Preorder Outlook XXIX

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and there have been a bunch of figures that have gone up for order in the interim. We’ve got some video game characters, a necromancer, a lot of redheads, a big-ass doll, and even a figure from Alter here; let’s take a look at them.

November

Rias Gremory from High School DxD
I like High School DxD, apart from the first arc of the new season, which stretched way too long. The attractive and likeable female characters are obviously a big factor in that opinion, as they usually are with this sort of show (or light novel, manga, and so forth). However, while several manufacturers have released figures of the show’s characters, none of them have been all that impressive – though I suppose one should be happy that it has gotten any at all, given that similar shows like Kampfer have been completely left out. This figure of lead girl Rias looks pretty nice, though, particularly as it’s modeled after the best and most well-known part of the show. That’s not to say it’s perfect; the nervous facial expression seems a bit odd being that she’s normally a very confident and composed girl, and the hips look a little awkward. Then again, she’s probably swivelling her hips, which would explain the latter, and as for her evident anxiety, maybe she’s dancing for her brother or something, being that he seems to discomfit her. At any rate, I’m looking forward to this figure.

December

Cyril Brooklyn from Pieces 2
Arcadia follows up their release of Iris (when they were still called Yamato) with Cyril, another character from Masamune Shirow’s illustrated collection Pieces 2. I own Iris, though I haven’t yet photographed her, and I’ve ordered Cyril as well. While I wouldn’t describe myself as a big Shirow fan – the original Ghost in the Shell movie didn’t make a strong impression on me (though admittedly, I was a moronic teenager at the time and maybe I’d better appreciate it now that I’m much older) – I do quite like his art. Curiously, Shirow has taken to drawing a lot of porn as of late; Cyril also stars in a couple of books titled W Tails Cat, which appears to show her being molested in various ways. She also appears in a 3D animated adaptation of those books, where she engages in intercourse with a futuristic storm trooper. Strange that one of the most famous creators in anime would switch from philosophical cyberpunk to hentai.

Eucliwood Hellscythe from Is This a Zombie?
I’m not too familiar with the show that Eucliwood comes from, but from what I do know, Eucliwood is a very silent, slightly-built necromancer. You wouldn’t be able to guess any of that by looking at this figure, which has her standing in a sexy pose while flashing a winning smile. Perhaps one could attribute Eucliwood’s odd appearance as being a figment of the protagonist’s imagination, but regardless of how one spins it, I think she looks really cute. A year or so ago, I really did not like bunny ears, but I’ve since acquired a few FREEing figures and I suppose I’d now say that I’m ambivalent towards them. Being that I like the way Eucliwood looks, and that I don’t hold her unusual appearance against her, I went ahead and ordered this one.

Kamael from Lineage II
Being that I own several figures depicting Lineage II characters, I ordered Max Factory’s figure of this Kamael girl. It’s not hard to guess why.

Ringo Hanamaru from Ane to Boin
Occasionally, you see some odd trends in anime culture. I remember back when The Matrix Reloaded released, a couple of other properties (the Playstation 2 RPG Xenosaga and the anime series Saiyuki) received editions that were also titled “Reloaded,” mere weeks after the movie hit theatres. A few years back, figure makers couldn’t get enough of Ignis and Iroha. More recently, there has been an odd spate of female characters named Charles. Now, it seems like girls sitting on the can is the hot new thing and I’m not quite sure why. Nonetheless, Kaitendoh and Native have shown off figures of girls holding court from atop the throne, as have Daiki Kougyou, whose product we are looking at here. I don’t really have a thing for girls sitting on toilets, but I do like this figure, enough that I ordered it, though I have to admit to having some second thoughts now. It is, at least, fairly comical, particularly in how small the toilet is.

