Her Triggerheart Exelica
April 16th, 2008
Click image to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Exelica looked away from him. He moved to see her face, to look at it for the last time, but she turned to keep it from him as her face was already masked in war. His voice was pleading and distraught. There wasn’t time for anything more between them, an imperial attack cruiser was closing on their ship, the Itoshigo, and if their ship couldn’t warp out safely, everyone on board would die. The imperial attack cruiser KMFDM-45 would be in kill range before the damaged Itoshigo could finish the warp sequence. This was where Exelica came in. The crew frantically worked around her, replacing energy cells, loading mines, and installing a full compliment of anti-locking charges into her exosuit. He was crying, but so was she. That was why she could barely hear him beg her to stay with him.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
The chief medical officer of the Itoshigo pressed a cold injection gun against Exelica’s neck and pulled the trigger to administer a stimulant into her blood. The doctor read his scanner. Exelica’s BPM increased thirty percent and the brainwave output jagged, stabbing up and down like a sewing machine needle with the pedal jammed full to the floor, so he walked away satisfied knowing the overdose calculation was correct. He threw the gun in the trash at the launch bay exit and sat in his office with the lights kept off. The crew cut all the hard-lines to the exosuit and hoisted her onto the ejection module. Soon, the increased flow of oxygen would rush Exelica’s brain and her eyes would grow hyper sensitive, sending her into euphoria.
It was a suicide mission. Even if she survived the mission, the boost drug overdose would kill Exelica. In t-minus 9, she would be ejected into deep space to stand between the critically damaged Itoshigo and the imperial death bird.
In five minutes Exelica will be dead and the Itoshigo will have warped to safety. She will have protected the one she loves, but most likely won’t even remember his name when her brain overloads and her heart reaches 350 BPM and stops working.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Triggerheart Exelica Review
Alter’s 1:8 scale Triggerheart Exelica figure finally hit the street late March 2008 after being delayed from the original December 2007 release. Unfortunately, the falling US dollar made an already expensive figure way more expensive and the monstrous box she comes in is the dagger when it comes to shipping costs. See Moy with the box. All said and done, that’s $200 USD.
Exelica is an awesome figure and as close to a mech as I’ll probably get, and what a sexy weapon at that. Her plug-suit has an attractive gloss as well as being form fitting which does that dual reveal/conceal thing that adds to the allure factor. In fact, I’m happy with all the surfaces as far as how they render the material.
This kind of pose is a challenge to mount I suppose, especially with all of those mech pieces attached to her. The wing pieces and tail piece are actually attached to the arm on the base rather than to Exelica. Exelica sits on a form fitting seat on the arm. She’s not fastened, so she can move about, though the pieces mounted on either side of her keep her in place and the seat is designed where she fits quite well on it. It’s an “interesting” mount location.
Even though the figure costs a ton, the cleanliness of the finish is about par with other Alter figures. On the one hand, Alter finishes better than anyone, so it’s an excellent finish, but it’s a minor disappointment to not see the bar raised as far as mold and paint cleanliness goes on a figure this extravagant.
If price is no object, I highly recommend Exelica. It’s such a beast!
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Other Stuff
The overly white pictures were done by setting my camera with a High-Key setting and overexposing, then adjusting the levels in Photoshop Elements to keep the light colors very light while getting the density of the darker colors to normal. It’s not necessary to use a high-key setting on-camera, it just saves having to adjust values in Photoshop. Actually, I think I un-high-keyed the first three photos with my adjustments. The fourth one is the only one even close to having that high-key look.
I’m getting into more processing than I have before and am slowly getting into it. I mentioned a couple of months ago that I didn’t do much processing at all because it was boring, but isn’t that the way stuff goes? Once you mention something, it changes.
I didn’t diffuse the lights on the white shots and just went with a bare-bulb light source. Having the white paper all around helped soften it up a little, but still I think it makes the light on that first shot a little more harsh.
And if you wish to see a more comprehensive view of Exelica from all angles, foo-bar-baz is about the best place you can go.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
Click to enlarge or view on Flickr.
21 Responses to “Her Triggerheart Exelica”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Reply
Register your own Gravatar comment icon, unless you really like being a prinny.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I can’t believe you actually bought this O.o
I was very interested in this figure when I saw it but once I saw the price I definitely backed down. She’s really an awesome figure, congrats in getting her ^^
April 16th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
It was the shipping price that made me not buying this figurine.., whopping 6k yen ._.
I like the black bg more than the white one
I think the 4th white bg picture is a litle bit overexposed, some of the details are lost
April 16th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
have to agree with ron~ shipping price for her is just too costly, so I didn’t get her either. Love the first blackbg shot, those lights in the background looks like starlight ^^
April 16th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Awesome pictures as usual.
