Kotobukiya Hasegawa Kobato

I used to say that I feel more comfortable taking photos of figures that I’m totally familiar with. Today’s figure is an exception because there’s so much to like about her, despite of my lack of knowledge about her whereabouts lol.

Today on my mini studio is Hasegawa Kobato, the cute little goth girl from the anime series, Boku Wa Tomodachi Sukunai. I’ve watched the first few episodes of the said anime and I’m familiar with Sena and Kodaka but not with Kobato. Though she’s easily recognizable with her cute gothic lolita appearance and dual colored eyes from various figure photos that I’ve seen online, I was still ecstatic when Kotobukiya PH sent her over for a figure photoshoot. I also first saw her at Toycon 2014 (along with Chun-Li and Mayoi) and I grew a slight liking at how her figure was posed in a kinda playful way.

In this 1/8 scale figure, Kobato-chan wears her usual black Gothic Lolita dress complete with black stockings and black lingerie peeking through her skirt.  She’s being held in place by pegs on her knees while kneeling on this velvet cushion.

You can also remove her from her rather intricate chair and pose her in a different way.

She got her stuffed rabbit doll with her as an accessory which can be removed so you could position it in other places near her.

After removing her from her chair, I thought of posing her on a sheer cloth to give her that bedroom-like setting. She looked so sexy and her butt sticking out is kinda provoking LOL.

I like how the tips of her blond hair are translucent in color.

Just look at that sexy stare…

Even in close-up, Kobato-chan looks so adorable. Her eyes are definitely a looker, which I later found out has no significance in her personality, it’s just red contact lens she put on for cosplaying her favorite character in her favorite anime.

I like girly figures in lace, frills and skirts. Though this one’s a little Goth for me, her subtle smile and that playful pose gives her that overall youthful look. She’s something you’d like to have in your collection if you’re a fan of the series. 😉

First Look: Figma Levi Cleaning Version

Finally! Some figure photos for Levi! This is prolly a bit late but I’m happy I finally finished this shoot! Now it’s the dashing Levi’s turn in the spotlight! This, along with Nendoroids Wo-Class, Sayaka and Kyouko, and Figma Kaga are Summer WonFes 2014 exclusive items and I’m pretty sure you’ve all made your pre orders already! If you’d remember, I was also able to do some figure photography for Nendoroid Levi: Cleaning Version. Now I’m as equally happy to do the same with Figma Levi Cleaning version haha 🙂

Oh gosh, this is his most photogenic angle! He’s such a good looking Figma!

Today’s photo session is with Figma Levi Heichou and I used the admiral’s office I made from the previous shoot with Kaga. Well, apparently,  after the shoot, all the KanColle girls came over and just had a party of some sort! They just left the office in such a mess so Kaga asked Heichou to clean it all up.

“Umm, I’m going out for a sortie this moment, can you help clean the house before the admiral arrives?”

*of course Levi would say YES lol*

DAMMIT! THIS IS DIRTIER THAN THE OLD SURVEY CORPS CASTLE…

AND THIS IS JUST A ROOM!

Must…clean…EVERYTHING!!!

 SO MUCH DIRT!

IT’S SO FILTHY!! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

YUCK! There’s bugs everywhere!

GET OUT!!! Get out of this room!!!

YATTA!!! I finished cleaning all that mess! If this isn’t clean enough, I don’t know what is!

As I have noticed, Levi has this oh-so-handsome angle. I’ve already noticed it while doing this set so I took more of it and ended up crushing on him even more LOL.

 After a hard day’s work, the leader of the Survey Corps deserves a drink.

A bottle of sake coz just a glass is not enough.

Now I wonder if I missed one spot…

LOL! Even if he’s resting, he still thinks about cleaning hahaha!

Okay, just one more bottle… *gulps*

Ahh just look at him staring at me like that… he’s so cute! I wouldn’t mind having him cleaning my room at this minute!

Oh btw this is basically the same setup I did for Kaga’s previous photoshoot. The shoji windows I made (which I have posted a previous tutorial right here) served as a light diffuser so it would appear dimmer at some shots.

Figma Levi Cleaning Version is a nice addition to your collection! Especially if you already have a Figma Levi because he comes with two extra hairparts, one for him and one for Mikasa which I have used here:

She looks so pretty!

