Preorder time! Man these Roman numeral post titles are getting unwieldy. I really did not think I was going to run this site for more than a year so I did not put much thought into it but generally speaking, I dislike change so I guess they will stay. Not that I think I’m going to run this site long enough to get there but “Preorder Outlook LIX” is going to be pretty funny.
June
Aya Kagura from se.kirara
It may come as a surprise that this is a figure I’ve been looking forward to for a while. She doesn’t have an impressive rack, she’s not dressed in a skanky outfit, and she’s obviously not an action girl. Despite all those deficiencies, I really like her character design, so much that I bought her Figma, even though I’m not much of a Figma collector. Admittedly, part of the reason I bought her figure was because I cannot resist being tastelessly, offensively immature. While no such opportunities present themselves with a static PVC figure – on the surface, anyway – I still do like this figure on its own merits and I’m definitely going to order it.
Mars – Mukai-san
This figure comes from the Real Art Project, the organization responsible for the awesome tentacle stand. I own a number of their vmf50 clothing and accessory products but I haven’t gotten any of their figures, and while I like how this one looks I’m not sure if I’m going to get this one either. She seems sorta lifeless, like she’s supposed to be a blow-up doll rather than an anime character, and having seen their doll stuff I’m not sure that’s not unintentional. I’m definitely going to keep buying their doll stuff, though; I’ve got a lot of their outfits and accessories and the aforementioned tentacle stand all waiting for 50cm Azone Saber.
Yukiko Amagi from Persona 4
The Persona franchise is riding the crest of a wave of popularity now, with Persona 4 having gotten a well-received (I think) anime series and with the game’s cast set to reprise their roles in the upcoming P4 remake on the PS Vita as well as appearing in an upcoming fighting game. None of this explains why this console generation is nearing its conclusion without a single core Persona or Megami Tensei game on the PS3 or Xbox 360, of course, but at least collectors can pick from a broad array of merchandise now. This version of Yukiko comes from MegaHouse and is part of their High Priestess line. At first I didn’t pay much attention to this figure; I like Yukiko but I’d say Rise is probably my favorite character in Persona 4. After giving this figure another look, however, I’m liking it more and more. Her face kinda reminds me of REFLECT’s work; she’s got a stern, serious, almost homicidal look. She’s also got some cute silly faces, though no drunk face, unfortunately.
September
Saber from Fate/stay night
A few weeks back, Good Smile Company conducted a poll to see which nendoroids, Figmas, and figures people would like to see get another production run. Saber Lily ~Golden Caliburn~ won, and so obligingly, Good Smile Company has decided to reissue Saber – the wrong Saber. This Saber is, of course, the Triumphant Excalibur version, and despite taking the bronze in the competition – and despite hitting the bargain bin within weeks of her original release – she’s coming again. I passed on her the first time, I passed on her when her price dropped to 3600 yen, but I’m not sure if I’ll pass on her a third time. I do kinda like how she looks, and curiously, of the six Saber figures I own, only one is of her in her iconic blue dress and battle armor costume (no points to anyone who guesses which figure that is).
Sen Tokugawa from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls
Curiously, Senhime appears to be one of the most popular Samurai Girls characters, at least amongst figure makers. She’s getting yet another figure and this one puts her in a swimsuit. Not the most exciting stuff but I like her combination of flirtatiousness – I can’t believe that’s a real word – and shyness. Her top is also removable and she has nice breasts. This wouldn’t be the first swimsuit Sen figure I own since I bought Alphamax’s figure last year, but I’m thinking really hard about offloading that one and that would thus open up a spot for this one.
October
Charlotte Dunois from Infinite Stratos
Inexplicably, no maker seems inclined to make figures of either the Muv-Luv or the Infinite Stratos characters in their piloting suits (and no, the Bandai action figures don’t count). I can’t quite understand why that is, since it robs them of one of the most distinctive and attractive elements of their designs, but that’s the way it is. Charlotte is captured in a rather silly pose that is quite cute, but I don’t have a huge thing for bunnysuits and I don’t think I’m inclined to pay full price for this one. Not that that’s even an option, seeing as how this figure is already sold out at Hobby Search and Amiami. It’s bizarre how Kotobukiya’s Inia and now this figure have sold out so quickly. But then again, whenever I see this figure I can’t help smiling, and that’s not a bad trait for a figure.
Hibari from Senran Kagura
Hibari comes from the Nintendo 3DS game Senran Kagura, which is apparently about busty ninja girls who fight people and often get their clothes torn off while fighting. Times do change; I remember when Nintendo refused to allow blood in Mortal Kombat. Hibari is pretty cute, though I’m not much of a fan of the symbol-shaped pupils. I do like the gym shorts or swimsuit that she’s wearing, and that might be enough to entice me, but right now I’m still waffling.
