Aniblog 2014: [Day 98] Figures & VNs Bracket: Round 1, Part 1/4

Hau~ Omochikaeri~! – http://omochikaeri.wordpress.com/

HO’s bread-and-butter is easily digestible eroge and figure news. Occasionally, you’ll get an impressions post or a top-X list, but the blog knows what people mostly come for and doesn’t stray too far from it.

To keep things from getting too dull, there’s little bits of commentary mixed into the news, such as

“Only ecchi figures this week: Eiyuu＊Senki‘s Arthur (May, ￥11,880), ToHeart2 DX Plus‘ Sasara (April, ￥9000) and ToHeart2‘s Manaka red cat ver. (May, ￥9800). I’d rather have a Shimakaze doll instead.”

For what it’s worth, I agree.

If your faplog is looking barren, it’s probably not a bad idea to look to this site for something to plan a month’s schedule around.

 

 

COLLECT ’em ALL – http://dennis-toys.blogspot.com/

Are you interested in a blog where the author posts pictures of random action figures/gunpla from his collection and those he borrows from his weird friends? What if the pot were sweetened with a few paragraphs of Engrish rambling that can be summed up with “I like this thing because I like it”?

No?

I would fucking hope not.

 

 

~Ageha’s Adventure Diary~ – http://sakurasounoyakusoku.wordpress.com/

Oh god. I… what is this and why is this? Here’s an excerpt from one block of text I had the misfortune of reading:

“The story starts with our elementary school shota hero Wait… what? Am I playing a Galge?!Σ(ಠิωಠิ) /realizes Ah, I see, we’re seeing things in the view-point of this shota in the prologue, named Suzuhara Sorata(鈴原空汰, CV: 阿部敦Abe Atsushi) visiting the Parliament with his classmates and teacher on a field trip(?). He’s listening to music with his earphones on when the teacher is explaining about the Parliament to them and he looks sleepy. It’s implied that he’s a super smart kid, being awarded a prize or summin’ IDK but isn’t proud with it and aiming for a Nobel Prize Award WTH is this kid?ヽ(｀Д´#)ﾉ ﾑｷｰ!!“

All you’re going to get from this blog is a screeching stream of consciousness that makes you wish you had lost yours before you read a single sentence.

 

 

Neko Magic – http://www.nekomagic.com/

I’d list all the figure news this blog handles, but you’d just skim through it and say “yeah, that’s definitely a lot”.

With a news blog of this (standard) variety, it’s all about how much information you can pump out, and Neko’s definitely got that on lock. Helping this along are the little bits of commentary spread throughout the articles. Not that the commentary itself is good or anything, but it lets you know there’s a human behind each post rather than a carefully constructed PR post. Gaming news sites could learn a lot from NM.

tl;dr: If you’re into figs and interested in following a news site dedicated to them, you could do a lot worse. …as I’m sure this tournament will show.

 

 

It’s a Gundaaaam! – http://lupes.wordpress.com/

The entire work-in-progress gunpla community seems to be built around the concept of “you look at my blog and I’ll look at yours”. This appears to be the default survival method for really terrible episodic blogs as well.

That’s nice, but it’s not a long-term strategy for finding value in what you’re doing. At some point you’re going to have to either create content that people outside of your sickeningly fake circlejerk are interested in or give up and end it all. Read that last line however you want.

So no, I didn’t like this blog. The “I’m gonna take some pics of things I’ve built and add a few poorly worded ESL comments on it too” format does not fucking cut it.

 

 

Gundams with Justinius – http://justiniusbuilds.blogspot.com/

Unlike the previous blog, I can see some some value here. Not much, though.

During his standard WIP builds, Justinius actually bothers to explain various facets of what he’s doing. So I guess if you’re curious about his take on building gunpla, you have… reasoning or something.

