One of the figures I have been looking forward to for a long time is Alter’s Kongiku, who was teased at Winter WonFest and then finally revealed at Summer WonFest. I absolutely adore Momohime (photo gallery), and was expecting another showstopping piece from Alter. Well… Kongiku is showstopping, but not in a good way. At all. Okay, let’s start with the boobs. They are HIDEOUS. I know Kongiku is busty, but these look like floating beach balls and are without a doubt the worst boob sculpt I’ve seen from Alter. They make her feel tacky to me, and I’d feel odd having her displayed next to the graceful, classy Momo. Some of these things, like the boobs & face, can be chalked up to character design but this sculpt is just not what I expect from the sculptor who did Momohime and Gwendolyn.
And her face… what is going on there? Her eyes are way too narrow and don’t match the art really. Then we get to the weird hair gaps and the odd discontinuity between her hair & ears. The print on her kimono is lovely and her lantern lights up which is cool, but none of this makes her a good figure to me. In fact, I can’t believe I am about to say this but she is an easy pass for me. She is also very expensive for her size, ¥9,200, and comes out in dreaded February. Perhaps I’m being overly harsh because of my high expectations, but this is not the Alter I’ve come to know and love. Then again, they have had some weird production issues recently…
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Leah, I gotta ask – why are you surprised?? From what I remember, she really did look like this (meaning just as bad) just unpainted. She was gonna look weird, it was just a little hard to tell unpainted whether that fact was gonna be good or bad.
You know what I am sayin’….??
Looking back at the sculpt, it really does look the same. I dunno, I guess I was looking at it through rose-colored glasses because I love Momo SO much and I wanted Kongiku to be just as good. ;~;
I think the breasts are what kills it. Her face is pretty cute in certain angles, but then you look DOWN and it’s like… … no…
Yeah, unfortunately. Being the pervy fanboi I am, I digs me some boobage. But that 90′s porn star, April Chest ridiculousness is just too damn much.
The sculpt remains the same as the unpainted prototype, not in a good way. However, the colours are surprisingly pleasant compared to the teaser picture. I would be interested if they gave us a choice of bust size: S, M, L, or in this case XLL. LOL
I’d be okay with her giant boobs–which are true to the character–if they didn’t appear to be floating upwards. No, really, they angle UP!
that’s my issue 2. it almost looks like they are completely separate pieces. it’s….really a bad job like that in a bunch of places which is really frustrating
This figure is based of of a digital painting of Kongik, which was created by a talented illustrator. And the figure is spot on with the illustration. If you don’t like it then thats okay its your preference but don’t think that the character was sculpted incorrectly. And there is nothing wrong with women who have large breast (real women or fictional characters). Large breast make a woman look attractive not gross, goofy etc.
Everyone is of course allowed an opinion, but if you look at this sculpt next to the art it is NOT accurate. Her breasts are larger and her face is quite different.
And yes, I know there is nothing wrong with large breasts, but I don’t like fake breasts which is what this looks like and it isn’t accurate to the illustration which doesn’t have, you know, inflated boob syndrome. There is no woman on earth who has real, natural breasts that look like Kongiku’s.
I don’t know if you’re referring to the size, or that her boobs are kind of floating, but I have in fact meet/seen women with boobs that are naturally about as big as hers. It happens.
I mean the size/shape combo. Sure, you can naturally have breasts that big (though very doubtfully with her body type), but gravity doesn’t work the way it is on Kongiku. Giant boobs don’t float. Actually, NO boobs float haha
Yeah definitely no naturally floating boobs. xD
On a somewhat unrelated note. I do wish boobs were detachable. Some days I just wish I could take mine off, and actually leave the house braless. ;_;
XD I think this is a discussion you would enjoy: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/10rnj9/ladies_if_your_breasts_were_easily_removed_how/
even in the original prototype that was shown off I thought it looked off from the art. it just looks….unfinished. I don’t mind her boobs being huge…they should be…what I mind is that it’s not even close to the original piece when it comes to that aspect. in the art they are being held up by the wrap of the kimono. Here they are just kind of magical floating and they do look like separate pieces that were just stuck on rather than being well sculpted with flow.