Yagyu Jubei from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride
At first, I didn’t really like the first season of Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, but I gave it another try and found that it wasn’t nearly as bad I had first thought. In fact, I would say that I liked it, up until the last few episodes when it crashed tremendously. Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride, though, didn’t really make much of an impression on me either way; I don’t hate it but having watched about half of it, I really don’t feel compelled to continue. I found the maid cafe thing to be really silly, the lack of any kind of conflict made it fairly boring, and I often wished for Sen and Yukimura to get their asses beaten by someone. Jubei was pretty cute, at least, which is why I’m considering ordering this doll. It is, of course, not cheap, and as I don’t really care for the maid outfit, I’d have to find something else for her to wear, which could be a problem being that I’d be most inclined to dress her in a bondage harness and thus I would need a new chestpiece for her, as Azone’s dolls do not feature nipples. It’s a problem. Still, cuteness may yet win out, as I have a little more confidence in Azone now that I have their Inori Yuzuriha doll and she looks pretty cool (I also have their Saber doll and she is not nearly as good).

January

Signum from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s
It’s been a really weak year for Alter, particularly compared to Good Smile Company and Max Factory. The paucity of their product releases is troubling, and hopefully they’ll get out of whatever funk they’re in. At any rate, it’s nice to see Signum, who looks like a page from the past, back when Alter regularly released lots of high-quality figures from the Nanoha series. She looks great, and while I’m less familiar with A’s than the original series or StrikerS, from what I know of Signum, I think that I would like her character, being that I like stoic fighter girls and I am also sympathetic towards anime girls who suffer massive internal injuries. But man, that price tag … I thought Kazuno was a bit pricey but Signum ups the ante by retailing for over 50% more. Some part of me thinks that Signum is inevitably headed for the bargain bin, the way that Phantom Minds Fate and Vivio were, but that’s a part of me that I often ignore so I think I’m just going to preorder her and find some other figures to drop from my prospective buy list.

Velvet from Shining Ark
Alphamax is doing a great job rolling out figures based on Tony Taka’s artwork. Velvet looks fantastic and I’ve ordered her and I’m sure a lot of people will be ordering her. It does kill me a bit to see that she comes from “Shining Ark,” being that Shining the Holy Ark was one of my favorite Saturn games and I hate that the Shining series is being prostituted to this moe fad, but I suppose Sega will go with what brings in the cash, and given how poorly they’ve supported their other franchises, perhaps one should just be happy that the Shining series still exists. (Being that Sega recently acquired Atlus, I wonder what the reaction would be if Tony replaced Shigenori Soejima as the Persona artist?)

Kasumi Yashiro from Muv-Luv Alternative
Kotobukiya has made a number of nice figures from the Muv-Luv series. Kasumi does look nice, though she’s an oddity in a couple of ways. First, she’s 1/6 scale, whereas Meiya, Sumika, and the Total Eclipse characters are all 1/7 scale (though admittedly, Christmas Cryska is quite a bit smaller than the other figures). Second, she’s wearing a peculiar bunnysuit rather than her military uniform. I do like the outfit, particularly the chestband and the boots. I wish she were standing up, though; if she were standing, I think that I’d have certainly ordered this figure. As it is, it’s very much a maybe, and Signum’s price tag might push Kasumi off of my list.

February

Jun Kazama from Tekken Tag Tournament 2
While I enjoy playing fighting games, I readily admit that I am terrible at almost all of them. This is particularly true of Tekken, which I’ve never really gotten the hang of, even though the first Tekken Tag Tournament was one of the games that drove me to buy a PS2. Jun was the character that I liked to use the most (mostly because it was pretty easy to button-mash with her) so I’m happy to see her get a figure. I’m particularly happy that she looks pretty nice, wearing an abbreviated form of her Tekken Tag 2 outfit. The Bishoujo figures are reasonably cheap in the US and are often available off of Amazon with free shipping, so I think I will order Jun.

Sumika Kagami from Muv-Luv Alternative
Sumika is the third Muv-Luv Alternative character than Kotobukiya has made available for order. Unlike her anagrammatic counterpart, Sumika is wearing her piloting suit, which looks very attractive, and she’s 1/7 scale. Being that I already have a lot of Muv-Luv figures, I’m pretty sure that I’ll order Sumika, too.

January

Iris from Seikai no Lorelei
This is another figure I’ve ordered that doesn’t need much explanation as to why I like it.

