Throwback

Ah, toy photography. How you’ve changed my life. My wallet is empty, but my heart is full tho. I was talking about toys yesterday–because when am I not, when I realized that it’s been two years since I first started collecting toys. Nendoroids, Figmas, Revoltechs, Legos, etc, etc, etc.

Honestly, I think it was my seatmate’s fault back at my old job. It had been a start-up animation company, and we were fixing the office. I didn’t know where to sit, but I sure as heck did not want to sit facing a blank wall.

And then I saw our chief animator, set up his little corner. I’ll save you the long description, and just tell you now–he was buried behind a wall of toys.

He told me something I’d never forget– “You’re gonna go broke if you start collecting toys.” I swore to myself I never would, and went on about my days with a pocketful of cash. One morning, I woke up, and I wanted a Nendoroid. It was a simple one, and I figured I’d just wanted one. It was that or a hamster, and my new place didn’t allow pets, so I got a bootleg Nendoroid from Comic Alley.

And then I never stopped getting toys.

Looking back, I thought I just got ‘infected’ by my seatmate’s love for toys. Recently, I’ve wanted dolls, and I came across Blythes. I suddenly remembered that I had wanted a Blythe back when I was nineteen and a penniless student. I guess I wasn’t ‘just infected’ by my seatmate’s love for toys, though that was one of the biggest factors.

I’d like to think that I didn’t choose the toy collecting life–the toy collecting life chose me. Hahahahaha. Corny, yes, I know. But I feel good, believing that I am a true blue toy collector at heart. 🙂 Here’s a little look into the past–semi chronologically. 🙂

1. New job reward for myself!  It was honestly a huge step for me. I’ve just began to adult, and I relied heavily on my parents’ advice–but they didn’t know that. 🙂 The job turned out to be horrible, but I learned SO MUCH. Also, got into Figmas.
2.  Believe it or not, these photos were taken after I was dumped. :))) It was weird, honestly. My ex was into toys, but after he dumped me, I didn’t want to touch my toys for a while. And then I picked them up again after awhile and never let go. 🙂 Toys before boys. Hahahaha.       
3. My last day in my first apartment. A ton of mean roommates, a ton of weird nights and days, but I paid my bills on time and survived. I still have my keys as a keepsake of that time. I had to move out alone because I had just been dumped as aforementioned, and I took three cab trips. On my last trip, I brought Lupin and the motorcyle along. I was shooting at the McDonalds when a guy came up to me and said hi. Cute. But I wasn’t ready to move on yet. The only guy I wanted to spend time with was this bad boy and the master thief that rides him. 🙂
4. I met someone new. No, I’m pretty sure I met THE ONE for me already. He’d carry my toys around while I did my shoots, which is no small feat– I bring about four bags for shoots. :))     
5. 2015–Put a little effort in my toy photography. Props, DIYs and whatnots. 🙂 Toys were also present in romantic times of my life.   
6. Friends. Not many people know, but I’m a horrible friend. Grew up spending a lot of time to myself, so the concept of hanging out and y’know, all those things friends do was a little foreign to me. Toy photography really help me meet lovely new people.                      

Anyway, the rest is a blur, but I guess no matter what happens to me, toys will always be in my life. 🙂

The Night Wasabi Almost Killed Me [ FIGMA 037 REVIEW]

Aaaand a quick review of Figma 037, Tsuruya-San Maid Ver.

So I needed a toy badly–toys are my stress reliever, and a friend of mine was lovely enough to sell me his Tsuruya-San. I was desperate, and I really wanted a new toy to play with, so I took him up on it and brought Tsuruya-San home.

Mind you, I got her second hand, so all the spare parts are in the Figma bag.

Tsuruya-San comes with the ff: Ten hands, a winking face and a naughty face, yakisoba on a plate, two glasses of water, chopsticks, a tray, a front hair piece for Mikuru, an extra piece of hair to plug in the hole from behind her hair and of course, the regular figma stand and bag.

