Alter 1/8 Yoko Bounty Hunter of Mystery

From Alter comes this PVC figure of Yoko Littner from the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, in her alternate reality bounty hunter attire from episode 26 of the series. SPOILER: The Anti-Spiral sends the Gurren-dan to a dream universe, and Yoko sees herself as a bounty hunter. This is a nice departure from all the other figure versions of Yoko in her her most recognizable attire from the first arc of the anime, and I do like my figures with alternate costumes never or rarely seen in the original source material, such as the Max Factory Haruhi Extravaganza figures.

Back That Loot Up

After a hectic week in Japan, followed by a month-long convalescence in a hospital in China, its good to finally be back stateside. I stumbled, jet-lagged to holy hell, back into my apartment, to be greeted by a nice stack of boxes (kudos to my roommate for bringing it in), of all the loot I had ordered this past month and was unfortunately not home to welcome. Fear not, my children, for your father has come home safe and sound!

Did you miss me, my lovelies? Well, Arnie probably didn’t, he was too busy declaring states of emergencies in the black hole of money known as the Kaleefoynyah Ecahnohmee!

Alter 1/8 Louise Gothic Punk

The first figure I will be reviewing from my recent figure loot is the pink-haired tsundere wizard Louise Françoise de la Baume le Blanc de la Vallière, from the light-novel-turned-anime Zero no Tsukaima. Alter has produced this version of Louise wearing “Gothic Punk” attire in 1/8 scale. “Gothic Punk,” as best as I can ascertain from what Louise is wearing, is some sort of fusion between meido and gothic lolita. Regardless of the semantics of the fashion, she looks damn good in whatever the hell she is wearing.

YAЯЯЯ! May Loot Afoot!

Yo-ho, yo-ho, a figure collector’s life for me…

What came today but no less than three packages of figure booty. Even Yuki had to take off her glasses in awe, while Miku is singing praises of the wonderful loot. Two packages were plundered from the good people of HobbySearch, while the third is from eStarLand. This treasure will languish for the time being as I am obligated to complete a few prior engagements first, but rest assured I will be opening and digging through the loot soon.

Update: Now that I have found time to go through my loot, I wonder what could be inside this motherlode?

Alter 1/8 Yuki Nagato School Uniform Ver.

Today, I’ll be going over the 1/8 scale Yuki Nagato in her school uniform put out by Alter, from the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I feel that this anime is popular enough that she really needs no introduction, and if you have been living under a rock, the Wiki article provides a good description. She is in a fairly subdued pose in this figure and sitting on her calves, which is a departure from the energetic and lively poses that most of Alter’s figures are sculpted in nowadays.

Alter 1/8 Louise Uniform Ver.

The review limelight now shines on one of my favorite characters, Louise Françoise de la Baume le Blanc de la Vallière (what a mouthful!), from the light-novel series turned anime Zero no Tsukaima and its two sequel seasons. A prototypical tsundere loli character voiced by the seiyuu queen of tsundere lolis, Rie Kugimiya herself. Ironically though, probably her most widely known role, at least in Western circles, is that of Alphonse Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, of which she is reprising the role in the currently airing remake, Fullmetal Alchemist – Brotherhood. Al is a boy turned alchemist and suit of armor, which is probably as far from tsundere loli as you can get.

This figure incarnation of my beloved Pink Thunder is made by Alter to a 1/8 scale, and she is sculpted in a very dynamic pose, although if it wasn’t for her smiling/laughing face, it almost seems as if she is tripping backwards over her cape. Perhaps she was laughing so hard at something Saito did and lost her balance backwards. This is par for the course for most of the newer Alter figures, in which most of the characters are captured in some action-packed form.