Ignis from Jingai Makyou
It seems like Orchid Seed has been teasing collectors with this figure for years. She’s finally up for preorder and looking fantastic. She looks great with her dress on, she might look even better with it off, and I have this big thing for anime girls with bridal veils. This one is definitely ordered.
Nymph from Sora no Otoshimono
Nymph is the third Sora no Otoshimono bunnygirl figure from FREEing, following Ikaros and Astraea. I’m pretty sure I’m going to pass on the first two but Nymph looks pretty nice, particularly since her pose is more ass-centric than the other two. And she does seem to have a very respectable ass. I kinda like that they ditched the fishnet stockings for this figure, too. I like her collar. And of course, I really like that Nymph is 1/4 scale. What don’t I like? The price tag, which is about $200. I sorta figure that if you’re going to drop $200 on one figure, you ought to really like it. And I can’t say I really like this one – yeah, I like it, but I’m not going to feel like my collection has a big-ass gap if I don’t get it. On the other hand, I’ve paid more money for figures that I don’t care a ton for – shoot, I’ll probably be reviewing a $300 figure soon that has a problem so outrageous one has to wonder how the maker felt comfortable releasing it in its current state. Anyway, I’m gonna think about Nymph a bit more. Hobby Search’s half-price shipping deal might make this figure more attractive.
Reiko Date Wingfield from Fault!!
Alphamax is making another figure of a character from Fault!!, Ciel’s tennis club-themed eroge. The game appears to be getting a special edition with animated sex scenes and a new character named Maya Kamiwazumi. who looks sorta like a Tony Taka-designed Sakura Matou. It also says that she has a chilly personality, so I guess maybe she’s also like a Tony-designed Rin Tohsaka. Anyway, Reiko looks pretty great and it’ll be no surprise that I’m definitely getting this figure. She doesn’t actually look like a Tony character here, which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing, given how overused his character designs are now (this sentiment may possibly stem from how disappointing Sega’s Shining series has become).
November
Inia Sestina from Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse
Unsurprisingly, Alphamax is following up their figures of Cryska and Yui with one of Inia Sestina, one of the main characters of Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse. The earlier figures were based off of artwork by Miyata Sou, but Inia’s figure goes for a conventional, standing-up pose – no real shock there since her pinup illustration doesn’t seem like it would work well as a figure. While I like this figure, Kotobukiya is also producting a figure of Inia in a swimsuit (sold out at Japanese retailers but available at BBTS for a very reasonable price) and they are thematically quite similar. I might still order this one but I’ll have to think about it some more; I do think I like it a bit more than the Kotobukiya figure, though.
Incidentally, one can see Inia in the upcoming Total Eclipse anime in the latest trailer. I’ve had some reservations about the anime’s character designs but they look pretty good there.
Sena Kashiwazaki from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Another swimsuit figure from Alphamax; one wonders if they want to position their products as a larger-sized alternative to Wave’s Beach Queen series. The popularity of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai has led to a profusion of figures, mostly of Yozora and Sena. This one looks pretty nice, capturing both her lively personality and her voluminous breasts. I might get it, though I have to say I don’t really care for the color of her swimsuit. I might feel otherwise if I had gone to UCLA, I guess.
Sometime in 2013
Asmodeus from The Seven Deadly Sins
Hobby Japan partnered with Alter to make figures of the Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls figures but for their Seven Deadly Sins figures, they’re rolling with Orchid Seed. The first figure to be released will be Asmodeus, not to be confused with the character from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to order this figure, for the simple reason that she looks really, really bulky with her clothes on. And by bulky I mean fat. I did decide to order this figure later (the version without the tissue box cover, which was out of stock at Tokyo Hunter when I placed my order. I wonder if I should ask if I can upgrade it; is a tissue box cover worth 1000 yen?) since she’s wearing some cool-looking leather bondage underwear. I don’t think I feel that compelled to collect all of the characters, though; of the seven I’d say I’m most interested in Asmodeus, Lucifer, and Satan.
On a different note, I can’t believe we’re already preordering figures not scheduled to drop until 2013.
Certain elements of Mukai-san really bugs me. The heavy rubber looking pieces remind me too much of junkyard tires, and the retro-futuristic design rubs me the wrong way.
I had to pre-order bunny Char from Big in Japan because she was sold out everywhere else. Even then I’m not sure how reliable BiJ is with filling pre-orders. She definitely brings a smile to my face, as does Hibari.
