Entries Tagged 'figures' ↓

Some play with toys, others take photos of them in awesome situations.

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Things that happen in anime figure shops, and what becomes of the little girls of our youth.

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I’ve talked about my love of manga, now I talk about my appreciation of anime figures.

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My Christmas as interpreted by Niko Belic from GTA IV

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Some of you may have been aware of some limited edition Bunny Nendoroid figures based on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya characters. They are limited edition and hard to find. Well, there’s one more of these box sets that’s out of availability at my local Anime collectable shop, and that’s because I just bought it. Haruhi herself, Yuki Nagato, and Mikuru are all here, with accessories. Haruhi is dressed in her Guitar Bunny outfit, and the others are dressed as they are in the movie that Haruhi forces them to act in.

I’ll be doing some of the most unprofessional figure photography imaginable (phone photos much?) because my digital camera is broken, to bring you a post of epic proportions (I still haven’t gotten the photos of my Mizuho Kazami figure off my phone, but the USB cable will help). So until now, enjoy this Good Smile picture.

Finally Good Smile Company have produced a website in English, which not only makes it easier for me to identify when figures were made and what they represent, but it makes it a hell of a lot easier on the bloke who runs my local Anime shop to order things in for me (and other people of course, but I’m thinking about MY needs right now). Danny Choo declares it fo’ sho, and here’s the actual website.

A number of people have blogged about this, including How a Girl Figures. Thanks to the new English site I am now aware of who Moetan is, as pictured in the above graphic. And knowing is half the battle, as the catch phrase of a certain other type of figure used to be.

Simone Legno Interview

I originally thought this guy was a woman because of his first name, but then I watched his interview video which proved me wrong (the beard gives it away). I came across his work in the Sydney Kinokuniya bookshop which sells many of his vinyl toys, which are quite fascinating. Simone Legno’s favorite vinyl toy he designed, Bastardino, is the first vinyl toy I have owned and will certainly not be the last. Legno has a nice Japanese inspired style to his work which works well for graphic design and illustration, and his characters are rather cute. Just thought I’d share this video with you since I found it on Legno’s tokidoki site.

[EDIT: Click below for the response to my email I sent him:]

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For those of you who don’t know, here it is. Shin’s discourse on the matter of banning Anime figures in Malaysia has a title more colourful than I’m used to encountering, and I know next to nothing about the Malaysian government apart from what I’ve read in his article, but I believe it’s time for me to respond with a Stephen Fry inspired Blessay. Would Stephen Fry approve of somebody trying to emulate his writing style and mood in order to justify Anime figures? I haven’t the faintest idea, but I’ll give it a shot.

Anime figures, as much as they are derided as a less than adequate substitute for real life female companionship, represent an artform which is at the same time skillful and subversive. Depending on which ones you get there are some genuinely beautiful pieces to collect, and they are actual art objects, albeit a commercial one based on a commercial artform, Anime. The mingling of two different artforms is always controversial, and the application of such a union can have the public up in arms, as anybody familiar with art history will recall.

But how should figures be appreciated? I believe, that since they are art objects, but not always objectifying of women by any means, they should be viewed in The Spirit of Art. A good appreciation of the female form is a staple philosophy of any Bohemian, and in some ways otaku are some of the most enigmatic Bohemians of all, due to the fact that some of them desire their figures in the likeness of their favorite Anime girls over real women. This does not mean that all figure collectors feel this way, but there is that element there.

So, on with the Blessay. I will not attempt to criticise the Malaysian government’s attempts to ban Anime figures, because I already said I know next to nothing about the situation going on, but I will attempt to convince you that censorship of an artform only makes it more popular. Just ask Salman Rushdie, he’s living under a fatwa and that still hasn’t changed his mind on censorship. Perhaps it is bad taste comparing censorship of a book that offended Muslims to, what is an act of censorship in a Muslim country of a different artform, but the record shows that such attempts to silence dissenting voices doesn’t work to cease their popularity, and that’s all I have to say on the matter of the Malaysian government.

What I am going to talk about in this Blessay is how the collection of Anime figures as art objects rather than sex objects actually builds an appreciation of artworks, and of course, a healthy fascination with the mysterious allure and beauty of women. Sorry Germaine Greer, you already roasted me when you had the chance at that book talk I went to, and a feminist/Marxist backlash is probably expected from posting something like this on one’s blog.

Consider the art of sculpture, as high art. Sculpture is one of the defining elements of the Arts even before the Greeks had thought of their Muses. Now, as we know, Anime is popular culture, and thus any figures and PVC sculptures based on Anime characters are in fact commercial products. However it is not quite the same as hanging a print of a Picasso on your wall, or a Matisse reproduction. These Anime figures are collectables and have value of their own, judged by their rarity and skill in creation.

To purchase an Anime figure is not always an easy task, adding to the suspense and enjoyment of acquiring them. Because they are not easy to come by in some areas they hold a mystique of that which cannot easily be possessed. In this way it is easier to understand why some otaku and Anime fans find the activity of obtaining a rare figure of an Anime girl holds as much or even more than the courting and romancing of a real one. It took me some time to find the right places and the right people to get figures from, and these connections which evoke a sort of underground bootleggery (even though you may be buying legitimate merchandise legally, the cliches of trenchcoats, sunglasses and suitcases in shady locations is all part of the fun). The thrill of getting these figures home from the Anime shop cannot be compared, as you try to get home with such subversive artworks without somebody looking at you funny or asking you what’s in your bag. The embarrassment of getting caught in public with these in a shopping bag, and the satisfaction of getting home undisturbed, all builds part of the hobby experience.

Why is it so embarrassing to be caught with them? Because it is a bit hard for respectable members of the community to understand why you may be holding in your possession sculpted figures of scantily clad women, and this is what makes people who collect figures worry all the more, because of what other people think of you. What other people think of you is quite important in Australia as it probably is in Malaysia where figures are being banned, and I suppose the embarassment of being caught with a figure which has her panties showing is far less consequential than having it actually confiscated from you on sight.

Yet still, people collect them, knowing full well that other people might not understand the way they appreciate these things. These figures are admired for their beauty, and obtained out of a love for the characters they represent. I haven’t been collecting them long but I think I understand now that there’s more to collecting them than crass commercialism, more than just a hobby of the perverted soul, but something uplifting. To own a figure is to possess what cannot be obtained in reality, as all representations of beauty in Art are, unattainable perfections which cannot be fulfilled in life. But, to quote Lovecraft, it made men dream, but unlike in Lovecraft’s horrific mythos young men aren’t dreaming of extradimensional horrors but of women they love but whom they cannot have, a mystique and allure comes from collecting figures of Anime girls, you can look but you cannot touch. One can only admire such women in The Spirit of Art, only as Art will one ever know such divine perfection.

And the world would indeed be a sadder, bleaker place without knowing that such collectables do exist and that if you’re in the predisposition of collecting you can have them. I know my life would not be as complete without Anime or Anime figures to look forward to, and if you don’t agree with me there I can only look at you and sigh, knowing I can never convince you of my opinion.