Review: Cauldron of Mischief

In early November last year I was planning to cosplay Horo from Spice and Wolf for MCM Birmingham Comic Con. Due to a lack of time and personal skill/experience I was unsure I would be able to make the ears and tail in time for the event as well as the outfit. Cauldron of Mischief offered

her services to me to make them both for me and knowing her previous high levels of experience in making cosplay props I knew I could trust in her. 

She kept me informed along the whole process of her making them, this included when the fabric was ordered, when it arrived and regularly updated me with progress photos. She also was kind enough to transport the wig and tail to the event itself with her and hand them over to me there which I really appreciated. 

I was thrilled when I saw them, they were really well made and the fur fabric is of an excellent quality. The waistband fitted comfortably around me so the tail sat naturally. The ears were of a perfect scale and were attached to very strong grip clips so they stayed put in my wig all day. I can't express enough how cuddly and big the tail was, it matched perfectly with my height and the shape was very realistic!

All in all this was an excellent commission and a very reasonable price at £50. I will definitely

be interested in commissioning from Cauldron of Mischief again.

Below are some images of the products being worn, as you can see they looked great!

Photo by Chantele Smith Photography

photo taken by Faye R, edited by me

photo taken by Faye R, edited by me

Mikuzukin!

This was a figure I was really looking forward to as I don't own any other figures bigger than a 1/8 scale; Miku is a grand 1/7! I paid around the £50 mark for her which I feel is very fair considering her scale and the high quality make up. When the prototype was previewed last year I was a little unsure on the design of her face but I'm glad I took the plunge in pre-ordering her because she looks a million times better than the prototype. I think I've processed about twice the amount of photos I'd normally do for a review of a figure but there's just so many details I enjoyed and wanted to share with you. So please bear with this image heavy post!
                                                                                      -Saffron.

Carefully lined hair to give depth and dimension plus brightly animated eyes brings her face to life. Her hair is a lovely rich teal colour which stands out well against the bright red.

I was really impressed by how neat the painting is, barely any mishaps on this figure. 

The little fox on her head is the part I find the most charming about this outfit and one of the main reasons I want to cosplay it too! Just too cute!

Crisp, precise painting and realistic ruffles.

There's even shading around the creases to help give depth and a little realism to the pose.

The stand is simple but works in perfectly with Mikuzukin, it's sturdy but attractive. 

Hard to shoot but there's plenty of corset detail on her back.

She slides straight onto the stand and despite being on one foot is very sturdy! Good job Max Factory.

Honoka Kosaka 1/8 Scale Figure

Hello again, I found all these photos I took a while back when I purchased this beauuuutiful figure but I never go round to doing anything with them until now. So here we go, the lovely Miss Honoka Kosaka in all her 1/8 scale beauty wearing her outfit from the first OP "Bokura wa ima no naka de"!

She came out in November 2014 and cost around 9074 JPY which is roughly £49. I didn't photograph the box but it was a lovely one, covered in sparkles naturally *___* For those who don't recognise the character she is from a charming anime called Love Live! School Idol Project. Think K-On! with idols.... If you want something light hearted but still emotional and easy to watch then I recommend giving it a go. I really enjoyed it ^_^

This figure was released by Good Smile company, is made from PVC, around 180mm in height and was sculpted by Katsuyoshi Miyajima and Ajiken.

My initial impressions when I received the figure were how pretty she looked but also how small she is considering her 1/8 scale. Then I remembered that Honoka is only supposed to be 157cm tall so it makes sense. She just seems so dainty next to some of my other scaled figures haha.
The painting and attention to detail on this figure is great and there are a few little details that really made me smile.

I'll warn you now, this is an image heavy post! I don't have 'pro' knowledge of figures, I'm just sharing my thoughts and sharing the beauty of the figure. Enjoy!

Honoka's pose is very fluid and natural looking, as if she's been frozen in the moment of doing what she loves most. Her clothes and hair flow perfectly with the movement she's making.

