As first review of 2019 I chose the stunning figure of Ashikaga Chachamaru made by ALTER. Ashikaga Chachamaru is based on an VN named Soukou Akki Muramasa, which has been released in 2009.

I actually have to admit that I don’t know anything about her character and only a little about the game she is based on, except from the several CG illustrations that are widely spread around the internet, there aren’t that many informations available. Soukou Akki Muramasa hasn’t been translated so far. The game itself appears quite dark themed, with it’s dystopian setting, it also has no problems with showing the heroines in roughed up conditions.

Nevertheless it’s a popular game with beautiful and attractive character designs, illustrated by the great Namaniku ATK. The game already provided over a dozen figures of mainly Muramasa and Chachamaru. ALTER’s Ashikaga Chachamaru is her 3rd figure adaption, she was released in early December. She has been sculpted by Amato, is scaled 1/7 and measures 22 cm in height. After putting the figure on the base no further assembly is required.

The figure has a very pretty face, the big amber colored eyes are quite expressive, I’m a fan of her thicker eyebrows. She has a slightly opened mouth with a little fang. A detail I also like a lot about the figure are the pointy ears.
Overall she has a friendly expression with a mischievous gaze, it’s really great how lively her face turned out.

Chachamaru hairstyle reminds me of everyone’s favorite vampire Shinobu. She has very long hair with pointy tips, it shows a lot of movement and is captured in a dynamic momentum. The hair is painted in a not too brash tone of yellow with darker shading here and there. The bushy fringe gives the girl a wild and attractive look.

The figures design captures Ashikaga Chachamaru in the middle of undressing with an alluring intention. She’s a girl of average size sporting an enchantingly petite an youthful body. Even though she is a petite girl, her back and abdomen shows a lot of definition. Chachamaru isn’t especially well endowed, she has a small chest and a sexy small butt.

In a way her fairy like built emits a sense of fragility, of course the figure itself is a sturdy one. Her legs are relatively long and the thighs have a nice volume. Chachamaru looks really attractive and the sporty appearance suits her nicely.

The figures halfway dressed outfit is very sexy. She has nothing to wear over her bra, I have no idea where her top went to? She wears a bra with opened up backside. She wears blue striped underwear in a girly design. with blue ribbons at the bra’s and panties front. The bottom part is a thong though. Chachamaru wears nicely designed hotpants painted in orange and brown, it shows great shading effects and realistically sculpted wrinkles.

In her hand the figure holds a long black belt, that was ought to keep the tight piece of clothing in place.
She wears sturdy looking fingerless gloves that cover 2/3 of her forearm, it gives the petite figure a slightly tough appearance. the right hand has a yellow rope wrapped around and you can notice Chachamaru’s tiny thumb.
Her black thigh highs accentuate her lovely thighs and trained calves, they also create the perfect zettai ryōiki.

Final Words
I like this figure of Chachamaru a lot, to me she is adorable and erotic, her facial expression is simply great. Together with hotpants and thigh highs her outfit looks cool. On first look there is the girly underwear but it turns out to include a set of thong designed panties. Despite from looking tough and used to fighting the petite character nevertheless triggers the “must protect” instinct.

Ashikaga Chachamaru from Alter is a wonderful adaptation of Namaniku ATK characters design. Her alluring expression is both, attractive and cute, it also conveys a feeling of danger. The figures slender and athletic body is really great. In combination with her skin revealing outfit, Chachamaru emits a lot of seductive appeal.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a “New Figure Preorders” post, around 12 months ago I published part #36, *OMFG* Don’t worry though, I did not lose interest in the figure hobby at all. I currently have 9 lovely figures on order.

Ordered figures

Katsuragi Misato

Hooray, a new figure of Misato is a great thing, Rei or Asuka never where my favorites in Neon Genesis Evangelion, they were interesting but really weird. I always was drawn to Misato. This figure of her is dressed in a bikini, but nevertheless she still partially wears her usual uniform. In this attire It might not show the Misato figure of my dreams, but she looks great.

release date – November – 2018

Kuramoto Erika – Mahou Shoujo

I had to get this beautiful Erika figure from Native. What is more important for me than the dynamite body is her pretty face with the enchanting smile. Compared to her official illustration this figure is based on, there are small, but great improvements, the face is so much better and the boobs are less big. Hopefully there won’t be another delay.

