Hello, today let’s talk about Garage Kits, GK in short. I was always fascinated by GK’s in general they look more creative and elaborate than PVC figures , when done by professionals.

The regular PVC figure buyer won’t be able to create the best results, speaking for myself. I built tanks, helicopters and mechs in the past, but thats a lot different from assembling and painting bishoujo characters, I actually made a little chibi GK of Dead Master last year on my own and it was a pain and the result was so so. I still have Kannagi’s heroine Nagi as unfinished GK at home.

Now I know for sure that I can’t build her, I already contacted an professional GK  service, but what prevented me from sending Nagi in, was 1st the high price and 2nd the fear of being not satisfied with the final figure. I should really think about it again, since it’s a really beautiful GK.
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Here the little Anime special with Airi, she’s a little tsundere, who wants a hug.

httpvh://youtu.be/vXaUFwt18nE

Anyway this post is about Sena Airi from the VN and anime Mashiro iro Symphony.

I always wanted the GK of her, the first time I noticed this certain figure was at a Wonderfestival of 2010 and the wanted GK was sold as Exclusive GK on Volks online shop on the 27 April 2010. I used the help of a proxy service, but in the end I wasn’t able to make my order since it was sold out within a few minutes, what a straight defeat. This always bothered me, but a few years later I should get my chance. In the middle of December 2012 I secured my preorder at E2046 as their partner Company, Gathering offered the pre painted and assembled GK for a fair price.

There is always the term bootleg in combination with GK figures from E2046, they are recasting GK kits from artists and sell them through their shop. It’s a n exhausting discussion if it’s legal or not, but so far no one seemed to sue them so why should I care. E2046 offers are an easy way to get your desired Kits, way easier than searching, contacting  the artist and aquirering the original GK . So I say: if you don’t make it accesible for me I’ll get it somewhere else!

This GK is recast from the kit of the artist Milchestrasse which was made in April 2010.
As mass produced small batch series, Gathering offered the Sena Airi GK for around 131$ .

The origin of Sena Airi is the Visual Novel Mashiroiro Symphony: Love is pure white, it had exceptional cute and appealing graphics and a lovely school uniform design. I played a bit of the untranslated game and later the game got an anime adaption. Sena Airi actually was the lead girl in the game, a proud girl from a rich family who pursued the rough way of independence. In the anime they surprisingly choose another girl to win the “love race” for the main character.

First look at a GK figure 

GK’s are made of resin, which is not as flexible as PVC and so it can happen that they take some damage during the shipment. Sena Airi was packed with care in a especially cut out foam to prevent her from damage, but unfortunately she arrived not completely intact. The big ribbon at her back broke off and one strand of her outer hair snapped. Since the place where the ribbon belongs is hard to reach and the strand broke off in a very noticeable area it was pretty annoying to receive the figure with hard to repair damages. Do you know good resin glue?

Furthermore the GK figure requires some minor assembly, the blue ribbon, the right bush of hair have to be put in place and the figure has to be placed on her wooden base, these are just simple thhings to do before the figure is ready to be displayed. Since Im scared of damaging her during dusting, I rather buy a small glass cabinet soon and make a little Diorama.

This Sena Airi is a regular sized 1/8 scaled figure with 21 cm of height she fits very well other figures of this scale without odd height differences. On first look Airi has a lovely presence thanks to her bright uniform and flowing long hair, lets find out more in the next paragraphs.

Hair & Face

Aside from my ugly provisonal glue mark, the figure has cleanly sculpted hair with a number of single strands. The haircolor turned out a bit more yellow compared to her hair color that she had in the VN, it still looks very nice, the applied brown shading does a good job in that regard.

Actually I was super scared that the face turned out bad, since the face is the most important part on a figure for me. I nearly had nightmares shortly before she arrived here. The more surprised was I when I carefully opened the box. She has a beautiful face to be honest with beautiful, detailed eye decals and subtle applied rosy cheeks. Her lined mouth shows a subtle smile that gives her face a kind expression. Even though the material is different Airi’s skintone and texture doesn’t look much different  from PVC figures, maybe a little smoother actually.

