Well first off, finally figured out how to make my pictures appear small on my site, and then you can click them to see a higher resolution. I won’t bother going back and doing it with the other pictures but i’ll be doing it from now on. Now on to this review, got my wonderful Alter 1/8 Hanamoto Hagumi just the other day.

Now Hagumi was a figure i liked since i saw her promotional pictures. But at the time bills piled up and i had to cancel her. I was sad but hopeful that i’d find her again later. But turns out that she was sold out and quickly.

Not that Hagumi was uber popular but more like i don’t think Alter released many of her to begin with.

I’m really glad i was able to get my hands on her since she was sold out and i couldn’t even find her on eBay.

Alter did a damn fine job with this figure. Only complaint is that from the side she kinda looks pregnant. The dress pops out right at her belly and she has a bit of a bump. They could have had it just go straight out and then she wouldn’t look as pregnant.

Just look at the detail of the little birdy. He looks so happy on his little mushroom.

You can see a bit more of her bump here as well.

I got her for a great from tjhan since she was broken, the leaf broke off but as you can see it was easily fixed with super glue, and since you don’t’ see it from the front of the figure i don’t have any complaints.

i also appreciated the detail on her hair clips, and the part of her hair. Really good detail there.

Her wavy hair is really pretty, and they did an awesome job on it along with shading it well. You can see that the leaf comes out of her hair.

The expression on her face is also just great. They did really well to maintain the expression from the original artwork.

Best i could find from the original design. I know there is a better picture out there, but i can’t find it for some reason…

I really do like the base as well. A nice change from Alter’s usual plain bases.

Another nice view of the base.

This is the first time I’ve knowingly bought a “used” figure. But She’s in amazing condition. Good job of keeping her in great condition tjhan!

Panty shot! Not the sexiest panties. I wonder why they gave her underwear like this, she isn’t a loli. She’s 18 so I’d expect her to at least have on undies like Fauna.

So I’m going to stick to my guns here and say that if you can honestly find Hagumi you must snag her before someone else does. She’s so amazingly made I’m just glad i was lucky enough to grab her before anyone could.

Figure Info-

Manufactured by Alter
1/8Scale
Initial release in June ‘07
Price of 55,24 yen
Discontinued at HLJ
See more Hagu (the exact same one really) at Riuva

Stumbled Upon Riuva’s Figure bazaar once i got home today and was amazed at some of these amazing figures for sale and for cheap! Originally they had up 60 figures for sale but i jumped at the chance to own this figure and bought her on a bit of an impulse, but I’ve been dying for this Hagumi figure for about FOREVER so I’m excited to get her! Check out what they’ve still got for sale, shipping is a bit expensive but the uber low prices of the figures counter balances it out and they still end up being a great deal!

So i was going to make a post about all the figures i bought over this past year. But i realized that before this year i only had about 4 figures so i can’t really make a post describing what i feel about 60 figures. So i’ll do one on each Major Figure production company! First in alphabetical order, Alter!

Figures I purchased:

1/8 Amy, Jo, Meg, Sei

I bought these figures for my boyfriend since he loves Bakuretsu Tenshi. I got him all the Alter figures for him as a present but later on he decided that he prefers Gundam models over figures so i ended up keeping them instead! They were purely impulse buys really, they were pretty,I had the money so they went home with me. The only one out of the set that was hard to find was Sei, not thati coulnd’t find her but everyone i found had problems with the paint. On her stomach was a part that seemed like it wasn’t painted on at all and I wasn’t about to spend lots of money on a defective product. Finally we get to one store and it had the same defect, we asked the owner if it were possible to get a discount on the figure since it was defective and he gave us 15% off, but once we got home and opened her up we realized that she wasn’t defective but the way she was packaged made her look that way! So i got Sei for cheaper than the others!