Sadly, the extra hairpart for Levi doesn’t fit with the Figma Levi Cleaning Version because of his bandana. You really have to have the standard Figma Levi for you to enjoy this extra hair part.

Ohh another thing before I end this post, here’s a lovely teaser of my upcoming post! Well, it’s gonna be a month long full of scale figure photography!

It’s Chun-Li! With a butterfly on her head LOL.

Aaahh I’m super duper happy and thankful for guys at Kotobukiya Philippines for being such nice human beings! Thank you so much!

Watch out for my upcoming posts! Thanks everyone!

Love, Pinkcheeks

Tutorial: How To Make A Shoji Window

Hello everyone! How’s your weekend?

I’ve been really happy lately because of all the wonderful things that has been happening on my hobby life!

My dream of getting featured on a travel website just came true! You all know how much I love traveling and my toys are having a share of my adventures already. Getting featured at Choose Philippines with a million fans is such a huge achievement for me! It’s like hitting two birds at one stone: I was able to promote the beauty of my country through toy photography while enjoying my hobby at the same time.

Here’s the link to my article.

http://www.choosephilippines.com/specials/lists/1618/ten-philippine-destinations-ten-toy-photos/

First, it was Good Smile Company. Then, Kotobukiya Philippines sent me this huge package full of scale figures for figure photography! I’m super duper happy!

Boss guards the package with his own life.

I’m overwhelmed and thankful for their trust in letting me take figure photos for these babies! Oh God, you just don’t know how much I miss taking photos of scale figures that much. Last probably was a year ago, I did photos of Momohime (Alter), Ryougi Shiki and Saber (Good Smile Company), and this time I’m taking photos of Kotobukiya figures! OMG! 😀 Thank you! Thank you!

Okay, on to the tutorial!

Now, I am feeling crafty again this week so I made my own shoji window! (well door, prolly but I guess it’s okay lol) I just used these on my previous figure photoshoots and I might as well share how I made it. I did these at different times of the day so prolly you’d notice the change in lighting in some pictures which I took using my camera phone wahaha!

A shoji window/door is a staple in a typical Japanese home, and  I’m gonna teach you guys how to make your own mini shoji for your figures.

It’s very easy actually, all you need are some basic school materials. Here’s what I used in mine:

1. Barbeque sticks – I bought these at the local market for just PHP10.00 per bundle. Buy the medium sized sticks, although it doesn’t matter because we’re gonna cut them anyway.

2. Glue

3. Cutter/Scissors

4. Paper – I used a parchment paper for this one. My first shoji windows which I used here was made of cookie sheet. But since I ran out of it and parchment paper is the only white paper available on my stash, I used it then. You may use bond paper or a white japanese paper.

Let’s get started!

1. First, take the barbeque stick and cut it into a thin piece as shown in the picture. One stick gave me two thin pieces. I don’t have a specific measurement for how thin it is, but it’s up to you. Well you wouldn’t want fat window panels right? So cut it in the right size haha 🙂 I managed to cut 14 pieces for one shoji window.

Drag the cutter all the way to the bottom of the stick.

2. After cutting, I aligned them on my cutting mat and placed a scotch tape at the middle to make them stay in place while gluing the other sticks.

*BTW, my cutting mat is measured 5 inches so I based my window at the same height.

3. Glue the first piece on top then use some weight to press them down. For this sample, I used two barbeque sticks to weigh them down without adding too much pressure on the thin sticks.

4. Continue gluing the sticks on top and let them dry for a few minutes.

5. The outcome of the first panel should look like this.

Make sure not to bend the frame too much or you wouldn’t be able to align them together!

6. Now, take the frame and trace it on paper.

Don’t mind those portruding sticks for now, we’ll take care of that later.

7. Cut the paper after tracing it.

8. Carefully glue the paper on the frame.

9. Let it dry for a few minutes.

10. Once it dries, you may now cut those excessive sticks that stick out of the window to make it look cleaner.

11. Ta-da! Finally! You now have your own shoji window! Repeat the same process for the other panel. 🙂

Shoji windows are a great accessory for figure photography! It gives your figures a Japanese home-y feel. I also used it for Levi’s mini room!

