Its been already 2 long posts since Ive posted something ecchi (gasp).I do know that my blogs audience is, except for GnDynames, a bunch of hopeless perverts and you gotta give the masses what they want.Did you think that Menace`s Battle History was Ecchi?Leina`s Battle History increases the ecchiness sevenfold with the appearance of good old furnikura and his toy Nyx.Are you thirsty for tentacle grape?Quench your thirst after the Jump!

This is the second Queens Blade Storybook I own and the concept is the same: give a deeper insight into a characters motivation and relationship with other Queens Blade Participants through a book and drama CD.While Menace`s book  focuses exclusively on her past theres a little twist to Leina`s book: it is basically the story of 3 characters that are deeply interwined with each other: Leina,Claudette and Nyx.

The Overall Theme of the book is the emancipation of Leina from her heritage and the story follows her as she matures from a princess to a bitoshi.One of the two sidethemes is Claudette`s envy of Leina`s position and how she disapproves of Leina`s decision to become a warrior.The last and probably most interesting theme is Nyx grief history thats dominated by the Vance family.She was a servant at the Vance Castle  and had to undergo humilation and torture by her masters and especially one member of the Vance family: Elina.

In the end Elina was more or less responsible for the death of Nyx` mother because she took away the food Nyx saved up to feed her sick mother in prison.Her shy and weak nature always kept her from fighting back and buried everything deep down within her soul.Years later she has a fated meeting with the living artefact furnikura who grants her unbelievable power which she cant control though.Furnikura mistreats her as the Vance household did years ago but this time she endures it in exchange for power.She lacked the power to fight back when her mother was sick and wont give up the new found power to change things for good this time,even if it means to endure even more punishment.Her fights for justice is of good will but often ends up in a disaster for the bad as well as the innocent because she cant control the massive power of furnikura effectively.Theres a second side to Nyx though due to Furnikuras influence and that personality can only be described as one mean bitch and surfaces mostly after his beatings or during fights.

The production Value of the Drama CD is once again of great quality and has,as far as I can tell, the same cast as the Anime which is not essential but always a nice thing.The CD has 19 Drama Tracks and the additional tracks are random lines  spoken by the characters.The Artwork is this time handled by Kaneko Hiraku,whos also responsible for the Cattleya Visual Combat book.The Art is great but quite ecchi and definately not something for people that have some sense of shame.

I personally find this a great addition to any QB Fan and I definately prefer Leina`s inbook history over her Anime Story which made her a bland whiny rookie.The fact that theres a subtle note of hate/envy from Claudettes side makes the whole package bittersweet and I cant thank them enough for providing a deeper look into Nyx` troubled past which should change some peoples opinion about Elina.

I hope to acquire the last Storybook featuring Tomoe and Shizuka in the near future and I wish  that theyll release some more Battle History books even though the focus shifted to the follow up series Rebellion.

She used to be such a nice girl…

I cant stress enough how much I dig the fact that Leina is actually capable of something in this book

I guess Yi will like this one ^^

You gotta love random yuri encounters with people you saved from thugs

Leina`s Face is priceless XD

My last post revealed my certain affinity to one of the most genre defining characters of tha last century.One can think about Neon Genesis Evangelion what he wants but it sure gave life to two of the most lucrative characters ever.One can even argue that there are two kind of persons,Asuka or Rei Type, but that would go beyond my horizon especially since they introduced that third girl in the recent movie.I prefer to stick to my roots and present you just another Rei figure post after the Jump!

I simply assume that you do know who Rei Ayanami is,since you cant avoid the iconic character even if you are only remotely interested in Anime.I once read an interview with Hideaki Anno where he was displeased by the fans reception of Rei as an object of desire rather than the creepy emotionless doll she was supposed to be.The unexpected Rei Mania that followed brought a certain shift to the industry`s thinking what might be considered as cute by the audience.This was the birth of the mysterious,broken girl moe that still exists pretty much unchanged nowadays and caters to the preferable male viewers instincts to protect the object of desire from harm.

Even nowadays many mangakas draw inspiration from Rei and one of the most obvious Rei Clones got to be Ikki Tousens Ryomou Shimei who must have escaped the Human Instrumentality Project Test Tubes somewhere in the nineties and had a boobjob afterwards.

Personally ive always been attracted to Rei`s broken body,broken mind concept.Theres a certain fascination that comes from a shattered entity thats way more fascinating than its regular working counterparts.Shes a mere replaceable tool with little to  no personality simply made to work in the very basic sense to achieve the makers goal.Im pretty certain that there was a certain word for this phenomenon but I  cant remember what it was called.

Anno Hideaki said the following about Rei`s Character Design back in the day:

Whatever else, she needs to be painted in as a bitterly unhappy young girl with little sense of presence

So why do we like Rei? My guess is that everyone is reminded of his very own inner conflict and the realization that in fact most human beeings are born broken and are actually striving to become complete throughout their life.You might ask what a complete,working human actually is but this depends on your very own definition and cant be answered by anyone else but you.

