GSC Racing Miku

As usual, I'd meant to write a post about this ages ago. As usual, I got hit with another bout of having no motivation whatsoever. Such is life. I had planned to get some lighting set up for the photos, but it turns out the new bulbs I bought for my desk lamp were way more yellow than I'd thought, and Miku just looked like she'd been jarated in all the shots. Because of that, I went back to natural lighting. The only problem there is that there are a few more shadows than I'd like, particularly on the less close-up shots. Sorry about that.

Onto the figure. To be more specific, she's Racing Miku, and was recently released by GSC. She's based on an illustration by Redjuice for Good Smile Racing. I can't find a good picture of it after five seconds of Google Image Search, so you'll have to look for it yourself if you're interested.

I forgot to take any photos of the box again, which is a shame because it's quite good. The original illustration is on one of the sides, and it's immediately apparent that the figure is a pretty faithful adaptation.

It's not very noticeable from the front, but you can see from the side shots that Miku's arching her back quite a bit. I'm not entirely sure I like that about her as it looks a little uncomfortable, but it doesn't bother me much.

I like the shading on the hair. You can see the lighter patches of colour going down her twintails - it's not translucent or anything, just a lighter shade. Again it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it looks pretty cool.

oh look it's an armpit, how'd that get there?

The detail on her clothing is very good, as expected from GSC. There are some well-places seams and creases, and the tools in her belt have some fine detail on them too. I don't think you can see it in any of the pictures I took, but you can clearly see that one of her screwdrivers is a Phillips and the other flat bladed, despite the ends of them only being a millimetre or two across.

She also has a very sexy pair of collarbones.

those shoulder-blades aren't so bad either

aw yeah

another shot, so you can get a better view of her...tool belt

The original illustration didn't show the back, but I think the sculptor did a good job of coming up with something. It's pretty simple, but fits with the overall design. I think the butt speaks for itself. The crumpled elasticky-looking band up the top of her pants really adds to it for me, for some reason.

That's also some nice zettai ryouiki there - grade B by my reckoning - and I like the little tear in the side just under the "Good Smile Racing" band. Although it can't compare to Rin's, which I really need to get around to taking some pictures of.

The base is unremarkable. The shoes look rather impractical, but why let usefulness get in the way of a pair of badass metal heels?

The spanner doesn't seem to serve much purpose. It doesn't fit into her tool belt, so I can only assume she can hold it in her left hand as an alternative to the impact wrench. I don't know why you'd change it though, since the wrench is a big part of the 'racing' image.

I'd let her change my tires anyday. I don't even know what I mean by that.

I think her chest looks nicer in profile than from the front, with the curves being accentuated a bit more.

The headphones are a bit like the shoes to me, in that they don't necessarily look very comfortable, but when you're on the racetrack you're too busy stylin' all over everyone to bother with comfort. Miku's billed as a race queen after all, and she certainly does look the part.

All up, I'm very happy with her (this seems to be a recurring theme with my figure purchases). There are one or two very minor flaws in my particular figure, although I couldn't see them until going through the photos, and you likely won't see them either since I've scaled them down a bit, so I'm not worried about that. The pose is a little odd, but only when looking from the side. The outfit is pretty damn cool, and Miku really fits the racing role well. The detail on her is great, and I'm happy with how she turned out compared to the original illustration.

If GSC makes a PVC out of the 2011 Racing Miku then there's a good chance I'll buy it as well, although I think the 2010 illustration is nicer.

Figure details:

Name: Racing Miku 2010 ver.

Series: Vocaloid (ish)

Scale: 1/8

Company: Good Smile Company

Released: May 2011

Bought from: Amiami

Also, I was dicking around with Photoshop filters on some of these photos due to boredom. While I'd never usually post something like that, one of the filters reminded me a bit of one of those mikumix wallpapers (can't remember which), and I thought it looked kinda cool.

I'll try and get some photos of Rin soon, but there's a pretty good chance I'll fit a couple of shitposts in before then. Look forward to them!