release date – October – 2018

Asuna – Undine version

Ah, this blue haired and pointy eared Asuna looks so cool. I like the serious expression and her stunning uniform with the nice colors, it will be my first experience with Emontoys, I have good expectations.

release date – October – 2018

Ashikaga Chachamaru

When ALTER announced their Chachamaru I was so happy and excited, the figure looks great with the expressive golden eyes, furthermore she’s half nude and seductive. It’s not their first fanservice figure, but it is still surprising to see such figures from ALTER.

release date – December – 2018

Nishikino Maki x Yazawa Nico – Valentine Hen version

This is a great two figure set, one I really like. The outfits are pretty and it’s sweet how the figures are connected.
I admit that I’m not the biggest Maki fan, but together with Nico it is a very nice combination.

release date – December – 2018

Takagi-san

I feel quite excited about this one. I developed quite a crush on Takagi-san when Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san was airing, her anime was just wonderful. Phat Company makes this great looking figure of her sitting on a detailed school desk. I just love her sweet, confident and flirty expression.

release date – January – 2019

Sakuya – Onna Kyoushi version

A figure of a sexy teacher? … here is my money. No, seriously this a nice looking figure, she has a beautiful youthful face and is quite attractive in the business dress. Together with the glasses and playful pose the figure should turn out really nice.

release date – April – 2019

Asuna – Swimsuit version

Yes, I ordered another Asuna, I never knew I was a fan of her XD Of course Asuna always has been a pretty character, but really earned my sympathy by the end of Sword Art Online II. I’ve always been a fan of swimsuit figures and this one looks especially nice and detailed, I didn’t mind the exclusive price tag.

release date – March – 2019

Sakurauchi Riko

The Love Live Sunshine figures from With Fans! so far looked quite stunning, Riko is especially nice in my opinion, a pretty girl in school uniform. Her face and expression are so sweet, her hair with the flowing strands is also nice looking.

release date – March – 2019

Interesting figures

Recently I find it quite challenging to place more preorders for 2019, one reason is that I can’t decide between all those beautiful figures, another reason are the terrifying prices of figures, I would like to prevent getting more than 2 figures in the same month. Here I’ve listed figures for 2019 (2018) that I like and like a bit more. Lol deciding is difficult.
 

C.C – Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Seems like Union Creative makes many popular characters from popular animes of the past, I always wanted a figure of C.C. in her attractive straitjacket.

release date – October – 2018

Tomoe – Queen’s Blade

This a quite interesting figure in my eyes, she has a photogenic pose and without a doubt she also has a very nice body. Orchid Seed implemented a variety of different display options and the nice figure measures 29,5 cm.

release date – December – 2018

Narberal Gamma – so bin version

The concept of this figure is really awesome, when I saw that price of her, second thoughts were instantly kicking in, I’m no fan of the character nor do I like the bunny ears that much. Of course it’s still an impressive figure on it’s own.

release date – December – 2018

Kohinata Hikari

I’m a really big fan of Amanchu, it’s a really sweet show about the friendship between Hikari and Teko and character development. Before I would order Hikari though, I would like to know if also a figure of Teko is planned. Beach outfits are great and all, but the Amanchu school uniforms are wonderful, too can’t I have figures with those.

release date – January – 2019

Ade-sugata II

Ahem, normally I’m not interested in bondage girls with sex toys, here things are a little different, since this character is beautiful, perfect brown skin an adorable turtle face and she looks just gorgeous. I would really like to order her but I don’t like these ropes for me it is truly a shame to see such a beautiful figure tied up and what not.

release date – January – 2019

Mimori Hinagiku

I like the cute Miko, that act’s a bit naughty, castoff she is less interesting in my opinion, but the general is very nice.

release date – April – 2019

Kaname Madoka – Magia Record Mahou Shoujo Madoka ☆ Magica Gaiden

I just had to wait several years, to see the cutest standing Kaname Madoka figure to date. She is so enchanting in this adaption, I need her, even though she is sold as limited exclusive.

release date – Summer – 2019

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de la Vallière – Finale Wedding version