Kotobukiya is apparently doing a very limited run on bunny Char. It’s hard to believe they would make so few of an obvious money maker. Part of me suspects it’s just marketing, and a bigger wave of preorders might reopen within a month.
I was hoping this Ignis would be similar to the previous Orchid Seed Ignis but with a different pose. It seems they decided to age her from the previous design as well. IMO the 2007 Ignis looked in her early 20’s, but the 2012 Ignis looks solidly in her 30’s, maybe with a child birth or two under her belt.
Also, Alphamax’s meat figure has some really corner-cutting design. If you look at Moeyo’s review of her, you’ll see what I mean (the underboob shots). Her bikini string to the sides of her breasts are solid plates instead of strands separated from her body. I’m really not sure how this is even an issue on a modern 1/7 figure.
So Kotobukiya’s meat figure has that weird skirt layer error, and Alphamax’s meat figure has this inexplicable issue. It’s almost as if a real life Yozora is going around sabotaging the sexiest meat figures…
Almost forgot Asmodeus. I was really disappointed to find they had given Mammon’s proportions to Asmodeus. Asmodeus’s design on the character list concept art looked perfect to me, but now she looks too fat. One can’t help but wonder how ridiculous Mammon’s going to look.
A peculiar decision by Kotobukiya; one wonders if the factories that build their stuff are too busy churning out Bishoujo figures instead.
Ignis does seem to be quite a bit curvier; I’ve got their first Ignis figure, which I purchased solely because you could show off her boobs (in retrospect, a really poor decision, since I like the Max Factory and Alter figures a lot better now). I like her new look; the old Ignis was really skinny.
Alphamax Sena doesn’t look too bad to me; her bikini string isn’t something I’m too concerned with. Her hair looks a bit shiny in the sample review, I guess. I’d probably be more inclined to buy it if she were wearing a thong or something, though.
Yeah, as much as I like Mammon’s costume, I’m pretty sure her figure is going to be very hefty, and I don’t think I’m going to be interested in it. They’ve got some time to make some design changes, at least, though I really doubt that that’s going to happen.
However unlikely it is, I really hope Alphamax fixes Sena’s strings lest I cancel. Out of meat’s announced figures, this is by far my favorite. It embraces her bubbly sex appeal and leaves out her snooty ojousama side. The problem is that bikini figures are dime-a-dozen. There’s really no need to buy a flawed figure when a better one will come along sooner rather than later.
I’m probably going to cancel my Koto-meat pre-order in June since they’ve shown no signs of fixing her skirt. Why the hell is her skirt like that anyways? The concept art has green skirt bits between her legs but only 1/3 MAYBE 1/2 of the way down. It’s like they were trying to avoid a panty shot but that’s just mind bogglingly conservative.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sena gets a ton of figures in the end; I’m somewhat surprised that Max Factory and Alter haven’t thrown their hats in the ring yet. I’m holding off for the reason you state; with so many Sena figures to pick from, I think I can wait until one comes across that I really like. I’m hoping someone makes one of her in this outfit; I saw that picture a while back and I was like, “Damn, I should look up the manga.”
That outfit is awesome. I would also love to see a good figure of her in that.
Thank you, I thought I was the only one that thought Rise was the best character (at least the hottest) from P4.
I have to admit I always liked it when she squealed, “You’re so cool, senpai!”
The Charlotte figure sold out in a few hours on Amiami and HS, and apparently even in all the possible preorder shops in Akihabara too ( http://blog.livedoor.jp/geek/archives/51342138.html ). I managed to grab it on otacute, though they’re sold out now too. I’m not sure if it was a limited release or anything, but it’s fairly safe to assume there’ll be a re-release or an increase in preorder allowance to cash in on the obvious popularity.
Hmm, I think I’d prefer a figure of Asmodeus from Umineko than that one… Those umineko girls never got any nice figures ;(
Wacky. I suppose I’ll wait and see if it shows up at a US shop; Kotobukiya figures are often pretty cheap at US stores.
I have zero familiarity at all with Umineko – the only reason I’ve heard of it is because the series got an Xbox 360 fighting game where Lucifer is one of the battlers (along with, uhh, Battler). I would like to see some figures of the Stakes of Purgatory, too; I don’t know much (or anything at all) about them, but they are quite cute and they have awesome uniforms.