1/6 Saber

She again was an impulse buy. Now what do i mean by impulse buy? I mean that I saw her in a store/convention and didn’t have months to think about whether I wanted her or not. The advantages to Online pre-orders of being able to think on whether I really want her or not are thrown out the window. It’s either I get her or I don’t, really an impulse buy for me depends on only one thing. Money, whether I have it or not, if i do I’m usually taking a figure home with me, if not then I don’t. Now i can’t say I’m not happy with this particular Saber but i will say she has caused me so many problems… She is a classic leaner. She leans, A LOT. I don’t think I’ve ever had a figure that I’ve had to fix more often than this saber. It’s not that she’s standing on one foot, but more off that she’s too top heavy for her base. On top of the fact that she is a 1/6 Scale figure so she’s going to be big, her base is poorly designed.

1/8 Takamachi Nanoha

I think I honestly have to say this is my favorite Alter figure that I’ve got this whole year! She’s well made, has a pretty good base so I’m not worried about her leaning. I think all in all she was a great buy. She really was an impulse buy as well, I had just lost my job and wanted to do something fun. Whats more fun that going to an anime store and spending the last of your money on figures? We just walked in and there she was! I just picked her up paid for her a left, I didn’t even give it a second thought. I bought her and I hadn’t even watched A’s yet! thats how much of an impulse she was. But I don’t regret it at all! I love this figure and now that I have her I’m also getting the Alter 1/8 Fate so I’m super excited to have them both in my collection!

Regrets:

1/8 Louise

I never knew what i didn’t order this, maybe it was since I had just started getting into figures and really didn’t know which kinds were the best. Maybe it was that fact that I’m crazy, I have no idea. But I did and still do want this figure. Right now money is tight so i can’t get her, but if I see this figure for a reasonable price next year at AX there is no doubt that I’ll have her in my possession.1/8 Hagumi Hanamoto

I had her pre-ordered for the longest time but then dropped it. I guess as usual I didn’t have the money to purchase her. I do hope I can find her again in a store one day but right now it doesn’t look likely. I will say I did however love Honey and Clover a lot, maybe I didn’t buy her cause I was waiting for a better figure of her to be released but that never happened.

Overall thoughts:

I did like Alter’s turn out this year. They had released a lot of amazing figures this year but I guess for some reason they didn’t all end up in my possession. I can say the one figure I was sad to not get was the 1/8 Fate but since she’s being re-released this may i was able to snag a pre-order so no worries on her part!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMKXC-6w8-c]
Pretty much a good song and I love the animation. Fate/Stay Night is one of those series that I loved even though it’s not the best series out there. I have more Figures from this series that any other series. I love the upbeat tempo of this song, Disillusion even though it was a beautiful song felt off, plus I preferred This Illusion over Disillusion.

14. “Dramatic” – Yuki
Honey and Clover

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGg9yZKGxE]
This is one of the songs that the song itself isn’t all that great, but mixed in with the tone of the series and the animation of the foods it makes it amazing.

13. “Duvet” – Boa
Serial Experiments Lain

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnGppxxyN94]
This is the only song in my entire list that completely in English, I do love this song. It gives me chills every time I hear it and that is hard to do. When I hear this song it’s very hard for me to not completely break out into song and sing along.

12. “Sakura” – NIRGILS
Eureka SeveN

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrqmUlhpRf0]
Who knew Amaing grace could sound so cool? Even though all of the Eureka seveN songs were amazing this one left a strong impression on me.

11. “Super Shooter” – RIP SLYME
Gantz

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=832L1Ph1aTk]
It’s just badass what more can I say? I’m not a fan of Rap but j-rap just sounds so much better in my head I guess. I would have a figure from Gantz if they weren’t all so shitty, I’d prefer a Figure with the full body gantz suit than the slutty ones where it’s only like pieces of the suit. I really liked the show but considering that the manga is still ongoing in japan it didn’t really have a proper ending.