Man, a pretty bride figure of my first anime waifu ever and I still hesitate to place my order

release date – March – 2019

Sawara Ayaka

The stunner from the previous Wonfes some months ago, BINDing’s Sawara Ayaka. It was love on first sight, then it turned that she will be scaled 1/4 and cost around 28000 Yen. I’d really had preferred a 1/6 scale, on the positive side she is probably the best detailed 1/4 scaled bunny girl figures ever, I mean she looks totally great, I might order her.

release date – May – 2019

Ochi Ripca

I don’t know about the manufacturer FOTS, but I like the concept of this figure. This prototype looks more like a 3D model, but in the end it should be a figure. She’s been planned to be a big 1/5th scale figure that measures 17 cm.

release date – September – 2018

Vampire – Azur Lane

It has been a while since i’ve seen a figure of a flirty vampire loli, I like it. This cutie is based on the game Azur Lane.

release date – July – 2019

Hi everyone, after some time passed since the last New Preorder post, now it’s part 33. In the meantime I placed 3 more figure orders. I remember the times where I always had like 5 new preorders in every preorder post, but with my stronger focus on Dollfie Dream, the rising costs for figures and limited room I can’t preorder so many figures at once anymore.
 

Ordered Items

Kantai Collection -Kan Colle- Takao Light Armament Ver.

I’m a big Takao fan, she is so alluring and has a friendly voice. Max Factory made a 1/8 scaled figure, she is wearing her beautiful uniform and her lovely curves were nicely adapted, too. I always wished for really bold figures of the Kancolle characters, you can partially blame all the Pixiv artists for all the great ecchi fanart, but the figures are mainly modest. I ordered the light version, since the ship part is not really as important for me, as the character herself.

manufacturer: Max Factory – scale: 1/8 – release: July 2017

Love Live! School Idol Festival – Umi Sonoda

At the risk of repeating myself, I don’t count Umi as my favorite among the Love Live! girls, but fortunately she is not Maki ahahaha. I adore most of ALTER’s “School Idol Festival” figures, they are all so precious and elaborately made. Especially this Umi is a wonderful example of the lineup, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her for the first time, Umi is so cute in that outfit, also her sweet pose and expression make her extremely adorable for me.

manufacturer: ALTER – scale: 1/7 – release: April 2017

Original Character – Succubus-san 

Like my previously reviewed Chitose, Succubus-san also combines a sweet and romantic style with ero figure qualities. The attractive figure has strong colors and a sexy body with a strong level of chubbyness. Her face is so cute and enchanting ♡. In stark contrast her outfit is a “dream” of latex and leather, the figure is completely castoffable.

manufacturer: Native/Rocket Boy – scale: 1/6 – release: January 2017

Interesting figures

 
Now we take a look at the figures that were recently listed in the shops. I’ve sorted them by release date, among the listed items are a few things I totally would like to have, it’s really unfortunate when more than one nice figure is scheduled to be released in the same month.
 

Shining Wind – Touka

I have the impression that Orchid Seed is slowly getting behind the times, while other manufacturers increase their quality steadily, Orchid Seed’s figures stay on the same level, of course that does not mean that they make bad figures. This Touka for example has a very interesting atmosphere with her thoughtful pose and the diorama like base she sits on.

manufacturer: Orchid Seed – scale: 1/8 – release: December 2016

Persona 4 The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena – Labrys Naked Ver.

This Labrys figure looks really pretty and cool, detailed mechanical parts and a huge weapon are part of her interesting design. Somehow the robot hips actually bother me a little. ques Q also announced another similar looking cyborg girl scheduled for January 2017.

manufacturer: ques Q – scale: 1/8 – release: December 2016

Ribbon Doll Collection – Shin Ikkitousen: Unchou Kanu

Here is a surprisingly artistic and creative adaption of the Kanu character, the unique and detailed pose combined with the womanly body and her really beautiful face make her quite appealing. Unfortunately she apparently will also be released in January .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.
 

manufacturer: Union Creative – scale: 1/6 – release: January 2017

Persona 4 The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena – Unit 024

Unit 024 is a cuter version than Labrys, at least I prefer it ;D The sea green hair with ponytail and a more gentle facial expression give her completely different atmosphere. I also prefer the black top. Oh, a January release too, damn that’s quite annoying for me *meh*

manufacturer: ques Q – scale: 1/8 – release: January 2017

Girls und Panzer the Movie – Alice Shimada

Despite her short her appearance in the Girls und Panzer movie, Alice gets a pretty figure, she looks nicely made, with a cute face and the sweet loli dress and she even has a teddy.

