Tamaki is lonely so why don’t you keep her company?
I started doing these Friday posts because there were so many good figures coming out and I wanted to talk about the ones I was excited about and not wait months and months until I actually got the figure. It’s been fun for the most part, but there have certainly been dry spells like this week where only one figure comes down the pipe that I feel is worth mentioning…and even then I keep wavering on her. Fear not though for I still have something (hopefully) fun planned!
Stay tuned for a hobby related question from Rico
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Tamaki Kousaka
Series: To Heart 2
Company: Max Factory
Sculptor: Elliot/Hiroki Katayama
Scale: 1/6
Release: Jan 2010
Price: 97 USD // 8,800 Yen
The Short:
Max Factory is getting in on the ToHeart2 action with a pretty phenomenal Tamaki sculpt. There is one (well technically two) issue I have with her.
The Long:
There is a lot I find myself loving about Tamaki. I’ve never been much a fan of ToHeart2 figures mostly because they tend to be a combination of bland and poorly done or are far too proactive (borderline softcore) and…still poorly done. What Elliot/Hiroki Katayama manages to do here is present a tastefully done ToHeart2 figure that still entices the male audience the game was designed for without us having to hide her away. And it’s fantastically done.
I’m in love with her face - it’s so expressive in the moment. I’ve read people’s complaints that this Tamaki is too subdued for her character. I can’t really argue either way not having played the game or seen the anime, but I like what’s presented. The coloring and shading look to be absolutely fantastic.
It’s also wonderful to see life in Max Factory again; seems they’ve been quite quiet since Miku.
All that said, I have a real hard time getting past Tamaki’s chest. Her boobs look unrealistic (but when has anime ever been concerned itself with that?) but it’s the size and the compression that really don’t work for me. Every other curve on her fantastically molded body is great but if they were going to make her chest that big they should’ve covered them up more with a shirt or bra or something. It wouldn’t have taken anything away from the figure but would’ve added a whole lot more.
Rico’s Verdict:
Final decision pending. Convince me!
Source.
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Who is your favorite sculptor?
So to try to make up for the brevity of the post this Friday I wanted to ask you all a question that was spurred from some of the comments earlier in the week: who is your favorite sculptor?
Sculptor’s are, in all honesty, a factor in PVC creation I never talked about in the early days of Polyvinyl Crush. I would always add an “apostrophe” and a “s” to the names of the companies when talking about sculpt work - as if the companies themselves were anthropomorphic and could physically sculpt the figure! Sometimes it was appropriate (like when talking about a problem in the production stage) but it’s not appropriate when talking about the composition of the figure itself. It’s something I’ve been trying to consciously change in my reviews of late - especially as I found that the information is readily available at Tsuki-Board.
For me, that favorite sculptor is Chieri. Not only is he (I’m assuming he’s male) the mastermind behind some of Native’s best works in the Creator’s Collection line and not only is he a huge Mikuru fan, this man is responsible for me becoming the collector I am today because of his rendition of Naru Narusegawa (above, right).
I had bought a few figures before. A Haruhi bunny girl here, a Bome Saber there. But this figure? I wanted this figure. I had never seen something which such great coloring, amazing proportions, smooth molding work, a accurate and fantastic face, and a completely (at the time to me) revolutionary outfit. I wanted this figure, and I had to hunt for her too. It was nearly two years after her release and she was rare. I searched and searched and eventually found a lead: a really sketchy site called Gensen Figure. I don’t know if it was due to naivete, desperation, or both, but I took a gamble. Nearly a month and a half went by with sparse contact from them but I Naru was eventually on my door step. Gensen Figure closed up shop a week later, but I got my Naru!
After that little adventure I was completely hooked on PVCs. The rest is history.
OK, that ended up being a little stroll down memory lane, but now you know how I started. Chieri’s contemporary work has a lot of the same qualities that I fell in love with in Naru but he’s also grown in his craft. So now I turn the question to you. Actually, let’s make this two questions: 1) Who’s your favorite sculptor and 2) What’s the figure that got you hooked? The comments are open!
te o nobashite,
Rico-sama
PS. I now find Naru on eBay almost every time I think to search. There has to be a Murphy’s Law for that.
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Chieri is a great choice for favorite sculptor. I have “banana + desk” (aka Ousaka Kotone) and it’s a fantastic figure; and I’ve ordered Collet, which should be out from Native early next year (at a whopping $200+ … I really must love the guy to order his figures at that price).
I’m also partial Yasuhiro Uchijima who sculpted the “Masked Hentai” Ringo figure (from Air Gear), and the Uart Ryomou Shimei figure which I absolutely love (the black nurse version, not the baby blue version, which I would also love to own … lol), and a Kasukabe Saki figure (from Yamato; I know, I know … Yamato…) which is near to my heart.
