Charolotte Dunois Original Series Maid in the Dream Ver. 1/7 review

What excuses me being lazy? Nothing really. My computer died, and im stuck using my step-dads computer until further notice. But things change. I got a new display shelf, more hours at work, stock-market money, and got my car fixed. With absence comes new things. Like this Figure review of Charlotte Dunois 1/7th.


Just to clear things up, this figure is based off of the light novel, from the Choco illustrations. Also to clear more things up,it is officially titles Charlotte Dunois Original series maid in the dream version. Its sculpted by team Genisis and distributed by Griffon. Now i know what you are thinking "griffon so questionable, please no why did you buy this" trust me the same thing crossed my mind at least 4 times while it was shipping. Honestly I was a little worried and crossed my fingers hoping that griffon would not  fuck up. It's asking a lot, I know. But for once in my life i was being optimistic, so thanks for that feeling griffon. It was a new and exciting experience for me.

So she came in the mail, and to be honest I did not have much room on shelves to really display her. So she came out of the box for a grand total of 5 mins when she first arrived. Fast forward 1 week later and I have a new display shelf. So, when she finally came out and I got a proper look at her, I was feeling a mix of emotions. Surprised, happy, and relived were probably the top 3 emotions I was feeling. Why? Because griffon didn't completely fuck it.

Her sculpting is done really good, and stays true to the Choco illustration to the dream maid version. Not too much to complain about in terms of look. But in functionality, there is a small very little issue that you over look the second you find a spot for here on your self. That being, her legs. She is kneeling down and if she is not on a flat surface there is little chance of her not falling over on the right side (her left). The main reason she tips over is because of the center of gravity she heavily relies on her left leg to support her, and with no divits or places to attach her to the base shes just max chilling. But like I said if you find a place on your nice flat shelf, all is well.

Now, painting. Its done well enough that you can tell that a lot of work and care went into planing her color scheme. Granted that scheme is tan, blonde, white, and a little bit of black. There are a few flaws on the back of her head where the maid apron can cover up, so if you are  like me it really wont matter much. Its not even huge deals like discolor or things like that, its just tiny things that nerds like me would only notice under a magnifying glass.

As far as gimmicks. Little to be had. You can take away her apron and she has a shoe that is off. That's it, BUT she looks great.

If you are a fan of the WHOLE series and enjoy the light novel this is a must pick up for any IS/charl fan. She looks good, and Isnt too expensive.


I give this figure a lightnovel/10

Super Street Fighter IV - Balrog/Vega/Claw - HQF - 1/8 (Tsume)

Well I'm here with a rather huge purchase, it's a 1/8th but a 1/8th of a grown man! So it's rather huge compared to a lot of my other figures. He even dwarfs my 1/6th Tomoyo who used to be the biggest. Guess I'll see if I can write something coherent as my ambien lulls me off to dream land. Gotta wake up early to go see Hatsune Miku in New York!

I've always been a huge fan of Vega so this was sort of a no-brainer for me.I was a little worried buying something from Tsume since I've had no experience before but you can really see they're doing top quality work when you look at the box.

Now I've got this massive thing! Even the box is way over bearing. I took me a good while to free Vega from this thing.

Since I was an early enough orderer on the website I got my box signed by the art team, which was nice to see almost feel like I owe them a thank you card.

 Barely could get him in the light box here not sure if upgrading it for outliers like this would be worth it. In totality it's a very striking sculpt This angle looks a little bad because of the angle I shot it from but I was pretty worried the light box might bind some of the stand.

Planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ Review

Hey this is a review from another site cross posted to this blog because 1. it's easier than doing a new post and 2. because it sort of shares the same sort of topic as this blog. It's generally a review written for a less initiated audience than anyone who is actually reading this blog but I figured I'd put it here to save myself a headache of actually writing new content. Yeah I know I'm a piece of shit, sorry.

Our Heroine Yumemi

I feel like in deciding to review Planetarian I may have bit off more than I can chew. Planetarian came out back in 2004 and received a fan translation in 2005. It only recently received a licensed translation because some increased interest in Japanese Visual Novel games has made them somewhat profitable in America. Most people who are interested in this kind of thing probably have played the fansub and they might buy the product, either from a sense of responsibility for a desire to encourage future localizations.

People who are interested in this kind of thing and haven’t played the fansub probably will buy it. I personally would like to convince those who are not at all interested in this kind of thing to buy it and give it a try. This is probably a fool’s errand since most people not interested are often violently opposed to this sort of thing. Though writing a review with anyone else in mind is a waste of time.

If you have an interest in Visual Novel then I’d say definitely give this a try as it’s very enjoyable and represents a pretty high level of craft and story telling without being a 300+ hour affair with Manzai, hidden routes, and various dead ends. It’s short, it’s sweet and it’s very good. For the rest of you, well let’s start by explaining exactly what this thing is.

Minase Iori - 1/8 by Phat!

