Hello everyone! (・ω・)ノ

A big thank you to everyone who reads the blog! It means a lot to me!

I wanted to write something interesting, but I wasn’t too sure what I could write up on, but I finally decided to write up a blog post on taking photos! The blog does mostly cover reviews of prototypes or product releases, and I often get asked how I take my photos in emails and on twitter, so I figured I’d try and answer some of those questions with a blog post!

This post is really written in my own style and explains how I take the pictures for the blog. Gou-kun on the GSC Newcomer’s Blog is also doing some photography lectures, I think I kind of stole his post for my own blog, sorry!!

If you have the time, be sure to check out his posts as well!

GSC Newcomer’s Blog:
http://ameblo.jp/blog-shinsotsu2012/ (Japanese)

My camera is a Sony Alpha 350!

Well, I say ‘my camera’, but the truth is it is actually Aki’s camera that I’ve been using for on the blog for 4~5 years now… I think it’s pretty much become my own camera now! I’m sure there are a number of updated versions of the same series of camera by now as well.

On that note, I should mention that I know nothing about cameras!!

This camera automatically gets into focus for me, and all I really need to do is press the button!

I also always uses an SLR as it blurs out the background nicely!

With the background blurry, the figures come out looking much nicer to me. I believe some other reasons for using an SLR would be that it decreases the noise on the photos, and makes the picture look lighter. Maybe something more advanced would provide better quality photos in the end, but in the end the SLR makes it nice and easy to just take photos!

This is how I normally take photos!

The SLR is actually quite heavy and holding it with just one hand tends to make the pictures blur, so I actually sit with my knees up and use them to support the camera and keep it still. Having the extra support really helps keep the figures in focus nicely!

I don’t use a tripod… it’s too much work! (`･ω･´)

This does mean that taking photos for a long time tends to tire my arms out quite a lot, but I’m used to that now! I don’t use a tripod because firstly it takes up a lot of space, and secondly because I just want to take photos when I want to, without needing to set up a whole tripod each time I take photos or change angles.

I do make use of this piece of cardboard!

I think this is the first time I’ve ever shown this outside of the offices. ^^;

It’s been though quite a lot over the years, but the gloss, feeling and thickness are all perfect for me!

…but perfect for what, exactly?

I use it to make a shadow over the figure!

It means I end up taking pictures with just one hand, but it really has become a really important part of my pictures! Mind you, I didn’t do this at the start of the blog… it was a technique I developed along the way. 😛

I don’t use any lighting either… it’s also too much work! (`･ω･´)

There are actually a few other reasons for this too though – a photo booth area with lighting takes up a lot of space, and in most cases figures are displayed without any lighting anyway, so I think the photos act better as review material without any extra lighting – it shows what they truly look like!

When I want to take pictures, I like to have my setup and and easily available, which is why I keep it simple like this! Holding the camera with one hand does tend to cause a few more blurry photos, but I just retake any that don’t come out nicely, plus balancing it on my knee really does help avoid this problem to a degree. Obviously you don’t need to use your knee, you could easily find something else to balance it on as well!

Anyway, let’s make some comparisons now!! ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ

Without the cardboard, so no shadow!

Today’s model is the recently rereleased Nendoroid Saber Lily! This photo of her certainly isn’t bad or anything, but let’s add the shadow and compare!

With the cardboard and shadow!

You can see there is more of a shadow on the bridge of her nose, as well as on her armor! I definitely feel like you get a lot more depth with a shadow cast on the figure – just a sheet of cardboard can make quite a substantial difference!

Next up, let’s look at poses!

When taking photos of Nendoroids, the joint angle is important!!

When you first buy Nendoroids, you’ll often see that the head joint will have the join facing the front – by that I mean the red line you see in the picture here is facing forward.

The joint moves along this red line, so different poses require you to make sure the join is facing the right direction! (If you try force it to move to the sides while it’s facing the front, it’ll just get stuck and risk breaking the joint.)