“I went with a slightly modified OOB color scheme for this guy. I kept the metallics as they would appear, and blues are in place, but instead of going with the tan color the kit was molded in, I went with a pre-shaded gray/white scheme. I think it suits the look of the kit overall better, and I think it looks more urban as opposed to having that ‘desert’ look to it.”

Well, that’s something. Let me see if– Nope, still not interested.

 

 

GoodGuyDan’s Gunpla Blog – http://goodguydangunpla.blogspot.jp/

Ah here we go: buildvids. One fucking good idea in the shitshoot that is gunpla blogs.

On top of his unwatched Youtube videos, GGD actually posts a solid amount of pictures that are a lot more professional than the other gunpla blogs I’ve seen.

I can’t say I’m much into the site, but it’s a damn good representation of how these blogs can actually provide value to their readers. Not that they much deserve it, what with their hobby forcing onto us the cancer that is Gundam Build Fighters.

 

 

NYOtaku – http://nyotaku.com/

NYOtaku is a photoblog from a guy who brings his figures out into the streets of New York and takes pictures of them as people try to avoid him.

But while he may not be good at blending in as a human, he can certainly take some pretty pictures.

Figures: http://nyotaku.com/2013/12/18/let-it-snow/

Cosplay: http://nyotaku.com/2013/10/11/new-york-comic-con-2013-friday/

If the concept of a photoblog interests you, this is the best one I’ve seen yet. (The first one of you to mention Danny Choo is obliged to swim in a frozen lake until summer hits.)

 

 

Amaenbou Dane~ – http://amaenboda.wordpress.com/

I want to like this blog, but I can’t understand a damn word being said.

“Fetish may sounds like a big word which usually comes with these images of hardcore S&M, Mind Break and Corruption. However, it can also refer to more subtle sexual/non-sexual preferences such as ツンデレ, 獣耳, 絶対領域, JK, etc. In fact, I remember when I took my first step into エロゲ world, many games have a ツンデレheroine because apparently it was the booming fetish at the time. ツンデレ was then slowly replaced by other デレ such as ヤンデレ and ダンデレ for a short while and they later gave way to the re-emerging of 妹 and the incoming of 男の娘.”

Fangirls, I get it. You’re quirky. You’re random. You’re infused with the spirit of the banzai shogun. Great. But I’m here to let you in on a little secret: it’s possible to have a personality without making your readers want to beat you with the fury of a thousand patriarchies.

As far as I can see, the only reason to visit the site is for the reviews (such as http://amaenboda.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/shukufuku-no-kane-no-oto-wa-sakura-iro-no-kaze-to-tomo-ni/) but since the writing is so terrible, about all you’re gonna get out of it is CG pics. And in that case, you’d be better off finding a site with a wider selection of pics and choosing your next eroge to play from there. Don’t bother with this waste of bandwidth.

 

 

Otome Jikan – http://otome-jikan.net/

Otome Jikan is focused on otome games, what a fucking surprise.

The news portion of the site is rather soulless (dat PR-approved content), but the reviews somewhat make up for it, depending on whose you read. While Nikki and Allison tend to summarize without much reaction, Reveris has enough thought put into the posts that you can get a better sense of what she actually thought the game was like. And that’s important, because otherwise people may as well just turn toward a wiki rather than a blog.

From browsing Otome Jikan a bit, I feel the main reason anyone would want to visit the site is the news posts (the reviews aren’t solid enough to warrant visiting for them alone). And since the news posts contain less content than a tweet, you should probably grab your news from an alternate source.

 

 

Oppai is Justice – http://oppaiisjustice.wordpress.com/

As most any regular reader of this site knows, I love drama. And Oppai is Justice sure as hell can scratch that itch, with its various reports on drama in the visual novel scene. Unfortunately, the IRC logs in these posts aren’t parsed well, and Kastel’s commentary is poorly written. This means you have to really love drama to get anything out of it.

But not even I love drama enough to read through the entirety of Kastel’s posts.

