With the winter Wonder Festival convention less than a week away, now seems a good time to take a look at some figures I’m thinking of ordering. It’s a bit of a sparse list, though, and it’s hard to believe that most of the figure catalog for the first half of 2012 has already been filled in. I guess everyone – figure makers included – is just waiting for that one Saber motorbike figure.
June
Purple Heart from Hyperdimension Neptunia
Proving what a dork I am, I bought the limited edition of Hyperdimension Neptunia even though I heard it wasn’t a great game and even though I don’t own a Playstation 3 – and have no plans to buy one any time soon. And I’m probably going to order the limited edition version of Neptunia Mk2 despite knowing that the first game’s play mechanics were woefully bad. What can I say, I’m a sucker for these sorts of games. I bought and played through Fate/extra and even enjoyed it even though its exploration system was brain-numbing and its battle mechanics were laughably inferior. I liked the characters in that game and I like the character designs in Neptunia, which is why I’m going to order this figure, even though I don’t know if I’ll ever actually play the games.
Being a 360 owner, a figure of Green Heart would be pretty cool, too.
Naruko Anjou from Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
Anybody who has read this website for a while will not be surprised to learn that my initial interest in AnoHana stemmed entirely from the nickname of one of the characters. Having learned that one of the girls in the show was named “Anaru,” I watched through the first couple of episodes and was surprised to learn that instead of the stereotypical school comedy that I expected, it was a weepy, intensely emotional melodrama centered on broken relationships. The show is an unrepentant tearjerker and some elements of the plot are rather contrived, but it made a very strong impression on me and I liked it a lot. A couple of manufacturers have showed off figures of Anaru – Wave has a nice-looking Beach Queens version also up for sale – but I’m kinda waiting for one depicting her in her black shorts. Still, this one is very cute, and Kotobukiya’s figures are sometimes available fairly cheaply through US retailers, so I’ll be keeping an eye for this one on BBTS and Entertainment Earth.
I’m not sure whether the best part of the series was the ending theme, which was perfectly chosen, or the torrent of somewhat sexualized Naruko fan art that accompanied the show’s run.
Celty Sturluson from Durarara!!
Now here’s a tough figure to decide on. Usually, I’m looking at two things when I order a figure – whether I like the character, or whether I like how the character looks. The latter factor places heavy emphasis on the character’s face, which is generally the most important aspect of my assessment. However, Celty confounds this process because not only do I have no familiarity with DRRR!!, she doesn’t have a face. Or a head, even. But man, Alter’s done an incredible job sculpting her bikesuit, and that might be enough to swing my opinion. Aniplex appears to have the show available on Youtube so I might check it out during a slow day at work and see what it’s about.
Samus Aran from Metroid
Confession time: I’ve been playing video games for most of my life. The 8-bit NES was, unsurprisingly, one of my favorite consoles. I loved The Wizard and one of the happiest days in my life was when my aunt from Hawaii gave me Super Mario Bros. 3 (I was living in Seoul then and the selection of video games at the PX was pretty bad). I had about forty NES games, which was a good-sized collection given that I was only eleven or twelve at the time. But I’ve never played Metroid – any of them. My love for Nintendo games died the day I played Phantasy Star II and Sonic the Hedgehog on my cousin’s Genesis, and apart from a Gameboy Advance, I haven’t owned a Nintendo console in around twenty years. Nonetheless I’m going to order Samus because she looks great. I know almost nothing about the games, don’t really care to ever play them, but Samus looks great.
I really wish she was 1/6 scale, though, because I’ve got this 1/6 scale Master Chief doll and she’d look great standing next to him as his concubine.
Imari Kurumi from Bible Black
Daiki Kougyou follows up their Kaori Saeki figure with this one of series star Imari Kurumi. I was surprised that they are making another Bible Black figure since nobody seems to have bought Saeki (I did, incidentally, and might get around to reviewing her sometime this year). I was even more surprised that this figure is kinda lewd. I’m very happy that they did, though, since Imari is looking great. She’s got a fetching costume, a shy expression (swappable with one that looks more strained, kinda reminiscent of one of Millie Jackson’s album covers), a classic pose, and some really cute shoes – pretty much everything you’d want in a figure. She’s also got an optional accessory, visible at the end of the Moeyo sample review. I’m really looking forward to this figure, which should be no surprise.
Has any anime heroine ever had a better sodomy scene than Imari in Bible Black’s fourth episode? I guess Mikage Onohara’s scenes in Kyuuketsuki were pretty good. I wonder if they’ll be making a second volume; pretty much all of Valkyria’s stuff is excellent.
Blah blah blah, TIDAL WAVE!
Rita Mordio from Tales of Vesperia
I picked up Tales of Vesperia for the 360 a while back, not expecting much from it. To my surprise, I loved it – the story was engaging, the battle system was entertaining, and the characters were very likeable, which was perhaps the most unusual thing since I expect to hate the protagonist of every Japanese RPG I play. Yuri was a great character with a great sense of humor, but I still ejected him from my main party when I got Judith, who was by far my favorite character. Rita’s more cute than sexy, and I don’t actually remember her character all that much, but I might get this figure, particularly if it’ll help get Alter to make a figure of Judith. Hopefully they will, but I’ve got a bad feeling since they’ve already declared their intention to make a figure of Milla Maxwell, and they might just move on to Tales of Xillia once Rita is done.