Let’s try changing the angle of the join!

If you move the join to a little bit to the left like this, but not quite the full 90 degrees, you’ll be able to pose the Nendoroid’s head…

・ Tilting to the left.
・ Tucking in at the chin.

You can change the angle of the joint quite easily with some small pliers!

I’ve explained this using the joint for the head, but obviously the same applies with the leg or hip joints as well! Try playing around with changing the angle of the joints next time you’re taking photos!

Let’s try a pose with the joint at this angle! (・ω・)ﾉ

“Hmm?”

the tilted head makes for a pose that makes it look as if she is questioning, or confused about something! You can also make use of this for poses with upturned eyes for great effect!!

Little adjustments to the joints that allow things like a slightly tucked in chin can really make for very cute differentiation in poses!

Lifting the chin up isn’t the best idea!

It exposes the joint which tends to look a bit strange, however I still think that Saber looks rather cute even with the joint showing! In the end, although it might sound a bit silly, I really think that…

The #1 ingredient of good photos is love!!

I’m really not skilled with a camera at all, but I do my best to make the figures look as cute possible whenever I’m taking my photos for the blog!

The things I’ve shown are really nothing amazing, but I hope that this post has been of some interest for those of you who love taking photos of figures like I do!

Last but not least, a little bit of advertising! 😛

From Fate/unlimited codes:
Nendoroid Saber Lily!

 
She is currently available for purchase!! (`･ω･´)

Get in contact with our partner shops if you have any preorder or sales queries!
But that’s all for today!

I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛

 
(C) 2002-2006 TYPE-MOON

Today I’ll be playing with my iPhone instead of figures! (`･ω･´)

First of all, I had to ensure all my coworkers that this was in fact work and not just me playing on my iPhone… but now I can start the installation and have some fun! 😛

Puchitto Rock Shooter: Discover the Mystery of Planet Sexy!

If you search the AppStore for ‘Rock Shooter’, it’ll pop up quickly… unfortunately you will need to search in Japanese! It seems it also needed an update, but I’ll grab that a little bit later! 😛

It’s starting up! Yay!

As it was starting the audio started playing and everyone working around me started complaining about the sound… so I quickly switched to earphones. 😛

The title screen!

The illustration is of course by CHANxCO! Normally CHANxCO is known for her chibi illustrations, but I actually love these more realistic illustrations like the background here – she is both cute and sexy!! ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ

Anyway, let’s start the game!

There is actually a tutorial section that I should run through, but let me just try playing first! Even when I get user manuals for things, I tend to just ignore them and try to work things out for myself. On the bright side of things it’s a trial and error approach, on the negative side it’s just because I’m too lazy to read the manual… 😛

It’s started!!

It seems I need to defeat the enemies floating around here!
(I guess, seen it says ‘Combat’.)

After playing around a bit, I figured out I needed to touch the screen to fire shots at the enemies and clear the stage! Although now that I think about it I really don’t know how to get a feeling of the game through to everyone reading the blog, so I guess I’ll check out the tutorial anyway.

Pull back on Shooter-chan to shoot!

That’s the basic control of the game, simply pull back on the screen and shoot! Simple! This screen actually appears while loading as well, so you can read through before playing!

This is how the game looks running!

The large arrow coming off from Shooter-chan indicates the direction that she’ll fire. The distance the bullet travels depends on how much you pull back before you fire – if you pull back really far the bullet goes flying across the screen! The bullet travels in a curve, so you also need to include that into your calculations!

Stage 1-1 Clear!

When you complete a stage you get ‘G’ points. The first stage gave me 200G! You need to save these up to purchase the various items in the game!

I’ve managed to reach Stage 1-4!

Some enemies are super high up and harder to hit now!! By default you have three bullets but you can also continue as many times as you like if you don’t finish. Plus if you manage to hit the ‘Pucchitians’ on the right side of the screen they’ll drop items for you!