Beyond drama, there are reviews that are twice as long as they need to be or completely fucking unreadable. Which is a damn shame, since Kastel’s got a clearly defined personality that makes you want to like him. It’s just a little hard to do when even Tolstoy can get to the point quicker.

 

 

Japanese Anime Figures – http://mangafigures.wordpress.com/

I’m not entirely convinced this site isn’t built solely to milk referral cash from unsuspecting visitors. Actually, I’m fully convinced it is. Like that fucking plot twist? Yeah, I’m all about keeping you on your toes.

While literally everything posted links back to Plamoya or Play-Asia (“everything” being figure highlights and deals), that isn’t such a bad thing so long as you know your prices on figs and can tell when you’re getting a good price. The weekly deal posts can feature some solid bargains.

I’m quite into figs and saving cash, so I weighed the options and determined this site was worth a bookmark. But if you’re looking for anything other than a poorly disguised referral scheme, you’re gonna want to look elsewhere. Like to Neko Magic.

 

 

VioFitz – http://viofitz.wordpress.com/

You know you’re off to a good start when the first thought that pops into your head while reading a blog is “I bet the author isn’t allowed within 100 yards of a school.”

The general gist is that Vio buys action figures and puts them in fucking weird poses while ranting in an incomprehensible variant of English that only he understands. See: http://viofitz.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/review-play-arts-kai-jun-kazamaenglish/

As for that English variant I talked about?

“That ass was a little too big, & whenever I made her legs bend frontally, her ass feels like off from her thighs. Moving her thigh & wrist joint was a little too hard for me, & I hated when I heard a “Tek Tek” sounds during moving her thighs.”

Yet he still gave the fig a 5/5 for sculpt accuracy, so I guess the ass wasn’t too big for him to handle. Whatever god this guy believes in has surely forsaken him.

 

 

Hinano’s Game Babbles – http://breadmasterlee.com/

Before you start with me, this is not a review blog, despite almost every post being labeled a review. No normal review has 20,000 words spread across 25 pages with about as many paragraphs.

Feel free to experience the depths of madness for yourself: http://breadmasterlee.com/2013/11/18/otome-game-review-diabolik-lovers-more-blood/

See, Hinano just blabs her way through the entirety of the game’s events. So what you’re really reading is a mostly complete summary of what happened. Yes, the posts are absurdly long, but you’re getting a super solid sense of the game in far less time than it would take to play it through yourself. And Hinano’s commentary is almost entertaining enough to realize she should have three times as many paragraph breaks as she actually does.

If you don’t have twenty hours to blow on a VN, but want to know what it’s all about so you can pretend you played it when people ask, this site’s not a bad option. I don’t see why you’d visit otherwise, though.

 

 

Sneepers Robot Garage – http://sneepersrobotgarage.blogspot.com/

This is a far less tolerable version of GoodGuyDan’s mechblog. Check out some of his great writing below:

“man i hate glueing parts. there always seems to be a tiny bit of glue that either gets on your hands or parts and you dont know it. so needless to say…i got some glue on some stuff here and there. but its light and really not noticeable unless you look up close. hey no ones perfect right?”

Even if you don’t care about commentary on gunpla blogs, the guy’s photos and blog formatting suck.

Don’t waste your time here unless gunpla are your primary masturbation device.

 

 

Curry Curry Chronicles – http://awesomecurry.wordpress.com/

awesomecurry, per his blog’s subtitle, really likes game with plastic-looking girls that he can get off to.

Unfortunately, the blog suffers the same fate that most review blogs do, which is writing more summary than reaction. I got through the Conception II review thinking “oh yeah, this game sounds pretty cool”, only to hit the final thoughts section and wonder why he came to the conclusion the game was mediocre. Take a stronger stance, guy. Reviews are both a way to inform and a means of getting across your thoughts. Only doing one or the other doesn’t help much.

At least AC is improving though, since most reviews prior to December 2013 are giant walls-of-text that lacked anything to help you through the reviews without wanting to use a shovel to bury a bullet in your brain. Keep with the pics, plz.