Incidentally, Rita’s American voice actress also voiced Yukari in Persona 3, and they sound so much alike that sometimes I get the mannerisms and personalities of those two characters mixed up.
August
Charlotte Dunois from Infinite Stratos
Infinite Stratos has some really cute characters and it seems like it ought to be getting a lot of figures, but thus far all we’ve seen is an uninspired Charlotte figure from Alter and some swimsuit figures. AlphaMax is bringing out another one in that second category, and this one looks pretty nice if not particularly exciting. Charlotte looks very attractive, with her blush and small frown. I might get this one, particularly if no other makers show signs of bringing out some scale-size figures of the characters in their IS suits. Bandai’s figure of Cecilia doesn’t count.
Unknown Shipping Month
Horizon Ariadust from Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere
Figures from last fall’s anime season are trickling out, but not many have been announced of the characters from Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere, which is a shame since I liked it a lot and look forward to its continuation later this year. It has an expansive cast of cute girls as well as the best school uniforms of any anime series ever made. Thus far, only a couple figures have been announced, Wave’s figure of Horizon Ariadust and this one by Volks of Horizon, or more properly, P-01s. Curiously, both are Japan-only exclusives, which is a bit annoying. Hopefully we’ll see more figures of the show’s characters soon; Wave has a Beach Queens version of Tomo Asama that looks promising, even though it’s going to be in the unfortunate 1/10 scale used by all the figures in that line. Anyway, I’ve ordered this figure and if you want it, Tokyo Hunter is taking orders for it. It doesn’t seem to have a release date; Volks is taking orders for it at Wonder Festival, I guess, but they aren’t saying when it’s actually going to ship.
Besides Tomo, I’m hoping Kimi Aoi gets some figures; like Tomo, she is hugely busty and is also a follower of the god of erotic dance, which is really cool. She’s getting a dakimakura cover, which looks great. Her feet are kinda wonky-looking, though; I mentioned in my Sena post that it’s sort of rare to see really well-rendered feet and Kimi’s feet look sort of mutated.
Hey, for once there’s some on here I’ve ordered too. 😀
Celty and Purple Heart. Celty just looks amazing, even if I found the show kinda eh (she was the best thing about it) and I have no idea who Purple Heart is, but she looks great so I just ordered her without hesitation.
I do like that Horizon figure, though not enough to pay proxy pricing for it. I’ll wait and see if other makers render her nicely, and more cheaply through mainstream shops.
I was also considering that Samus, even though I don’t know the character (I’ve been a PC gamer since the 16bit era ended) as like you I’ve never played any of the games, though consulting with friends who do they all say she looks nothing like the character and the later games that gave her this sexy form have ruined her as she used to be a macho, or something. I don’t know, I stopped paying attention to their rabid rants after a bit. Needless to say, I’ve passed on her… and ordered other things instead. Including another nendo. Damn me. I can’t get out of their cute, sugary pit of evil.
Hoorays! We have more things in common. I watched the first three episodes of Durarara!! this evening (rather than watch the sporting event that was broadcast here; I said elsewhere that I was over the 49ers loss in the conference championship game but I was lying). I liked it, though I’m not really sure what to make of it. The characters seem sorta blase, aside from Celty and Shizuo and Izaya, who seems like a douchebag. It did bring back some of my younger memories of living in a city, though; I really miss the city sometimes. It even brought back an uncomfortable memory of me being late for my first day of school after moving to the US.
Incidentally, this saucy picture of Celty cracks me up and might also influence my purchasing decision.
I remember hearing the same about Samus; that she’s a pioneer for female characters in gaming, but a recent title relegated her to being some sort of subservient, diffident peon. It sounded crappy, anyway. It kinda reminds me of how Konami removed Sonia Belmont from Castlevania continuity partially because they didn’t think female lead characters could sell video games, which is a load of crap.
That Celty pic is sure HOT! But trying to get a rise from a headless babe…………….is like climbing Mt.Everest.
Btw Tier, another regret of mine is missing out on DK’s Saeki. You said no seems to have bought her? She’s like all sold out and the 2ndary market prices are cr@p! Not even a sign of her at Mandarake.
And I’m kind of in a dilemma, damn DK, why’d they have to release Ryomou and Imari this June? F*ck them! I mean, I’ve pre-ordered Samus Maxfactory and figma and had to cancel the poseable Ignis fig, I’m at a quandry because I’m only able to afford just one more figure by the skin of my teeth……..Imari or Ryomou, who’d you pick?
I don’t know anyone else who bought Saeki, though it looks like a couple dozen people own her on Tsuki-board. I accidentally ripped the sleeve off her uniform while undressing her to get all her plastic wrap off and I’m not in any hurry to fix her up.
If it’s up to me, I’d pick Imari hands-down. I don’t dig the Ryomou figure much, assuming you’re talking about the new one with the panties. The pose seems really awkward to me and she’s got some ugly seams around her shoulders and upper thighs where I guess her limbs are supposed to come off. Daiki’s done better Ryomou figures in the past; I dig the gothic-looking one that was based off one of the manga covers, though I never bought the figure.
Decisions……….. decisions. Thanks Tier.
Nice write up; Imari is the only figure I’ve preordered from this list, for obvious reasons. I’m on the fence about a few others, especially the Charlotte, but I really don’t want to get back into standard figure collecting. Just too much of a drain with all of my dakimakura expenses. The Imari though, isn’t a standard figure. 😀 I actually hated the animation/art style of Bible Black/Discipline (though I thoroughly enjoyed the Discipline game and enjoyed Bible Black well enough) but I can’t resist this figure.