Lets stop with this excourse and get back to the figure…

Evangelion and Ikki Tousen do not only have the same character type in common but also the fact that both  flood the market with an neverending onslaught of merchandise.The normal procedure for Evangelion merchandise seems to be to put the EVA Girls into some fetishy outfit and sell it to the already raving masses.This particulary Rei did something astounding with delivering an in-character Rei thats probably the best rendition of her on the market.

Dont get me wrong,I do like a boobielicious Rei like any pervert,but I actually care about the figures representing a character accurately and most Rei figures fail in that department.Most of them have long departured from the original creepy girl and simply deliver another Moe Character good to cash in.

Thats why I especially like this figure for representing her as the broken entity she was before the Otaku Collective slowly turned herself into something she isnt supposed to be.

The curled up pose and the sorrowful look in her eyes perfectly represents what I like in Rei`s Character.Shes an abused and bruised personality looking for that last warmth thats left for her in that last small bit of private space thats left for her.

Ill stop now before you guys think I am totally nuts but yes I do like the darker thoughts about her ^^;

Quality wise shes a great figure with typical Alter Quality with very little to rant about on my side.Its really minor but upon closer inspection I noticed that on her butt/legs something like paintbrush strokes is visible.I doubt that Alter works with paintbrushes but thats what they remind me of.Its only visible on the white parts of her plugsuit and normally wouldnt be noticed when shes lying on her base.Her base is a rather unspectacular shiny black base with the Evangelion Movie logo on it.Rei also comes with an additional hairpiece with the interface headset.

Other potentionally better Reviews can be found here:

OMGWebsite You can also see the great box she comes in there

PolyVinylCrush

HappySoda

Tentacle Armada

FooBarBaz

Tried to get the illusion of someone entering the room and casting a shadow on her here

I tried to go for a darker, more grittier feel this time and used the dreaded BRS Chain with her and tried to play with the shadows casted by the sunlight to highlight certain parts.I do know that some of the pictures look very alike but every picture has some very minor differences.They may not mean alot to you but to me they already change alot of the atmosphere of the pictures.I also worked with many close up shots to further incorporate the feeling and used one of my bamboo mats to create some empty desolated space shes lying in.

As usual I admire the work of other figure bloggers that work out these effect so much better than me ^^;;;

I dont know if anybody of you has read the excellent novel High Fidelity by Nick Hornby,but it`s protagonist Rob has a very interesting theory about social dynamics:  rather than a person`s character, his/her taste in pop culture is the most important factor that`ll influence your relationship with said person.What has the rambling of a cynic,egoistic music elitist to do with us? Check it out after the Jump!

Rob`s  rather radical theory basically says that even if a person is “nice guy/girl” but has horrible taste wont end up on your best buddy list while youll hang out with that dick with similar tastes most of your time and wonder why.Ill leave the deep analysis of  this theory to all the wanna be Freuds out there but it is most certainly true that birds of one feather flock together.

Similar interests brings people together and as always with humanity they want to leave the best possible impression to have an advantage over others and thats where it gets shady.Raise your hands if youve ever looked at someones Anime Top Ten and immediately knew that it was a fake list thats supposed to leave an educated good taste impression instead of displaying the users genuine taste.Its a rather common sight with elitists that smuggle in some obscure titles besides the community approved classic to show they havent lost touch with the bro`s aswell as the overlooked gems.These guys are rather easy to spot but then there are those that go with the flow and contruct generic community approved lists.

Simply put: Top Lists are utter bullshit and rarely really represent the user behind the alias XxLolicon4EvarxX but an artifical image contructed by the user to get a positive feedback.

I now wanna get away from the Anime example  and shift the focus on the figure scene.I remember reading one of Jem`s articles where she ranted about the sheep mentality of some collectors and their jumpyness when it comes to preordering and canceling orders depending on the consensus of the community.Its once again the Artfical XxLolicon4EvarxX that counts more than the real XxLolicon4Evar who likes to collect perverted figure of little girls in….dubios situations with….dubios things like dogs,lolipops or severed penises.

It all happens to all of us that we sometimes buy a figure because of all the hype going on in the blogosphere even though we dont really care about the figure.The Figure Collecting Hobby is luckily(?) a rather expensive one and people blow more money on stuff they really like instead of status objects.This is the point where Tsukiboard comes into play and aids me to reveal the real you!

Are you already shivering?Am I gonna reveal your skillfully hidden crave for Gigapulse figures?

Tsukiboard has a nifty feature called tags and bonus you can click when youre looking at a users collection.Simply put: it destils youre whole collection into one easy to digest page that reveals your likes.”Faking” a toplist is a fast and easy job but “faking” a whole figure collection isnt worth the effort.

Even if there are some status objects among your collection,your amount of genuinely liked figures should override those in numbers.

Before we have some fun with my own Taste destilled into a delicous serving of  tags,I wanna explain my selection: Ive only chosen the tags that are clearly bigger than the “standard font size” and are therefore the most common tags in my collection.The List will be ordered from the most common tags to the not so common ones.