manufacturer: Kotobukiya – scale: 1/7 – release: March 2017

CHUNITHM – Haruna Mishima

I don’t know her origin, but everything about her shouts adorable. Her mainly white uniform like outfit is very pretty and fancy and there is also this extremely cute face of Haruna.

manufacturer: Alphamax – scale: 1/7 – release: March 2017

Infinite Stratos – Laura & Charles Nekomimi Pajama

Yes, this is a great two figure combination, they do both looks enchanting in their cat pajamas. The flustered Laura and the sweet Charles together on a fluffy base. I prefer Charles, but it’s sold as set. The base is bent to have a better perspective when they are displayed.

manufacturer: ALTER – scale: 1/7 – release: March 2017

Peach Girl Selfie – Miho Kunagisa

At least we need one bikini figure in this post. Miho is a dynamic figure with a bubbly expression and bold pink hair. She is scaled 1/5.5 and rather huge figure.

manufacturer: Daiki Kogyo – scale: 1/5,5 – release: March 2017

VOCALOID4 Library Stardust

This is a marvelously nice looking figure, I love her expressive face with the orange eyes, she has a slightly evil and mysterious aura, she is sitting on a nice base in a quite charming pose.
I find her extremely enchanting actually. Maybe I will be able to add her sometime.

manufacturer: Myethos – scale: 1/8 – release: April 2017

Yuki Yuuna is a Hero – Mimori Togo

The announcement of this figure was really surprising, I mean I remembered that great anime, but never thought figure manufacturers still gave attention to it. So after Yuuna ALTER will also make a figure of the beautiful Togo. The black hair and her sweet face with the green eyes and also tightly hugging bodysuit with her toes exposed are making the figure gorgeous.

manufacturer: ALTER – scale: 1/8 – release: April 2017

Shinwa Taisen Gilgamesh Knight – Deena Challenger

This cheerful, young, blonde girl is Deena Challenger, I’ve used a close up picture for startes on purpose, she is actually sitting on an elaborately designed bike, but her official pics were far away from good, HobbyJapan should really provide bigger product pictures for their expensive figures. Deena is dressed in a eccentric slutty outfit, but with such a cute face she comes away with it. The figure is sexy and her bike is stunning.

She is an exclusive figure and with 20.000 Yen she is the most expensive figure of this post.

manufacturer: Amakuni/Hobby Japan – scale: 1/8 – release: April 2017

Hyakka Ryouran – Yagyu Jubei – Final Bride Ver.

After seeing the 2 Hyakka Ryouran – Samurai After OVA, I was reminded that I will always think of Hyakka Ryouran affectionately, not that story was very compelling, but it was the chemistry between the funny and sympathic characters that made it special for me.
ALTER announced a figure of the cute Jubel in the Samurai Bride outfit, it’s a truly stunning design, I like it a lot, unfortunately it’s sold as exclusive figure. On the good side she will be released in a unbusy months considering figure orders. I could still strike.

manufacturer: ALTER/Hobby Japan – scale: 1/8 – release: Mai 2017

Soukou Akki Muramasa – Ashikaga Chachamaru – Wedding ver.

Chachamaru has always been overshadowed, by the more popular Sansei Muramasa, but she is also a heroine in that ridiculously violent game. Here Chachamaru is adapted as quite pretty bride with nice blonde hair and wow who gave her that amazingly attractive butt?! (⁄ ⁄^⁄ᗨ⁄^⁄ ⁄).

manufacturer: Amakuni/Hobby Japan – scale: 1/7 – release: June 2017

“A look back …” basically means to do a reshoot a figure with a more refined idea in mind. After A look back at Momohime and A look back at Sonico Bath Time I did a reshoot of Sansei Muramasa, a great maid themed figure from Max Factory released in March 2012.

My experience with this figure was overshadowed by bad luck, not the figure was to blame, it was rather my fault, first I named her Sandaime Muramasa in the review. Around a year later I noticed this blogging disaster and I wanted to sink into the ground out of embarrassment. This really shouldn’t happen in a review, never *facepalm*

A more dramatic thing was, that I somehow set the camera to a low resolution for the shooting, a few pictures turned out quite nice, but I had really small files, maybe I was drunk. Anyway this really bothered me, so  lets try to make Sansei Muramasa, sparkle once again.