And finally, Masanori Kuroda has done some wonderful Haruhi sculpts (including the Haruhi Gekisou Band figures).
Ahhh. So it was Kasukabe that got you into figure collection hard core. Funny, never really liked that one, lol!
J/K, J/K.
Yeah, you are a little crazy for going after Collet, but I’m totally jealous of you.
Looking Yasuhiro Uchijima’s profile a little bit, he/she tends to have a lot of great poses for his figures. Too bad have his/her work are 3 Ikki Tousen figures that were repainted excessively, LOL.
I know you joke, but the reality is that the Kasukabe figure was disappointing from a production standpoint virtually the moment I opened her up from the box. Being the bumbling idiot I am I actually let her fall about a foot in distance when I was unpacking her and sure enough the red pain on her left shoe chipped off right on the point of her shoe. I don’t know, but I don’t think that would have happened with and Alter, GCS, or Max Factory Figure. I’ve let them fall in a similar fashion and nothing to complain about.
And the design of her stand — basically the main point of stability is the junction of the heel to the rest of the shoe. The stand has points that stick up and fit into that area (I don’t think I’m describing this too well….
). But, unfortunately, the PVC is just too soft there and the figure is prone to falling over. Keep in mind, she fell over several times within the first two weeks I had her, so it’s not a “PVC fatigue” issue.
All that said, though, the sculpt of her face is 100% Kasukabe, in my opinion. And her pose, while it would have been better produced by a true-blue company like the above mentioned three, is nonetheless exactly on target.
From the very first moment I actually looked at her set-up, I thought, “this is an honest to goodness capture of Kasukabe Saki’s essence.” Others will no doubt disagree, but for that reason the figure will always be very important to me.
End of a sappy story.
Hazukashii serifu kinshi!!
The other issue I trust is the obvious one, with her hands?
You see, this is one place I hope the endless delays work for us, since it’d give them ample time to actually sculpt lines between her fingers
I love this figure as well, most ToHeart2 are indeed, either the regular boring school-wear, or school gym-wear, which is so friggin’ bland, or has Tama-chan wearing a stripper’s outfit, but where the school-wear is of a fine quality but is bland design, they have sub-par quality.
This figure gets the heart-racing, but wish they’d fix the hands.
The two issues were her boobs.
0.0 OMG her hands! How did I not see that before? Looks like they molded her hands out of one piece but UGH.
So there is one in favor for Tamaki (provided they fix her hands).
I failed to notice her hands in the beginning as well, her other assets were too much, you know?
I meant to post this yesterday but ran out of time before work.
I’m definitely not a fan of this Tamaki, or most I suppose. Her breasts are FAR too large and that does it in for me on this figure. She otherwise seems to be decent, but bleh @ those ugly breasts.
As for favourite sculptors I find it quite difficult to pick one. There are some where I own multiple figures from and like others they’ve produced. But then, there are also some who have done awesome sculpts, but maybe only one or two. That makes it difficult for me to choose because I’m not sure which way I want to go, one with the most, or one with a few but they’re really good.
If I had to name some, I might name off Inagaki Hiroshi. I mentioned him in a previous comment as well, he’s done two figures I own and like very much, Alpha x Omega’s C.C. as well as Good Smile Company’s Tohsaka Rin.
Additionally Inagaki Hiroshi has done some other figures I find to be interesting enough to warrant my consideration for future purchases. He’s done a Suzumiya Haruhi figure I like, which has two versions, a normal and a limited. He’s also done some decent looking Eva figures of Asuka and Rei, a Kallen, and a Miyama Yuna figure. So a few figures I like by this guy, but I can’t say right out he’s my favourite since I think other figures may have had a better job done.
For example, I think Masanori Kuroda did an amazing job on the Haruhi set, but don’t really like the other figures he’s done to the degree I like those above. And Koshinuma Shinji has done one of my most saught after characters, Sawatari Makoto, as well as done a cute Saber.
Last point though… at least the figure that really got you into collecting was a good figure. Naru looks quite sexy, and well, I can never forgive Taki Corp for what they did to mai waifu.
-Aka
PS: what’s with all my long posts as of recent days…
And here is one against. Kinda knew you wouldn’t be into Tamamki, LOL.
Yeah, I guess that’s the hard thing about picking a “favorite” - sometimes they make a terrible sculpt. My choice was easy though because of the whole “this one got me into collecting” bit.
Inagaki Hiroshi would be a nice choice were you to choose him; I have about 13 of his figures!
I just really like the way he does faces and his figures are often dynamic and unique.
I really want that Alicia Florence figure that Masanori Kuroda did. It’s like #1 on my get list right now. <- Huge Aria fan.
