The figure collection now has 20% more pants, thanks to Iori Minase who has kept watch over my cluttered desk over the last month or so. It was an ebay purchase since she was out of stock wherever I looked, so she may or may not be legit. The box had a hologram sticker and the seller was in Japan, so I’m leaning toward the side that Iori here is fine, but when buying outside of a reputable store, you never really know. Still, I wanted Iori with her sparkly gold outfit and she’s out of production, so I bit.
Ryutaro Kaminaga was on sculpting duty for this MegaHouse figure of Iori Minase of IdolMaster fame. The remarkable thing about it is Iori is wearing full length pants, which really is the main reason I bought the figure, since so few anime girl figures are dressed in full length pants. I guess I wanted to get something that stood out from the pvc army in some way.
Actually, the gold pants are pretty interesting. There are sparkles embedded into her pants and vest, so there’s extra texture and shine when the light hits it just right. Topping off the hip huggers is a bitchin’ belt. It’s like she’s ready to dance for the Tokyo Cowboys.
Other than the wardrobe and the rendering of the shiny material, it’s a pretty average figure that steps up a notch due to these uncommon details. But, those are why I got it.
Another uncommon detail she’s got are rendered teeth, which are always tricky to do without it looking weird in a simplified style such as this. There were a couple of otherwise good shots I didn’t use because the light hit her teeth. I didn’t notice her teeth until I took a couple of tight shots around her face, but man my eye just kept going to her teeth. It would have been okay if her teeth were just a single mass, but the sculptor sort of rendered each of her front teeth.
And Now For Some Metablogging
Looking forward on the pants front, it seems like GSC’s Canaan shipped yesterday, so expect a review in like three months. ^^; I’ve lost the need to post stuff quickly. I still totally enjoy taking the shots once I get around to it, but mainly I’ve just relaxed a lot as far as blogging itself goes.
I have 1/5th the daily traffic today as I did from 2007-2009 and I’m not bothered by it. What brought about this change in attitude was selling advertising and sponsorship slots. Having someone pay me so they could put ads in front of the eyeballs visiting this site meant HappySoda was providing a service. Getting paid for this is fair and a great thing, but it made me understand that providing a service wasn’t what I wanted to do. All I really wanted from figure blogging was a glorified show and tell. Here’s what I got! So, I turned down new sponsor requests, didn’t renew campaigns, and then once those were done stopped worrying about generating traffic. While I miss the money, it feels great to not care about traffic. Really, amazingly great.
There are hundreds of figure bloggers now and each one has a space in which they personalize their massed produced item by making photo pictorials, figure comics, composite images, etc. And doing it better and better. This is fantastic.
She needs a disco ball.
I KNOW!!! Didn’t have one laying around.
Yup, the figure blogosphere has really grown well. There are so many interresting people with creative and awesome skills to meet ^^
“20% more pants”, I loled on that ^^;; I should evalute that percentage over my collection as well…
This Iori looks great, love her curves. Those gold clothes reminds me of some chocolate wrapping, and makes me want to tear it up and eat her *dribbles*
Haha ^^;;;
Yes. Even just two years ago it was easy to keep track of almost everyone who blogged and had an interest in figures. Definitely a much different place today. I like seeing people get involved with the hobby and making things with it.
Oooh shiny outfit. Been away from figure world for a while, so I don’t remember seeing this one around. Looks nice, still it has those “crab” things on her forehead that I don’t like that much
.
I’ve got some figures with pants, but mostly are with skirts and stockings ;P
I think anime designers are afraid of foreheads in general, since most anime characters have bangs and you never ever see their foreheads. So they just had to put the crab claws in for a little bit of forehead coverage…
Hmm…were you the one who mentioned once about pants being lacking in female figures? Now that I think about it, only my Canaan figma has pants.
I find it interesting that Iori clothes have a texture like that, can really say I seen a figure with something like that before.
It’s nice not worrying about traffic and just posting stuff because you like it, but do take credit if it wasn’t for your tutorials I wouldn’t have been able to take half decent pictures like I do now.
I did mention something about that before.
I’m glad that some people were able to get ideas from the tutorials I posted a couple of years ago. Thanks!
I like the detail used for her outfit.
.-= phossil´s last blog: Nendoroid Takane Manaka =-.
Awesome love her dress all shinny and so ^^
.-= ImperioMoe´s last blog: Vistazo a Erica Hartmann =-.
[...] El fotografo es el reconocido HappySoda al que damos nuestro respetos ^^. Más fotografías en su blog [...]
I remember how just a year ago I thought I was doing something somewhat unique, as I’d known about many japanese sites but not many in English. Then once I started I realized just how wrong I was. But I’m not deterred by this, despite being a stat whore, I, like you, really just like the glorified show and tell aspects of it.
I’m trying to get more pants and shorts into my collections. I think the only pants in my collection are worn by Horo, which isn’t a problem really but pants need to be more diverse with who they’re worn on. As for shorts, so far none of my figures wear shorts, soon Black Rock Shooter and Misaka will be wearing some.
