Cute cheap figures: Doki Majo 2 Maho, Kimorebi Sakura

(tags game, figure, Doki-Majo, gal game, figure, PlayStation 2, Dual Screen)

Recently Sofmap dumped a full truckload of Doki Doki Majo Shinpan 2 (どきどき魔女神判2) at a price of 2980 yen instead of 9980 yen. The only thing I wanted was the included "Maho" figure, so:

Actually, I got mine at 2480 yen in Sofmap Kobe, woot. I've been looking to picking up this figure ever since Gamers Nipponbashi was selling it for 3980 yen, which was still too steep. I don't intend on playing the game though.

On the left is "Sakura" from the gal-game turned PlayStation 2 Kimorebi no Namiki-michi: Utsuri kawaru kisetu no naka de (木漏れ日の並木道～移り変わる季節の中で～). I haven't played it yet. "Sakura" is the main character's daughter. Also the main character is a widower, which makes the scenario seem quite sad.

Kudo-tan Get: Little Busters! Ecstasy Sofmap point poster and telephone card

(tags telephone card, stick poster, figure, Little Busters, Kudo-tan, Miku Hatsune, zettai ryouiki, loli)

Sofmap recently implemented a Pre-Order Ticket award system, where if you pre-order 1 video, game, or hobby (figure, toy model) related item, you get a "Ichi Map" (1 "map") ticket. (新品TVゲーム、PCゲーム、DVDソフト、ホビーの予約購入チケット、「壱マップ」). You can normally redeem them for a discount, but I don't think anybody would be foolish enough to do that. If you have 10 "Ichi Map" tickets, you can redeem it for a exclusive telephone card. Sometimes there's a diamond in the rough. Yes, look what I did here:

Posable Figma Miku Hatsune figure says "Wow!" to the Kudo-tan

Alright, I've never played the gal-ge visual novel game Little Busters! (リテルバスタース！) by VisualArt's / Key, but it sure does have a lot of commercial backing and support. You can't swing a dead neko-mimi in a character goods shop without hitting one of the many games, magazines and figures that pimp this work. Without checking the Wikipedia, I bet you this game will have a mainstream game release, followed by animes, movies, and stuff. I've already seen the hug-pillows and the itashas.

This telephone card is an illustration of Noumi Kudayavka (能美 クドリャフカ). I though she had an affectionate nickname call "Kudo-tan", because it was mentioned at Senaka Ota-Road blog, but I was told I was wrong to use that name. Anyways I like this character and this particular illustration because of the zettai ryouiki, and also the cute hat with the big button. It reminds me of the button on Saga (in the background). Furthermore, I like to collect telephone cards that have "Sofmap" written in them. I don't intend to actually play this game, though.

To tell the truth, I bought the card and an accompanying stick poster (shown above) from Sofmap Saurus 1 Treasure Box floor (委託販売階) for 8000 yen. This is actually a steal, in comparison to buying 10 video games, or dueling with auction snipers (the average open auction is about 10000+ yen right now). So the story on the stick poster was that it was the tokuten for buying 3000 yen worth of goods at Sofmap, probably at the same time this telephone card was released. Both items appear to be already out of stock, and both were only released 3 days ago. Frantic hordes, I think.

The September rush of Miku Hatsune (VOCALOID 初音ミク) figures also cannot be ignored as well. I only lucked out on that figure through a buy-it-now auction. Sweet, because its sold out everywhere. The non-posable but killer Good Smile Company version was released a week ago, and it's probably fetching beaucoup (?) bucks (?). I actually pre-ordered this one, but mine will be coming in the October shipment. Uki uki!

Tama-tan: Pink wins over Black

(tags figure, Koge-Donbo, illustrator, kawaii)

I'd like to get this figure by illustrator Koge-Donbo and figure creator Takeshi Miyakawa (T's System), called "Tama-tan" (T's system「コゲどんぼ×宮川武コラボレーションフィギュア　たまタン」 ). It's a 1/6 scale, pre-built PVC figure. The pink one was released at Wonder Festival Winter 2008 earlier this year, and I saw one for sale at Sofmap Zaurus Treasure Box for about 12000 yen. I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting it then.