Outfit & Body

Airi’s pose captures her in a sweet and playful manner with one foot in the air and her flowing hair. With one hand she is playing with her hair while the other one is holding her skirt.

Like I already said, the shool uniform has a beautiful design, Airi is wearing a black shirt with a cream white blazer above. Her rather short skirt has nice brown lines and a black outer rim.
As demure student she is wearing white pantsu. There are a number of details that make the whole outfit even more appealing, like the huge ribbon at the back or the black one in her hair.

I really love these long sleeves that slighly cover the figures wrists, it’s so cute ^o^

This figure is attractive, since Airi is a pretty girl, but doesn’t have much direct fanservice, except the tightness of her blazer or the short skirt, she mainly has nice and pure bishoujo appeal.

 Painting

As far as I know Sena Airi is a completely handpainted figure, a very clean painjob on top of that. The design outfit of her relies a lot of fine lines and that makes it even more astonishing, this would easily something to be messed up on a mass produced PVC figure. The lining looks really impressive overall with next to zero overpainting. There is no visible shading on her outfit,  the wrinkles and folds don’t necesssarily demand it, since natural light already creates appealing shadows that make the figure look  nice and convincing. If there is one thing to criticize, I would say that glossy color of the ribbon around her neck disturbs the overall appearance a bit.

Final Words

So the impression of my very first Garage Kit turned out quite positive, after I was really scared of receiving something I wouldn’t be satisfied with. The outfit looks beautiful and the figure has a pretty face. It was very nice that Sena Airi turned out like the promo shots implied, Gathering seems to have a very good quality assurance. The two damages of her, that possibly happened during shipment were a bit dissapointing, but actually the overall impression outweights it by far.

Do you have any experience with bishoujo GK’s ?

Do you actually have painted them on their own? I’d love to be that talented

Hello everyone, time for the first New Preorders Post in this new year 2013. I ordered and preordered a few things recently, a little bit of restraint is still present, but that might change soon and I will be back into the devastating Passionate Collector Mode!

last minute orders

Yoshi Hotori from Native – You know, I have this “No pantsu No purchase” rule and even though it hurt, I decided to pass on this figures because of her exposed rear. But Im only human and even my restrain has it’s limits, after MastraCustom, Tier and Bakayaro “rubbed” their purchased Hotori under my nose, I was quite angry that I hadn’t ordered her before like they did. Well, in the end I tried my luck at the german figure shop Yorokonde and surprisingly I got the very last copy for a fair price. I actually wouldn’t have mind the figure to be more dressed, since her nudity wasn’t the thing that convinced me get her. I like the long twintails, the pretty face and the outfit of this figure. I kinda feel dirty though, let’s see if I can display her anywhere.

Yoshi Hotori was released in June 2012 and the figure is scaled 1/7 with a height of 23 cm. This January month actually shouldn’t end with two purchased figures, but it can’t be helped now.

new figure preorders

Chouhi Ekitoku from Orchid Seed – After I was kind of dissapointed by the outcome of this figure at first, after a lot of seesaw I gave in and finally ordered magical Chouhi. I rewatched Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny recently and found quite a liking to it again. I like the wild and loud character of Chouhi a lot and in this cute costume, Im kinda enchanted by this figure. Other than my first impression I really think that she looks like the Chouhi Ekitoku I know. She is cute and a little  naughty, Which as nice combination I like how her pose is focused on her cute butt.

Chouhi Ekitoku is scaled 1/7 and has a height of 18 cm, the figure should have been released in December 2012, but was delayed to early spring of 2013, I guess I should receive her in March.

Cat Lap Milk from Native – I passed on too many nice Native figures which where released recently, partially because of the lewdness of their figures. But this figure should be mine, since she is wearing optional panties, Im relieved. I like maid outfits as well as cat ears, so I didn’t need much time to make this purchase. Cat Lap Milk offers many different cast off stages. It’s really hot how her big boobs with the pointy nipples are pressed on the transparent floor/wall.
This figure looks really naughty with her flushed cheeks and her little tounge out and the whole milk on the floor situation, but I like this figure. It is said that a second pair of boobs for a different display option will be included, even though I don’t know how this will work in the end.

