Welcome to the next part of  from France with love, this part features the activities we did during the vacation. I actually only wanted to make one post of it, but now it will be three parts of my vacation, I hope you don’t mind. Afterwards we will be back to figure business.

The unofficial first activity was to find the next big supermarket, we had a Super U for the daily needs in town but when searching for more we had to go to Hyper U which was 40 km away, but they had nearly everything from booze to bread. I bought my first maccarons there *lol*

As first activity we visited Nice, finding a parking lot for the Van in the narrow and cramped streets turned out to be impossible on this certain day. While such narrow streets have a certain charm in combination with the architecture it’s kind of bad when you go there by car. Anyway the white beach with the blue water is a lovely sight and I would have loved to take pictures.

Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of about 1 million on an area of 721 km2. Located on the south east coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, Nice is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille. The Nice area has a natural beauty and mild Mediterranean climate which came to the attention of the English upper classes in the second half of the 18th century, when an increasing number of aristocratic families took to spending their winter there. The city’s main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais (‘the Walkway of the English’)owes its name to the earliest visitors to the resort.

After the stressful hunt for a parking lot in Nice, we decided to drive to Cannes, another famous city near the ocean, in this region the weather already turned bad that day. The trip to the coast turned out not that satisfacory in my case, but it is definetely worth a visit when it’s not super crowded at noon. I would suggest to go there by bus or bike in case you are nearby.

The next activity was the visit of La village des Tourtoises in Gonfaron is an animal park and rescue center in one, only dedicated to turtles. It takes care of injured and sick turtles, but they also breed the animals. Dad proved that you can turn a 60 km ride into a two and a half hour tour when missing the right road. It was burning hot this day and our mood wasn’t the best.

The park offers informations about turtles and what can be done to preserve them. Turtles are an worldwide endangered species who suffer from shrinking habitats in the nature, car accidents while crossing streets and animals like rats or stray dogs.

The whole park is about 3000 hectares wide and offers space and care for around 1500 animals.

Thanks to the Provencal climate, the turtles can be kept outside in wide compounds which are close to the natural habitats for breeds around the world. I liked the places of the swamp turtles the most. It’s good to see that these turtles are in good care and in a appropriate environments. In contrast the roads for the visitors with the shaky wood planked stages had an adventurous flair. The visitors can also take a look at the hatchery, nursery and the turtle clinic. There also was an interesting sideattraction about the prehistoric evolution of reptiles.

The park is not the most modern one, but if you like the nature and love turtles like me it is definetely worth a visit. Dogs are allowed “Le Chiens admis en leisse” that was actually the only new sentence I’ve learned during this vacation haha.

As last official activity we did was visiting Les Gorges du Verdon, the Verdon Canyon is a unique site in Europe crossed by the river Verdon, you may find on this site the best advice in order to visit the Verdon country in advance. Located in the midst of the region of Provence, Alps. Crossing over the departments of Var and the Alps of Upper-Provence.

There you can drive along  the canyon on a dangrously narrow winding road, it’s a bit scary since the canyon is 700 m deep, but you are rewarded with a fantastic sight.

We also visited the lake nearby called “Lec de Sainte Croix” the blue water was just beautiful, pedal boats can be rented at the shore.

This is our dog Paula, as russian breed she is not a real fan of heat, but she dislikes to stay at home even more.  In La village des Tourtoises she hurt her leg a little, but had no serious injury, despite her compact size it’s a tough dog. Paula also swam in the pool

This kind of nostalgic architecture could be seen all around the area, I don’t know how it is in the inside, but from outside it’s mediterran style is quite charming.

There was a cute little dishes shop nearby. These price chalk boards looked so adorable I just had to capture these with my camera. The shop owner spoke no word english and we spoke no useful word french, still we got a very kind and friendly service

Red poppy fields was a common sight at the sides of the road, what are they doing with it?

In summary that was a great vacation, we had 12 days of nice weather with around 27 °C and the luxury rented house was a nice place to stay, swimming in the pool, sunbathing or watching anime at night, it was awesome and very relaxing. The daily trips were a bit exhausting with the curvy roads which could also be used as Rallye Stages, but I loved the really nice scenery which was full of intact looking nature next to the roads and the always present mediteran flair.

