It’s the end of the month and that means it’s time for me to think about which figures I am contemplating ordering. I didn’t think there would be too many candidates this month but to my surprise, the figure companies have been very busy. There’s Daisy’s sister, a girl in a dominatrix pose, a girl with no name, a many-tentacled god, and of course, a couple of Kantai Collection figures, though it’s a little discouraging how few of them impress.
December
Alisia Heart from To Heart 2 Dungeon Travelers
Throughout the years, Dungeon Travelers has been a popular (though intermittent) source of inspiration for figure makers. This will be the second figure of Alisia Heart, the first having been released by Kaitendoh not too long ago. The older figure doesn’t look nearly as pretty as Alter’s figure, but it did have the virtue of showing more skin. Alter’s Alisia is really cute and I do like anime-style fighting girls, but I don’t think I feel compelled to buy this figure. I am curious to see whether Alter makes their December release date, though; I can’t say that I’m optimistic.
Tomoka Minato from Ro-kyu-bu!
I actually already own this figure, or rather, I own the one with the pink outfit, and I hope to review it soon. However, I really like this one much more; Tomoka is quite cute but there’s something about a loli in black latex that strongly appeals to me. I’d feel a little silly owning two versions of this figure but maybe I can sell or give away the older figure after I receive this one.
Yuki Mori from Space Battleship Yamato 2199
I own MegaHouse’s earlier Yuki Mori figure too, though that at least is a completely different figure so I wouldn’t feel reluctant to pick up this figure. And I’m pretty sure I will since she looks quite nice. I’m not so sure how much fanservice Space Battleship Yamato 2199 has – I sort of imagine it to be a fairly serious show – but it’s pretty obvious that Yuki is meant to be eyecandy here, what with the way you can look right down her suit. She looks great, and I think I’m going to preorder her, even though I know I’d feel really silly if her figure got the same sort of price cut that some of her shipmates have gotten.
January
Event Staff Girl
Despite being one of the better-respected and longer-tenured ero-anime artists out there, Ishikei hasn’t gotten a lot of figures based on his work. The most well-known would certainly be Native’s Chie figure from a few years back. This figure – based on promotional art created for one of the Comic Market conventions from a while ago – probably isn’t going to be as high-quality but it still looks very nice. I guess this will be my first figure from Wing, unless I come across that Neptune figure they released a few months back; I never did check up to see how that one turned out, now that I think about it. If it was good, hopefully Event Staff Girl will be good, too.
Nyaruko from Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W
Gee, I own Max Factory’s earlier Nyaruko figure and I haven’t reviewed that one, either. Depressing. FREEing’s figure is, of course, much larger than Max Factory’s figure, being 1/4 scale, and is also considerably more covered up. Nyaruko seems to be in the same vein as all of FREEing’s earlier bunny figures – big, not too detailed, but still pleasing to look at. I wouldn’t say Nyaruko is a high priority but maybe if stuff gets delayed I might put in an order for her, or perhaps she’ll hit the bargain bin and I can pick her up there.
Shirley Warwick from Amairo Islenauts
I was a little surprised to see a character from Amairo Islenauts get a figure, since not too many companies make figures of obscure characters from random eroge anymore. Shirley is made by Broccoli, though – if I remember correctly they make a ton of anime merchandise but I am not at all familiar with their figures. She does look very cute and I like how her pose is so showy; a lot of companies try to minimize pantyshots in their promotional photographs. I’m not sure why; I would think that they would want to emphasize that if they want to sell as many units as possible, but I suppose they just like playing coy. Anyway, I like how Shirley looks and she’s not too expensive. I’ll need to look around and see how Broccoli’s figures turn out but I’m kinda leaning towards ordering her.
Mikan Yuuki from To-Love Ru
I skipped Alter’s earlier Mikan since I wasn’t too enamored of her prone pose. This one, though, I like. Well, sort of; I’m not really a big fan of the archetypical school swimsuit but it looks nice on Mikan. Everything looks nice on Mikan, though. I’m also happy to see that this figure is a little larger than I thought it would be, though it’s a unfortunate that it’s not 1/6 scale, which is the size of Max Factory’s Momo and Mea figures. Regardless, I’m pretty sure I’ll get this figure. I see that Alter also put up a dual-figure package of Charlotte and Cecilia from Infinite Stratos looking all friendly, but I’m tired and this post is already over-long (they posted up Mikan and the IS girls as I am finishing up writing) so I’ll write something about them next month. I’ll just say that my first reaction is that it would look cooler if they were grabbing each other’s ass.
February
Annabel from Tony’s Heroine Collection
I was a little surprised to see this character get a figure so soon, as usually we see pictures of the painted sample before the figure actually becomes available for order. I’m not complaining, though, as she looks fantastic. Daisy is one of my favorite figures and I’m sure her sister will be, too.