Creating stuff like this for my figures helps me a lot in taking toy photography indoors, which I only do in two occassions: when it rains, or when I don’t travel haha! 😀

I hope you like this tutorial! Feel free to share your thoughts on the comment box or visit me at my Facebook page!

Love, Pinkcheeks

First Look: Figma Kaga – Kantai Collection

I have this love/hate relationship with the weather lately. I love it when it rains in the morning but I hate it when it doesn’t stop throughout the day. #(-_-) So much for my desires to do a sunny outdoor shoot which I totally miss. T-T I did try an outdoor shoot once with Mikasa, but the strong winds and the grey skies is too gloomy and I don’t like that. XD

Anyway, toy photography doesn’t pick its place. You must be prepared to shoot anytime, anywhere! It’s all about skills and technique and creativity! Speaking for creativity, I was feeling crafty last week and did a mini diorama for this next figure I’m gonna shoot. I had fun making shoji windows out of cookie paper and barbeque sticks LOL!

For today’s figure shoot, I’ll show you another WonFes item from Good Smile Company (thank you very much!), the pretty aircraft carrier of the seas, Max Factory’s Figma Kaga!

She’s a character from a popular browser game called Kantai Collection or KanColle to many fans and she comes from the First Carrier Division. She’s an aircraft carrier, which explains that mini ship deck on her arm and ship mast on her quiver.

I don’t play KanColle though, but I’m lucky to have friends who’s there to help me with this particular shoot! I got my ideas from them! Shoutout to Bige, John and James for being such nice human beings! XD

I made a really simple indoor shoot for her like she’s sailing at nightime on an open sea lol. Or prolly just shooting something at sea!

The stoicness of her face is very likely to describe how she is in battle, calm and emotionless. She’s the total opposite of her sister Akagi, who was cheery and perky. She always seem to look like she’s concentrating on the next target.

Here’s she is on strike mode…

Aha! It’s Kaga vs. Wo-chan! An epic battle between two aircraft carriers! Woohoo!

Who do you think will win?

Kaga looks so lithe and majestic in her Kanmusu. This is the pose that I thought would resemble her image in the game. Oh well, close enough. XD

I also like how you can easily make her stand in place without using the given stand + base in the package, which is great because I don’t like seeing those plastic things on my photos anyway. XD

When Kaga isn’t fighting alien planes at the open sea, she eats. Well not exactly a lot like Akagi though. Aww I wish I have her too. They look great together!

Kaga is eating ice cream! This is included in the package together with a special hand holding a cute tiny spoon. I bought the others on eBay. 🙂

Look at all those food!

“I’m full, I can’t finish all of these… Where’s Akagi-chan?”

The tiny room I made suits just right for her! She looks so pretty here!

Despite of all that battling at the seas with Wo-chan. XD They say she never, ever really smile and only Akagi-chan can make smile haha but this faceplate is such a nice addition for her. 🙂

Who are you waiting for, Kaga-san?

The admiral, perhaps?

*I didn’t know Kaga was a busty character when I shot her at this angle. Well, I don’t know about other busty Kancolle characters but her Kanmusu made it not look too obvious lol.*

There you have it! Figma Kaga by Max Factory! This is an exclusive item sold first at Summer Wonder Festival 2014, but you may still preoder until today to get the majestic Kaga!

Get her here at this link! http://goodsmile-wf-global.ecq.sc/wh20maxfigwd00001.html

Hurry it may close soon!

See you on my next  magazine shoot, I mean figure shoot with Figma Levi! Watch out for it! XD

Love, Pinkcheeks

PS: Here’s my behind-the-scenes shoot with Figma Kaga! I used a lot of blue and green cellophane paper, spread it on the floor with two lamps on her sides.

The white lamp is diffused with paper so the figure won’t get too washed out, and the blue lamp is covered with a thin sheet of blue cellophane to give a faint blue glow on Kaga’s left side. (It may not look like it on the photo but that’s how I did the lighting for this set. I hope you enjoyed it! ^_^)

I also used a foam board to as a reflector. It’s all about being resourceful haha! 🙂

Nendoroid Sayaka Miki School Uniform Ver. and Kyouko Sakura Casual Clothes Ver.

I think some magical girls made my wish come true!