While I was waiting for my friend to show up, I read up a little on this figure. One of the most interesting things I saw about her was that her boobs were soft. You could actually press them. Not that I planned to, but that was something new.

Here’s the back of the box. Quick explanation of the front part for Mikuru, you can lend Mikuru the body if you have other Mikurus lying around and let her use the front part that comes with Tsuruya because it has a maid hat.

And now for the actual figure review.

The Paint Job: 10/10

The first thing I look for in any figure, Tsuruya-san’s outfit is pretty simple, so I do expect the paint job to be perfect. Tsuruya-san did not disappoint. The lines are crisp and clean and there’s no bleeding on mine.

As you can see, clean lines all throughout.

Admittedly, when I first saw it, I thought they messed up her bust part, but they didn’t. Perfect paint job all throughout. Even the details on the maid’s headband.

THE SCULPT: 7.5/10

Her hair is really well sculpted. It looks dynamic from any angle, which is pretty amazing. As you can see, there’s a glob of hair right in the middle which you can pull off to reveal the hole you place the stand peg in. I’m not one for stands, so the fact that she can stand on her own gets her plus points.

The front part of her hair is made of soft material which makes it easier to pose her around. Not shown on the picture–her apron is also soft and bendable.

Here she is side ways, doing some sort of weird Michael Jackson thing. Haha.

Three-fourths, left side.

Right side.

Three-fourths right side.

The Accessories: 8/10

Nothing much to see. Everything’s pretty simple when it comes to the sculpt. I guess the most complicated thing is the yakisoba noodles, but it looks fine. I both love and hate that they included chopsticks. SO TINY. An eight for the effort.

Yes, I repeated a picture. But look at that winking eye real closely. Closer. Closer. I dunno if you can see it, but I hope you can–they actually made a little bump right beneath the winking eye line to make her a little more realistic. That, I absolutely love.

Here’s her naughty face and claw like hands. Oooh, and cameo by Figma 214–Shimakaze! I was actually kinda slow in picking up Tsuruya-chan until I came across this face plate of hers. Then I was like, “DUDE, I GOTTA GET IT!”

Play-ability: 9/10

I’m giving her just a nine out of ten because she can’t sit down. Poor girl will never be able to sit down with that skirt.

She can kneel though, which is a good thing. She kinda looks like a neko-chan right here.

Oh here’s another feature I love about her–her bends backwards, so it doesn’t get in the way of posing, unlike Shimakaze’s hair. 😦

Joints aren’t that obvious. Joints aren’t a big deal to me, I kinda expect them, ’cause they’re, y’know, toys, not real people, but it’s nice when they’re not obvious.

Let me just state an obvious fact right here–she can stand on her own, and I’m happy with that.

Negatives:

I don’t know about yours, but for some reason, if I use the winking face, the front part of the hair doesn’t fall off. But if I use the naughty face–POOF! It falls off easily!

Selling point: The naughty face & her boobs.

Verdict: Totally fun figma, and if you’re a Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya fan, get it. Get them all. She’s versatile, easy to photograph in lots of places and fun.

So I brought her to dinner, and it just so happens that I had Japanese food for tonight–yay! Or so I thought. Tonight I learned that wasabi can kill you. Little background here, I LOVE WASABI. I put it on everything. So tonight, when the waitress ((I think she remembered me ’cause I asked for too much wasabi)) dumped almost a tablespoon of wasabi in front of me, I was totally happy. I kinda just sprinkled it with soy sauce. I was fine for the first few bites, but then the soy sauce totally kinda evaporated or was absorbed by my food or the wasabi. The next thing I knew, I couldn’t breath, like my throat got some wasabi in it and was so irritated that it tried closing itself up. Thankfully, it was only like that for a few seconds, then I was back to downing wasabi like it was nothing–only a little more cautious. So, two things tonight: Tsuruya-San Maid Version is fun, I might get the whole gang because she’s just so much fun, and the other thing–wasabi can kill, don’t underestimate it.

NOTE: Her hair. T_T It is sharp and I’ve cut myself several times. Srsly, what is NOT trying to kill me today?

Love lots,

L