Fans of BRS, what do we have here? Black★Rock Shooter THE GAME, a role-playing game based on the Black★Rock Shooter concept which was released on the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), developed by Imageepoch, is set to have a game of its own on the smartphone platforms Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where 19 years have passed since an alien invasion has annihilated a vast majority of the human population. The remaining inhabitants on Earth are given the responsibility of the Earth's safety from the invaders, until the awakening of Earth's ultimate weapon against the invasion - a flat chested boobless girl codenamed Black Rock Shooter.

Black Rock Shooter will have to face multiple enemies of a radical faction who assists the alien with their invasion, due to the reason the aliens will provide them all kinds of prostitutes and sex toys to enjoy. The radical faction is called the Nine Apostles, consisting of RYU, AKUMA, MEFE, MZMA, SZZU, CKRY, LLWO, XNFE, and SAHA. Black Rock Shooter will have to defeat a huge number of minions mind-controlled by the Nine Apostles, majority of them are are transexuals under the services of the nine apostles, and take out the Nine Apostles one by one in arcade fighting style.

Black Rock Shooter is exactly what her codename implies, her Ultimate Art involves her transforming into a cannon that fires black rocks at rapid succession, as you can see in the photo far below, where the game is being tested before being released to the mass market. The source of the news is at the bottom left of the page.

Black Rock Shooter The Game on Windows Phone 8

Source

The decision to come up with an article was made since my figure reviews are still on a work in progress status. This topic is being brought up after a fellow comrade revealed his problems to me last week. A superstition-related issue practiced by his family members has became an issue with his hobby of figure-collecting, and personally I thought it’d be a nice idea to bring up this topic as an article in my blog post. It’s not the first time I heard of such issues – and, it would be nice to get opinions or stories from my fellow blog readers, if you do have the experience.

Momo Velia/Belia Deviluke - with a tail similar to a Succubus and the name Belia comes from the name Belial, also a type of demon - even with these small details some parents would allow their kids to own such figures.

So, here’s the breakdown of 3 separate stories I received – they are REAL stories. The names I used are not real names, of course.

Case 1:

Kusotare’s parents invited a Feng Shui master to their home to evaluate the surroundings of the house and try to improve the Feng Shui of the house by readjusting some furniture in the house, which in theory leads to a happier life with more prosperity. When the Feng Shui master paid a visit to his room, with all the anime posters around, and his figures in his Detolf shelves, he suggested those items are ‘huge distractions’ and they should not be displayed, or kept separately. So, now Kusotare has to deal with his parents ordering him to take down his decorations and store the figures in storage boxes to be kept in the store room (or garage).

These figures are 'distractions' according to a Feng Shui Master.

Case 2:

Bakayaro is a huge Gundam fan. He has dozens of Gunpla kits. There an occasion where he went out on a bike to pay for his online purchase, as usual. It soon started to rain cats and dogs, and before you knew it, he got involved in a serious accident and was hospitalised for 3 months – with brain damage and mild amnesia/memory loss. His personality and character also changed. His parents blamed the accident on the misfortunes brought by his Gundam kits and they had to be gotten rid off. All his hard work and time spent on these kits – were being given off one by one for free to relatives or friends. After some period he did started back on the model kits – he’s a working adult, so, he should have the freedom to practice the hobby he wants.

Case 3:

PettankoDesu is your typical figure collector just like me but her parents have a lot of restrictions on what she can buy and what she cant buy. No, it wasn’t about sexually explicit or X rated figures being a no-go; she is not allowed to buy any figures that may depict a demon, or any figures with a ‘dangerous pose’ such as Saber Truimphant Excalibur because Saber was swinging her sword for a strike. This is because they belief such statues or figures bring bad luck to the family. Black Rock Shooter Original Cannon version is ok, but Dead Master and Black Gold saw are definitely forbidden. So, besides demon-like figures, figures with weapons are forbidden.

 No demonic figures allowed at home. 

Sword swinging is a 'dangerous pose'.

... ... ... ... ...

So, what’s your opinion or experiences regarding the 3 stories above?

I am of mixed race, but predominantly Chinese, so I do have have occasions where a Feng Shui master was invited to evaluate my home (though, not as frequent as annually), but the master had no comments on my figure collections and apparently they are fine as it is. Don’t get me wrong – my parents do believe in some superstitions – but my figures are not a problem because according to them, they are fictional stuff, not real. A statue or sculpture of a carnivorous animal (gifts and souvenirs you see in some shops when you go on a vacation overseas, especially in Asian countries like Indonesia and Thailand, made of wood carvings or other materials) is prohibited.

Example of wood carvings commonly found in Asian countries at tourist destinations.