I recently watched Kyuuketsuki and really hope they do a second episode too. It got me thinking about another hentai I’ve been trying to find again for awhile. It was a few years back before I built a new PC and had a whole lot of anal and BDSM goodness; I think it may have also had tentacles/demons too. I think the plot was pretty similar to Kyuuketsuki and Anal Sanctuary, where a demon or some such was trying to suck the life force out of chicks by a ton of brutal anal sex. The only thing I really remember was a really hot scene with a chick on an altar being harassed by a ton of massive tentacles, constantly grimacing in pain. Was really great and I wish I could find it again. I downloaded it from Fakku back when their video section was still up, but since that’s gone now I can’t even go through the arduous task of checking all the pages for it.
Going back to figures though, the thing I’m most excited about is the re-release of Buddy; I preordered it the day I saw it pop up.
Man, what show could that be; I’m assuming it’s a show rather than an h-game, anyway. I’m trying to think of one that has an altar; I don’t remember that Tokyo Requiem and Inma Seiden had an altar. It sounds a bit reminiscent of the scene with Hiroko in Bible Black Gaiden vol. 2, though I’m guessing you’ve seen that already so that’s probably not it. Do you remember what the character looked like?
Yeah, the Buddy re-release is pretty cool and I’d actually order another one myself, since I’ve damaged my Buddy figure’s scythe (word of warning to anyone who orders or owns Buddy: don’t clean her scythe with rubbing alcohol), but I got a preowned one off Mandarake last year. It might be a bit OCD to buy a second figure just to replace an accessory but then again, I’ve got four copies of Volks’s Senhime.
I have no idea, and it’s driving me crazy. I’ve pretty much scoured the anal, tentacles, rape, demons, etc tags on Bakabt and Myanimelist, and nothing is seems right. I’ve gone so far as to download most of the items there, just in case the screen shots didn’t capture the scene, but I haven’t had any luck thus far. I don’t really remember anything about the character, but when I first watched Kyuuketsuki I thought it might have been it; the dungeon setting they have there appears to be really similar, just with the chick on top of an altar instead. I’ll keep trying to find it, but it’s not looking too promising now.
Heh, I could understand it a bit; I’m similar with dakimakura covers. If I had more money or wanted to keep a more narrow focus, I’d probably buy 2-3 copies of every cover. Instead, I try to maximize the number of unique covers I’m getting, but even so I’ve still purchased doubles of some of my favorites.
Man, I’m trying to think of a show with an altar and a dungeon setting. Himekishi Lilia and Dorei Maid Princess had dungeons but I don’t remember altars, and you’ve probably seen those shows. Inyouchuu didn’t really have bondage. Angel Blade probably couldn’t be mistaken for Kyuuketsuki. Most of those shows might be too recent to fit in that time frame, too.
The only pillowcase I ordered a second copy of was the twins one, and I’m not sure what the deal is there. I’m pretty much resigned to writing off the loss as a learning experience, though maybe Yokatta can figure out a way to get my money back.
Maybe it wasn’t an altar, but I remember the chick being raised above everyone else. I actually spent a good two hours or so today trying to figure it out; it’s driving me insane. I swiped a 550 hentai megapack on Nyaa and just downloaded the sample shots; I went through every single one and didn’t hit anything resembling it (though it was a lot of older stuff mixed in.) Then I went over to ANN and looked through all 4 pages of erotica they have listed and pulled up the website/sample shots of every single one that met a rough criteria I had going… still no luck. Maybe I’m just imagining things at this point. On the plus side, I did download a ton of other hentai, some of which I had already and seen and some of which I had somehow missed.
At this point, I’m thinking it was some obscure show that never got subbed, which would explain why it’s so difficult to find. The only things I have to go on are that it was highly anal based, the dungeon setting, and my estimated time frame is sometime between 2006-2010 (but probably closer to the 06 end.) Which doesn’t really narrow things down all that much. >_>
I just ordered some more through Yokatta the other day, and I asked about it; their response was fairly humorous, but it amounted to they hadn’t heard anything and ordering directly from doujin circles can be risky at times.
For me am still on the fence on the Neptunia fig same with the charlotte one since am getting the alter version, but am leaning on getting the swimsuit one in the end ^_^
A good plan; Charlotte is a cutie, regardless of what she’s wearing. I’m still hoping for an IS one; even one with her wearing an IS suit without the mecha parts would be okay. But if nobody makes one, the Alphamax one still looks solid.
I always dig the contrast between your chosen thumbnails and the actual figures. Quite the mix of girls in this outlook in where I regard Imari as the best of the bunch. For an actual raunchy hentai figure, this is one of the best I’ve seen to date. I’ll exclude Native here because even if you measure in prepubertal finger banging it’s still a wee bit on the adorable side.
Celty is probably the most unique figure and I agree that they did a great job with the outfit. While a small portion of her personality is lost thanks to the helmet, the scythe and slick clothes make up for it I think.
It’s still a little odd how there aren’t more figures out there from Infinite Stratos, it’s similar to how we’ve only seen Haruka strut her stuff from Amagami SS. One would think that good looking characters from popular series would instantly mold themselves over at the bigger manufacturers.
