Motaku’s Figure Review #1: Nendoroid K-ON! Mio and Ritsu: Live Stage Set

Well it’s not my entire collection but it’ll have to do. I’ve been meaning to try writing figure reviews. Nothing too in depth. The best figure reviewers are pro’s at photography, and the most I know is how to control the aperture and shutter speed for semi-decent pictures in a regular camera. I took a photography class in High school. 😀 At the moment, I just have my sister’s digital camera to work with. Well enough about camera’s. Today, I’m here to review the first of Goodsmile’s K-On! Nendoroid Live Stage Sets.

First, I’m going to talk about what a pain it was to get a hold of this set. Skip this paragraph if you don’t want to hear me gripe. Because it’s an exclusive figure, the usual stores wouldn’t hold it. The best I could find at the time was playasia for $150. I opted to try buying it directly from the Goodsmile online store so that I could get it at the retail price of 8000円. Little did I know how difficult this transaction would turn out to be. Aside from some minor difficulty in navigating the Japanese site and reading their email notices, of which I was able to handle with the help of some Japanese savvy friends. The first major obstacle I faced was paying for the item. The proxy company I used, Tenso, provides shipping services, but doesn’t help with the money transaction. Goodsmile’s online shop only accepts bank transfers for their payments. To do that, I would have to have a Japanese bank account, and be in Japan to make the transfer. Thankfully, I know someone who lives in Japan. After some groveling, Artefact agreed to make a bank transfer on my behalf. After shipping, it still cost me about $140, so I didn’t save all that much compared to the Playasia price. Well I have the figures in my hands and that’s all that matters. Next time, in order to save myself a lot of trouble I’ll just use Tokyo Hunter‘s proxy service.

Okay, I’ll get to the actual review now. Lot’s of pictures ahead.

Well, first the package. Since it’s got 2 nendoroids plus the stage, it was considerably heavier than a usual nendoroid package.

They’re safely packed in there.

I was a bit anxious and scratched Ritsu’s arm when I was taking her out. See there on the top of her shoulder? ;_;

Here are the stage pieces. Assembling the stage was a bit confusing.

Completed product.

The accessories are really nice. There’s only one extra face per character, but I think the instruments more than make up for it.

The bass has a strap to put around Mio. The strap is the only way to make Mio hold the bass. It fits snugly around her.

The bass can be broken into two pieces. I’m not sure if I broke it or it’s supposed to be that loose. I might glue it to keep it from falling off so frequently.

Amp

Microphone

Now, Ritsu’s drums.

The drumsticks are small. Careful not to lose them.

That lone cymbal.

From the back.

The cymbals can close in. Not sure what for(storage?)

A nice little bonus that I wasn’t expecting were these word bubbles along w/ stands to hold them.

Starting from the top left:

“embarrassed”, “can’t see, can’t hear”, *screaming in terror* , “Thank you everybody!”

“One, two, three, four!”, *stare*,  I can’t read the kanji for this one(Ritsu trying to scare Mio), “ouch”

And 3 blank ones so you can fill them in with whatever you want.

Next are the Nendoroids themselves. Starting with Mio.

From different angles.

The headdress is removable. Two pegs hold it in place. I doubt that I’ll show her without the headdress often.

It’s not very noticable since Mio’s long hair blocks it most of the time, but the back of her dress has a big red ribbon.

She comes with a pair of clapping hands.

A scared face, and a pair of hands for her to cover her ears.

She comes with one extra leg. The leg is slightly bent at the knee. The difference is barely noticeable.

left – regular leg/right – extra leg

They were sure to include a very important detail. Shimapan.

Poor Mio stripped of her dignity.

And now Ritsu.

Ritsu comes with kitty ears.

Her usual headband and the kitty ears can be switched by simply taking their pegs out.

Ritsu only has one extra pair of hands. For whispering into Mio’s ear.

Her extra face.

Ritsu’s pantsu aren’t quite as exciting.

Ritsu has uhh….a large stick because her skirt is thicker.

Ritsu’s skirt upside down. Looks like a cupcake foil.

My favorite piece for Ritsu is her chair. She may have less hands and legs, but she has an entire extra bottom section.

I really love the chair.

Everything assembled.

Kagami(my only other full-sized nendoroid) joins the band.

If you want this set, your best bet of buying it now would either be Playasia or ebay. I saw quite a few being sold at inflated prices, but if you seriously want it, you’ll have to make do.

I’m still pondering whether I should get the second Live Stage set. Certainly I have to complete the set, but I don’t care about Yui and Mugi all that much. I’m also broke now, so if I do get it, it’ll have to wait till after it’s released.

While I’m on the topic of K-On!!, I really love all of the endings in the show. None of them have disappointed. Whoever designs the animation for the ED is a genius. I really love Mio’s voice. Wish she was the lead singer instead of Yui 😛

The ED from season 1:

The first ED from season 2:

And the newest ED also from season 2:

I’d like to review a scaled figure next. Though there was just so much to talk about with this Nendo set, I couldn’t pass it up.

EDIT: For those still looking for this set, I found a place that’s selling it for a slightly more reasonable price than other places. Get’em while they’re hot!
EDIT2: Found another place that has it. They won’t be around for long. Here.

Tags: akiyama mio, figure review, goodsmile, k-on!, live stage, nendoroid, review, set, tainaka ritsu