box for size comparison).

See what I mean?

So frankly I did not expect it to come in a box, let alone one with such explicit design. You can't really make it out from the picture, but it is awesome. Take my word for it.

Misaki Serika - 1/6 Saber

2009-04-24T20:06:00.006+08:00

Scale: 1/6
Parts: 16
Price: 10,000 yen
Sculptor: Misaki Serika
Manufacturer: Volks

On April 25th JST (in as little as 3 hours at time of writing), Volks will be accepting pre-orders for this resin kit. Act now if you don't want to wait until the end of June for the 2nd round of pre-ordering (tentative; could be even later).

Sculpts don't get much simpler than this in terms of pose, but for a character like Saber it suits her quite well.

Update (April 25, 2009 8:20am PDT): Volks is now taking the second round of pre-orders.

Source:
-http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/shop/list/detail.aspx?gdcd=FIGU-KIT-TGK001
-http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/index.aspx

Kurushima 1/5.5 Sonsaku Hakufu on Stool (vs 1/6 Kanu Unchou Uniform)

2009-04-15T12:51:00.011+08:00

Kurushima, a company well-known for their well-intentioned but ultimately ineffective campaign against recasts, is once again at the mercy of their enemies:

Specification:

Scale: 1/5.5 (21 cm)
Sculptor: 開発室そらいろ (Kaihatsushitsu Sora Iro)
Parts: 14
Pose: B+
Face: C

This kit will retail for 16,800 yen in mid-May, so those who are interested should pre-order now for a 5% discount:

Hobby Link Japan
Hobby Search

Sculptors Keiko & Sky Color Development of Kurushima are responsible for my favorite Kanu Unchou sculpt, though I suspect that Keiko's the one who's usually in charge of the faces.

Specification:

Scale: 1/6 (26 cm)
Sculptor: 開発室そらいろ＆慶子 (Kaihatsushitsu Sora Iro & Keiko)
Parts: 21
Pose: B+
Face: B

See what I mean?

Sources:
-http://www.kurushima.com/area3/new/608.htm (pictures)
-nightengale5385 of GKJapan (for bringing it to my attention)

Treasure Festival in Ariake 1

2009-04-06T03:27:00.003+08:00

...well that about sums it up.

Cyber Frontier ∀ - Volks Web Sale (2009/04/13)

2009-03-31T07:41:00.008+08:00

GK fans rejoice! The talented people at Volks and Ricotta have banded together to bring us 2 new resin kits, both available April 13th on Volk's website. Since I can't find official English names anywhere, I've taken the liberty of translating from katakana. You'll have to excuse the discrepancies.

1/6 Charlotte Hazelink - 12,600 yen

1/6 Sylvia Van Housen - 12,600 yen

Both sculptures are by Volks veteran Misaki Serika, a mold producer and figure creator who has designed more than 50 figures to date. The girls play major roles in the Princess Lovers! eroge by Ricotta (original illustrations by Kei Komori).

While these two ∀-Brand kits are nothing groundbreaking, it's reassuring to see that Volks is still willing to make friends of GK fans despite their tremendously popular Dollfie lines.

Pictures Courtesy of Volks Hobby Planning Division.

My Entire Collection (2007-2008)

2009-03-29T12:34:00.018+08:00

It's been very dull in the GK scene lately. Aside from what Chorosuke's secretly brewing in his lab for Hobby Round, I'm not looking forward to much at the moment. Nonetheless, I still have some hope for the upcoming Treasure Festa in Ariake 1 (the dealer list is a bit disappointing though).

(Thanks to secretasianman for the event reminder)

Anyways, I figure now's a good time as any to showoff my entire collection. I've been meaning to do it since late last year, and Danny Choo's latest giveaway was just the push I needed (I entered).

Anyways, enjoy! This post's a whopping 49 images.

Ah that was fun (not).

Hobby Complex GK01 - the few that stood out

2009-03-02T06:56:00.011+08:00

Another GK convention, another disappointment. What is going on here? Are sculptors running out of juice? Is the economy to blame? Whatever it is, I'm not liking it.

Luckily, a few kits saved it from being a total flop:

Emiya Shirou by びーふる (Biifuru)

Shirou, being the non-typical non-whiny anime male lead, was a protagonist I rather liked (at the time the anime was first released)...until I realized he's just an idiot who likes to charge in head-on regardless of situation.

Man those are some crazy bi's.

Hakurei Reimu by Kitsutefu

Well hey, looks like it's a GK after all. Not really into this kit anymore but since I expressed interest in it before I thought I should at least finish reporting it.

Actually, I'm not sure if she showed up during Treasure Festa 2009 Makuhari already.

...and that sums it up for myself. Orchid Seed's "Succubus Sylvia" sculpted by Yamachichi (based on Mogudan's original art) wasn't shabby, but I'm still on the fence about it. I blame the water balloons three sizes too big.

Someone should really teach these sculptors a thing or two about the law of diminishing returns.

Sources:
-http://akibahobby.net/2009/03/hobbycomplexgk1_photo.html