BRS Beast Figma & Artbook
It's black, blue, white, and a beast. It's the Black★Rock Shooter Beast Figma. I pre-ordered this limited figma and artbook set in September of last year and finally received it a couple weeks ago. It took me a bit of time to finally take photos, but here it is.
I really love the whole look and feel of the Black★Rock Shooter line. So far they make up the bulk of my figma collection. They're a great creative inspiration for me, but they also just look plain cool. When I saw this Black★Rock Shooter Beast figma, which is based off an image by the BRS creator, huke, I really wanted to get it. Unfortunately, it only comes in a limited set with the artbook. However, I'm glad I took the plunge and picked it up. She's definitely one of my favorite figmas thus far.
It comes in this fairly unassuming brown box with only the logo and name on it to let you know what's inside.
Inside is the artbook and another box that holds the figma.
Here she is with all her bits and bobs along with a little card that has a cute illustration of the "beast" character. She comes with a fairly typical assortment of items. Only one optional face, but they included a couple sets of hands, a gun, sword, crown, optional hair piece with the iconic blue flame and a standard figma stand. Another face would have been nice, but still, it's a decent set.
She has a lot of nice detail. The zippers are painted silver, the black and white stripes are clean and there is even some grunge detail on some of the armor bits on her legs. The arms, hands and some of the legs are glossy black while other parts, like the shirt and skirt, are matte. It makes for a nice contrast.
Her back has a unique coat of arms emblem. The detail is really impressive at this scale. I also love the blue star on the zipper by her waist -- nice detailing.
The sword is semi-transparent and I love the text on the back. It's actually in English and it isn't gibberish. This really impressed me. It reads like instructions on how to use the "device". Very cool!
She features typical figma posability. The hands can't move due to the long sleeves. The feet also don't move much. She has transparent blue spikes on the back of her legs that fold out. The skirt/belt is a hard rubber, but it doesn't have much bending range due to the connected part in the middle. Everything else uses the typical figma joint, including the twin tails on her head.
The artbook is very heavy and well made. It's full color and, as the title says, contains selected works by huke, the creator of Black★Rock Shooter. As a fan of his characters, I really like this book. It contains a lot of painted-style images of his characters as well as some design sheets.
Black★Gold Saw, probably my favorite BRS character.
All in all I'm really happy I got this set. I'm glad I was able to add this limited figma to my collection. She really stands out. If you can get your hands on one, I'd recommend it. Especially if you like artbooks and are a fan of the BRS characters.
What about you? What are your favorite figmas or characters? Do you have a large amount of just one character or series? Do you have any limited figmas? Leave a comment.
BRS 2035 Figma
This is the BRS (Black Rock Shooter) 2035 Figma based on the PSP BRS game. She is my first pre-order item to come in this year that I previously mentioned in my New Years post. She is also the first "variant" figma of a figma character that I already have.
While I haven't actually played the PSP game this BRS version is based on, when I saw photos of it I really liked how it is a more aggressive version of the original BRS. I love her spiky hair, the blade added to her cannon, the tech wings on her back, and the more edgy style of her outfit.
From my understanding in the BRS PSP game she is an android and the last hope of mankind. It's a little different than how you see her in the OVA. Either way, I think she looks pretty awesome.
In the box she comes with the standard figma assortment, stands, hands, different faces etc. She also comes with her cannon, a sword, a hair piece with her signature blue eye-flame. They were also nice enough to add a couple extra "grip" hands. I noticed that the grip hands seemed to be flexible and thin by the fingers. I had a hard time getting it to hold the gun. I assume these extras are in case you break one. Fortunately, I didn't need to use them, yet.
Like most figma, this one is fairly flexible. Her coat is made of rubber, so it gives you some room. The wings on the back can be removed and they also have little wings that can fold up and down. They did tend to get in the way a lot when posing, though. The arms seem to be slightly restricted in movement up and down. The hood around her neck blocks them a bit and they can't seem to go all the way down to the sides either. Those minor remarks aside, I think she's a great addition to my growing figma collection. I have her in an action pose with her cannon and it looks great.
Miku Append Figma
I finally received my Miku Hatsune -Append Version- Figma. I've been waiting to get this one for a couple months now. She is one of the most well known Vocaloids out there and I'm even listening to some of her music as I write this!