This is the item shop screen!

Now that we’ve got a good idea for the game I thought I’d take a look at the item screen. Here you can buy weapons as well as new outfits, hairstyles and accessories to use on your character!

The section I’m currently in is the section that requires real money to purchase items, but you can quite easily play the game without them!

Boss Fight!!

Why do I have to defeat such a cute girl!! The blocks in the middle keep getting in my way to defend her cuteness!! 😛

The pink target on the boss shows the current weak point, but each time you hit her she changes poses!!

Boss defeated! Onto Stage 2!

The next boss looks like she has a much bigger boobies!! I want to get to her, but I think the rest of the GSC staff will really get angry if I keep playing, so I think I’d better stop for now.

It’s the first time I’ve really played a game like this, but it’s nice and simple and could easily be played on the way to work or while you have a few minutes to yourself. I really want to play stage 2 now…

If it looks like something you’d enjoy, then I’d definitely recommend it from what I’ve played so far!

Puchitto Rock Shooter: Discover the Mystery of Planet Sexy! for iPhone
http://prp.jrpg.jp/ (Japanese)

Anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛

(C)huke/B★RS Project (C) 2012・GSC/Imageepoch

I missed lunch, so I really felt like stopping by the GSC Tetsujin Café…

…luckily Akihabara is nice and close to the new offices! ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ
When I arrived it was already closing time, but they let me in anyway! Yay! The Good Smile x Karaoke no Tetsujin Café can be found on the 5th floor of the AKIBA Cultures ZONE’s, just a bit off Akihabara’s Chuoudoori. I highly recommend it to anyone feeling a little peckish like me, or even if you just feel like taking a little break!

The café takes on a number of themes to suit certain animes, and last week…
Was the start of the YuruYuri♪♪ Amusement Club Café!
The entire café is filled with goods and figures from YuruYuri♪♪!!

Enjoy your food while gazing at the uniforms and dakimakura!
Smaller figures are lovely, but a 1/1 scale dakimakura really has a completely different feeling – it’s like they’re right there with you!

A mysterious box at the entrance!

It’s a spotlight box!

It’s huge! In the background are the letters ‘BAKYU-N!’, so you can stand inside and really feel like you’re the spotlight! Feel free to jump in and take a commemorative photo from the café!

I was given a Chinatsu table!

The mat on the table is filled with images of Chinatsu from the series, it’s lovely!! There are tables for the other characters, but the table you get is random – you just have to wait and see who you get once you arrive! (Which makes me want to come back over and over to get the other tables… :P)

The Amusement Club Café Menu!

Now I’m even more hungry!! I’m not sure which one to pick, I want them all!!

This is the drink menu! I don’t think I can drink all of them, so I’ll have to pick one… I think I’ll be trying out the float!

The Mixed Amusement Club Meal comes with a place mat!

You can also add on ¥100 to get it laminated! Then you can then take it home and use it whenever you like! Just ask anyone at the store if want that done!

A tin badge is included with all orders!

There are a total of 40 different badges and they are completely random – you pull one out of a box! I ordered three things from the menu, so I got three to start off my collection. ^^

Yui, Akari and Chinatsu!!

I got Akari doing the ‘BAKYU-N!’ pose! I must say I’m quite lucky when it comes to drawing things like this… 😛

The Oshiruko Float!!

I was actually a little worried I wouldn’t really like this one, but it was actually incredibly good!! It is quite sweet, but not too rich, and the ice cream is a lovely palate cleanser!

The Mixed Amusement Club Meal!

There was a little concern about people being able to pronounce the Japanese name, ‘Gomoku Gorakubu Gohan’, but it seems most people aren’t having trouble with it. 😛

The Akkanehn Desert Set!
The panties on the glass are your’s to take home!!

It was all absolutely delicious!