Yeah, I was very surprised when I saw Imari go up on Amiami (not Hobby Search, the wimps there aren’t listing her on their English website. That means I’m going to be ordering all these June-release figures from Amiami instead.) since it’s really explicit, even for Daiki Kougyou. Nudity is one thing – and these days, isn’t even unusual in anime anymore – but penetration is still a racy topic seldom seen outside of Giga Pulse and Okayama stuff.
It’s a bit odd how some series get a ton of figures (like Ikkitousen and iDOLM@STER and Samurai Girls) and some get none. Amagami is definitely a peculiar one, since as you point out, it’s definitely the sort of anime that can move figures, particularly since fans seem to attach themselves to at least one of the girls in the show. I’m also still very surprised Kampfer didn’t get any figures; it seemed to be reasonably well-received and the show’s characters lend themselves very well to merchandise, but it hasn’t gotten so much as a Beach Queens figure. I wonder if figure makers and the show’s studio were never able to work out a licensing deal.
Noticed Imari but wasn’t much drawn to her. The only figure on this list I am heavily tempted by is AlphaMax’s Charlotte actually. I was actually very surprised by the length of the pre-order lead time as 7 months is more than the 5 or so months I’m used to.
Overall am definitely trying to cut back. Branwen is on the way and I did order Native’s Sonico in the end (had to use SMJ as TH reached his order limit a week before the deadline and wouldn’t order anymore – so had to pay a bit more), but Selvaria & GSC’s Saber are my only unpaid orders at the moment.
Am watching the two variants of Daiki’s swimsuit Tamaki though. The original got a pretty much 50% discount a week or two back and sold out – want to catch one of the others if they do the same (didn’t like th original so much).
Pleading poverty at the moment.
Hobby Japan must be releasing the Alter’s white swimsuited Yagyu Jubei soon, surely. Paid for that one ages ago!
I remember being shocked that GSC’s Saber Alter and Rin had six-month lead times before release. I guess a half-year advance preorder period is the norm now. Many aspects of figure collecting would probably seem insane to an uninvolved observer, and committing $150 or so to buying something six months in advance with no guarantee that the final product will match the prototype photos and generally with no hassle-free way of cancelling the order would surely be near the top.
I ought to review that Tamaki sometime. She’s been staring out of her box for the last few months and I feel sorta guilty about not taking her out, since she looks like a great figure. Same deal with Tsuneko.
I’m hoping that Jubei figure comes out soon; next month is its scheduled release date, I believe, along with Noel Vermillion. I’m definitely expecting Jubei will be much better than Noel.
Assume you’ve already spotted it, but:
http://holdonpillow.com/
Am increasing drawn to Dakimakura’s at the moment
I’m trying to resist a couple of EC’s latest offerings… oh and this:
http://www.toranoana.jp/mailorder/cit/pagekit/0000/00/04/000000049104/index.html
I’m still thinking about Noel and Lili but as HJ exclusives I’ll just wait and see
Just to tempt you further, I paid for an Evening Call order through Paypal today (direct reception.)
Such forgetting to tell “us” about this too Shashin! I’ll wait to let you send on the news to everyone anyways :p
Eh, yeah. I had planned on asking Evening Call if they were prepared for mass orders yet before posting in the thread about it. Then I paid for my order and everything and kind of forgot. 😛
I’d imagine it’s probably okay to order from them now. 😛
It’s good to see HOP back online. I didn’t notice it but Shashin pointed it out to me a few days ago. Inori is definitely a cutie; I’m thinking of maybe going for Evening Call’s one, since it appears they are taking orders from international customers now, though I might wait and see how Shashin’s shopping experience turns out. And I also might wait to watch more of Guilty Crown to figure out whether I dislike the character or not.
Everything I ordered is set to ship in May, so it will probably be awhile before I can say for sure that everything turned out well, unless I ordered some stock items before that, but so far everything has been smooth enough.
I sent the initial email using their inquiry form on the site, and got a response back within a day saying to order the items and they’d send a Paypal payment request email. I went through and added 3 preorder items to my cart; in the note when checking out, I put “Would like to pay with Paypal” just in case.
Got an email notifying me I had a new message a few hours later, and at first it was a bit confusing. But I logged into my account, clicked the order number, and saw a comment thread. They basically had everything tallied up with the total cost (including EMS shipping) since obviously it’s going to be a bit more than their uniform 500 per cover for Japanese orders. I confirmed the total, they sent the payment link, I paid, and they confirmed payment.
Overall, I think it’s a pretty cool system and they were really quick in responding. I don’t know how strong their English skills are or how much extra effort they’re going to open their service up to foreigners, but it really is appreciated. I could see two potential negatives with the system.
The first is a minor one currently and I don’t even know if it’s an issue, since I’m not sure how the site reacts if you pay via bank transfer. Currently, it’s showing my order as unbilled (at least according to the translation) despite the happening in the thread. My guess it it’s because I’ve paid with Paypal and they’d have to manually flag my account as paid, but I honestly don’t know. I don’t think it will be an issue as far as shipping is concerned, but I wonder if it will properly credit my EXP/points.