Lets go!

Most Common

• Female
• Blonde Hair
• Weapon

Very Common

• Ahoge
• Thighhighs
• Stockings
• Ribbons
• Armor
• Ponytail

Quite Common

• Belly Button
• Cast Off
• Gun
• Green Eyes
• High Heels
• large breasts
• Long Hair

Common

• blue eyes
• blue hair
• Boots
• brown eyes
• brown hair
• Eyepatch
• Fringe
• maid
• school uniform
• sword
• twintails
• warrior
• Shunya Yamashita

Does anyone care to analyze me?XD

Figure Industry do you hear me? If you wanna cash in on me just incorporate all these things into one figure and youll probably have me lying drooling on the floor unable to move.

Is that still to abstract for you?Well here are the results of my Bonus Page

The Top 5 of Characters I like:

• Rei Ayanami
• Ryomou Shimei
• Sonsaku Hakufu
• Kanu Unchou
• Yoko

Hmmm…4 out of the 5 girls have something in common that the first one lacks….^^;;;;;;

The Top5 Series I like:

• Queens Blade
• Ikki Tousen
• Fate Stay/Night
• Gurren Lagann
• Evangelion

The Top 5 Top 4 Manufacturers I like

• GSC
• Kaiyodo
• Megahouse
• Max Factory

The rest of the competition is pretty even so I wont award a 5th place.

Well what does this List reveal about me?

Looks like I like big boobed,blonde,ponytailed girls in armour with thighhigh stockings and ribbons wielding weapons.

I guess this doesnt come  as a suprise so far XD

What really suprised me though is that I am such a mainstream figure collector without even knowing it.Just take a look at the most prominent characters in my collection and their origins.Reads pretty much like the wet dream of an 8 year old exposed to anime the first time.Its not much suprising that GSC has the Lead as manufacturer considering that they are basically THE mainstream market supplier.

The Mainstream aside I mainly collect figures  whose  Character I am familiar with and rather buy figures for the character love instead of it beeing cute…sexy…slutty

I gotta say this came quite as a suprise but the facts dont lie do they?

As a matter of fact I felt the sudden urge to check the Collection of the Blogger with the most hardcore figures I know andwas suprised when I saw his Top 3 Origins and Characters:

Characters: Rei Ayanami,Kanu Unchou,Saber

Origin: Ikki Tousen,Evangelion and uh some other I cant decide on….

I kinda expected ecchier stuff but I guess even a figure with a realistically sculpted anus cant beat the charm of the classic girls…

What freaked me out the most is the fact that his bolded Tags are nearly identical to mine.Looks like I have a long lost perverted twin brother in Virginia XD

So what does your figure collection reveal about you?

Seems like Ive just written 1026 words in this senseless blogpost ^_^

Combining two awesome things should theoretically end up as ONE AWESOME THING in capital letters, but reality has proven that this easy formula isnt as easy as it seems.Turning a boobielicous re-imagination of Ikki Tousen`s Fetish Queen Ryomou Shimei by Shunya Yamashita into a figure seems like no brainer but did the calculation add up?

Check it out after the Jump!

It is no secret that I am a pervert like boobs scantily clad babes girls with malfunctioning clothes strong girls with luscious curves that show that theres nothing more graceful than kicking your preferably buff and male opponent`s face to the curb while beeing naked and flashing everything.Ive gotta thank Japan for showing me the right path to ascend from trivial worldly matters such as sexism to see the big picture: Japanese Men are just a bunch of pervs.

Ryomou Shimei has always been my favorite girl from the Ikki Tousen franchise.Lets be honest how can a Rei Ayanami Clone with psychopathic tendecies and a cosplay fetish not find approvement by the male population?Shes become more tame during the progressing story but nevertheless shes still my number one girl from the franchise.

Out of all the illustrators living in glorious Nippon,there has always been one that touched my heart in a very special way: Shunya Yamashita.Theres just something about the characters curves and faces that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.ShunYama has the tendency to pick some of my favorite Game/Anime Babes and to give them a make-over in his own style.Morrigan? Check! Cammy? Check! I-No? Check! Rei Ayanami? Check!

Its only natural that our Rei Clone  joins the ranks of her big sister and gets the same treatment as her.The Result is as expected breathtaking and turns her into a very sensual girl that nevertheless kicks ass.I couldnt find an image of the illustration among the usual imageboards so ill just refer to the offical site.

After Daiki Kougyou announced that theyre gonna release the limited to 40 pieces Garagekit as a PVC figure I had to change my pants.She  became my number one priority to acquire in an instant and I preordered her approximately 3 seconds later in my dirty pants.I already missed out on Daiki`s Miko Kanu and there was no way that Im going to risk to miss out on her.Daiki announced two alternate versions a few weeks later with one traditional faced Ryomou and her 7th grader Version with long hair.As much as I find Junior High Ryomou charming theres just the ShunYama Touch missing and the regular faced Ryomou simply defies the purpose to buy a Shunya Yamashita figure.