LOL. So you got into collecting due to a sense of despondency with a figure you got? That’s a really interesting entry, actually. That would explain your more critical eye in your reviews too!
I don’t really think it was a sense of despondency that got me into it, but that figure is definitely what finally broke me. By which I mean I spent $102 CAD on a piece of plastic that turned out to be poorly made, which made just about everything after it seem cheap and awesome in comparison. So I haven’t managed to stop buying since then. I think even my critical eye has weakened some in recent reviews because I’m writing them too soon after purchase trying to stay relevant and on to of things.
I’ve always had a critical eye on things, which I can tell you doesn’t do me any good. It’s similar to the whole “ignorance is bliss” idea.
One good thing though about that Taki Corp Horo figure, I certainly learned a lesson on what to look for (and what not to).
I wish that Naru figure wasn’t so expensive on eBay, $130 CAD + $30 shipping.
I think we were talking about the same thing but I used the wrong word to describe it. Was trying to flex my vocab a bit and it backfired, lol.
I can’t remember exactly how much I spent on Naru, but the prices you’re quoting seem a bit higher than I recall. I’m surprised every time I find her on eBay. Not by the price, but it’s amazing to me that you can still find her after 4 years.
I just saw your history…I have to say - it both frightens and thrills me to think I’m on my way to that. Granted, you have just a feeeeew more figures than I (talk about understatement of the year).
Anyway, unfortunately I am still referring to figures as “Alter’s this, GSC’s that and I-DON’T-KNOW-WHAT-THAT-IS-BUT-I-WANT-IT.” Although recently I have started to notice sculptors and such regarding figures, I still haven’t spent enough time researching and reading up on them. Therefore I am unable to contribute to this topic…so no cookies for me.
Have I told you how much I hate/love you? You just made me want to get that Naru figure. After visiting Gensen I thought they came back to life only to realise you cannot do anything on their website. How much did you pay to get that Naru? Speaking of rare figures I am currently searching high and low for an Alter Gwendolyn (I know Alter’s not the sculptor but they did produce it OK?). I’ve gotten a price (around 13000yen shipped) but that’s a little expensive for my liking, do you think I should go for it or see if I can get it for cheaper somewhere else (at the risk of never being able to own that figure)?
PS: One thing I do know is that I absolutely detest most of BOME’s work.
Wow. I haven’t even reviewed Naru myself yet and people already want to buy her based on what I say. You see this Japanese Figure Industry? Start sending me free samples and people will buy your stuff!!
LOL. I’m kidding of course. Naru’s awesomeness speaks for itself.
All I did was click on the blue shopping cart icon, selected a shipping method on the next screen, and then it took me to Paypal. After I got Naru I checked back on the site and all the blue icons were disabled. I wouldn’t put any stock in the items you see listed on page - the sites been frozen in time ever since.
For Naru, Gwendolyn, or any rare figures eBay is probably the best route to go. Some proxy services will let you bid on Yahoo Japan Auctions but I’ve never been brave enough to try that out (though if that Yahoo Auctions Japan/eBay agreement ever fully pans out then that will open a whole new world for us collectors). You might also try your hand at Google. You could end up having to sift through 50 pages of results but you might strike gold - that’s how I got Alter’s Hayate.
Regarding naming conventions, I think it’s more than OK to refer to a figure by “Company” + “Character” - anything more becomes too difficult. It’s like TV shows: you can refer to it as ABC’s Lost so people know what you’re talking about, but then those who care can drill down and find out J.J. Abrams was a creator and an executive producer.
PS. Don’t worry, you’ll have a sizable collection in no time!
PPS. Bome was great when I started out. Now I don’t even look his way.
PPPS. For the record, I’ve never seen nor care to see Lost. The only reason I know J.J. Abrams is because of his awesome Star Trek reboot last year.
If someone commented on this post in the last hour and had linked to a couple of sculptors I apologize I think I deleted your comment. It went to the spam filter and there were a bunch there and I went on auto pilot and deleted it. Many apologies.
If you would like you can submit again and I’ll approve it this time I swear!
Aha, that is why my comment never showed up.
Probably wasn’t wise to put in links. but it was just to the same website as you linked to.
anyway
Inagaki Hiroshi
and
Touji Tanaka
It was you unstable robot? Wow, I feel so embarrassed - there was something about that comment that just looked spammy to me. Sorry!
My spam filter doesn’t like links from Tsuki-Board, apparently.
So another fan of Inagaki Hiroshi. Very nice. Touji Tanaka is a fantastic choice too - I really want his Miina and Karen figures. :3
EDIT: Put links back in for ya!
I’ve got my eye out on that Miina figure as well. No hurry, but if I ever saw it for a decent price somewhere I might bundle it with another.