The other thing is more of a personal preference issue, and might not be an issue at all if you ask. The three items I ordered release roughly around the same time, but one comes out about a month before the other two. They’ll all be shipping together. I have no problem with this, and I’m sure if someone requested separate shipping, they could probably be accommodated (if they foot the bill of individual shipping, of course.) Someone else did a mix of stock/preorder covers, and they’re all set to ship at the same time. It still makes sense to me, but I could understand wanting to get an in stock cover now and a preorder cover a few months down the line.
hmm i shoudl maybe play tales of vesperia too, just because of the hilarous feat of rit to just use “blah blah blah” as her spell incantations.. i really want it.
anyways, if you like cynical, unusual protagonists and engaging storylines and all that, you shoudl definately try out th shadow hearts series (except for shadow hearts 3 (from th enew world), that one is not anywhere near as good as the older games…), which is reallly good but sadly i doubt any figures from it.. its too old. f it still ddint get any figures till now, there wont be any new ones coming, except if by some miracle it gets an anime-adaption… which ould, too, be very interesting to see.
other than that, i want a figure of horizon too, but ill prolly wait for someone else to make another one, probably with a slightly more emotional face and alittle more emphasis on her rear end, which is her strongest point. also lookign forward to the second season so much~
Tales of Vesperia is a ton of fun. I probably ought to play through it again sometime. I really wish that Judith’s KOS-MOS outfit were available on 360, though.
I do actually own the first two Shadow Hearts; if I remember right, I got the first one for free when I bought the second one. I’d like to play it sometime, since I’ve heard good things about it, but I’ve got a huge amount of games in the game queue. I don’t think I’m getting an Xbox 720 or PS4 when they launch since I’ve got a lot of catch-up to do.
okay^^ well i guess im gnna play it once i get one of the new eneration’s (current generation’s) game consoles.
and yes,you should definately go for shadow hearts and shadow hearts 2; the things are fabulous. especially the second game is amasterpiece.
the third one is okay, but not anythign too special anymore. sadly. shadow hearts 3 is practically the devil may cry 2 of this series, if you knwo what i mean. if you finish the two and feel like more, rather try getting the indirect prequel, koudelka, for the ps1; surprisignly, unlike the first shadow hearts, its relatively easy to get.
I think I might own Koudelka already; I’m pretty sure I do, actually, because I remember the box art has like three heads on it. I’ve got a bunch of games I don’t even know I own.
haha, okay.. because of the different title, i didnt know of koudelka’s exstence until recently, so i only recently got it on ebay xD hasnet even gotten delivered yet^^ i hope ill enjoy it; the only critique for shadow hearts 1 i have is that , even though tis long enough, there are kind of only a small number of places in the game.. i wodner how that is in koudelka. i also like the dozens of goethia- and H.P.Lovecraft things this whole series is overflowing with. hell, the endboss in shadow hearts 1 is one of the outer gods!
I love the way you think, I too can’t wait for that Samus, No Figma for you though, or are they not your style?
Yeah, no Figma for me, I’m not a big Figma collector. I do own a few, but they’re not really a focus point of my collection, and I don’t do much with them. I’ve still got Rider sealed in her box and the rest of them are piled up on my shelf, along with the two GSC actsta action figures I own.
The Purple Heart figure will be my first figure (unless you count the Kotobukiya Race Queen Rei from San Diego Comic Con a few years ago). I hope it is done well since I don’t really buy figures. I will have one other figure at some point, but I showed my wife which one I want, and told her that that is what she needs to get me for B-Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, etc.
I also ordered the Yuri Lowell re-release for my wife. She thinks the little figure is cute so I’ll get her the Yuri. Although Rita looks to have a great sculpt I wasn’t a huge fan of hers in the game (or at least that outfit). I would much rather have a Judy and am surprised it hasn’t happened yet. She makes the perfect figure…large breasts, skimpy outfit, elf ears, breaks the game if played right, etc.
As for Samus, I have also never really played Metroid and I have owned every Nintendo system to date (minus anything 3D). I remember renting the game for the NES, but I also remember not being able to get anywhere and hating the game. I do want this figure though. I have loved the Zero Suit Samus design since they released it and think the figure looks great. In fact I love everything about the figure…I just don’t want to buy 3 figures in the same month after never having bought a figure.
Hopefully it’ll be a good figure, I have high hopes for it. At the least, it’ll almost certainly be better than my first figure, which was Yamato’s old Kanu Unchou, which could charitably be described as kinda extraterrestrial-looking. By contemporary standards, anyway. I thought it was a really spiffy figure back in the day.
I was kinda thinking of getting the Yuri figure, since he’s a cool character, probably my second favorite character in the game. He would sort of have trouble fitting in with my collection, though, kinda like he had trouble fitting in with my party (I usually used Judith, Estelle, and Rita).
June is a peculiarly loaded month. I’m guessing most of these are going to get pushed back; the Alter ones will almost certainly get bumped, I think, and Daiki is definitely not known for getting stuff out on time, either. Nor is Max Factory. That’s probably just as well for me since it’s looking like a really expensive month. Samus (and Imari) definitely look like they will be worth the expense, though.
I did add the preorder for Samus. Now I just have to hope that they come in different months. Its not a money thing, I just don’t want to have 3 figures all coming in the same month.
I am wondering about the cost though. It seems that I could roll the dice on not preordering and buy from an online retailer for the same price (and possibly cheaper). I know I would be taking a risk, but Robert’s seems to have comparable prices to ordering from Amiami taking into account the large shipping cost. Maybe shipping from Amiami isn’t that bad though.