You can now pre-order the black one from Tora no Ana online for 7500 yen, but only until 6/14. Black doesn't suit my fancy (white is more like it, aww yeah), so I am staying away. I only noticed the latter because I subscribed to Koge-Donbo's blog and steal her pics, at least the one announcing this figure. There is a nice photo-heavy blog post capturing the pink "Tama-tan" at the Tenra Blog (天羅Blog: T's system「コゲどんぼ×宮川武コラボレーションフィギュア　たまタン」 ) and at Yotsuba to Figure (よつばとフィギュア：コゲどんぼ×宮川武コラボレーションフィギュア 1/6たまタン ワンダーフェスティバル2008Winter)

Play this one and no other: Idolmaster Live For You with Miki Hoshii doll

(tags game, Xbox 360, Idolmaster, failure, figure, ToHeart2)

Like Mr. Alvin, I got my Idolm@ster Live For You with the Miki Hoshii figure today. It looks like this:

This package is the tenth part of the "Birthday Goods" series. When I saw the figure's eyes, the green was more emerald than muted black. I was a little disappointed because the combination of green and yellow paint on a real-life figure doesn't look so great, but at least the face is just as attractive as the picture in the original advertisement. There are a lot of hand attachments, too, great.

The 26000 yen set came a scratch off card (pictured middle) so that you can download the first DLC song for free. Also I picked up my pre-ordered Idolm@ster branded Xbox 360 Live Point cards. This is card type B (pictured right). I picked up card type A yesterday. Lastly, (pictured left) Geemaga Magazine issue 2008/04 had a bunch of special Idolm@ster goods bundled in, a DVD introducing the radio show featuring Chiaki Takahashi (たかはし智秋 voicing Azusa) and Asami Imai (今井麻美 voicing Chihaya) and a pencil card:

ゲーマガ 4月号 発売日：2008/02/29　価格：980円(税込)
内容省略
アイドルマスターL4U! [全力応援号!] 特製下敷き＆激レア映像収録DVDつき！
【注目作】アイドルマスター　ライブフォーユー！
【ふろく】☆「アイドルマスター ライブフォーユー！」特製下敷き
【DVD収録タイトルリスト】
■ゲーマガ・オリジナル映像アイマスレイディオ出張版

So I was in Nipponbashi early this evening, trying to avoid the otaku purchase crowds. Today was the release of ToHeart2 Another Days PC ecchi game. Some stores were open till 21:00 instead of 20:00 because of this and other major product releases. Man there were some long lines (thanks foo bar baz). I was riding up an Sofmap elevator and the otaku-like guy in front of me had 8 or 10 copies of the game. He pressed the button for the buy-back floor (買取の階). Hm, how did this guy get 10 copies of a 10000 yen game and why would he sell them back?

I didn't get a copy of the game myself, but it reminded me that I need to play the PS2 version I bought off a friend. Uh.

I did double check the games I wanted (BioShock in English for 3500 yen used, Burnout Paradise in English used for 6000 yen, Contra 4 DS in English used for 3500 yen, Halo 3 NTSC-JP version in English (!) for 8000 yen used), but I will (must) play Im@s L4U first. My bleeding wallet demands it. That means no new XBLA games, either. Sorry N+ and Trigger Heart Exelica. Sure, good luck with the abstinence.

Life-sized: Paper Moon meido and Pikachu

(tags figure, Pikachu, kawaii)

Last year around this time I was able to see Paper Moon's life size dolls. This time they seem to have done the same exhibition again, but at the Akihabara UDX building. The event is called (my trans) "Real-size Figure Anime Party In Tokyo Anime Center" 等身大フィギュアパーティーin東京アニメセンター and its on till the 14th of December.

I know the building as "Cross Field". I like passing through it whenever I'm in Akiba because its not as geeky as the rest of the area and plus there's normal restaurants there. And the Center itself caters to the mainstream, even though its about anime. So yes it was surprising to see some of the risque Paper Moon figures there (through Moeyo! Akibajin blog, of course).

But the winner today is Pikachu. Aww, so adorable. Standing on a tree stump. There's no price here, so the figure is not for sale. They need to put this figure in the middle.

I'm kinda disappointed that black bunny suited figure from last time isn't there, though the meido brigade is. In the minority were some full-size anime figures like Doraemon and Gundam. Finally, I didn't see any new Paper Moon creations. Maybe they were too hawt for this event. Do they sell the demo ones or are these just for show?

Trading Figure Collection? TFC Shooting Game Historika

(tags shmup, figure, 200802)

Deeply nested among figures and robot models in the Miyazawa Model Convention 2007 Fall report part 3 by Moeyo Akibajin was this gem. "Trading Figure Collection Shooting Game Historika SP" (「TFC シューティングゲームヒストリカSP」, FIG-COL-0167) by Yujin Figure.