My family practices Buddhism, and yes, I do visit temples occasionally. However, I do not allow religion to interfere with my life. Things like premarital sex, or alcohol consumption is not an issue to me. As long I commit no crimes, and I harm no one, it is enough. Religion is more like a family culture to me, and I’ll respect them by following what my parents do. When it comes to superstitions, I do not believe most of them, but there is a rule I stick to a lot – the mutual force of attraction. Some people refer to this as ‘karma’.

Karma isn’t all about doing bad things and ‘getting punished’ for it. If I believe I can get something I want, then I will get it. Of course, don’t be unreasonable, such as, I want to marry 5 girls in 2 years. Sounds arrogant eh? But things worked out the way I wanted most of the time despite experiencing failures. Believing in something and working towards it often works. The same thing applies to superstitions – if you believe this or that prohibited action can affect you – it will. In fact, it already did – you have more things to worry about every day, reminding yourself you can’t do this and that. If you treat people like an asshole, people treat you like a dick in return. Sounds like common sense, but this is how the mutual force of attraction works – you get back what you give out, be it positive or negative vibes.

Having said my opinion on this issue – will you defy your parents if you face such a situation? Like, buying stuff secretly… Such as guy with his 'secret' stash of porn mahs which isnt a secret to his imouto at all...

I used to do that (buying stuff secretly and smuggling them home) but the reason I was prohibited from buying too much is because of the amount of cost - and that im still too young to be encouraged to spend like a boss, and it was only back in my Gundam kit days. Now, as long I produce results in campus and pass my tests, figure shopping isn’t an issue as long I do it in moderation. Or, will you heed the advices of your parents? Of course, this issue mostly concerns students, be it middle school, high school or in college, since parents have no say in what you can do once you are an independent working adult. Oh, i picked Saeki up secretly without my parents knowing what it is (she's kept in box, and her box's windows are covered, though my parents are quite the open-minded type).

Money issues will always be the culprit for such hobbies, but when you get unexpected hindrances in the form of superstitious beliefs that’s when such problems can become harder to handle than you think, so, what’s your thoughts on this issue? Do drop down something in the comments if you have something to say.

Exams are coming up next week and I'm not at a pace quick enough in terms of the amount i studied. Though, i still need a blog post to keep this site updated; it has been more than a couple of times i left this blog in the lurch for a period of 2 months or more. Parcels are arriving and i have at least another couple of PVC figure reviews to work on, and a Nendoroid as well.

My first 'true' X-rated figure arrived yesterday, but i still need time to gather the necessary props to take photos.

Alpha Max's 1/6 scale Saeki Ai from eroge/hentai Fault!. All i can say, Alpha Max has done it this time, quality of this figure is fantastic unlike their other cheaper figures of mainstream anime characters. Neko-chan shots are reserved for the reviews later, although you can always search for the photos elsewhere online. Now, Alpha Max, please make a figure of her imouto too...

I do have another figure arriving early next week, which i grabbed her off from a listing in Yahoo Japan Auction. I have always been a fan of Momo from To Love-ru series, partly due to her mischievous behavior and schemes. Yami-chan once said to Princess Momo in the third season "You are the kind of person who is always scheming things behind people's backs." Alter's 1/8 Momo Velia Deviluke on the way~

I do plan on getting more To Love-ru figures, but Orchid Seed's Kotegawa Yui is way off the scale at 1/7 compared to other To Love-ru figures. Alter made Momo but kinda abandoned Nana, which is disappointing; Nana not only has to feel inferior over her small boobs, but also the fact that there are no figures of her being made yet - not including those cheap prize figures.

Pretty much, just a short post to show what posts are coming up; Oh yes, the message on the figure review menu page is exactly what it says, some of the image buttons are not working, and i will mend them later. The search bar is useful and accurate.

On the other hand, you could make Luka sniff Saeki's bra...

Vocaloids. More vocaloids. Well at least this time around it isn’t another Miku figure. After much procrastination on what figure should I get for myself for my 23rd birthday, Luka was the pick. I did have at least another couple of figures I was considering – Alter’s Shihoudou Narika from Choukou Sennin Haruka, and PLUM’s 1/7 Alisa Illinichina Amelia from Godeater Burst. 

Megurine Luka is probably the second most well-known vocaloid after Hatsune Miku, but she didn’t get as much love from figure manufacturers for reasons I’m not sure of. In fact, there is a lacking of a proper quality Luka scale figure, both before and after this Luka figure is being released. To be frank, I never like Hatsune Miku’s songs; I only liked a few of her character designs, but I do like Luka’s songs a lot. This Luka is a pair with Hatsune Miku Tony version released much earlier, which isn’t a great figure by all means simply because she is prone to leaning. So, let’s get on with her box and packaging.

