Actually, I first experimented with the twins Kohaku and Hisui, but those turned out so poorly I didn’t save them… I think these turned out a little better, though.  On to the images, then!

Started off with a couple of automatic mode pictures.  I wanted to see what settings the camera chose, and also experimented with my lighting.

External lighting makes a pretty big difference it seems… I’ll have to pay more attention to this in the future.

Focusing is a bit weird for me right now.  Auto-focus does work pretty well, but… sometimes it’s hard for me to tell what exactly it’s focusing on at times. ^^;;

Panchira!

Focusing on the wand… ignoring the panchira.  Or trying to.

Tried to focus on her armpit (why?), but auto-focusing foils my plans yet again.

I actually noticed specks of dust and whatnot more easily in these images than actually on the figure… cleaned her off by now, of course. =P

Zettai ryouiki from behind!

A few more angles and panchira before finishing up with automatic mode.

This is generally how my images with Kohaku and Hisui ended up.  I was determined to figure out what I should change to get some decent images this time.

Of course, I could set flash on, but it gives the image a sort of fake, bluish tint that I was not terribly fond of.

Bright!  Too bright!

Toned down a bit, but still not quite right.

Starting to look better…

Testing manually focusing on different areas.

The wand and panchira make a comeback?

Once again trying to focus on the armpit (and again wondering why?)… better results, I think.

Overall, I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.  Starting to see a little of how shutter speed, aperture, etc. all come together.

Last figure for me to unbox in this group is Kudryavka Noumi… but alas, when I opened her up, I noticed something very, very wrong with her ribbon.  More on poor Kudo-kou’s plight later. ;_;

A bunch of figures, that’s what!  Also, I received another item a few days ago… more on that later.  For now, here’s my review of the Black★Rock Shooter (I’m only opening them up one at a time, and I may review the Mahou Shoujo Rin and Kudryavka Noumi later).

First up, some information on Black★Rock Shooter.  Back towards the end of the year in 2007 (December 26th, to be exact)… an artist named huke released a piece he had been working on.  Certainly, his fans enjoyed the work… but it was not really all that popular.  One of the few people who did notice it at this time, however, was a certain ryo…

The first Black★Rock Shooter image

Six months later, on June 13th, 2008, huke and ryo of Supercell released the, by now, infamous Black★Rock Shooter video.  I doubt I need to link to it, but here’s a youtube video and the original nico nico video.  The rest, as they say, is history.  These days, it would be more difficult to find someone (in the realm the viewers of this blog are doubtlessly familiar with) who did not know her.

So, amongst the plans to make an anime and countless other promotional goods, Good Smile was allowed to make a figure.  This figure would be designed based on a piece of work done by huke… behold!

Black★Rock Shooter image for the figure

Let us see how well she was realized. ^^

As I’m still a noob when it comes to cameras, I decided just to use the full automatic option on my camera… I’ll spend time learning how to do some of the more advanced stuff later.

Pictures taken against the backdrop of one of my Little Busters! wallscrolls.  Probably not the best option for this character, but I’m cutting myself some slack for this being my first detailed figure shoot. =P

Various angles…

By this point, you’ve probably realized I have no idea what I’m doing.

That’s right; I can use a vertical orientation, too!

Looking at her, Black★Rock Shooter is a rather lithe character for wielding such a large cannon.

More angles.

Some close-ups of her weapon, how she holds it, and more specifically, the chain.

The chain is a really nice touch of detail.  Obviously, one can’t really mass produce the same scenery as the original image, but these add some flavor.  Quite the pain to wrap it around as suggested in the instructional paper included with the figure (yes, a completed figure… with instructions!).

Obligatory low shot?  Though it’s not like you can see her pantsu anyway.

One of my two favorite parts of this figure… Black★Rock Shooter has a rather sexy stomach.  The scars are nice, too!

She’s sad… might be because she’s quite the pettanko, too.  I imagine some people rather enjoy that aspect of her, though… so cheer up, Black★Rock Shooter! =P

My other favorite part… quite a nice pair of thighs. ^^

The base is rather detailed.  I moved the cannon slightly off-center (normally, it rests on the middle of the cracked area) so you can see how detailed it is.

The other thing you’ll notice about the base… it is heavy!  It has some substantial weight on it.  It gives a good sense of quality, though.

Well, that wraps up the pictures I took for this figure review.  How bad was it?  Really bad?  I figured as much.  I’ll try harder (or not) for the next time, though. =P

As for the figure: very detailed, a very attractive character, and quite true to the original theme.  I quite like her. ^^

I should also mention, for fans of this figure, there is a “Black Blade” version upcoming…

Concerning the other, mysterious items I mentioned earlier in this post; I’m sure some of you have already noticed by now, but I’ve gotten a new camera!  Obviously, I don’t have any pictures of it.  I guess I could take a poor picture using another camera, but I’d rather not.  My new camera is a Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i, recommended to me by anonymous_object over at Cool & Spicy.  As he’s much better with cameras, you might want to give him a visit if you’re interested in further camera details.  I’m probably just going to tinker around with my own as practice for the future. =P