Based from I heard from my regular figure supplier, It seems Kotobukiya’s purposely making limited runs of the newer figs in order to jack up the price afterwards =/. Dunno if it’s really true but based on how hard to get the Takamura Yui Gekka Ver. here where I am I’m inclined to agree 😛
That would be really strange, if true; I always got the sense Kotobukiya likes to keep product out in the market, given their distribution system in the US. Though it does square up with an unusual trend I’ve noticed at some US stores I browse; some figures (like all the Bishoujo figures, the swimsuit Total Eclipse figures, and a lot of the old Shining Wind figures) are reasonably inexpensive, at about $60 or so, and then other figures – like Yui Takamura – run over $100.
Haha Im on vacation, but without internet and figure blogs I would probably die XD
This Aya Kagura figure looks very tame, are you sure you really want her? Well, she is a cute character nevertheless. Oh I like the cute slightly silly looking figure of Charlotte Dunois
Im very surprised that she’s already sold out, maybe they will restock very soon.
I ordered this Hibari this morning, I actually was enchanted by her GK, so I was super happy that it was adapted to a PVC figure so soon. Phat Company isn’t my manufacturer of choice, but at least they make Hibari
Ignis is a great figure in her dress and cast off as well, Im a fan of her boobs and nipples 😀
This Inia Sestina looks quite adorable in her pose and with the facial expression.
Asmodeus is really a bit fat, she has a pretty face, but that doesn’t hide the fact that she’s fat :p From the 7 deadly sins I like Envy the most quite the punkrock girl, too bad they haven’t planned her as the first figure.
Hope you’re having fun! Yeah, I like how Aya looks, she is really cute. I’m very much looking forward to Izumi, too. Actually, I think your Figma reviews of the se.kirara characters were what initially made me like them.
Yeah, I wasn’t too thrilled by Phat Company’s Lily and I think that first impression is weighing down my opinion of Hibari. I haven’t seen any of their figures since then so maybe they’ve improved.
Yeah, she’s fat 🙁 Everyone seems to agree that she is fat. It’s pretty weird when I look at pictures of her when she’s clothed that I don’t notice her head at all; her head is so small compared to her body that it seems almost like it’s not really her head, like she’s a headless torso who just has this strange ornament sitting on her shoulders. We’ll see how she turns out; hopefully she’s not too bad.
I ordered Bunny-girl Char from Yesasia… $20 more than I would’ve wanted but I just couldn’t let it go. I was so sad that she sold out within the hour at the other sites, but being a Char-fanboy, I was willing to splurge an extra $50 if I had to. Man that Fault!! figure is tempting too but I don’t think I could have that figure in my room in plain sight so I’ll have to pass on that. Can’t wait to see your “Pre-order outlook XXX” Better be a special post! Lol
Everybody likes Char. Almost everyone likes Laura. Nobody likes Houki 🙁 I’m still hoping they’ll get some figures with their IS units. Or at least just their piloting suits. I was kinda disappointed to see that Alter’s Laura figure is going to put her in a maid costume. Shoot, I think I would’ve preferred her German jackboots uniform to that, but I’m sure it’ll still be a good-looking figure.
Gee, I guess the 30th preorder outlook will be coming in ten months, since I typically do these monthly. I’m gonna have to think of something neat. Maybe with the tentacle stand, that’s probably the sort of thing most commonly associated with XXX, at least when it comes to anime.
Ignis was a no-brainer but to be fair I have been waiting for her to be announced for about a year.
Curiously two of the other figures I am drawn to (and probably can’t afford) also made your list in Reiko and Asmodeus. After Amiami cancelled all of my preorders (which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing… except for Selvaria… think I may have to get her from YJA unless people fail to pay for preorders) I am actually pretty healthy in terms of unpaid orders… problem is that there is bound to be another convention soon and am really trying not to buy.
The prepayment on Asmodeus remains off-putting, particularly as I have about 6 orders in place, 3 of which are already prepaid… gets quite frustrating.
Am a bit disappointed by the current batch of figures which do appear a little uninspired, notice Native hasn’t made a new announcement for months!
Must admit I definitely thought you’d have Kneesocks from Panty and… on this list, got the impression you would have definitely loved her…
Guess I was wrong, after all, if a figure doesn’t make it on one of your Preorders list, you’re not allowed to order it!
Yeah, paying in advance is a nuisance, coupled with the crappy exchange rate (at least the USD/yen rate has been going the wrong way recently; dunno how the GBP and Euro rates are doing). It’s going to be particularly annoying if all seven demon figures are exclusives, though I’m really only interested in three of them, I think.
Native’s been peculiarly quiet indeed, and I hadn’t thought about that until you pointed it out just now. Maybe they’re saving some stuff for Wonder Festival, which I guess is just a couple months away now. I did see that Mordina came out just a few weeks ago, I think; I wonder if she hit her schedule? Native always has had a tough time getting figures out on time, so it’d be nice if they’re meeting their listed release dates.
