Preorder Outlook XXXIV

It’s time to take a look at some upcoming figures that I’m contemplating ordering. The trend in pricy figures unfortunately seems here to stay, and there are a few figures (such as Max Factory’s Kongo) that I would buy if they were cheaper. I suppose that’s what the bargain bin is for, though. Let’s go ahead and examine the figures that I think are worth full price.

June

Alisa Ilinichina Amiella from God Eater 2
I liked Plum’s first figure of Alisa, so naturally I’m interested in their second figure, which uses her appearance from the second game in the God Eater series. She looks lovely, beaming a sunny smile while striking a pose in all her bra-less glory. It makes for a nice contrast with the earlier figure, which sported a slightly more dour expression. Her big-ass Gatling gun would seem to provide a strong temptation to jack up her price, but I’m glad that Plum has given her a reasonable price tag. I’m pretty sure I’ll pick up this figure.

July

Tomoka Minato from Ro-Kyu-Bu!! SS
I never did get into Ro-Kyu-Bu, which is a little odd, being a fan of both basketball and of cute anime girls in tight clothes. This figure of Tomoka is definitely very cute; it’s also rather sexy, which might be a bit disturbing given her obvious youth – but then, anyone who watches anime is probably used to this sort of thing by now. I like the little basketball charms hanging off of her hips, too. I’m pretty sure I’ll get this figure as well.

August

Yagyu Jubei from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls
I was a little surprised to see this figure pop up for order, for a number of reasons. Alter has already made a ton of Samurai Girls figures, including a couple of Jubei, which would seem to make this figure a little redundant. GSC seems to generally prefer making “cute” figures rather than fanservice-y (read: slutty), and Samurai Girls definitely belongs to the latter classification. On that note, they don’t often make figures with removable clothing, either. I’m thinking about buying this figure, but I haven’t made up my mind; I’m probably going to need to see some more sample photos before making a determination.

September

Asagi Igawa from Taimanin Asagi
Eroge don’t get as many figures as they used to, which is really a shame. Fortunately, Milestone will be releasing this figure of Asagi Igawa, perhaps the most famous ero ninja in anime culture. To my knowledge, this is the second PVC figure of Asagi, following one released by Lilith themselves a long time ago. I missed out on that one but I don’t think I’ll pass up this one; Asagi looks great in her impossibly tight ninja outfit. Hopefully some of Lilith’s other characters get some figures, too.

Yume Kondo from the Native Creators Collection
Native is the best maker of ero figures in the business, and it doesn’t take much contemplation for me to decide that I am going to order this figure. Like all Native figures, she can be ordered directly from Native’s shop, assuming that they ship to your home country.

Asuka Langley Shikinami from Neon Genesis Evangelion
Once upon a time, these preorder outlook posts were packed with Alter figures; these days, it’s rare for me to have much interest in their products, which is a huge shame. However, Rei and Asuka from Evangelion are always good subjects for figures. I’m particularly pleased to see that she’s wearing her normal plugsuit here (albeit patched up with duct tape) rather than the test suit. I also really like her face; she has the thousand-yard stare of a girl who has gotten the crap beaten out of her by life, which is pretty much the case (along with the rest of Evangelion’s cast). It’s a different sort of look than we’ve seen in earlier figures, so despite owning a bunch of Asuka figures already, I think I’ll buy this one as well.

X-Eros Cover Girl
On the other hand, Alphamax has been rolling out a ton of great stuff. This figure looks particularly great; Kizuki Aruchu’s style is obvious, and being that he’s one of my favorite ero-artists, I’m very happy to see Alphamax adapt his work into PVC. All of Alphamax’s hentai figures have been great, and I’m sure this one will be no different. Ordering her is pretty much a given.

October

Alisa Ilinichina Amiella from God Eater
The second figure of Alisa on this list also comes from Alphamax. Curiously, both Alphamax and Plum will each have done two figures of Alisa by the end of this year, even though neither she nor God Eater are all that well known. When the character looks this good, though, there’s little cause for complaint. Previous figures of Alisa have emphasized both her action girl status as well as her unique fashion sense, but this one goes straight for unabashed sexiness. She looks great, and I guess that means I’ll be owning three out of the four figures that Plum and Alphamax will have released of her.

Saber Extra from Fate/extra
Here’s another figure I was surprised to see. While Fate/stay night is another popular series amongst figure companies, Kotobukiya has never shown much interest in it. When it comes to figures, Type-moon’s flagship franchise still remains most closely associated with Good Smile Company, and as it turns out, they will soon be peddling their own version of red Saber. That both Neros look quite alike is not surprising, though; Kotobukiya has a long history of making figures that closely resemble those made by others (their Haruka and Alter’s Haruka perhaps being the most obvious, and I often mix up their Strike Witches figure and Alter’s as well). That said, while GSC’s Saber isn’t yet painted, I think I might like Kotobukiya’s version better, if only because she’s smiling.

