Which? Witch?

Witch☆Activity parody by siro

To get into the spirit of Halloween, I've assembled all of the witch-themed petits that I own for some comparison shots along with Deep Sea Girl Miku.

The first picture is of a Niitengo version of Carina Verritti from Shukufuku no Campanella (left), and the Dancing stars on me! version of Toujou Nozomi (right).

Nendoroid Petit version of Metallica the Swamp Witch that came with the Majo to Hyakkihei game.

Marisa Kirisame from the Touhou Shushuroku Vol. 1 Set (left), and Vol. 3 Set (right).

Next is the Marisa produced by Hakurei Jinja Shamusho (left), and the Nendoroid Petit version from the Touhou Project Set #2 Set (right).

Patchouli Knowledge aka the "Witch of the Spring Haze" from the Nendoroid Petit Touhou Project Set #2 (left), and Touhou Shushuroku Vol. 1 Set (right).

Alice Margatroid aka the "Witch of Death", or "the Seven-Colored Puppeteer" from the Touhou Shushuroku Vol. 2 Set (left), and Nendoroid Petit Touhou Project Set #2 (right).

The Nendoroid Petit version of the Shanhai Doll (far left) with Nendoroid versions of the Shanghai doll (x3), and Toranoana Shanghai Dolls.

I also have a Toranoana Alice Margatroid key chain that is based on artwork by haniwa (葉庭). Yakimoki Alice herself is only 5cm tall and noticeably smaller than the Nendoroid Petit Alice.

The Hourai Doll that comes with Yakimoki Alice is only slightly smaller than the Nendoroid Petit Shanghai Doll. The Hourai Doll's hair ribbon sits flat against the back of her head, so it is not visible like the ribbon on the Shanghai Doll.

I drilled out the solid underside of the Hourai Doll, and inserted some hastily sculpted legs made from plastic sprue.

Maybe if I have the time, I'll hollow out the underside of the doll some more, and sculpt some proper bloomers for her.

Yakimoki Alice is too small to go with my other figures, but I think I'll keep her around to use as a model for a custom faceplate.

Next is the Asahina Mikuru no Bouken version of Witch-Yuki from the Nendoroid Petit Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu #1 Set (left), and Caster from the Nendoroid Petit Fate/Stay Night Extension Set (right).

The last picture is of the fortune-telling version of Witch-Yuki (right), and the warui mahoutsukai (悪い魔法使い) version of Konata from the Lucky Star OVA (left).

The conversion is pretty much a simple head-swap, but I had to cut off Konata's ahoge, and modify the witch hat so it would fit on her head better (which involved reforming the brim with a blow dryer, and some Dremel-work).

Witchcraft Works original ED ～ Witch☆Activity ～

Touhou Shushuroku Bootlegs

The Touhou Shushuroku figures from Toranoana are not particularly well known, and often command a fairly high price on the resale market (particularly for the later releases). A few bootleg figures exist, but all are from the more readily available "Volume 1" set.

The bootlegs have many minor differences in appearance and engineering, which seem to suggest that they were sculpted using the originals as models. They are sold glued and assembled, whereas the original figures come disassembled (when new).

I'd classify these as shanzhai figures due to the obvious differences in the way they were manufactured.

The figure stands for the bootleg figures are all identical. A sliding peg allows a single post to be used for any figure (left). The originals all have stands that are individually matched to each figure (right).

The first comparison is of Hakurei Reimu. The bootleg (left) is not too shabby, though the paint job is obviously not as well done. Her shoes are unpainted.

Notice how there is no separation in the ponytail for bootleg Reimu.

The stick on bootleg Reimu's gohei is bent because a softer PVC is used to manufacture her.

Bootleg Marisa (left) does not come with a hat or mushroom. The paint job is so-so, and details such as the buttons of her blouse are not picked out. Her shoes and socks are both painted black.

Marisa, Marisa, Marisa!!!!!!

Bootleg Marisa has a peg built into the hem of her skirt to keep her on her stand. The original (right) has the peg on the stand, which fits into a socket in the hem of her skirt.

Bootleg Marisa does not have any apron strings. Note how the hair on the bootleg is a lot softer in definition.

Next is Princess Kaguya. Bootleg Kaguya (left) has Marisa's mushroom attached to her skirt for some reason.

Is she supposed to be displayed together with bootleg Marisa?

An odd vignette... I prefer the intended configuration of the originals.

Anyway, bootleg Kaguya has a peg built into her skirt to allow her to be attached to a base. Her shoes are also unpainted.

The differences in the patterns on Kaguya's skirt are very telling between the bootleg and the real figure.