According to the ECsite AmiAmi, this collection includes ships from Gradius V , R-Type, Darius and Gradius 2. I was hoping that red one was a RayStorm ship but alas. Check out the detailed pictures at AmiAmi. Even the Options are shown prominently. Sweet.

Old man habits win the war: Idolm@ster Birthday Goods "Miki" Figure Pre-Order Battle

(tags ECsite, figure, game, Idolmaster)

Got up this lazy Saturday morning at around 0800. I quickly tested the buy link, and it was golden so I got my pre-order through. The end of February will be posing madness! :^)

The 2ch thread (permanent copy) showed that the service started working again at around 0400. Good I didn't try to stay up that long. One puzzling thing is that they mentioned a pre-order count. I don't see a number anywhere. The last person's comment is especially appropriate: 「昨日仕事休んで挑む必要なかったwwww」 but I wanted to take a day off anyway.

Idolm@ster Birthday Goods "Miki" Figure Pre-Order Battle: YOU FAIL IT

(tags ECsite, figure, game, Idolmaster, failure)

Don't bother reading the whole thing... I lost the battle. :-(

----boring details----

1755: I prep my browsers for the online purchasing. Turn off the proxies. Turn off the bittorentting.

1758 and 40 seconds: I start a Rubik's Cube session.

1759 and 52 seconds: I almost finished my Rubik's Cube solve, but last minute panic makes me lose my concentration. Just one more move, but my hand starts moving toward the mouse.

1800 and 1 second: My browser was sitting on the pre-order link, so I click it.

oh it's in my cart! ...waiting...

1815: Um, is this thing on? I try resetting my browser's proxy setting, sending a ping to the host, etc. No go.

1823: http://www.happinetonline.com/ is not responding. It's the proverbial "slashdotting". shop.765.jp/idolmaster which is the referring link is also down. :-(

1827: I start blogging this post to past the time in between pressing F5.

1833: let's see if 2ch have any other people complaining. I never use 2ch so I just do a search. Yup. Only one person gloating about it.

1845: Oh, i was able to get it into my cart and start putting in my billing info. But now it's not responding again. :-(

1904: Still not responding. From 2ch: 「無駄な一時間だった」 Yer. I'm wondering if I'm going to spend another hour on this. Heck, why not.

1914: I've already started a JNetCube session and finished two solves. Still no response from the browser windows. Some people are already "giving up", but that's not going to deter me.

1923: Response, billing info input, submit...! no still not responding.

2014: Response... no its down again.

2045: Billing requires you to put in the equivalent of a ZIP code but when it goes out to that server the session times out... Still pressing. Maybe I should have registered as a Happinet luser?

2110: getting tired of typing the same thing over and over. I tried to register, but it dies in the same way. Grr.

2122: It's teasing me now, because the cart display is fast, but the billing page is timing out

2132: Now it's totally dead again. Hm. I need to eat something. I've bookedmarked the "add to cart" and "become a member" in both browsers' link bar.

2136: 「ただ今、ハピネット･オンラインは大変混み合っています。」 An actual replacement message for the whole store is now up. Naw that's just the message for saying the servers are slagged and they've taken the whole store offline, muhhahah. Uhh. Now I can get something to eat.

Idolm@ster "Birthday Goods" series

(tags game, Idolm@ster, figure, ECsite)

The last time I bought the Idolm@ster limited edition game, I missed out on the concert (raffle) and the good looking Miki Xbox 360 faceplate. This time I'm determined to be up to date on these goods.

That means keeping a eye on the Official Goods Shop. While researching the last post about the upcoming L4U game, I stumbled across the latest of the "Birthday" series (「バースデー記念企画グッズ」シリーズ), which is this fabulous "HappyBirthday! Miki! 11.23" promotion (星井美希リミテッドドール)

Excellent! This "Miki Hoshii" posable figure has a really cute face. Idolm@ster is really about playing with figures, polygon or otherwise, isn't it? I don't like the hinges on my figures, though. I can't seem to mentally block that out.

This is a online shop promotion for the limited edition game bundled with the figure, which makes it 2_6040 yen. Thus, the figure itself is around 1_6000 yen plus. The company who makes the figure is none other than Mega Hobby, who makes the "Action Figure Collection" posable doll series. I did get the Tsukuyomi "Hazuki" AFC posable doll (AFC 「月詠-MOON PHASE-　葉月」) for about 1_5000 yen retail about a year back, so that makes the price... understandable?

