Im a passionate figure collector who not only puts the figures on the shelf, I also like taking pictures of  them. I always think about a fitting setting for the pictures to put them in the figure reviews afterwards. Sometimes I also get so so results, that are barely acceptable for me. Especially when looking back at older pictures I sometimes feel a bit dissapointed with some works, be it bad lighting, crappy white balance or a setting looks not as appealing as expected.

Well, everybody started at a certain point and due to improvement trough practical training, it can’t be helped to be slightly dissapointed when looking at earlier pictures. Even nowadays I won’t always created the results I wanted to get. Sometimes I feel the urge to think about better ideas of a setting for a certain figure, finding ideas can be pretty easy or give you a headache.

Between preparing reviews with pictures and text, finding time to take pictures of past figues often comes a bit short, but with the right idea in mind, it can be a rewarding time investment.

At best looking back at a figure and taking her for a new shooting can bring you the joy of trying something new and getting better results compared to the ealier ones. It is a lot of fun.

About the model

Momohime was sculpted by Fukumoto Noritaka, the figure is nicely detailed and has many interesting aspects. I would say Momohime is one of my prettiest figures, her head has a nice shape with a sweet face  and very expressive eyes. This figure convinces in her traditional japanese appearance, her colorful Yokata looks beautfiul. These armor on her give her this light martial touch, I really like the contrast between the petite, pretty girl and rough armor parts.

The idea

The idea behind this shooting was to create something like a Japanese bamboo forest with Momohime walking through a dried out riverbed. The previous indoor shots had a quite artificial look with weird white balance and so this time I aimed to get something more natural.

 Used Materials and Preparations

I already had a few things at home like the little white stones and the pebbles. I only bought the grass and the two foam blocks at an arts and crafts shop. The foam blocks were cut in shape, after that they were wrapped with glue and paper and painted in earth and swampy colors.
A few pebbles received the same paintjob treatment to match the base of Momohime.

After everything dried properly, the foam blocks were ready for step 2, the previously cutted grass was pushed in the foam blocks in a tight pattern. Then I placed everything where I wanted it to be and pinned white and transparent green fabric at the wall behind.

Technical Equipmet

Comparing the new pictures with the old ones is a bit unfair from technical point of view, I guess I even had no flash at that time. For a little fill light I used my trustworthy 60×40 Walimex softbox, for some spotlight I used a bright led bulp. My two wireless flashes were placed randomly, it’s still some kind of gamble for me how the flashes will work in the pictures, even though the new one has a manual mode, one of the flashes was placed high above from behind.

The summary

After weeks of thinking about an idea for a better shooting or better said setting, I finally gathered all needed parts and motivation to get started to let Momohime shine again.
Im quite satisfied with the outcome of my reshoot, it was fitiing surrounding and the light setting helped a lot with creating the desired more natural look in terms of lighting and colors.

Overall aside from all the hassle, it was an rewarding task and Im glad that invested my time to achieve better results than 2010, check this “updated” old post for reference

What not worked in this setup was the fog effect, the little fog machine had no sufficent output to create the desired effect in the rather bright setting, when I think about it, I could have flooded the “riverbed” with water, but water in a room is no good idea and I have no idea how to clean up such a mess. Maybe I will try this in another shooting.

see you

Today I will review a MegaHouse G.E.M. figure, it’s the name of their male figure line up.

Recently more male figures appear in the figure market, which was always dominated by boobs and moe, named female figure. Well, I prefer female figures, but one male figure won’t hurt in my collection nor my sexual orientation. I actually wanted to buy the G.E.M. figure of Rin Okumura, because I like him a lot as a character in the anime, but I unfortunately didn’t like how he turned out in the end, I kind of disliked his faces, that was really not my Rin. After I had some interest in ALTER’s upcoming Waver Velvet, I ended with the purchase of Yukio Okumura.

Yukio Okumura is from the anime/manga Ao no Exorcist, it was a really cool anime that Im actually rewatching. Yukio is the younger brother of Rin, even though Yukio seems to be more grown up in every regard. Yukio is already working as an  Exorcist and is also a teacher at the cram school in True Cross Academy, it’s kind of funny how he lectures his older in the anime.

The figure of Yukio Okumura was manufactured by MegaHouse and released on the end of  January 2013. The figure is scaled 1/8 and has an overall height of 23 cm.  Yukio Okumura was sculpted by Iwamoto Kunihito who also made this interesting figure of Sakura Matou.

The figure comes with several parts, there are two arms, two heads with different expressions, plastic glasses and two wire glasses. You can also seperate the hands and the guns of him.

Hair & Face

The figure resembles the anime counterpart to a big extent. Yukio has short black hair with spiky strands all around. A wide mouth is part of the characterdesign of Ao no Exorcist. The skintone has a natural pale color and Yukio has two moles on his face which suit him good.

Yukio is obviously a pretty boy with a few feminine characteristics in his face, it has well defined  proportions. He has strong and straightened eyebrows and his blue eyes also look great and very detailed. His  mouth also shows slightly accentuated lips with dark shading in between. A stronger jaw and an expressive chin are also something that sets him aside from female figures.