Have you looked at the original artwork recently? The figure is pretty much an exact recreation of Kamitani’s illustration: http://www.radiantcg.com/temp/Kongiku.jpg
I’ll conceed Kongiku’s been a little bit overinflated here, and maybe are lifted slightly higher, but the same skyward trajectory is present in the artwork.
Kamitani’s got a thing for creating characters with large, unrealistic breasts. There’s at least one in every game he’s worked on that I’ve seen or played (Odin Sphere has Odette, Dragon’s Crown has the Sorceress). These are all games with ogres, skeletons, demonic possession, trolls, and freaking fox women who can talk and change shape. “Realism” is not the first thing I’d look for. You could complain about the fox ears or tail – they’re not exactly realistic either. But they’re not stereotypically sexualized, so it’s ok, right?
What I wouldn’t give for an edit button to fix typos…
I actually re-checked the artwork before posting this, and I personally think the face and bust are very different in the sculpt. I think the face looks… slanted? Like it’s a 3/4 angle in the art but they did it from the side in the sculpt so she looks off.
I could write and entire book about why the sexualization of characters IS important and not the same as fox tails/ears, but I’ll keep it short for today. Much like the “escher girl” pose (boobs & butt simultaneously) it’s a physical impossibility. If a girl actually did have natural breasts that big, it would cause tons of medical problems–same thing for implants, many women who have them suffer because of them. Idealizing fox tails & ears as a cute/sexy feature isn’t the same because it’s impossible and we all know it is. No one thinks their gf can just grow tails & ears. When we idealize large, impossibly floating breasts or back-breaking poses it’s idealizing something that would cause suffering. You CAN have a gf with fake boobs that big, which is why it’s more of an issue. When people start grafting fox ears onto their head to be sexy, I’ll be against that too.
While, yes, it’s fine to like whatever you like, I think it’s also important to note that Kongiku’s shape IS impossible through anything but surgery. And honestly, in real life she’d be more terrifying than sexy with those things coming at you haha. I don’t mind big breasts that react to gravity (which is why I’m so fond of MF’s Tamaki) but it bothers me when ridiculously fake-looking boobs are somehow considered… normal? Well, not normal, but to say that this is possible in any way is ridiculous. People can like what they like: you like giant boobs like this? Fine of course, to each their own. I certainly see the appeal, and I know people who think I am crazy for liking Tamaki and Soniko. But I personally don’t want Kongiku on my shelf and I do present my own opinions in posts. I think if I remained totally neutral it’d be a really boring blog! But, again, pretending this is at all possible is what bothers me because people shouldn’t think this is natural in any way. Sexy, sure, you can find her sexy. But realistic in really any way (fox ears & tail included)? Nope. But I’ve seen people say that the One Piece girls could totally exist in real life, when they literally wouldn’t have room for their organs. Find whatever you want sexy, but there’s a line between that and knowing what is real.
Wow, I just wrote a LOT! It wasn’t really directed at you haha, I just felt like getting it out of my system since several people here and elsewhere have argued the opposite.
EDIT: I’d just like to say that whether or not her bust is identical to the illustration isn’t the point I’m trying to make. As Chris pointed out, while the shape is similar between the two her kimono & obi in the illustration are giving her a push-up effect that’s *almost* understandable but it doesn’t seem as apparent as in the figure. But again, whether or not it’s true to the art isn’t what I dislike: it’s the bust size/shape itself.
I think my points are being conflated into a single issue that they’re not, so I’m going to break down my response into the separate issues I was trying to address quickly.
