Preorder Outlook VI

I usually like to space out my preorder posts every few months, but I spent several hours last night shooting pictures, all of which I am going to throw out. That means I have no figure review ready and you know what that means: that’s right, it’s filler time! On the positive side, there have been a number of nice new figures that have been announced in the last couple of months. As usual, pictures are taken from Hobby Search, my favorite place to buy figures.

October

Ibuki Ikaruga from Asu no Yoichi!
This figure is really cute and the combination of skimpy swimsuit and giant bow tie is very appealing, but the price tag really dampens my enthusiasm for Ibuki. I’m not certain why there’s such a disparity in pricing in Alphamax’s product line, but it’s tough to justify the cost when I’m unfamiliar with the company’s quality and reputation. Still, though, I really like how this figure looks. Maybe she’ll be a possibility if I find some skrills under the couch cushions or something.

Black Rock Shooter (Animation Version)
In an ideal world, I’d hock my existing Black Rock Shooter figure on eBay, make back near what I paid for it, buy this one and come out ahead in the bargain. Or alternatively, Good Smile Company would have done this figure in a different scale, or given it something to distinguish it stylistically from their other BRS figures. Unfortunately they did not, and even more unfortunately they’ve decided to reissue their first BRS figure, removing the option of selling the original figure for an inflated price. I don’t really like buying multiple figures of the same character unless I’m very fond of that character or unless there’s something to set them apart – different scale, different sculptor, different theme, something different. I’m not sure that this figure is sufficiently distinct from the one I’ve got for me to want it, but it’s a nice-looking figure, I can’t deny that.

Buddy from Kimi ga Yobu, Megiddo no Oka de
Out of all the scythe girls that have been announced recently, I like how Buddy looks the most. It’s great how Alter plucks characters from random h-games for PVC adaptation, since some of my favorite anime-style character designs come from eroge. Now, how about a figure of Subaru from Beat Blades Haruka? Okay, I’ve come to terms that that’s never going to happen. How about figures of the two girls from Majutai 2? Even the small-boobed girl would be fine. Okay, that’s never going to happen, either.

Klan Klang from Macross Frontier
Klan Klang is looking great and I have this figure preordered. I like mecha girls and mecha girls don’t come much more badass than this. It’s funny how Amiami lists her as being 1/72 scale; hopefully she doesn’t look too far out of scale with my 1/48 Yamato VF-1s.

Kagari from Ninja Girls
I have no clue who this is, but this figure caught my eye nonetheless and I put in a preorder without thinking too hard about it. Here’s a funny thing I noticed about the manga: the image at RightStuf uses the original cover art without significant modification. However, there’s a version of the cover that censors Kagari’s backside by giving her a more conservative pair of shorts, and if you go to the publisher’s website, you get the cover for volume 3 rather than either of those images. I went to the local comic store to pick up the first volume but they didn’t have it, so I’m not certain what the US cover actually looks like. I did pick up volume 2 and flipping through it really quickly, there isn’t quite as much fanservice as I was hoping for. It still looks like a fun read, however.

November

Nodoka Haramura from Saki
I thought about ordering this figure, but I don’t think I like her stiff pose. I can think of one thing I do very much like about this figure, and I’m crass enough to admit that it’s a very persuasive argument in favor of this figure’s merits, but ultimately, I think I’m going to pass. Those wings look real bad, too; perhaps the promo pictures aren’t as flattering as they could be, we shall see.

Asuka Langley Soryu
There was an opportunity to make a really great adaptation of Asuka here, but Yamato and REFLECT blew it by giving Asuka no backside at all. I mean, look at this, she’s flirtatiously thrusting her butt out except she has no butt to thrust. This is perhaps the biggest disappointment on this list, but regardless I’ve preordered this figure because I’m a shallow moron. I’ll just have to keep her turned towards the front.

Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
I have to admire Alter’s ambition and willingness to manufacture figures that many manufacturers couldn’t even prototype, but I think their second version of Fate looks a little off. It’s the size of her head; her head looks wider than her shoulders and hips and longer than her thighs. Maybe it’s just me, I dunno. I’m not really one for lolis, though I admit that I do very much like Alter’s first Fate figure.