…take photos of Summer WonFes exclusive items that is! I wanted to share my happiness by showing this new set of photos. Today, the item on spotlight is Nendoroid Sayaka Miki: Uniform Version and Kyouko Sakura: Casual Version!

If you already have the Magical Girl version of Sayaka and Kyouko, this version is a truly great addition to your collection! They both look quite refreshing in their everyday look: Sayaka in her school uniform, and Kyouko in her casual clothes. (I kinda like how her belly button peeks up a bit ^_^)

The contents of the box.

Let’s now jump into the photos!

Have you seen Nendoroids play HopScotch?

Okay, my turn!

Sayaka is a pocketful of sunshine!

I like how those apples are made! They look so shiny, I wanted to take a bite myself!

Kyouko found a cat! I wonder if she’ll keep it!

Picnic together outdoors. I like how you can get to let them sit so close together.

One thing I like about this set is a new stand for them. It makes them sit in place without tilting or falling.

Kyouko wants you to have her snack!

Off to school!

This item is one of the exclusive items for Summer WonFes 2014 and is now open for pre-order at the Good Smile Online Shop here: http://goodsmile-wf-global.ecq.sc/wh20gscnenwd00001.html

I hope you liked my photos for Nendoroid Sayaka Miki: Uniform Version and Kyouko Sakura: Casual Version! Keep subscribing to my blog for updates and watch out for the next set of photos for another Summer WonFes 2014 exclusive item! ^.^

Love, Pinkcheeks

First Look: Nendoroid Wo-Class

Hi everyone! I’d like to share something special today! This is first of four specials that I’m going to share this week and I am so sure that you’re all familiar with these already! Just a little story here, I just received this huge package in the mail this and you could imagine my joy when I opened it!

WONFES EXCLUSIVES! Kyaaaa~ XD

I’m super duper happy!! I thank Mamitan and Good Smile Company again for sending me these babies for toy photography! I’m so excited, I immediately unboxed one right away!

First up is Nendoroid Aircraft Carrier Wo-Class. She’s one of the antagonists from the popular browser game, Kantai Collection (KanColle) and she finally got a Nendoroid treatment as one of the exclusive figures sold at Summer WonFes 2014.

She got the biggest box in the bunch, quite a space taker if you ask me, coz it’s an inch thicker than a regular Nendoroid box. I guess that’s alright because Wo-class holds a bunch of stuff inside her giant box though.

Ta-Da~ The bulk of space inside is taken by her huge alien hat.

That hat may look heavy but it’s actually very light and it’s interesting to look at too! I also like the feature that it lights up in three colors, representing her levels/stages in the game.

Green for Standard Wo-Class

Red for Wo-Class Elite

Yellow for Wo-Class Flagship

Correct me if I’m wrong though, I haven’t played the game yet and my friend just helped me with the classification of her colors. Glad I have friends who can help me with these things. XD Now for those who are curious, her hat does not come with extra batteries aside from the one that was already inside.

I was so curious of Wo-Class’ hat’s mechanism so I opened it and found this tiny board with wires and LED lights and underneath the board is the cell batteries.

 It’s screwed in place and protected by a thick glue which I didn’t bother checking further.

Another new I noticed in Wo-Class is her short stand compared to other Nendoroid stands. They made it short so you can put the cape easily over it. She comes with three cute alien planes that looks like giving me an evil grin when I take photos of them. *creepy* o.O These small thingies do not light up like her hat though. So now this is normal Wo-Class..

..and this is badass Wo-Class in combat mode! Woo-hoo!

She’s ready to attack!

I was told that she came from the deepest part of the sea so I made an underwater theme for her. I had fun taking photos of her in one light for this set to create a dark eerie feel for the enemy vessel.

She’s ready to take you down…deep, deep down in the abyss…

I hope you liked this first look of Nendoroid Wo-Class! I shall take more photos of her soon on a lighter note. I think I shall take her to the beach next month! That would be the best shoot for her!

You’ll also see these photos on the Good Smile Company page and on my hobby page as well. You may preorder Nendoroid Wo-Class at the GSC Online shop here http://goodsmile-wf-global.ecq.sc/wh20gscnenwd00002.html

Love, Pinkcheeks

Mornings with Nendoroid Yukari

I’m happy to see the sun again this morning so I went outside and took Yukari for a quick shoot. It’s already rainy season here in our country and I’m already running out of ideas for a rainy day theme haha 😀 

Yukari seems to enjoy the great weather! BTW, I used Mayoi’s body here. It’s kinda cool to swap Nendoroid parts. I’ll try to come up with something different next time LOL.

