One thing led to another and I knew about Black★Rock Shooter, read about how the OVA came to be, heard the song, fell in love with it, saw cosplayers portraying the lead character, took snaps of them even, and next thing I know, I’m borderline obsessed with the franchise. I downloaded the OVA, got the song on loop, got versions of it even, and I found myself surfing the net for anything BRS related. I saw Danny Choo’s vlog that featured him visiting the Good Smile Company office, saw the characters there, went to one cosplay convention and saw the Max Factory PVCs on display, and saw more and more cosplayers portraying the characters. As days went by, I found myself wanting the PVC real bad. That time, they’ve only just released the Black★Rock Shooter character in PVC. I would go to Good Smile Company’s website again and again and I’d just look at the photos of the figma to no end. I’d go to sites featuring photographs of bloggers unboxing their B★RS and I’d drool.

Last month, I bought the B★RS figma. My very first figma. From the pictures, I got a sense that figmas were fully posable, something that toys I’ve photographed before wouldn’t let me do to them. This got me real excited but challenged at the same time. B★RS figmas are available locally in hobby and toy shops around the metro. I got mine during the toy sale in Glorietta 5. Beware of fake figmas. They may be cheaper but the paint job also looks cheap. Plus, they won’t have a DVD of the OVA included in the box.

This is the first toy I’ve photographed with the Canon 550D, external flash, and halogen light setup combo. Some of these shots were taken the day I got my hands on the figma. Some of them I’ve taken just a few hours ago with my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens. I realized that posing the figures take a lot of effort and I bow down to toy photographers who shoot figmas as their hobby. Them being so tiny, you’d have to be in full control of the focus point (something that took me several shots for each pose to actually nail). You’d have to know the right amount of light to use, the angle, the light source. You’d have to deal with weapons falling off and movement limitations of the action figures. You’d have to deal with physics and gravity. Prepare for long hours during a shoot. That said, hope you guys like what I’m sharing below. Next toy photography post: Dead Master (Black★Rock Shooter’s arch nemesis).

Please click on the images below for the bigger picture.