Bishojo Figure Convention 2006 Tokyo and Danny "Stormtrooper in Tokyo" Choo

(tags figure, photo-expose, blog, convention, Tokyo, purchase)

Well I finally sit myself in front of the keyboard to type out my thoughts on the Bishojo Figure Convention 2006 Tokyo, but luckily I found Danny "Stormtrooper in Tokyo" Choo's impressive photo-expose blog posts (Bishoujo Figures, Papermoon Dolls) of the event. So instead of boring you with my droning text, I implore you to just jump to his site and gawk at his higher quality photos.

BFC2006 was nestled in Kamata, which is conceptually speaking between (Japan Railways) Shinagawa station and Haneda Airport in Tokyo. It's not near the main "otaku" convention halls, Tokyo Big Sight (Comic Market) or Makuhari Messe (Tokyo Game Show). The building was Ota City Industry Plaza. I totally forgot that I was here in 2004 for the Hakurei Jinjya Reitaisai Zun/Shanghai Alice Event (2004/4/1). The draw was official licensed pre-built (as opposed to hobby/garage kit) figures of recent anime and games, either for sale or for demonstration.

I attended the event in order to buy the Yujin Rozen Maiden "Suiseiseki and Souseiseki" set, which I will review later. The only other figure that I wanted to get was the Kotobukiya Moetan figure convention-only set which was a cheap 1000 yen. I didn't know about it though, so I missed out.

I was disappointed with the size of the event as well, only about 10 booths, but the event still had hundreds if not (low) thousands of people. Most booths were marred with (intentional?) poor lighting, the buy-it-now atmosphere and sold out signs (完売!). But the PaperMoon Special Exhibition area was the only place that had a convention atmosphere with proper lighting.

I'm actually in one of Choo's Papermoon Dolls photos waiting to get inside the space, though I didn't meet him and I didn't see any obvious Stormtroopers. As a candid shot, I don't think I look too bad (not otaku enough?), but I wanna look like I'm having fun, so here I am:

I'm telling you the bunny suit figure really kills me. Ha. ^_^;

That PaperMoon Special Exhibition was a surprise and it really made the trip worthwhile. This level of figures must be out of reach for the casual hardcore, so to be able to take pictures of these sub-million yen figures was exciting. Personally I'm satisfied with the anime look (especially the painted eyes). The hair is an excellent touch. This corner of the exhibit seems to be the newer section, which was maid dress-heavy. Must be that maid cafe boom. The other areas had some figures from older anime series and the difference in quality (figure technology?!) was discernable.

I didn't spend all my time at the PaperMoon area, but I went there 3 times. Ha. As for the rest of the booths:

The Milestone booth was selling that Monsieur Bome's Dead or Alive Kasumi figure series for about 2000 yen (50% off) per color variation but blue is so played.

There was a ton of Suzumiya Haruhi series figures at the Atelier-sai booth, and yes I didn't go for the Pink Bunny Suit Mikuru. To Heart 2 and Fate/Stay Night stuff was also in full effect. That Saber swimsuit with penguin figure is cute compared to her serious look in other figures.

Another booth, CM Corporation, had a huge line for purchases of the limited edition Mai Hime Otome figures. I felt sorry for them because most of them had to wait outside, and they probably waited over an hour or two while other booths had much better line speed.

My favorite booth had to be the Good Smile Company, because they had that Pangya Arin figure and a Pieces Pieces figure that was totally cute but with more skin showing that I would have liked (for a purchase). Actually the latter reminded me of my own Sugar figure (「ちっちゃな雪使いシュガー 1/1スケール コールドキャスト完成品 - シュガー」，see below) because of the color scheme, white, lavender, and purple.

A neighboring booth, Solid Theater, had the "rocket" take on Arin in three different colors. A little too sexy for purchase yo. I'm more of a moe fan, no really.

I was glad that Happinet and 3D Design Figure are continuing the Ichigo Mashimaro (苺ましまろ) excitement but really this Ana Coppola figure is too big (30cm?) and too expensive (13000+ yen). Isn't this the size of that New Super Bros. Mario "Mario" figure? The lack of mouth reminds me of those smaller Pinky:st figures, which I am avoiding. Besides, wasn't it Matsuri-chan the one with the cat ear cap in the manga? IM figures, I got 'em but I skipped this one.

I consoled myself with just taking snaps of upcoming and already released figures. Most other guys also had cameras at the ready. I filled my memory cards, heh. But alas my consumer digital camera doesn't compare to real cameras. In fact, the quality is closer to cell phone cameras, which depresses me to no end. Should I spend at least a thousand dollars on a camera? I can feel the pull but it's out of the question for now.

Though most of the convention was about bishojo figures, there were some other non-bishojo figures like the upcoming Shadow of the Colossus (PS2 game) set by Kotobukiya. But I didn't waste my precious memory on that.

One more post on BFC2006, sure.

I'm going to spend some more time at Danny Choo's website. On many levels (English/Japanese integration, navigation, photo-expose, foreigner in Japan, Star Wars Stormtrooper cosplay!), it's an inspiring and educational way of doing a professional-level hobby blog. Then again, as a former Amazon Website Manager Stormtrooper at Microsoft (!), it's not much of a surprise at all.