Xecty from Shining Wind
After waffling for a while between Max Factory’s and Kotobukiya’s version, I decided to roll with this one. I much prefer 1/6 scale to 1/7 but Kotobukiya’s looks too similar to their Elwing figure. And besides, this one looks very nice in its own right, with Xecty sporting an enigmatic expression that should be a lot of fun to photograph. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to Xecty when she was announced but now I’m quite looking forward to her.

Dead Master from Black Rock Shooter
I think I am the only figure collector in the universe who is not in the least excited by this figure.

January

Fate Testarossa from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha
Alter’s version of Fate is kinetic, dynamic, and alive; you can almost hear her screaming strangely-named battle moves in mangled English with magic circles and pyrotechnics detonating all around her. Cospa’s version is, hmm, way more chill in comparison. Staid, even. Not that staid is bad – boring would be bad but Cospa’s figure is interesting enough, with her shy smile and confident pose. Oh, and those killer abs; you could bounce a silver dollar off of those. It’s a good-looking, laid-back figure.

But that price! Man, that price is crazy. I went back through my e-mail archive and found my invoice for Alter’s first Fate figure from early 2007. She cost $64.98, and that’s from a store that is one of the more expensive mail order retailers on the web. Furthermore, I padded out the order with a bunch of Zone of the Enders DVDs to get free shipping. Considering the way the exchange rate has cratered in the last few years, both of these recently-announced Fate figures are around twice as expensive as Alter’s original, and that figure is barely more than three years old. Insane, I tell you.

I think I’m skipping both of these Fate figures, though I reserve the right to change my mind. That said, I’m keeping an eye on a couple of Fate figures, both of which exist only in kit form for now.

This figure is from Cobra Kai and is not in a chump’s 1/8 scale, not a nice 1/6 scale, but a godly 1/4 scale. 1/4 scale! That sword’s gotta be nearly two feet long. Moeyo‘s got more pictures. Both Yamato and Daiki Kougyou have adapted Cobra Kai’s work into PVC form, but a post on the sculpting circle’s message board indicates that they haven’t gotten much interest, which is a real tragedy.

This version of fate is from BUBBA, a well-known sculptor in the figure hobby. I really hope one of the big manufacturers picks this one up, because I prefer it over Alter’s and Cospa’s and would preorder it in a heartbeat. Yamato perhaps? Or maybe Max Factory? I can only hope.

This entry was posted in Preorder Outlook and tagged , , .

37 Responses to Preorder Outlook VI

  1. Shashin says:

    I had Ibuki preordered, but it was definitely one of the first to cancel when I really needed to cut back. I really liked the figure, at least in the shots, but the price is fairly steep regardless of how it looks. If I were to going to pay this much for an Alphamax figure, I wouldn’t risk it on a character I don’t know, and get the Mai figure.

    Have five of the other figures in this post preordered. I’m absolutely unfamiliar with the Magical girl series Fate comes from, so I don’t have any of her figures preordered.

  2. Sloth says:

    I am in agreement with most of what you’re saying.

    Especially Dead Master. I just can’t understand the hype around it. It looks great but there’s nothing that I find special about it. Even though I wasn’t a fan of the original BRS I could still see that it’s a masterpiece in other people’s eyes but with original DM I’m left puzzled as to why people love her so much.

  3. Innosin says:

    holy, just went to hobby search and saw the price of Ibuki, no wonder you guys are complaining about her price.
    I really don’t recognize the first three figures at all, I really like the Asuka figure, but I have already pre-order the 1/4 Kanu at E2046, and planning to get an airbrush set, so I need to save up XD

  4. CGue says:

    i am not excited about dead master figure, not even the slightest.

    i dont own any BRS related products.. (Even vocaloids too..)

    nice reviews by the way~

  5. Aka says:

    Ibuki’s cold cast isn’t she? They’re always more expensive. I passed over Alpha Max’s Horo figure in part because of that, and in part because her rib cage seemed awfully large.