The Sculpt: I’ll start with the headline, “Alter’s Kongiku Is… Not What I Expected.” What did you expect? The game, its art style, and this figure’s source illustration have been out there for three years now, and it’s clear that you have at least some familiarity with it. The prototype has also been available for close to a year. I find it unfair to criticize Alter’s sculptors, when what they have done is followed the original illustration to a T. While there are some discrepancies, the extra boob helium for one and perhaps a slightly different angle for her turned head, I really don’t think anyone could ask for a more faithful recreation of the two dimensional art into a three dimensional sculpture. Some aspects just work out differently in different mediums, and a 3D piece won’t look the same as a 2D one from all angles.
I think that Alter’s Selvaria (Valkryia ver.) is far more worthy of being called out on the sculpt as we don’t have an original piece of artwork to refer back to, but we do have the character as she is presented in both the game and anime. While Selvaria does have quite large, but not impossibly so, breasts, Alter and their sculptors felt the need to inflate them even further. Enterbrain/eBCraft did the same thing for their take on Selvaria. It was simply unnecessary and detracts from the figures as a faithful recreation of the character.
Stylization/Realism: Perhaps in the same way that “unrealistic breasts” appears to be a pet peeve of yours, people claiming “oh those breasts are unrealistic! that’s horrible!” frequently rubs me the wrong way, particularly when surrounded by other fantastical, stylized, or otherwise impossible or improbable elements. When a realistic style is not the goal of the artist, calling out specific anatomic impossibilities to the exclusion of others is, in my opinion, hypocritical. Decrying the huge eyes, tiny mouth, mouths that can stretch to encompass half a character’s face while performing certain expressions, large heads, tiny necks, elongated limbs, shortened limbs, button noses, and yes, even the fox ears and tails should be right up there with “balloon breasts” as realism problems with the art. Don’t cherry pick one of the element as merely “unrealistic” as that’s really a disingenuous way of expressing dislike for specific representations of exaggerated or fantastical sexualization.
As a side note, on further thought, every character of Kamitani’s that has enormous, unrealistic, or improbable breasts is of a magical or fantastical nature (Kongiku the shape-shifting, teleporting kitsune, Odette is the goddess of death, Queen Muse the sorceress, the Sorceress of Dragon’s Crown).
Media Presentation of Women: I realize that my lack of a 2nd X chromosome is going to disqualify anything I say to many people on the subject, but since you brought it up I am going to respond. I will not argue that the popular culture’s treatment of women isn’t still pretty shitty. Here you want to talk about how you dislike the glorification of large, unrealistic breasts, yet anime, of all mediums, has a fascination with a wider variety of body types than simply “big boobs” – take a look at the pandering to the “delicious flat chest” crowd, the lolicons (*shudder*) that are not necessarily the same crowd, and even muscle-bound women that would put to shame American comic book heroines. Anime is not 100% inclusive of all body types, but I think it does a better job than the majority of other popular media out there. There’s no denying the women are still presented as sexual objects to at least some degree, but I think that is true for any media targeted at men throughout pretty much all of history (and vice versa for much of the media targeted at women, at least in the last half century or so). Large breasts still exists as a cultural shorthand for “sexy”, but I don’t think it is to the exclusion of all else.
Kongiku was designed by a man to titillate men. Her breasts are supposed to be sexy to at least some degree. Are they supposed to be realistic? I don’t think so. Are they supposed to be promoted as the ideal to which all women should aspire and have surgery to attain? I don’t think so.
Do I think Kongiku’s breasts are sexy? Yeah, kind of, but in a bizarre, entirely surreal, fantastical way (in the same way that I find Star Wars’ Twi’leks pretty sexy – it’s the blue skin!). Do I think the way they were done both in the original illustration and in the figure is incredibly tacky? Yeah. Do I think that all women should look like Kongiku or hide under a burqa? Of course not. I think she looks absurd.