Talk about overpriced useless crap. (/me orders two)

Actually, only 3000 of these sets will be available. Since Idolm@ster fans have money, lots of money, and this figure is more decent than the Azusa Miura figure, I expect that the pre-order system which starts 11/16 next friday 18:00 will crash and I will be robbed, again. Maybe I should take next Friday off, because a salaryman shouldn't be hitting refresh 16 times a second from the company network.

Turn away but I'll be back: Ace Combat 6, Kyon no Imouto figure

(tags game, ECsite, Xbox 360, Wii, figure, anime, sexy, loli)

Yesterday evening I had a chance to pick up Ace Combat 6. Though I love the trailer and demo, I finally decided not to pick up the game due to a short comment from destroy tokyo. Besides I haven't played a flight game (not sim) in a long time, and my idea of flying is AfterBurner II. Also I like the 2D freedom of FPS like Halo 3 and Crackdown.

The Super Mario Galaxy demo movie which was playing at the new arrival area (thanks Senaka Otaroad) stopped me for a couple of minutes. There's just something about flying through space hanging low over a lava planet that looks spectacular. Galaxy Force II, anyone? But I don't have a Wii and I won't buy one just yet. Plus it made me feel guilty about not finishing Mario Sunshine.

I have to go to the shop again. I waste too much time just loafing around shops looking for things to buy. Stupid me. Anyway, I guess I have to pick up the Famitsu Xbox 360 magazine since it's selling out due to Ace Combat 6 and Idolm@ster special info. As an aside, I am looking at Idolm@ster auction goods and tickets for an upcoming live in Osaka and/or elseshere go for 2_0000 yen plus. If the Xbox 360 was cheaper I bet you it reign with Idolm@ster alone!

And the shop must have my pre-ordered figure "Kyon no Imouto" from FREEing. It's a 1/4 scale figure of Kyon's little sister in a bunny suit, part of the FREEing series, and based off of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsuu anime. I totally forgot about it and Akiba Blog reminded me (also Senaka Otaroad). As FooBarBaz puts it, it's cute but "pretty immoral". Um.... 9000 yen. You know I'm all about the bunny suit.

I suppose I need to balance this out by buying the other figures in the series (official pages: Mikuru, Haruhi, Tsuruya-san, Kyon no Imouto, Yuki), but the only other ones I want are the "Mikuru" and "Yuki", and even still, they are not smiling which is :-/ (sentence ends here).

Relax, desuu... Rozen Maiden "Suiseiseki" figure by Miki Ousaka

(tags figure, Rozen Maiden, kawaii, purchase)

Rozen Maiden is still charming. Here's "Suiseiseki". Oh great, an unplanned purchase but the look on "Suiseiseki"'s face is killer kawaii.

You would never guess that she's the high-tension tsundere. She looks so relaxed.

According to the official page, this PVC full-painted pre-built figure is non-scale. The pics on the Senaka Otaroad blog show how the different scales between figures destroy the sense of balance. Also more pics at Akibablog, Moeyo (1, 2) and the high-quality photo-review from FooBarBaz.

This figure was originally sculpted by Miki Ousaka (チェリーブロッサムの桜坂美紀) who is famous for making bishoujo figure kits to sell at those biannual Wonder Festival figure conventions. She also made a lot of commercial figures for animes such as Nadia and To Heart 2 (according to GA news). I want her Hina-Ichigo figure, so cute! Woops, according to the news page, Ousaka attended the World Hobby Fair in Kobe (my backyard!?!) last Sunday 10/28. Well there is no danger from me buying a kit, since I can't build it, but there goes a picture taking opportunity lost. Too bad. :-(

Anyway, along side this new figure was a Hina-Ichigo figure but it was kinda low-quality around the face area so I let it slide. Besides, other figures in the same series was discounted a while back, so perhaps I can get it cheaper later.

A little too eager, part 2: Shining Wind's Kureha (figure)

(tags figure, telephone card, character goods, mail order)

I thought the "Kureha" figure was gone or sold out. I visited Sofmap one last time and I also searched Yahoo Auctions for the words (「クレハ シャイニング」). But it turns out that it will be sold on the 18th, according to the online store Sega Direct. Since they have a telephone card present (pictured left) and its still available for only (!? this extreme retail, yo) 8000 yen altogether, I'm going to mail order it from them instead of brick-and-mortar buying.

They have some other nice (hawt) Shining Wind Kureha goods. There's a sports towel (pictured right) and bath towel, and the PS2 game with Stick Poster Binder set (pictured middle) which also has a telephone card (meh design) and a fan disc with CG illustrations, all for a low price of 1_0000, rawr.