Well it only took about a month to get out of my post-con depression, YMMV, but going out and having a lot of fun always brings me crashing back down to reality when it's over. Though here I am and I'm ready to retreat from reality, so join me fine friend as we live our lives in full reverse, let us regress to our precious computer wombs and surround ourselves with protective talismans of moe!

TripleRod: Fansubs are not killing anime.

Is anime dying? Some idiots actually think it is. So yes, anime is dying. But why? Did moe kill anime? But what about terrible people that stream anime? Could it even be the fact that most anime have tiny budgets? If you ask your typical fan outside of Japan the answer is clear, and that answer? Fansubbing.

I just got back from Otakon, it was a blast. I bitched and moaned, I was in euphoria with all the fedora's, and I came the the conclusion I'm a lazy out of shape pile of shit. But what truly happened was my ultimate epiphany, and that was fansubbing is killing anime. Because of fansubbing anime sales are dropping here in the USA. Publishers like Funimation are suffering, because of awful people like you and me. I watch fansubs, I don't buy my anime from publishers and I'm an all around terrible anime fan. Never mind I've sunk paychecks to buy figures, artwork, and I even buy manga. So where is this sarcastic excuse of a blog going? To be blunt and some what harsh, if you actually think that fansubbing is killing anime you are unaware of what really is going on. 

"But what is going on?" is something you might be thinking. So let me tell you what really is going on, something that is an unpopular opinion to people that don't really think about what is being told to them.

Fansubbing is not killing anime. If anything the English directors are killing anime. BUT HOW? Well shitty voice acting. Here in USA directors want voice actors to use same voice for every thing ever. Vic Mignogna is suspect #1 for this terrible act, right? Wrong. Vic Mignogna is a talented guy that loves his job, he loves to act with his wide vocal range and loves anime. So why do we get the same voice over and over again? well because idiot directors tell him to use the same voice over and over and over again. That is the real issues, we are sick and tired of hearing the same voice for every character ever in every anime that is dubbed. Some might not be, but its clear that most think that way.

How can we stop this? Well the answer is simple. Just give the actors free range to make up an original voice for new characters that they play. This is what happens in Japan 9 time out of 10. A director tell them what he wants and what a the role's personality is and they go off of that. It actually amazing how many diffrent voices you hear from the same Japanese actor. If you think I'm kidding just youtube. Fuck never mind that too difficult here ill just embed a video:

Amazing all that talent, because directors in Japan understand that every character should not sound the same in every anime ever. Why? Mainly because if every voice sounded the same people would never get immersed in an anime. Also because people would stop buying anime and plastic figures of their favorite characters. Its not the job of a voice actor to sell anime or just simply voice a character. But it is their PASSION to make people fall in love with a character buy finally giving fans a voice of, up to that point, a unvoiced character that was developed with manga, light novels or just scripts.

So is fansubbing killing anime (in the USA). No what is killing anime are directors who have askew opinions because of idiot fans who love it when every anime personality sounds the fucking same.

Case and point? Cowboy Bebop is only popular in the USA because its truly is the only anime with a great dub. Want more proof? here have a link. CLICK ME

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Pictures are of anime that I think had good English voice acting. Feel free to point me in the direction of other great dubs I wont know about..

I waited in line for 3 hours, for anime.

The kit :)

Otakon, what can I say? The
merch room was okay, some of the panels were good, some of the panels were bad. Most cosplays were half ass, some were really good. Lots of girls holding other girls hands, and lots of lonely people too. You would think that if you go to a con you would be interested in the panels and things of that sort. But some people just don't do that, and i can understand why. What made my Otakon? Well something that made it a little more plesent was the fact I copped the RG Destiny Gundam Heine Westenfluss Color Version. But what REALLY REALLY made it was the fact that I waited in line for Saori Hayami's autograph. Waited three amazing hours.

What do you do when you wait in line for 3 hours? Not much to be honest, I had my vita and manga to even read. But why would you want to do that being so excited? Instead, I talked. . .a lot. I met a nice guy with a Rika Cospa shirt on, and we pretty much talked about anime, figures, why buying figures at Otakon usually leads to buyers remorse. Three long hours, three hour conversation in sure that super nice guy wishes he never had.

so worth it.

After some time, and waiting 3 hours I got what i came for. I asked for my autograph on the stomach of Ayase on the last page of the Oreimo Vol 3. Saori was surprised at where i wanted my autograph and laughed at me. Now at this point im thinking how should i say thank you. Japanese? or English? I went with English, because i did not want a cute Japanese voice actor hear me butcher her native language.

With that said. Otakon really need to get shit together. Saori had a Q and A about 1.5 hours before the autograph session took place. My friend went to that with the hopes of being able to get a signature as well. But sadly he did not get what he wanted. Otakon really should have had the Q and A earlier in the morning 4-5 hours before the session. But hey, what would I know?

Otakon day 1

Today was pretty good. Quite a few people recognized yukkuri Marisa. Got lost after taking a service elevator. Watched someone's life stolen. Same old same old. Should have taken more pictures but I was too busy being an idol. Triplerod bitched and moaned. Saw a space dandy.