Figure Unboxing and Review: Kagamine Len Hanairogoromo Version (Stronger)

Figure Unboxing and Review: Kagamine Len Hanairogoromo Version (Stronger)

Wednesday, September 12, 2018 / No Comments

The Kagamine twins are the last of Stronger's Hanairogoromo line and today, I will be reviewing Kagamine Len!

Packaging

Both Rin and Len come in matching boxes, yellow for Len and a slightly darker tint of orange for Rin. The motifs and print on Len's box also gives off a more masculine feel than Rin's. The other sides of the box continues with the same motif with different shots of the figure. Though I'm pleased with the compact size and the general design of the box, tt might have been better to at least include one shot of the illustration itself as usual.

Figure

A quick look at Len after he is assembled with a base and his umbrella (accessory) in place easily shows that the sculpting for this figure is incredibly delicate. The sculpting on his hair ornaments and hakama are adequate examples of this. Here's a simple 360 to show more of how Len looks from different angles.

There's definitely a suitable angle to view Len from for this figure and his side profile definitely looks a lot more natural than his front profile  

The delicate and intricate sculpting shows a ton of creases at the hakama and on his sleeves. The painting is precise and on-point, with no painting errors on my copy. The shading is very subtle for both the parasol and his blue-striped kimono, but much more elaborate for the hakama to create a sense of movement.

His straw sandals also comes with good texture that resembles the material and some shading. I felt that the color was slightly too light to properly resemble straw, however as it only concerns a very small portion of the figure, it isn't a major issue.

From the side profile, it is obvious that the hakama and kimono are sculpted to look like two different pieces. This is especially obvious around his hip area where the hakama does not fully cover the entire area.

His parasol also comes in two colors, violet and navy. While there is no fixed blending or gradient to blend the two colors, the simple small violet section helps to add some pattern to the parasol. Though, considering how plain Len's figure is to Rin, I hoped that they added more colors and patterns to his parasol to help balance things out.

From the front, Len has a lot of intricately sculpted parts to admire too. The layered kimono and the puffed up ties on the tasuki and obi are definitely points you wouldn't want to miss! That being said, the colors are a tad too plain when viewed from this angle as it comes with a lot of navy, white and grey. The only colors that isn't in this palette are the red on the parasol and on the pattern at the hem of his hakama, as well as the yellow on his straw sandals and on the parasol.

The colors from the back are a little more enjoyable, with the colors of the hair ornament to add to the color palette. The shading on his hakama is a lot more pronounced too, especially at the waist area. You can also see both the violet and navy hues from the parasol at this angle, making it just that much more varied!

Despite not coming with a sakura branch like most of the girls in the Hanairogoromo line, Len comes with a sakura tree branch (right) which comes with two pegs, one to connect to the Rin's tree and the is for Len's foot to connect to.

The branch on the left comes with Rin's figure, and you've guessed it! The two are interchangeable, meaning you could either post Rin and Len separately, or have Len stand on the branch behind where Rin is sitting, just like in the illustration!

This is how the entire branch looks with Rin's part in place. The groove and circle further down on the branch is where Rin is supposed to sit.

With Len's part of the branch in, you can now clearly see the peg where Len is supposed to connect to. This gives a clearer picture of how far apart both of them would be if you were to put them on the same branch.

Here is Len fully attached in place. The peg fits his foot snugly and he appears as if he is leaping over the branch, or landing gently on it, which fit his elegant sculpt and the flow of his outfit here. 

And last but not the least, here is both Rin and Len assembled on the same branch and base! This figure is over 30 centimeters with both of them in this position so do make sure to check if you can fit them in your display if you do decide to get them!

Base (Not based on Rin's branch) ★★☆☆☆

Posing ★★☆☆☆

Sculpting ★★★★☆

Painting ★★★★☆

Worth-it ★★☆☆☆

Overall ★★★☆☆

STGCC Media Preview 2018

STGCC Media Preview 2018

Friday, September 7, 2018 / No Comments

"Get your geek on"

Is what it says on the piece of paper I was handed when I arrive at the STGCC Media Preview with Max. Get your geek on, I always get my geek on no matter what, so get your EXTRA superduper geek on is what this meant for me. 