Yeah, I wasn’t too interested in Kneesocks; I didn’t get far enough into P&S w/ G to ever see her, and I’m not a big fan of unicorn horns. I’m actually kinda wondering now whether I should’ve passed on Panty, too.
You can’t command me! No Brit can tell an American what to do! I did actually leave off a figure on this list that I’m thinking of buying, and I will bet nobody will ever guess which it is.
My guess is the Wave Beach Queens Fate/Zero Saber in the one piece swimsuit.
Nope! I’ll give a hint that may give away the maker of the figure, if not the actual figure: it’s a figure whose manufacturer is scarcely represented on almost every figure review blog, but not this one.
I have a guess, but would rather not ruin the surprise if I am correct.
I guess it would not be much of a surprise. I kinda doubt I’m going to get the figure; there’s quite a few other figures I’d rather get, I think.
Actually I’m waiting for your list lol Always helpful when the new season coming. The new swim suit Sen is pretty good, I saw the topless pics at Sankaku.
Yeah, she looks pretty good topless; much better than the Alphamax one. At least, I think the Alphamax one was castoff-able, but I’m trying to forget that I actually paid money for that figure.
Hmm, let’s take a look at the summer anime chart and see which series look likely to get figures. Let’s see; I bet La Grange gets a figure from GSC or one of its partner companies, the characters are the sort that GSC would make figures of. Even though nobody bothered making a figure of its character during its first season. The character designs for Kokoro Connect look really, really familiar.; I bet it gets some figures. I wonder if its lead character is left-handed. Let’s see, what else .. Horizon isn’t going to get as many figures as it should get. Total Eclipse will get a number of figures, entirely of the cast wearing anything but their pilot suits. Sword Art Online, I bet that gets a ton of figures from a bunch of manufacturers.
Speaking of Lagrange, someone needs to make naked figures of all three girls to recreate the moonlight skinny dipping scene.
That’d be pretty neat; I definitely did not get that far into the show. I can hardly remember much of the two or three episodes that I saw, actually. Symphogear is sorta the same way for me. But Guilty Crown, man, I can remember Guilty Crown, even though it’s a qualitatively worse show than the other two.
That Hibari shot is the only one I’ve seen of her so far, but in it she seems to pack something similar like that Fate in one of your recent preorder outlooks which raised an eyebrow or two…
Maybe she’s just, uhh, of a hirsute nature in that location. The shading on the side view makes it look even more suggestive of something.
This looks like a pretty boring bunch of figures for the end of the year. On most of your other preorder outlooks, there have been quite a few decent looking figures that interested me, but these ones are all just blah.
I wonder if it is kind of like summer television. Nobody really cares about the shows during the summer and you have to wait for the fall and winter for all of the stuff worth watching.
With that being said I do like some of the figures. First off, two that I love the designs on or something about them but have no care to order them. Reiko and Sena.
I like that the Reiko exudes sexiness. She has tor top pulled over her breasts and is wearing the cute track coat (or rather it is on her shoulders) and she almost has her bottom off. I really like this figure and would have thought about buying it if I didn’t have a wife and children.
I also like the Sena figure. Yeah she has a pretty boring pose and sculpt (not much you can do with a character in a bikini), but there is something I love about her character design. I know nothing about the anime or her character, but I think the butterfly makes me like her design. As such, I think every thing that I have seen with her, I have liked. I am not a fan of UCLA, but I like the colors of the swimsuit, which appears to be the same as the one from the dakimakura. I won’t be buying this though.
Next up, the 7-sins. I actually don’t like Asmodeus whereas most seem to like her. If I were to buy any, it would be Beezlebub (Gluttony) and Leviathan (Envy). I actually like the chunky looking Envy and think she would pair well with the super lithe Gluttony. I doubt I would purchase either but if I did it would be those two.
Finally, Charlotte. I love this figure. I don’t have a thing for bunny girls or anything of the sort and she comes from an anime I have never seen (surprise, surprise) so I no nothing about her, in fact the little amount I know about Infinite Stratos I learned from your Dakimakura review of her. That review led me to Laura Bodewig who I would love to have a nice figure of, based on design alone. This figure though is great. I like the little bunnies and her cheerful face and pose. She also has a great body. The only problem is that I saw the pre-order on Amiami too late and could not pre-order her (I seriously thought I may have clicked on a One Piece figure at the time when I saw “Sold Out”). I still see one place that has preorders open but I cannot justify the high price for a Kotobukiya figure. Amiami and HLJ had her for what I thought was the perfect price point for me to pick this up. Hopefully Kotobukiya will sells this one in the US like they do for the rest of their stuff.
