Having run this site for almost five years now, I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon: every time someone links to this site, a note is typically appended stating something to the effect that this site might be adult-oriented or explicit or somesuch. I’m not really sure why people make these sorts of allegations – I mean, a lot of those links come from anime or hobby-oriented boards, and has anyone seen what goes on in anime these days? At any rate, it seems appropriate to note this for the thirtieth preorder outlook post. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything too explicit to look at today – by anime standards, anyway. By any other standard, I think some of this stuff might be grounds for a court summons.
January
Narika Shihoudou from Beat Blades Haruka
A few years ago, a number of companies produced figures of the Beat Blades Haruka girls. These days, not many manufacturers look towards eroge for characters to adapt, which is quite unfortunate since many H-games feature very attractive character designs. It’s a bit surprising to see a new figure of Narika; personally, I’d really much rather see a figure of Subaru, who has never gotten a PVC figure, but beggars cannot be choosers. This figure presumably presents Narika in one of her bad endings; I’ve never seen them (the only ending I’ve seen is the regular one where the protagonist hooks up with Haruka; this was very annoying to me because I was trying mightily to mack on Subaru). She looks nice, and although there are some aspects I don’t care for – such as the transparent hair – I think I’ll probably order this one.
Calne Ca from a video on Youtube
I never thought Calne Ca would get a figure but I guess the market for Vocaloid goods is so large that even a figure like this can make it to market. I have to give Union Creative International a lot of props for taking this sort of risk. I’m kinda thinking of picking this one up but I guess I’m leaning against it, since aside from the humor value, I’m not really sure it fits into my collection. I think I’d be more inclined to buy it if it were a 1/6 scale doll, like Medicom’s Real Action Heroes line; that way, I would be able to use it with the president.
February
Ikusu Mizutani from Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
I must admit that I know nothing of Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!, but I know what “imouto” means and any non-ero anime that has that word (or “papa” or “onii-chan”) in its title is one that I know I ought to avoid. Sure enough, the Wikipedia article says that it’s yet another incest-themed anime (though one without the courage of its convictions) and I notice that every episode title includes the word “imouto.” That means my interest in this figure is based entirely off of its appearance, and it’s obvious why this figure appeals to me. Quality-wise, it doesn’t look too stellar, being that she has helmet hair and her face is a bit plain – but seriously, when a figure is wearing nothing but a ribbon and a thong, I’m not going to waste time nitpicking those things.
Konoe Tsuruma from Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imoto ga Iru!
Everything written above applies to Konoe, too.
Kanoko Kikuchiya from Velvet Kiss
This figure didn’t get a lot of remarks when it showed up at last summer’s Wonder Festival, but I was very happy to see it. I found out about Velvet Kiss relatively recently; it’s not a terribly original story (washed-up guy and tsundere girl hook up under fairly unfavorable circumstances -> girl warms up to guy -> guy and girl fall in love) but the artwork by Chihiro Harumi is gorgeous. I was further pleased when Project H Books picked it up for US distribution (that was particularly unexpected since the both the US manga and hentai industries seem to be dead). Unfortunately, the finished product isn’t quite what I was hoping for. For one, it’s polystone, which I don’t really like since it jacks up the cost while providing no benefits to the collector. And second, I don’t really know that the figure captures the beauty of the artwork. But then, I’ve bought more expensive figures for flimsier reasons, and it’s hard to pass up Kano, since it seems unlikely she’ll get any more figures in the future.
March
Olivia from Rage of Bahamut
Definitely an eye-catching figure, not just because of the wings and outfit but also because of the design. She looked very familiar to me but it took me a few seconds to realize that she’s designed by Mushimaro Tachikawa, the artist who did the character designs for Cave’s Xbox 360 shooting game Akai Katana. I’m still hoping that someone makes a figure of Sumire but Olivia looks pretty nice, too. Unfortunately, she sold out very rapidly at most of the major Japanese retailers. I’m not sure why some Kotobukiya figures are in such short supply, but they also sell stuff in the United States and she’s still available at stores like BBTS.
Seraphim from Is This a Zombie?
Being that I am ordering FREEing’s Eucliwood bunny figure, it seems only proper that I order Seraphim as well. And I think I probably will, though I kinda wish that her bunnysuit were blue instead. Being that Seraphim is one of the few characters in anime to wear blue jeans (along with Railgun’s Kaori Kanzaki, who looks more than a bit similar), I tend to associate her with blue. At any rate, she looks cute – not nearly as eye-catching as Eucliwood, in my view, but still quite cute.