November

Psychic from 7th Dragon 2020
Katanako was a very nice figure of a cute girl in a school uniform. The Psychic from the same series looks to be a very nice figure of a cute girl in, well, a ho outfit. One doesn’t often see a character dressed like this, even in anime, where daring outfits tend to be the rule rather than the exception, but I definitely approve. I like Katanako a lot but I’m guessing I’ll like the Psychic even more.

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36 Responses to Preorder Outlook XXXIV

  1. TomTheCat says:

    Now that’s an outlook to die for. I only have two out of these on PO (Asuka and the Cover Girl), but I’ve been considering four more. After my initial shopping frenzy, I now take a more sensible approach to figure collecting though. But I still might be tempted to get Asagi. I like it when girls wear skintight outfits. Or just their skin…

    • Tier says:

      Usually these posts have a bunch of figures that I think about purchasing, but end up passing on. This time, I didn’t find too many figures that I’m waffling on; high prices, lack of space, and an increasing stock of unopened figures (some of which I haven’t even removed from their shipping boxes) means that my opinions are a little more definite. I’m really hoping that the Asagi figure is good; she’s been around for a very long time and she deserves some good figures.

  2. I’m sorely tempted by that Asagi, and to a lesser extent Alissa, but only cos I got her God Eater 1 figure too! But alissas face still bugs me a little. I think GSC was also doing a version of her. Wonder if that one looks any better.

    But I think I’m swearing off figure purchases for a while. I have 2 massive purchases which were just released and they just tore my bank balance to shreds after multiple delays…

    • Tier says:

      Huh, I didn’t know GSC might be doing one as well, but I guess that’s not too surprising. Still, it’s a little odd how relatively unknown characters can suddenly become super-popular amongst figure companies.

      The funny thing is I’m trying to spend money, after filing my taxes (although my state return hasn’t come back, which is irritating as hell since we used to be able to file online for free, but then the previous governor got rid of that system and made everyone file electronically with Turbotax or other non-free software. It doesn’t surprise me that that guy got indicted on corruption charges. But I digress.). I wanted to get some new electronic goodies, and I was all set to do so, and then the price tag on the thing I was going to buy went up by a hundred bucks, and now I’m not sure what to buy.

  3. Aka says:

    I like to refer to that Asuka figure as Assuka. Such a splendid rump.

    • Tier says:

      Alter has done a few figures with spectacular rears; it’s nice to see them getting back to that, after putting out a number of unmemorable figures. And dude figures too, I guess.

      • Aka says:

        Your reply to Somnophore makes me feel super creepy. Thanks.

        I’m quite happy with Alter making things I don’t want, the entire collective of figure producers in fact. Saves me money, or at least, lets me spend it on dolls.

  4. Somnophore says:

    I commented in your previous outlook that after missing out on Native´s Touko, I pre-ordered 2 other figures instead. One of them was Asuka, the other was Alisa, but not one of those listed here..

    Asuka:
    Even though Evangelion figures are ubiquitous, this will be my first. I only started seriously collecting in 2012 I believe, and this is the first one I really liked since then. Although I prefer my asses a bit (well, a lot) rounder (see Alisa), she ultimately looked too good to pass up. Plus it will be one of the few characters I have some prior investment in, which is a nice bonus..

    Alisa:
    I absolutely love her character design, so I was absolutely interested in here figures despite not at all being familiar with her source. As commented earlier, I don´t care about that, I just like nice character designs. Personally I judge figures based on 3 factors I guess: nice face, nice ass, and nice outfit (again, the personal investment in the character would be a bonus). To me, her Plum version had all of those, but I missed out on it for some reason. Then came the Alphamax version, which looked cool in a different way, so I ordered that one instead. Then came the re-release announcement of the Plum version, which I slightly preferred.. So I ordered that one too, but liked the Alphamax one as well, so kept that order. As for the figures actually listed in this list..

    Swimsuits generally don´t do much for me. Still, nice face, and nice ass, and a huge and nice looking weapon to add some variety making it more than a plain swimsuit figure. And just now, I looked at some other pictures, it seems you can actually put her top back on.. Well I guess I could put her on my wishlist.

    The other one was already on my wishlist, but wasn´t a priority, and my June is already full.. Overall I like her, although I prefer the black top from the other 2 figures, and I don´t really like the look of her stockings here, the transition isn´t seamless. Still, perhaps I should start an Alisa collection, and get this one and the swimsuit one (and the nendoroid..) when I can afford them.

    Kongo:
    I love her character design as well, but I don´t like the pose and facial expression of that particular figure (both off them, haha). I´m thinking of getting the Nendoroid version though. I recall you not liking them, but I do, heh.

