Late March/Early April Loot

We'll start off small with Broccoli's Puella Magi Madoka Magica Microfiber Mini Towel from the magical girl deconstruction series of the same name. Like most Broccoli character goods, the towel is well made and the image is crisp and vivid.

Also from Broccoli is a B2 size Madoka scroll featuring art from the series of the girls in magi-mode. A bit generic, I suppose, but the character designs speak for themselves.

I will be lugging my books around campus in style for the rest of the semester with a COSPA messenger bag featuring Kirino Kousaka from last season's 'Oreno Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai'. Like all COSPA goods, it is high quality and the bag is heavy duty. I will think nothing of throwing Norton's Anthology of English Literature in there several times a day. There is also a certain fashionable quality to all of COSPA's stuff that you really have to see to understand. COSPA goods always have a very clean and tasteful look to them. Highly recommended.

As a judge and tournament organizer for Wizards of the Coast, I play a lot of Magic the Gathering. Unfortunately, most of the artwork on American deck sleeves look like Heavy Metal magazine puked up some random images from an early 80s D&D campaign on them. So I buy stuff like this. Pictured are Axia's Touhou Project Character Sleeves featuring my waifu, Hakurei Reimu. I can't really comment on quality because this is my first purchase from Axia but the artwork is very nice and the sleeves seem to be comparable to the stuff made by Broccoli and Bushiroad.

OK, so my current schedule has me waking up at 6am every day. I thought to myself as I was drinking coffee out of my mother's "#1 Grandma" mug that perhaps I should invest in a nice mug or two from COSPA. Well, I ordered these Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the MOVIE mugs and as you can see they are cups, not mugs. To me, a mug has a handle. I don't know. There must have been something awry in the translation. Anyway, they are very nice indeed. Unfortunately, I don't drink nearly as much tea as I would like so these will probably collect dust for a while. Moving right along.

I commute over and hour to school and as such, find myself paying many tolls. Invariably, change begins to accumulate on and about my person. Sometimes my pockets sound like reindeer bells and people can hear me coming from 50 feet away except when I arrive I don't have any Christmas presents and everyone throws rotten fruit at me. So what I did was, I got this coin case. It is Broccoli's Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Mikoto's coin case and now I get pelted with 30% less fruit. Go me.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with or even enjoy Denpa (read: over-the-top moe moe kyun kawaii uguu pop) music. I don't even know how much I enjoy it. All I know is when I'm having a bad day and I put it on it puts me in a good mood. Other times it makes me rage. Anyhow, what we have here is the limited edition version of premier Denpa stalwart MOSAIC.WAV's new album 'Gin'yu Planet AKIBA-POP'. It comes with a bunko as well as a book cover for your tanks. The packaging is really sweet and resembles an eroge box. Just smaller.

I'm not gonna talk much about this. It's a little embarrassing, actually.

Pictured is Max Factory's Caro Ru Lushe: Barrier Jacket version figma, otherwise known as the nicest figma I have ever owned. I'm gonna preface this by saying that I have gotten a little bored with recent figma releases and haven't ordered any in a while. Well, if this figma is any indication of where they're taking the line, I will probably start picking up more. Really, there is so much going on with this figure that she deserves her own post, but I don't really have that kinda time so I'm gonna keep it short and sweet for you. Sculpt/paint job/articulation/sturdiness of manufacture/range of accessories all 10/10. Really, the accessories are 11/10. I will probably never get bored with Caro.

From AmiAmi itself, is everyone's favorite Electronic Warfare Angeloid, Type Beta, Nymph. The second in what appears to be a three-part line including the already-released Ikaros and the forthcoming Astraea. Very, very nice figure with a sculpt by Kopzuki Hajime from Little Pink Summer. In a world where Nendoroids dominate the super-deformed market, it's nice to see some competition emerge to drive the genre forward.

Although somewhat ecchi for my taste, there is no denying the appeal of Chara-ani's Saeko Busujima from the amazing action-horror series, Highschool of the Dead. This figure does a great job capturing her essence. The sculpt is well executed, and we get lots of stuff to play with. She comes with a sword, sheathe, and a boken, as well as a maid's apron and a removable "wet-look" (SO WET!!!) shirt. My only complaint is that they didn't paint Saeko's nipples. I mean, come on. If you're gonna make a cast-off and include nipples in the sculpt, paint the freaking things.

So, WAVE decided to surprise us with a break from the Beach Queens series and re-release their Erika Sendou figure, from the visual novel/anime, Fortune Arterial. I really like this figure. The sculpt is done by zenko and it is hyper-stylized but clean with Erika's proportions being very lovely (DEM THIGHS) and the attention to detail quite exquisite for a $60 figure. Check out her penny loafers or school crest. The paint job is also very lush, and her skin has a soft matte finish, which is always nice.

Alter gives us a treat with their version of Ryoko Okami (otherwise known as teenage Taiga) from the light novel/anime series, 'Okami-san to Shichi-nin no Nakama Tachi'. As always, Alter's Hojun Otoyama does an absolutely top-notch job of capturing the character's essence and bringing it to life at 1/8th scale. Everything about this figure is fantastic, but as with all of Otoyama's work, the face is what reels you in. Expressive and endearing, I rated this figure 9/10 on MFC.

Good Smile Company invites us all to enjoy Autumn all year round with their 1/8 Nadeko Sengoku from Bakemonogatari. This Nadeko is captivating and demure, and GSC has captured her subtle beauty as only their sculptors can. Nadeko has many option parts, as well, and no detail is sacrificed from her head all the way to her base. 10/10.

Finally, the long awaited Tony Taka-designed Hatsune Miku by Max Factory arrives and delivers on all accounts. This is now the definitive Miku figure, wresting that title away from the 1/8 version by Good Smile, which also has an impending re-release. Taka's Miku is gorgeous and elaborate. Every line a masterstroke of art by the creator and lovingly rendered by Max Factory. This is has more of the artistic gravitas of a sculpture than a figure and so I give it a 10/10.