Can you give me some of that candy?

Awww… Yukari found a bunny!

They both look so cute!

I just love taking random pictures outdoors! It gives my Nendoroids a different glow when exposed to ambient light! I hope it gets sunny soon! 

Love, Pinkcheeks 

Cleaning at home with Nendoroid Levi

Hello everyone! AnimeExpo is now over and I’m pretty sure some of you got their own Nendoroid Levi Cleaning Version at the Good Smile Company booth! Isn’t he the most adorable Heichou ever???

Kyaaa~ Don’t stare at me like that! *blush*

I can’t get enough of him! He’s my first male Nendoroid and as much as I would want to pair him with my girls, it just seems off! Well, if only I got Eren, I’d make them clean everything like crazy XD We all know that Levi is such a neat freak! So when I set up my old Japanese room last night, the moment he saw it, he got mad at how dirty it is and started cleaning right away!

He looks so cute when he’s cleaning!

Yuck! It’s a bug! Get off my windows, you filthy creature!

Levi seems to hate bugs!

Whew! That was close, now it’s time for a refreshing drink!

Oh man, it’s been a long day of cleaning!

Look! Heichou has a guest!

Kampai! 😀

Now who wants to share donuts and drinks with Heichou? 😀

Hope you enjoyed this new set of photos of Nendoroid Levi Cleaning Version! See you on my next post!

Love, Pinkcheeks

First Look: Nendoroid Levi Cleaning Version

Kyaaaa~ It’s Levi Heichou!

Imagine my joy when the good guys at Good Smile Company sent me this figure! Thank you very, very much! *wipes tears* I was super thrilled when Mamitan of GSC contacted me personally, it’s the happiest day of my hobby life to finally do figure photography from my favorite toy company! ^_^

The clean freak leader of the Special Operations Squad is now again a puny Nendoroid in this exclusive version, sold first at the upcoming Anime Expo 2014 in LA.

To everyone who’s been a fan of the series (like I do!) knows Levi as the strongest soldier in the Survey Corps and prolly got their hands on the first Nendoroid release. However, fans of the series also requested a “cleaning version” of him and since GSC loves their fans so much, they listened and finally here he is!

My first observations on this Nendoroid is that his leg joints are completely different from the rest, or maybe since I do not have much Nendoroids this is the first one I’ve seen. It’s similar to a Nendoroid Petit’s head, allowing more movement to his legs. I find it a bit wobbly at first but it’s very useful if you like to sit your Nendoroids everywhere, just like what I did on the first photo. 🙂

Also, Levi’s box is really small compared to the other Nendoroids. It’s such a space saver indeed LOL.

Okay so now with the photos! BTW, these photos were featured first on the Good Smile Company English’s fanpage and I’m super happy that everyone loved it!

Levi comes with 2 faceplates, a disgruntled one and an angry version. He also comes with other accessories like a mop, broom and two handkerchiefs.

*sweeps*

“What are you staring at? Go back to cleaning!”

I love that pink mop. It’s so me. :3

GSC also added a bonus cardboard backdrop similar to the castle walls as seen in the episode. Just take a vinyl tile or position it on a stone surface and you can finally recreate the feel that you’re cleaning the castle with Levi! 😀

The best part is, the window is a cut-out so you can make that famous scene in Nendoroid version!

Ahhh he’s so cute!!!

Levi’s pre-order will start right after Anime Expo, so that’s great news to those who won’t be able to come to the said event. I wish I had an Eren Nendoroid too, they’ll be like my cleaning team who will take care of my chores at home. I can relate to Levi when it comes to cleanliness, I’m sort of a neat-freak myself. 😛

Here’s some bonus pictures from this set:

I didn’t know Levi loves dogs LOL.

He probably has no idea what he’s up to. LOL. But he’s a super duper cute bunny!!!!

I hope you enjoyed the first look at this exclusive Nendoroid Levi Cleaning version! Special thanks again to Mamitan, who has also made a preview of this Nendoroid! 😀 I shall post more of him on my next blog! 😀