The period before last month’s Wonder Festival was weak with respect to preorders, but with the sequence of major conventions over and done with, figures have been going up with great speed. Figures are also getting released, but I wouldn’t know anything about that because Amiami is not shipping one of my orders, despite me e-mailing a request to do so. It’d be really nice if they had an automated order management system like a certain other retailer so I could get my stuff with a minimum of fuss.
November
Tomoyo Sakagami from Clannad
Kotobukiya plans to release this figure of Tomoyo nearly a year after their figure of Kyou. I have fairly limited familiarity with Clannad – though I’ve heard the anime is good. Nonetheless, I like Tomoyo; from the one episode of After Stories I’ve seen, she seems like a girl who doesn’t put up with much nonsense. Unfortunately, I’m not as fond of the costume Kotobukiya has put her in, which is a rather garish yellow blazer. I’m not really digging it much. I’m probably going to pass on this one and hope someone does a gym outfit version later.
Satsuki Shinonome from Love, Election & Chocolate
This figure mysteriously appeared for preorder a couple of weeks ago, even though I hadn’t seen it in either Hobby Japan’s previews or throughout all the Wonder Festival coverage. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention. She comes from Love, Election & Chocolate, which sounds like a Soderbergh eroge, and I do like her style, particularly the knee-high boots and short dress. Her bust also looks pretty nice. I’m leaning towards preordering this one but I can’t help but think it looks a lot more like a Kotobukiya figure than a Megahouse figure.
Asuka Langley Shikinami from Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Evangelion franchise is still going strong and Max Factory has jumped in with their own series of scale-size figures. Their figures are 1/6 scale, which I like, but this figure depicts Asuka in her test suit, which I don’t like. It’s relatively cheap, which I like, but she seems to have typical tsundere look on her face, which I don’t like. That said, I’d definitely get this figure if she were wearing her normal suit but I don’t really dig the test suit much so I think I will pass on it. I might eventually pick it up if it hits the bargain bin. If somebody makes a good figure of Asuka in her normal suit with her Slick Rick eyepatch, I will definitely pick that up, but that is far off in the future.
Reiko Kutsujoku
I’m not planning on buying this figure since the price is prohibitive, but man, what an awesome stand it comes with! It comes with this mildly-suggestive accessory too. It’s no surprise that the base is awesome since it’s from the Real Art Project and that’s the same group responsible for the tentacle stand. I ought to try building something thematically similar in a smaller size; I think it’d be a great way to photograph certain figures.
December
Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Unsurprisingly, Alter is doing another figure of Fate Testarossa, this one putting her in a white swimsuit. Their figure lineup from the Nanoha movie thus goes from barrier jacket versions to casual outfit versions to swimsuit versions. No doubt they’ll be doing maid costume versions next. It should come as no surprise that I’m going to preorder this figure, but I have to admit that on the surface, it’s not the most exciting figure around, and that bikini bottom doesn’t really flatter Fate’s body shape – although given that Fate is presumably nine years old here, perhaps that’s excusable. I’m looking forward to photographing it anyway.
Leicia from Beatless
A few years ago while browsing DeviantArt, I came across the work of an artist named Redjuice999. The picture that caught my eye was called “Stupid Missiles” and I thought that was a stupid name, but I really liked the image as well as the artist’s style. I went to his homepage and after seeing his user avatar, I thought it was unique to see a white guy living in Japan who could draw in a distinctive anime-influenced style so well. It wasn’t until a couple years later after Max Factory released a certain Figma that I realized that Redjuice isn’t white, he was just using a picture of famous (except to me) bisexual porn star Billy Herrington as his avatar.
Anyway, this figure is being sold through Good Smile Company’s web store. It’s a nice-looking figure, but you know, something about her head and hair looks off. Her forehead is enormous and her face looks kinda compressed, and the way that her hair is flying sideways makes it look like she’s wearing a toupee, and … wait, what’s this from Mikatan’s blog?
“Gakkun: â€The parts around her hips are planned to be removable.â€
Despite some minor misgivings, I’m actually really looking forward to this figure; her outfit looks fantastic and I like how the bold, slanted pose of her body and construction of her base contrasts with the tranquil look on her face. Hopefully Good Smile Company doesn’t screw up the shipping.
Sniper Karin from To Heart 2
The To Heart franchise is reasonably well-known but I must admit, I have no clue who this character is. I have a cursory familiarity with the better-known (read: more-merchandised) characters like Tamaki and Sasara and Konomi and Lucy and the maid robots, but I do not think I have seen this character before. That means I must assess this figure on its visual appeal and I like it quite a bit; I’m always partial to fighter girls in abbreviated attire, and Karin looks like she’d go great with Samurai Tamaki.