Bootleg Patchouli Knowledge (left) is also not very convincing. Note the difference between the sculpt of the hands, the lack of shading, and lack of print on the cover of the book on bootleg Pache.

Mukyuu...

Bootleg Pache has a peg located on her underside to attach her to a stand. There is absolutely no painted detail underneath.

Ribbons are sculpted as part of the bonnet and hair for bootleg Pache. Again, the paint job is poorly done.

Bootleg Chen (left) is okay. Her hair is not the right color, and her socks and shoes are both painted the same color. Her posture seems different from the original figure (right).

Chen!!!!!!!

The tip of bootleg Chen's tails are black, and there is no shading for the color transition to the tip of her ears.

Bootleg Cirno (left) looks self-satisfied, but the original Cirno (right) looks downright smug. The bootleg's skirt is not properly painted.

To be a genius like me, you have to do your best!

Bootleg Cirno's bow seems to sit higher up on her head, and her wings are not translucent.

Komachi is the last figure comparison. Again, the hair is not as well defined in bootleg Komachi (left). The decorations on her hair ties are not painted, so they are the same color as her hair. The bootleg wears a toothy grin, whereas the original has an open-mouthed smile.

Bootleg Komachi holds her scythe with the blade up, while on the original (right) holds her scythe with the blade down. Again, the soft PVC makes the staff bend quite a bit (though the original has a bit of bend as well). The stitching on the sides of her skirt is not painted on the bootleg.

Bootleg Komachi's shoes are not painted, and she has a part number "5" engraved on the inside of her skirt.

Bootleg Komachi's stand peg fits into the back of her hair. For the original figure, it fits into a hole in her bloomers, and is hidden by her skirt.

The final figure of the set was Flandre Scarlet, but I did not bother doing a comparison because bootleg Flan was missing one of her wings.

They did a nice job with the translucent material, and they're actually a lot more robust than on the original figure.

In any event, I plan on using most of these bootlegs for gaming; something I would never dare use the originals for.

TouhouCon 2015

I just wanted to capture some thoughts about my experience at Touhoucon before they faded. I only went on day 2, since I had work on day 1, and I didn't feel like driving up to Anaheim again for the final day.

Attending was kind of a spur of the moment thing, so I wasn't really prepared with either my cosplay, or in figuring out what panels I wanted to see. I'm not sure when the panel descriptions were added online, but I didn't actually see them until after the con was over...

The con was relatively small, so it allowed for some interaction with other fans that I haven't experienced in quite a while (I personally tend to be a bit standoffish).

Two experiences at this con were really memorable for me. The first was of a young lady dressed as Marisa who wanted to get a picture with me. I put my arm around her lightly, as her mom (?) took a picture of us, when I suddenly felt young Marisa give me a big squeeze. She seemed so happy that we were taking that picture together, and I could feel all her joy and enthusiasm in that hug. I hope that she never looses that spark.

The second experience was when a lady dressed as Ran asked me to pose for a picture with her. I agreed, and she started to speak to me in Japanese. I could understand a word here and there, and the jist seemed to be that she thought I was kakkoii, which made me feel rather gratified (as I mentioned, I didn't get to spend much time on my cosplay, and I had to get dressed in my car – I didn't get to practice any appropriate poses either, so I was worried that I would look like a total dork).

Luckily my friend was able to speak Japanese, and do some translation for us. Ran-san was a big Touhou and Marasy fan, who decided to visit her daughter (who is going to school in So Cal) as a pretext to attend the con.

I really should make an effort to study Japanese properly. I would have liked to speak to her directly, but I couldn't dredge the words up to say what I wanted. I felt like a child, shyly hiding behind a parent who did the speaking in their stead, chiming in here and there when there was something I understood.

I feel I could have enjoyed TouhouCon more, but there was a lot of stuff going on in the back of my mind, so I was distracted and not really in con mode.

I didn't take much in the way of photos, but below are a few of the shots I took of the cars on display from the California Itasha Alliance:

A couple of photos from the Touhou cosplay gathering:

Stage 5  bosses

Taiko drum workshop held by Senryu Taiko:

Here's a video of one of the songs they performed uploaded by Utsuho Reiuji:

Here's a great cosplay music video produced by the guys at DZTV.

I was asked to be in the video, but I had to decline – I'm reluctant to have my picture exhibited in highly public places. If that makes people curious, the best I can do is to offer this picture I found on the Touhoucon Twitter page. I'm actually in the background of the draw battle between Kozou and Henry Liao. I'll leave it to your imagination to guess which person is me.

Henry Liao vs こぞうさん

I'm walking by in the background near the very end of this clip as well...