As a friend of glasses, the Yukio figure is even more fun for me, he comes with three glasses, a thick frame model. The other model is made of wire and comes in two different colors. With the rectangular cutout in the frame It is closer to the glasses which where used by Yukio in the anime, In my pictures I only used the plastic frame, sorry I actually forgot to change them ^^.

The glasses can be taken off, but thats not the only possibilityto change the way to display this figure, Yukio has a second head with a different faceplate. So the kind Yukio from before has turns into a serious, angry excorcist, he has different eyebrows, more closed eyes and a not amused mouth. Aside from the lack of sunglasses, you ou could also think he is a character from The Matrix. This is not my favorite, but it looks also very good and matches Yukio’s angry side.

It’s cool that MegaHouse included the two face feature, since it gives you the freedom to display Yukio figure with the expression you prefer, with glasses or without. Aside from the seam on the hair it’s a seamleass solution to swap the heads. Im slightly prefer friendly Yukio.

Body & Outfit

With a height 23cm Yukio is a little taller than most female 1/8 scaled figures on my shelf, but he is still in the zone to be displayed next to them without looking awkward. Yukio stance is a little leaned backwards with the head turned to the left, I have no idea why he doesn’t stand straight, maybe it should look like the bullet tim in the Max Payne video game. Yukio is wearing a long black leather trench coat which is also the unform for male teachers at True Cross Academy.

The folds and wrinkles give this piece of waredrobe it a really realistic touch, I really like the look of it. Underneath there can be seen the collar of his shirt and the striped necktie. Other parts of his outfit are normal black business man trousers and shoes. Around his waiste Yukio is wearing a brown belt where he is stioring a lot of ammunition, at the backside holsters for his two guns.

Even though it might look like the guns can be put in the holsters and the straps could be placed in the small holes, don’t try it, it’s not possible, just a nice illusion of this figure.

While mainly kept in a black colorsheme, there are a lot of small details on Yukio’s outfi, like the buttons, realistic seams and so on, the shading and incooperated details really let the outfit appear close to a lifelike appearance, overall It is very cool and are one of the reasons why the Yukio Okumura figure is so appealing.

Since Yukio’s Exorcist class is Dragoon, he uses guns. In fact he id wielding two Springfield M1911A1, they can also be take out of his hands, but there is nothing elso for Yukio to hold.

The fgure has a second option to change it’s look, there is another right arm, so you can display Yukio in a more relaxed action posed with both arms down, but there is also an outstretched arm that gives the whole figure are tougher appearance. He is standing on a small, dark-blue, octagon shaped base with a symbol and the name Yukio Okumura written on it.

Final Words

So this ends the review of Yukio Okumura from MegaHouse, they created a really good figure of this character, I have to say. Well, it is my first male anime figure and while he has not the charm points of female figures like bright cuteness or sexy curves, Yukio is a good looking bishounen figure in a very cool outfit. The alternative parts and different display options are also a big plus.

It also has really been some time since I got myself a new MegaHouse figure, I guess I only have ever bought Nanael and Echidna if Im not mistaken. A reason for that few figures might be that they rarely made figures that interested me much, they should make a Lyla from Queen’s Blade Rebellion someday. Anyway, Im glad that the figure turned out like that, he is a great figure of Yukio Okumura and has a very good quality, I haven’t found a real flaw so far.

I won’t buy another male figure in the near future, but if there would be a second time, I would definetely want to have a figure of Koyomi Araragi. He is probably my favorite male character.

Stand to attention! Good morning recruits, today I’ll show you a review about ALTER’s Charlotte E. Yeager figure, this figure is scaled 1/8 with a height of 230 mm and her release date was on 1th July 2011.  Charlotte E. Yeager is a character from the popular anime show Strike Witches.

On first look Strike Witches is all about young witches who are fighting against the Nazi’s Neuroi in a World War II setting. The Neuroi invaded europe and the young witches are the only weapon that is effective against these new agressors. These witches are from many different countries, they are all members of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing which is stationed in Britannia.

All the witches have special skills to fight the Neuroi aside from their standard weaponry. For flying they are using striker units which are resembling the front half of warplanes from the 1940’s. The witches stick their legs inside of these striker units and are controlling them via magical power.

But that isn’t all for some reason the witches never wear skirts or trousers in this anime, so there are panty shots galore XD. Under the thick fanservice layer, this show is mainly about cute girl girl relationships and friendship, the main story of the second season wasn’t that good and the last battle was more a copy from the first season, but the character driven episodes were very good.

Half of the female characters can be considered as lolis or loli lookalikes, The producers didn’t want to completely throw out guys with other preferences, so a few mature and mature looking girls have been placed into the cast like Sakamoto Mio, Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, Gertrud Barkhorn and the Charlotte E. Yeager. From the younger characters I really liked Lucchini, but so far I’ve seen no good figure of her, so I wasn’t that interested in owning a figure from Strike Witches to begin with. After some time I was interested in Kotobukiya’s Lynette Bishop and I noticed that ALTER’s Yoshika was a also great looking figure, but for some reason I decided to pass on both.