Other themed cafés besides the YuruYuri café are also running, so be sure to take a look around when you’re done with your meal!
If you are in Akihabara, I hope you’ll stop by and check out the café! There are also some goods on sale at the register once you’ve finished your meal!

– Good Smile x Karaoke no Tetsujin Café –
http://www.gstjcafe.jp/

Anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛

(C)なもり/一迅社・七森中ごらく部

Thanks to everyone for all the title suggestions!

I received a total of 1,067 entries!

There were some people who were also talking about how close they were to the offices now, and others who said they were just getting into figures – it was great to read through some of the messages along with the entires. Getting some friendly words and cheering having moved to a new place is very reassuring – so a big thanks to everyone who entered and left a message for me!

Anyway, onto the official announcement!

The new blog title will be…

This of course refers to the fact that the offices are 17 stories up from the ground floor, but it also has a kind of gamer feeling to it like getting 17 1UPs in Mario! – or at least, thats how I decided to interpret it, and thus that became the title of my choice! Now I just need to make sure that I don’t manage to end up losing with these 17 extra lives! 😛

Everyone who was in my top 15 choices…

… will be receiving a small GSC-Seijin Plushie along with a Gumako Keychain!

There were a few people who sent in the same title, in which case I selected the winner randomly, sorry!! Here are the winners:

I should have sent a mail to everyone above as well as Mameppo!, so please send through your address so you can receive your prizes!

As of yesterday, the 11th July 2012, this blog has been running for 5 years and is now into its 6th year! I can’t believe how long it has been going for! I know for sure that I’d never be able to keep a diary, so I’m quite impressed with myself for managing to keep up with the blog for so long. ^^;

Of course, it is really all thanks to all the readers that the blog has lasted so long! There is no way I would have carried on without all the support I get, and I’m grateful to every single one of you who reads the blog! I’ll continue to write the best articles and introduce some of the best products for everyone in return, so I hope you’ll all continue to follow the blog!

But anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛

Skytree East Tower 17th Floor!

GSC, Max Factory and Phat! Company have all moved to this floor of the Skytree! (`･ω･´)

I accidentally caught Aesop-san running across the hallway, but it gives everyone a good feeling for the size of the passage! Apparently late at night the standard entrance is closed which makes it seem like quite a dungeon at times, the size also adds to that – trying to remember where everything is here on the 17th floor is still a bit foreboding….

But Oonoshi has created a map of the new offices!
Phew! The snacks are not too far!! But anyway, today I’ll be running around the offices to take some photos while taking a look at this map!

This is the main entrance!

It’s just a little to the right after you get off the elevator. There is a phone placed at the entrance for guests to contact the relevant department from the entrance.

We received lots of flowers!

The Good Smile face at the back is made of flowers as well! It’s so cute!! Because it was three companies all moving at once, we ended up with a huge number of flowers!

The offices look like a flower store!

I really love flowers, just looking at them when I come past makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! A big thank you to everyone who sent flowers to congratulate the company!

These are the meeting rooms!

It’s a bit hard to see from these pictures, but the circles on the doors have a Good Smile mark on them! In the past we’ve had far too little space for meetings and some staff would sometimes end up having meetings on the floor – but now we have much more space!

The inner meeting room has a beautiful view!

Both of the side walls are made from glass, so you can see very clearly! I’m fairly certain this room will become the most popular meeting room!

This is left from the entrance!

Each staff member has a locker which is what you can see all lined up here! We need to store documents, figure samples and goods so there really is a need for this much space! No matter how much space there is it never seems like enough!

This area is free space at the moment!

The chairs and tables from the old Good Smile Cafe are being used here by the window for staff to get together and have smaller meet ups. The sun shines through the window which I bet will feel great in the Winter months!

By the way, these photos were half taken in the afternoon and half in the evening, which explains why the saturation is so different between pictures… sorry about that!

These are all desks for the staff!