    Buddy seems like a boring character in that pose, however Googling the series and seeing the pictures I come up with. There are many better poses, like this one.

    I some what hate when a company issues re-releases. It devalues items I have, which while I never sell anything (so far) is a bit of a pain if I ever decide to do so. Not that I would sell my BRS figure I do like it, and I like the upcoming one as well. And definitely like the Dead Master figures, but the hype surrounding them isn’t worth it I don’t think.

    That Asuka figure is just ugly, as are all the fates, I just don’t like her character.

    I’m half considering cancelling my order for Xecty and Kureha in that set, I still like Seena, but the other two aren’t really sticking around in my head. I suspect they’ll be nice when they arrive, but I can’t help but feel ‘meh’ about them.

  6. Ashlotte says:

    So want that Fate as a pvc… T_T

    No love for Dead Master eh Tier…Guess she has too many clothes for your taste. :p

    I wouldn’t worry about Alphamax’s quality too much…From the things I’ve seen from them they make quite nice figures with great skin-tone…Shame they’re so damn expensive…

  7. motaku96 says:

    I definitely agree that there’s something wrong with the proportions in the Alter Fate. Err…not much else to say…

  8. Tier says:

    >> Shashin
    Yeah, that’s pretty much how I feel. I wound up preordering Mai because it looks pretty nice and I can’t really turn down a good-looking figure of Mai in 1/5 scale. (We’ll disregard the inconvenient fact that I actually did pass on Daiki Kougyou’s 1/5 version of Mai.) If Ibuki were more along the lines of 9k to 10k yen, I think I’d pick her up.

    I watched the first episode of StrikerS a couple days ago. It’s funny; I was watching Strike Witches a week or so ago and thought it was pretty cool, but watching StrikerS, for the first time in a long time I got the feeling that I was too old to be watching this stuff.

    >> Sloth
    OMG there’s another person on the planet who feels the same way. I feel validated now. Dead Master looks okay standing next to BRS but on her own, I dunno, she’s not all that interesting to me.

    >> Innosin
    I’ve been meaning to save for an airbrush for a while now. Iwata has this nice kit with an Eclipse CS and a small compressor that’s really attractive but I can’t drop the cash on it yet, especially with a bunch of expensive figure preorders coming in real soon. It’s most unfortunate for me and my checking account how all those orders got stacked up right around the same time.

    >> CGue
    Another one! I don’t feel so lonely anymore. And thanks!

    >> Aka
    I think so. I looked over at their product list on Hobby Search and their cheaper figures are PVC, which I hadn’t even noticed before since their PVC stuff and cold cast stuff looks the same to me.

    I dig that pose, and the torn clothes too. I definitely wouldn’t mind if Alter went that route, but I get the feeling that’s more Gigapulse’s style. Speaking of whom, I haven’t checked up on their stuff since Hobby Search ejected most of their adult material off of their website, I wonder what they are up to?

    I dislike it when companies re-release items that I’ve already paid a huge markup for, or if it disrupts my plan to hock the item for massive profits, but I’ll admit that if Alter wants to re-release their Fate StrikerS figure, I would have absolutely no objections. I love companies when they bring back things that I never expect to own, like when GSC brought back their dark elf figure, though. This is all to say that my concerns center entirely on myself and no one else.

    No love for Fate 🙁 Actually, I have no idea who Fate really is, being that I have more familiarity with her character from all the doujinshi I have than from the television shows. She makes a great victim, though.

    I’ve got Xecty and Kureha preordered and they look good, but I dunno, I’d kinda expect two cute girls in beachwear to excite me more. At least they’re 1/7 scale, which makes me much happier than they would if they were 1/8.