D00d could I be going lustful on the Kureha? Um um. (Deep breath) Y.. Yes but no. No! No more. Ok. This month is just this figure, okay?

Oh I found it funny that Sega Direct still carries the telephone card set for Gungrave, a PS2 game released back in 2002. 5 years ago! And don't miss the telephone card set for Karas, the Dreamcast shmup. Yea right.

A little too eager: Shining Wind's Kureha (figure)

(tags figure, game, PlayStation 2, sexy, illustrator)

Remember the "Kureha" figure I mentioned in May? Well, Moeyo reminded me that its coming out this week so I've been making quick stops to the Sofmap.

Um. Guess I didn't read too closely, because it says it will come out on Friday, not today. Duh.

You just wanna appreciate the figures: "Haruhi" and "Yuki" Limited edition "White"

(tags figure, sexy, anime, purchase)

Its been a couple of months in the making, but my "Mikuru" doesn't have to go it alone any more:

Yes! I recently won the auction for third figure in this series,"Yuki Nagato [Bunny Girl]" (～涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱～ＰＶＣ製塗装済完成品 『1/6長門有希 バニーガール』), Chara-Ani limited edition White (no stockings, rawr). I did try to get it officially through Chara-Ani a couple of months back, but I was robbed. This time I used Yahoo Auction Japan, and it was only 8000 yen + shipping. The price is only slightly higher than retail, only because there is now a better Haruhi Bunny Suit series (FREEing(フリーイング)「涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 涼宮ハルヒ バニーVer.」 "Mikuru", "Haruhi", "Tsuruya-san", "Kyon's Sister"). Ah, such is life.

Since this was an auction buy, I kinda doubted that this was a unopened box. Granted the tape looked new and everything was in place with protective plastic, but the figure itself seemed dirty with some lint. I spent some time trying to clean it off, with little success. Some of the lint is on the bunny ears (right side in photo), and on the front side of the bunny suit. Since its white it irritatingly stands out. Also "Yuki" cannot stand by itself so I placed the support arm. Still I am very satisfied with the face, very kawaii. You can change the hands, but I think the combination of glasses and star wand is moe.

I'm not into Haruhi herself, but I kept my eye out for the second figure, "Haruhi Suzumiya [Bunny Girl]" (～涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱～ＰＶＣ製塗装済完成品 『1/6涼宮ハルヒ バニーガール』), Chara-Ani limited edition White (no stockings, rawr). I got this one used at Mandarake Osaka for about 7000 yen, which isn't a bad price for what appears to be another unopened box. Face is very clean, with some niggling scratches on the hair in the back. The rest of the figure is cleaner than "Yuki", so is it a manufacturing defect or auction deception? In any case, the pose is made for the guitar. There's also a mic hand set, but that just doesn't make any sense.

So now they're out of the box, let's pose them. Okay an obligatory story:

Yuki: "Mikuru-chan, you haven't seen my guitar around have you?"
Mikuru: "I think Haruhi has it."

Haruhi: "Let's play something interesting!" (starts to swing arm in giant windmills)
Yuki: "Are you sure you know how to play?"
Haruhi: "Sure!" (bad riff sound)
Mikuru: "Do I have to watch you practice?"

Haruhi: "Let's get a band going together in time for the culture festival." (bad riff sound and wild swinging continues)
Mikuru: "Ganbatte ne" (slowly inches away)
Yuki: "Hm, how good are at timed air guitar?" (ponders)

The "Mikuru" figure is the obvious win since she is so kawaii. "Yuki" isn't bad, but really does she belong in a bunny suit? And "Haruhi" is just fronting again, but I am surprisingly satisfied with it. The long legs are very non-Japanese, though. I placed these figures on top of my refrigerator, so I see them when I walk in. I want to put them next to the computer but there is no space.

I want to keep these figures out on display, but I've got so many others that I should work on. So perhaps in a month these "ladies" will hit the boxes again.

Warning: Gigantor statue coming to Kobe

(tags figure, tourist, Kobe)

The Kobe Tatsujin Project (Kobe鉄人Project) will commemorate manga artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama (横山光輝) with a 18 meter tall, 70-ton statue. It will be erected Spring 2008 near a park close to the Japan Railways Shin-Nagata (JR新長田) station, at a cost of about 1_3500_0000 yen (USD 1 million). Yokoyama is famous for the giant robot manga Gigantor (鉄人２８号) and other seminal manga works.

I'm not a old-school manga fan, but this is interesting news occuring in my neighborhood.