Azalee from Dendrobium
Nishieda’s artwork is getting some love courtesy of Native and also Yamato, who are selling a couple of figures from the Dendrobium artbook. Generally speaking, I like how they look and at 1/6 scale, they are built to the right size. However, I can’t help but think that their necks look unusually long. This was a problem with Yamato’s Compact Hog, a figure that I looked forward to but was somewhat disappointed with. Their heads also look a bit small. On the other hand, that could be considered a stylistic affectation. I’m still waffling on these, and I’m not sure which way I’m leaning right now.
January
Christie Monteiro from Tekken
I have mixed feelings about Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo series. On one hand, they are anime-styled figures of comic book characters that I like. On the other hand, a lot of them don’t look too good. This figure of Christie looks pretty good from what I’ve seen, though. It’s certainly more ambitious than a lot of the other Bishoujo figures, with a great deal more color variation and stuff whipping around. I’ll probably order it but I’m half-expecting the production figure to not look as good as the prototype. I wonder if Christie will make it into Street Fighter x Tekken? I wonder if Kotobukiya will do a Bishoujo version of Unknown?
Viola from Dendrobium
Everything I mentioned about Azalee applies here, plus Viola also has animal ears, which I don’t prefer. Still if I were going to get Azalee, I think I’d feel compelled to get her counterpart, since they look better together than separate. And the iguana is pretty cool, too. I wonder if anyone will make a figure of the cute girl from the Pornographic Movie Club?
February
Mai Ichijo from Mai FAVORITE
Here’s a figure that, a couple of years ago, I would have ordered for certain. Nowadays, castoff options aren’t often a big factor for me (though I still very much wish gangsta lean Saber had been given one, and I obviously like its inclusion in GSC’s Leicia), nor are exposed breasts, since there’s a ton of figures out there that feature nudity. This is a cute figure, I’m just not so certain I need to own it. I’ll wait and see what else is scheduled for early next year since that’s quite a ways away – though it seems like time flies really fast these days.
LOL, mistaking Billy for an artist? The thought of the muscle-bound porn star hunched over an artist’s desk is aboslutely hilarious. I wonder if Redjuice knows English, because that little misunderstanding would make for a good chuckle.
I kinda hope you’ll get Viola and Azalee. I really like the pastel blue on and the visible areola on Violet, but I just know that getting her without Azalee will bug me in the future, and getting both is far too large of an invest them for me. This is were you come in — spend your hard-earned money so that I may live vicariously through you!
I’m guessing he enjoys that little deception, since he still uses that picture on his website (on the About page).
I shall buy them just for you! I mean, for you to see, not to mail to you. I’m not nearly that generous. But never let it be said I do not love my readers. And by “readers”, I really mean “unique visits per day”. Despite some of the quibbles I have with the two Dendrobium girls, Cerberus Project seems to have done a pretty good job with Heat Blade, looking at it in its box, so maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt.
You have just made me a very happy statistic! <3 <3 <3
This Tomoyo is very pretty and the pose is nice, well that they are releasing her now feels a bit late.
I actually fell in love with Max Factory’s Asuka seems to see her face expression in a different way than me, the official description says embarrased, you say tsundere and I think she has just a cool face expression XD
Reiko Kutsujoku with her dildo machina is hilarious and slightly creepy, such stuff can only come from japan ^^
Sniper Karin looks adorable with her dress even though I don’t know her character at all.
Last week I saw the latest ova, I’ve seen quite a number of To Heart ova’s, but it can’t be helped they were mainly absolutely boring, aside from the scene’s were Maaryan molestered the shy student council president girl.
Only Viola from Dendrobium caught my interest, thats an interesting design, albeit her skintone is a little pale, more tan like in the illustration would be better in my eyes.
My interest for Mai Faivorite actually died, as I saw just the illustration I wanted to see the figure very badly, as the grey prototype was shown I was 100% sure to order her when preorders opened. But when I saw the colored prototype my interest dropped to nearly zero, I don’t like her face anymore, reminds me a bit of a kappa 🙁
From your list I only ordered Asuka, I hope the companies will show colored prototypes of some grey wonfes stuff I’ve liked and which caught my interest soon.