Lisara Restall from Dakara Boku ha, H ga Dekinai
Dakara Boku ha, H ga Dekinai (translated as “So I Can’t Play H” but sometimes also called “So I Can’t Have Sex With Her,” or, my favorite, “So I Can’t Fuck Her!”) is one of those fanservice-y high school romance shows that I tried to get into but lost interest in about halfway through its run. Even the character designs weren’t too interesting to me, which is bizarre since I later found out that the light novel’s illustrator is Yoshiaki Katsurai. He is perhaps better known for his work with the doujin circle Basutei Shower, where he’s done some really nice (and fairly hardcore) bondage and rape doujinshi (though sometimes NTR aspects show up in his work and I could do without those … I’m still not quite sure why NTR is so popular in ero-anime culture). The lead girl, whom we are looking at here, was pretty cute, but I didn’t care for the tsundere side of her personality, and I can’t really remember anything about the other characters. The show could have really used a better hook, like protagonist-genderswapping or soma-sucking or something. At any rate, Lisara looks attractive here in her oversized dress shirt, and the shirt looks like it might be removable, which would be a plus. I like both the pose and that she has a slender, somewhat more realistically-proportioned body than what you often see in anime. I’m thinking about ordering this one but I’ll first wait and see what else is coming out in February. (Man, it’s only September and figure collectors already have to budget half a year out.)

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42 Responses to Preorder Outlook XXIX

  1. Niles says:

    Any idea if Velvet is a cast-off figure?

    • Tier says:

      I have no idea, but the skirt looks like it’s a separate piece, and if I remember right, all of Alphamax’s other Tony figures are cast-off. I would be surprised if Velvet isn’t as well.

    • Devastator001 says:

      yeah but I think none of the shining swimsuit figures are cast-offable though 🙁 Esp this batch as they’re split between Alter, Max Factory and Alpha max so am worried about the scaling here as compared to Wind and Tears which were all under max factory =/

      • Tier says:

        Yeah, there’s also the Kotobukiya ones too, which I think are a little smaller than the Max Factory ones (I’ve got Blanc Neige somewhere around here … that reminds me that I never did review her). It also doesn’t help that Alphamax’s sizing tends to vary; their lingerie-clad Total Eclipse figures are pretty small whereas Mai Shiranui is pretty big, even though both are listed as 1/7 scale.

        Looking at Akibahobby’s sample photos that went up today or yesterday, you may be right; there’s no indication that the skirt comes off, though I’ve seen some castoff mechanisms where you can remove a limb and take the skirt off that way. Hopefully we’ll get some clarification at some point (but even if it isn’t, I think it still looks like a really nice figure).

    • icelava says:

      She has all the indications of casting off, but i am disappointed by the lack of her badass coat. She needs her coat dammit.

  2. BostonBrandon says:

    As a big Ghost in the Shell fan I am really on the fence with Cyril as she doesn’t fit into the budget and I also really like all of the Tony T figures that have been hitting the market lately but will sadly be passing on Iris. Kamael is quite a figure though I can’t seem to get over her face, which is kind of a shame as I love every other detail.
    As for RIngo and the whole toilet craze I have to assume that it relates directly to current trends in pornography. Not to delve to deeply into my perversion but as a casual fan one picks up on things like “squirting” being a favorite among directors in both eastern and more recently western cinema. I’ve been going back and forth on Native’s and both love as well as hate that she comes with real clothes. Oh well, at least my Dark Elf isn’t too far away 🙂

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, she is really expensive, as are all of Yamato/Arcadia’s 1/6-scale figures, unfortunately. I would’ve been on the fence except for the fact that her skirt and glasses are removable. That she comes from what is apparently a series of pornographic ero artbooks is also nice.

      Ha, true indeed, though I have to admit that despite being – like almost every other male on this planet – a big fan of porn, I must admit that I have never seen much of Japan’s live porn stuff, although I know that the AV thing is quite popular. I’m also not sure how I feel about the Native figure having fabric clothes, though I’ve seen only a few pictures of it, and it seems to not be too conspicuous, at least.

  3. Wieselhead says:

    indeed the sword arc was too long, since its just a 12 episode long show, I like when High School DxD gets silly or Akeno is in heat. The pole dance Rias is great, her expression is quite cute as well as her playful stripper attire. I haven’t ordered her though, it feels like ages since I’ve gotten a new figure, it’s strange when I already placed that many orders and nothing is shipped.

    I don’t want to imagine people on toilet, it’s not sexy. And why the hell is there an apple!? The figure is hot overall with her volupuous body, but especially her sensual eyes make her attractive.

    Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride wasn’t as good as the previous season, but ok. I liked the focus on Jubei a lot, she’s such a cute and friendly character. The doll of her is nice, since I love maids, and she’s damn big. I would like to have her, but the price is nothing to laugh about, well it’s only as much as only 4 pricey figures haha

    Lisara Restall mhhh, yes girls in buttoned shirts are nice, on first look the figure is interesting, but then I saw this figure of Miu some weeks ago and she’s appears to be more up my alley, Im also more attached to her character. If there just wouldn’t be the discrimination between manufacturers, the 1/8 scaled FREEing figures I’ve seen so far weren’t that good.

    • I get the feeling that it’ll be a 24~26 ep series cos if they end within the next 2 eps, people will be screaming at the writers for the massive cliffhanger… They animated the first 2 volumes into a 13 ep series so this complete arc, which covers 4 volumes, should reach double that if they go all the way (and you had better hope they do go all the way!!)

      But I’m way more of an Akeno fan!! Gimme a pole dancer Akeno!!

      • Tier says:

        I was thinking the same thing; it doesn’t seem like the show is wrapping up and it looks like they’re still introducing characters.

        A figure of Akeno in her bondage suit would be really neat. Though to be honest, aside from Zenovia, I kinda think Reynalle was the hottest girl in the show.

        • I haven’t been keeping up with the 2nd season so I’m a little behind. Have they introduced the Valkyrie yet?

          In any case, they’ve pretty much covered half of the second story arc according to the novels so it would be a pretty dick move to end it here. They could, but I think it would leave a bad taste since so little is resolved. They just introduced the major enemy faction! You think they would collapse with just one loss?

        • Tier says:

          I’m not sure; I haven’t been keeping up with it or any other anime, either. Last I checked, Zenovia had just joined the team and Irina had mysteriously disappeared, and I guess they’ll need some time to re-introduce her. It seems to be a successful show, though, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it got a longer run. (I suppose I could check ANN to confirm that it has but what fun would that be?)

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, the sword stuff took way too long. Kiba isn’t a bad character, and one reason why I like High School DxD is because there aren’t any characters that I dislike, but nobody watches this show to learn more about the males. Xenovia is really cute, though.

      Haha, yeah, I really don’t have a thing for toilets or watersports, and I don’t know why it’s suddenly become so popular amongst figure makers. I guess I’m okay with it, though, as long as the figures don’t come with waste material in the toilets or anything, anyway.

      Yeah, I’m not really digging the second season too much. There were a lot of different ways they could go, but I really did not think they were going to go with a maid cafe. The villains weren’t really that interesting either, at least up to the point that I stopped watching, and I wonder what happened to D’Artagnan, since she hardly showed up. At least the artwork is nice.

      Miu does indeed look nice; I thought about including her here but this post was already way too long. I’m thinking more about her now, though. I stopped watching her show about midway through too, but at least the main guy was likeable, despite being sort of a jerk (though that was one of the traits that made him likeable, I think). I do agree that FREEing’s smaller stuff doesn’t seem to be as impressive as their larger stuff, and I wonder why. Indeed, some of their smaller stuff can be quite bad, which gives one pause when considering one of their figures.

  4. Mike C says:

    Wow. I love your posts (and I should comment more regularly >_<), so with this post I'm taking the opportunity to do just that. I *love* to read posts like this. It gets me excited for all the cool, expensive figures that I can't afford! LOL! Love your photography and articles. Much respect, mate. Of the figures above I think that my favorite is 'Cyril Brooklyn from Pieces 2'. I also find it a bit strange that Shirow is doing so much hentai lately. Weird…

    Anyway, just sharing some love seeing that I read regularly but hardly ever comment. Take care! 🙂

    • Tier says:

      Thanks very much! These posts take forever to write so I’m glad that they are interesting.

      Yeah, it was weird to see that Shirow does so much hentai; I came across some pictures of his on Danbooru that looked like they came from an artbook, and I figured they were just one-off things, since he’s done some adult stuff in the past. But then I was surprised to learn that he had multiple books with nothing but sex. Not that I’m complaining – I would love it if someone translated the books – but given how influential Ghost in the Shell was, it’s rather odd to see.

