Figure Photography - Mixing Nendoroids & Chibi-Arts

When my Chibi-Arts C.C. (my first Chibi-Arts figure) arrived last month, I was very excited to discover that Bandai's Chibi-Arts uses the same neck joint as Good Smile Company's Nendoroids. They are also very close in size and general design. Once I made this discovery, it sparked ideas about mixing Chibi-Arts parts with Nendoroid parts but only now have I had the chance to experiment. And this is the results. It's not a particularly adventurous example, but here we have Chibi-Arts C.C.'s head and accessories combined with Nendoroid Takatsuki Ichika's body. I felt that Ichika's uniform colours are similar to that of the Ashford Academy uniform from Code Geass. I haven't actually watched Ano Natsu de Matteru so I know nothing about that anime, I simply got Ichika's body in a Nendoroid split on MyFigureCollection.net. Leave a comment to let me know what you think!

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Nendoroid Playsets

I was lucky enough to score the B set of the Japanese Life Nendoroid playset sealed from Mandarake and it arrived in the mail today so I immediately had to snap a few photographs. These playsets have become somewhat rare these days, they only pop up on Mandarake or AmiAmi's pre-owned section from time to time so I feel quite lucky to have picked this up. I also have the Culture Festival A set on the way. Hopefully I'll be able to complete both sets at some point in the future.

The Nendoroid playlets are the perfect companions for your happy little Nendoroids and they seem to come to life when placed into the tiny diorama-like scene. Each set comes with a bunch of accessories and extra hands for your Nendoroids to be able to hold onto said accessories. The Nendoroid playset boxes are the same size as a normal Nendoroid box which means the sets need to be assembled. The walls are held together with small plastic connectors and are very easy to assemble. The Japanese Life B is styled after a traditional Japanese room, the set comes with tatami flooring, a wall with a wall scroll and shelving and the final wall is almost completely taken up by a sliding door. The accessories include a metal basin, pot, katana with a display stand, floor pillow, teapot, teacup with saucer and a plate of dango. The set is sturdy, well designed and highly detailed. It photographs very well, which is exactly what I wanted it for.

Despite the fact that I haven't got a full set yet, I think it's safe to say that these sets are awesome and well worth hunting for. If you can find one for a decent price, then I think you should definitely go for it. They are a lot of fun and look great displayed as well. Everything is scaled perfectly for Nendoroids and every little detail is just right. The height of the room looks like it might even work well for Figmas as well.

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Creativity: Making Your Own Miniatures.

Many figure collectors are also cosplayers, the hobbies easily go hand in hand. I cosplayed for the very first time last month and I had a blast doing so. To complete my cosplay, I bought contact lenses online. They arrived in tiny plastic containers that looked somewhat like tiny jars. After transferring my contact lenses to the appropriate containers for storage, I decided to keep the original containers. At the time I had no idea why, but I often keep little bits and pieces like that in the hopes of doing something creative with them. And that's exactly what I ended up doing.

I attempted to make a little jar of jam with the first one. I can recall making homemade jam as a kid, and instead of using screw on lids, I remember using sheets of some kind of clear cellophane, held on with a rubber band. So for my mini jam jar, I used fake blood left over from a costume party (mmm, zombies!) to look like jam, then I used some clear cellophane, cut into a little square. It is held onto the jar with some thin purple ribbon, tied in a bow. I wanted to use a tiny clear hair elastics that you can buy, but I didn't have any at the time. I have two empty jars so if I attempt to make another jam jar, I think I will use something to add thickness and texture to the jam, and I will use a tiny elastic to hold the cellophane on the jar.

The other miniatures pictured below are made from polymer clay, the modeling clay that you bake in the oven. The second jar is filled with little marbled balls of polymer clay to look like candy. I used this tutorial for the mini sushi and a friend showed me how to make the little cupcakes. I then used an iridescent nail polish on the cupcake with the cherry on top for some extra sparkle and clear nail polish on the cherry, the purple cupcake and the salmon to give them some shine.

I had a lot of fun making these and with practice I should be able to create more complex minis for my Nendoroids and other figures! Making these tiny miniatures was surprisingly easy and polymer clay isn't very expensive. So if you want some minis for your figures and can't buy any re-ment miniatures or anything similar, I recommend trying to make your own. You can find polymer clay at your local craft store.

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Figure Photography - Kamui Gakupo

I shot these photographs of Nendoroid Kamui Gakupo in my garden over the weekend. I found a corner of my garden that I've never explored for photographic purposes before. I found a log just begging to be photographed. So I settled Gakupo there, looking very handsome. I found myself a spot and began setting up my shots. I got startled when something ran into the viewfinder, generally when you're photographing figures you don't expect any movement. I looked closely and discovered that a tiny lizard of some sort had settled itself by Gakupo. I shoot all my figure photographs in manual (both for exposure and focus) so I couldn't just start snapping away, but I quickly checked the light meter, adjusted the shutter speed, adjusted the focus and started snapping to capture the little lizard friend. You can see him in the very last photograph, click the thumbnail to view it larger. The framing isn't the best but I'm still happy that I managed to get at least one good shot of Gakupo with his new friend.