    >> Ashlotte
    No love! Yeah, too many clothes, but that’s not the only thing. When I see BRS, I see that huge gun, those scars, that glowy eyeball … I think to myself, this is a girl with issues, this is a girl with a history that I want to know more about. Toss in that little top and those booty shorts, and that’s a girl with style. When I see Dead Master, I’m like … little frilly dress, capri pants, this looks like a young professional on casual Friday who’s ready for the office Halloween party. Okay, the skull is cool, but that’s not all that special; heck Amanda Werner came with a huge demon head that just sits on her base. And yeah, the scythe is nice, but there were three scythe girls who went up for preorder in the span of one week. I’m not seeing a lot there that grabs my attention. I do think I’m talking myself into getting the BRS animation version, though.

    >> motaku96
    It is good to know that my eyes are not deceiving me. Or that my brains aren’t leaking out of my head … sometimes it’s hard for me to tell.

  9. Halbred says:

    Wow, kind of a shitty upcoming lineup, eh? Certainly not the jaw-dropping “I want to go to there” collection as in the last Preorder Outlook.

    On a related note, I actually just bought Kotobukyia’s new “Venus on the Beach” Kasumi, and I gotta say, she’s pretty damn awesome. I’ll have to post a figure review on my own blog one of these times. The figure’s only downside is that she makes Kokoro’s cast-offing look easy: Kasumi breaks into five parts, not including the costume pieces.

    I think I’m going to give up on that beautiful Alphamax Mai Shiranui. The way I figure is this: I could buy her, or I could buy an Xbox 360.

  10. BioToxic says:

    I’m not really a fan of the BRS scale figures so far, but I must admit they do look really nice. I have pre-ordered the figma and nendo BRS just because they were cheap.

    I don’t plan on getting Dead Master scale figures, although I’ll probably get either the nendo or figma depending on which version of BRS I liked best.

    Xecty swimsuit looks amazing. Undoubtedly the best out from the Max Factory swimsuit line up. Much better than Kotobukiyas version in my opinion.

    I thought about getting Buddy myself since she looks really nice. I do love her scythe and her facial expression. But I’ve decided not to get her (so far) so I can save for figures that I “must buy”.

    That 1/4 Fate reminds me of Cattleya from Queen’s Blade.

  11. TheHunterKiller says:

    What I really like about the Klan armored figure is that she’s on the same scale as Ban Dai injection kits. Will make a nice addition to the collection.

  12. Adam says:

    I agree regarding the new BRS (too similar to the other two) and Dead Master (not very interesting) figures, though I’m curious where you heard that the first BRS figure is getting a re-release; this is the first I’ve heard of it.

    I quite like Alter’s Buddy figure and it would be the one I’m most likely to pick up among the lot.

  13. Tier says:

    >> Halbred
    Yeah, there aren’t as many figures that I’m really geeked up for … I’d probably put just Buddy in that category, though Bubba’s Fate Testarossa could get up there if someone picks it up for mass production and I can definitely see myself getting into the BRS hype for this one figure if I think about it long enough.

    I’ll look forward to seeing Kasumi. I gotta admit though, I’m so lazy these days that if a figure has a complicated cast off system, I’ll sometimes put it aside and bump it back in the review queue. It seems like I don’t have enough time for all of my hobbies these days.

    Haha, yeah, I’m looking at some of these figures and I’m thinking, “I could get these, or I could get a PS3 or an airbrush.” Then again, what I really ought to be thinking is, “I could get these figures, or I can get some new tires and an alignment done on my car.”

    >> BioToxic
    I’m warming up to Xecty; I thought she looked boring as hell at first so I didn’t pay much attention to her, but looking at her again, I’m really liking the way she looks. I wonder if she’s big enough that I can get the president into her review … yeah, I plan my photoshoots months in advance, I’m single-minded like that.

    I wonder if GSC will make an Actsta version of BRS … they gotta milk that baby for all she’s worth before the next big thing comes along, don’t they?

    Toshirou’s Fate definitely has some curves. She ought to come with a little Vivio to wrap around her legs, I bet Vivio could beat the hell out of that one little boy.

    >> TheHunterKiller
    Yeah, I can see how Klan’ll be a lot of fun for people with Macross toys XD I always wanted a Miriya (Millia … Miria … whatever) figure to go with my valkyries, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a decent one. Klan will do just fine, though.