Shipping from Amiami is more or less typical for most Japanese retailers, I think; a single figure generally runs somewhere around 1,800 to 3,200 yen to ship, depending on the size of the box. They also offer SAL shipping which I generally do not use for figures (I did order a mousepad recently from Amiami, and SAL shipping came out to 1,600 yen, which was appalling, particularly since the last two times I used SAL shipping, each order took two months to arrive. I wonder if EMS would have been much more expensive.).
I’ve generally found the Anime Corner Store to have higher prices than a lot of US retailers. Very reliable service but somewhat higher prices. Entertainment Earth also has somewhat high prices. Otakufuel is the least expensive US retailer I’ve seen but their selection is very limited, and they usually don’t have a lot of stock on hand.
For me, in Ireland, EMS takes ~4 working days which often works out as a bit more since we have no mail delivery on saturdays or sundays here. SAL can take up to about 4 weeks, however Registered SAL is actually very fast, usually about 8-10days. I find registered SAL to be the best balance of cost vs speed, and it has tracking too which is always nice.
already a new preorder outlook, the last one actually wasn’t that long ago :p
This year I’ll try to order less than 24 figures, as I did last year. Maybe the upcoming Wonfes will be able ruin my plans, I hope there will be some nice surprises this year, something I don’t expected.
From your listing Im slightly interested in Purple Heart, the figure and outfit looks quite cool.
Durarara! is a very good anime and this Celty figure looks great with the black biker dress and the yellow helmet, but without head it’s somehow strange.
I haven’t finished Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere, I left after episode three somehow.
Anyway the suit of the figure looks hot, I like the slightly transparency around her hips.
*lol* Kyuuketsuki ,that was a quite unusual one. The girl was cute and had a good voice actress, but aside from that it was rather mean 🙁 Well, I wouldn’t mind a part two.
I don’t really know about these fantasy setting hentai sometimes they appear more disturbing than anything else to me. I guess its because I do feel sorry for the girls too easily ;D
Yep, already a new one! I’d like to do these about once a month since they take way too long to write otherwise.
Horizon is a really weird show. I liked it a lot, I’d say it was probably my second favorite show of last season, but if someone asked me what it was about, I couldn’t give an answer. I’d probably just blabber something about high school girls in really tight outfits who battle religious people when not otherwise engaged in school activities. It is definitely a huge mess in terms of storytelling.
Kyuuketsuki! Man what a great show that was. Mikage was really cute and Claude was really cruel but man, the best part of it was Mikage’s voice actress. So many H-anime voice actresses just sorta squeak and squeal through their shows but Mikage’s actress put some effort into it. She really did a great job with giving the impression that Mikage wasn’t having a very good time.
I’m a relative newbie when it comes to figure collecting, but sometimes it just is “love at first sight”, the instant I see a picture of a figure, I know I must have it. Imari is one of these.
At the moment, there’s just one shop on ebay that offers her, so prompted by you, I had a look at AmiAmi. They’re not as expensive as the ebay guy, and I hope their shipping doesn’t turn out to be a huge rip-off. So I registered with them and ordered Imari. Are they reliable? I guess so, because you’re shopping there, too…
AmiAmi is definitely the best bet. Their shipping can run slightly high at times, but their service is great and you know what you’re getting. Any eBay auctions would either be bootlegs or basing it off the price they paid at a store like AmiAmi and then factoring ii n profit.
Just to add, the reason that amiami’s shipping can run high is they tend to put a lot of extra packaging in to prevent damage to the items, sometimes using a bigger box to ship than the minimum possible would have been if they didn’t insulate so thoroughly. The price of the actual shipment is exactly as it should be going by japan mail’s pricing schemes.
As everyone has said Amiami is very reliable, as is Hobby Search. I’d highly recommend buying figures from one or the other (or HLJ, though their prices are higher) and I’d also recommend looking at eBay only as a last resort. I’d also recommend distrusting anybody from China that is selling a figure on eBay; those are often fakes. I’ve bought figures from Japan-based sellers on eBay with no problem, though.
I definitely agree that Imari figure is awesome XD It doesn’t seem like many people are talking about her, which is a shame, since she looks amazing.
>> Shashin
Ah, k, that sounds straightforward then. Well, as straightforward as it can be when one has to go around a shopping cart system to send payment, anyway. I’d have no problem with them holding onto orders until they’re all ready to ship; that’s what Yokatta is doing for me now, since I’ve got like four or five pillowcases (I haven’t been keeping count) ordered and I’d feel really dumb paying for EMS shipping on just one pillowcase, unless it were the only pillowcase I were ordering. Figures I have no problem with shipping individually but everything else I like to have combined. This is one of the reasons I don’t buy more doujinshi from Mandarake, since my OCD kicks in and I always wonder if there’s something else I want to add to the order, and then I wind up not ordering anything at all.
Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. I like bundling as many items as I can in an order myself (at least for dakimakura covers) so it doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, it’s probably the thing I love most about SMJ; there is nothing quite like getting a massive order of about 15-20 covers, and taking a couple of hours to go through all of them one by one.
I order a lot from Mandarake, but I’m sure I’m probably not the ideal customer. I can’t say how many times I’ve gotten a fairly decent doujinshi order or a couple of dakimakura covers, taken close to the full five days to pay, and asked them to add a few items to the order. The worst in recent memory was the last four covers I took shots of; I put the first two in my cart and checked out immediately. I never take chances with Mandarake anymore, especially around the update times; if I want something, I put it in my cart and check out before someone else has a chance to do the same. Then after I had checked out with those two, I found another one I wanted, and asked them to add it to my first order. Then a bit later I found the cushion (since the dakimakura tag didn’t bring it up) and asked them to add it to the order.