  5. Halbred says:

    Iris confuses me. Is she wearing a scuba dive tank?

    • TomTheCat says:

      I’m puzzled about that, too. There are no vents or any piping visible. Moreover, the original art depicts her standing in an indoor pool. Who on earth would scuba dive in an indoor pool? The first thing that came to my mind when I saw these things were the fuel bottles of a flamethrower. But such a thing would also require some piping, and it would be even more out of place in a poolside setting.

      Be that as it may, Iris looks fantastic with, or rather without, them bottles, and pre-ordering was a no-brainer for me 🙂

      • Tier says:

        Yeah, I thought it was unusual too; I hadn’t seen the original artwork, but being that she’s lacking a mask and hose and stuff, not to mention a wetsuit, it seems she’s poorly prepared for a scuba dive. Not that I’m complaining. The only thing I wouldn’t mind being changed are the head protrusions, but even those don’t bug me too much.

    • Tier says:

      It seems so; not only that, she’s wearing a diving knife, so I guess she’s going for a deeper swim than what was originally depicted.

  6. Tsunami3k says:

    I for one like Kamael’s toes. ;D

    • Tier says:

      Indeed! Her boots are awesome. Particularly the heels, which are always a practical choice for battling orcs and monsters and stuff. (And mushrooms, which were pretty much all I fought in my limited experience playing Lineage II.)

  7. Dvalinn says:

    Despite having seen the show, Eucliwood doesn’t really strike me as all that interesting. I find her pose to be stiff, the smile doesn’t really fit her (though I guess this is an imagination version, but whatever) and there are other things that feel similarily ‘off’. Too bad, really, she doesn’t get enough figures.

    Samurai Bride was pretty meh, yeah, though the action picks up later. Still kind of a boring show though, especially since there’s far better stuff to be gotten in terms of fanservice anime. I only watched it because I watched the first season, really, but I wish I had skipped it. Figures of the show look nice though…still debating whether to get any.

    The Muv-Luv girls are nice, but I don’t know their source material, so I won’t get them, sadly. Yashiro isn’t that special, but Sumika looks gorgeous. Wish they animated that visual novel. I haven’t seen much of ‘So, I can’t fuck her?’ either, but that’s simply because I got bored of that show. I did like Lisara’s design though, but her personality didn’t leave much of a mark, so that’s another skip. As for the NTR in stuff like Basutei Shower, I guess that depends on who is in what role, but there’s an undercurrent of sadism running through it. Normally it’s the girl who receives the brunt of it, but now the guys suffer too! Yaaay! Sure enjoyed some of them, anyway, especially if the guy in question is someone I hate (like Kirito from SAO). The thing I find puzzling is the big influx of futanari. No…just no.

    And girls on toilets whyyyyyy.

    • Tier says:

      I think this is a case where not having seen the show makes a figure more appealing to me. If I knew more about her character, I’d probably have similar sentiments, I think.

      Yeah, I was hoping for more action, and it’s good to know that there’s more fighting, but the whole maid thing was pretty blah. Nobody really wants to watch an anime about budgeting and bookkeeping. More Gisen might’ve been able to save the show. So I Can’t Fuck Her! really needed a character like Gisen or Akeno, or any sort of character with a personality; I vaguely remember there was a childhood friend, and that the redhead was kinda tsundere, and there was a blonde girl, and that the main guy was a pervert but he wasn’t nearly as memorable as Issei or Sasha.

      Yay for equal degradation! Emotional degradation, anyway. Haha, yeah, while it’s not normally something that appeals to me by itself, it is definitely fun when it happens to a character you don’t care for. Curious that, now that I think about it, I haven’t really seen a lot of Guilty Crown NTR …

      I … really have no explanation. I don’t really find excretion to be an attractive bodily function, but I suppose some people do. Me, I’m hoping tentacles make a comeback as a fetish someday.

      • Dvalinn says:

        Yeah, it’s kind of surprising just how much of a bunch of non-entities the characters of ‘So, I Can’t Fuck Her’ were. Absolutely nothing stood out about them, they felt so generic. Which is even worse than a cast full of hateable characters, really, because at least those leave an impression.

        Speaking of which, I’m a sad puppy because of the lack of Guilty Crown NTR. It’s the perfect show for stuff like that, but most of the doujinshi were rather boring. Missed opportunity there.