Pure joy~

I find the sparkle under her eyes quite wonderful, it really brings out her upbeat personality and passion for what she's doing. I really admire the attention to the frills on her top as well, each one carefully sculpted so it stands out and looks pretty. 

Even the earrings and gloves have the details done on point.

Such ruffles!

The curve of her back is an odd detail to point out I suppose but it just looks really appealing to me.

Great shading in the legs to give them shape.

Ruffles and ribbons everywhere, something I love about the outfit.

The stripes on the skirt are hand painted and I think this really gives the skirt a more realistic look and makes each figure unique ^__^

The stand is in pink which is one of Honoka's signature colours.

Nendoroid More: CUBE 01 Classroom Set

Well I'm finally back on my blog after a long radio silence. I felt quite a lack of inspiration for a long time (about six months almost) plus being busy with temping work over Christmas hasn't helped either. Things are more settled now and I return with a review of an adorable playset by Goodsmile Company made for your nendoroids so you can put them in even more cute poses and scenes!

I picked this up from a stall at MCM Midlands Expo in Telford two weeks ago. The set came out in the summer last year but I was short on money and honestly hadn't seen it many places since it's release. So, when I saw it on a stall I simply had to have it! I've always wanted a cute playset for my nendoroid collection! It retailed for around 1400 JPY (£8ish) upon release. Which is a very fair price for what you get in the set.

The set contains the following:
~ 1 x Lectern
~ 2 x School desks
~ 2 x Lockers
~ 3 x Books
~ 1 x Bookshelf
~ 1 x Computer
~ Classroom Display Sheet (made from card)
~ Stickers to customize the books, computer & blackboard

A simple set but very effective ^_^  especially if you like to photograph your figures in different situations and such. (and if you're me, not crafty enough to make your own!)
Everything is nicely made and matches the general scale of nendoroids. I've taken a series of photos to show everything to you. I'm better with photos than I am with words haha!

Here's the full set laid out, it looks really smart and cute just as it is to me. I stuck a couple of the black board stickers on, these were easy to peel off and change. The little hand drawn details on the board and papers stuck to the wall is super cute!

Okay so let's take a detailed look at the features.

The printing is very good on the card background. I personally would have comfortably paid more to have a proper plastic background myself, just would have felt more sturdy and a lot less shiny than this card. Nonetheless, it's great. ^^ Stickers are a bit dark so they don't blend in too well with the blackboard for my liking but still look cute and just like hand drawings.

The stackable lockers are well made and you simply have to gently push the right hand side of them to open the little door (?). There's room inside to place the little books included and other small nendoroid accessories of your choosing. 

(as seen below)

The desks are easy to assemble and even have little openings to put books in. I wish I'd had desks like this when I was at school, we just had tables we had to share with each other! This is my main and only real gripe of the set though. There's no chairs to go with the desks! I know it's hard to pose most nendoroids in a straight up sitting position but it'd still be nice to include for authenticity.

I had to pose my Mako chan like this! XD

Not comfortable!

The bookcase is pretty simple, it's just a little cube you can place items in. Would look better with maybe some detail on the sides perhaps? Or maybe a different shape. The books themselves have a little slot in them making it easy for nendoroids to hold!

This little computer is pretty neat and there's two different types of stickers you can choose for the screen: this goodsmile website or just a plain window's style homescreen. You can also choose between a light grey keyboard sticker or dark grey.

The lectern is a good size, I've used Itoshiki for scale (appropriate no?) You can easily place items on top of it too (such as a class roster).

Overall, this is a great value playset for nendoroid lovers (it's on my shelf unit now and looks great!). I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you have any school related nendoroids. You can recreate some of your favourite scenes easily! There's a few things I'd add to it as I said, I suppose they could be included in a future expansion of the playset. (go on Goodsmile, you know you want to :D)

I'll leave you with a couple of shots I took using it <3