    >> Adam
    I read about it on Tomopop, though it doesn’t look like the old version has gone up for preorder again yet.

    Yeah, I’m really liking Buddy. I don’t know what moe really means, being that I guess it means something different to everyone, but if someone asked me what I think is moe, I’d probably say … long hair, a cool weapon, and no pants.

  14. Ashlotte says:

    Son of a…I didn’t even notice Buddy had a flat chest until I checked out some of the pictures on DB that Aka linked…and a nice butt too! Geh wasted character design on prudes like Alter…Megahouse needs to get on this like ASAP! T_T

    Haha but geez Tier your almost convincing me to get BRS myself…almost…Too unemotional for me though. More into the sadistic look DM is rocking. >_>

    Think I’m starting to get infected by your love of large scale though lately…All I keep staring at is my biggests figures and none of these 1/8ths announced lately do much for me…muuu…

  15. Tier says:

    I would be very, very happy if Alter kicked off a line of ero figures to compete with Native. But then again, I’d just be happy if they made a figure of Subaru (speaking of Subaru, I’m watching StrikerS and neither of the new female leads are all that interesting thus far).

    1/8 is a chump’s scale. 1/7 is okay, and 1/6 is a manly scale, but 1/4 scale is where it is at. Kinda hard to take pictures of those, though, since they take up so much space … I’ve got a couple of 1/4 scale figures ordered and I have no idea how to photograph them.

  16. Halbred says:

    Didja see all the cool new Bishoujo girls at Comi-Con? Tomopop has an article and photos:

    http://tomopop.com/sdcc-2010-kotobukiya-shows-off-some-new-bishoujo-figures–13577.phtml

    Emma Frost looks awesome, but I can’t wait for Black Cat and Catwoman.

  17. MONOLITHIC says:

    When it comes to figures, BIGGER IS BETTER, and 1/4 scale is the shiznit! Personally, I’d like to collect nothing but 1/4 scale figures, but the prices for some of ’em put a serious hurtin’ on the pockets! Also, there are always incredible smaller scale figures to cop for less cash…

    Add me to the contingent of people who don’t understand the Dead Master appeal – she just doesn’t do anything for me. Truth be told, I felt the same way about the original Black Rock Shooter before it was released. After reading a few reviews after her release, I hopped on the bandwagon, but it was sold out everywhere but eBay. That said, I pre-ordered the animation version the day she was posted on HOBBY SEARCH, and today, HOBBY SEARCH has the original for pre-order again, so… 🙂 Still, if BRS didn’t have that BIG-ASS cannon, I don’t think I’d have any love for her at all…

    Btw, what’s your view on this: http://www.e2046.com/product.php?products_id=12444 Beautiful figure in my opinion!

  18. MONOLITHIC says:

    Forgot to mention… That 1/4 scale Fate is incredible! And that BIG-ASS sword!!! She’d certainly get my cash! 🙂

  19. Tier says:

    >> Halbred
    Yeah, I saw some pictures of them and also Kotobukiya’s big Psylocke statue. Emma Frost is looking pretty good though I’d like to see her in her Hellfire Club outfit; maybe we’ll see an alternate edition like with Phoenix, Rogue, and the Black Widow. I wonder what they meant by the figures being larger? I couldn’t quite tell if Emma is larger than the others or not and I dunno if the concept art is meant to be the same size as the figures. But man, summer 2011 for Ms. Marvel? That is a really long time to make us wait. I’m kinda surprised that they didn’t take pics of Kotobukiya’s bigger statues too, I know they had Psylocke and Rogue on display and probably Deadpool too.

    I’m much more of a Marvel guy than a DC guy (I dunno why, I’ve just never really gotten into DC’s titles) but those DC figures look great, too. You know what I’d like, I’d kinda like it if Kotobukiya did some figures based on Ed Benes’s art, in a similar vein as how Psylocke and Rogue are based off of Jim Lee’s work.