We are ready for it!

The Media Preview starts and we sit down on the stairs of the new Funan Showsuites and listen to their presentation. I am super excited about STGCC so this is a nice little warm-up before the event. But being able to meet these people, it is more than just a warm-up, it was like a main event on itself!

Our media friends occupy the staircase.

This particular moment stood out to me. As a huge Game of Thrones fan, I am thrilled to take pictures with the Night King! And free hugs for those who come dressed as Tormund! I will be your Brienne! (lol)

After the introduction talk, the guests came to the stage one by one.

I wasn't loud enough to get the whole group's attention

A special shout-out to Olivia Mears aka Avantgeek for looking FABulous as always

After this it was time to check out the merchandise and more importantly: the Lego Hogwarts Castle! Some of the highlights for me were the tokidoki x hello kitty collaboration, the Lego Charmander, the Lego Howarts Castle with all the little details and the general art. The Lego Voltron wasn't there, so I am looking forward to see that one.

Working hard, working hard! To get that perfect shot! Lol

 While I was checking out the merchandise, Max managed to snap some shots of Olivia Mears in action

 Spooky merch! Tiny ghosts are too cute and don't scare me (I swear!).

 Unicorn!

 This is my Jammmm, I see what they did there.

 The popcorn with the little kitty-chan is adorbs!

Hmm, nope, never enough unicorns.

Loved this charmander lego figure!

The details!! So awesome. Although the left one looks more like Tormund from Game of Thrones

The creators sketch their gifted wares

Getting some yakitori from the buffet on my plate and some orange juice, I casually approach Simone Legno to ask him about his brand Tokidoki. I asked him what's new and he said he will finally, after many years of going back and forth (52 times, he has been counting.. lol), settle in Japan with his family. That will be closer to where the 'magic' happens - new up and coming markets, China, and etc. Licensing is still an issue he mentioned, and sometimes he even gets business because of wives/daughters whom are big fans, teaching 'papa' about tokidoki! That was funny to hear.

Simone mentioned he was based in L.A. and comes several times a year to Singapore as well. I was curious where he finds the time with all that traveling all over the world to actually sit down and make art. Knowing myself, I need to have my own space and music, and the right atmosphere. He mentioned he works wherever he can, for example in hotel rooms, airports, airplanes, hearing this I had the utmost respect for him as I have the attention span of a frog and could never do that. He came to Singapore yesterday jetlagged and all, worked in his hotel room before meeting up with a friend. Back in L.A. there are 30 people working in his office so he has never a quiet moment to design he mentioned as well. We talked about how art runs in the family, his as well as mine. His brother also has the gene and even his little daughter draws now, cute faces mostly he said. Finally, Max asked Simone for advice on how to expand the popularity of his OCs since Max himself is a creator/concept artist.

Group pic with Max Wong and Simone Legno, his hat is SO AWESOME though! Apparently his favourite, I can see why.

We also strike up a little chill conversation with Riku, a cool Caster/Gamer hailing from the Philippines. She was invited to cover on the new Good Game Experience (GGXP) which will debut as part of STGCC 2018. Last year, the games section in STGCC was already huge. With this new GGXP concept, I guess this is gonna be a "Level-Up" for the gaming scene in Singapore. Riku further shared with us about her plans to go to Tokyo Game Show and it was possible because she got so many gaming fans whom supported her! How cool! For the entire time, it was EXTRA chill because we were siting on beanbags on the 2nd floor, from which I admittedly had a hard time getting out/up from. Afterwards Max and I adjourned to The Coffee Academics @ Cityhall to get some coffee and discussed our tasks and plans for Milkcananime.

All in all, a great afternoon! And can't wait for tomorrow, see you all at STGCC!

~Written by Devi~