That probably wasn’t so bad since if they saw all of my orders, they probably only had to calculate shipping once, but I’ve had other occasions where I had already got the payment request email and asked them to add stuff.
A good practice, there was some doujinshi I was thinking about buying the other day, and when I refreshed the tab a few hours after loading the item page, it had already been sold. One of the other Mandarake stores had the same item at 150% of the price, and I dunno if I want the item enough to pay the difference. Okay, I probably do, and I might still order it anyway, but I’m going to feel a bit dumb about it.
Sometimes the stores will restock the items in a few days; my recent doujinshi order had a good number of fairly new stuff; some things from C81 and then some other items that were sold at the last few Comikets. It was mostly stuff that was added with the morning update over a few day period. Then a couple days later, the same store restocked 6-7 of the titles with the morning update. So you may still have a chance of picking it up if it wasn’t something too hard to find.I don’t take the chance with dakimakura covers, though. If it’s one I really want, it’s going in my cart right then and there.
I have mixed feelings about the order I mentioned on Twitter. One was a pillowcase that I couldn’t find an appropriate sample image for so the end result was disappointing. The chick I could see was really cute, and all I could find sample wise was a shot of her head and another chick’s head. So the sample was actually fairly accurate, and the end result was a normal pillowcase with a head on each side. I ordered a Daiteikoku sheet that didn’t disappoint, as it came with all the other goodies; a little microfiber towel and a set of six posters that are probably 6″ x 18″ or so. Then another sheet from the same series (I think) as the head pillowcase.
The most expensive item was the C80 Udonya set; I’d still really like the tapestry from C81, but there’s no way I’m paying 20k+ for it. It came with a (fairly tame) tapestry, one of their books, and some other cool goodies. It was more an impulse buy than anything and i could have done without it, but it was a good deal according to the average YJA price for the set.
Purple Heart – I wouldn’t go anywhere near Neptunia after hearing all the woe regarding the lame gameplay, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that was one tempting figure. Gotta pass on her, though. Trying to cut down on my pre-orders, ya know?
Anaru – What a wonderfully unfortunate nickname. AnoHana was a pretty good show. I didn’t love it as much as I thought it would, mainly because I just couldn’t really get into Menma. Didn’t care for her character design (WHAT IS SHE WEARING) or her really high-pitched voice. If they make a REALLY nice Anaru figure I might pick it up, but this one’s a bit too simple for my tastes.
Celty – Haven’t seen Durarararararararararararaetc but DAMN that is a hot body sculpt. DEM HIPS
Samus – Love Samus to death. Already got one of the pricey resins of her in her Varia suit from First4Figures and got the figma of her on pre-order. This PVC of her is really nice but I’ve never liked the zero suit…and why in the world does she suddenly have platform boots? The woman’s already over six feet tall, I really doubt she needs disco heels.
Rita – Nice lookin’ Rita. I picked up Alter’s Yuri figure and love him to death. Seems Alter does intend to move on to other Tales games…Abyss and Xillia, from the looks of it. What a shame! I’d kill for a nice PVC of Estelle, Judith or Raven (OR ALL THREE)
Although the gameplay was lacking in HDN, I thought it was a great game. I actually loved the healing mechanic that most hated. It had a great amount of humor and charm. I would recommend giving it a try with an open mind.
I think I liked AnoHana more than I thought I did, mainly because my expectations were completely wrong, but I’m not sure if I’d want to watch it again. I remember thinking that some parts of the storyline were a bit contrived and I think they’d bother me more the second time through. I liked Menma as far as presenting a happy-go-lucky contrast to the other members of the cast, particularly since the other characters were really screwed up in some ways, but I think I’m gonna skip all the Menma figures I’ve seen at Wonder Festival. Still hoping for a figure of Anaru in her black shorts, or maybe an ero-figure that stays true to her name.
Yeah, Samus’s boots are kindy chunky, I would’ve picked some stiletto hooker heels if anybody had let me make the call. I love the way she fills out her suit, though. I guess I don’t know why she wears this suit, being almost completely unfamiliar with her character.
Alter showed off Milla over at Wonder Festival but no Judith. What a shame, Vesperia deserves better. Heck, I’d even double-dip on the game if Namco Bandai would translate it and release it on PS3 in the United States (though I’ll admit that I’m not completely immune to console fanboyism and if Vesperia does indeed never get an English localization, it’ll crack me up remembering how some idiots kept referring to the 360 version as an unfinished beta).
I’m on the fence for Black heart and Celty. Samus has been preordered already and I’m definitely getting Neptunia MKII limited edition.
Imari was a curious one because I kinda like her but I can’t decide if it’s because or in spite of the lewdness. If it’s because, then I’ll skip but if it’s in spite of, I’d be tempted to put an order in. I don’t really like figures which go out of their way to look lewd.
Then again, Wonder Festival might end up being a little expensive for me!
I got this feeling I’m gonna get around to playing Neptunia Mk2 halfway through the next console generation. With the backlog I’ve got, I’m not even sure I feel all that compelled to get an Xbox 720/PS4 (I’m just getting around to playing Fallout 3 several years after its release, and I suppose I may get around to playing Skyrim sometime this summer, if I don’t decide to play through the Mass Effect games first).