I haven’t been a big fan of these IdolMaster figures, but I do like her exposed midriff, and those sparkly pants are a neat addition.
[...] super rats from HappySoda found his blogging happiness in letting go of advertising and is loving how he doesn’t have to care about the monthly viewcount anymore. As a fellow blogger I kinda feel happy for the guy – after all, in this business finding what gives you the most pleasurable experience is vital. Most bloggers end up quitting sooner or later because they just can’t find the enjoyment anymore or never had it in the first place. I was close to that last August as you may remember, but all I needed was a little break to recharge my motivation. [...]
Nice! She looks legit to me! And seconded on the disco ball.
Quite a slick looking purchase, I’d have to say. You’re always amazing with your figure photography, so she probably looks a lot better in your photos that we are lead to believe.
It’s definitely excellent to see the blogosphere grow so much. You’re right, it’s much harder to keep up with all the blogs out there now than it used to be. But I’m also glad that many of my friends whom I met so long ago during those days, are still around. Great to be able to sit back with the old comrades and say “yeah, those were the days”.
I still remember when you gave me pointers on my figure photography. Yeah, those were the days.
.-= radiant´s last blog: Kagamikusagi! Photoshop Love! <3 =-.
I have no problem with [girl] figures with pants. In fact, I really like this figure, she’s very cute and appealing ^^. I thought about getting her but my completionist tendencies might have gotten the better of me and with Idolm@ster, that’s a bad thing xD
Also, I’m glad you’re still having fun with blogging. That is the important ingredient. My blog gets minimal traffic and I have no sponsors, but I have fun blogging and that’s why I keep doing it ^^.
.-= anonymous_object´s last blog: Boo Boo KagaBoo! =-.
I don’t know much about Idolmaster but I really like the outfit. Her fancy pants and pose make for a great figure. I like the funky ball in the background too ^^
.-= Persocom´s last blog: Chi In Party Dress (Convention Exclusive) =-.
I like the big giant albino mutant sea urchin. And I like the figure too, though I don’t know much about the Idolm@ster franchise besides the fact that it’s frustrating that Namco hasn’t brought it over to the United States; it’s the sort of game I’d pick up purely for curiosity’s sake.
I still need to do a figure collection wardrobe survey one of these days. Looking at my shelves, I don’t think I have a single figure of a character wearing blue jeans, which is sort of strange. I’ve got characters wearing skirts, shorts, underpants, combat bodysuits, a spider, and nothing at all, but none are wearing jeans.
I obsessed over traffic quite a bit earlier this year because I was hoping to hit a particular milestone, but once that passed I haven’t stressed over it. I like looking at statistics because I enjoy analyzing trends, but my major motivation has always been to get better at taking pictures rather than attracting more viewers, and I’ve never really thought about putting up advertising or participating in some of the mass blog feed exchanges that are out there.
.-= Tier´s last blog: Elf from Lineage II =-.
It makes me happy to see that your primary focus is not money and stats, but that you do this because you enjoy it. That’s the best reason to do anything.
.-= Colette´s last blog: What Toys Are Up To: The Contest! =-.
I totally agree that there are way too few girls with pants in the japanese visual culture.Giving Girls some pants would reduce one of the selling points to crowd though so we get all those pantsu shot enabling skirts.
I luckily never bothered with my hits and I can jump in and out of blogging whenever I want without feeling guilty.Its true that there are alot of figure blogs out there nowadays but the probably most amazing thing is that you inspired a big chunk of the english speaking figure bloggers with your reviews.Thats quite remarkable
.-= Blowfish´s last blog: Melo-Melo-Melon! =-.
Ya, figure blogging has grown a lot over the years. I think it might have to do with tsuki-board to get everyone together under one place. I recently did a figure photography panel at my local convention and got a bigger audience than last year.
Loving the shiny pants lol. Something very different indeed that makes her stand out.
.-= AS´s last blog: Kawaii-Kon 2010 Day 1 =-.
Those pants are so detailed and shiny 0_0 Colour me impressed!
.-= lostty´s last blog: Name That Anime – Screencap Challenge! #7 =-.
Boo. Unlike most figure bloggers I still don’t have a good camera. I look and see which ones they’re using and then check google/ebay/amazon and those things are $400+! How do you all afford those cameras AND figures? But once I get another job a lightbox and camera are the first things I’m getting.
As for Iori: Never really paid this figure any mind. Looking at these shots make me regret that…
.-= G.K. Sil Kamina´s last blog: Artbook Thoughts (Sorta): Mother 3 Handbook – A Guide to Nowhere =-.
i’m impressed
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“After I left Dodgeball in 2007,” Crowley said over a beer at a loud, dark-paneled bar called the Scratcher, near his Cooper Square office, “I worked for a company called Area Code, designing interactive games using real-world spaces. Like a game of Monopoly played by thousands of people all using their GPS locations to make moves.”
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What a beautiful looking anime character here, Is she’s the only one…
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