Vocaloid is the singing synthesizer program by Yamaha made popular by the set of anime inspired characters from Crypton Future Media. Combined they are used to make electronic/dance music with anime-sounding voices (in Japanese). Miku's music can be found all over the net and on iTunes. Her digital concert actually made its way here, to the US, at the 2011 Anime Expo. She has become very popular among anime / jpop fans. I missed out on her original figma version, and even her second release as well. However, I managed to pick up this new design of her.
The Append Version actually represents a software expansion for the original Miku software. The updated design is a more futuristic and really clean style with softer color tones. It matches the electronic/syth style of music that I tend to listen to with her voice. I almost like the Append Version more than her original design.
There are a couple examples of Miku Hatsune music using the Append Version found here.
This figma also represents Max Factory / Good Smile Company's 100th figma, which is a really great testament to how popular she has become -- a true virtual idol. The figma comes with all sorts of options, such as: three faces, optional arm parts, options waist parts, an optional torso section, several hand poses, and, of course,a figma stand. Her hair is also clear at the tips, which is a nice touch. Other details include her signature "01" number on her arm and in the reds dots on her waist attachments.
Like all figma, she is really posable and with the optional faces can show off various expressions. However, my favorite pose is the one inspired by the original illustration of the Miku Append Version, which shows her floating in a sort of peaceful, almost timeless, state.
So far I think this is my favorite figma. Not only because I like Miku Hatsune's music (voice?), but it's also a really "stand out" design. The floating pose I have her in is really unique. I think she makes a great addition to my slowly growing figma collection.
Mirai Suenaga Figma
Danny Choo is just your average guy that started a blog and created his own mascot. He's a fan of anime, manga and Japanese culture. He also collects Dollfie Dreams and anime/manga figures. He shares photos that he takes of Japan and provides a lot of information about the country to those that follow him. He has become so popular that his mascot/character, Mirai Suenaga, was recently released as a figma by the Good Smile Company. Mirai is just a "forever young" 17 year old girl and Danny is currently working with several people and companies to spread her all over the place, from clothes to games and more.
Danny is a hard-working guy. He's gone from a simple blogger to someone that many people follow around the world. It's not his popularity that I find interesting, or even so much that his mascot has become popular enough that she has had a toy made after her. If you read his posts or see some of his seminars he tells you about how he came from nothing, had a not-so-great childhood, deals with a condition and yet he never stops pursuing his dreams. He pushes himself, stays focused, learns, and does what he needs to do. He's determined and ambitious. He tries to tell others that anyone can do the same. He tries to share what he's learned and inspire others. I think that's pretty rare today. He seems to be such an average, fun-loving, down to Earth guy that loves life, no matter what it throws at him. Danny is one of the few people I look towards to inspire me to keep moving forward. Looking at his posts, seeing his journey and progress, is really inspiring and it sometimes gives me that kick I need to keep going.
To help remind me I ordered his Mirai figma. I think it just shows how anyone can succeed if they keep at their goals. The Mirai figma is cute and fun to play around with, but having her on my desk is a great reminder of what is possible if you work hard enough.
Black Gold Saw Figma
I received my third Black★Rock Shooter figma today. The mysterious Black Gold Saw! I must say, this is the coolest one so far. When watching the Black★Rock Shooter anime you see BRS fight a silent but deadly character. She's Black Gold Saw and her design is really one of my favorites.
She has a HUGE sword with a skull on the end of the hilt. It really does look like a gold "saw" with the serrated teeth. The character herself has long hair split into two movable parts. The rest of the hair is rubber and catches dust like no tomorrow! She has large "skeleton-like" hands that come in many optional poses. My favorite part is her legs. They have these really cool armor parts to them, yet they still look almost futuristic. The horns on her head are semi-transparent.
Overall she's really well painted. Mine came with some chips in her right stocking, but overall it's the same figma quality you'd expect. My pictures don't really do it justice.
Black★Rock Shooter Figma
The Black★Rock Shooter characters have really great designs and when I first saw these figma figures I knew I had to get them. I got both Black★Rock Shooter and Dead Master. Oddly enough, Dead Master was harder to find than BRS. These are my first figma figures so I wasn't totally sure if I'd like them.
They are very poseable and well made. They are packed with optional faces, hands, a stand and other goodies. The BRS figma even came with a DVD of the OVA anime. It's even subtitled in English. They kinda remind me of the action figures I used to get as a kid, but these are collector quality. They are highly detailed and painted really well. They are even packaged really well. I'm sure I'll be getting more figma figures in the future.