All the staff besides the sculptors are all together in this area to work! Running from one end of the desks to the other is actually quite tiring – perhaps the new offices will lead to me getting a bit more exercise!

We have lots of shelf space above the desks!

How each staff member chooses to make use of their desk space and shelf space is entirely up to them! I’ve made a threeA corner, a Miku corner and a Panda corner!  (`･ω･´)

The prototype storage area!

Easily one of the most important areas!!! (ﾟДﾟ;）

Next to the prototype shelves there is a giant fridge or ice maker or something. I’m really not sure why, so we’ll just ignore that for now. 😛

The president’s office has glass windows and tatami mat flooring!

You can see a faint outline of the actual Skytree tower just outside the window! The windows are all fitted with blinds, but the view is just too nice to block it off with blinds! I’m situated at the WEB team’s section, which is the closest to the president’s office! (・∀・)ノ

Time to infiltrate the studios!

The passages to each room always have glass windows like this so that all of the staff can always see other staff – it really brings everyone together nicely!

This is GSC & Phat!’s Studios!

This is where all the sculptors are hard at work making new figures for everyone! I’ll need to go through very quietly to make sure I don’t bother them…

A silver pipe stretches across the room!

These pipes suck in all the unclean air and replace it with clean air! It’s (kind of) like Nausicaä!

Sculptors hard at work for WonFes!

Yep! Even with all the excitement of moving, we can’t forget that WonFes is coming up this month – easily one of the busiest time for sculptors here at GSC!

The 3D Team’s room!

Most of the pedestals and bases for figures are made here, plus there are more and more full digital figures being made as well now! They pair up with a sculptor to get the best of both techniques and create beautiful figures faster than ever before!

The small room next door has a couple of interesting machines!

The blue vinyl sheet at the back gives the room a strangely imposing feeling…

This is the ‘Digital Wax’!

It’s a high-end 3D printer! It basically prints out 3D data directly from the PC! One of these machines is rather expensive (probably the cost of a few cars) but this one has definitely been put to good work! I hope we can get a second one for even more 3D printing sometime…

This is an example of what it can do!

When it is first printed it comes out a blue color, but this one has already been coated in a surfacer. The lamination layer that is considered the weak point of 3D printing is hardly even visible at this point!

This machine is the ‘Perfactory’!

I introduced this machine in a previous article some time ago, it is also a 3D printer. I think I should do an article that explains the difference between this one and the Digital Wax at some point… I’m really not sure what the difference is at the moment!

The storage room for sculpting tools!

There are all sorts of tools I’ve never even seen before in here! To think that there figures are made from just these tools and the skills of the sculptors!

Still busy setting up some equipment?

It looks like some kind of machine that sucks something into this box…

Aesop-san is now taking me…
to the Max Factory studios!

I hope I’m not interrupting anything too important. Every room requires a security card to enter and exit, so if anyone forgets it they are locked out completely!

Here we have Max Factory’s studio!

Max Factory have been always had their studio in North Matsudo – it is their first move in ten years! It was the first ever move for the Max Factory staff, so I’m sure it must have been quite a lot of work. (This was the 4th move for me!)

The lovely figures are all created here!

It’s amazing to see everyone hard at work up close! I think I’ll have to sneak in here and watch over people’s shoulders when I have some spare time…! 😛

Even more mysterious machines!

At the back you can also see one of the sculptors, Kitade, jumping up for the photo! Everyone here at GSC and Max Factory are such nice people, I’m really glad to be working here!

Here we have Max Factory’s president!
MAX Watanabe-san!

Yesterday was his 50th birthday! Happy Birthday MAX-san!! The staff all got together to celebrate his special day! Seen we now work in the same building and same floor, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other! (*´ω`*)

GSC, Max Factory and Phat! Company will all be giving their best from their new base!

I hope you’ll all be there to support us!!
 