    >> MONOLITHIC
    Indeed! Unfortunately, the word from Toshirou himself doesn’t seem too promising for a PVC release … here’s the Babelfish’ed version of what he said when asked whether there was a chance of someone picking it up for mass production:

    “So far no plan
    I arranged for a tough
    I own inexperience or even late
    No offers from our manufacturer (crying)
    Even that broad-minded DAIKI Kougyou …”

    So sad 🙁

  20. Halbred says:

    DC has Power Girl. 😉

  21. Ashlotte says:

    Yea I never much liked DC’s female character designs…Ofcourse I grew up reading X-men during Jim Lees run and that spoiled me rotten. >_>

    Subaru and Teana have their moments (Subarus is around midpoint while teana pretty much didn’t redeem herself until the end) , but they never reach the heights of Nanoha and Fate.

    Haha is that why you don’t do a Saber review you can’t fit her in your shooting space?

    And gods can you imagine Ero figures with alter sculpt quality…they so need to get to that. Kinda sad GSC doesn’t seem to make any Ero figures anymore come to think of it…T_T

  22. Alex says:

    I also ordered that Asuka figure. NEver saw her backside was so flat, but I still think she has a beautiful face.

  23. Tier says:

    >> MONOLITHIC
    Err, this is a response to your larger, earlier post, which got caught up in the spam filter for some reason. Really wish it would let through all posts from usernames that have already been approved. Anyways, I agree, 1/4 scale is where it is at. Though I guess I’d run out of space real fast if there were a lot of 1/4 scale figures that I want.

    Yeah, I like Sima Yao too, though I’m looking most forward to Ming Yue. I think I might get them both. I’m also liking how their Black Rock Shooter figure looks and I wonder what the reaction from the figure collecting community is going to be; I think it’d be hilarious if it ignited a firestorm of controversy.

    Ehh, I see Hobby Search is sold out of BRS Animation Version but I think Amiami has her … dang, you know, she ain’t really that expensive and I think I’m warming up to her character … hmm …

    >> Halbred
    They do! My heart is always with the X-women, but Marvel’s got nothing to match Power Girl’s window. Well, maybe Psylocke’s butt used to be able to, but I guess they’re trying to get away from that.

    >> Ashlotte
    I started reading comics before and after Jim Lee’s run, oddly … my first X-Men books were from when Silvestri was the penciller, right around when the X-Men were Australia, and then I started reading them again when the X-Cutioner’s Song crossover kicked off, when Kubert was doing the art. I’ve still got a huge appreciation for Jim Lee’s artwork, though, and if you asked me who my favorite comic book artist is, I’d probably say Lee.

    Ah, ehh … that doesn’t sound encouraging. Well, I guess I’ll try to make it through; if nothing else, I enjoy watching cute girls beating things up.

    Yeah, that’s one reason. Also, I had this idea for a backdrop, except I’m not sure how to do it or if I have enough skill and creativity to pull it off. Plus I’m lazy as hell. Add all those things up and you get a review that has been delayed to hell.

    I remember being really surprised when Pixy Hiyori came out, since GSC seldom does anything explicit. Wish Alter would do so, since they’ve got no problem taking inspiration from ero properties.

    >> Alex
    Yeah, and a beautiful body, too. I mean, besides her butt. And I dig that suit, too … hmm, speaking of cleavage windows, Asuka’s isn’t that bad, either. Though not as cool as Power Girl’s.

  24. MONOLITHIC says:

    Glad you read my originL post ’cause I was just about ready to rewrite the gist of what I said… Saved me some time… 🙂

    I’m surprised that Hobby Search closed the reservation on BRS Animation Version so early! Still, I’ve got a feeling that because they closed it early, it’ll be back open in a few weeks or perhaps a few weeks before it’s release.

    Are you talking about the BRS on the motorcycle?

    Speaking of BRS, slide over to Tomopop and check out that Black Gold Saw!!! That’s a “gotta get” if I ever saw one! I might have to do an about face on Dead Master just to have the whole set even tho she does nothing for me. Then again, if I’ve got no love for her now…

    As for the 1/4 scale Fate, I think that E2046’ll tackle it if nobody decides to make a PVC version… I “hope” anyway…

  25. Tier says:

    Yeah, I guess a bunch of people must’ve preordered her early. I notice that HS seems to shut down preorders earlier than Amiami; I had to preorder Buddy at Amiami because I procrastinated on getting my credit card out. Makes me feel pretty dumb because I decided I was going to buy her as soon as her promo pictures were released, but I missed out on the 50% shipping discount at HS.