My experiences with  figures above the 100€ mark were a rather mixed experience,ranging from great to absolutely horrible.Naturally I was more than thrilled to see what quality Daiki Kougyou delivers since their quality seems to be rather inconsistent.There are awesome figures like their Miko Kanu and rather mediocre niche figures that  have one thing in common: a high price.

At first I wasnt really impressed with her but she really grew on me after further inspection.

The Colour Palette is rather muted with alot of emphasis on the contrast of black and white with a hint of colour through the bright red ribbons aswell as her purple boots/gloves.Those splashes of colour really help to keep a nice balance between dull and colourful but doesnt make her stand out like flashy paintjobs by other companies.Dont get me wrong the paintjob is great and they even paid great detail to small details like Shunyas Trademark Lips or her mole but it simply isnt jumping right into the eye.Shading is done nicely giving the figure alot of depth making the paintjob a very nice piece of art.

The Overall sculpting is great and the transition from illustration to 3d went very well.Her curves are still dangerous,her lips full and her eyes still inviting but most importantly: shes one of the few non-trashy Ikki Tousen Figures .Alot of detail went into the sculpting of the creases and folds in her clothes to underline the turning motion of her torso and I am more than delighted to say that they also paid full attention to the ones in her pantsu.When talking about pantsus we also must talk about butts and oh my god what a butt she has.This has to be the most delicious butt in my entire collection and I love how the pantsu cuts into her tender meat XD.

This is a figure that asks to be displayed in cast off mode but this is a part where the sculpt could have been improved.Theres a more than small gap between her torso and legs thats luckily only seen when beeing looked at from ground floor or below.Since the figure ask to be displayed  slightly below the viewer to make full use of its captivating eye its a rather minor fault but a faut nevertheless.

While talking faults I should also talk about two things that are probably unique to my figure and cant be attributed to the whole lot.When I unpacked Mou-chan I was greeted with her left underarm falling off the figure.Seems like the factory worker was too busy admiring her butt to properly glue the arm into place.A little glue fixed the problem in no time and she was good as new.I found it rather amusing that the figure stays in character and gets hurt like the real thing though ^_^

The other fault,if you wanna even call it a fault is that the decal of her eyeball is loacted a little bit more left-upwards then the normal cast.This makes the eye look a lil bit weird from certain angles but the mislocation is only a few milimeters and not that bad.

The last thing I wanna mention is that her inner thighs had some white smudges ( ^^;;;)  from her pantsu but those could be brushed away with a finger without sweat.Sadly I only noticed them in the pictures and I was too lazy to redo those.

Long Story Short: I love this figure

Less biased reviews can be found here:

Tentacle Armada

SbebiWan

Look at thosw wrinkles <3

Nicely sculpted knees

Great Work on the Tendons

Love the details on the boots

Some more closeups of the wrinkles

Do you like Buttocks?show

As you can see I am using a new lighting setup with Photobulbs with 5400 K.The funny thing about this is that they are so much more powerfull than my 60 Watt Daylight bulbs with only 25 Watt.I still need to get used to it and some pictures are quite overlighted especially in the head area.I wonder if I should use a Diffusor for the Head light or just try around with it more.Any Help is appreciated

Howdy everyone! Instead of my promised Busou Shinki post ill present you another quick shot.Ive visited Lylibellule`s Blog today and stumbled across her Menace Visual Combat Book Review.In there she also mentioned the Menace`s Battle History Storybook even though she was a bit unsure what it actually was.Beeing the QB Nut I am, I felt obliged to clear up what this book is actually about.

This is of course a NSFW Review  :D

The Queens Blade Universe has a vast amount of characters and every Bitoushi has her own backstory and motivation to join the Queens Blade Tournament to fight for the throne of Gainos.The Anime and the different Mangas tried to give a little insight into the bitoushi`s history, but due to the sheer amount of characters it was impossible to give everyone the spotlight they deserved.This is where the Queens Blade Battle History Storybooks come in and focus on a Characters history.

The book is bound in hardcover with 34 coloured pages with artwork by F.S. and is of excellent quality as expected of Hobby Japan.The Highlight of the package is without a doubt the Drama CD that comes with the storybook and brings the story to life.Menace`s Drama CD sports 44tracks with a total playtime of 62:44 minutes.The first 20 tracks belong to the drama and the rest seems to be some random lines by Menace and Setra.

The production quality is great and the cast is made up of talented seiyuus.Anime Veterans might be in for s suprise though since the only familiar seiyuu is Yuko Goto which plays Menace in the drama and anime.Setra and Melona have different but nevertheless charming seiyuus and its interesting to hear other artists interpretations of the same character.Its quite scary how spot on the voice artist of Setra is while Melona has a much more playful vibe in her voice.

