Mirai – Casual Bikini Top & Jeans

February 28, 2016 Anime Shutterbug 5 Comments

It’s been too long since I spent some time with Mirai taking photos and even though it’s winter here you can never go wrong with a bikini top! She is wearing the Smart Doll default jeans and this bikini top is from M+V Studios on taobao.com. I have been keeping the XL bust on her lately but honestly it is hard to find things that fit it well besides a bikini or loose fitting lingerie. Typically a Smart Doll will fit into clothing made for a Dollfie Dream Dynamite when using a M or L bust, but since the XL kind of slopes downward more naturally it ends up not looking as good. In any case soon I will have a custom made silicone bust for Mirai similar to a Peach Pai and of course will have a full review up on here. Anyway lets get to the photos! =)

Bonus for scrolling all the way down, a few NSFW outtakes behind the tab!

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Slightly off topic, how do you guys feel about wig changes on your doll? I recently picked up a cool silver twintail wig just to mess around with. I put it on Mirai but I don’t know if it is that her eye color doesn’t go with the wig color or what, but it just feels weird! It almost makes it like she becomes a totally different character, she just doesn’t feel like my Mirai with it on you know? I think I will eventually get Mirai’s official alternate short style wig but besides that I don’t think wig changing is for me. Maybe if she was going to go full out cosplay and wear an anime outfit but that’s another story. Do you change around your dolls wig / eyes or just keep them the same?

Anime Figures

Figure Review: Cu-Poche Tsukiko & Extra Accessories

February 22, 2016 Anime Shutterbug Leave a comment

Hi guys! Today I have some more Cu-Poche awesomeness for you, Tsukiko from The “Hentai” Prince and the Stony Cat and also some cool Cu-Poche Extra items. Lets check out the packaging.

So besides our Tsukiko we have a cat hoodie complete with cat paws, tights, and rain boots. I also picked up the School Swimsuit Body which is basically just an extra body you can stick any head on and have them in a bathing suit! Also comes with a nice looking blue stand & paddle board with special hands to grip it.

So first lets take a look at this adorable Tsukiko figure. Now I have not seen this show but basically bought her because shes just damn cute and she came with “cat paw” hands that I could swap onto any nendo or cu-poche, need I say more? Also make sure you check out the eyes on the this figure they really look amazing.

Her skirt is really cute and doesn’t restrict her leg posing at all, oh yeah she also came with a cat! I’m not sure what this oni mask is about but I like it, it attaches with a clear elastic around the head.

As if Tsukiko weren’t cute enough, you cant prepare yourself for how awesome this neko hoodie is! The hoodie fits snugly and is perfectly sized and zipper seems well made, I didn’t have any issues with it. If the figure you were using this on had big hair you probably couldn’t put the hood up it kind of just fits over Tsukiko’s head. The white cat paws just replace the hands completely and have a nub that snaps right into the arm. The rain boots are made of a rubber material and also have magnets on the bottom, they slip right over the feet of the figure no need to take them off. The red tights look cute but don’t really go with her outfit so I didn’t put them on. Oh and the tail has wire in it and is poseable!

Halfway through the shoot I remembered I bought some card stock backgrounds and forgot to use them, I think they look a lot better than my wall! Lol.

So up next we have the Cu-Poche School Swimsuit figure. Now like I said before it doesn’t come with a head but Kotobukiya now sells extra heads separately of various characters, also you can use most Nendoroid heads as well. This figure really lets you visually see how pose-able these really are since most of the joints are exposed.

For our little showcase here I called over Leonmitchelli Galette des Rois from the anime Dog Days. She was riding her trusty chocobo nearby and came to check out the situation. Upon discovering this odd headless figure naturally she decided to pop her head off and take it for a spin in the pool. The Dark Magician Girl wanted to join in the fun too!

I think Nendoroid heads look pretty cool on the Cu-Poche body, I really love that you can head swap these as it makes it so a Nendo collector can jump right into Cu-Poche.

Tsukiko wearing that white cat hoodie is basically just cuteness overload, I have this anime on my watch list now purely because of this character lol. The Cu-Poche extra stuff is really cool and I hope they put out a lot more. Just a simple thing like this cat hoodie set can bring new life to an old figure, and it was only 1800 yen! What kind of Cu-Poche / Nendoroid crossovers would you guys want to try?

Thanks for reading and be sure to join my newsletter & follow me on social media to make sure you don’t miss out on any new posts!