I often heard that French people were arrogant in terms of their language. Of course ot everyone understands or speak english, but the French people of the countryside are very nice people and understanding. You won’t starve with very bad french skills, but knowing a few phrases would be an advantage to be honest.

it was sad as I realised that the vacation is over  (☍﹏⁰)

I would encourage everybody who wishes to discover the south of France, to do so, it’s lovely.

In the #3 post I will show you what kinds of figure photography I’ve done. stay tuned!.

This post(s) is about my little vacation in France. It was a  2 week long family vacation with my parents and the dog, ok and Haruka, Nanoha and Kanbaru. I always like to take 1 or 2 figures on my vacation, sometimes you find rare and interesting sceneries, you’ll never see at home.

I already wanted to make a post about my last holidays, since the landscape was very nice, but the apartment was too pityful to show off ;D The planning this time was my job and so I was searching for what I liked, so I discovered a cool house in the far countryside of France.

Like always I won’t show myself, but the impressions were memorable so that I want to share them with you in text and pics. Have you ever been to France?

Here is one of the many toll stations you have to pass in order to use the french motorway, the collected money is invested the money to maintain the road quality, which was actually excellent compared to the bumpy roads in Germany. The speed limit is at 130 Km/h

We drove 1350 km from somewhere in the middle of Germany to far south – east France in the little town La Verdiere. We made a little break in Basel, unfortunately I wasn’t in charge of planning this certain location and da hell! that was a rundown place who had it’s best years in 1965’s, it was only for the night so it was all right. It was a big contrast to our house in France.

I love taking pictures in the car, you get a lovely scenery while staying on the road, isn’t it nice there? As we passed by a little flight show took part like you can see below.

La Verdière is a commune in the Var department in the mountained Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. This region has a lot of hills and mediterran flair.

We rented a 120 m² villa with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a huge living room and a terrace. It was jaw dropping great, the interior was tastefully arranged and every room was nicely decorated. It’s nice when you arrive and it instantly feels like vacation. As we arrived in the town we contacted the landlady who showed us the final directions. She was a really nice person with a lovely french accent, she showed us the house and the rooms and throw in some jokes. She was very good in english so communication wasn’t that difficult, since my french is not existent aside from bonjour and merci

It was a town with a lot of preserved nature and so we had some interesting animals in the “garden”. One day there was a scorpion in the house, also a monster spider crouched through the gardem were I was honestly tto scared to take a photo XD

In the next days I will entertain you with the next few parts of the vacation reports, about the few activities we did and last but not least some nice figure photography. stay tuned

Senran Kagura is a 12 epidode anime from Artland which aired from January till March 2013. The real origin of this anime are the Senran Kagura Games from Marvelous AQL, but this show is loosely based on the events in the manga Senran Kagura – Shoujotachi No Shinei which started in 2011. In order to prepare for my Hibari figure review I  read it till volume 3. It was a nice and entertaining read and so I was really looking forward to the upcoming anime adaption.

Even in the present Japan the need for ninja has not vanished and in a particular school, called National Hanzo Academy where girls are secretly trained to become ninjas of the light side. On the other side there is the Snake Academy for girls, who trains ninja’s for the dark side. Both parties coexist in a state of cold war most of the time without going into direct confrontation.

The story of Senran Kagura follows the students Ikaruga, Katsuragi, Asuka, Hibari and Jagyuu on their way to become good ninja’s under the advices of their instructor Kiriya Sensei.

The setting surprises with some funny creativity. Every girl has a different “Ninja Transform” outfit that totally does not look Ninja-like, but when transformed their Ninja powers fully awake. They also can summon a certain animal which support them in their fights, these summoned beings were inherited by their family for generations. Never mess with Hibari’s bunny ;D

A short look at the characters…

Ikaruga – A third year student of ninja arts who is very serious about becoming a ninja. She always acts modest and mature and shows supportive nature towards her juniors, she is somehow the leader of the bunch. At first she also appears to be the strongest of the students.

Katsuragi –  Also a third year student of ninja arts, she is the most sexy and most energetic girl out of the five. She loves to grope boobs especially the ones of her juniors. A trademark of her is a quite dirty voice (Kobayashi, Yuu) which accentuates her creepyness very well. Aside from that she is a strong fighter in search for new challenges.

Asuka – Is a second year student of ninja arts, who barely passed the practical exam. As granddaughter of a famous ninja a lot of expectations are placed on her which sometimes gives her a hard time. She is very feminine with her sweet voice (Harada, Hitomi) and in appearance.