Its a shame that they switched those two seiyuus for the more famous Rie Kugimiya  and Tachiki Fumihiko for the Anime that followed these books.I wouldnt have mind to hear them in the Anime aswell

If youre fixated on the “original” seiyuus keep in mind that the battle books were made long before the anime and that these are basically the original cast.Dont let the fact that the voice artists differ ignore these dramas since theyre very well executed.

There are two other battle history books I personally know of: one focuses on the Vance Family/Nyx Conflict and the other one features Tomoe/Shizuka and the Attack of the Assassins of the Fang.If youre a nut for audio dramas you might aswell be interested in the Queens Blade Rebellion Story Visual Book which also comes with a drama CD.

Lets get back to Menace`s Book…Here`s a short reminder that some people might consider this a spoiler but it wont destroy your anime viewing pleasure in any way since its Menace`s HISTORY.

Im gonna quote Fabio for this short rundown of her story:

Entitled by birth to be the 15th Queen of the Amara Kingdom, Menace was betrayed by her fighting instructor and best friend Anarista. Her kingdom fell to the enemies and Menace was thrown into the slave pit where she was killed by her own slaves.

Thousands of years later in the Amara Ruins, the Marshland Witch brings Menace back to life as an Undead Mamono. Unwilling to obey the Witch, Menace runs away and eventually meets Anarista (who was also supposed to be dead for a long time). Seeking revenge, Menace fights Anarista, but like in the days of the Ancient Kingdom she is no match for her former instructor. Menace is knocked into a weapons shop where she reunites with her old friend, the living scepter Setra. Eventually, Menace unleashes a new power and defeats Anarista who turns out to be Melona. Melona, a Shape-shifter Mamono associated to the Marshland Witch, was provoking Menace disguised as Anarista to awaken Menace’s Cursed Aura.

Menace still doesn’t want to follow the Witch and Melona, who couldn’t care less about it, left her to do as she wishes. Menace learned about the Queen’s Blade tournament and participates in it to become the Queen and revive the Amara Kingdom.

You might have noticed a little inconsistency with the Anime here since Menace isnt a Marshland Witch lackey in this version but the Anime took some liberties and merged many different Queens Blade Universes into one.In the end it doesnt really matter though since Menace was  far from helping the marshland witch in the anime ^^

Ive gotta say that I disliked  Menace Character in the beginning but my love for perverted cats and the anime made her grow on me.Shes a bit of a ditz in the anime but the Battle History Menace is a strong woman like the rest of the QB cast.I was really suprised by the strong bond of friendship between Setra and Menace thats  displayed throughout the book.I always thought of Setra as a comic relief character but this book has shown me that hes far more and an important character for Menace.

Gosh this was supposed to be a quick post but here I am rambling about QB once more ^^;;;;;;

Lets continue with the pictures!

You gotta love Setra ^_^

*Sigh* They fell for the old Troyan Horse trick.

And thats one naughty bug XD

And who`s allied with the Enemy Nation? Anarista! DUDUDUDUN!

Does anyone know the name of that wrestling move?

Not the prettiest death

Look who sneaked into the background

Ah time for a can of refreshing Tentacle Grape

STFUppercut?

What a lovely reunion

Now that were through with the Review I want to ramble some more…

Remember my Rant about DHL?Well,DHL never fails to amaze me since theyve  sent one of my SAL Shipments back to HLJ because “I never claimed it at my postoffice”.Yes,thats right I have to pay re-shipment because my goddamn DHL Driver isnt doing his job.I never got a notification that a package is waiting for me at my postoffice and since SAL isnt trackable via the internet  I never knew that a package was waiting for me.Ive voiced a complaint once more on their billed hotline and got the same corporate mumbo jumbo they always pull at me without changing anything.

The worst thing is that Im also waiting for my QB Rebellion Visual Story Book and QB Rebellion Siggy Visual Combat Book for more than a month (shipped on 6th january) and Im pretty sure that it must be on its way back to Japan aswell since the longest time i had to wait for a SAL Shipment was 28 days.

So what am I doing now to prevent this stuff to happen? I run bidaily to my postoffice and ask if there are any packages waiting for me.Seriously DHL: Show some customer Service!

In the end I get the wrong end of the stick and have to pay once more for your shitty service <.<

Has anyone an idea if I can get THEM to pay for my re-shipments? Its their fault after all even though I cant “prove” it

EDIT:

Im feeling seriously taunted by DHL now…What do I find at my doorstep today? A SAL Package shipped out by HLJ 6 days ago! This is the fastest SAL Shipment I ever had while I still havent heard anything about the other one ive been waiting for since 6th january <.<

I dont think that Ive talked about it before but I am playing Busou Shinki Battle Rondo for ages and always have been on the lookout for some of their figures.My time did come when AmiAmi sold them at an insane price and I snatched two of them without further thinking.A short time later I also poisoned Persocom into Busou Shinkis but that another story ^^;;;

Ill keep this quick and dirty and jump directly to the pictures :

Yes,it was delicious

In case your wondering what a Berliner is…Its quite similar to the Beignets ^^

Oh and this wouldnt be a post by yours truly if there wasnt a Queens Blade related  part:

HLJ is having an insane MegaHouse Sale with:

Echidna Special Edition 60% off (I hate you HLJ)

Ymir Special Edition 30% off (I hate you HLJ)

Aldra 2P Version for 30% off ( Already had her for 70% off from AmiAmi)

Leina 2P 40% off (I already bought her ages ago with that discount)

Aldra 1P 70% off (Yes,I ordered another Aldra)

If youre even remotely interested in QB I would highly recommend getting Aldra (Review still to come) and Echidna since theyre a total Steal at that price.