This year the Nitro+ VN, Soukou Akki Muramasa received a lot of attention in terms of figures releases and announcements, mainly from manufacturer Wing. Aside from Muramasa, they also gave attention to Ashikaga Chachamaru.

In the 2 (nearly) 3 years I constantly had Sansei Muramasaon display, the figure showed no effects of leaning or desaturation of colors, accidentally one of her antennas fell off, but was easy to fix.

About the model

In the year 2012 Sansei Muramasa was released, she was sculpted by Shining Wizard @ Sawachika, a really talented artist, who created some really good looking figures. The character of Sansei is based on the dark visual novel Soukou Akki Muramasa made by Nitro+. At 1/7 scale the figure has a nice size and has an appealing look on my shelf, she has a red carpet base and a single table with loose dishes. Check out her “older” review for reference.

Sansei Muramasa is an especially nice maid related figure balance between looking like a fully fledged maid and making the figure look attractive, the elaborate sculpting makes her uniform appear light and detailed. The hair is long and has a pretty shape, a creamy color and a cool looking fringe. Her beautiful facial expression is unique and interesting, changing between annoyed and being flustered, her golden eyes make her expression very strong.

Overall, the figure has a beautiful appearance and covers a number of my appeal points, elf ears, maid uniform, thigh highs and an attractive looking body. The uniform has a very appealing design, colored in black and cream white, the white parts are decorated flouncy.

A sexy feature is the detachable skirt, that reveals more of Sansei’s sensual body, her dark, fancy underwear is a real eye catcher. I don’t want to sound like an European conqueror, so I won’t call her dark skin exotic, it’s very pretty, though and suits the figure very nicely. The dark skin is also interesting. More dark skinned figures have appeared since 2012, still we rarely see this on figures. Naturally, anime/game characters live in Japan and rarely have dark skin.

The idea

Having a real idea for the shooting would be an exaggeration, I had a classic cafe in mind, where Sansei serves coffee and tea. So I’ve build a fancy window frame out of cheap wood parts and ornaments of the right size, I’ve bought on ebay. Afterwards I attached curtains on left, right and a fancier lace stripe on top of the frame.

To gain more height for the backdrop I also made a background wall made of MDF and painted it in light brown. To have more detail I glued bricks at certain areas, I’ve painted the scale bricks in different, but still related colors.The floor isn’t that important, since it doesn’t appear that often when I’m using a 50 mm lens, nevertheless I also gave it some thought as well, in this shooting I used leather with interesting texture to imitate an expensive looking floor.

Obviously Sansei Muramasa is a beautiful figure, not entirely flawless, on very close inspection of the pictures at the PC screen, the figure has some seam lines, visible at the ribbon at the back, the backside of her thighs and very faint ones at the waist. Her hair also has a few unclean spots, but as I’ve already said, this can only be noticed from a very close distance.

Summary and Impressions

I had a lot of fun with Sansei Muramasa, also this second time I took pictures of her, she is very photogenic, I think the new pictures turned out a little better in terms of lighting and sharpness. Partially, a good model makes good pictures ^^ I like the figures appearance of a very pretty grown up girl with a still youthful expression. She’s a very good looking Elf lady.

With a little self critism at the end, I could have planned her background to be a little higher, in the lower angle shots it’s a little obvious where the background ends. I also learned again that dust can be quite persistent.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures of Max Factories Sansei Muramasa, the next post is scheduled for December 24th.
I guess the next “A look back …” related Post might be about Sayaka Miki, one of my alltime favorite figures. I already have the idea for the setup, but will have to invest some more time in building the props.

Do you have any suggestions which of my figures I should choose to do another photoshoot?

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.

Hi today I will review Sansei Muramasa, the lovely Elf maid from Max Factory. This figure of Sansei is scaled 1/7 and has a height of 250mm, her release date was on 26th of March 2012. I nearly passed on her, but Nightmare and Exilehero wrote convincing reviews of this figure. The origin of the figure is the dark themed visual novel, Full Metal Daemon Muramasa (Soukou Akki Muramasa). It has never been translanted so I couldn’t gather much info about her role in the game, but somehow I managed to find some Informations about her character

Sansei ended up in the household of the main character Kageaki. In this world there are warriors who wear special armors called Tsurugi, which have special powers. For what reason ever Sansei can transform into a Tsurugi in the shape of a spider, she supports Kageaki in his fight against a powerful silver Tsurugi who brings chaos to the land.was born on Faerun, another dimension, she is the daughter of an elf female and a drow(dark elf) male, as half elf she wasn’t allowed to use magic so she was stripped of her magical powers after she was born.