There’s fantastical fantasy (say Kongiku, or Star Wars Twi’leks, or WoW Night Elves), plausible or attainable fantasy (say super models or having a date w/ your favorite super attractive movie star), and then there’s reality. I know which world I live in, and I suspect most people do. If I saw a woman with a fake breasts like Kongiku, I’d probably be horrified – in the same way that I’d be horrified if a man went and had surgery to make his biceps look like Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5 (or even did a shitload of steroids to try to get them “naturally”). I’d also be pretty horrified if a surgically created blue, head-tentacled person showed up.
There are people who can tell the difference between reality and varying degrees of fantasy and people who can’t. You say it’s a problem that someone could go out and get a girlfriend with boobs as big. I don’t think that’s a problem – such women do exist (though obviously not with breasts given the same anti-gravity properties) and people ARE attracted to them, just as others are attracted to people of different body shapes. Large breasts, even cartoonishly impossible ones, are an image that many find attractive, and I honestly don’t find it that much different from other body parts that have been glorified or fetishized in different cultures throughout history – from elongated foreheads, to washboard abs, to long necks, to chest hair, to small feet (oh god…foot binding is terrible) to being that overall round shape now considered “fat”.
What I think is a problem, would be that a woman would feel that she NEEDS to have breasts that look like Kongiku’s and even feel obligated to have surgery to attain them. However, I don’t subscribe to the argument that “characters shouldn’t be depicted with unrealistically large or shaped breasts” any more than “we shouldn’t have violent imagery” or “all characters, especially minorities, should be presented as positive role models at all times” (disclaimer: I am a minority. The fact that I feel that I have to add that disclaimer sort of repulses me) – the idea that seeing a particular type of image holds so much power over people that they have to be banned or effectively censored. Having increasingly sophisticated surgeries available to misguidedly “achieve” such fantasies doesn’t change that opinion. It’s the availability of the procedures themselves that I think should be condemned. I contend there is NO harm in fantasy – only in the recreation of fantasy as reality.
I feel like I am repeating myself over and over. I DO NOT CARE if people like Kongiku. I am not in ANY way saying you shouldn’t like her. Lots of people like her, but I don’t and since it’s my website obviously I am going to present my own opinions as opinions. I honestly have no idea why it is so damn controversial that I hate her breasts and don’t think they are realistic.
And the thing is, fantasy IS harmful when presented as an ideal. This is not something you can really argue against. The media portrayal of men AND women is harmful, as it gives children false ideas. My issue is NOT WITH THE ILLUSTRATION OR THE FIGURE. I don’t care if people think her boobs are sexy, since they are obviously meant to be. And I am not saying you SHOULDN’T find them sexy. My issue is with people saying she is realistic. Do you think her boobs are realistic? Obviously not, so I have no idea why you argued against something I am not even saying.
I feel like I’m repeating myself as well.
First, nowhere did I say that you shouldn’t express your opinions on your own site. That’s what it’s for! I thought it was something I didn’t have to explicitly state in my last reply.
I also didn’t say that I have a problem with disliking the figure or illustration for any reason, even for disliking the way her breasts are portrayed. I don’t think it’s controversial that you hate them. (I don’t even particularly like the figure myself that much).
All my first point is trying to say is that I am surprised that you could be surprised or not expecting how Kongiku turned out when all the evidence has been there the whole time and it’s all been consistent, and that I think there are better ways for you to articulate your dislike than simply lack of realism. The entire image, character, style, and source material is unrealistic.
You did explicitly call out the sculptor for making her look this way. I do think you’re being overly harsh when, in my opinion of course, the fault lies almost entirely with the original artist Kamitani. You also explicitly said that it’s the size/shape that you dislike.
I would like to see you, as a person who has the legitimacy that your opinion holds weight in this hobby, to better articulate your feelings and opinions on figures than unhelpful “it has unrealistic boobs. I hate it” boilerplate. I expect that kind of of thing from forum and comment trolls.