Yeah, I hope to see the colored versions of some of the stuff at Wonder Festival soon as well. I heard a lot of people say they felt a bit disappointed in last month’s Wonder Festival, but there was a ton of stuff that I liked (GSC’s Fate/zero Saber, FREEing’s 1/4 scale Amane Shiratori, Alter’s Aegis, etc.). Odd how that works out.
The dildo machine is awesome XD Man, I need to try to build some sort of machine prop for my figures now.
Oh no Summer Wonfes was awesome, so much nice stuff ^-^
Haha! Then Im looking forward to see your crazy machine model
Hmmm hadn’t heard about a lot of these. The only figure that I might be interested in would probably be Leicia, but I’m waiting for the preorders to open on Alter’s latest Selvaria really.
That and Orchidseed’s new Ignis.
I note that a rerelease of Dizzy is on the cards for December and I think I’ll probably buy her this time.
Kinda like the look of Kotobukiya’s HoiHoi-san legacy… but it is a bit too cutesy maybe.
Ignis looks fantastic, though I kinda wish she was holding a regular sword rather than a wedding bouquet with a blade poking out of it. Still very much looking forward to it, though; I never got a chance to buy their other wedding dress Ignis figures so assuming that this one gets a PVC version, it’s a near-certain pickup.
Dizzy definitely deserves a pickup, too. Heck, I might buy a second just to have a backup.
“It comes with this mildly-suggestive accessory too”
I wonder if you’re starting to develop a skill for understating? Or perhaps you are unaware that the particular part of the base is movable, the accessories can be taken out and the panties on the lady are also removable? Catching my drift here? When I first saw images of the figure (of a pair of fingers holding an accessory close to the characters bare and exposed butt), I thought it was one of those super ero garge kits which were locked away in a certain area in WF. Then I found out it was a PVC with a general release lined up…
Also, I really doubt Christie will be in Streetfighter X Tekken. Her fighting style depends too much on 3D movement and doesn’t translate well onto a 2D environment. She simply bobs in and out of the screen too much! And from what I saw in my recent play on the game, there’s room for one more character on both sides. Lili perhaps? She seems to be quite popular. Poison is awesome too!
And wouldn’t a bishoujo unknown be way too back heavy?
No, I’m quite aware of all of that, and I’ve been aware of its existence for nearly a year now, actually. The stand and the accessory don’t strike me as being particularly inappropriate.
I think I remember hearing that Lili is all but confirmed for the game; I think they let a picture leak out that included her. I’m not sure how I feel about Poison just because of the nebulous nature of her background. I guess Unknown could be unwieldy if they included that monster dude who keeps cramping her style but they can just leave him off.
Ah, so you’re just after the girl in goo/body paint! Poisons design is quite odd in Streetfighter X Tekken. One minute, she’ll look so feminine, she would be either a full woman or, at the very least, Hideyoshi! Then, she’ll so some animated expression and it’ll be “HOLY CRAP, THAT’S MANLY!!” for a few seconds. Strange thing…
I read that Asuka and Lili are going to be put in, but that would mean that the whole character select screen needs to be redesigned (again) or expanded and another few streetfighters need to be put into the mix to balance the roster.
And I wish I kept those WF photos of the Reiko figure. I think the girl even allowed for insertions… Not the first time I’ve seen that though…
Indeed! I would rather not see a figure of her in her 2P cavewoman outfit. The purple goo costume is awesome, though.
I am going to guess that when Capcom makes fighting games, they make the stage select screen very easily expandable, to accommodate their many updates and downloadable characters. Both of which are kinda lame, by the way. Not that I bought MVC3 so I can’t be upset that the new version is coming out in a few months. It’s amazing that they can make a game with 30+ characters from two franchises that I love and there isn’t a single character in the roster I want to play as.
lols I thought you’d like that Reiko Kutsujoku figure. My favorite out of all of these is the Asuka figure because of her facial expression, and the fact that she’d look good with Max’s Mari.
The two Dendrobium figures look interesting too, but I don’t think there’s any kind of way I can fit them into my budget. It sucks having your funds tied up until 2012 hahaha
I’ll be honest, I don’t like the figure so much, but the machine prop is awesome. If they sold it separately, I would buy it for a certainty. Or make my own.
Hey long time no comment. Sorry about that. Was really hoping you were picking up the Reiko Kutsujoku figure, but I guess you might be able to make something similar for cheaper.
Since Christie originated in a Japanese created series, she doesn’t exactly fit the bishoujo mold like the marvel and DC figures. Figure is very cute though. Especially her butt.