    Yeah, I wonder what people are gonna say about it. Particularly if her face or body structure (boobs) significantly differ from GSC’s versions. BRS seems to have her own cult of personality, which is bizarre because until just very recently, she had no defined personality that I know of.

    I’m not a big fan of horns but I gotta admit, that figure looks pretty sweet. I don’t think I got any complaints about her. Fortunately for me and my checking account, I still don’t feel a compulsion to buy Dead Master … I can be a compulsive collector under certain circumstances but those instincts usually kick in for individual characters rather than series casts. Like I’m on a big Fate Testarossa collecting kick right now. Dunno why but I feel compelled.

  26. Tommy says:

    That Asuka figure. What a disappointment. The pose sucks, and as you mentioned, she needs more ass.

    I really like those MF Shining Wind swimsuit figures, but I just can’t see myself paying 6,000+ yen for a swimsuit figure when they used to be 3,000 yen. I can still justify that a figure looks “cool” or “there’s a lot of plastic in this one” for expensive figures like Alter’s Fate…but I can’t do it with swimsuit figures. Yes…rants by the person who paid 10,000 yen for a Taiga swimsuit figure. That time, I justified that it was limited edition.

    That Klan Klang figure looks awesome. I can’t wait for that one to be released. I’m surprised you don’t have any Orchid Seed figures on your list.

    I’m just glad Hobby Search offered 50% off on shipping on top of their 15-20% off on figures. Now my wallet won’t hurt as much in the coming months.

  27. Tier says:

    I had a lot of hopes for it when I saw Yamashita’s illustration and I was hoping for better. Oh well. I guess I’m still hoping for better, since it’s a while till it actually comes out.

    Yeah, for some reason, I’m having some problems getting excited by them. I’ve got MF’s old Kureha figure and I like it a lot. I like Orchid Seed’s Seena, I like Kotobukiya’s Blanc Neige, and given how I prefer figures that show more skin, I’d think that the Shining Wind girls in bikinis would be something that I’d really dig, but ehh … I’m thinking they look pretty good but if I needed to chop them out of the budget, I could do it and I wouldn’t feel bad about it.

    I actually do have one Orchid Seed figure – Happoubi Jin’s Rider – preordered, though I need to cancel that because I went for the pink one that showed up at Wonder Festival. I’m also gonna preorder Kyoko Kaneda. They showed off some great stuff at Wonder Festival, I hope they can pull it off.

  28. Tommy says:

    Ah, so you’re going for pink! How much extra did that cost you?

    I was actually quite intrigued by a couple of the figures they showed off at WonFes, I hope they can pull it off too.

  29. Tier says:

    Quite a bit, it didn’t help that the figure sold for like 8700 yen at the show (versus the 7200-ish that the red and yellow version is going for on Amiami and HS). I went through Tokyo Hunter and the price was about 15800 yen including EMS shipping. Got here today, actually, and man she looks great. The sculpt is awesome, the paint is real crisp, which is very surprising because my biggest complaint regarding Orchid Seed’s recent figures is ragged paint and obvious seam lines and molding marks. She’s got zippers everywhere and they’re all painted perfectly.

  30. Andrea says:

    Please, allow me to suggest you the Max Factory release:
    Vocaloid Miku Hatsune…Simply fantastic!
    http://blog.chucksanimeshrine.com/2009/12/miku-hatsune-vn02-mix-figure.html

  31. Tier says:

    Yeah, that’s a great figure, I thought really hard about preordering it. However, I heard she was on the small side of 1/8 scale; I like big figures so I was a bit disappointed by that. It’s still a superb sculpt and an even more awesome face, though.