You later explained that you have a problem because of the negative effect you believe such unrealistic portrayals of breasts cause – that people feel inclined to go have surgery or take other extreme measures to look this way or will otherwise feel bad about themselves.
Am I misunderstanding? It’s hard to have a discussion online w/o feeling like someone’s trying to troll the other. All I can do is tell you that I’m not. I just want to talk about the issue politely. If you don’t, I’ll drop it and go away.
I’d love to take the time to respond to Stephen’s specific issues w/ the scuplt, but I feel like I’m essentially being told “You disagree with us. Leave our site.”
I feel that I have explained my opinions sufficiently. I have stated why I don’t like her breasts, and if you think that I didn’t articulate that well… well, I honestly at this point don’t care. You are entitled to your opinions, and I don’t think there’s anything really else to say about it. We have differing opinions, and it’s clear no one is going to change their stance. But if you feel that the staff of this website participating in discussions is somehow telling you to “leave our site” that is beyond wrong. We have as much of a right to argue our opinions as you do. You can’t seriously expect me to accept being called a hypocrite and not respond? The thing is, you have in one response told me 1) I am not articulating enough on the issue and 2) that we are somehow articulating TOO MUCH by voicing our opinions.
This has gone ridiculously off topic and at this point I have to say that we have differing opinions, and we need to agree that no one here is going to change anyone else’s mind on the issue and just let bygones be bygones. This is getting overly negative and at this point the conversation isn’t going to accomplish anything other than get everyone angry (which, clearly has already happened).
I never claimed to not want to hear your opinions – not once. I did say that I wanted to hear a more elaborated point than “unrealistic boobs. do not want,” and you did give that on response to my first comment. That response was well thought out and great.
My further comments were not saying that you were still being inarticulate or being a hypocrite. I did say that I think saying only “I don’t like these large boobs b/c they are unrealistic” is hypocritical when the entire piece is unrealistic. Elaborating further and saying, “I don’t like the effect these unrealistically portrayed large boobs cause on people b/c of XYZ” is, to me, a geniune, not hypocritical response, and I thank you for that.
I was not saying that your response continued to be inarticulate.
After you gave that response, I felt like some of my points were glossed over, misinterpreted or unaddressed. I tried to rephrase them in a more explicit, separated manner, so my points would be clearer and you could understand where I was coming from. I clearly failed at that.
I did feel like starting off a reply with “I feel like I’m repeating myself over and over” is an expression of exasperation and hostility. When I tried to restate my points more explicitly, I get a response starting off with that sentence, and then emphasized sections around things that I didn’t say.
So, I am sorry for my communication failure. It has never been about trying to get you to change your opinion – only to elaborate on it. You did. I came back to make a further elaboration on my part and made things worse. No offense was intended, no mixed messages as to my feedback was intended, and definitely no hostility was intended.
I’m sorry.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Deleted for off-topic/flaming. Please stay on topic]
There’s two different kinds of “realism”– and departures from either are considerably different. You’re right, there are not ogres and skeletons or trolls wandering the Earth, and people aren’t foxes and can’t change shape. These types of fantastical creatures are to be expected not to conform to any norm, and that’s what we love about them. They’re a departure from our world that affect no one in it, other than to entertain. There’s not a secret society of fox women who are harmed by the sexualized portrayal of a woman with fox ears, or a guild of trolls who are tired of being misrepresented in video games. Absolutely no one is affected by that kind of fantasy.
However, the difference between fantasy of that nature and the fantasy of a woman with a body type like Kongiku above is that real women are actually affected by the sexualization and unrealistic portrayal of women in media, particularly anime and video games. Real women are affected and held up to idealized standards that they cannot possibly reach and are viewed as sex objects rather than actual human beings because of it. It may not be something directly related to Kongiku, and it may not even be something you, yourself, are aware of or possibly even guilty of– but the point is, these expectations exist and are incredibly harmful.
I’d also like to point out that something being common or even expected does not necessarily mean it’s okay.