        • Tier says:

          Yeah, I was surprised by that too. Despite the massive number of softcore porno anime series set in high school, I still generally like the genre and there are a number of titles – like High School DxD and Seikon no Qwaser – that still have memorable characters and plots, despite not being what anyone might call “good” anime. But I can barely remember anything about that show. Even the protagonist draws a blank, and that’s very odd because I dislike many male anime protagonists.

          Yeah, I’m puzzled by that. There don’t appear to be many Guilty Crown doujinshi at all – versus, say, SAO, or Accel World, both of which seemed to have a similar high profile – which is also a little strange. I kinda feel sad that there also aren’t too many doujinshi involving Inori and the various bad guys; I kinda thought that one scene in the first episode was made solely to inspire doujin circles.

  8. I have been waiting ages for an Eucliwood figure, but this isn’t what I want! I’m all for bunny girls, but this really doesn’t suit her!

    But otherwise, my pre-order outlook is pretty bare right now. I’m debating whether or not to get the CP Noel Vermillion. On the one hand, it’s noel!! On the other hand, it’s her new costume and it’s from vertex, who did a miss with Mitsuru from P4A recently.
    There have been a couple of full-on ero figures which I’ve been thinking about too but at around Â¥12k a pot, I don’t think I can justify the cost. Is it just me or are figure prices really creeping up these days?

    • Tier says:

      I find it kinda funny that Noel didn’t really seem to be intended to be the sexy mascot of the BlazBlue franchise, given her modest chest size and shy personality, but she seems to have been pushed into that job anyway. I also find it funny that, while the Queen’s Gate figure has her definitely wearing panties, the Vertex figure definitely has her not wearing a bra.

      It does seem like it; Signum is perhaps the most outstanding case of price increase, and Sheryl Nome is pretty expensive too, even accounting for the complicated base (but then, it doesn’t really seem much more complicated than say, the base supplied with Kotobukiya’s Kurisu Makise from a while back). I’m just really, really glad that the exchange rate has improved so much over the last ten months. I got my doujinshi order earlier this week, which had more books than the order I placed last year, but it cost over a hundred dollars less. (I assume that the pound and euro exchange rates have improved as well.)

      • I think it’s more of a matter of prominence than genuine sex appeal (tho Mori is a huge noel fan, it seems). Litchi is still the buxom pinup for BB, with Makoto underboobs coming in second but neither character really shows up as a main character in terms of story compared to Noel and Tsubaki. (and remember, there’s manga, LN and an upcoming (and almost certain to be shit) anime out there) so Noel is far more recognisable as the “face of BB” compared to the rest of the cast so she’s more likely to get figures and whatnot.

        As for No-bra, we’re not entirely sure if she’s meant to have enough on her chest to warrant one… Taokaka still calls her “nai no hito” afterall…

        The GBP exchange rate has improved but still wasn’t fantastic until recently. It’s now punched past Â¥150 to £1, which is AWESOME news for me as I still need to pay for my DD KOS-MOS. Hope it keeps going up!!!!

        • Tier says:

          Everyone is getting into the DD thing it seems. I can’t say I haven’t been tempted myself. It’s a good thing they didn’t put KOS-MOS in her episode 1 outfit.

          • They broke me with Shinguji Sakura. I’m still not fond of DD but I couldn’t say no to Sakura just cos of the character (it would have been even quicker if it was Maria) but when they announced KOS-MOS, they were basically slapping me in the face with my own cards Ver 1, 3 or 4 would be fine. I could only resist a ver 2. At least now, I can just about say no to everything except an official Sheryl Nome DD, and maybe Noel Vermillion or Tsubaki Yayoi.

          • Tier says:

            It’s interesting to see how attitudes regarding dolls have shifted over time. No doubt a certain unnamed site has played a large role in that change. It also seems like getting into dolls isn’t such a big leap, once one has collected figures for a while. (Then again, this could just be another example of how detached the anime goods-collecting community is from what one would label mainstream viewpoints.)

  9. TomTheCat says:

    Like a lot of people I’m frowning at the latest craze of figures sitting on toilets. It’s not as new as it may seem, though. Ringo Hanamaru is just the PVC edition of a garage kit that was originally released in 2007. The fascination of the porn industry with peeing has been going on even longer.