The first time the figure grabbed my attention was as she was shown as white prototype at the Summer Wonder Festival 2011. She appeared like a promising figure and I was curious how the brown skintone would turn out. Actually I was worried that Max Factory would mess up the skintone somehow. So I decided for myself not to order until I’ve seen at least one review of her.

Since I’ve seen Tiffania from Zero no Tsukaima, I love elf girls with pointy ears unfortunately there never was a good figure of Tiffania, but with Muramasa I finally found an elf girl figure that was right up my alley. I have many figures I would consider as cute, in case of Sansei I would say she’s a grown beauty, maybe it’s because of her age, she looks like a girl in her twenties. I like this physical grown up appearance. And I also like the look of maid outfits.

Hair & Face

Sansei Muramasa has beautiful long light grey hair, the pearl gloss gives it a silky shine, she has to take good care of her hair with good hair care products, apparently. Her bangs frame the face in wild and spiky manner and at the front there are two insect antenna like strands.

One of the strong points of this figure is the face, which is very well done and I really like the way she is looking back over her shoulder. She has beautiful deep golden and red eyes and a nicely sculpted mouth. Despite the brown skintone the blushmarks she is showing are noticeable.

There is a variety of different moods she is showing; depending on the angle you are looking at her, words like pouting, embarrasment, uneasyness or determined come to mind.

Body & Outfit

Sansei has the body of pretty grown up young lady, with super long legs, an attractive butt, nice hips and a fairly sized bosom matching her proportions, unlike Tamaki. This figure comes in a classic black and creme white maid outfit, it’s a rather modest outfit only the skirt is a little short. Muramasa is of course no combat maid, Max Factory adapted this figure from one of the CG artworks inside the game, maybe one of the lighthearted moments there.

The shirt she is wearing has short sleeves with white frills at the ends, revealing half of her nice brown arms. The skirt is sculpted with a dynamic flow and the underskirt also has detailed frills. She is also wearing creme white stockings that accentuate the upper area of her thighs very well.

The pose from her illustration is very well captured and creates a convincing atmosphere, the position of her legs and the way she carries the tablet, show that she is concentrated and wants to do a good job as maid to receive some praise from her master afterwards or she just thinks “Master, go home! before I cut you into pieces” XD

A cast off option was also included, which allows you to take off her skirt and display her in a breezy manner, unfortunately the apron she is wearing around the waist still covers her front Anyway, a nice little detail is the fancy, adult underwear of Muramasa, the detailed front has a pretty pattern and her cameltoe is nicely accentuated, its just a minor detail, but I like that ^^

Accessories & Base

The base is a nice looking round brown disk with a big diameter and red felt as floor. The figure comes with some nice accessories, there is a lovely table which looks like it comes from directly from an classy cafe house. There are also some nicely scaled dishes consisting of a coffeepot, a sugar bowl and a single cup with saucer, they can be placed on the table or onto the tablet Sansei is carrying. unfortunately Max Factory put no magnets into them so they are really loose items which might get lost one day. I decided to use modelling clay to keep them in place.

Final Words

Im very pleased with this Sansei Muramasa, sculptor Shining Wizard @ Sawachika and Max Factory created a very nice and pretty Maid figure. Sansei Muramasa shows a strong facial expression and her body language is convincing as well. I was worried about how the skintone would turn out, but I was worried for no reason, it looks great and has some nice shading.

As a fan of pretty girls, maid outfits and elfs this figure purchase was the right choice for me.
The fancy base, the accessories like the table and the small dishes turn this figure into a great package.
The cast off option is a nice feature to make this maid a little sexier if you like to, since the black fancy underwear and the lower body are very appealing.

Thanks to Figuya.de I was able to order her last minute, in the japanese shops this figures was already sold out at that time. It would be nice to see more figures from Soukou Akki Muramasa since all the female characters there look nearly as beautiful and enchanting like Sansei.