ALL THAT FIGURE 2001

Type: Japanese Garage kit photo book
Publisher: Hobby Japan Mook
Released: November 2001
Price: 1600 yen

In a nutshell, this is another of those big, well-printed artbook-like Japanese publications featuring lots of scantily clad garage kits.

The major attraction of this particular book is a large focus on Love Hina, one of the more popular anime/manga series from recent years. A good 12 out of the 117 colour pages in the book showcase Love Hina figures, with second place going to an assortment of Gundam female characters. Other series represented in the book are Evangelion (a must, of course), eX-D, Ah! My goddess, Clamp's new series Chobits, Noir and some lesser known characters from other lines.

The book is roughly divided into 4 sections. The first is a focus on anime-based characters, followed a short but well-photographed guide on how to professionally put together a garage kit. So if you've wondered how they get their stuff to look so good, it's a good place to see the work that goes in behind it. After that the book has a short section featuring kits based on games, some of which should ring a bell, like Sakura wars and Chrono Cross. The final section is a pictorial guide on how a garage kit is created, all the way from scratch building the body to the detailing and positioning process. It's a good look that should be a useful reference for anyone who is into customizing or sculpting figures.

The major selling point of this book is that, unlike other books which showcase kits, such as Replicant and the annual Garage Kit Catalog (Also published by Hobby Japan), this book features full page 21cm x 30cm pictures instead of smaller thumbnail like layouts which feature 5-15 kits per page. There are also the occasional 2 page spreads and in the Hina section there's even a 2-page pull-out.

Here are some sample images. To get bigger pics you'll have to buy the book yourself. Close friends can try e-mailing me. :-)

Note: Book contains some nudity. Recommended for mature readers.
~20/12/01~