 
 
Anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛

GSC, Max Factory and Phat Company…

Are all moving offices to the Tokyo Skytree 17th Floor from the 3rd July! (Tues)

Ooh, I can’t believe I’m going to be working inside that building! I still haven’t had a single chance to go there myself, but according to the rumors around the current offices…

　・ The closest station is Oshiage Station.
　・ You can get to the offices without ever going outside of the station.
　・ You need to switch elevators half way up.
　・ You need to keep a security card for access.
　・ You seem to be surrounded by glass inside.
　・ The company president’s room has glass walls.
　・ The Skytree is big.
　・ People are worried about getting to work late.
　・ Nighttime is scary.
　・ The company president is already looking into the next move.

That about sums up all the rumors – but they really are just things I’ve heard, so I look forward to seeing them for myself in a few days! I am so worried that I’m going to end up loosing my security card…

…Meanwhile!(`･ω･´)

Back at the old office everything is being packed away!

It’s been around two years that we have been using this building for the offices, and I had a lot less junk to sift through than I expected – I managed to pack everything up quite quickly.

The move before this one was much worse – you can take a look at the previous Japanese blog posts about that move if you’re interested. 😛

– Good Smile Moving Offices! Let the Moving Strategy Commence! –
http://ameblo.jp/gsc-mikatan/entry-10638320439.html
– Move Complete! The New Good Smile Company Offices!
http://ameblo.jp/gsc-mikatan/entry-10642791128.html

Anyway, today I’d like to ask for help with this once again…

I’m looking for a new blog title!

At the start the title was:
3 minute walk from Matsudo Station.

Afterwards it changed as follows…
2 minute jog from Matsudo Station.
1 minute run from Matsudo Station.

After that I started to ask for title ideas from readers:
5 minutes by panda from Matsudo Station (nobuno-san)
4 minutes by dog sled from Matsudo Station (Pupu-san)
0 minutes by Google from Matsudo Station (Futagoneko-san)
Move Forward 10 Blocks from Matsudo Station (Haruaki-san)

Seen we’ve moved quite far from Matsudo station now, the title needs to take on a new theme!

The only requirement is that the title must…

have a sense of distance!

I’m looking for something that gives an idea as to where GSC is! I know it’s not that simple to work with, but something along the lines of the previous titles. I really don’t have much of an idea of where the Skytree is, so it’s really hard for me to think of much at the moment either! 😛

However, I’ve also decided to add some forbidden words this time around! These words kept coming up in previous entries, and I’d rather not have them this time!

The Forbidden Words are…
　　・ Matsudo Station
　　・ Crawling
　　・ Moonwalk
　　・ Handstand

As much as I’d love to keep ‘Matsudo Station’ to keep the pattern of the blog, I feel like its a time for a change now, so I’ve decided to block that word out as well… Don’t get me wrong though, I still love Matsudo and I’ll still be going there sometimes – my house is close and Indotei is still there!!

The entrant whose title I select will be getting a little prize along with ten entries selected at random!

　　 　＿＿＿_
　　／　　 　 　＼
　／　　　─　 　 ─＼　　"Oshiage... Solamachi..."
／ 　　 （●） 　（●）＼
|　 　　 　（__人__） 　 | ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿_
＼　　 　 　|r┬-| 　 ,／　| |　　　　　　 　|
ノ　　　　　 `ー'´　　＼　 | |　　　　　　 　|
／´ 　 　　　　　　　　　　 | |　　　　　　 　|
|　　　　ｌ 　 　 　 　 　　| |　　　　　 　　|
ヽ　　　 -一ー_~､⌒)^),-､　| |_＿＿＿＿＿＿__|
ヽ ＿＿＿＿,ノγ⌒ヽ)ニニ-￣　　　| |　　|

I’ll be making the final selection for the blog title, so if you have an interesting idea then please send them through!

I’ll looking forward to everyone’s entries!!

But that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again next week!!  (・∀・)ノ゛

The GSC Offices, June 6th 2012!