Out of Box & First Impressions

Box size isn’t huge unlike my last figure review. Upon unboxing you get a simple package of a figure of Megurine Luka and her attractive disc base. She stands at 230mm tall at 1/7 scale.

As seen above, this figure also has metal wires securing some parts, in her case, her microphone. It's a nice thing but it's ridiculously hard to remove by unwiring it so i used a pair of pliers to cut off the wire.

Evaluation

Pros: 

• Flawless paintjob  
• Attractive pose
• Great-looking base
• Cast off option
• A flawless figure overall. 

Cons: 

• Her face is slightly off, especially the position of her mouth.

Note: 

• Watch out for the laces on her boots when you handle this figure, seems to be rather fragile.

A great figure all around and Max Factory delivers as usual in the quality of scale figures, but her face could have been better. Luka’s pose is that of a dance move or pose which also emphasizes her looks and curves when she (or any singer/artiste) is on stage. It would have been better if I could use bokeh effects by setting up LEDs or lighting in the back drop but I’m not keen in spending more for photography props now, so, nice artificial flowers I purchased during the Chinese New Year period (knowing I will need them one day in photography) has found its debut usage in my figure photography. 

So, regarding Luka’s face, let’s place her current face in the middle, comparing her current face with the original artwork on the left, and a photoshopped picture of her. I did notice her face was a bit off the mark but I could not figure out what’s wrong, but someone eventually was able to point out that the distance between her nose and mouth should have been increased a little further, and the curve of her mouth/lips would deserve slight adjustments. 

It does seem pretty evident that her face could have been a bit better, but not a deal breaker for anyone who loves Luka and wants a figure of her. After all, this is still the only scale figure of Luka available currently.

Aside from the minor issue with her face, I wished her hair would be made of opaque material and painted with matte paint instead of a semi-transparent material. If you do own a nendoroid of her, I did wish her hair would retain that kind of color and paintjob, but with different shades and color gradients of course to increase the amount of detail. Her current hair’s material and magenta color probably had something to do with Hatsune Miku Tony version – to be consistent in terms of material used in the same product line. Her hair still looks good, could be better though.

Her hair flows over her left palm nicely, and it does look natural to some extent. Fortunately something like a bulge of bent hair ‘floating’ over her hand didn’t happen. Her hair comes in contact with her hand nicely. Despite me pointing out about using a matte paint job on an opaque material may make her hair look better, perhaps here you could appreciate the use of non-painted semi-transparent material for her hair a bit more. You wont have to worry about paint scratches that happen when 2 surfaces of different paint colors come into contact. 

Her right hand holds a seemingly wireless microphone. You just have the slide in the microphone in between her index and middle finger, there is no hole for a peg, which is great.  

The most splendid parts about this figure is her dress and outfit. The gold trims on her dark colored dress, sort of dark grey with purple accents, are nicely done, down to her gold boots in metallic finish. In some photos her outfit may appear more blackish due to me boosting the saturation and contrast of the photos slightly, but both the image above and below is the exact color of her dress. Underneath her dress is a shade of violet color.

  

There are no paint irregularities; her outfit is done flawlessly and attractive. Her skirt is cast off-able, as seen in the third image above, revealing her dark semi-transparent outfit she wears underneath her dress which also covers her black pantsu. If her pantsu is of the more erotic variant with slight laced designs on the periphery it would have been nicer. Though, it’s best to keep her skirt on. She looks unbalanced without it. 

And here's your obligatory ass shot. No intricate details there, just a pair of well-shaped butt.

Those gold boots and their laces are also well painted, no pain overhangs. You may want to be careful not to fracture the laces there. I do have a habit of holding figures at the legs so this warning applies to me. Her base is a round plastic disc, but not your typical plain slab of plastic but designed to look like an optical disc which is very nice, in fact, nicer that Miku Tony version’s base. 

Conclusion

Recommending this figure or not is easy. If you love Luka, this is the figure to go for. That’s all. As I mentioned earlier, this is the only Luka scale PVC figure out there, and a great one. Her score is 4.5/5 from me. Her face is not a big deal, and that dress of hers is simply splendid. If her face was accurate this figure could score a full 5/5 from me. It was kind of a setback for me to purchase her a lot later when she was released in the 4th quarter of last year because of a lack of funding. Better be late than never though.

That fateful day when you watched an anime for the first time, started to get hooked on such series, and continue watching them since your first series during your childhood. And, probably before you realized it, watching alone is not enough. You want to own them, you want to have something about the anime you loved for yourself. Then, you might buy DVDs, or merchandises, model kits, figurines, just because you loved the series. Congrats, you have converted yourself into an otaku who eats cup noodles in order to save some cash to have your beloved bishoujo on your shelf or study/work desk.

