I’m a passionate figure collector who not only puts his figures on the shelf, I also like taking creative pictures of  them and write a review about my impressions afterwards.  In advance I always think about a fitting setting for the figure and take care about getting all needed parts together on time. As active figure reviewer you want to get your posts out on time, so the first idea that comes to mind will most probably be only one to be executed in the shooting.

Sometimes this behavior leads to not so good results, aside from quality or aesthetic aspects, there are other reason that make me decide to take some time for another photoshoot.
It can happen that I suddenly think about something that would be cool for one of my figures.

This time we will take A look back at Sonico Bath Time version from Native. I seperated the girl from her bath tub and “throw” her in the water. I aimed to get more atmosphere into the pictures inside hot spring setup. Shy as Sonico naturally is she took her towel along the well temperatured water.

About the model

Sonico Bath Time version was sculpted by Zenko, released in 2012 she was one of the more iconic Sonico figures and nearly on par with Orchid Seed’s black bondage Sonico, a real gem.

The Sonico from Native has a few things that keep her from being perfect, like where is the blush from the illustration, the sliced bath tub or as Chag once said, the shape of her boobs is not to everyone’s liking. Still it’s a great figure with a shapely body and a big expressive face, nice hair and detailed headphones.  I like her a lot with the nice sculpting of her upper body, arms and collarboes, I also love how she covers herself with a towel and her bathing pets are funny.

Check out her review for reference.

The idea

For some time I had the urge to try a new idea to do a re – shooting of this Sonico Bath Time version from Native, not that I think that the pictures I did for her review were bad, but I badly wanted to do a re – shoot. I really racked my brain about this one, the first difficulty was to figure out what to do with her anyway, the solution hit my me like lightning … Onsen!!!

The second difficulty was related to the materials, starting from the right sized bowl and ending with the floor, this floor was the biggest obstacle actually, Well, you can’t imagine how long it took me too find one, luckily the DIY store had something usable. A 1/6 scaled figure  in particular requires big props to match the figures size, another thing to take into consideration was, that this Sonico has a pose that is in need for support this and her legs limited the possibilities for a fitting setting . You can’t just put her somewhere and push the trigger.

Used Materials and Preparations

– background board Mark IV 60×40 cm
– riffled cardboard 60×40 cm
-wooden board 60×40 cm
– pottery bowl
– basalt rocks
– plastic bamboo twine
– DVD’s
– modded box
– support stones

The modded box was once a storage for DVD’s, but I often use it as background support, this time as well, to support  background board Mark IV,  I used a still  work in progress board, which is supposed to be for Tharja. For a little color I hung the plastic bamboo twine above the board.

The bowl had a hole at the bottom that had to be closed properly, to match the heights of floor and bowl I used two heaps of DVD’s, a few basalt rocks along the rim and ready is the hot spring for Sonico. Inside the bowl I’ve put a few support stones to prevent the figure from drowning.

The floor was made of riffled cardboard, after  I cut a huge hole in it, it lost all of it’s stability instantly, so I had to reinforce it with thick cardboard stripes and connected the edges. The floor should have a slight gloss and be water resistant so I painted it with a layer clear spar varnish.

Technical Equipmet

For the light, there was my trustworthy 60 x 40 Wallimex softbox from the left, from the right there was a Metz flash set to 1/35 output equipped with wireless trigger, softbox and gel filter. Behind and above there was one china flash set to 1/64 output, equipped with softbox and gel filter, even though I don’t think it pointed in the right direction because of the high background.

An onsen without steam is just a pond, so I also used my mini fog machine, a very cool gadget for scale figures with fog over the water it creates the illusion of steam perfectly.

My Sony a 550 was recently exchanged with the powerful Sony a 77, it’s good to wield a semi pro camera once again. it button placement reminds me of my old 20D.

The summary

Even  though it took months to set my idea into action and some obstacles were quite a pain in the ass, in the end it was fun shoot Sonico within this setup. It’s fun to throw all the review aspects away for some time and just take pictures for fun, passion or admiration for the figure.

What not worked in this setup were  a few minor things that I forgot to test before and, for example the bowl wasn’t high enough so I couldn’t let Sonico sink deep enough to cover her bare boobs with water. I also could have placed a brush or a few of these wooden buckets, the girls throw when men want enter the hot spring, at the sidelines. Good that things always come to mind AFTER the shooting ended. Anyway I’m quite satisfied how this reshoot turned out.

The next “A look back at” might be happen soon, I guess it will be Sansei Muramasa
from Max Factory where  I already gathered most materials and then Sayaka Miki from GSC.

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.