I am really disappointed that I missed this figure (for the most part), and I hope more is allowed for order some point soon.
Haha, that is harsh. Ignis is pretty exciting! How can one not be excited by a redhead with a big ass carrying a big-ass sword while wearing a strappy wedding dress? … Okay, yeah, the other figures aren’t too exciting, except Reiko. I gotta admit that I do not know if figure releases parallel television patterns though, since I haven’t actively watched a television show since Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Though I guess I do understand how summer TV is not very exciting since I don’t watch any television at all between the end of the NBA playoffs and the start of the NFL season.
Sena is a great character – most of the characters from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai are – which greatly influences my opinion of her, but I may just wait until GSC does their version of her, since I ordered their Yozora figure and I assume their Sena figure will be closely matched to it.
I am not so certain that everyone likes Asmodeus; everyone says she is fat 🙁 Which she really is, I must admit. Or at least the figure is; I don’t know that she looks quite as bulky in her artwork. I’m quite hoping the successive figures in the series slim down a bit. Or a lot. Slimming down a lot would be better. I think I’m interested in Lucifer and Satan of the other characters in the series; I like their designs and it’d be really, really cool to be able to say that I have Satan in my collection.
Alter is making a figure of Laura; presumably a painted sample should show up very soon. They put her in a maid outfit, which I am ambivalent about. She kinda reminds me a lot of the Muramasa figure that Max Factory released not very long ago.
I saw that Laura figure, but I have even less of a thing for maids than bunny outfits. When I read about her getting a figure, I was stoked, and then I saw the pictures of the maid outfit.
I do like the Ignis figure from a sculpting standpoint, but the bottom of the dress looks like plastic in the promo shots. She does look great with her top off though.
Yeah, maid outfits don’t really trigger a reaction for me, at least not by themselves, unlike sci-fi bodysuits and sportswear and stuff. Kinda disappointing that they decided to go an alternative route with their IS figures instead of doing their pilot suits.
This probably won’t help the cause… But there are rumours going around that the bunny-suit-Charlotte has been cancelled by Kotobukiya. Anyone able to elaborate…? Though for such a figure (and quite decently sized to boot), it was pretty cheap at 6k yen so I too was contemplating pre-ordering, until today.
Anyways…
– Aya Kagura – very close to hitting the pre-order button. The ‘plain-ness’ whereas most other figures have some sort of sexy ala ecchi-theme thing going on. Well, it’s a refreshing change.
– Saber – might as well take a gamble and see if it hits the bargain bin again. Heck, it was an impulse buy when she hit the mid-high 3k yen mark and I kicked myself for missing that ever since.
– Reiko from Fault!! – Tempted… More so as I only just learned that they’re making another version of the visual novel.
Most odd it would be if that were true, although I guess it wouldn’t be unprecedented, since they mysteriously cancelled a figure of some Sora no Woto character after it had gone up for sale. I remember Alphamax also cancelled a figure of a character from that one softcore incest manga … shoot, what was it called … Aki Sora, that’s it.
I’m still waffling on Saber, I have Saber Lily and Saber Alter so I would like to get Saber to complete the trio, but Saber has my least favorite sculpt and pose out of the three. I’m thinking that if I have to convince myself that I want a figure, I probably don’t really want the figure.
Concerning the GSC poll: http://www.goodsmile10th.jp/sousenkyo/answer2.html
※投票数ã§å†è²©å•†å“ãŒæ±ºå®šã™ã‚‹ã‚ã‘ã§ã¯ã”ã–ã„ã¾ã›ã‚“。
Reprinting isn’t determined by the votes cast.
So basically, even though Caliburn was #1, there is no telling as to whether they’ll reprint. Also, the items that have been determined (Flandre/Sakuya Nendoroid, Saber Excalibur, etc.) have been “stamped” on this page, which makes me wonder if they’re also going to reprint others in the future. Caliburn is selling between 22,000 and 25,000 yen on Mandarake ― that’s profit margin that GSC could be making.
patience is the key I suppose. Reprinting them all at once will oveload the production line for sure, not to metion their newly announced ones to be made as well.
Yeah, the results page says the same thing, which begs the question as to why they ran a poll at all, since anyone could’ve checked prices on the secondary market to determine which figures are most in demand. The only thing that surprises me about the top twenty scale figures is that Morrigan placed that highly, though that’s probably a result of my own bias as I’ve never played a Darkstalkers game.
oh yes, that why some guys from the midle east and asia invented the hindu arabic numbers for this reason, hehehe and yet the church banned the new system initially due to “some issues”. Going on topic, I guess the se: kirara series is thier experimental project to see if they could produce original designs. And yes, the figure itself is great and simple. Looking forward for shizuno as well. And there’s the influx of sabers out there, so many that collecting all of them will drain you mana in an instant. And since nanoha movie second a’s will commence this summer, I guess we could look forward on the “aftermath” of it I suppose.