So, how big is your anime collection in your computer or external storage? There was once this blog had an anime download section (well, you can still see it in the above tab) but it is now officially dead. 2 of my 3 Mediafire accounts has been suspended and now there is a new rule that makes the uploading of high quality anime impossible: no split archive files (RAR.part 1, part 2, etc) can be uploaded or shared. Im not planning to revive that section either, it's a lot of hard work, too much for a single person.

I'm running a server at my own campus' local network sharing my anime and also a core member running our anime club in Aimst University, in southern Kedah state. It is not accessible by outsiders, and only the male hostel of the campus. Just purchased a 4TB external drive for RM 590 (USD $195) and now I have a total of 8TB of storage from a few separate hard drives, the server will now consist of 4TB from that new drive (to be exact, a bit less that 4TB, you know how harddisks work).

There's roughly 450 anime titles in my collection, which isnt much by any standards, but most of them are in 720p resolution, and quite a number are in BluRay 1080p. I download the HDTV versions every episode weekly when it;s released, and later, if necessary, upgrade to BluRay release version. BD release version update is almost mandatory for me for anime with gore, violence, or ecchi/nude scenes that comes with censors. You can check out the screenshots below for the list of anime i have.

Disk 1:

Recently Ended Series 

 Currently Ongoing Series

 Disk 2

Disk 3 

A view into Unsorted BluRay files folder.

Monitoring dozens of anime daily for new contents and getting all of them downloaded is no easy work, but i have that kind of time and i know how to find them as well as obtaining high download speeds - between 2-4MBps of direct download speed (not torrents). A 1Gb file would require only 15-20 minutes to download, and downloading over 20Gb a night is a breeze. This is the best method to avoid problems with files getting deleted for DMCA and copyright issues - get them as soon as they are available.

Not everyone buys anime DVDs, and that especially applies to Malaysians like me. "Original" DVDs are everywhere in shops, but the hardcore ones like me wont pay a single cent for one anymore. I used to buy a few back in my high school days, but not anymore. Why? Those so-called original DVDs are pirated DVDs imported from Hong Kong and China, after being taxed, the related department will give these retailers a shiny sticker to call it original. The subtitles are sub-par at best, names of anime characters are translated literally as if they came from Google translate.

Authentic DVDs and BD discs are not found in Malaysia and the only way to get one is online purchase, where when your parcel arrives in Malaysia the customs will happily unpack your parcel for you and inspect the contents, free of (service) charge, then slap on a big tax on it. People like me resort to downloading (which is not good for the anime industry, as we all know it) but i compensate by buying authentic and licensed merchandises, especially figurines and model kits.

Oh, speaking of figures, there will be more reviews coming up next week. b_=w=_d

Just a heads up to everyone, you may see a lot of figures by GSC/Max Factory which is supposed to be released last month or this month being delayed a lot. The figure in this pic above, by Max Factory - 1/7 Asama Tomo from Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon is delayed from December 2012 to April 2013. So, here's what have been going on. This news came from someone in myfigurecollection.net's community.

News #1:

Alter began sharing a factory with GSC some months ago as part of GSC's push to share manufacturing overheads. Part of this was trying to share both manufacturing, painting and QC lines with GSC as well, at their invitation. As we know, GSC's QC took a major hit recently - the reason is that moving a factory to a different city and leaving behind your skilled workers as a result at the same time that you try to change a fuckton of your underlying processes is bound to have teething problems. The Nendoroid line is made in a different factory entirely which didn't move and so wasn't affected.

The difference is that while GSC has been quite happy to release products with glaring QC flaws (e.g. Racing Miku's hair joints) while they try to fix things, Alter is frothing mad about the problems and refuses to compromise on quality. It seems they placed a mass hold on all their upcoming products while they figure out how to disentangle their products from GSC's QC clusterfuck; Alter's president even went to tour the factory personally and kick some heads in.

The end result is that we're going to be seeing either QC hits or long batch delays on GSC-owned companies like Max Factory/Native as well as companies that share GSC's new factory like Alter.

News #2:

The information about GSC-Alter cohabitation, the reasons behind it and the problems they're having is word of mouth and comes from Chinese workers in the GSC factory painting and QC lines, via a collector here in Australia who still participates in the Chinese-language figure communities. I trust him as a reliable relay and as a source.

The information about the product freeze and Alter's president going to inspect the factory was publicly posted via a news source, but I'm afraid I can't remember where off the top of my head.

The end result conclusion is my own deduction based on the above plus what I've observed in the way of patterns in delays, people talking about releases and other background info absorbed.

I hope that answers your question with sufficient thoroughness. :)

GSC also just called a mass delay until between Feb and April. That fits. It'd be nice if the proper information was spread.