the fellow i purchased the AZONE Fate Stay/Night Saber 1/6 doll from sent me some bonus items,
including a sweet little pair of red shoes there that do indeed complete that "Segel" look seen above just about perfectly;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Party

http://myfigurecollection.net/item/19918

i've had a fancy for this character for over a decade, which only grew after i obtained and watched the 2003 Anime series.
i've always been fond of Card Captor Sakura, and the lovely costume the principal heroine wears in the opening sequence
of the late-90's Anime series. this Cosplay costume of Mizuki's is a clear parody/homage, and one i've long been dearly fond of...

i've been waiting awhile for the right opportunity to get her. a few years ago, i never even knew she existed...
until i stumbled across an EBAY listing for the entire "Leaf Collection" series 5 she was part of for around $60/$70.00USD.

i wanted her bad, but i wasn't about to pay such a price for essentially one single "Trading Figure" grade figurine.

just a couple weeks ago, i finally stumble upon someone selling just her alone,
new in box and for an utterly reasonable $7.00 and change shipped, so here we are...


~ without the goofy-looking Cat mascot on her shoulder ~



~ ♥Pretty Panties♥ ~

Nice looking figure. The quality on these japanese figures are just superb. Also hilarious with the attention to detail, like the panties. I've never seen anything made here in the west where they've bothered to paint in details to the same degree. Often really sloppy made in general.

I've never seen Cardcaptor Sakura or "magical girl" anime or read any comics. Guess I probably should check it out at some point. Seems a lot of anime have jokes referring to that stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenchi_Muyo!

http://tenchi.wikia.com/wiki/Ayeka

http://tenchi.wikia.com/wiki/Ryoko_Hakubi

http://tenchi.wikia.com/wiki/Tenchi_Masaki



hello, all.

just realized that it has been a full decade and a half since i bought my very first Anime-based Character Dolls,
the very same ones that had inspired me to learn how to sew, so i could make them the custom outfits i'd desired to see them wear,
a skill that has been refined through the years, and has come to serve me well indeed in keeping my ever expanding 1/5 and 1/6 Anime Harem well dressed to my personal tastes.

these are the three-doll "Tenchi Muyo!" 12in. Chara-Doll series
that the U.S. TOYNAMI corp. made for the U.S. Comic/collectors' shop market in 2001, when U.S. PIONEER ANIMATION was pushing "Tenchi Muyo!"
it's most successful Anime property in the U.S. throughout the 1990's, via the aid of CARTOON NETWORK's "TOONAMI" Anime CATV programming block,
and several small time U.S. toy companies producing merchandise, arguably the best of which being these 12in. Character Dolls
of the main protagonist and the two primary Alien women romantically interested in him.

i was very much into "Tenchi Muyo!" at the time, a budding Anime fan without internet and only the occasional trip to a comics/collectibles' shop
to satiate my growing, burning Anime passion. these dolls, at $27.99USD each at one of my favorite shops in 2001,
were something i never even knew i wanted until i stumbled upon them. the moment i did, however, i HAD to own them all.

they have not aged well, and i had retired them to storage back in 2008 or so, after finally joining the 21st century with my own Internet at home,
and finding out about the great many Japanese market Anime Dolls in 1/6 that made those old Tenchi dolls look like a proverbial Joke.

a good half-dozen years on, with a lovely covey of 1/6 Anime ladies all in an exact size parity thanks to their uniform OBITSU doll bodies,
i pulled out my old Year-One Girls (and Guy) to commemorate Fifteen entire years worth of creative Anime Doll fandom.

all three of them are wearing custom outfits;

the "Ryoko Hakubi" (Turquoise Spiky Hair)
wearing a Miko-styled costume hand-made in entirety,

the "Ayeka Jurai" ( Dark Purple Helmet-Hair)
wearing a heavily altered porcelain Victorian Doll dress,
(and quite out of scale with the other two, thanks to
a different Doll body added by me)

the "Tenchi Masaki" (The Guy, Duh)
wearing clothing aped off of a Barbie Ken doll,
save for the blue T-Shirt, hand made.

i've hung on to these goofy U.S. market Dolls for so long now, that i figured they might as well take their honored place
among the superior individuals of my modest mini-Anime Harem...

new "Faceup" for Ryoko, about as good as my current state of detail-painting skill will allow...