Hibari – Is a first year student of ninja arts and actually the weakest and least talented one of the girls. Even though she’s not completely useless, you would ask yourself why she took the route of  becoming a ninja in the first place. Aside from that she is a totally cute, caring person, who is beloved by her seniors.

Jagyuu – Is also first year student of  ninja arts, she is a bit rebelish at first, but already a ninja prodigy with big talent. In the show she often shows a serious and demure side. She is a close friend of Hibari and has strong feelings for her. Jagyuu always protects Hibari from danger.

Each of the girls have an nemesis among the snake academy ninjas, the Snake Academy girls are also interesting characters, but writing about them would be too much at this point.

Setting & Story

Senran Kagura has no male lead character like you would normally expect in this kind of setting, it’s good that the viewer doesn’t have to see the girls dealing with a dense boy. The show follows the girls during their training and how they gain strength in times of conflict.  This anime is quite funny and doesn’t take itself all too seriously most of the time. Yet it knows when to play the serious card that gives insight and backflashes of characters and threir relationships.

At first it followed the manga closely, but after the third episode it has more original content that differs quite a bit at some major scenes. In the manga Hibari had a much bigger role and development. I would have really liked a 1:1 adaption, still the anime has a decent storyline that manages to keep the viewer entertained and the energetic characters make up for some flaws.

One of he major appeal points of Senran Kagura is the attractive characterdesign, the girls have sweet faces with childlike characteristics like big eyes, blushmarks and big mouths. In contrast to this they have buxom bodies with the right amount of healthy chubbyness where it matters. It’s a formula of moe and curvy sex appeal, which already works very well with the Super Sonico character. As speaking of that this show also has jiggly fanservice with bouncy boobs all around and panty shots included in the fights. It’s more a kind of cute, vanilla fanservice instead of an exploiting way, as it can be seen in other shows of this kind.

Fortunately the show offers more than just fanservice, it is funny and the interaction between the girls is nice to watch. Since the ninja theme is strong in Senran Kagura there is a fair amount of action. There are also interesting villains, who actually have a good amount of screentime and moments in the spotlight.

In every anime season there are these short shows, which has potential, but suffer from a compressed length, because everything has to fit in a certain number of 12 or 13 episodes.

Senran Kagura partially has this problem, but still manages to turn out as a decent show with a good final. Maybe there will be more of the girls from Hanzou Academy in the future, even though it couldn’t live up to my expectations I liked the setting and the characters.

It had solid production values and a fitting OST with traditional Japanese music. As already mentioned I expected a bit more from the story, but the characters, the appealing character design and the creative setting, made up for it and this anime gets a decent score as follows.

Characters   _____________   8/10

Setting   ________________    7/10     

Story   __________________   6/10

Animation   _____________   7/10

considering your anime standard this could be a show for you or not, ok Only in case you don’t mind some cute, bouncy fanservice.

Overall Score 7/10

Ey, ey oh! whats up people

Here we have a new Preorder Post with a few new purchases and many other alluring figures where a decision hasn’t been made so far.

There also was a delay for the Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA – Prisma Illya figure from Phat Company, that should actually be released in this month, unfortunately she was pushed back to April, which already is a quite busy month. I will also receive the Azusa doll in April, I’m still searching for a fancy outfit for her, even though the stuff she comes with is already pretty nice.

 New Preorders

I restricted myself a little bit, at least for once and also tried to prevent myself from loading too many figure preorders in the first half of the year, since I know what great things can be expected to be released in this year. Hmm yes these three are mainly sexy choices.

Katsuragi – Senran Kagura – Phat Company

After all the good impressions of Phat Company’s Hibari, this was a nearly no brainer for me. Even though the still running anime didn’t met my expectations, I still think that the girls are cute and have an appealing characterdesign. Katsuragi is quite creepy as a person you wouldn’t see that from her look, but anyway as energetic blonde with a bright smile and big boobs I want her in my collection. Next to Hibari’s design I like Katsuragi the most with her blue skirt and the  killer boots. As well as Hibari, Katsuragi is also scaled 1/8 the release is sheduled for August 2013

Sayaka Yumi – Shin Mazinger Zero – Ami Ami Zero

This figure has been a bit longer on my radar, I was captivated by the design and the lovely curves of Yumi. Her suit and the base have a sci fi fetish look, the base looks like a sex toy, but from what I know about Mazinger Zero it is none, it’ more something like a command center.