I promised a new figure review on thursday and Ive finally found the time to post it! Its the lovely Sakura Matou from Fate Stay/Night doing what shes best at: beeing a Yamato Nadeshiko.I bet you didnt see that one coming huh? Hit the Jump to read a review of a 3 year old figure!

Everybody and their Grandma knows Fate Stay/Night and I dont think that I have to explain the money making machine that it is.Out of the three main heroines Sakura always got the end of the stick and ranked in last.I cant tell whats more attractive about Rin or Saber but in my opinion those two are duller characters than Sakura.Maybe its Sakuras “plain” look or her more than troubled past but I think that she deserves more Love than she actually gets.

She is the typical plain childhood friend character whos in love with the lead that happens to appear in every harem anime/eroge and is indeed a flat character during the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works Route without any real personality.The last Route Heavens Feel is where she shines and you finally get to know the real Sakura and discover that she isnt what you thought shed be.I dont intend to write more or even spoiler the three people who dont know her “secret”  though and wanna talk more about her figure.

Good Smile Company decided to go with the “caring childhood friend who just comes home from shopping with a bag full of delicous food” look.The Fate Stay/Night franchise usually spawns a shitload of figures with different fetishized outfits but Sakura has been pretty much spared except of a few exceptions like a swimsuit or this:

I wholeheartly approve of this figure

Back to the figure I own and can actually afford without losing a kidney: Back when I was searching for a nice figure of Sakura is was basically torn between this figure and Alters “Battle Suit Ver.” and asked LovelyDuckie for advice since show owns both figures.In the End I settled with the figure you see because Alters figure wasnt as detailed as hoped and GSC`s Sakura  delivered in that department + bigger and as everyone knows the bigger the better! ( Do I hear some girls giggling?)

Sakura is as a matter of fact the oldest figure I own beeing released in 11/06 despite the fact I bought her last year at a discounted price during one of HLJs Sale.Poor Sakura was months in their bargain bin and this seems to prove her unpopularity with the Otaku crowd.

I cant say much about Figures from the year 2006 but as far as I can tell she aged rather well then other figures beyond the 3 years+ mark.The paintjob of the figure is rather flat consisting of only a few colours and theres little to no shading to give the figure a bit more depth,but that doesnt make her unappealing.One of the biggest drawbacks for me was the fact that her dress is in fact molded from black plastic.It has the tendency to eat up the light and stands out from the rest of the figure quite a bit.In stark contrast is the plastic bag that shes carrying and that has been done with the outmost care and is one of my favorite things about this figure.You can see the items she bought for tonights dinner through it and even read the letters “Cookies” on one of the boxes.Her Schoolbag looks nice aswell bt it isnt really a challenge to make something like that look nice.I dont like the way they realized the blush on her face but thats just a matter of personal preference and is done quite often in this way.

All in all she was a real steal for 25€ considering her size and while simple shes full of nice little details that make me like her alot.

To end this review that probably noone cares about Ill leave you with some more pictures of this simple yet satisfying figure

Love that bag

Sadly my Pictures cant show the awesomeness of the bag

I heard that sticking leeks up your butt is a good luck charm.Maybe she should do that to charm Shirou?

Panchira!

I tried to capture Sakuras other Side with these 2 Shots

Lets talk a bit about DHL now that I am through with the Review.DHL is a daughter company of our German Post and handles therefore the normal and express  shippings.This means that all shipments from Japan end up beeing delivered by DHL to me.Ive encountered various Problems with them through the time like not having change on them but it was never as bad as the last time.My latest package was to be delivered to me this wednesday and I wasnt at home at that time so it went back to the warehouse.Thats no big deal so far but the delivery guy didnt leave a note and if I wouldnt have had checked the tracking I woulndt have known that there was a delivery attempt.I called DHL on their line that charges 14 cent a minute and set up a new delivery date for last friday in the timeframe from 17:00-22:00.The next day(thursday) I check the tracking of the package for some unknown reason and it tells me that they attempted to deliver the package again.Like the last time the driver didnt leave a notice or something similar.I call them again on their line and they tell me that they have no Idea what happened and reconfirm the delivery time  for friday.The next day I rush home from work and arrive at my flat at 16:00.At around  18:00 I check the tracking again and what do I see? A Failed delivery attempt at 17:04! I was home at that time,my bell worked and my name is clearly written at the doorbell yet it failed???