Looks nice as usual. You do have a steady hand! Both with painting and sewing. You'd probably get cringes if you saw some of the stuff I did while in school, lol.

These dolls are really big business in Japan. I'm sure you would love a trip to Akihabara in Tokyo. Lots of electronics, anime and dolls. Lots of shops for that kind of stuff. Picked up a couple of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Urusei Yatsura display figues. Also grabbed a cheap doll with joints, like the fancy ones you have. This stuff was surprisingly expensive, even second hand. But the quality and detail is superb in comparison with what we get here in the west.

Actually watched a few episodes today of the Tenchi Muyo TV series. Finished the OVA, which I personally liked better. Might change my mind, I'm only at episode 17 or something on the first season.

oh, man, i watched the OVAs and Movies WAY too damned many times back in the early-2000s.
i think i got myself thoroughly sick to death of it all.

i finally picked up the complete T.V. series on DVD more recently, about five or so years ago,
when BEST BUY still had a halfway respectable Anime selection. i thought it quite decent overall,
but i was still finding myself feeling rather sick to death of the characters and the series' premise as a whole.

most recently, -within the last 3/6 months- i pulled out my Pretty Sammy LD for a spin,
and found myself enjoying it well enough. perhaps now is the time for me to finally revisit Tenchi Muyo! as a whole? we'll see...

Wanted to buy the OVA on blu-ray, but for some dumb reason only 2/3 are available. The last 3rd is only on DVD. Found out someone else made the last batch, which is the reason. Seems Tenchi Muyo got some really nice LD box sets, might pick those up. Like to buy LDs since they're a lot more collectible and appealing than modern blu-ray. Anime on LD in general is dirt cheap in Japan, Tenchi Muyo is no exception. Spotted a clean box set at Mandarake for like... 4-5 bucks. Had to pass it because of the weight and the strict limits airline companies have.

this was how the dolls came originally,;
"Princess Ayeka" with her Juraian ceremonial cloak, reasonably accurate to the one seen early on in the OVA,

"Tenchi Masaki" with his STAR WARS Lightsaber-like "Sword of Heaven and Earth" (with a stupidly under-length transparent-blue-plastic blade)

"Ryoko" (Ryoko Hakubi) with a goofy-looking hard plastic Ryo-Oh-Ki in general scale to the dolls;








again, quality is decidedly sub-par, with weirdly-proportioned fleshtone-hard-plastic poseable doll bodies
with hollow vinyl heads and hard plastic hair pieces for both women, (Tenchi's head/hair is one hollow vinyl casting)
Ayeka's solid hair has twin tails that reach to her ankles and severely limit her range of attainable poses (no sitting)
and Ryoko's hair is a solid heavy chunk of plastic that makes her unreasonably top heavy,
and prone to tumbles if not carefully stood and supported.

further, the hip joints on these dolls can be fragile. my first Ayeka suffered a fall that broke her leg at the hip joint.
i bought two more Ayekas off a net seller for $15ea. about 8 years back, both new in sealed box,
one of which arrived with a broken leg in the very same fashion.

i had found methods to fix the legs, allowing them greater range of motion in the process,
but honestly, the bodies are so goofy looking that i just decided to source alternative doll bodies in their scale.
this project began and ended with Ayeka, as i decidedly lost interest in trying to rend a silk purse out of a proverbial sow's ear
after finishing work on her.