I was a big fan of Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen which aired a few years ago. This figure of Yumi isn’t based on it, at least not in that outfit. I like the skin revealing outfit and her face, Yumi’s looks so damn great, well I also like that she features the style of old school manga very well. The figure is scaled 1/7 and has a length of 260 mm, in the final product, she will have alternative face parts. The figure is very detailed and for some reason her discounted price is relatively high with 9500 Yen, oh well I had ordered her for a higher price, thanks exchange rate.

Ami Ami Zero is popular for delaying their products, hopefully this figure will be more or less on time, she is sheduled for June 2013 *fingers crossed* kyahh I’m really excited about her.

Irma – Queen’s Blade – MegaHouse

 Hmm why the heck, have I ordered Irma actually!? You can only guess why Megahouse made a figure from the original Queen’s Blade at this this time, it seems that Tier from Tentacle Armada wasn’t the only one who wished for a figure of Irma, since the feedback was quite positive.

Wll, there are certain things that make this figure that appealing, Irma has an attractive petite bodyframe, still in a trained way, but she’s more slender than most Queen’s Blade characters. She also has this super dynamic pose and also a lot of details are on her body and outfit.

I really like her look, the body with the perky breasts, a nice back and a bubble butt compared to her body. Her dark skincolor makes a great contrast to her hair, actually. I would have sightly preferred a different face expression, but oh well the overall appearance is very good.

Irma is scaled 1/8, castoffable and her release date is sheduled for July 2013.

Maybe Baby List

Touko Aozaki – Mahoutsukai no Yoru – ALTER

release – July

Sometimes you will get overly excited about a certain figure that you’ve seen in an early production status, only to feel dissapointed when it can finally be preorderd. I think her dress turned out beautiful, the green is gorgeous, but whats with the face, it looks so plain, pale and undetailed, at least in these first promotion shots. I don’t feel like throwing my money torwards her in advance anymore. Maybe I will be convinced another time,but not for once.

Yuki – Maid Yome – Orchid Seed

release – September

This ero figure is very popular at the moment and Im starting to fear that she will be sold out before release, which happens not that often with figures from Orchid Seed. Yuki is a bold figue without pantsu and have you noticed where her fingers are? actually I didn’t pay attention to it at first. Hehe, it should be fine when displayed normally. The figure looks very pretty, I like the flushred cheeks and her cute moaning mouth. You can display her with the “wet t-shirt” look with her boobs exposed or just admire her plump butt. So far I could resist preordering her, since I’ve planned to get her at a later date, but Im not sure how long this composure will last.

Nymph – Sora no Otoshimono forte – PLUM

release – April

Nymph seems to be the most popular Sora no Otoshimono character at least on the manufacurers side, Kotobukiya already made a second one as well as PLUM, which can be seen here. They’ve put her into a innocent white school swimsuit, that compliments her butt nicely. The 1/6 scaled figure of Nymph has a cute energetic pose, her face doesn’t look like exactly like in the illustration she is based on, beside that it appears like an adorable figure. In worst case just display her from the enchanting backside ;p As I was checking on her at Ami Ami, the site said it’s sold out. I’ve waited too long! but maybe I’m able to get her on or after the release date.

Hibiki Ganaha – THE IDOLM@STER – Kotobukiya

release – April

Kotobukiya is pretty serious in adapting the Idolm@ster characters in the Angelic Island versions, where they put the girls in beach fashion. I already found the majority of them pretty adorable like Haruka, Makoto and Yayoi even though I haven’t bouth them in the end. Hibiki is no exception in terms of cute bishoujo appeal, her face is very pretty and her fang adds a little more playfulness. I’m also a fan of dark hair and the kind of earings, Hibiki is using, lovely ^^.

Rumi Sumida – Gutto-kuru Figure Collection Sweet 02 – CM’s Corporation

release – May

That face expression is priceless and let’s this figure appear super adorable, I really like the lovely expression and interesting pose of this figure. Also her school uniform is appealing, I like the colors, the stockings and her sneakers. The only problem is that I have no experience and no trust in CM. I have serious doubts, that they will deliver a quality that satisfies me and with that in mind she is a few thousand Yen too expensive, still I would like to have her in my collection, since she looks so appealing in these promotional pictures. On second look her butt could be a bit bigger, but that is my least important concern and something I could live with.