Am I saying it’s wrong to like Kongiku’s character design? No. It’s entirely fine to disagree with Leah’s opinion on whether the sculpt looks good or not based on the concept art itself. It does look exactly like it, and if that’s what you like in a figure, then I hope you enjoy her if she finds a place on your shelf. Leah has stated previously that she prefers figures with realistic features that react to gravity appropriately, as a real woman’s breasts would, and that don’t have unrealistic proportions because they make her, as a woman, uncomfortable. Not to speak for Leah, but for me personally, a lot of it has to do with the standards previously mentioned– because idealizing (and recognizing the ‘normalcy’ of) something that would not only be not at all comfortable but virtually impossible affects society’s and men’s opinion and view of my body and the bodies of other women, and in turn, eventually affects our ability to accept and love ourselves thanks to the pressure to conform to a certain unrealistic model.
Comparing the original art with the figure, the chest is just slightly angled higher on the figure and in my opinion is negligible considering the art already depicts her chest with an upward “floating” angle. In short, I agree with Giolon’s opinion.
I’d say my only problem, and only a very minor one is that her face seems quite thin and looks odd by a few angles.
I don’t think she looks that far off from the illustration, really, and the weird breasts and proportions are part of the artstyle anyway. I really like her coloring (and it looks less gaudy than the garage kit version) and her base too, so much better than a boring disk. Quite frankly, I don’t see that many issues with her. When thinking of unimpressive Alter sculpts, I’d rather think of Kneesocks or that new Nadeko.
Her price and month is a bother though. It’s the same month as Kuroyukihime and she isn’t exactly cheap either. I doubt I’ll order this as long as there’s no word of a delay.
Just gonna toss this out there to end all of the talk of her sculpt being “accurate to the illustration” when it just… flat out isn’t.
1) (The most obvious) Her left breast is inexplicably floating in the figure, whereas in the original art it is being held up by her sash. In the sculpt her sash does not go up because she’s lifting her arm to hold something up, rather the sash is straight, yet her breast is still way up in the air.
2) The angle of her head and shape of her head are significantly different. The figure has changed the intimate, looking down gaze of her face that is at a 3/4th angle to look flush out at the viewer with the rest of the sculpt. This creates a vastly different emotion when it comes to the figure as compared to the art and is a pretty major inaccuracy.
3) Her entire body is at a different angle. In the illustration, she is seen leaning back slightly from head to toe (albeit on an axis that can’t really be flat out seen in the art), but the figure has her standing completely up. The illustration makes sense due to having to hold up her “large assets” among other things, but the figure just makes it look even moreso like her breasts are helium balloons.
4) Her ears are not attached to her head. Yeah. That one’s pretty damn obvious and self-explanatory as to why the sculpt is bad.
I’d go on from here, but the rest is all fairly subjective, such as the fact that her hand that’s holding the bottom of the lantern isn’t actually holding anything and moreso looks like she’s feeling up the air, but again, it doesn’t matter compared to the other much more glaring problems that take a highly stylized and interesting illustration and turn it into something that it’s just not.
You are clearly looking at the wrong illustration, here is a link to the illustration that the figure is based off of http://www.gamespot.com/muramasa-the-demon-blade/images/715926/
While I agree with you that they changed up the boobs (but then, they never were my favourite part of either the figure or illustration anyway) and the face (the one thing that I really do agree the illustration was better in), I can find myself less in point three and four.
For point three, if you look at her from all angles, her back is still slanted backwards. In my opinion, the angle only looks different because her feet are placed a little bit differently. As for the ears, the transition is hard to see on the original illustration and I don’t find the way they attached to her head to be that particularly ugly.
I get the feeling this is a love it-or-hate it figure anyway, because she still attracts me somehow (and no, it’s not the boobs).