We have so many more comrades nowadays!!

This year we have 8 new recruits!

That’s almost a 10% increase in staff for us here at GSC! Today I’ll be giving a brief introduction to all the newcomers, along with an interesting project they will be running! (`･ω･´)

New Recruit #1 : Nutty

New Recruit #2 : Edako

New Recruit #3 : Kahoyamo

New Recruit #4 : Hamako

New Recruit #5 : Gou　

New Recruit #6 : Ina Bauer

New Recruit #7 : Matsuzawa

New Recruit #8 : Kamatani

 
These are the 8 new recruits of Good Smile Company!

Of the eight, two are joining the production team as novice sculptors, and the other six are on job rotation, working with all the divisions and learning in the process!

Along with these tasks, the newcomers are also trying to develop…

A product to display figures more ideally!

Oooh! That sounds pretty cool!!

There might be some of you wondering what that means! Well, so am I! 😛

I guess I’ll have to wait and see – but perhaps I’ll be able to display my figures in a more interesting way soon!

They’re also starting up a new blog!!

– Good Smile New Recruit Blog – (Japanese)
http://ameblo.jp/blog-shinsotsu2012/

There will also be more detailed staff introductions on the new blog! The newcomers have an interesting first year, and I hope everyone will be there to support them!

Here is the address once again!

– Good Smile New Recruit Blog – (Japanese)
http://ameblo.jp/blog-shinsotsu2012/
The blog is aiming to be updated every weekday!
Good luck guys!!  ヽ(´ー｀)ﾉ .:*:･’ﾟ☆｡.:*:･’ﾟ★｡.:*
 

And finally, a quick notice!



Win a Chance to Purchase figma Giant Warrior and Early Entrance Tickets to Anno Hideaki’s Special Effects Museum!

Yesterday it was announced that before Anno Hideaki’s Special Effects Museum opens to the public on the 10th July, there will be a special 10000 person invite-only opening taking place from the 6th July (Fri) to the 8th July (Sun).

Good Smile Company will be offering a chance for 1500 people to purchase tickets to the invite only event taking place on the 6th July. Those who purchase these tickets will also receive figma Giant Warrior, which is based on the short film that will be shown at the event, ‘A Giant Warrior Descends on Tokyo’.

To break everything down in a quick summary:

That about sums it up! Not only do you get figma Giant Warrior, but you also get an early chance to go watch the film that he features in! I want to go myself!! (Note that the figma will only be given out at the event!)

You can apply here!
http://www.ntv.co.jp/tokusatsu/invitation.html

– GSC Shanghai Diary #8 –

Dàjiā hǎo (Hello everyone!), it’s Suzuki from Good Smile Shanghai!
From today for the next three days, I’ll be introducing some of the staff here at Good Smile Shanghai, along with some comments from them!

First up we have GSC Shangai’s only female staff member, Ryuu-san!
She is involved in lots of things, from management and office work to translation!

Ryuu-san really goes through each and everyday with a lovely smile!

I’ll be continuing the staff interviews tomorrow!
Míngtiān jiàn!

Ryuu-chan looking lovely!!

She looks like an idol in that photo! I just want to hug her!!!
The real version is just as cute!
 
But anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛

The GSC Marketing Space…

Is filled with all sorts of strange goodies!

These are all from a rather interesting project…!

The Good Smile Cup Figure/Model Contest #1!

A special project where anyone from Good Smile or related companies would make a figure or model! The idea and organizer of the project was none other than Tasshi from the production team!

Max Factory also have an internal competition once a year, but most of them are in fact professional sculptors!

Good Smile on the other hand has lots of sculptors but also lots of other departments as well – this project was up to anyone, no matter how good or bad they are!

Tasshi started worrying for awhile when there were not very many entries, but the entries picked up quite quickly soon after!

Today we’ll be taking a look at all the figures and models made for the project!