Preorder Roadmap (updated)

Today I’ll let down my pants, only in the figurative sense, of course

Inspired by Adam’s Figure Financials posts I decided that I wanted to create something similar by the end of this year. I’m fully aware that a detailed look at the figure expenses of this year might be a shocking experience, but join me  and face the ugly truth in this post.

Let’s take a look at the things I’ve bought this year, overall it were 27 figures that I’ve purchased and received this year, 1 less compared to 2011. Since I already sold 2 figures I end up with a number of overall 25 collected figures in 2012, it was one of my goals to stay under 28 figures.

monthly figure expenses

In the diagram below every bar shows what I’ve spent each month, surprisingly I ordered nothing in February and May. With 4 figures, I kind of overdid it in June and October, it were expensive months, but this also partially happened because of unforeseen events. In November I also ordered 4 figures, but these figure were from the aftermarket and comparatively cheap.

I won’t write down the entire sum I’ve spent this year, it would be a too big shock for me XD

manufacturer appointments

It looks like I chose ALTER for most of my purchases, their figures really caught my interest even some older figures from them. Surprisingly GSC, which I really can’t stand or better said it’s the constant hype about their products. Anyway I went out of my way and ordered four of their figures, I really like Sayaka and Shinobu. I also got really nice figures from Max Factory.
For some reason I only ordered 3 (4) Orchid Seed figures, maybe that will change in 2013.

I also tried different companies, that I’ve never bought from before, like Alpha Max, Native, Daiki Kougyou, PLUM, Phat Company and Volks who will relase their Nagisa figure soon. Unlike my bad experience with Griffon, these companies provided solid quality and very good figures.

Shop appointments

new exclusive and old figures comparison

Aside from 15 new figures, I bought 5 Exclusive figures (Sonico – Bath Time version,
Noel Vermillion, Miku Hatsune – Cheerful Japan, the Sonico Nendoroid and Nagisa).
The 7 old figures were Max Factories Tamaki Kousaka and Haruhi Suzumiya Gekisou version, Echidna from Megahouse. From ALTER I ordered the Louise Francoise – school uniform version, Fate/Hollow Ataraxia – Saber Maid R and non R version and Fauna at last.

I spent a lot for the Tamaki figure, but in other cases there were a number of significant price drops at Mandarake and AmiAmi preowned in this year, these prices were so low that I couldn’t resist these figures I always was slightly interested in. Asida from Echidna, who had a stained butt (it wasn’t me XD) I made no bad experiences with these aftermarket figures.

additional costs

When looking a these numbers I’m quite surprised that the custom fees only take ten percent of the spent budget, hehe four times my packages weren’t charged. 17 percent for shipping also appears lower than expected, this year I used more SAL shipping and domestic shipping, when more figures arrive in one month it makes no sense to use EMS for all orders. I used EMS 11 times, SAL 12 times and domestic shipping for local shops was used 4 times.

favorite figures of the year

Ok, enough of these dry statistics lets end this post with my personal favorites of the figures I’ve purchased this year this year.

Bakemonogatari – Oshino Shinobu (Good Smile Company)

This was my first GSC figure that I actually like a lot. The donut eating loli vampire Shinobu from Bakemonogatari was very well recreated in this figure, be it the adorable and cute face, the petite appearance of her body. Also the outfit with the cool motorcycle helmet and the light looking summer dress are also a convincing part of her. While not being sculpted perfectly sharp, the donut bed like base with it’s overload of details is a nice addition to the figure.

Another nice detail is that she can be taken off her base and be placed nearly everywhere.

Ikki Tousen Xtreme Xecutor – Kan’u Unchou (Daiki Kougyou)

I saw, drooled in excitement and ordered ^^. This figure appeared convincing for me from the day she was announced. I like Ikki Toussen quite a bit, but I never bought a figure of it before.

With this figure Daiki came especially close to my image of Kanu. Her powerful fighting pose and the well trained, attractive body were quite appealing. The figure of Kanu has a kinda angry determined face expression, while I prefer cute expressions in general, I was fascinated by the look of this figure. As my first experience with Daiki Kougyou, Im quite satisfied with their work. The sculpting and the painting on clothes and figure turned out very well

Soukou Akki Muramasa – Sansei Muramasa – Maid (Max Factory)

This was quite maid year in terms of figures for me, but Sansei Muramasa throned above all of them. I was interested in her since a certain Wonfes a few years ago. I am totally happy that I was convinced to get her in the end. Her appearance of a grown up and very attractive dark skinned elf is really enchanting. Muramasa has a beautiful face, the eyes are very expressive and also the unique combination of a slightly embarrassed and pouting  face expression are nice.