I made a compilation of each image side by side to make it easier to compare: http://www.radiantcg.com/temp/KongikuComparison.jpg
Re: 1) It is. And, I’ll even grant that looking at the two images side by side, it really emphasises how much they really did give her already crazy boobs the helium balloon treatment. Though original post made it seem like they were some sort of natural, graceful depiction in the source material, and that Atlus’s sculptor just masscred them, and I never thought that they were particularly realistically shaped or oriented in the first place. That is just my, possibly incorrect, interpretation of the original post. I think I’d agree with you anyone saying that the change to her breasts are probably the most significant in the whole figure. However, I still think it’s a relatively minor change. I can certainly see where you’re coming from on thinking it looks like her left boob is floating away. I think that’s part of trying to be a little too faithful to the original image. When you look at her straight on from the front, you can see that they are actually both at the same hight relative to the alignment of her shoulders. Some added appearance of weight and resting on her obi for support would have been nice.
Re. 2) The angle of her head IS different. I’d like to see them get it closer to the illustration, but doing so might cause issues on other viewing angles. 2D to 3D conversions often expose issues like that, so I can forgive them a little leeway on this. The shape looks spot on to me, especially when viewed at other angles.
Re. 3) I don’t see it. It looks the same to me. If anything, her butt appears to be stikcing out even more in the illustration, yet her shoulders and torso orientation have the exact same upward tilt.
Re. 4) Well, they are attached, with glue, but I did see what you mean about them being separately sculpted pieces. Could they have achieved sculpting her ears as part of the same piece as her hair? Probably. It does make me wonder “why didn’t they”. I don’t think they look any worse than say the seam in Selvaria Valkyria Ver. hair (which is to say pretty good).
Re. Other points, I’d say her lower hand looks like it’s holding the lantern to me. The original illustration is not particularly detailed in the hand department. They sort of just turn into a squiggly blog at that point, and I think the sculptor did a good job turning that into a more detailed hand. And obviously, there’s a big perpendicular seam line across her right arm kimono sleeve. Some things just have to be sacrificed in the name of mass-produceability. It’s certainly not the worse seam I’ve seen. Perhaps it would’ve been better for them to cut the arm at the shoulder, and try to hide it in some fabric folds.
It’s also worth pointing out that her breasts are not NEARLY as big in the illustration–which I far prefer.
A note to Leah Bayer, the negative tone of the comments started with the negative tone of this blog entry. You called the figure “HIDEOUS”. Garbage in, garbage out. Its okay to be negative on your website but don’t be surprised when people who disagree with your comments take a negative tone. If you want to here positive comments keep the blog entry positive. If you don’t want to engage people in conversation then block the comments. But if you do that then whats the point of having a blog?
This blog entry was a huge success.You should feel great knowing that new readers were willing to engage you in this conversation whether they agreed with you or not.
I feel like you are SO off base on my intentions. If I wanted to not have a discussion, I would have blocked or edited comments. I have the power to do that, but never did because I WANT to encourage discussion. However, encouraging discussion means me participating in it. There can’t be a discussion if people didn’t participate–if I hadn’t responded to people here, there wouldn’t be a discussion at all.
Also, I can be as negative as I please about a figure. People have told me figures I love are hideous, and you know what, I don’t care. Because other people’s opinions do not in any way mean that you should stop liking a figure. I said many, many times that I have NO ISSUE with people liking Kongiku and respect the opinions of people who do. I’m not going to pretend I like a figure to keep my blog “positive” because that would be deceptive and I think unfair. I don’t pretend to like things I don’t, and I’m not going to shy away from liking a figure others hate. I generally expect the same of commenters. I think, despite some negativity, the discussion was polite and no side of it meant to flame or troll. Arguments on the internet get heated, because people are passionate about what they love. This is a good thing! If we’re all meek and timid and positive, that doesn’t make for interesting discourse. I’m not going to pusyfoot around issues or pretend I don’t have strong opinions, because I do. I love hearing from other people and I think arguments are good for any website. No censoring was done, no one got upset, so I really don’t see what your issue is.
