Let's jump back to the Dealer's Room on Saturday afternoon at the con, where I made my purchases. But first, I'll tell you a secret. I had a gift card I've been trying to get rid of ever since Christmas. I brought it with me, hoping I'd be able to use it, and it worked swimmingly. As such, since I was eager to use the gift card up rather than hold onto it indefinitely (which is what I was doing with it by that point), I actually had something of a nice budget to blow at the Dealer's Room. Thus I ended up buying considerably more than I would have bought had I not had that gift card, but I'm completely satisfied with how that turned out.
One of the things I had thought of before the con to look for when I got there was a school uniform. You can call me whatever names you want, but I was inspired by the idea of hanging one up on my wall (no, I wasn't actually planning on wearing it :p). There were two problems with that plan, though. First, is the concern I have about cosplay fabrics, which seem cheaper and faker than what they use for real clothes (which kind of irks me, because I think "costumes" look better when they actually look like clothes and not costumes). The other problem was that, of the serafuku cosplay I spied in the Dealer's Room, they were all alternative colors or styles, and not the classic blue/white/red ribbon style that I'm looking for. Not to say that I don't like those other styles, but for my purposes, it's supposed to serve as a symbol, and as such, it should be the most iconic style.
Anyway, in place of that, I ended up buying a serafuku pillow that I spotted instead, which is similar, and quite cute. I'm really impressed with it.
The shiny red bow is reminiscent of the sailor senshi's uniforms.
Look, it even has pantsu!
And to save you the trouble of asking, yes, it's a DFC pillow. -_^
As for my other purchases, I bought all of four figures, all of them larger than the capsule/trading type that I focused on last year. Since I kind of ended up overdosing on Eva figures last year, I restricted myself to just one Asuka figure this year, which I like, although it's not the one I saw last year that I regret not buying (since it was kind of expensive).
It's a very nice figure, featuring Asuka in an attractive ground sit pose, with her civilian clothes modestly disheveled, and a suggestion of wind blowing through her hair. On her face is painted a look of slight melancholy. This is a figure that tells a story. You can't help wondering what set of circumstances led her to be in this condition.
Pantsu Check:
Pantsu? Check!
The figure also comes with a box of combat rations, which includes some sort of crackers and a lump of "crystal sugar". I can't decide whether to eat them or save them for the Second Impact...
One of the other figures I bought was a Nagi in a white swimsuit, likely a result of my being inspired by watching Kannagi earlier in the day.
When I asked the vendor for the price, he offered to open the box and take out the (wrapped) pieces so I could inspect them. As he pointed out, there is a very faint blush on the goddess' cheeks which is hard to see on the box art. It enhances the erotic effect of the figure.
A close inspection of Nagi's bust (like you could resist :p) reveals that she is probably not as flat as she is supposed to be, but the inflation is minimal, and not outside my standards of acceptability, thus I will refrain from lodging a complaint.
I'm happy with this figure, even though it's a little out of character (a large part of Nagi's charm is her whimsical mischievousness). Also, I'm particularly fond of Nagi's distinctive regular outfit, even down to the boots, and would love to have another figure with her in those clothes. Maybe someday.
I saw three different Nia (from Gurren Lagann) figures that I liked, but I ended up going for the standard one rather than either the swimsuit or maid figure, based purely on the fact that she was the only one of the three who had the longer hairstyle that I prefer.
It's still a cute outfit, though, and all the elements of her style are there - from the psychedelic eyes and puffy blue-yellow hair, to her pink clothes, and the flower in her hair. Very girly. Just the way I like her. :3
I'll admit, though I liked her character from the start anyway, I've grown more attached to her than I would have otherwise, considering that I sleep with her in my bed every night. ;-) Speaking of which, I saw a few dakimakura at one of the booths, including a tempting Nia one, but they were half the size of the one I have (at most), and being official products, not quite as naked. ;-)
Pantsu Check:
Pantsu? Check!
The last of the figures I bought is a fully posable Tohsaka Rin (queen of the zettai ryouiki), from the Fraulein Revoltech line. If I hadn't picked up the box for closer inspection at the last minute before deciding on another purchase, I wouldn't have noticed it was a posable figure (now I'm wondering if those Rei and Asuka figures I saw from the same line were posable too), and wouldn't have thought to buy it.
The idea of being able to pose a figure takes me back to the days of my childhood when I actually played with my toys, rather than just stare at them and drool. Not that the two approaches aren't compatible.
Rin comes with a magic blade, and four different pairs of changeable hands, including one pair with her holding her magic gems between her fingers. The addition of a posing stand is convenient, so you can stabilize the figure even in the midst of unbalanced action poses.
Playing around with her is fun, though she has quite the habit of falling apart. Adjusting an arm frequently leads to reattaching that arm, and I even had Rin's back come off at one point.
It's all quite put-back-together-able, and I presume that's how it's supposed to be, but correct me if I'm wrong, because I've played with posable toys before that don't have a habit of falling apart. In any case, it's pretty neat - I mean, even Rin's twintails are posable!
Perfect for indicating motion.
Pantsu Check:
Pantsu?
Check! Actually, I had to split her in two to get the last of the plastic sheets off of her, and her stomach is nicely detailed. Bonus points for that, since it's an area that really isn't meant to be exposed on this figure.
In addition to the above figures, I bought three Chobits "posters", which are actually done in that nice pencil board material, though they are the size of small posters and not your typical smaller pencil board. They are three very nice designs, including the one I described as "Heaven" in a blog entry from almost a year ago. Since the material is sort of translucent, the "posters" look very nice backlit, such as against a window.
I know I said I didn't have any room left for this kind of thing, but these looked just too good for me to pass up (and considering how I feel about Chii...). I didn't even see them at first, because they were hanging low off the front of the booth of one of the vendors, below my vision. That was a good booth. They had some nice figures and t-shirts and buttons and posters, and one of the guys working behind it, a Japanese guy, recognized my Behelit (one of only two people) and described to me some rare Berserk merchandise. He also told me these Chobits "posters" were rare. I believe it. They're very nice.
And while we're speaking of vendors, I saved the receipts from my purchases this year, so I can actually tell who I bought my stuff from. I mention this because last year I wrote about how nice the one vendor was whom I bought the majority of my Eva not-so-blind box figures from, but I had no idea what store he represented. Well, the same guy was there again this year, and he's the one I bought my Rin, Nia, and Asuka figures from. And he was representing Kyoto Anime. So now you know. And now I think I'll get back to playing with my toys.
Awesome stuff, Z. I love the Asuka figure and the combat rations. The combat rations are completley inexplicable and exactly the type of thing I would like to buy. I mean... what are you supposed to do with the sugar, put it on the crackers?
ReplyDeleteThere's a Rei, too. ;)
ReplyDeleteI think the crystal sugar is a hard candy, so it would be the dessert after you eat the crackers, I presume.