Her dress is lovely with the detailed ruffles and also the color combination of cream white and silky shine black a quite classy, elaborate look is created. The figure also offers a cool looking base with red floor and a pretty table where parts of the included coffee dishes can be placed.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai – Takayama Maria (Max Factory)

Im still not a fan the Maria character, but she’s cute loli anyway. As image for the sculpting and painting Max Factory relied on the illustrator of the Novels, Buriki who has a quite unique style.
I really love how the face of this figure was adapted, she has super detailed eyes, blush marks and a cute open mouth with a sharp little fang. This Maria Takayama is a high quality figure with great looking body sculpting and an overall lively and playful appearance.

The dress is a little odd for a figure of a young girl, but is is very well done with pretty gloss and detailed shading effects. With a happy Maria inside the dress actually looks more cute than lewd.

To Heart 2 – Kousaka Tamaki – (Max Factory AquaPlus)

I saw this figure in the past, but in this year I noticed how appealing this figure actually is and was searching on the aftermarket. friend on MFC helped me and so I got my Tamaki Kousaka.

Not a cheap deal, but it was worth every cent. She looks a little different compared to her visual novel and anime origin, but in this case that is nothing bad.  On her fluffy, round base Tamaki radiates a romantic, cozy atmosphere what is quite charming in my eyes. The long red hair is pretty, the round face with the big eyes, rosy cheeks and the gentle smile on her mouth is really enchanting. The combination of a quite innocent appearance and an attractive curvy body works very well with this figure. Overall, the sculpting and paintjob of her are really top notch.

I still think that her boobs are too big, but with a cute face like this I accept this “minor” detail ;D

Nitro Super Sonic – Sonico –  Bath Time version (Native)

This was my first figure from Native actually, more importantly is that she’s a huge 1/6 scaled Sonico. I liked the creativity of pose and base a lot, these three little bathing friends are really cute accessories. The figure also has a very detailed and convincing face expression. I also like that they added more meat to this sculpt of Sonico like the Tsuji Santa artstyle always implies.

The figure can be displayed naked, not to the extent of most Native figures, but in my opinion  she looks best with one of her towels applied.Minor flaws are too faint blush marks and a  not that sexy looking butt, but nevertheless she is without question one of the best Sonico figures so far with the  Sonico – Bondage version from Orchid Seed following close afterwards.

Senran Kagura – Hibari (Phat Company)

I was quite happy as the cute GK of Hibari was quickly adapted to be turned into a PVC figure.
I didn’t had that much trust into Phat Company to begin with. But after unpacking her I was very much delighted, she looked very well done and came without major flaws. I love the cheerful face of Hibari with her flower eyes and the happy open mouth. I also liked her busty schoolgirl appearance dressed up in cute sportswear, like the jersey and the short bloomers that accentuates her meaty thighs. Her loose socks and the shoes are also a very cool detail.

Since I awaited this figure from Phat Company with lowered expectations my joy about her very good quality and looks were kinda amplified and Im still very happy about her purchase.

Do you have favorite figures from the ones you’ve bought?

Final Words

So far I always planned my purchases on a monthly basis, so that I won’t overstep my budget, in this post it was  interesting to take a look at the overall purchases of my figure hobby in this year. It appears like a lot of money and it probably is, but the truth is that there were more nice and pretty figures that I wanted to get n 2012, but I wanted to show at least a little retention.

Next year will be full of nice figures as well and I already preordered a few things, but lets see what and how many figures I will add to my next orders.

And you, Do you take a look back at your purchases and expenses of this year?

I there anyone who spent more? please let me know.

You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I’m telling you why …

A few hours before me and my family and some of the relatives will start our christmas party, I wanted to wish you a Merry christmas, best wishes to all of my fellow bloggers, readers, regular and less regular commenters, hopefully you’ll get nice presents and have a nice time with your families.

