Review: Alter 1/8 Yagyu Jubei

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Time for my first photo review! (Yay!) It took numerous sessions, much trial and error, and seeking photography tips online before I came up with a set of photos I was (mostly) happy with.

I chose Alter’s 1/8 Yagyu Jubei figure to serve as my first review. It was released relatively late in 2009; right around the time I was trying to launch this new figure blog. From the moment she was announced, Jubei became one of my most anticipated figure releases of the year. Combining Alter’s vaunted quality with a dynamite character design should be a recipe for instant win, no?
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New Release Roundup, Jan. 2010 Edition

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It’s drawing near the end of the month, which means it’s time to look at some of the interesting new figures that opened for reservations this month. ^_^

Good Smile Company – 1/7 Saber ~Triumphant Excalibur~

  • Character: Saber
  • Series: Fate/stay night
  • Scale: 1/7
  • Height: 250 mm
  • Material: PVC
  • Company: Good Smile Company
  • Price: 9,800 yen
  • Date: Jul. 2010
  • Link 1: Official Site
  • Link 2: Hobby Search
  • Link 3: AmiAmi

Good Smile Company has another Saber figure hot on the heels of their Saber Lily figure released late last year. This new figure features Saber wearing her original FSN battle armor in a nice aerial action pose. I’m thinking her face looks a little funny in one of the official photos, but otherwise the new Saber is looking top-notch. I haven’t preordered her yet, but I imagine it’s only a matter of time.

Kotobukiya – 1/8 Xecty ~E.V.E.~

  • Character: Xecty
  • Series: Shining Wind
  • Scale: 1/8
  • Height: 200 mm
  • Material: PVC
  • Company: Kotobukiya
  • Price: 7,140 yen
  • Date: Jul. 2010
  • Link 1: Official Site
  • Link 2: Hobby Search
  • Link 3: AmiAmi

Kotobukiya has another Shining Wind figure ready for preorder. This one features Xecty sporting a bit of a different look than what I’m used to seeing. Her new outfit reminds me of Kingdom Hearts for some reason.

Kotobukiya – 1/8 Kasugano Sora ~Sukumizu~

  • Character: Kasugano Sora
  • Series: Yosuga no Sora
  • Scale: 1/6
  • Height: 130 mm
  • Material: PVC
  • Company: Kotobukiya
  • Price: 7,140 yen
  • Date: May 2010
  • Link 1: Hobby Search
  • Link 2: AmiAmi

Here’s the next entry in Kotobukiya’s 4-Leaves series, featuring Kasugano Sora from the eroge Yosuga no Sora. I like Sora’s character design, but this particular figure comes across as a bit too generic for my liking. Considering it as a school swimsuit figure, I can think of other examples I like better (To Heart 2‘s Tamaki has several that come to mind). As a Sora figure, I think MegaHouse did a better job of capturing her character.

Yamato – Creator’s Labo #024 Tsukasa Bullet Compact Hog

  • Character: ??
  • Series: Tsukasa Bullet
  • Scale: Non
  • Height: 185 mm
  • Material: PVC/ABS
  • Company: Yamato
  • Price: 11,340 yen
  • Date: Jun. 2010
  • Link 1: Official Site
  • Link 2: Hobby Search
  • Link 3: AmiAmi

Yamato’s newest entry in the Creator’s Labo series features the work of Tsukasa Jun, whose style here reminds me of Range Murata. While I am appreciative of Jun’s artistic style and this particular piece is eye-catching enough, it doesn’t quite push all the right buttons to make it my first steampunk figure purchase. Interesting, nonetheless.

Well, I think that about does it for this month’s new release roundup! See anything you like? I think Saber’s a pretty sure bet for me.

Figure Financials: 2010 Budget

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Resinya! Shana with a $50 bill

It’s 2010 now, which means it’s time to revise the budget I laid out last year. Last year, I used 99.2% of my budget and acquired nine figures. I also, however, sold four figures from my collection to offset some of those purchases, which brings my net gain for the year to only five figures. Overall, I felt very constrained by last year’s budget and I feel like I probably underestimated both my personal spending behavior and the actual costs of a typical figure, which have increased dramatically in the past couple years.

As a result, I’ve decided to increase the 2010 budget by $500 to a total of $1,500, plus the rollover from last year’s budget ($8.26). Taking last year’s average figure cost (~$128) into account, I would estimate that I should be able to acquire 11-12 new figures under the 2010 budget.  All the other rules from last year will remain the same.

New Year’s Resolutions 2010

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It’s a new year and many people like to take this time as an opportunity to improve some aspect of their daily life. One idea I’ve been rolling around in my head is creating a schedule for this blog. Posts last year were sporadic for the most part and I feel like a good blog needs regular posts. To that end, I would like to start a one-post-per-week regimen, with those posts coming every Friday. In addition to the weekly posts, I intend to do monthly and yearly summary posts.

Here’s what I’m thinking in terms of possible content:

  • Previews of new figures available for preorder
  • Reviews of new figures I have received
  • “Figure Financials” column
  • High-resolution wallpapers

That’s the plan! We’ll see how it goes.

Figure Financials: 2009 Year-End Report

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Here’s the first part of the promised annual financial report. In a previous post, I laid out the budget I had set for my 2009 figure purchases. Now, I will look at my spending behavior in detail and analyze the effects of working within a budget.

As you can see, I managed to stay under budget. (Yay!)

You’ll notice that I burned through my allotted funds rather quickly, making the vast majority of my purchases within the first four months of the year. To be fair, I didn’t actually commit myself to a budget until a month or two into the year, so my first three or four purchases of the year were made without regard to any particular financial plan. Even so, I had thought my initial budget rather generous and I was disappointed to see how quickly those funds disappeared. I had to curb my figure spending drastically in the latter half of the year to ensure that I stayed within my budget. As a result, I missed out on several figures I probably would have otherwise jumped on.

You may also notice that my two costliest transactions were both through Tokyo Hunter. I think this is, in large part, due to the fact that both of these figures were Japanese-exclusive releases.  In addition, the Miku figure was purchased well after the period of general availability, so market supply and demand forces were well in effect.  I do think Joseph’s proxy fees run a tad higher than others I’ve dealt with, but he also offers the most personalized service I’ve seen.

Now, for some statistics:

  • Number of figures purchased: 9
  • Number of figures sold: 4
  • Average cost of figures purchased: $128.74
  • Average net gain from figures sold: $41.73
  • Most expensive purchase: $259.10 (Voks – 1/6 Hatsune Miku)
  • Least expensive purchase: $75.00 (Max Factory – 1/6 Kokonoe Rin)

My net gain from selling a figure from my collection was only about 1/3 of the cost of a new figure. While this number can vary quite a bit depending on what you’re selling, it does give you an idea that it’s not unreasonable to expect to have to sell several quality figures to finance the purchase of just one new figure.

That’s it for my annual financial report. I plan to follow up with my personal best and worst of 2009 and highlight some of the key figures that I missed out on this year.