It came from the Toy Chest: Moé Time Travelers...

While the title lends itself for a double entendre about Mikuru's boobs, there are at least Two Mikurus in thw timeline... the Young one, which is the one I'll review and the adult one.  I wish I could explain her better, but that's Classified Information...

Haruhi: Here comes
the Gropey Monster!
Mikuru: *eek!*

Articulation:
Mikuru is built similarly to Haruhi aside her obvious differences.

Her boobs do not hinder articulation. But she cannot grope herself due to her articilation. (She lacks double jointed elbows)
5.0

Haruhi: GRAB MY BOOBS MIKURU!!
Mikuru: I-I c-can't!
Haruhi: I said grab'em!
Mikuru: I don't feel comfortable doing
This!
Kyon: Dear diary, Jackpot!!
Personal space, Koizumi...
Itsuki: Heh, sorry. I thought you needed
a hand...
Kyon: Why would I- Ohhh... No, thanks!

Paint and sculpt 
Like Suzumiya, there are no issues with the sculpt on Asahina. The faces capture Mikuru perfectly. It's a bit odd but among her hands, she has a set that is perfect to grope herself.
5.0

Accessories 
She has less accessories than the rest of the main SOS Brigade.
2 extra faceplates
Extra shoes
Stand
Extra hands with rack.
Figma baggie.
This is enough to net her a 5.0, but she feels lacking. I meam, Adult Mikuru comes with a Desk, Nagato comes with a chair... She's almost as vanilla as Kyon.

Kyon: I don't get why
you let her push you around.
Mikuru: Well, you see... that's Classified Information!
Kyon: I'd like to see YOUR Classified Information!
Mikuru: *EEP!*
Kyon: I didn't mean it like a double entendre!
I literally meant the classic future information
in order to help with Suzumiya!
Mikuru: *crying* That's even worse!

Overall
No need for fancy Mathematics. Mikuru gets  5.0 as her final score. She could have been a bit better, but she has enough to bypass my system... she also gets a redhead pass.

It came from the toy chest: Red ball esper is a...

I am talking about Itsuki Koizumi... the final main member of the SOS Dan.

That guy... the Esper, agent of The Organization, a group of superhumans who stop the Celestials created involuntarily by Haruhi Suzumiya. Also, he's not gay... even though pretty much everyone gets mega gay undertones from him... and I mean, Tyrone from She-Reee, a Noelle Stevenson creation is straight and masculine next to Koizumi.

Articulation:
Unlike Kyon, Koizumi is a bit loose... looser than Phoenix Wright,  even... He's tighter than bootleg Snake, though.
4.0

One of his hands is perfect to
Grope Kyon...

Paint and Sculpt:
He's very similar to Kyon in this department... but the likeness is a bit better here. No visible slop in mine.
5.0

Haruhi: Whatcha' gonna do, Kyon?
Mikuru: *weird high pitcched whimpers*
Kyon: Let me go, Koizumi!!
Koizumi: I won't let you hit Miss Suzumiya.
Kyon: Can't you see she's hurting, Miss Asahina!?
Mikuru: *even higher pitched squeaks*
Haruhi: Let him go, Itsuki... Kyon is a little bitch and
he wouldn't dare to hit me!
Koizumi: *whispers* closed space, Kyon...

Accessories:
Extra faceplates
Extra shoes
Extra hands with holder
Same as Kyon if you think about it...
Forgot the cardboard backdrop for the club room.
5.0

Overall:
Not mentioning the broken hand because it was my bad. But his final score is 4.16 and I blame him being a bit too loose. He's a decent figure, though...

Koizumi: MASTODON!!

As if I wasn't going to make a Power Rangers reference on a character voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch...

It came from the Toy Chest: Kyon

Koizumi came with background.
Also, he's the first Figma hand peg victim.

What? I have nothing special for his intro. He is average, plain, normalest of normal, most vanilla person alive... accept the whole duty of keeping God in check, or else our universe falls apart. No Big Oh yeah! Did I also mention that God is a bitchy teenage girl?

Haruhi: Well, well, well.
Wright: It's not what it looks like
Haruhi: It looks like you're doing the
Hare Hare Yukai dance...
Kyon: I got it all on tape.