After getting Exelica myself, I was really hoping that you would do the same and post a photoshoot. Looks like my prayers were answered =)
Shipping definitively hurt. At least I was able to factor out some of it by including a Figma and Nendoroid, which fit in the same box. Now the problem is going to be how to handle with storage ^_^;; I am in a similar situation as Moy. I live in an efficiency with not enough space, but once I move to a bigger place this probably be the first figure I unpack.
All in all, an awesome figure and a definitive candidate for figure of the year.
P.S. do you have a “landscape” version of the seventh picture? Something like the first black background picture with a less pronounced angle; it would be an awesome wallpaper.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Hmm… Delicious looking figure ^^;
April 17th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Hey rats, are you working or something? How do you get all these figurine cash? I had to cut back on my purchases just to survive college.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Post-processing is another fun element in digital photography. It lets you be creative in ways that are usually outside the scope of photography techniques.
I had pre-ordered this but actually canceled the order due to various car expenses. It does make me regret doing so as I knew it would a totally awesome figure, but perhaps I’ll pick one up another day.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Belela-san, when I first pre-ordered in the middle of 2007, it probably would have cost $150 total, but the dollar vs. the yen hasn’t been kind to the US collector.
Ron, the melting of the white into the white was kind of what I was going for, maybe a little too much in that one huh.^^;
Valho, I wasn’t really sure what I was going for with those dots. In a couple of the ones on my HD it looks a lot like festival fireworks. Kind of does here too.
VManOfMana, I’ll check when I’m at home and see if I do.
Windbell, delicious indeed, especially with some whipped…err wait…^^
LianYL, when I was in college I could never afford figures. Was always broke because I spent all my money on beer and the arcade. I’m out of school, have a job, and after paying for rent and the automobile, I have a good bit left over, which should go to savings and investments, but are mostly blown on stupid stuff like beer, figures, and dvds.
Adun, cars, while they do indeed rock, sure are expensive. As far as the PP goes, at some point I’d like to be able to do some funky stuff.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Whoa, incredible shots you’ve got here. While my Exelica may come within the month, I’m rather afraid that I’m not going to have enough money for her (7,000 Php, roughly 166.5 USD). >_>
April 17th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Haha I had the feeling you would introduce us some pictures with this amazing figure soon ^^
Lovely purchase.
The 5th picture is just fantastic, like is there were tons of burning particles emitted from her reactors. Reminds me a bit of those new Gundam-00, though particles are green.
I managed to find a lot of willpower to resist buying it ^^;
April 17th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Nice work; I love the effect in the first photos. Not particular forgiving with the details, as ron~ said, but still pretty cool.
Holy Fresnel, that bodysuit is glossy. It’s like an oil slick, but better.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Hahha… I understand what you meant by “interesting” mount location…
April 18th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Ahhhh~ Lucky bugger.
I didn’t get my Excelia yet, though apparantly it’s in transit. I assume at this point that it was held over by customs since it’s an item above CDN$75, which means it probably qualifies for customs surcharges. I just hope they can’t read the yen price on the box.
I like the KMFDM reference in the storypost! Is that from the actual game or did you just decide to put the industrial-rock/metal group in there as a cameo? :3
April 19th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
give the sky girls a run for their money. ^^
April 20th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
That’s a very nice figure, but wow, $200 is more than I’d pay for one. Then again, I only have three figures, so I’m not quite as devoted. I would consider $200 for something else I collected though, so I can understand paying for it if it’s something you really like.
It has some good detail, but definitely keep that one in a secure space. Looks like one tumble might knock a lot of that off.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
How do you clean your Figures?
I always stay tired before clean my figures should to have way more easy.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:01 am
The falling US dollar, though it rose a bit and seems to be steady now, really hurt us. I really wanted to get her but the price was too high. Girls and robots, what a great combination ^^.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Ohayo menna san ^^
the pics is so cool ^^
It just like real ^^
and the girl is so cute ^^
April 25th, 2008 at 1:55 am
LOL. I would get her if she wasn’t that loli, but I guess 200 USD (less here though, weak shit USD) is not worth it anymore. With that money, I could go on a week long vacation to a pristine white sanded beach with bikini girls bouncing around.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Her colors look so vibrant and she’s pretty cute.
Nice shots ^^
May 5th, 2008 at 3:08 am
I have noticed your recent photos have been quite different lately. It’s a nice touch you’re giving to the photos so keep it up :3
I quite like the white photos since it does somewhat give her that laboratory feel~
Excelica is one of those figures I wish I had but I really have no room for. I need to grab myself more shelf space.