(thanks Asahi.com, Engadget)

It's just a box: Rozen Maiden suitcase

(tags character goods, Rozen Maiden, anime, figure)

At the figure section of Sofmap, I saw a cardboard box with the words, Rozen Maiden "Bara Otometachi no Kaban" (薔薇乙女達の鞄) I was intrigued but not willing to pay 6000 yen on something sight unseen. Luckily I remembered the name and the all-seeing Internet brought me this:

Uh huh, 6000 yen for a box with no doll inside, and it's only for display use. Right. Makimasen (巻きません)

Shining Wind's Kureha (figure) makes CERO B

(tags figure, game, PlayStation 2, sexy, illustrator)

I like that illustrator Tony (nsfw). Recently it seems Tony has been crossing over to all ages illustration, heading up the character design in the Sega PlayStation 2 games Shining Tears and Shining Wind.

One of the characters from Shining Wind, Kureha, will get (pre-built) figure treatment soon. Here is "Kureha", a 1/7 scale figure by Shunji Hagai (?) (萩井俊士) and produced by Max Factory/Good Smile Company. I like this character design, because she has a bow in front, a bow-like sleeve billow, and she's holding a bow. Also, well, zettai ryouiki.

Though I haven't played the game, I am considering purchasing this figure.

I read though that Shining Wind got a CERO B ranking (12 years or older) instead of being all ages (CERO A) because the illustrations are a bit sexualized. Tony, it's all your fault.

piyo pi pi: Tokimeki Memorial Only Love

(tags anime, season 2006/10, seiyuu, figure)

I finished marthoning the Tokimeki Memorial Only Love (ときめきメモリアルOnlyLove). Wow. 4 out of 5 stars. Story was predictable and less than completely satisfying, because this is another harem-can't-decide-guy anime. The visual quality never stopped for one second though, nice.

This was the first time I heard Hekiru Shiina (椎名へきる) as a voice actor, though it seems that this 1990's seiyuu-idol is making a comeback.

Also heavyweight voice actors Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり) and Kikuko Inoue (井上喜久子) make their one-shot appearances, ho hum. Even Masumi "Masumin" Asano (浅野真澄) is in this one but in an unforgetable role, ugh. And main guy Mamoru Miyano (宮野真守) was partly on the annoying side but still servicable.

I hated when the changed the ED to a different song. The OP song "Yokan" (予感) is brilliant. In fact I had a devil of a time trying to find this song's single, but I nabbed it at Sofmap Nipponbashi Saurus. The first half ED song "Kiseki no kakera" (奇跡のかけら) is wonderful. I suppose I want to get the character singles now. I don't want to buy the DVDs, though.

And I can't let go of hiyokko-kun (ひよこっこ). A little chickadee voiced by Mai Kadowaki (門脇舞), nevertheless with a bad attitude (shown by the anime-styled angry mark). It is so funny to see it eat, like a jackhammering woodpecker. Ha. "piyo pi pi pi pi pi pi"

I even went to the official home page and scoped out the official "Sayuri Amamiya" (天宮小百合) figure, w00t zettai ryouiki. There's just something about the sound of "amamiya", which sounds lovely because its all vowels and soft consonants. The previous time I recalled an "amamiya" was from Nanaka 6/17 (ななか６／１７).

edit: Added the Hekiru Shiina poster from HM3 Special 45 and expanded Shiina comment. Grammar fix on Masumin comment.

Virtual "theft": Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu - Yuki white bunny exclusive figure by Chara-Ani

(tags figure, order, anime, ECsite, failure)

This figure went on sale at 2007/04/18 21:00:00 +0900. (Picture is from after sale)

This is what my shopping cart showed at 2007/04/18 21:00:25 +0900.

The item sold out. In 25 seconds (or less).

Obviously I need to hit the refresh button faster than say 3 times a second? Or open multiple browsers? Or have multiple Internet connections? Or move to Tokyo and leach their broadband? Give me a hint here please. orz

Well, I already missed the opportunity to match my "Mikuru" white bunny girl figure with the "Haruhi" white bunny girl figure and this "Yuki" white bunny girl figure during the normal ordering period. So I can't mimic blog Kansaitei at all. Would you bet that Kansaitei will be making a trio photo-expose page to go with the "Mikuru" & "Haruhi" and "Mikuru" pages?

Other related thoughts: I saw offline the "Haruhi" black bunny girl figure at a glass box store, but going for 2_2000 yen because it was a convention exclusive. I suppose I could get the "Yuki" red bunny girl figure. Nah, it's important to match the colors.