Articulation
Kyon's articulation reminds me a lot of Phoenix Wright. Unlike mr. Ace Attorney Kyon seems a bit sturdier at the hips and knees so he is less wobbly. He is a bit wobbly but not like Phoenix.
4.5

Paint and sculpt
Kyon's likeness is there, but for some reason he looks weird in 3 dimensions. I said another figure reviews the joints are a bit on the ugly side but that's a very Japanese thing. I keep bringing it up because some people hate these type of joints some people love these type of joints I'm right in the middle because I like the articulation but they arenot ask aesthetically pleasing as I'd  like.
Minimal paint jobs and no issues in my figure.
5.0

Haruhi: Make sure you get
EVERYTHING, Kyon!
Kyon: Yeah, yeah, whatever...
(Oh shit!, I can see her panties!)
Uh, Haruhi, I don't think that outfit is
Appropriate for that kick...
Haruhi: Why? Are you afraid of a little
pantyshot showing up? You can edit them
out later... NOT IN THAT WAY, YOU IDIOT!!
We now need some bitchin' 80s American music!

Accessories
Kyon has:
Figma baggie
Stand
Hand storage unit with extra hands
Faceplate
Extra shoes
Yes he has a lot less stuff than Haruhi but speaking from the amount he would get a 5.0 here. My only complaint is that he only comes with two face plates he needed at least a third one.

Haruhi: Kyon, what are you doing?
Kyon: Giving you a taste of how you
treat Miss Asahina!
Haruhi: It's nice to see that your balls
Finally dropped, but let go of my boobs!
Kyon: FYI, I'm NOT enjoying this...
Koizumi: Yes! I'M still in the game!
Kyon: I like women, Koizumi...
Koizumi: Suzumiyadammit!
Haruhi: hands off my boobs NOW!
Kyon: No.
Koizumi: *mutters* closed space, celestial...

Overall 
Kyon gets a 4.83 as his final score. The articulation seems to be what hurts these figures. But for a Kyon, this is the best we'll get.
BTW, Kyon's hands perfectly fit Haruhi's breasts... payback for Mikuru?

It came from the Toy Chest: Behold thy deity... Haruhi Suzumiya has arrived.

I finally got Mikuru and Koizumi, so the SOS Dan is finally complete... CORE Members. I still haven't gotten Tsuruya, and they never made Kunta Kinte and Tamagotchi...
I mean Kunikida and Taniguchi.

The SOS Brigade.

So, quick recap on Haruhi: She is God, but she doesn't know it. She can unconsciously bend the universe to do her bidding. She could destroy the entire universe if her enotions hit the right notes. Unwittingly, she has drawn the attention of exceptional beings that want to keep Suzumiya in check.  Not to mention her well known desire to meet these kinds of beings: aliens, time travelers, espers...
Now trapped in all this mess is this average, ordinary guy with no name... He has a real name, but evwryone calls him by his niclname, Kyon. He's the voice of reason and the only person who knows full well of Haruhi's power and still dares to oppose her will. (Even if he ends up doing what she wants)
Haruhi, being a vengeful god, often puts him through the wringer.

Also, Phoenix Wright references... there's an episode in which the conclusion is VERY Ace Attorney games... And, the English dubbed version has Haruhi, voiced by the same VA who plays Athena Cykes... (I guess the Haruhi Episode landed her the Cykes gig) so, I ended up with a whole SOS Brigade just fpr a Phoenix Wright reference.

Articulation:Haruhi seems to have standard fare reticulation for a Japanese figur.e I personally don't have that much experience with figma figures of the female variety. My figma experience has been limited to my bootleg Snake, possibly bootleg Link or maybe both Links, I'm not sure, and a legit Phoenix Wright.  The articulation is decent. Most of the show poses are doable as seen in the stop motion video not made by me...



I have to go for the 5.0 here.

Paint and sculpt
Haruhi's sculpt is incredibly spot on. Taking in consideration that she's a Japanese super articulated figure and a couple joints are a bit unsightly. While tinkering with Haruhi to take some pictures I noticed something a little peculiar. One set of hands is sculpted to perfectly match the shape of Mikuru's breasts.
The paintjob is minimal but effective. No issues on mine.
5.0

Accessories:
She comes with:
Figma baggie
Stand
Hand storage unit with extra hands
Alternate shoes
Alternate armband
Extra faceplates

Most of the pieces swap easily like the shoes which can be a little bit of a pain but that's good because they're stable this is an older type of figma so be careful with the hand joints.
5.0

 Overall:
It's obvious that Haruhi's s going to get a 5.0 here. She's a really great fear worried about it being an older figma and the fragility of figma especially the older ones. But really she feels like a very sturdy figure for a Figma and it's actually a lot of fun to be playing with her! Yes, I said play.

So, I went back to revisit Miss Suzumiya...

Remember Haruhi Suzumiya? the Main antagonist  Character of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya... The anime series where this massive cun- bitch forces everyone to do her bidding because she's unknowingly, a god. She hopes of meeting an Alien, an Esper, and a Time Traveler... Then there's Kyon. He's a normie... a bit of a perv, but it's hard to not be tempted by Mikuru... Especially with all that Haruhi puts her through.


Too many Beach Balls!!

It's basically a slice of life anime but with some random events inadvertently caused by Haruhi.
She willed the bunch of weirdos that are part of the SOS Brigade together...

We have the Alien, Yuki Nagato, voiced by Michelle Ruff... Most know her as Rukia from Bleach... Me? Well, she has been Sakura Kasugano in Street Fighter Alpha anime, Crimson Viper in SF IV and V... Wait, she was Chiaki in the English dub of Zenki? Man, I wish I could watch Zenki, but the LatAm dub... She's an emotionless artificial human part of an alien Data Integration Thought Entity thing. She's there to observe and ensure that Haruhi's godlike powers don't go out of control, but by interfering the least amount possible.

Then we have the Esper, Creepy Koizumi... He basically enters Closed Spaces (Areas locked off from the rest of the world, where Haruhi's subconscious lashes out at the world via Celestials, which are Subconscious Kaiju created by Suzumiya.) If that sounds very Power Rangers like, then get ready for this... Koizumi is voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch... Don't remind me about Eureka Seven, please...
the wound is still fresh... OK, Johnny Yong Bosh is

a freaking Power Ranger... Also, his character might be gay... Which would confuse Miss Suzumiya if he said to her "I love you". (See endless eight and all the instances Koizumi violates Kyon's personal space)

Then we have Mikuru Asahina, the Time Traveler... She does stuff but that's Classified Information. She's also eye candy and Haruhi's victim of sexual harassment... becaus eClassified Information.

She's voiced by Eureka... Goddammit!

and Kyon is voiced by Holland... Koizumi is Renton and in Endless Eight Kyon's dislike of Koizumi was more obvious when Koizumi was hanging with Mikuru at night... Still referencing Eureka Seven when I didn't want to... Why did I had to fall for you?  Thought I had you out of my mind... but no, the universe conspires against me!!

Last but not Least Haruhi... which I already described... The comedic short series takes her bitchiness Over 9000

Also she's Faye from Cowboy Bebop and Athena Cykes (We at the House of Rants believe that Haruhi's Phoenix Wright impression was how she got to play Athena)

This is an anime I hadn't seen since this blog was in diapers. It's not an anime for everyone. The show was broadcast out of order and you need to swap discs to watch it in chronological order... and The Endless Eight... Oh God, The Endless Eight!! It's a shame that the series was cut short... which sucks... Now If I could find English versions of the novels... and Holy crap! Haruhi's seiyu in a sex scandal? Try it out if you haven't... Personally, I prefer watching the kinda official parody series Haruhi-chan, episode 1 shown above.

Action Figure woes

I am an action Figure Collector. Not a Mint on Card collector, because I like to take the suckers out and set them up in Dynamic Poses. Every now and then I happen to get a defective toy. It happens. I hate it when it happens, especially when the fig is one of the harder to find figs.

There are Four kinds of defects:
-Loose or mega stiff joints. These are one of the most common and range from mild looseness or Stiffness (Easily fixed) to extreme looseness or Stiffness. (The latter could cause breakage.) Toy Biz's Scorpion from the Spider-Man Classics line and Mad Jack (Jack O' Lantern) from said line suffered from the prone to breakage ultra stiffness. (I went through 3 Scorpions.)
Splotchy and messed up paint jobs. These are easiliy avoided when you shop on brick and mortar stores. The problem is when some of the figures have logos or insignias with smudges. Pretty minor, but easily avoided uless you're buying online.

-Freak shows. Figures that have disproportionate limbs, hands, feet, etc. Two left feet or two right hands. Missing limbs or heads. (I saw a headless Destro at a Wal*Mart.)

The two yellow Circles show that Sgt. Flash has no hands. This Sgt. Flash was bought at the same Wal*Mart that had the headless Destro. (I didn't notice the lack of hands... until I got home.)

-Misspackaged figs: This one is a bit iffy. There are true accidents in the factories in which they place the wrong card/info on a figure, but there is an evil breed of collectors the "repackagers" a different breed of evil than the "scalper". These "repackagers" buy figs and then return the toys but there is a surprise. (I still do not know how they do it.) You see that nifty GI JOE: The Rise of Cobra Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes cardback. It is now housing a 25th Anniversary Cobra Officer with GI JOE tRoC Duke's Weapons. That could not be a Factory error since the GI JOE 25th Anniversary line is over thanks to The Rise of Cobra.





If that is Snake Eyes, then The Jonas Brothers are the best band ever...

- Broken figs. I don't mean the ones that accidentaly break with use. I mean figs that are BROKEN INSIDE THEIR PACKAGE. (Or seemingly ok figures that break off on their own.) Unlike the super stiff/or super loose figures these gusy make me angry. Especially when it's a hard to find figure. Like say Mattel's DC Universe Classics line. That line is infamous for being hard to find and the Exploding Butts of some figures.

Either Siniestro had a really great night, or he ate one too many extra bean and chili burrito.

Toy collecting is not easy. As you can see we have to deal with these flaws. We also have to deal with the "scalpers". What is a "scalper"?
A Scalper by definition is a person who scalps.
Scalp: to buy and sell so as to make small quick profits ; especially : to resell at greatly increased prices


In this case is a person who buys action figures to resell them at greatly increased prices. (Most likely on eBay.)


Some people deny their existance, other blame everything on the "scalpers". Unfortunatley they DO Exist. They're not easy to identify, but some of them follow some strategy:


-They seem to know when the store gets new stock and when the aisles are restocked.


-They buy the "best sellers" in multiple numbers it can be: variants, fan favorite females, shortpacked figs, etc.


-They seem to have lists and browse multiple series.


-If they don't have the money to buy said figs, they hide them. (GI Joes hidden behind the playsets on the Barbie aisle? "Scalper"!!)

Now there is also the bad fame that collectors have. Some people think that collectors are as bad as "scalpers". Just because I am an adult buying toys I am "theoretically" denying "little Timmy" the chance from getting said toys. IF I get said toy it's gonna get almost the same amount of use as if "Little Timmy" had gotten it. The bigger difference is that I might take better care of the figure. (Unless it's purpose is to be Custom fodder.) Besides how many little kids play with Marvel Legends, SOTA Street Fighter, NECA Street Fighter IV, NECA TMNT, DCUC? GI Joe, maybe because of the movie, but those 25th Anniversary were bought pretty much by adults. Most kids today are playing Bakugan, or Videogames. I Open my figs and pose them in cool poses, take pictuers of it and at times make stories with them... Basically I'm playing with them in a more adult manner. Kinda like "Little Timmy" would do. Heck some people take it even further by making Stop Motion animations.






KiwamutheKappa's stop motion video... One of the tags reveals why it's here...



Mint on Card collectors om the other hand, don't open their figs, play with them (or do my fancy adult version of playing with them.) They keep their toys in their plastic and cardboard prisons. BUT they buy for their own personal enjoyment. A similar reason to "Little Timmy's".
The ones who buy them to re-sell, now those are EVIL!! Like the guy who did this...






WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS?
http://www.poeghostal.com/2009/09/your-daily-dose-of-something-to-hate.html

Anime

Anime. The cartoons from Japan. Ususally harder to translate into live action films, yet Hollywood wants to do it. Not even the Japanese themselves can bring decent anime to live action. But they've done it a lot better than Hollywood, why? No executive Douchebaggery and desire to leave their own stamp on the project. No cultural differences wall affecting the production. etc. So far the only Amaricanized Anime live action movie that worked is Speed Racer.