10. “Colors of the Heart” – UVERworld
Blood+

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdGmijB62K0]
UVERworld by far my most favorite J-pop band ever. I was first introduced to them from the Bleach Opening D-technolife. But Colors of the Heart Made a lifetime fan, the song fit the show, plus the animation was amazing. I loved how they went with a completely different animation style for the Opening than for the actual series.

9. “Itoshii Kakera” – Melocure
Ufo Princess Valkyrie

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMfBkzf20Jg]
I’ve always liked the Cutesty kind of songs that came from anime openings. But this song is one the likes to pop up on my playlist every once in a while and I just really love it. For this series this song was absolutely perfect.

8. “Bouken Deshou Deshou?” – Hirano Aya
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zBXoMYCgXc]
I’m a fan of Hirano Aya but not a die hard fan. But still this song was pretty awesome, Maybe not as great as the insert songs from this series but thats for my next list.

7. “Tenshi no Yubikiri” – Fukuda Mai
Kare Kano

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfdLH9cQmZM]
I love how this Series used the Manga for animation style. You can clearly see in even the Opening that most of it is just pieces of the manga in a collage style animation.

6. “Dogfight” – Move
Initial D: Fourth Stage

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-wlUtJqQ-s]
This song was a hard choice, between Noizy tribe, Around the world, Break in 2 the nite, and Blazin’ beat. But in the end Dogfight won, not only was the animation amazing but I can’t picture any other artist than Move for an Initial D opening. HAVE YOU SEEN THE DUB OPENING!!? It’s REALLY BAD!! Now I admit I don’t know much about cars, but the music from Initial D always makes me want to go down a mountain and race someone. Did I also mention that this show made me want a White RX-7 FC really really badly?

5. “Lucy” – Anna Tsuchiya
NANA

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7_v6MjbLDs]
I’m a die hard Anna Tsuchiya fan, so this song is of course on this list. I cried when I saw her live in concert at AX. Thats pretty sad, but then i bet 53rg10 would have done the same at the SOS Brigade Invation Tour (well maybe not cry but you get the idea.) Lucy solidified my fangirlism to Anna Tsuchiya. Anna Tsuchiya really has the perfect tone for Nana in this series, and I feel if they used a different person to do the singing for the Black Stones the series wouldn’t have felt the same.

4. “Sora iro Days” – Nakagawa Shouko
Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M5lTvzsWlQ]
There was no way in hell I wasn’t going to have a Gurren Laggan song on this list. I do think i’m going to have to see this series again in a few days, I’m going through Gurren Laggan withdrawals. But seriously this song is great, this series was just plain Epic and this song is the perfect fit for it.

3. “Sore Ga, Ai Deshou” – Shimokawa Mikuni
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvK4YQZ4R1Q]
Now this was a hard choice, It was a complete toss up between all three FMP Openings. I love them all so much and they each fit the series perfectly. But in the end I realize this song makes me sing along more than the rest, every time I hear this song I get the urge to just watch this series for the 90 millionth time.

2. “Catch you Catch me” – Gumi
Card Captor Sakura

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA0WJXmfvs8]
It’s rare for me to sit through the Opening of a series every time I see an episode. I’ll maybe watch it the first few times then skip through it for the rest of the series. Catch you Catch me was different, I truly watched this opening every time I saw an episode of Card Captor Sakura. The animation drew me in, plus the song was just perfect for the tone of the series. Yes platinum and Tobira wo Akete are amazing songs but I just ending skipping them once the episode started.

1. “Hemisphere” – Maaya Sakamoto
Rahxephon

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv5Bhk4L0ik]
I’m one of the rare people who actually likes both Rahxephon and Evangalion, they both were one of the few series I first watched. I think I can honestly say Rahxephon was the 4th series I ever saw. This song helped get me into Anime music and j-pop it was an important start but not the first song to get me interested in anime music thats for my insert song list. Sorry all you platinum fans this is my favorite Mayaa Sakamoto song.