Sadly, during this little photo session with Gakupo, he suffered a fall. He didn't break (surprisingly, because he tumbled down a good 4 feet) but his little ahoge got scratched. So AmiAmi made more money from me yet again, because I came straight inside and ordered a replacement. At least I will have twins now! That should open up some curious photo opportunities....

Thanks for reading!

Figure: Nendoroid Kamui Gakupo
Manufacturer: Good Smile Company
Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: Sigma 70-300mm f/3.5-5 Macro lens

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Figure Photography: Miku's Secret Garden

Figure: Hatsune Miku Nendoroid
Manufacturer: Good Smile Company

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Figure Photography: Ichigo Kurosaki - Bankai!

Figure: Bleach - Ichigo Kurosaki - Bankai Version
Manufacturer: Megahouse

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Figures: Storage of extra parts and accessories.

All figure collectors are faced with the same problem - storage. Whether it be the display of the figures themselves, the storage of the boxes or the storage of all the accessories that come with some scale figures as well as Figmas and Nendoroids.

Up until recently, I kept the extra faces and parts for my Nendoroids and Figmas in their boxes and the extra parts for scale figures in a ziplock bag in a drawer because I didn't have anywhere better to store them. It prevented me from changing them around a lot because I don't enjoy fighting with the boxes to get the accessories out then put them back when I was done. Then I had this idea.



I purchased a Plano StowAway utility box from a fishing and camping store. It it designed to hold things for fishing but I discovered it is the perfect size for storing extra figure bits and pieces! The one I purchased comes with removable dividers so you can create sections of different sizes, as you can see from the picture. It fits everything just nicely and it's a simple way to keep everything organized.

I hope this inspired you to get organized if you aren't already. It's Spring here in Australia, so it's the perfect time to do some figure Spring cleaning. How do you store your extra bits and pieces? Leave a comment.

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Figure Reviews: Bandai's Chibi Arts C.C.

C.C. is the first of the Code Geass characters to have a figure in Bandai's Chibi Arts line. The chibi style certainly suits C.C. well. C.C. comes with quite a collection of accessories which include two extra faces, three alternate arms, Arthur the beloved car, Zero's helmet which can be held by C.C. in her lap or worn by Arthur to give a nod back to Code Geass and one of the anime's most amusing scenes. C.C. also comes with a pizza which is true to her character. Finally, she comes with a stand, two spare neck joints and some speech bubbles with their own separate plastic stand. Quite a list of accessories indeed!

Sculpting
Starting at the top and working our way down, C.C. has long green hair which flows freely behind her in a gentle V shape. The ends fan out into stands which are sculpted well. Two sections fall over her shoulders and her face is framed by long bangs. The bangs have sharp details. The seam that separates the front sections of her from the back to allow you to change her faces is very thin. There is another small seam behind each of her ears but it's barely worth mentioning.

Her clothing has creases in all the right places and has all the details a Code Geass would expect. Buckles and straps in all the right places. Arms and arm sockets are sculpted in a way that her arms don't merely attach with a noticeable seam, but her arms fit into a sculpted socket so the joins don't stand out as much. Her tiny hands and feet have just the right amount of detail. All of the joints and connections are very tight and feel very secure, there's no concern about her arms coming lose and her hair and extra faces fit on tightly.

Posing
Unfortunately C.C. is quite limited when it comes to posing. This is mostly due to the fact that she is seated. Her body and legs cannot be changed at all. The extra arms allow for some variety in her poses. Although another downfall in this category is her hair. Because of the length is gets in the way most of the time. C.C. is also quite unbalanced so getting her to sit flat is somewhat of a challenge. Her stands seems unnecessary at first because she is sitting, but depending on which pose you put her in, you may need to use the stand to stop her from tumbling over.

Painting
C.C.'s hair is another slight let down in this category as it is just painted a flat green with no shading. The sculpting of the hair allows for shadows and highlights to show with lighting but it would have been nice to see a little bit of shading. Her face is well painted with lots of crisp details. The paint work on her clothing is neat and tidy, with silver accents on the buckles and buttons. Her clothing has no shading much like her hair but the sculpt allows for shadows to add them.

Packaging
The Chibi Arts packaging is very visually appealing, with a large window in the front and crisp photographs of the figure itself. It's a pretty simple box but it is a very nice box and it is also a small box, which is always a bonus when it comes to shipping.

Conclusion
Bandai have done a fine job with their Chibi Arts C.C. They have done a great job of including all the right accessories for any C.C. fan to enjoy. Her possibility may be limited, but she still looks very nice sitting on a shelf and it is a lot of fun to swap her around.

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Bandai Celebrates Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary

I was one of those kids who grew up watching Sailor Moon fighting evil by moonlight so naturally I am looking forward to the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary anime which was announced a little while ago. Now I have even more reason to be excited. Bandai have revealed new Figuarts and Chibi-Arts Sailor Moon figures to celebrate the 20th anniversary. Both figures were presented during Tamashii Nation 2012 in Tokyo. So far there is no information on release and per-order dates, or any news on the other Sailor Scouts, so if you're a Sailor Moon fan, keep your eyes peeled. I know I will be anxiously awaiting these two.

Source.

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