You can be as negative as you want just don’t be surprised when people are negative right back at you. You say your not upset but your responce is two paragraphs long and sounds upsetting. You want to encourage dialog but you keep saying this conversation has gotten off topic to discouraging people from commenting. You probably should be more honest about how you feel this your blog after all. In closing, I have no issues… just making conversation.
I am for discussion of toys as this is a toy blog. This is not the forum to discuss things OTHER than toys, thus it is off topic. Please keep further posts on topic or they will be moderated.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This comment section has gotten WAY off topic. While we like to encourage discussion, we’ve veered far off from the figure and are now discussing people’s intentions and opinions rather than the figure itself. I’d like to halt it now before anyone gets flame-y, since I think everything that can be said already has at this point! Some people like her, some people don’t and no side is any more right than the other as all opinions on Kongiku herself are of course valid. From now on please keep comments on-topic about the figure itself rather than other people’s opinions of her.
I would like to reinforce that while I personally do not like Kongiku I have absolutely no issue with people who do–the negativity of the original post is my opinion, and in no way reflects what I think others should think about the figure.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Deleted for off-topic/flaming. Please stay on topic]
…..37 comments?? TRULY didn’t think this figure was THIS important. Must have been a slow day @ work/not a damn thing on T.V. combo.
No more comments about boobs for me ^_^ (wow this one went downhill quick)
Haha, it’s often very random posts that get a ton of comments. I’ve also found that whenever I post strong opinions about boobs/NSFW features/etc it always gets controversial! It’s interesting to see what ends up being a topic of intense debate.
I will still never forget the day of….you need to learn about feminism by reading a cosmo….never forget…
back on topic though….
I wish it were a better sculpt because I loved muramasa and I still hope Altair does a matching one of the dude that goes with momohime
Well, I just want to say that I’m definitely not a huge fan of large breasts either (especially on figures) but I’m actually putting in effort to think about whether Kongiku would be a good addition to my collection. The first thing that I found pleasing was the kimono with the fall colors and second was the thought of an enchanting youkai, a fox spirit or deity. With this justification, I am able to accept the huge breasts (though I wish they could minimize just a bit).
As much as I love European mythology and anything that takes place in olden Europe, I love Japanese folklore more with a group of supernatural creatures who act with a range from mischievous to malicious intent. If I compare the fox deity, Holo, from Spice and Wolf she certainly makes a cute figure but she’s not sensual, she looks just like an innocent young girl. If I want to be enchanted, led astray into the Fushimi Inari Shrine and never find my way out again I would go with Kongiku (or someone of that sort). I guess I’m romanticizing supernatural beings but I would love to have a collection of youkai or anything pertaining to it. My first 1/8th figure was Natsume and then collected a whole bunch of Nyanko-sensei(s) afterward (>w<). I wish there were better figures from Nurarihyon no Mago or even other characters from Natsume Yuujinchou…anyway I think I convinced myself to get Kongiku besides her sculpt isn't that jarring from the concept art, her colors are beautiful, and the lantern lights up giving an otherworldly glow.
Oh and sorry if I don’t make sense, my thoughts tend to be all over the place and I need to expend a lot of brain power and time to make it into something slightly cohesive and comprehensible. Rather than looking at the tiny details, I like to think about the big picture.
I think a line of youkai or mythology-based characters would be AMAZING. I am a bit of a mythology buff and I think the closest we’ll ever get is the SMT prize figures since I can’t see a big company taking on the monster designs. Oh, and Touhou, since many of them are steeped in Japanese & European history/myth. Kongiku is very reminiscent of a kitsune spirit (which I am assuming is what she is supposed to be), but I find the boobs more jarring than alluring. I see what they are going for and I do appreciate those more history-based figures. It’s one of the reasons Gwen is one of my all-time favorite figures, she’s such a perfect Valkyrie!