Elizabeth Mably from Freezing Vibration
I’m ordering Satellizer’s partner without a doubt; she looks great but the two of them together are definitely special. I just hope Elizabeth’s perch upon Satella’s backside is stable.
Mutsu from Kantai Collection
For some reason there have been a host of Kantai Collection figures produced by companies that most collectors wouldn’t consider top-tier. Such is the case with Mutsu and Nagato, both produced by Penguin Parade. Not to say that they are a poor manufacturer, but it does force a decision as to whether I want to buy the first possible thing or wait and see if a company like Max Factory or Alter produces a higher-quality figure. On top of that she’s got a really high price tag, though the improving USD/JPY exchange rate mitigates that a bit. Her ship parts don’t really look all that impressive, either.
Nagato from Kantai Collection
I guess I would say Nagato is my favorite design amongst all the Kantai Collection girls, and I hope someone will make a really nice figure of her. I don’t think that this one qualifies, although it does look nice – just not superlative, which is what I am hoping for. The same sort of criticisms and apprehensions apply here, and I have the feeling I’m better off seeing whether Nagato hits the bargain bin or if Max Factory rolls one out (and I mean a scale-size one, not that weird Figma-sized midget stuff they are doing now).
I always put too much effort in the header picture, so my preorder post comes always after yours XD
Alisia Heart is quite the cute knight and actually a beautiful figure, but nothing really special
in need for preordering. But Im sure that she is really photogenic.
Tomoka in black, yes you have some taste, it gives her a more professional look, if someone can say this about a bunny suit ;D
I wanted this Yuki Mori figures because of the more relaxed pose and sex appeal, but now her facial expressions seem so silly. Maybe it is less prominent in person.
That is also my first figure from Wing, I think they will do a decent job lik with the latest products.I love the blonde mascot, she’s so good looking, she even has red glasses, I can put on other figures.
Nyaruko looks very good in these clothes, a quite charming figure I have to say, but before I can fit in another 1/4 scale, a few figures have to leave first.
Shirley Warwick reminds me of older figures, in a good sense. A little simple design, but very cute overall.
One thing I always missed in To-Love Ru were characters with big boobs ;D Maybe it tried to be closer to reality with that. As I was watching the last few characters I was scratching my as they did all these lewd acts to really young girls. Well, To-Love Ru Darkness is pretty hardcore for ecchi comedy standards, in one episode Rito turned into a girl and another girl was diligently working on his transformed crotch, wtf. I prayed that no one would accidently enter the room XD Mikan looks indeed good, the grumpy expression is awesome.
I noticed that the “new”skintexture of Kotobukiya looks less bad on the bigger figure, it actually looks good. You should add Annabel to Daisy 😉
Hopefully Elizabeth and the other one are compatible enough to stay in place, also color transfer is a risk.
These Penguin Parade figures of Kancolle look just bad, what are they thinking with these price figure sculpts, no that would actually be an insult towards Taito and FuRyu. Nagato is my favorite heavy battleship, though. I wonder when a really creative Kancolle figure will be announced that is different from the official art…
Like the Dakimakura of Nagato you reviewed earlier this year, the less ecchi side ^^
It can be fun picking out pictures! Yeah, that’s how I feel about Alisia; she looks nice but I don’t feel like I need to have her figure in my collection so I probably won’t buy it. It’s too bad since she reminds me a bit of Buddy, which is still one of my favorite figures.
Yeah, Yuki’s look seems very playful; I’m not sure if that fits her personality since I don’t know much about Yamato 2199, but she looks cute anyway. The figure is pretty heavy on fanservice but then, I guess that’s a common thing in anime.
It does seem like the girls with the smaller busts in To-Love Ru are the most popular (though Yui seems to get the raunchiest doujinshi). It’s nice to see Max Factory and Alter making nice figures of the characters. I really wish Mikan were 1/6 scale to go with the MF figures, though.
Yeah, thinking about it a little more, I think I’m inclined to pass on the two Penguin Parade figures. I dunno, for such a popular property, Kantai Collection hasn’t really gotten very many amazing figures. Maybe once the anime airs, the figures will get better.
Haha, yeah, it would be really awesome if someone made a Nagato figure based on Cl-esta’s art XD Or a number of other artists’ art; I like most of the Kantai Collection fan art much more than I like the official art.
Nyaruko so kawaii! Want to squeeze her up. Mikan so moe and based on the sources material, what I want to do to her is simply unprintable lol! Annabelle…….I so love to get one. Have her sis Daisy and blondes are indeed bomb shells but due to financial limitations, I am now swearing off Tony figures that don’t give more bang for the buck……..which means, only full cast off will do hahaha
Nyaruko really is cute. I wish I could’ve gotten more interested in the anime she comes from, but I watched a couple of episodes and it just didn’t grab my attention. You’d think that a show featuring a hyperactive female with big boobs based on an elder god would be a little more exciting than the show really was.