April
Lucifer from The Seven Deadly Sins
I’ve got the regular Lucifer sitting on the unopened box pile, along with Asmodeus and Leviathan, and I guess I should review them some time, certainly before the anime hits televisions and torrent trackers. Another Lucifer figure is scheduled to come out next year; this one is 1/7 scale instead of 1/8, and it features this cute little demon wearing an abbreviated swimsuit. As such, it looks great. Unfortunately, it’s nominally a Hobby Japan exclusive but there are a number of American shops that have it up for order, including BBTS, which is probably where I’ll order it if I decide against using a proxy service.
June
Princess Milk from Hime to Boin
It feels like we’ve been waiting for this figure forever, but it’s finally available. I’ve been looking forward to this figure, particularly since I like Toshihide Sano’s artwork; I just hope it’s one of Orchid Seed’s good figures and not one of their bad ones. Also, maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s insane that this figure is available for order but won’t ship until next summer – and given that Orchid Seed isn’t the most punctual company out there, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it slip to fall.
I ordered Olivia. I love winged girls. I also just saw Narika on Amiami, but not knowing the source I shall pass on her.
The mutant Miku thing kind of tempts me because it is so different, but it also doesn’t fit in with my collection at all, so I’m passing on it.
I’m also holding out for the last couple Sins girls to be painted. I’ve liked all of them so far but all of them have mutant chests. There’s two remaining who may be better in that department so I will just wait and see. It’s a shame so many gorgeous girls are ruined with grotesque lumps of fat.
Olivia – figure of the year!
Narika is from Beat Blades Haruka! She is a feisty, lively ninja girl who attempts to subvert the lead guy’s affection for the lead girl (Haruka) in order to secure him for herself. She fights with a giant throwing star which, if I remember right, is actually some sort of flying snake. I don’t quite recall how that works. I think she’s also the only one amongst herself, Haruka, and Subaru who doesn’t have sex with an animal.
I’m interested in Satan and maybe Mammon … Mammon’s breasts kind of scare me, but the unpainted version didn’t look too bad. Hopefully she and Satan turn out okay. I’m still wondering if they’re going to insert a hapless male lead into their upcoming anime. I really hope they don’t.
I’m waiting to see Beelzebub and Belphegor painted, both have nice prototypes, but will wait for final product photos before I commit to either.
Also mildly interested in Satan despite her oversized chest; at least she’s not as bad as some others have been. Just have to wait and see!
I also need to set aside some money for a dollfie. Youmu is coming, and hopefully Yuyuko will follow her, so I will get both.
Ahh, the big-ass dolls; they seem to seduce everyone. I guess it’s not much of a stretch to go from PVC figures to dolls; that’s pretty much how I went (though I was into 1/6 scale dolls, rather than the big stuff that’s so popular now).
Olivia’s purple and orange color scheme is murder on my eyes. It’s really a shame since I was looking forward to seeing her excellent sculpt painted. Her armor plates scream for some detailed shading, or at least a darker shade of gold. Unfortunately, her current state is probably the upper limit of what Koto can realistically deliver.
The complete lack of shading on Princess Milk’s dress makes her look unfinished. The rest of her looks gorgeous. It’s like OS decided that no one’s going to display her with the dress on anyways so why bother.
I kinda like it, though I see the purple as complementary to her outfit. I’ve noticed that I usually ignore wings on characters; when Dizzy came out everyone oohed-and-ahhed over her wings but I didn’t really pay much attention to them, and I hadn’t noticed the color of Olivia’s wings until you pointed it out. It’ll be interesting to see how she and Daisy turn out; historically, I’ve kinda seen Kotobukiya as a middling manufacturer but now it seems they’re trying to make high-end products to go with their low-end figures (all the Bishoujo stuff, and some of the Shining stuff they did back in the day). I guess that shouldn’t be surprising, given that they also do a ton of figures aside from the anime PVC stuff (I’d thought about including their upcoming 1/6 scale Psylocke, but since it’s not sculpted by a Japanese dude I figured nobody here would care about it).
Also, you might want to note that Princess Milk will only reveal her ’92G’ parts, according to that factory sample. I mean, can you believe it? The obvious part, is screaming out loud claiming ‘center of attention’ in this work of art, and then, there you can even clearly see a horizontal crack that serves no purpose, if unremovable. *sigh*
Yeah, I thought that was surprising; I looked over the sample pictures over at Akibahobby and Moeyo thinking that the underpants were removable, and I was quite surprised to find that they aren’t. Admittedly, her pose is raunchy enough that they might not have wanted to go there since they’d have to include a ton of detail, but it’s still disappointing.