The driver didnt leave a note again and I start to doubt that he actually even tries to deliver the package to me.I call yet again at their line and they once again tell me that they have no idea whats going on and that theyll deliver it again on saturday.On Saturday the Driver finally shows up,has no change and leaves with more money than neccessary.

>.<

Seriously? What kinda service is that for a paying customer who spends some pretty cash on an EMS Shipment?

Has anybody else experienced problems like these?

Anyways finally Ive gotten the following things in my collection:

Delicious Loot is delicious

While were talking delicious…Check out Urishima`s Blog for some mouthwatering recipes!He finally got his butt up and posts again ^^

]]> http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/2010/01/17/yamato-nadeshiko-sakura/feed/ 31 http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/2010/01/13/queens-blade-perfect-visual-book/ http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/2010/01/13/queens-blade-perfect-visual-book/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:18:02 +0000 Blowfish http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/?p=1237

What would you expect to be my very first Loot of the Year?Heres a small hint: its related to tits and asses a franchise that are very dear to me.Correct! Its just another Queens Blade Related Post! Are you looking for the definite Queens Blade Book?Stop searching and hit the Jump!

Ive found this little Gem the day after my New Years Eve BBQ,where the Grillmaster burnt my chicken  wings to a small black crisps.I was quite amazed to find it on my doorstep since the first january is a holiday but maybe god thought that I deserve some chicks after the burnt chicken incident.Anyways I didnt mind to get this earlier than expected

The book is as the name suggests the definite Queens Blade Book with tons of exclusive artworks,regular artworks and novel artworks done by a vast variety of artists.It is  interesting to see how different Artists portray certain Characters and its definetly the strong selling point of the book with about 100 illustrations spread among the 192 page strong hardcover bound book.

Since the Character Roster of the Queen`s Blade Franchise has been completed this summer its the first book that provides character files on all existing characters (including romanization of their names),their stories and relationships with the other tournament participants.To undermine the books ambition to be the perfect Queens Blade book it also gives an insight into every characters ending  as well as an extended World Guide known from the Masters of Queens Blade Figure and Visual Book.

The book is a real bargain at 2,667 Yen and has already been discontinued at HLJ.It is no wonder though since its the perfect wrapup for the Queens Blade Franchise and a good starting point for the already strong going Queens Blade Rebellion series which is a continuation set after the  Queens Blade Tournament with many new characters as well as some veterans.

OMG Tasteful Artworks in my QB!? Yes,actually alot

You can think what you want about Aldra`s Meat Rending Blades but this Artwork is gorgeous

Life as a snake must be delightful

Holy Poses Training with the help of Melpha.I love the guys`expressions ^^

This Artwork is the final proof that YMIR ISNT A LOLI BUT A DWARVEN PRINCESS! You see that crown? Whatcha gonna say now? huh? HUH!?

The following pictures are dedicated to my good brother in arms Tier whos fighting for a better,ecchier world:

I hope this helps you over the waiting time until an Irma figure is announced ^^

Character Files

Yup,even Anarista and Shizuka got a Profile

Ive found a translated Relationship Diagram  from one of the Visual Combat Books a while ago and thought I should share :

World Guide

Character Endings

Queens Blade Rebellion Preview (Might be considered Spoiler) show

Ive already got my next figure review done and it just waits to be watermarked and posted tomorrow evening.I bet you wont see that review coming

Ive finally got some news on my cospa dakimakura incident.Ive sent back the dakimakura in November and after I didnt receieve any news for a month I asked them on the status and they told me that the parcel didnt arrive yet.Further Investigation revealed that one of their warehouse workers signed the dakimakura in November but forgot to bring it to the right department and left it in the warehouse.The Pillow was sent to Cospa for inspection afterwards and today Ive finally got a shipping notice of a spanking new dakimakura and the refund of my shipping costs.

It has taken ages but it seems that the Operation Dakimakura is finally over!

On a completley different matter…I know that you guys are eagerly waiting for my business cards to ship but ive been too lazy busy the last few days and only managed to get the envelopes ready.I hope to send them out by the end of the week.If anyone else is interested in one of them be sure to post about it and send me your adress.

Ive also gotta mention that I hate DHL for always coming when I am not at home…Theoretically BRS would be in my Detolf right now but thanks to them and their policy shes back in their cold,lonely warehouse.I have to give em a call tomorrow and ask for a second delivery  on friday.

]]> http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/2010/01/13/queens-blade-perfect-visual-book/feed/ 12 http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/2010/01/03/queens-blade-visual-combat-book-guide/ http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/2010/01/03/queens-blade-visual-combat-book-guide/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:48:13 +0000 Blowfish http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/?p=1216

My 2 week long hiatus is finally over and believe me I havent been lazy over the holidays! In fact I am proud to announce that this blog finally provides something useful to its readers! Ive posted before about ESGLabs Guide and translation of the QB Books but Ive never really been happy with their guide.Its quite confusing and complicated and it took me quite some time to understand the mechanics of this game. Hit the Jump for more Information and the Guide in handy PDF format!

