K-ON! is probably KyoAni's biggest hit since Haruhi. Bigger, yes, than Lucky Star. Well... okay, that might be debatable, but in terms of figures K-ON! definitely has Lucky Star beat. And the gold standard for K-ON! figures has been, predictably, Alter's. They've been making 1/8th scale figures of all the members of the band, and the penultimate one is one Tsumugi Kotobuki, who is probably one of my favorite characters. Or at least, was, before I gave up watching the series halfway through the second season, when it just got plain boring. I'm toying with getting it when it comes out in the US, but anyway. I like Tsumugi, and not just for her representation in various doujinshi of questionable character.
For whatever reason, though, Tsumugi's figure release was rather underwhelming. Very few picture reviews. Perhaps K-ON! fans prefer guitars? And they are very nice guitars, at that, but I think the keyboard here is much more interesting.
The amount of detail lavished on her keyboard is nothing short of incredible. They did everything short of slap a Korg label on the thing. My pictures don't really do it justice. That, and I've never met an electronic keyboard this high end, so I don't know what half the inputs and such on it do. The only thing I can knock it for? There's a socket for an AC power cord to be connected, but no power cord. Of course, if there was a cord, there wouldn't be a wall outlet to put it into, but hey. I have to find some fault with it.
They might, I suppose, have set Mugi's hands closer to the keyboard. And while we're on the subject of the keyboard, nothing at all links it to its stand. It's free to slide off at will, which I was rather afraid it would at first. At writing the figure and stand are on my desk, and it jiggles a little just from my typing. So it's not the most sturdy thing in the world. A couple pegs would have been nice, especially since in added verisimilitude, they included the rubber risers that a musician would use if the keyboard was set on a table or counter.
Not too happy with this shot. It could have done better, but then the problem becomes trying to capture something as long and thin as a keyboard. This definitely isn't the Casio that I had back in elementary school, though.
One thing I didn't notice until I took the pictures, but Mugi is actually canted a bit to the side. It's a surprising and subtle way to throw a bit of action into what would ordinarily be a static position. Mio and Yui are on one foot, and Azu-nyan is jumping with both feet in the air. While both of Mugi's feet are planted, she's caught in the midst of swaying to her right, which makes her hair and skirt whip to the side. I do like the subtle things in a figure.
A slightly lower view, capturing the way her skirt moves against her hips. The sculpting of the hair, of course, is something I only expect as a standard from Alter, but it's still quite well done.
And how am I going to get away without a panty shot? While I'm on the subject, I'll complain that Mio's scupt did not have shimapan. Come on, it's well nigh canonical at this point. How could they have left it out? Also, this was probably the most doctored picture. I really need to figure out a good solution for lighting, and preferably an inexpensive one as well. Maybe I might have an old desk lamp laying about.
All the Alter K-ON! bases are like this, and I think it's a rather cute, modern looking design. The iconography of K-ON! is one of the little details I like most about it. It's much better, I think, than the somewhat chaotic blends that Haruhi and Lucky Star had, and probably why I like it more than those other two series. Note that the keyboard stand itself doesn't connect to the base, either; it's free to slide about. Or topple, but that hasn't happened yet.
Not the most flattering shot of her face. Or her eyebrows, for that matter. But eh, I think she's cute anyway.
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