Not much from this lot on my preorder list… I like the Nyaruko but not enough to overcome my hatred of bunny outfits. The Annabel is nice, but I have a feeling there won’t be a rush to order her.
They need to hurry up with some Kill la Kill figures or something, each month there’s less and less I want to preorder.
Given how well Daisy was received, I think you’re right about Annabel. I ordered right away anyway, since I recall Daisy initially sold out within a couple of days. Kotobukiya doesn’t seem to have had the weird preorder shortages that they had a few months back, at least.
Personally, I’d like to see some Cross Ange figures, like based on the final scene of the first episode. That’d be really cool.
I still find myself torn over the Freezing figures. They look great but seem so out of character…
The Nyaruko looks surprisingly good. It’s not often I see good bunny girl figure but she’s definitely one of them! Shirley Warwick looks really awesome too. But with those Busou Shinki figures sucking up so much of my funds with their exorbitant prices (and my Alisa Arriving last week), I don’t think I’ll be pre-ordering anything for a while…
Yeah, they really don’t seem to represent their characters well, though I regard that as a positive thing, since I really didn’t care much for Freezing’s plot or characterization. I think they should’ve made the TV series much more like the OVAs; it would’ve been beneficial if they had just gone heavy on the fan-service and less on the emo.
I’m doomed T_T now that I Started the Kancolle Nendo my OC to compete a sereis won’t let me stop till I complete them all. I’m holding off the
QuesQ has Mutsu planned, so does Amakuni. I will probably go with one of these if no one else decided to build her. Everyone selects this standard pose. I like her damaged version more. They really need to come up with some more official artworks so there are more options for making these figures.
I totally thought Charlotte and Cecilia are grabbing each other’s ass,until recently I saw the image of the back of the figure. I really wished they could come with bases for individual ones but that does not seem to be what Alter thinks. and I wonder if it could even be balanced if you only set up one of them on the longer base. I just want to take some pictures of them standing alone.
I am not familiar with either manufacturer, though I do have Amakuni’s Asuka and one of the Busou Shinki girls ordered. It is a little depressing how little variety there is amongst the Kantai Collection figures; I tend to get them all confused.
I wonder why Alter decided to go with a dual-figure setup; I’ve seen figures which were meant to be displayed together but usually the manufacturer just shapes the base so that they can stand close together. They’re definitely cute but the size of their mouths is sort of disconcerting.
Any interest in pre-ordering “Elevtor Girl” from native?
Yeah, I think so; I’m still deciding but it’s likely I’ll order her. I’ll write something up about her in the next preorder post.
I may perhapse be more compelled by Alisia than you, if only because I continue to perpetuate the myth that I haven’t completely succumbed to all the sexualized renditions of anime/game girls and that I’m still capable of enjoying a rock-solid character design and…whatever. It’s To Heart; is she cast-off or what?! ;D Seriously, though, I do thing she’s pretty cool.
Tomoka is very nice. I was already strongly intrigued by her original color scheme but the black does indeed look especially nice. I don’t know that I could decide between the pink or black without seeing them both at the same time but I’m glad the latter kept those fantastic little basketball embellishments.
Although I also have the original Yuki Mori figure it’s a relief to hear you clarify the degee to which this figure is different. The other is implicitly sexy whereas this one is more overtly so, yet still tasteful. I was torn for a bit because I have so many clusters of figures that are multiple renditions of the same characters but some character designs are just great and an appreciably different treatment in figure-form is often just as pleasing as the others.
I had expected to get tired of Freeing’s bunny girls way back when they were working their way through the Haruhi cast but I’m pleased that they continue to make lovely lasses like Nyaruko that somehow still inspire an interminable sense of glee when I lay eyes upon them. Sometimes old tricks are the best tricks I guess.
Shirley caught my eye for the exact same reason. It’s kinda like how some super-racy wallpapers showing all kinds of freaknastery then decide to mosiac out the naughty bits. Really?! Like somehow someone’s innocence is preserved because they’re not going to get what’s going on in the whole rest of the scene because they obsured a bit?! Yep, an undercarriage flash is pretty tame at this point and even almost way overdue.
While I do like Mikan’s design I have yet to commit to a figure of her. I’d be happy to have any one of several solid portrayals of her but it’s almost like I waiting for one to come along and smack me between the cortical lobes. Hmm, maybe Native will do one sometime. I can dream, right?
I am beside myself for Annabel’s release. I had been eyeing/expecting a couple of other classic Tony Taka images to take on figure form so I was pleasantly blind-sided by this release. This may be the most no-brainer purchase for me in this lineup.