i am feeling rather sentimental about these dolls of late, however, so i might just pick up where i left off,
finally giving Ryoko a makeover, so she too can be even more wildly out of scale with Tenchi than she was originally...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macross

http://macross.wikia.com/wiki/Milia_Fallyna_Jenius

something right around 20 years ago, as an ignorant, pre-internet budding MACROSS/ROBOTECH fan
with no means to obtain the once highly sought after 1/55 "Chunky" and/or 1/72 HCM VF-1 robot toys he so desperately desired,
i leaped at whatever MACROSS, -usually by proxy of ROBOTECH- i could find locally.

i found the old COMICO ROBOTECH comics (and, eventually, the newer ANTARCTIC PRESS ones) at my local comics/collectibles shop,
the crappy 1/100 fixed-mode ARII VF-1 model kits, the EXO SQUAD/ROBOTECH re-issues of the old 1985 MATCHBOX vehicular toy line,
and the PALLADIUM BOOKS RPG/sourcebooks, which were my only means of technical reference for MACROSS for years to come.

i knew about, -thanks to adverts in those old COMICO comics- the old MATCHBOX action figure line, and, for whatever reason,
desired to own at least the figure of "Rick Hunter" the principal lead character.

then, out of the blue, for just that year, never to be repeated, there was a collectible toy show at my local mall at the time.
the lobby floors were packed with vendors, and one had boxes of MoC vintage action figures,
including a small box worth of those old MATCHBOX ROBOTECH offerings.

i freaked, and ran through them in search of a Hunter, to no avail. i did, however come across this VF-1 pilot "Miriya"
and i had felt that if i was to have one of these old figures, it had better be Rick Hunter. barring that, however,
it would have to be a VF-1 pilot of some sort, and a barely-female one in red and white would be better than walking away empty handed.

so, i just barely had the $15 the vendor was asking, but she was mine, for whatever it was ultimately worth.

with the onset of the 21st century, and broadening of horizons that came with internet access,
i was finally able to begin moving beyond the ROBOTECH-oriented garbage i once so desperately clung to,
and it all went into storage, including that Miriya.

just recently, after a move, i busted into those awful old toys again, for old times sake,
and decided to see what i could do with that horrible action figure
with my vastly improved painting skills.

as you can surmise, there is very little that can be done to that terminally grotesque facial sculpt.
these figures are GARBAGE from a bygone era of forced ignorance, and they really should stay that way...








[

Looks like you managed to pull off the painting nicely. A lot better than the way it was. Eventhough the figures look a bit awful, they're still a fun collectible of 80s action figures. At least in my opinion. That one just screams 1980s!

I actually picked up a betamax with Robotech recently. Why, you ask? Well, because I noticed it is dubbed in my native language. You don't see that today, and this show never got re-released (with Norwegian dubbing) on DVD as far as I know. Don't have a betamax player, so haven't tested it. Have a feeling it will be really hilarious to watch!

this is the second release in a series of three MACROSS entries in BANDAI's unfinished 1984/1988 H.C.M.(High Complete Model) series
of pre-assembled toy-like models.

in all, there were;

* No.17; VF-1S Ichijo DYRL Ver. (minus FAST packs)

* No.20; VF-1J Ichijo SDFM T.V.Ver. (which this article covers)

* No.21; VF-1A "Cannon Fodder" Ver.

for the first 15+ years of these toys' existence (1985/2002) they were pretty much unanimously considered
among the MACROSS fanbase to be the "Cadillacs" of the existing VF-1 toys at the time.

and indeed they were, as they were an ideal blend of the best aspects of the old 1983 IMAI "VARIABLE TYPE"
line of Parts-Forming 1/72 model kits, and the rugged, "Perfect Transformation" TAKATOKU/BANDAI 1/55 "Chunky Monkey"
toy lines.

these rugged toy-like models possessed the detail of the IMAI kit, coupled with the transformation of the TAKATOKU/BANDAI 1/55,
with the only "Parts-Forming" involved being the addition of the cockpit canopy blast shield to the BATTROID's chest,
a limitation shared by the TAKATOKU/BANDAI 1/55.

indeed, these were (and still are) AWESOME vintage VF-1 toys, adeptly combining the nostalgia of both the 1/72 IMAI model
and the 1/55 Chunky Monkey into one cohesive, POWERFULLY nostalgic whole.

in all honesty, the only real failing these toy/models have, beside a couple areas that might prove fragile
if you handle the toy carelessly;

*head lasers; BE SURE you shift them UP when shifting the legs/engine nacelles to and from BATTROID position,
otherwise they'll catch on the swing bars and forcing the mechanism carelessly could possibly snap the lasers.

