This school semester (sans-finals) is finally over and this time round, I took my first honors-level class on Japanese popular culture. After much contemplation, for my research paper, I decided to write on the inherent importance of moe-elements when it comes to character merchandise. It was a long and arduous process to see this paper to completion, but it was well worth it and exceedingly fun and educational.
Enjoy!
4 Comments | 
Academic Papers, Anime, Articles, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: academic, Anime, astro, boy, culture, delivery, figures, ghibli, kaname, Kiki's, kyojin, madoka, magi, magica, merchandise, moe, no, otaku, paper, puella, service, shingeki, totoro | 
Permalink
Posted by Actar
“Buy with all your might!!”
As a collector, much of the pride that I have for my collection stems from the time and effort that I take to amass each and every piece. The rarer the collectible, the more effort (and sometimes luck) necessary to obtain them and the more pride I have once it’s in my collection. (…and to be dreadfully honest, the bragging rights that come with owning a rare commodity don’t hurt either.)
This might be somewhat elitist, egotistical and entitled of me to say this, but I simply hate it when companies mass-release something that once was an exclusive.
10 Comments | Articles, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: Anime, coin, collection, cospa, exclusvie, figure, mass, merchandise, mikoto, misaka, railgun, release, replica, retail | Permalink
Posted by Actar
A video showing off how obsessed I am about a fictional, 2D, blond, twin-tailed, loli, magical girl.
2 Comments | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: actsta, alter, Anime, book, company, completed, darkness, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figma, figure, first, force, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, minds, movie first, nanoha, of, phantom, product, pvc, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
With Figma Fate being an utter disappointment, will ActSta Fate deliver and give us Fate Fanatics the definitive Loli Fate figure that we have been dreaming of?
Yes… and no.
Leave a Comment » | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: actsta, alter, Anime, book, company, completed, darkness, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figma, figure, first, force, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, minds, movie first, nanoha, of, phantom, product, pvc, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Do enjoy this quick review of more quirky Nanoha merchandise while I work on some epic upcoming stuff. (^.^)
1 Comment | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: alter, Anime, book, company, completed, darkness, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figure, first, force, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, minds, movie first, nanoha, of, phantom, product, pvc, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Still not satisfied with Figma Nanoha? Well, why not check out GSC’s latest addition to their Nanoha figure line, ActSta Nanoha.
1 Comment | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: actsta, alter, Anime, book, company, completed, darkness, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figure, first, force, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, minds, movie first, nanoha, of, phantom, product, pvc, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
We have well established figure producers like GSC, Max Factory, Kotobukiya, Wave, Freeing and Megahouse that always churn out quality products. Then we have Alter. I don’t think many would disagree with me when I say that Alter is definitely one of the best, or if not the best, figure maker at this point in time. What can I say? Alter’s figures are definitely a league above all other brands. Their figures are consistently excellent, utilizing one of the best feeling materials, having quality paint jobs, gorgeous poses and intricate sculpts. This usually yields a figure that any collector would be proud to own and proud to have displayed on his shelf.
Now, why am I singing such high praise of Alter from the get go? Well, that’s because it’s true.
…and also because I’ve been completely smitten by their latest offering in their Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha figure line, their 1/7 Scale Fate Testarossa figure.
3 Comments | Figure Photo Reviews, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: alter, Anime, book, company, completed, darkness, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figure, first, force, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, minds, movie first, nanoha, of, phantom, product, pvc, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Let me introduce to you the Talking Alarm Clock. Not really something that is commonly talked about or easily obtainable, Talking Alarm Clocks are precisely what they are. Alarm Clocks with alarms that are specially recorded lines of Anime characters by their respective voice actors. These phrases are usually along the lines of trying to wake someone up as we shall soon see.
I’ve been wanting to get one of these for quite awhile, partly out of curiosity and partly due to the novelty factor. However, as far as I know, such clocks aren’t usually readily available at regular online stores. I’ve never seen the Haruhi, Railgun or Bamboo Blade ones up for sale and yet they exist. I suppose they were event or online store exclusives or something to that effect.
However, the clock that I have infront of me can indeed be purchased from any online hobby store. They are tie ins with the Nanoha movie that feature the voices of both Nanoha and Fate, who are voiced by Tamura Yukara and Mizuki Nana respectively.
This one is the Fate Version that has 4 different alarms. The first three are all voiced by Fate, but the last one is by both Nanoha and Fate. While the Nanoha clock has 3 lines voiced by Nanoha and one voiced by both of them.
———
This is my first attempt at translating, hopefully I’ve done the lines justice. (^.^;)
1 Comment | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff, Merchandise Reviews | Tagged: alarm, Anime, blu, book, clock, company, darkness, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figure, first, force, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, movie first, nanoha, of, product, ray, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Well, there’s the phrase “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. Here, my new version of this phrase is “Magical Girls who live in acrylic cases shouldn’t wield gigantic magical intelligent axes”.
Anyways, joking aside, I have finally completed my doll case for Feito~chan. The base and stand comes from the set recommended to me by SleeplessOtaku. However, I didn’t really like the flimsy plastic case and decided to get one custom made. Thanks to my friend for getting this done for me within a week. (^.^) Nice huh?
Also, I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the cape looking decent. How does it look?
Leave a Comment » | Actar's Acquisitions, Dolls, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: 1/3, Anime, azone, book, company, darkness, doll, dollfoe, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figure, first, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, movie, nanoha, of, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, volks, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
6 Comments | Actar's Acquisitions, Actar's Reviews Episodes, Dolls, Figure Photo Reviews, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: 1/3, Anime, azone, book, company, darkness, doll, dollfoe, 魔法少女リリカルなのは, factory, fate, figure, first, girl, good, hayate, lyrical, magical, max, merchandise, movie, nanoha, of, reinforce, riot, shamal, signum, smile, takamachi, testarossa, vita, volks, yagami, zafira | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Actar's Otaku Life 