Funny that you and I seem to think about preorder posts around the same time.
ok, you publish them earlier XD
Narika doesn’t look like Narika, wasn’t she supposed to be cute?
Wahhh Monster Miku is pretty hardcore, not what I seek in figures After all before they come up with something like that, I demand one Miku figure with a NICE BIG RACK, Im serious with that.
The ribbon girls of Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imoto ga Iru! are really nice, but Im more interested in the one with the curly hair ^^
After Kobato’s cheap skintexture Im over with trusting Kotobukiya, improving quality my ass, I will only trust them as far as I can throw a fridge from now on. You see Im totally furious about my latest Koto purchase. Olivia looks unbelievable good, though. I doubt that they can maintain this quality in mass production hahahahaha “ψ(｀∇´)ψ
Seraphim as bunny ;D Im so sad that anime had not more figure adaptions, the characterdesigns were nice enough for that. Why?
1/7 is probably a better scale to compliment the sex appeal of the The Seven Deadly Sins, A demon in bikini is interesting. As I’ve seen Mammons backside on the OS blog recently, I was like “omg! so chubby”, well good that there’s no cellulite in anime and other 2D media. I will buy her with pleasure.
The spread legs are quite bold, yet Princess Milk is too pretty to be ignored because of this, I really like her overall presentation. The panties gap is still a bit irritating, there should be a better place to hide a seamline.
I pretty much come up with these when I’m too lazy to photograph a figure XD Which has been too often as of late, I think.
The new Narika figure appears to be based off of this picture from the game, though it obviously lacks the decapitated head. I only played through the game one time so I don’t know what you need to do to turn Narika evil. (Personally, while I don’t dislike her, she was the girl I liked the least, so I pretty much ignored her through the whole playthrough.)
A busty Miku would be awesome, and I’d love to hear what her fans would say about such a figure. I remember Toshirou from Cobra Kai (the guy who sculpted gangsta lean Saber and that small-headed, big-hipped figure of Celia from Walkure Romanze) was doing a Miku sculpt a couple of years back; I wonder how that turned out, I never did see the finished version.
I didn’t get Kobato, and I haven’t seen any pictures of her, so now my curiosity is piqued XD I don’t regard Kotobukiya as being a premium maker, but I haven’t seen too many truly awful figures …
… Ehh, man, what is up with the gallery functions on Tsuki-board …. why do they keep changing the layout?
… Hmm, well, I guess it’s hard for me to tell from those pictures, since there’s such a huge variation in picture quality. I guess I would have to see her for myself. I suppose we shall see when Daisy and Olivia come out.
I kinda thought that Is This A Zombie? would get more figures, but then, I thought the same thing about shows like Infinite Stratos and Kampfer. You’d think those sorts of shows were pretty much made with merchandising in mind, but figures seem to be scarce.
I thought Mammon was going to be way too chubby, but I will wait and see what the finished version looks like. I’m not hugely into hugely curvy anime characters so I don’t think I’m going to be compelled to buy her if she does look as large as her artwork suggests.
Yeah, they really could’ve picked a better spot for that seam; I almost thought it was going to be some kind of detachment point where her panties would separate. Hopefully it’s not as noticeable in the finished product.
Lol there is a head in her hand.
Kobato only lacks in skincolor, the rest is good enough, I bought many Kotobukiya figures, but never had a figure with so unappealing skin.
It’s strange that figure manufacturers ignore certain shows, well making a figure of each show is asking for too much, but still I would like to see more “Is this a Zombie”.
I’d say Mammon is the limit for me, curves are good but not too much fat please. Hopefully the head will be normal size.
It would be pretty cool if she came with the head, but then, I guess there are so many figures with removable heads that you could probably stick one on there with some adhesive putty. I guess that might have also been objectionable since figure makers (and anime culture) seem more comfortable with sexualization than violence.
Hopefully so; I still really wish that swimsuit figure of the Walkure Romanze girl had a normal-sized head. The shrunken heads and big hips/boobs look is one that really is not my thing.
Why is it that everyone seems to hate the original Lucifer’s face and are all super pumped for the upcoming swimsuit ver? While I like both figures I have to say its the laters who’s face looks rather strange.
Also, I may finally buckle down and buy my first Miku figure with the release of Calne Ca, what a beauty!