(Note that these are all made just for personal fun, and there are no plans to make products of them!)

Great work everyone!!

After seeing all of these I really shouldn’t show the dog I made from paper clay. 😛

Of all the entries, these were my favorites:

Hamayama-chan’s:

Nendo Petite Matryoshka!

One of my favorite Vocaloid songs, Matryoshka! A lovely figure of GUMI and Miku-san! The characters themselves are great, but so is the idea to use a CD as the base!! It really sets the stage for a figure based on a song!

Kiku-chan from management’s:

Cake!

The decorations on the cake are so cute, plus it functions as a container as the top opens up like a lid! We also have a guest appearance from Guts on the side, ready to cut the cake!

There are Behelits mixed in with the strawberries!

Berserk fans will know all about these small egg-shaped things 😛 Plus in the middle of the cake is cookie with some kind of inscription on it – small little things that really make it a wonderful model to look at!

Tsuka-chan from Good Smile Racing’s:

Nana Mizuki!

Wow… this is his very first figure made?? Tsuka-chan was a modeler in the past, but this is quite an impressive jump!

You can feel the love!!

Big fans of Nana Mizuki might be a bit disappointed with some areas, but personally I can really see the heartfelt work that went into this!!

But anyway, that brings an end to…

The Good Smile Cup Figure/Model Content #1!

Those of you who are interested in sculpting and the figure world, it’s a great experience to try sculpting something yourself – even if it is just with something simple like paper-mache!

Good Smile Shanghai Diary #3

Today we’ll be adding this corner to the blog!

I’m sure most of you know already, but a little while back, Good Smile opened offices in Shanghai, China! The reason behind this was to pass on the wonder of figures overseas more easily, and make the hard to reach figures from Japan easier to get hold of!

I’m sure many of you are wondering that, and I’m quite interested to find out as well! So today we’ll have a report from Suzuki from the management department down in Shanghai!

Nihao everyone! My name is Suzuki from Good Smile Shanghai.
Today I’m going to be introducing the dispatch of information. Due to restrictions in Japan, we can’t make use of things like twitter for quick information.

Hence, we make use of a Chinese website called ‘Weibo’.
Weibo has over three hundred million users.

(Weibo)

http://www.weibo.com/goodsmilesh
(You have to register to see the content, sorry!)

Good Smile Shanghai makes use of Weibo to bring new product information and other info to all our Chinese users.

We are also looking for a Chinese translator for Mikatan Blog at present!
You can apply from Japan as well, so if you’re interested let us know – it might even be of use to your Chinese studies!

Over three hundred million users!!

China really does have a lot of Internet users!!

Plus, we’re looking for a Chinese translator for the blog! My Japanese itself is very wishy-washy sometimes, so it might be difficult to translate. But if you’re interested, be sure to contact us!
 
Anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛

The 1st May is…

Good Smile’s Birthday!

Today the entire staff of GSC grouped up for a photo to celebrate! Unfortunately there were a few staff members who were not available, but the number of staff members has really been climbing as of late!

When I first joined the company, there were about 15 staff members in total – we could easily all fit into a two story apartment building. As we get more staff it becomes more and more amazing to get everyone together like this for a photo and see how much the company has grown!

Plus, one more little bit of information that comes with this birthday…

GSC has changed from a limited company to a public company!

It’s a little more complex than that, but Wikipedia will explain with the links above. Here are some birthday comments from the company representative, Aki!

Now that we have changed to a public company I need to be careful that I don’t accidentally still say limited company on the phone or in emails… 😛 But I’m also looking forward to all the fun and interesting challenges that await us in the future!! (`･ω･´)ゞ
 
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who placed their votes in the resale and request polls!

The polls closed today, and we will be taking a look at all the opinions and votes given to us to help us decide what products should be coming up in the future! Thanks for taking some time out of your day to complete the polls!
 
Anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow! (・∀・)ノ゛