Dolls, Shia Flatpaddy

Building my own custom Dollfie Dream – Shia Flatpaddy

February 18, 2016 Anime Shutterbug 14 Comments

I have been working on piecing together my next anime style doll for a few months now and I have finally confirmed my design and wanted to share! I am building a custom Dollfie Dream Dynamite which is a 1/3 scale ball jointed doll, modeled after a character by my favorite Japanese Doujin artist Syroh. Now this is just something I love about dolls vs figures because you can literally build any combination and get it to look exactly how you want. The chances of a doujin artists original characters getting any type of figure is next to none. Do you have a favorite character from a niche 12 episode anime that never got any good figures but you wish they did? You can build a doll to look just like it! The possibilities are really endless. So anyway here is my nekomimi Shia Flatpaddy that we will be recreating in doll form, she is just adorable! <3 <3

So where do we start? The head is the primary thing that really makes a character look the part and I found my head at SQLabs. They do a lot of great custom heads / faceups and the one I chose has little fang like teeth which are perfect since I am making a catgirl. This cost about 25K yen for head / face makeup / eyes.

Now we need a body, the Dollfie Dream line comes in several shapes & sizes and I chose the Dollfie Dream Dynamite body for its curvy design since Shia is a very voluptuous girl. I bought a body on Yahoo Auctions JP from someone who parted out a DDdy Miko for 25k yen which is a great price! So this is what our body will look like. (Miko pictured below)

While the DD Dynamite is pretty busty, Shia is a very well endowed girl so she needed something special. I got her the Peach Pai Plus, which is a custom aftermarket silicone bust made by Rajikaru and is pretty much the coveted grail of Dollfie Dream collectors around the world haha. They are made from custom molds designed technically for the DD2 older generation body do they do fit the DD3 new body with some slight modification. They allow you to have a more realistic bust that will squish and mold into clothing much better than just hard vinyl and looks great. A few examples of Dollfie Dream equipped with Peach Pai below. (Photo credit to bluebluewave on Flickr)

I found a wig pretty close to the style I need from Miruya.com , it will need a bit of wig wax and styling to achieve the exact look I want but I think it will be a good match. The pigtails are detachable too which is nice

For the ears I will be attempting to make my own with some felt like fabric and little fuzzy hair to stick out the middle of the ear. I got the inspiration for the ear style from my friend @kugapost on twitter. I will use magnets on the bottom of the ear that will have counterparts glued inside of the head, this will create the look of the ears growing out of the hair rather than being just a headband. The tail I will be creating with a fabric coated pipecleaner that will attach through a drilled small hole through the back that will tie around the center skeleton frame for support. It will be scary drilling into her but worth it for a permanent tail!

See a pic of @kugapost’s cute Mini Dollfie Dream below with her kitty ears.

So there is my custom doll progress, at this point everything has been ordered and I’m just waiting for it all to come! Now I need to pick out outfits… this might take a while lol.

As you can see putting together a custom doll exactly the way you want it really can be a hassle but how else could I recreate a niche doujin character in physical form? It took shopping around to a lot of different vendors, talking with all the helpful people on the DD forums, and a lot of planning but finally I can say this stage is done.

Have any of you built your own custom DD? Let me know if you have any questions about my custom Shia. I might in the future make a more comprehensive post listing all the resources I have found for DD parts and how/where to buy them if there is interest. =)

Anime Figures

Figure Review: Cu-Poche Dark Magician Girl

February 15, 2016 Anime Shutterbug 1 Comment

I have been eyeing up the Cu-Poche line of figures for some time now and finally decided to take the plunge. They are a relatively new line of figures made by Kotobukiya as a direct competitor to the ever popular Nendoroid brand. They are a chibi style figure with good poseability, cute accessories, and swappable face plates. One of their signature featues is the magnetic base, the figures have small but powerful magnets in their feet so you can pose them without needing the plastic stand stuck into their back.

Today I will be reviewing the Dark Magician Girl from Yu-Gi-Oh! a very popular character from the show and card game. I got this from Hobby Search, they are having a great sale and I picked up this figure and a bunch of other Cu-Poche stuff at a great price, lets take a look at the loot haul!

A bit of a teaser there as I did not break out that super cute looking cat hoodie outfit and the other figures yet but I will be showing them off this week. ^.^

The packaging is pretty much the same as Nendoroid, the see though panel on the front lets you see exactly what you’re getting. This figure comes with 3 faces, 6 hands, 2 “Magic Cylinders”, a wand, and a spellbook for accessories, as well as Nenroroid style plastic stands and a really cool claw stand that lets you get creative with holding up whatever else you would want. Also the book fully opens and closes and they give you a nice zip lock bag to put all your extra pieces in, nice touch!