Yeah, she’s quite cute. I was also surprised to see Kotobukiya making Bishoujo Mass Effect figures. I guess I might be interested in a female Commander Shepard figure, maybe. I’m still hoping they’ll do some Bishoujo Mortal Kombat figures, though.
Christie Monteiro! Insta get for me! Normally I pass on the Shunya Yamashita stuff , but this one instantly caught my eye. Got enough kotobukiya figs for me to expect it to be solid enough to be close to the Decomaster 😀
Yeah, I think I’m going to order it too, even though I’m really, really bad at Tekken. I’m bad at most fighting games in general, to be honest, but I’m especially bad at Tekken. I had a ton of fun playing Tekken Tag Tournament with friends back when I was in school, though, and Tekken Bowl was badass. They should make a Xbox Arcade/PSN version of Tekken Bowl.
The only one of these I’ve even looked at is Karin, but she’s not really my kettle of fish so I can save my money for something better. I do like girls with bows, though. Quite rare, generally speaking. I only have two girls with bows, but I need to get some other weapons before I get more of ones I already have.
Still, I look forward to any shoots you do of any of these girls you may end up getting. ^^
I’ve got three archer figures, I guess, the old but well-regarded Kureha figure and a couple Isoroku Yamamotos. One of which I really need to get around to shooting one of these days. Curious how poorly the bow is represented amongst anime figures given what a big role it had in Japanese warfare.
I have an L2 Dwarf and Touhou’s Eirin as my two archers. I have plenty of girls with swords, but none with spears, or guns… or any other weapons really. I need to expand my armed girl collection.
Indeed! A combined arms force makes for a diverse collection. I got a bunch of warrior girls that I need to get around to photographing already.
My new pre-order list at the moment is sparse – ie 1 repainted figure I already own. Although I am waiting anxiously for Arsene by GSC to go up for pre-order, hopefully she’ll be up and out before the end of the year.
I thought about picking up Tomoyo myself but then decided against getting her. She looks nice and certainly appeals to me (plus she’s probably the best Tomoyo figure out there), but at the same time she’s rather plain. If I had more space I’d probably pick her up, but there’s much better figures on the way I’d rather have.
Reiko Kutsujoku – ehh, nice machine? o.O
Karin from ToHeart2 is another I thought about getting. In the end I disliked her face – it seems too long and her eyes too far apart. She reminds me of a fish for some reason. It’s a shame since Karin is probably my favourite of the ToHeart2 girls.
Haha, Billy Herrington the artist. I don’t blame you for not knowing about bi-sexual male pornstars. Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing what people do with Leicia since I don’t plan on getting her. Her base looks amazing, albeit a bit big, and her body sculpt is certainly to my liking.
Reiko’s machine is awesome XD Yeah, Tomoyo looks nice but I’m thinking she’d be more of a bargain bin pickup since she doesn’t look especially special. Not that many stores are updating their bargain bins these days. I wonder if HLJ has sold off all those Uplark Rei figures yet?
Personal acquisitions would certainly be Satsuki Shinonome and Leicia. I’m glad you’re picking up the latter and really looking forward to the scene you’ll be creating for her later on.
Hopefully you’ll reconsider Reiko Kutsujoku, if only for the machine part. I don’t see how it’d be cheaper making your own especially not when you should make a 1:1 one ;]
I’m a bit surprised there’s no Native figures in this list, what is your take on their lineup shown at WonFes?
I waffled for a while on Mordrina, but I’m not sure if I like her face all that much. I have this bad feeling I’m going to regret passing on her, though. I do like the girl with the gun, and Sonico looks cool though – though man, there are a helluva lot of Sonico figures in the pipeline. Actually, my favorite figure that was shown at Wonder Festival was a relatively explicit figure but it wasn’t from Native, it was FREEing’s Amane Shiratori. It just went up for preorder and I’m definitely ordering it.
Great choice, and a figure that suits you well I think.
FREEing are really going at it with their 1/4 scales this coming fall/winter, I’ll most likely pick up one of those as well.
I’ve been iffy on FREEing since a lot of their previous stuff has been questionable, but their 1/4 scale stuff is looking pretty good, and it’s a big plus that most of it is explicit, too. That reminds me that I ought to order Satellizer already.
Heh. Too late for this preorder outlook but you have to respect a girl with a giant hammer!
http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english&vgForm=ProductInfo&sku=FIG-MOE-3992&template=default/product/e_display.html
True indeed, even if the series she comes from is kinda junky. I can’t believe I’m contemplating giving that show another shot, just to learn a little more about these characters, but even if I don’t, I’m pretty sure I’ll order her too.