* tail stabilizers; fold/unfold them gently, as i've seen the rotation lugs break before from overly rough transformation.
they can easily withstand the latch/unlatching action of flipping them to FIGHTER position, just remember to perform the action
GENTLY....

-is the fact that these toys had a rather limited production, and as such, have always been rather hard to come by.
nevertheless, complete examples DO show up from time to time, and usually command around around $150/$250 NIMB/MIB.

while these toys have handily been eclipsed by both the 2002 YAMATO 1/48 and it's successor 2008 1/60v.II VF-1 toy series,
it nonetheless is a SUPERB and VERY NOSTALGIC vintage toy series, and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those who desire the best of then,
as well as the best of today...


- SPECIFICATIONS -

Accessories: (ALL MODELS)

*Two(2) pre-punched file cards for the accessory BANDAI HCM file card binder
*instruction manual
*Decal Sheets (Two(2) for No.20; VF-1J and No.21; VF-1A, Three(3) for No.17; VF-1S )
*BATTROID mode cockpit blast shield
*GERWALK mode backpack radio antenna
*wing mounted missile clusters (Twelve(12) missiles total, all removable from the Four(4) missle pylons)
*non-collapsible GU-11 Gunpod
*Chara Figure (unpainted); Hikaru Ichijo in flight suit (No.17; VF-1S)
Lynn Minmay in DYRL pink and white stage dress (No.20; VF-1J)
Misa Hayase in uniform (No.21; VF-1A)

Features:
*perfect transformation (ala TAKA.BANDAI 1/55)
*metal landing gear with real rubber tires and dual NON-CANON Arrestor Cable Hooks in main gear bays
*jointed hands (separately movable trigger fingers that grip GU-11 well, and movable ball-jointed wrists)


(please also see "AnyMoon.com"'s review of this same toy; http://anymoon.com/b...model-valkyrie/ )


(MY PERSONAL FINISHED COPY OF No.20; VF-1J Ichijo SDFM T.V.Ver.)

i just found this lovely Japanese decorative "Ningyou" doll at my local GOODWILL for around $20.

She is LARGE, i'd say, about 30-odd in. or so.
she is of the traditional "Hikata" variety of decorative Geisha dolls, a Magnificent display piece.

these were once fairly common in Japan as gifts to a newlywed couple,
and as home furnishings for personal household religious shrines and such.

Ningyou dolls such as this one were among the highest quality ever made.
these sorts of dolls have been around for at least 40/60 years, IIRC,
and were common souvenirs of U.S. military servicemen stationed in Asia
back in the Cold War era when the U.S. actually maintained significant permanent presence abroad.

i believe the doll i have here dates to sometime in the 80's~90's, and was among the zenith
of quality and realism in this now seemingly fading/lost Japanese art.

She does have a rather lovely, Serene sort of expression. i believe i shall be calling her "Miyuki"

Lovely display piece you got. Nice score! Any plans on doing some changes, or keep as is?

Yes this really nice!

It looks very nice indeed. Congratulations. Must have certainly cost a tidy sum of money.

This is not a product that is commonly referred to as Hakata doll, is Oyama doll.

indeed, i eventually learned of that fact myself, after an hour or so of info mining on dolls such as these...

http://anymoon.com/blog/?p=282

http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/ ... s_valkyrie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Super ... ss_Macross

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech





finally finished the 1/72 Lynn Minmay figure i pinched from the otherwise terrible 2013 BANDAI VF-1A/S Ichijo transformable model kit,
she takes her place now completing my finished/customed 1985 BANDAI HCM VF-1J;