So lets get to some high res photos! (Click the pics for gallery view)

As you can see she is very pose-able, the longer jointed legs allow for a bit more variation than Nendoroids while still keeping that super cute chibi feel. You can see at the end Yoshino decided to join us and though our Cu-Poche is larger she can still interact with Nendoroids and not feel out of scale.

So after the photoshoot we cleaned up for the day and our Dark Magician Girl left. But where did she go, should we follow her?

I see her now deep in the woods, wait what is she doing? She’s casting a spell!

She said something about a ‘Summoning Spell’ and was chanting… wait something is happening!

Sayaka Miki appeared! I dont think this was her intended result…

Sayaka: You have cast your last spell witch, ready your wand!

This is about to get R-rated we better get out of here!

Well I think the Cu-Poche line is looking pretty awesome! A lot of pose-ability, great details and paint, and cool characters and accessories. Kotobukiya is also releasing some cute accessory kits like clothing and mini display sets. The line is still pretty new but is growing fast with a lot of popular characters coming out soon. What do you think, do you prefer them over Nendoroids? This week I will be taking a look at the compatibility with Nendoroid heads, faceplates, and other parts, make sure you follow on social media so you don’t miss out!

Dolls, Mirai Suenaga

Smart Doll New XL Bust Arrives! (NSFW)

February 12, 2016 Anime Shutterbug 8 Comments

Danny Choo put out a new Painted XL Bust which retails for 9900 yen and mine just arrived, woo! It came in the usual Smart Doll box with the bust in a drawstring plastic bag and a couple of cool looking Culture Japan cards, love that Chitose one!

Here is a comparison of the bust sizes, pictured I have from left to right, the small default bust, large bust, and extra large (painted). Unfortunately I don’t have the painted versions of the other sizes but it is not an optical illusion, the nipples on the XL are very pronounced. The XL bust is not just a larger version of the ‘large’, it has a completely different shape and has a much more realistic look under the armpit and flowing out into the curves of the breast. They are more sloped downward but spread out wider than the large bust. Also a notable change is the top of the neck hole is completely circular and flat as opposed to the original busts that have a more elliptical shape and are indented in the middle.

Here are a few shots of the busts on Mirai, sorry the angles are not exactly the same but you get the picture. Notice how the XL bust seems to sit a little better on the body not showing the gaps between the torso as much.

A few more shots of the XL bust in her mint green lingerie set.

Mirai’s default shirt gets quite a bit stretched out with the new XL bust but still fits fine, those nipples could take an eye out! lol

Overall I really like this breast shape better, the XL bust is not truly much larger than the large bust but has a more pronounced outward shape and looks a bit more natural. The large bust probably has a better form for a cleavage look but the XL is good if you are a fan of braless under clothing. I will be trying the XL out in more outfits soon so keep an eye out for the next photoshoot!

Do you like the XL vs the large? Let me know in the comments & please sign up for my newsletter =)

Anime Figures

Hot New Figures From Winter Wonder Festival 2016!

February 11, 2016 Anime Shutterbug Leave a comment

The Winter Wonder Festival 2016 aka ‘Wonfes’ has just concluded in Japan and there were some suprising figure reveals! Some sculpts that were revealed earlier in 2015 were now shown with fully painted prototypes as well. I know my preorder list just got a bit bigger, lets take a look at some of the figures I am excited to see coming out this year. I hope your wallet is ready..

Edna from Tales of Zestiria – Alter

Edna has been revealed with a full paint job and wow did it turn out amazing! The colors are vibrant with some really nice pastel shades that gives the figure a bright and fun look. She is sitting on a rock formation which is fitting seeing as she is an Earth Seraph. I am always happy to see a base that isn’t just a plastic peg and as usual Alter goes the extra mile. I feel that the pose and the look of this figure really portray her character well. She is not yet available for pre-order but I will be keeping an eye on her.

Rise Kujikawa (Arabian Armor ver.) from Persona 4 Dancing All Night – Aquamarine

A new Persona 4 figure debuting in 2016, and it’s my best girl Rise!?? Wow, I am a huge Persona fan and as you can tell I am really excited about this figure! Persona 4 is really lacking in higher quality figures with a lot of them being prize figures, I would love a new P4 scale figure to my collection. Rise is wearing her unlockable Arabian Nights Armor from P4: Dancing All Night and she looks stunning. They did a great job of making the flowing fabric have that lightweight feel and really captured the look of the artwork. Plus have you seen that hip curvature?? Damnnn Rise-chan! This is a definite pre-order for me.