Uhh, I dunno … I hadn’t heard anything about that though admittedly, I don’t really go out of my way to read community commentary (I’m assuming that this rhubarb was going on at Tsuki-board). I guess I haven’t really looked at mine too much – I haven’t taken it out of the box – so I’ll keep my opinions to myself until I do her post.
She is gorgeous indeed! I can imagine all the compliments she’s getting over at Tsuki-board and other forums; I’m sure she is just as well-loved.
Cat Lap Milk and Princess Milk were meant to accompany one another much in the same way the Dendrobium Sisters compliment one another. Sure they can be displayed on their own but just imagine those two in their final form.
I’m counting on you Tier unless of course you didn’t pic up Native’s latest, I know how you feel about animal ears.
I hadn’t thought about that but now that you mention it, if there scale sizes are similar, they would work perfectly together, and now I’m kinda wishing I’d purchased the Native figure. I’ve got some extra spending money now since I finished paying back my school loan (about 20 months ahead of schedule), thus freeing up a couple hundred extra dollars per month for more fun things, so maybe I’ll look around and see if she’s still available … I don’t dig the ears but I heard that the tail is detachable, at least.
Congratulations on the early wrap up! I try not to think about school debt too much… sigh.
Going to an in-state public school was one of the best decisions I ever made. Not majoring in political science or history like I was considering was probably an even better decision.
No Celia suntanned version? http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-002299&page=top
Nope, definitely not. It has all the problems I had with the earlier version and I hate tanlines.
It’ll be just Olivia for me. She’s a beaut, though. Easily my favorite new figure to come out of this past WonFes. Rage of Bahamut has resulted in some nice figures so far. I already ordered the Dark General, plus Olivia, and Max Factory’s upcoming Cerberus looks like a winner, too. All this from one of those cheesy card games that I never play.
I was interested in the Lucifer figure based on the original artwork, but I don’t like where they went with the pose. I found the original kneeling posture more alluring for whatever reason. I guess Hobby Japan felt using the original pose would make the figure too small at 1/8 scale as they don’t seem interested in doing figures at larger scales, which is a bit unfortunate.
She didn’t make your list, but I thought Phat’s Swamp Witch Metallica looked pretty badass. She’ll be my first figure from them, so I’m not sure what to expect.
Ah, I really prefer Lucifer’s standing pose; I don’t much like figures that are kneeling since it makes them shorter and hides their legs for no benefit, or at least no benefit that I would appreciate. In my view, that would be particularly problematic for Lucifer, since her boots are awesome; I’d be pretty bummed out if her boots were tucked under her and less noticeable.
I think I only have one figure by Phat Company, which would be the Vocaloid Lily girl. I was very much unimpressed by it but perhaps they have gotten better. Certainly the other companies that GSC works with – FREEing and Gift – seem to have gotten better over the last year or so.
Velvet Kiss good. Polystone…………bad!
Lucifer……….gahhh! What happened to her face?!
Milk Princess………arrgh! June 2014?!
The bad…………….when is Tier gonna do a photo shoot of Sword Princess jubei Yagyu lol!
Which Yagyu Jubei is that? I’ve got a bunch of figures in the review queue but I don’t think I’ve got another Jubei in the pipeline, unless you’re referring to the big-ass Azone doll, which I’m still undecided on.
Front pantsu flashing Sword Princess Jubei………..the one with the silver hair and fox ears and looks like Gisen.. The doll looks good too.
Ah, I think I remember that one. I never had any plans to get it, though, since I don’t really like animal ears. I do remember thinking how odd it was that they gave her ears, since I don’t recall her having animal ears in the anime. (But then, I’ve kinda blocked out a lot of both seasons, so I may have just forgotten about it.)
She makes an appearance in episode 12 in the second season. What about the lesbian Keiji Maeda? The gal with a hole in her back side pantsu and an umbrella? She looks good too.
It is a good thing that I stopped watching the second season about halfway through, then. Yeah, I ordered Keiji, though I ordered it through Hobbyfan and I’m not sure if they’ll actually fulfill my order, since I’ve never used them for a Hobby Japan product before. I haven’t heard bad things about them, though, so I’m optimistic.
I noticed Kanoko Kikuchiya as soon as the first few photos popped up from Summer Wonfest. I didn’t know anything about Velvet Kiss at the time. Only a couple of weeks ago, when I went to pick up the latest Nana to Kaoru volume (Localisation in my country is somewhat behind) at my manga store, the shop owner recommended a new series called Velvet Kiss, of which the first volume had just arrived (Again, localistaion etc…) When I browsed through it, I immediately noticed a picture which depicted this very figure! Needless to say, I purchased the manga and I quite liked it.