It’ll be interesting to see if Alter does a whole bunch of new figures for the second Nanoha movie; they’ve never been one to shy away from making Nanoha figures, but I have the sense that their most recent ones (like Phantom Minds and swimsuit Fate and the school uniform Nanoha) didn’t sell all that well. I’m kinda hoping they move on to Force, instead.
Now that you think about it, even school uniform vivio and plain clothes fate did not sell that much as well. How could we wish that despite of this, they should continue doing figures for them. Their next resort could be their summer holiday series right now. The barrier jackets from force, particularly nanoha and fate will be humongous than their strkers versions, their weapons in particular. Doing them in figure form will be amazing.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other major StrikerS characters get a swimsuit version – I’m expecting Vivio to get one, since she shows up in the illustration that Nanoha’s design is based on, and given that they went with an original pose for Fate, it’s reasonable to think they’d make some new figures of Hayate and such. I wonder if they’ll make a swimsuit loli Nanoha to go with the Fate figure? I was thinking that they’d do one, but FREEing has the big 1/4 scale one coming out this summer, as does some other maker … Ques Q, I think? I forget. And I think Kotobukiya has done one too, though I might be misremembering in my old age.
AWESOME OUTLOOK!
I see a couple that I am definitely looking forward to see in your reviews 😛
I think I can guess which ones. Well, I think I can guess one for sure; I know everyone wants to see Reiko. Heck, I want to see other people’s pictures of Reiko already.
Reiko, Sen, and Charlotte look very nice. I can’t wait! :3
By the time I saw Char she was sold out. I’d prefer one of China but I don’t think they really had any outfits I cared for in the series anyway. This one of Char is pretty cute though, I’m not sure how many silly posed figures I have. I can’t think of any… I hope she hits the bargain bin or they sell a few more copies, I’d like to pick one up. Yes yes, despite the size of her rack.
I don’t think I have any figures that exude silliness either, except maybe the E2046 Saber figure I got, which I’m still not sure whether I want to review because it’s pretty silly, even though I kinda like it.
Which E2046 Saber is that?
This one right here! Beautiful, is it not? And very faithful to the design, too!
It’s not really silly.. but it’s definitely not something I’d ever imagine Saber looking like. Does that make it silly?
That’s not silly at all! All that I can say is “Legs – legs – legs” Bring it on! Please!
>> Aka
Perhaps not … I think the thing that makes it silly is that the sculpt is actually based off of a Hyung Tae Kim character design from the game Magna Carta 2. Not that I have a problem with that, though; actually, the thing that bugs me the most about it is that her eyes are purple. Though I often see artwork of Saber with blue eyes, and sometimes I wonder if there’s some in-universe rationale for that that I don’t know about.
>> TomTheCat
Indeed! Maybe I’ll do a Weird Saber week … gangsta lean Saber first and then this one. Would be pretty funny, I think, particularly since Fate/stay night seems to be one of those franchises with a very fervent following.
I just went “wut?” when I saw the bunny girl Charlotte. Passed over pretty quickly because Charl is pretty much at the bottom of my IS girls ranking somewhere with Rin. Maybe interest will pick up when they do a Cecilia, or Laura.
as for Ignis. I’m passing because I don’t have particularly great memories of their first Ignis the White. The red was better and the limited availability helped a lot. But this one is just a regular release. Maybe if they release a limited edition variant, then maybe I’ll get some interest…
If Alter does a Cecillia figure, I wonder what outfit they’ll put her in. I hope they don’t just put her in a frilly noble lady’s dress or something.
I have pretty bad memories of their first Ignis; it was the first figure I got that suffered from leaning problems and I kept breaking her sword in half. I’m assuming that this Ignis will be made of sterner stuff.
Pretty Much looking foward for the Ignis Figure and Inia Sestina and already got them pre-ordered. ^_^ Still waiting for Play-Asia to get a pre-order of the Charlotte up, otherwise have to go thru my regular channels to get her. The news on her pre-orders getting sold out quickly is surprising, but like when I stated above it’s not totally unexpected 😕
Ignis looks pretty amazing. It’ll be interesting to see if more Kotobukiya figures sell out like Ignis and Inia do.