[poll id=”4″]

Hello boys and girls today I will show you another figure in a outfit fitted for the beach.
This Misaka Mikoto figure is from the well known Beach Queens line from manufacurer Wave,her release date was in march 2011. Misaka is a 1/10 scaled figure with a height of
160 mm, surprisingly her sculptor is Hiroshi (Sakurazensen) who also made the Saber
~Iron Hammer of the Terrible King Vortigern~ figure, quite the difference XD

On first impression Misaka is a tomboyish looking character with a short temper.
She always tries to hide the fact that she likes cute things and that she is more girlish inside than most people assume, especially from other people she doesn’t know very well.
I would say she’s quite the violent tsundere character sometimes.

Misaka Mikoto made her first appearance in the anime Toaru Majutsu no Index, but the origin of  Misaka in this outfit is the spin-off anime To Aru Kagaku no Railgun episode 13. Where the cast of Railgun went to a photostudio to take part in a shooting for a swim suit catalog. The photostudio is very advanced and can create locations in a very realistic way, like the holodeck from the spaceship Enterprise. Later that afternoon Misaka sneaked into the photostudio, took the cute bikini she initially wanted to wear, created a exotic beach location in the studio and let her true self run free, but she didn’t notice a small detail.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1EtiFO1RBQ&start=156

A few month ago it would have been unthinkable that I would have bought a figure of Misaka Mikoto in fact I disliked her in Toaru Majutsu no Index, mainly for her Touma hating personality and her furious rage attacks out of nowhere. In To Aru Kagaku no Railgun I disliked her less and just in Toaru Majutsu no Index II I began to really like her, there she appeared a lot more likeable.

As this Misaka figure was announced I wasn’t that impressed by the official pictures of her, “unfortunately” haha ok not really unfortunately ;p MastraCustom from mfc posted a really nice picture of her so I became head over heels about Misaka and wanted to get her badly, on the big figure selling sites she was already sold out, so I’ve bought my Misaka copy on ebay.

The pose of Misaka shows her happy girl side very well, I really like how she lifts her slender arms in such a playful way, together with the lovely face expression this Misaka figure creates a very joyful atmosphere no matter where she is placed, thanks to the comic look of her origin this figure has rather big eyes and a big mouth despite her being only an 1/10 scaled figure, these characteristics are noticeable even from a distance, which leaves a good impression.

Hair

Her short hair shows a gradient effect from light too dark brown, the strands are sculpted in a very clean way. Also the flower clip on her head is a nice and cute detail. At 2 small areas is a slight scratch on the hair it is only noticeable from very close view, but they are there.
The hairstyle is limiting the moveability of her head quite a bit, because her shoulders are in the way, but the moveability is sufficent enough for playing around, this H-neck is a nice feature of these 1/10 scales figures from Wave.

Face

Her face looks just too cute ^-^, either figures with wide open mouth look good or some kind of retarded, in case of Misaka it’s the definetely on the good side, the upper fron teeth line is a nice detail at her mouth. Eyes and mouth together create an enchanting and happy face expression. There was also was a limited Misaka with three different faces, but this standard version I’ve bought comes with two faces, the second face, shows Misaka with a “ewwwww” expression, it is really funny, but the happy face is the best for her. To change the faces you just have to take off the bangs part and pull the face out and exchange it with the other face.

Body & Paint

This figure also has a well sculpted body, Misaka is rather tall and not what you would call well endowed, but nevertheless I think she’s a quite a pretty girl or as Kuroko might say…

Outfit

This bikini has a very cute design, which resembles the bikini from her origin very well, as you might see it’s a light pink colored two piece bikini with frilly layers and dots on it. The production quality of it looks very good, and on top of that Misaka looks just extremely cute in it.

Final Words

This Misaka is incredible cute, her big eyes together with her playful pose just melt my manly heart. Misaka is definitely one of the nicer figures from Waves Beach Queens Line, if not one of the best ones. The sculpting of her body and the bikini looks very good from nearly every angle. On the downside my Misaka figure has a small bumby looking area which I guess comes from the molding process and another things is that the pegs of her base fit a bit loose into the two holes under her feet. Without these two flaws I would have been more satisfied, but the positive sides of this figure are on the majority and so Im really happy that I’ve bought her.

Misaka can swap heads and body with other 1/10 scaled figures from Wave, here I’ve used the body of Asuka apron version. BTW my Asuka apron version is for sale, she’s in top condition, comes with all accessoires and box, just ask me if youre interested, I’ll give you a good price ^^

Thx for reading ^^

another review can be found here at shadonia.com and more pictures of her can be found at studiorzhobby.sakura.ne.jp

Next time I will have Orchid Seeds super sexy Super Sonico on review, see you.