When the painted prototype of the figure was released, I had to realize that the face doesn’t represent Kano properly. Could be the angles and/or the lighting though. Additionally, she’s made of polystone. While the figure, along with its color variation (Brown hair, black shirt, red boots) is very pretty in its own right, the nondescript face and the price tag have kept me from preordering.
Calne Ca, the praying mantis Miku, just freaks me out.
Olivia is extremely impressive. But I’ve also reached a point where I have to cut back on spending money and space. The main thing people are arguing about is if Koto will be able to reproduce the obvious quality of the prototype in the series production.
Lucifer has one fantastic body. Unfortunately, I’m one of the folks who liked the pose of the original art better than this standing one. Well, a standing pose in itself isn’t bad of course, but her right leg really looks awkward here. The art on the poster that comes with the limited edition looks very good on the other hand…
That’s pretty awesome that you’ve got a local shop with people who can recommend stuff. I live near a pretty big city (Washington, D.C.) but there aren’t really any options around here for manga or anime goods. Heck, I don’t think the town I live in even has a bookstore anymore; the local Borders closed up when that company went under a year or two back. I order pretty much everything online nowadays but back when I was in college, I used to go to the local comic book store every week; I kinda miss being able to browse and talk to the shop owner.
But yeah, I’m still hesitant on the Kano figure too, since I don’t think it’s everything it should be. The trouble is, I have a hard time believing that she’ll ever get another figure; on the other hand, they are rolling out so many variants it’s also hard to believe that this figure won’t hit the bargain bin fairly quickly after release. And as you say, the face doesn’t really capture how nice her character design is.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Daisy and Olivia turn out. I’ve had my doubts about Kotobukiya as well, but they’ve been assuaged somewhat by how nice their pilot suit Muv-Luv figures are. Hopefully those two upcoming and very highly-anticipated figures will turn out well.
At first, I really disliked the colors of Dark Angel Olivia’s wings… but then I saw some promo shots with proper lighting on them. It seems like proper lightning will be really important in bringing out her best.
Not considering any Senran Kagura Chara-Ani figures? I imagine you could do some fun things with the “new breast material” and tentacles there.
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-002848
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-002363
http://img.amiami.jp/images/product/review/133/FIGURE-002363_14.jpg
She’ll definitely be fun to light. I haven’t thought about how I want to present her but a figure that nice will look good in almost any setting, I think.
Nah, I didn’t even notice those; Senran Kagura seems like it should appeal to me greatly but I’ve never gotten into it; I haven’t seen any of the anime, actually, which is a little odd, since I normally like those sorts of trashy, fan-servicey shows (I really like the pro wrestling anime that’s airing right now). Man, though, those are some expensive-ass 1/8 scale figures. I’m not too familiar with Chara-ani, I think, but even if Alter were making them, I’d have to think twice about spending that much money on a 1/8 scale figure. It is pretty awesome how they used the Prince of Tentacles in their promo photos, though.
Senran Kagura is a pretty typical fan-servicey show, but the game is pretty good beat ’em up with juggle combos… and a surprisingly good story. Now that it’s been localized, it’s a good chance to grab it off the Nintendo 3DS eShop.
They are indeed pretty kind of pricey. Must be that new material. They’re the most attractive pencil holders I’ve ever seen though. 😛 I don’t know anything about Chara-ani, which makes me anxious.
Unfortunately, I lack a 3DS, which is a big reason why I haven’t gotten into the show. I’m not really a big handheld person … I’ve got a PSP somewhere here but I haven’t turned it on in at least a year, and I’m not sure where I put my Persona 3 Portable UMD, which is the main reason I bought it. I might check it out at some point, though; most of the anime being broadcast now doesn’t really interest me too much, but Senran Kagura does sound like the sort of show that would appeal to me. (I’m assuming it lacks a male main character, which I would count as a significant plus in its favor.)
They are indeed! The photographer and photo director must’ve had a fun time shooting those figures. I kinda have the feeling they’ll show up cheap on Mandarake someday, so maybe I’ll take a look at them later on, if they do.
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/review?scode=FIGURE-003826&page=top
Tier………another Tony vixen.
I was wondering when this one would show up, and I was curious as to how big it is. I’m pretty pleased that it’s 1/6 scale; it was going to be on the buy list even if it were 1/8, but 1/6 makes me feel even better about it. Interesting that Shunjii Hagii is the sculptor; I guess that’s why FREEing is listed as a partner company on Dragon Toy’s webpage.