This is my very first attempt at such a guide and it looks less than spectacular or even fancy.Its just a basic guide to the Lost Worlds Battle system the QB books are based on.I tried my best to explain the rules as easy as possible by merging my knowledge with the official QB guide from their official Homepage.Ive added direct links to the character cards from ESGLabs for your comfort and hope that this guide will aid those who want to try out their Queens Blade books instead of simply looking at them.

If you find any faults despite Persocom`s awesome proofreading be sure to drop a comment and ill update the script.If you are having any questions feel free to drop them off aswell and ill include them in the next version of the script.

The following characters have been translated and are therefore playable:

• Leina
• Risty
• Irma
• Nowa
• Echidna
• Tomoe
• Elina
• Menace
• Airi
• Cattleya
• Nanael
• Nyx
• Melpha
• Claudette
• Melona
• Alice
• Moetan

I wish I could provide further help with Translations of the Characters not translated by ESGLabs but my lack of japanese makes this impossible.If you do know by any chance of other translations or feel like your up to the task yourself be sure to comment as well and maybe we can make this work somehow!

Long Story Short: Here`s the guide by yours truly

Dang I totally forgot about this: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

UPDATE: Thanks to Feldis Investigation Ive got ahold of some Translations for Ymir,Alleyne and Aldra.Ill have to take some time to make some Character Cards for them though.This should make the regular QB Cast complete.

All thats left now are some Queens Gate and QB Rebellion Characters

Ho,ho,ho! Youre favorite blogger Blowfish didnt drown in a sea of christmas cookies but merely has been very,very busy with real life.Ive finally found the time to take a break and take some pictures of a book that has been lying on my desk for quite some time. Check out my review after the Jump!

How do you know that youre beyond good and evil when it comes to a merchandise?The answer is simple: You buy a book that features pictures of the figures you have in your own cabinet XD

Masters of Queens Blade focuses on the figure related merchandise of the franchise with a heavy focus on Megahouse`s line of figures.The book features the whole Megahouse Line Up Until  late spring 09 and selected figures by other manufacturers aswell as illustrations and other nifty extras.The book even has something for the perverts out there with its sealed Gravure Picture section that features the girls in all their naked glory

The softcover book is a 120 pages strong with nice strong quality paper and is mostly in full colour with a few exceptions like early design sketches etc.The sealed gravure section gave me a bit of a headache since you have to seperate the pages with a knife or scissors to get a look at the busty beauties.My attempt to seperate the pages was rather unsuccessful and I ended up with a bunch of jagged pages.I sacrificed a few milimeters of the pages and used my hobbyknife and a ruler to get a clean look.

The book itself is seperated into Megahouse figures and their Colour Variants,the Gravure Section,other Queens Blade figures,Queens Gate figures,Illustrations and early design sketches,an interview with Megahouse`s figure sculptors and a tour guide to the world of Queens Blade.

Hobby Japan and MegaHouse are some sneaky bastards and added an exclusive figure coupon at the end of the book.I cant really tell for which figure the coupon is but its probably invalid for quite some time anyway.

The book is a nice way to get an overview over the vast Queens Blade figure merchandise and probably gives a good insight into the production process when youre able to understand japanese.The Illustration section gives an insight into the characters and  makes the package complete and an interesting addon for the sophisticated Queens Blade afficiando.

I can wholeheartedly recommend the book at the price point of 1905 yen if youre interested in MH`s vast figure releases but if youre looking for illustrations you better place your bet on one of the other avaiable QB Illustration books.

Oooohh thats one sexy colour variation of Menace <3

Echidna is probably the figure with the most colour variations from the whole  QB cast

Hmmmm….Where have I seen those Unofficial  WonFes QB Accessory again…?I think I know with which items the next Special Editions will be delivered with

The Sealed Gravure Section

show

Annelotte is the only QB Rebellion Character in the book so far

Stats and Illustrators of the Characters

Illustrations

Sketches

Early Designs…Look at Shizuka and Risty ^_^

Soooo….what have I been busy with?Ive had a Job Interview Marathon the last two weeks and Ive finally been successful last week and got myself a new job.Its alot closer to my place and pays better than my last job and Im kinda happy now that I was fired from my last job ^^

Im still busy getting used to the new work enviroment and I fear that blogging has to take a backseat at the moment until the holidays come.Ill try to write up some posts in my free time but dont expect too much from me until christmas ^^;;;

About a month ago Ive also got a mysterious shipment from england…What could it be?

Yes,I am officially now one of the cool guys and  ordered myself a free pack of 50 Moo Business Cards.They come with  a moo branding that features a discount code which may bother some but I am not really troubled by it.I wont use the cards for any serious business anyway  and theyre free after all!

Be sure to change the Images you want to use  into CYMK Mode before uploading them.I didnt and ended up with rather dark prints ^^;;;

Now with who could I share those….. ^_^