Intro

The prototype pictures of ALTER’s Charlotte E. Yeager instantly caught my interest and as colored prototype pictures appeared I fell in love with her look and the design of her striker unit.

Charlotte, nicknamed “Shirley” is sixteen years old and comes from the United States of Liberion like it is called in the anime. She has the rank of a Flight Lieutenant in the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. Her hair is orange, her body is tall and has a buxom appearance. Charlotte likes the thrill of speed, and highspeed actually is her special magical skill. I don’t know more about her aside that she has a generous personality and is the bosom friend of Francesca Lucchini, litereally ;D.

Now more about the figure, on her nice box we see the description of the Strike Witches anime in english and some data about Charlotte’s character and her striker unit. An instruction sheet tells you how to put the weapon inside her hand, how to exchange the propeller blades and about how to connect the figure with the base. The base is a blue circle with text printed on it. The base is connected to the figure via a small metal rod, the figure is a bit shaky when you are causing vibrations next to her, but it seems to be safe and shouldn’t be a big problem in the future.

Hair & Face

Her hair is orange and her strands are sculpted in a flaunting way, it shows a clean sculpting  job and well done shading effects. When Charlotte’s witch power is activated  she grows a pair of white rabbit ears and a tail, these parts are glued to her body and can’t be taken off. Between the ears is a rather big seam line, but it’s not noticeable in normal handling.

This figure has a very pretty face, her clear blue eyes and the small and small open mouth give Charlotte a good mooded and excited expression. Personally I would have liked to see a few faint blush marks on her cheeks to add more detail and liveliness to her apart from that pretty face.

Outfit & Body

Charlotte’s outfit has two layers of clothing, on top there is the olive military jacket which has a taunt fit from her well shaped boobs, underneath is a sand colored shirt. I love the way it comes forth underneath her jacket, the sculpting and shading of her jacket looks beautiful as well as all the small details on it, I also love her belt. The lack of a skirt or trousers appears not very bold on this figure as long as you display her from the front, this figure looks quite modest to be honest.

From the backside Charlotte shows that she’s from the Strike Witches anime, she has nice thighs and tight and sexy buttocks which are scantily covered by her white panties. They look very detailed, also her crotch area is more detailed than I would have expected it from ALTER.

The pose look like Charlotte is on her daily patrol, while having fun with one of her wingmen.
Her forward leaned upper body with the arched back, the flattering shirt and hair and also the position of her legs gives a lot of dynamic to this figure, she’d looks very good on every shelf.

I think it would have been a nice gimmick, when there where a option to display this figure with bare  legs and with the striker unit, a leg swapping feature like GSC’s Nadeko Sengoku has.

Striker Unit

I like the design of her propellar legs a lot, the metallic finish and the detailed sculpting do look very cool. The small wings, the exhaust pipes and the noseart are also really cool, it really looks like a small plane :). The Striker Unit looks like new from the factory, maybe a few weathering or dry brush effects would have given it a more realistic look. But thats owing to the anime origin.

This figure comes with two different propeller blades, a pair where you can see every single blade and an in action pair which looks like a moving propeller. I was to lazy too change them, sorry.

Charlotte’s striker unit is based on the Mustang P51 D, a superior and powerful plane which was used by the US – Air Force in mid 1944 during WWII, it has a powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, among the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, she has the fastest striker unit. I always felt that her striker unit looked the best next to the loser planes based striker units of the the other girls ;P

The weapons aren’t integrated in the striker units, so the pilot has to carry them during the flight, like the real P 51 D Charlotte uses a M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, well the real P51 D had six.

The rifle has a nice gunmetal color with great dark shading effects, the brown wooden looking parts are also nice, but they look more like anime wood ;), a detailed belt is also attached to the weapon. One hand is detachable and so the weapon can be placed in her hand with one finger at the trigger. When you like, Charlotte can also be displayed without the weapon in her hands.

Final words

Charlotte E. Yeager is a beautiful figure from the Strike Witches lineup from ALTER, she has a pretty face and a nice mature looking, buxom body and like you can see a great looking butt ^^ With her olive jacket and sand colored shirt combination she also has a very good looking outfit. Another good point is the good looking flying pose the sculptor Makio Munetoshi had realized.

The painting of this figure looks great, especially the shading on her jacket and the metal finish of her striker unit. The sculpting is also very well done and nearly flawless, on my copy there is just a small pimple on her right buttock, it is really nothing very bad, but it should be mentioned.

I would have liked it if Charlotte had shown a little amount of blushmarks, to make her face a bit livelier, but aside from that I can’t really complain about this well done Charlotte E. Yeager figure.

What do you think, is Charlotte E. Yeager a Strike Witches figure you might like?

Thx for reading, take care everybody. see you next time with a post about my summerseason anime watch list, maybe ;D

Another nice review of her can be found at Tentacle Armada

Three japanese reviews can be found at

d.hatena
studiorzhobby
amata.info