Had no idea that Triumphant Excalibur version was in the bargain bin before! I know I initially passed up on her but I have got her on pre-order right now. Interesting to see Fault getting a new release, I am definitely going to play that. I am not exactly sure where the disappointment on the Shining series… I know they recycled old characters from previous games into the latest game but that’s not necessarily a bad thing since I never did play the old ones…. and I wanted to see them in the new game.
Yeah, she got marked down pretty big; if I remember right, she’s at least part of the reason why Amiami marks all their GSC figures “For sale in Japan only.”
My disappointment in the Shining series comes from having been introduced to the franchise by Shining in the Darkness and then the Shining Force games, up to Shining Force 3 (the first scenario) on the Saturn. They were fantastic tactical RPGs and dungeon crawlers, but now the series seems to be focused on pandering to the moe lover crowd. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing – I’d probably have to include myself in the moe lover crowd, though I don’t necessarily know what constitutes moe – but it’s disappointing to see Sega prostitute one of their proudest franchises in this manner.
I NEED Asmodeus. Sadly, she’s an exclusive, and from what I understand, I’ll need to pony up the tab upon preordering her, but preorders are going on through July 10th..? So I have some time to think about it. But I need her. The sculpt is incredibly detailed, and her bulky outfit DOES come off. I’ve actually never straight-up imported a figure before. Tips?
There’s two options I would look into. The first is going through a proxy service like Yokatta; you flip them an e-mail telling them what you want to buy, they’ll send a response telling you how much to send them via Paypal, you pay them, and then you wait until the figure is released. Then they’ll send you a request to pay for shipping and mail your box to you. It’s pretty straightforward and for me, the most significant difference between this system and purchasing domestically is that the parcel requires a signature for delivery.
The other option is to hope that a US retailer stocks the figure. I don’t know what the chances are of that, but many Hobby Japan-exclusive figures show up in US stores; I’ve seen a bunch of Queen’s Blade figures (like the half-naked Sigui figure) and Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls figures show up at Big Bad Toy Store, and it’s not out of the question that the Seven Deadly Sins figures could show up there, too. Though checking their prices, it looks like it’s even more expensive to order from them than it is to import.
Found Charlotte at Anime Island for pre-order…so I ordered her. I hear there is a Laura coming down the pipeline in the same style. Hopefully she has a cheerful, or at least amusing, expression too.
To be honest the facial expression and magnetic bunnies are what sold me on her.
I looked through a Chinese figure board and there was a suggestion there that Kotobukiya might make more units of Charlotte, which wouldn’t be surprising since they’d make more money that way. It’ll be interesting to see what Laura looks like; I kinda get the sense she wouldn’t be too happy to be squeezed into a bunnysuit, but I think her expression ought to be amusing.
Yeah I would expect to see a pretty surly look out of Laura, possibly even uncomfortable. The nice thing about finding it on Anime Island is that the price appears to be really good compared to if I had purchased it on Amiami.
It looks like there are images for the Bunny Girl IS girls now. I like Laura and the girl with brown hair (Huang maybe).
http://myfigurecollection.net/image/I_Kyubey1338260809.jpeg
They do not like hotlinking images, it seems. I would guess that that is Houki; I liked how she looked in the picture too, which is too bad since she’s my least favorite character in the show.
I got Asmodeus; she looks pretty wonderful for Lust. I also only like her, Satan, and Lucifer; the others don’t seem to match their sin all that well or don’t look as badass as Satan does. It’s too bad. I’m kinda sad Mammon’s boobs are so big; she does seem fatter that Asmodeus does. As for the tissue cover, it’s only worth it if you want a naked 2D picture of Asmodeus on your tissue box. That’s all it really is; it’s more worth 500 yen to me, lol.
But, when you said Asmodeus is fat, I didn’t see it at first. Now I think know why people call her “fat”; compared to the figures above her she doesn’t look as skinny. But, honesty, I think that’s a good thing as her boobs are the fattest thing on her body. Those suckers give off the illusion that she is fat (and bulky) to me. Maybe it’s the strip pattern as well? But, she is healthy skinny given her boobs, just look at her stomach and overall waist. Those look too small for her to be fat, haha. At least she doesn’t have any love handles around her…
Yeah, I was hoping the other sins would look a bit more intimidating. Gluttony, Sloth, and Leviathan look more cute than badass; also, Leviathan kinda reminds me of a bulkier version of Mizore Shiroyuki. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, I just thought it was strange that that was the first thing I thought of when I saw her character design.
Speaking of bulky – yeah, I think her large breasts make her look more plump. For me though, I think the size of her head is what makes me think that way; her head looks sort of small for her body, since anime characters often have relatively large heads. I wouldn’t have a problem with her body shape if her head was a bit larger.