    • Andrea says:

      i saw it ‘live’ in a figure shop and….sheeesh!
      Believe me, size doesn’t matter! ( about 30cm/12 inch ) 😀

      PS: And i saw this:
      http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=2000351&ref=scroller-2000351
      OMG! OMG! OMG! Superb diorama!

      • Tier says:

        Would you believe that VN02 Miku’s down to 4685 yen at Amazon JP? With free super saver shipping for Japanese residents, too. That’s a crazy discount. and it’s not just them; I saw Plamoya is selling it for around $70ish. I didn’t think she’d get her price slashed quite so quickly.

        That diorama looks fantastic. Wolfsbane looks different than I remember her from the Xcutioner’s Song-era X-Factor team, though. I never did read any of the new X-Force comics – I’ve got this beef with Yost and Kyle over the way they slaughtered the cast of New X-Men – but I’m looking forward to Uncanny X-Force since Psylocke is on that team. I also recently got my first Sideshow statue, and it looks great. I’m looking forward to photographing her.

  32. Cantan says:

    Am definitely with you on wanting Buddy (and have preordered – just kicking myself for using the wrong site – Otacute just doesn’t give you the same discounts as the others).

    I have seen too many I like recently… think I will get the regular Rider when she comes out and Alter’s Selvaria… the most surprising one as far as I’m concerned though, is Uart’s cold cast Ryofu – it actually looks pretty good – I’m getting used to every Ryofu figure being crap quality and/or butt-ugly.

    At some point, in an ideal world, a future wishlist would include decent models of Claire & Miria from Claymore… but as Miria appears to have been killed in the latest monthly release and Claire’s been swallowed up, it’s looking highly unlikely that anyone would bother making either (I do have Megahouse’s old Claire but that is just awful)

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I’ve seldom seen any good Ryofu figures; I was hoping that Alter would make one, since Ryofu was arguably the #4 girl in the franchise. I also liked Uart’s Ryomou; I thought about getting it but it was a bit too similar to Alter’s version.

      I’ve never seen Claymore – though I have the feeling that I’d like it if I could overlook the male sidekick character – but having become moderately familiar with the characters through Wikipedia and particularly through various images of questionable taste on Danbooru, I’d kinda like to see a figure of Flora.

  33. Cantan says:

    Ah so many good figures to choose from and so many I’m watching at the moment, due for release in the not too distant future. Think you may need to update this section soon Tier!

    Chara-ani are re-releasing Saeko Busujima from HSotD (don’t know anything about the series but have wanted that figure for a while). Even better Hobby Search are giving Amiami a run for their money on pricing this time. A Rei Miyamoto figure is also being released at around the same time (think it’s a rerelease too) which I might pick up – not too put out if I don’t though.

    Am also very interested in Alphamax’s Ellis (from Asobi ni Ikuyo! apparently), Phat Company’s Lily (from anim.o.v.e.); damn, even Toranoana’s Allain (QB) is looking pretty amazing (not in the habit of using proxies though so that one is likely to be unobtainable for me), not to mention the Daiki Kougyou Kanus (2 versions).

    Yep I unashamedly admit it; I know hardly any of their series’, just like the sculpts!

    Hoping that noone releases a decent version of Re-L Mayer anytime soon though, got a definite weakness for her and would probably pay far too much if necessary!

    • Tier says:

      I usually do these when I need a filler post … I’ve got a couple figures in the mail so I think I’ve got enough content to keep this site going for a couple of weeks but I might do a new one after that, particularly since there’s a lot of good stuff that’s been announced recently. I’m waiting for Alter to put up Dizzy and GSC to put up Saber Alter, since those figures look like the frontrunners for figure of the year for me in 2011.

      Haha, yeah, I usually don’t know too much about the backgrounds of anime characters, even if I do get their figures. I usually go for looks first over everything else.

      I haven’t seen Ergo Proxy, but I remember it got a bit of buzz when it was announced so I’m kinda surprised that nobody’s done a figure of the lead character. I guess maybe she’s not moe enough or something. I also remember seeing the promo video and thinking it was pretty hot how that one monster pushed its thumb into her mouth.

Leave a Reply to Tier Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *