Madman Anime Festival 2017: Melbourne Part 1

Madman Anime Festival 2017: Melbourne Part 1

Saturday, November 11, 2017 / No Comments

Hi everyone! It's Nana だよ~ How's it going? I've been enjoying my post-exam holidays and recently attended an anime festival in Melbourne! I spent a whole weekend there and had so much fun. For an event that is only in its second year, I can safely say that it is pretty much at AFA standard and I am so impressed! Madfest includes panels, performances, movie screenings and autograph sessions, all of which were highly anticipated and well-attended!

The first thing that greeted me when I walked in was this! Next to it, there were a couple of itashas at a corner. Sadly, they were mostly ignored throughout the duration of Madfest, except during special performances.

The hot favourite was the Shingeki no Kyojin exhibition, which featured the original art panels from the first few chapters! Due to some circumstances, I was able to walk through it without bumping around with the crowd.

My favourite one has to be the Cowboy Bebop exhibition! I wish I could just bring the whole thing home... 

The exhibitions were all really popular animations! I'm glad to have been there to view them all.

The ever popular Good Smile Company also had a small booth set up! Within the first day, many of the Nendoroids on sale were snapped up.

There were a great many posters put up as well! For the event, there were five Japanese movie special screenings! The Fate one sold out within the first day, with No Game No Life following. For me, I caught the premiere of the Jojo DiU live action! It was well-executed for a live action movie! There were some people comparing it to the manga and anime and I think it is really ignorant to overlook the fact that a live action movie takes just as much effort.

I also snapped some photos of the cosplayers as I was walking around! One major difference between Singapore events and Madfest was that Madfest has more open spaces and such there is less jostling. Of course, local events have more people attending, but it was nice to have double the walkway width as well.

Aside from cosplayers, many of the event attendees also dressed up, some choosing anime tees, others dressing in lolita styles. The weather that day was quite chilly so props to them!

I'll be sharing more photos soon, so look out for that!

Written by Nana

Figure Unboxing and Review: Cardcaptor Sakura (Good Smile Company) Base

Figure Unboxing and Review: Cardcaptor Sakura (Good Smile Company) Base

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And now after looking at the awesome packaging which this figure came with, we will now look at its base. The huge and detailed base is one of the reasons why this figure is so popular, and there is just so much to talk about the base alone that I felt it warranted a post on its own!

Let's start by looking at some features of the base that's just so attention grabbing. First, the star and moon at the top, flanked by the transparent wind-wings effect. It creates this delicate feel that does not overpower Sakura due to the duller gold color scheme. Though, we do see that GSC did not slack off on sculpting the sun and moon embellishments and the sun has different shaped rays while the moon's surface is rounded.

Things such as the sun and moon (12 o' clock direction) can be removed, while the round gold ball/planet (6 o' clock direction) can be rotated about its axis. There is a rod that goes right through the planet. This same rod mechanism is seen for the round gold circles (3 and 9 o' clock direction) which can be rotated as well.

All around the rim of the base, you will see these evenly spaced circles that have a varying amount of black in them. This is probably linked to the different states of the moon (i.e. new moon, gibbous moon, full moon, etc) and I find that this really adds a very good touch to the figure and links it well to the theme.

Well, I mean... if stars are blessing Sakura, I would assume that the moon loves her too, right?

But of course, that's not all! We have the planets orbiting around Sakura too. In fact, there are 5 of them and they can be rotated about the axis (shown 2 images later).

Let's start by looking at 3 of them first. We see that they actually sport different colors and designs. Some of them have a color marbling effect (white and yellow ones) while the remaining red one is more-or-less just plain red. These are on different heights and length away from the axis also, making it perfect to play around with them without them blocking each other. 

The axis itself has another gold planet on it. This gold planet can be rotated about its axis as it has a gold rod through its middle. But unlike the rest, it cannot be moved around. There is also a seam line through its middle, which you can see clearly from the image above.

Directly under that gold planet is a gear that is intricately sculpted -- and I say this because it is definitely quite difficult to sculpt something with equal spaces between each groove.

Under that gear and bolt, you will see that the rods linking the planets to the axis converge. They form this stack of tiny rounds which can be rotated. This is how you can move the planets 360 degrees around.

Returning to the remaining 2 planets, we see that there's a teal one and a yellow one that's reminiscent of Saturn. The difference in design between these 2 and the other 3 really set the mood for variation and detail for the base.

The teal planet is able to rotate about the rod it is on, similar to the gold planet. It's the only planet out of the 5 included that is able to do that.

Next we see some close ups of the teal and yellow planet so you can view the marbling better.

This planet vaguely reminds me of the milk/vanilla+chocolate chupa lollipops :D

A view from above to see all the intricate designs at the bottom of the base. From this angle you can also clearly see that the peg that will be holding Sakura in place. This peg goes into a peg hole at her right leg and is basically the only support for the figure.

Though it may seem like there is limited support (which I agree), Sakura does not shake at all when attached to the base. But I'm not too sure if this is directly related to how stable she is on that tiny peg... but judging by her pose and the base, the figure's center of gravity must be quite low.

 There are so many different wind effects, such as the swirly ones and the sharper wing-like ones. These add depth and dimension to the figure and I just love clear parts in a figure so this is like a win-win for me!

The back of the figure is quite underwhelming as it simply lacks the details the front shows. However, if you ever get this figure, you will never be looking at the back so let's just let that slide.

Stay tuned for the assembly tutorial and the review of Sakura herself coming up next!

Written by Reina-Rin

Figure Unboxing and Review: Cardcaptor Sakura (Good Smile Company) Thoughts on Packaging

Figure Unboxing and Review: Cardcaptor Sakura (Good Smile Company) Thoughts on Packaging

Friday, November 10, 2017 / No Comments

One of the best figures released this year is Cardcaptor Sakura with her ridiculous amount for shipping, which totals to about 10k yen. While I wouldn't consider getting her off the aftermarket due to the high shipping price, getting her off pre-order on Good Smile Company at 25k yen with free shipping was definitely a steal.

Other than her box being absolutely huge (as you can see from the images below), the inner panels of the box showcases the pretty illustration. Her name and set version is printed in a beautiful shade of grey which keeps it elegant and calming to look at. Her name and set is printed all around on the outside of the box as well, gold on the pink box.

The window is really small on the side of the figure and doesn't showcase much of her base at all. Due to the thickness of the cardboard box, the inside of the box is really dark and you can't exactly view her beauty if you keep her all shut up in the box.

I would have appreciated a full window when you open the box instead, however, there is a book-mark sized illustration there which would be difficult to insert anywhere else... so perhaps my idea isn't too feasible.

Here's a zoom-in of the illustration if you are interested.

Removing the sheet with the circle window reveals the figure in her full glory. You can see her right in front of her base as if she is already assembled, but trust me... it is really quite a pain to put together... if you don't have time to do it on the day itself.

I will write another article regarding the assembly, but for now, let's look more on the packaging here.

A close-in shows how much plastic and foam is included in this figure. This is understandable, since she comes with so many delicate features and bright colors. There are quite a few removable parts as well so those would need to be protected well too.

Right above her outstretched right arm, you will see this metal piece. There are 2 of such pieces on the blister and it is meant to hold the two pieces together so it doesn't come apart during shipping. They are a pain to take out and may need a little puzzle solving on your end, but hey, anything to keep Sakura safe, right?

I'm sure GSC doesn't want to have to replace her due to any damages incurred during shipping as well!

Some of the accessories she comes with include her wand and of course the planets on her base. The whole base is practically intact already, however, some parts have to be removed for a moment in order to fit Sakura on it. This will be covered in the "Assembly" post later.

The other side also features two more planets which are already attached to the base. The rods holding the planets can be moved, which means you can arrange the planets to suit your display. She also comes with some replacement parts -- tiny gold stars, which are used at the hem of her dress.

Each star here is individually attached to the hem. There is a thin extension at one apex per star and that is used to insert into the hole of the dress. In addition to the extras which GSC provided, we see that there is actually a plastic sheet covering each individual star. If you had no idea how fragile these are... you'll know after looking at this!

From a lower angle, we see that she is so detailed, right down to the numerous layers under her skirt. While her base is mainly gold and brown (which sets the feel of elegance), Sakura is mainly red herself. I find that red is a color that suits Sakura perfectly and this figure has managed to bring out her fun, cheerful and innocent sides all in one figure!

I will be looking at the base, assembly, and figure in the following articles so do stay tuned if you love this figure as much as I do!

Written by Reina-Rin