Now, that I got that out of my chest I'm gonna do another of my lists.This time they'll be of Anime that SHOULD be adapted to Live Action Hollywood Movies and Anime that SHOULDN'T BE TOUCHED BY HOLLYWOOD EVER!! (Especially Fox)

First on my list of Anime that should be made into a movie:



Full Metal Panic! (The exclamation point is part of the title)
It's about a Secret Military Organization that sent one of their members to protect a girl with mysterious abilities. The only problem is that she's a highschool student and the Bodyguard is a teen who was raised as a soldier and only has lived in the battlefield. There are giant Mechas somewhere in the story too.
This yells adapt me! Romantic Comedy Elements, Cool action scenes, Fish out of water situations... I'm pretty sure that Hollywood would go for Zac Efron to play Sagara Sousuke, and I actually wouldn't mind right now. A few months back I would've screamed ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR #$%^& MIND!?



Fullmetal Alchemist
This one also say Adapt me!! The Elric Brothers lived a happy life with their mother until she died. They attempt to revive their mother by using Alchemy, but something went wrong...
The younger brother, Alphonse, lost his body and Edward, the elder, lost an arm and a leg. (one in the attempt of reviving his mother, the other while binding his brother's soul to an armored suit. Now Edwars, outfitted with some advanced prosthetics and Alphonse (the sentient Armor) travel the world in search of the Philosopher's Stone. A stone that allows the user to practice Alchemy without the side effects of Equivalent Exchange. (In order to get something you must give something with the same value)


Hellsing
Long story short. Britan's Protestant Church have a special unit dealing with the supernatural, led by a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing (as in the rival of Dracula). Her Paramilitary Organization fights the undead with heavy firepower and a secret weapon. Alucard... a vampire. I mean THE vampire. Alucard is so awesome that makes Blade look like a sissy.


Neon Genesis Evangelion.
This one screams Make me!! (Even thoguh Hollywood has a 99% of chance of dropping the ball here.) Psychologicaly damaged teens pilotig big "Mechas" (Trying to avoid spoilers) and defending the Earth from the otherworldy beings called "Angels". Yes there is a boatload of Christian symbols used here. (That's what Japan does when they want to do something cool. They add lots of elements from Western Religion even when they don't have anything to do with the story.)


Now The following Scream STAY AWAY HOLLYWOOD!!


Ranma 1/2: The story of a boy who gets cursed by becoming female when doused with cold water and returns to normal with warm water. Tons of fighting and romantic comedy elements, yet it's charm would be lost because he's a boy that turns into a girl when doused with cold water.



Yu-Gi-Oh! (and any other anime that involves the fate of humanity being decided by plaing a Children's card game.) Why? The fate of humanity being decided by a Children's card game... I love Yu-gi-oh! But I wouldn' go see alive action movie (unless they gave away free cards. The only reason why I saw the animated movie at the theatres.)


The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Ahh! Haruhi... You are one seriously messed up girl. You might not know this but Haruhi has the powers of a god and she doesn't know it. She is surrounded by an alien, a time traveler, an Esper (A mystic power ranger type of character that works for a secret organiztion.) Funny fact the english dub of Kouzumi the Esper is a Power Ranger, not Tommy... (one of the other guys who was on Tommy's team.) and last but not least Kyon. The normal guy who gets sucked into this mess because he shares a connection with Haruhi. Also they's try to have a teen star playing Haruhi and possibly have Haruhi-inspired songs... (As much as I might like Miley Cyrus' acting and singing I do NOT want her to be a part of a Haruhi project!!)


Naruto:
First of all they would make these kids 18+ and defeat the whole kid ninjas beating the crap out of everything. There's also the bad aftertaste of the 3 Ninjas movies and Surf Ninjas (The only movie ever to promote the battery juice devouring Game Gear and to have Leslie Nielsen as a cyborg villain.) Believe it!

Last but not least...



An americanized live action will suck. That is all.

Funny thing is that I love all of these except Naruto. I didn't add Gatchaman, Voltron or Macross to these lists because I mentioned them on another topic.