The figure is scaled 1/7 which makes her 180 cm long and 12 cm in height. Like everything from Native, Cat Lap Milk is a exclusive figure that has to be bought with the help of a proxy buyer, the release is sheduled for July 2013.

Okumura Yukio G.E.M MegaHouse – Ah yeah, Waver Velvet won’t be my first figure of a male character, I bought Yukio from Ao no Exorcist, what I really enjoyed to watch instead. Initially I planned on getting his brother Rin, but I didn’t liked how his faces turned out, I guess I couldn’t have looked at it without feeling annoyed after some time. Well, Yukio comes with a kind and handsome bishounen face expression, which was one of the reason I considered this purchase at first. He also has a serious alternative face and also an optional arm will be included.

I think he looks very bad ass  in his black long coat and his Springfield M1911A1 guns. I never expected to get a male figure, but I think it’s worth to give this figure a try. Okumura Yukio is scaled 1/8 and has a height of 23 cm, the release is sheduled for the 29th January 2013.

Jingai Makyo Ignis of the endless winter  from Orchid Seed – I don’t know the Game she is based on, her personality. I haven’t even followed her development at first. But I think it’s a very pretty looking figure, it seems like she’s something special that I didn’t want to miss. I like her elaborate white outfit, that looks like a combination of a wedding dress and straitjacket ;D. Joking aside, I really like so much about her design, red hair, pointy ears and a very pretty face. Ignis is also castoffable, the transparent bodytight is quite sexy and she has pretty boobs.

Whatever silly game happened between AmiAmi and Orchid Seed during the last year, on the bottomline AmiAmi is selling Orchid Seed figures again. In my “The figure year 2012 in numbers” post, I find faulty that I haven’t bought enough Orchid Seed figures, that should hopefully change in 2013, maybe they can finish one of the big Sonico’s. This figure of Ignis was accounced three years ago and now her release is sheduled for the end of February 2013.

I’ve ordered a GK figure

Mashiroiro Symphony – Sena Airi from Gathering/E2064 – I rember that I saw this GK a few years ago and I wanted it quite badly, one proxy tried to grab one for me but it didn’t work since the GK was sold out in seconds. A few more months later this proxy offered me the unfinished GK, but 160$ appeared a bit much to me. At the end of this year I saw this finished GK of Sena Airi at E2046 for a fair price. I gathered all my courage and hit the order button, partially because I wanted the figure that I couldn’t get a few years ago, let’s call it delayed gratification.

Mashiroiro Symphony has a lovely characterdesign and very pretty schhool uniforms and I like how it was adapted in this GK figure, let’s hope that she comes close after these promo pictures in the end. Sena Airi is scaled 1/8 and has a height of 21cm, they could give me no info about a release date,but it shouldn’t take too long, so Airi should arrive somwhere this year.

Maybe Baby List

Nisemonogatari – Karen Araragi from GSC – Here is the lovely Karen on a steamroller, but wait holy shit! her retail price is around 11238 Yen, I don’t know what about her is worth that much money. It’s a nice figure but c’mon. Anyway her release date is sheduled for July 2013.

Racing Miku 2012 version from FREEing – Yeah that’s the latest Racing Miku figure and she turned out rather cute, I think her wide face is really cute, the upper front teeth line is so nice. I like the design mix of space princess and grid girl a lot, she is showing a lot of skin, even more with her transparent parts. She is scaled 1/7 and has a height of 26 cm, her release date is sheduled for June 2013. The retail price is 12190 Yen *lol* whats up with these prices recently!?

Surprisingly this figure won’t be produced by GSC, it’s a collaboration of Dragon Toys (Daiki Kougyou) and FREEing. I find Racing Miku 2012 quite appealing and I will consider her purchase.

Se Kirara – Kawamura Yuu from Max Factory – A more possible purchase may be the enchanting Yuu from the Se Kirara game, as I saw her yesterday morning I fell in love with this lovely figure. There is so much life in this dynamic pose and look at that beautiful face of her.

Yuu is scaled 1/7 and has a height of 21 cm, her release date is sheduled for May 2013. With a retail price of 7429 Yen she’s rather cheap compared to these other two. I love you Yuu.

preorder roadmap