    Anyway, it’s like you say: As long as the waste isn’t included in the box, we should be fine. By the way, the “accessory” that came with the red version of Daiki’s Imari Kurumi was molded not in yellow but in clear plastic, so one could argue that it was supposed to be something else than pee, lol

    I’m getting both Ringo and her sister Rurith (Judging by their names I suspect they’re siblings, although I may be wrong). Ringo will get the chair that comes with Rurith to sit on and the toilet seat will stay in the box, so everybody should be comfortable.

    • Tier says:

      That makes sense; I hadn’t seen this particular kit but I noticed that Vispo seems to be working on doll stuff rather than figures as of late. If anything, at least the toilet will make for a very amusing photographic prop, as its size seems versatile enough to handle anything from a 1/7 scale figure up to Obama.

  10. Steve Chen says:

    Hentai sells n Shirow’s case lol! Also pre ordered Cyrill. That is one cop who can frisk me anytime she wants hehehe

    Btw Tier, preordered a Skytube Tony Taka fig (gal with an apple). Is Skytube’s work in your experience comparable to Maxfactory/Megahouse/Alter? Hopefully my first won’t disappoint.

    Concerning the picture of the girl 3rd from the left on the second set bellow the 1st 4, is that the 3D Cyrill? Mind if you can give me a link to it? Or where I can purchase the work?

    • Tier says:

      Mmmm … well, I would say that I have nothing to complain about regarding 1/7 scale Mai Shiranui and Ai Saeki. I don’t like Reiko Date Wingfield as much. I have Maya here and I intend to review her very soon (probably in the next couple days) so I’ll be able to elaborate a little more on that particular figure. I would say that overall, I’m very impressed with what they’ve done recently, after not being too impressed with their lingerie Total Eclipse figures.

      Yeah, that’s 3D Cyril; it’s a screencap from W Tails Cat ~Delusion World~, which is the 3D porno mentioned above. You can buy it from DMM, which is where I purchased it (after an annoying wait, because their website mysteriously stopped accepting non-Japanese credit cards over the summer). The 3D quality is alright, but the annoying thing is that it’s a standalone Flash application, so you have to watch the movies in their Flash interface. I’m looking for a method to strip the Flash video out so that I can convert it to regular video files.

  11. bear says:

    The prototype paint job for Cyril is noticeably rougher than their Elin prototype. I hope Arcadia keeps up their good QC record because I jumped on the pre-order.

    The prototypes for Velvet and Iris surprised me with their increased level of detail. It’s quite a jump from what Alphamax normally ships, so I’m not sure if they can deliver the same quality in the final product. Both are lovely figures that I might’ve bought if they had come a year earlier, but I just don’t have room anymore.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I hope so as well; Yamato was inconsistent, but when they got it right, they made some really nice figures. It would be nice if Cyril is closer to that standard. Alphamax is another inconsistent company, and I have to admit that their early Total Eclipse figures kinda left a poor first impression in my eyes, but I’ve been very pleased with what they’ve done recently. Some of their other stuff, though, is not so good; it’s sorta weird how they did one nice figure of Sena in her swimsuit, and then they did another one (the one in the cow-print suit) which looks really off.

  12. Somnophore says:

    Because I know you wanted this one:
    http://www.hlj.com/product/MEG81545

    • Tier says:

      Nuts; they are sold out already, or they expect consumers to use time machines to place orders. Oh well. Thanks very much for the heads-up; perhaps they will do another release, as with Yuki, or maybe it’ll show up on Mandarake.

  13. Captain_Awesome says:

    So Tier, it didn’t make it on this list but what did you think about the DRAGONTOY Bible Black Reika figure coming out in February?

    • Tier says:

      I like it but I don’t think I’m going to get it. Reika’s not one of my favorite characters from the show, partly because I really don’t like futanari characters and also because she’s typically the aggressor and my sympathies are usually with the victim (admittedly, the Bible Black prequel did present Reika as an innocent). Her breasts are also rather larger than I usually like. I do like how they basically tossed decency out the window with her alternate face and her accessories, though; it’s pleasing to see figures like the Bible Black girls and Native’s Ran Misugi.

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