Man those Freezing girls are great together. Maybe it’s the blush or the glasses or perhaps it’s that they’re two scantily clad ladies stacked upon one another but egads this is a great combo. The real trick will to somehow take a bit off the edge of the shipping costs. It just occurred to me that Elizabeth will likely be the only vertically oriented box in the Freeing/Freezing lineup!
The Kantai girls don’t seem too bad from my best assessment. Their ship designs are a bit awkward but I guess the dash of awkwardness in the mesh between girls and boats is part of the charm. That said, I do seem to like the damaged versions of the figures showcased thus far (probably why I harbor a middling preference towards the smaller I-168 figure). Perhaps what hurts Mutsu and Nagato more than the rest is their similarity in design; everything from their headgear to their guns are pretty close save for a few variations here or there. Anyway, I can tell that Kancolle is going to have its way with my wallet one way or the other.
I love your selections as always. Save for “Event Staff Girl” (to be fair, she may be more intriguing from other angles), I could easily picture most if not all of these ladies in my plastic harem someday. I’m a wee bit surprised that I didn’t see Hyakki Yakou (Freeing) make the list but it may be that she didn’t pop up until you had already made the list (I hadn’t caught your post myself until well after you had made it).
Yeah, Alicia looks pretty cool. I’m sure she’s going to turn out great, too. To me, she’s kind of like their Kazuno figure; both of them look nice, and a few years ago I probably would’ve bought both, but now, they don’t really compel me to buy them and my collection is at the point where I’m not going to feel too badly about passing over a figure.
I’m really digging Tomoka’s black outfit. Maybe I’ll try to pawn off the pink one and pick up the black one. That seems like a good idea. Or I guess I could just keep the pink one since I already have it. Hmm …
Some part of me is hesitant to order Yuki given the way almost all of the Yamato 2199 figures have plummeted in price shortly after release. Paying full price for Yuri and then seeing her drop to 2500 yen still smarts a bit. I’m not sure if that will happen with Yuki and I guess her price is reasonable, but I still wonder how much I’d save if I just bought figures out of the bargain bin.
The bunny girls are kinda hit or miss and I’ll admit that I’d like them better without the bunny ears, but Nyaruko really is quite cute. Then again, I do already have the Max Factory figure, which is a pretty nice figure. It is too bad that Max Factory doesn’t do anything larger than 1/6 scale.
Native doing To Love-Ru figures would be pretty funny, though I guess the series never actually shows the explicit parts. It’s a little odd how few figures it has gotten given how expansive its cast is and how popular it seems to be.
I agree about Annabel, I usually waffle on preordering figures but I put in an order for her right away.
Haha, that’s true, it’s going to be kinda funny, displaying all the other Freezing girls lying down and then there’s Elizabeth as the only one sitting upright. I’m definitely not going to think about the shipping costs, especially if she and Satellizer wind up shipping in the same month; sometimes those bills are depressing (though I’ve taken to doing monthly shipments instead of shipping out right away, which is what I used to do; it’s a little cheaper this way, I think).
The Hyakki Yakou figure – I guess her name is Oliga or Olga or something – hadn’t shown up for preorders I think, so I might make mention of it in the next preorder post but I’m not sure if I’m going to order it. It is pretty neat how her clothes are removable, though; I don’t actually recall that any of the FREEing bunnygirls were castoff-enabled.
You really can’t go wrong with either (or both) Tomoka; I keep vacillating between the two myself. Occasionally, however briefly, one will win out over the other in my head but both variants are just so damn cute. I really need to commit before they both get hard to find.
I’m tempted to presume the same about Yuki but, knowing my luck, they’ll make just enough to meet demand should I decided to hold out for the bargain bin. She’s got the right mix of goodness that I don’t have an issue with preordering her even if she gets binned except, perhaps, for the fact that there are so many figures coming out now that I can barely keep up. Then again the exchange rate is unquestionably good right now *and* she seems to be priced under the latest price hike (see Alter’s Labrys for the latest pricing trend which seems to be leaning heavily towards 11k-14k+) so yeah…
Yeah, they’re both very cute; to me, though, the black version seems sexier, which I suppose isn’t really the proper reaction for a character that looks quite young but then again, anyone who watches anime probably came to terms with that sort of thing long ago.
I was happy to see that Yuki is reasonably priced despite having some additional display parts. It’s unfortunate to see so many 1/8 scale figures priced at 9,000 yen or higher, but I guess that’ll just help me out with being a little more selective with what I buy. (In Labrys’s case, it also doesn’t help that she’s 1/8 scale, if I remember right; being that their most recent figure of Aegis is 1/6 scale, I wonder why they went with the smaller size.)