Purple Heart from Hyperdimension Neptunia – Alter

As you guys probably already know from seeing my Black Heart Figure Review I am a big Neptunia fan. This is another great series with a disturbing lack of figures but lately has been seeing some new releases. Can we hope to see all the CPUs in their transformed glory by Alter eventually? The dream is getting closer!

This figure looks to keep the high quality level present in the Black Heart figure and they should look great side by side. Her pose is really nice with an arched back and a sweet looking face. It is definitely more fitting for purple heart to be a little less serious looking than Black Heart. Her armor and hair look nicely detailed and her sword looks pretty badass. My wallet is feeling the burn at this point.

Silica & Pina from Sword Art Online – Broccoli

Silica is easily the cutest girl in SAO and here we get to see the fully painted version of her in her bikini along with Pina! Silica is in her in-game catgirl form which is just extra awesomeness, who doesn’t need more cat girls? I just love everything about the coloring here, her skin tones look awesome, her face is adorable, and Pina is just chillin up top making sure everything is cool. Take my money please.

These figures are really just a tip of the iceberg with 2016 looking like an amazing year for figure collecting. What figures are you guys most looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!

Dolls, Mirai Suenaga

Smart Doll Mirai: Mint Lingerie Photoshoot

February 6, 2016 Anime Shutterbug 2 Comments

It’s been a little while since Mirai had a full photoshoot and I think my photography skills have improved a little bit since the last one. Today Mirai is modeling a mint green lingerie set I got from Taobao seller M+V Studios. This outfit fits her a lot better than the snow bunny dress even though they were both designed for a Dollfie Dream because of the adjustable ties.

I shot this with only the natural light coming through the windows and I think it gave the photos a much more intimate feel.

What kind of outfits do you want to see Mirai in next? Let me know in the comments =)

Anime Figures

Anime Figure Review: Nendoroid #428 Tina

February 3, 2016 Anime Shutterbug Leave a comment

Today I am unboxing and playing around with my Tina Nendoroid #428 from Good Smile Company.

Tina is from the visual novel ‘Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura Doki’ , which was only released in Japan though there is a translation patch being worked on unofficially. When I purchased this figure I knew nothing about her other than I thought she looked adorable and I had to have her, lol. I find a lot of times when I am browsing figures I will end up learning about an anime or visual novel I would have never checked out otherwise and this VN does actually look pretty good so I am looking forward to that fan patch.

On to the unboxing, you can see she comes in a standard size Nendoroid box and has some really cool accessories that caught my eye. Her giant scythe being the obvious standout, it looks like it is made from a tree that is wrapping around this semi transparent blade with a ribbon tied around it. Very interesting weapon and looks really awesome. Also we have the standard 2 extra faces and multiple arm/hand variations and some wings!

By the way guys have you seen my cat?

Really I mean he was just here a minute ago….

He’s on my head isn’t he…

Also I appear to have just grown wings… what!?

Haha, Tina is a little bit ditsy…

As you can see the cat is perfectly shaped to sit easily on her head or stand on its own, really nice touch. You can never have enough cats on top of heads!

Overall I think Tina is a really fun figure and comes with some great accessories. Good Smile Co. really has come a long way since the early nendoroids and the quality improvements just keep coming. Do you guys end up buying figures just because they look awesome even if you don’t know the character? Let me know in the comments and be sure to follow on social media, thanks for reading! =)

Anime Shutterbug

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Mirai – Casual Bikini Top & Jeans

Figure Review: Cu-Poche Tsukiko & Extra Accessories

Building my own custom Dollfie Dream – Shia Flatpaddy

Figure Review: Cu-Poche Dark Magician Girl

Smart Doll New XL Bust Arrives! (NSFW)

Hot New Figures From Winter Wonder Festival 2016!

Edna from Tales of Zestiria – Alter

Rise Kujikawa (Arabian Armor ver.) from Persona 4 Dancing All Night – Aquamarine

Purple Heart from Hyperdimension Neptunia – Alter

Silica & Pina from Sword Art Online – Broccoli

Smart Doll Mirai: Mint Lingerie Photoshoot

Anime Figure Review: Nendoroid #428 Tina

Photoblog about anime figures, dolls, video games & the otaku lifestyle.