It seems like Wonder Festival was a bit sparse for high-profile GKs. I guess it’s gone over to mostly PVC. I did see that Mr. Surprise is offering a prepainted version of one of his Miku figures on his site, which is neat, and Toshirou’s Miku doesn’t seem to look as strange as I thought it might.
I did really like the cerberus project Princess of the Crystal from Mawaru Penguindrum but failed to acquire her. The Homura and Mami by Grizzly bear are still great looking and The principality of Kagutsuchino did a wonderful Alba Ruri and Tandouji from Sacred Seven. Surprisingly, his Mami from Madoka magica wasn’t too hot, esp since his Homura was amazing!
There were some really good kits here and there but the overall quality seemed to have taken a hit as more amateur makers tried to leave their mark. Hopefully, they’ll get better as they go.
Speaking of veteran sculptors, Bubba’s website has disappeared and I came across a note that suggested that he may have shut down Dice Caramel. That would be a shame if it’s true; I like a lot of stuff and I’ve been hoping his Kotona and Fate figures might get PVC versions.
Yeah, I noticed that too. Not sure if he’s quit altogether or starting up a different circle or whatnot.
But if he does walk away from figure making, it’s a big loss.
The only figure out of these I would be interested in – if she was a figma – is Celty. I must say that even though I collect action figures, she looks tempting. I’d say her sculpt conveys her personality well, as she looks both graceful and confident (and I think it’s not easy to portrait faceless characters well).
Far from me to spend your money, but if you’re unsure whether to get her or not, I’d recommend buying her (I know, that’s selfish – I’d gladly see your photos of her :3).
As to anime, I think it’s awesome – and I don’t describe many animes as “awesome”. True, the second half of the series isn’t as good as the first one, but it’s still worth watching. One of the best animes I’ve seen in terms of multi-threaded plot with many “main” characters. And as much I like Celty, I think DRRR would be equally interesting without supernatural motives (not that I’d prefer it that way!). Ah, shame that Durarara light novels aren’t available in English…
I am always glad to solicit opinions regarding how my money should be spent (back before one of my friends jumped to a new office that afforded less workplace privacy, I used to screen almost all my hobby purchases by him, including figures, doll outfits, ero books and tentacle stands). I’ve only seen the first few episodes of DRRR!! but I liked what I saw, and Celty seemed pretty cool – as cool as a silent bike-riding avenger/errand girl can be, anyway. I wish Aniplex would allow the show to be viewed on mobile devices, though. I notice she’s about the cheapest Alter figure on Amiami too, which is something else in her favor.
Ahh, Celty why you so late? Would have probably preordered this if it was even a couple of months earlier but since it’s been so long since the show originally aired the love for the character has died down a lot and I think I’ll end up giving a pass on her. She looks really nice though and it’s cool that they’re doing some of the other characters from the show.
I haven’t seen much of Horizon but man, their outfits are really hot. That figure looks really nice as well, I hope more manufacturers pick it up so we don’t have to pay crazy prices to get them.
Horizon is one weirdo show. There’s a plot somewhere there about one boy’s love for a girl and a student body that decides to start an insurrection, but damned if I can figure out how it develops. It feels a lot like Demon King in the Back Row, which I liked so I guess it’s not too odd that I like Horizon a lot, as well. I can certainly understand why people might be put off of either or both shows, though.
When I saw Purple Heart go up for pre-order the first thing I thought is “I know who’s going to get her” ;). I thought about picking her up myself as well despite knowing absolutely nothing about her. I think I’m going to wait a see how she turns though. I’ll be looking forward to a review of her if you decide to do one.
Celty’s a tough one isn’t she. Hot body and skin tight biker suit. But then no head. As much as I loved DRRR I’m not all that desperate for any of the characters as figures. Most of the awesome characters were dudes anyway.
Ah nice you’re hopefully getting one of the Horizon figures, it’s a pain they’re exclusives. I’d love to see a figure of Neito – she was my favourite because of those huge ponytails and her VA. I even thought about picking up her Dakimakura, but then the 10k price tag soon set off alarm bells causing me to come to my ‘senses’.
I’m really looking forward to Purple Heart, though a complete unfamiliarity with the manufacturer moderates my enthusiasm. Still, she’s got a great character design and it shouldn’t be too hard to get a set ready for her.
Yeah, I’m leaning towards ordering Celty, since both her body and bikesuit are tight in more ways than one and I’m certain Alter won’t let collectors down, but it’d be a more straightforward decision if she had a sexy head, like Volks’s garage kit of Laila from Shiden. I do kinda like Celty’s eccentricities from what I’ve seen, though.
I’ve ordered both exclusive Horizon figures, and I’m feeling kinda dumb for doing so, but Horizon’s character design – and that of all the other Kyokai Senjou no Horizon girls – are compelling enough that I’m looking forward to both of them. Nate is really cute, too; particularly her collar and her knightly bearing. And the way the students connive a way for Toori to feel her up.
Have to admit that I am interested in Elfriede. Looks a pretty cool figure, though pre-orders only opened slightly after you posted this.
Was curious to see what she was like when I first saw the unpainted figure on Gyapon.
Just got to find room in the budget what with a lot of birthdays, a fence that blew over (snapping 2 eight foot fence posts) and a lot of additional costs coming up…
Will probably buy/order one more item next month… (on top of a couple of preorders due for release)… there are quite a few candidates to choose from…