    Saber:
    It almost looks nice, but after agreeing with some comments on Tomopop I guess it´s not perfect, the arms look a bit weird. I do like the outfit, but I´ll stick with the Saber bride figures I ordered (the Alphamax one and the Nendoroid heh). Like Asuka, this will be actually my first Saber figure(s).

    As for the rest, the purple ninja looks nice, but not enough to order. My June is full, but I don´t have many (pre-)orders after that. There’s only a few must-haves for me left so far, one is a backlog Suzuha Amane I still have (/hope) to get. I guess I could fill my months after June with other backlog figures or lower-priority figures, like the 2 Alisas above. On the other hand, there are also some other things I´d like before the end of the year, 2 Pullips I like, and the first Western figure I have set my sights on: Sideshow´s premium Poison Ivy. In 2015, I think I´ll cut back on the figures, shifting my priorities.. A nice camera amongst other things, so I can make some pretty pictures too!

    • Tier says:

      Asuka’s rear shows great definition, but yeah, I would’ve liked it to be a little rounder, too. It is one of the few figures out there that makes her look kinda like a fourteen year-old, though. (That would be kinda creepy except, well, this is anime.)

      Alisa seems like a popular girl. I’m going to guess that the two Plum figures and the two Alphamax figures won’t be the only ones of her. Aside from her short skirt and showy top, the thing I like most about her God Eater 2 design is her single glove, which might be an odd thing to notice.

      I would’ve liked Kongo more if she were standing up. The submarine girl (I forget her name) doesn’t look that great; her lower left leg looks peculiarly strange. Thus far the GSC and Max Factory Kantai Collection figures aren’t off to a good start, but I guess that doesn’t surprise me; I like the fan art a lot more than the official art, for the most part.

      • Somnophore says:

        I just noticed a Shimakaze damaged version by Ques Q. I don´t know how Ques Q´s (..) quality is, but not factoring that in, I suspect that one will be more to your liking. Well, except perhaps for the size. And except for the fact there will probably be more versions from better companies. Forget I said anything ;).

        • Tier says:

          I’m not really sure, either; I think I do have a Ques Q figure somewhere here (I have a Neptune figure, which I think they made), but I’ve never really spent much time looking at it. I do like the theme but I’m not sure that I like the face. Aside from Max Factory’s Kongo, I don’t think there’s been a Kantai Collection figure yet whose face I like. That’s just as well since almost all of them are expensive as hell for some reason.

  5. Aaron says:

    Asuka looks like she has a great ass.

    • Tier says:

      She does! That’s one reason why I always complain that so many Rei and Asuka figures have them lying down or sitting down; you can’t get a good appreciation for the way their plugsuits frame their rears.

  6. wieselhead says:

    This week a number of interesting figures appeared at the shops, it is hard to make fix decisions. I’ll try to wait for once and see where Im going with this.

    Under their Wing branch GSC also shows some skin.
    I like this Jubei, mainly for the plumb looking butt, but also her hair looks very pretty.
    The larger scale might also turn out as little advantage towards the other figures of her.

    The first Ro-Kyu-Bu!! season was fun, forcing the fanservice on the small girls was really awkward,but the show actually had a positive message and wasn’t that indecent. It’s nice to see a good figure of Tomoka Minato, she has such a small body, but already an respectable butt ^^

    Its easier to find decent figures than tame illustrations from Asagi XD
    The fans might prefer her as cool heroine instead of a fallen, degraded woman.
    Milestone gave her a wonderful expression, not too kind and not too evil.
    I consider to get yet I’d like to wait since who the fu… is Milestone.
    Well, at least no one will complain about too small boobs on this one.

    Yume Kondo is a sweet girl, I wanted to order her instantly but something made me hesitate.
    Also her month of release is not convenient for me.

    This Asuka has a distinctive appeal and she is super pretty like this, she looks like me after the last Evangelion Movie hahaha,
    hopefully the next one will be less weird.

    Psychic looks lovely, like a fashionable women from the 70’s, well the bold presentation of her breasts and string bikini, gives her a kinda dirty appearance. Well I am the last person to complain about her features when she looks so attractive as a whole.
    The shorts and stockings are fantastic ^^

    • Tier says:

      Having seen the peculiar direction that anime has turned towards in recent times, I guess underaged girls in fanservice shows doesn’t really bother me. It’s a really weird trend, though, and it’s a little odd to think that I can’t really talk about anime with any of my friends anymore because that theme is so prevalent.

      It appears that Asagi is also being produced by Embrace Japan, which is nice since I own a few of their figures but I don’t think I’ve seen any Mile Stone figures (though the name seems familiar for some reason). I’m not expecting a lot from their figure but at least there aren’t very many other Asagi figures for theirs to be compared against.

      The Psychic really does look great XD Max Factory has made a ton of great stuff, and a ton of relatively risque stuff, at least compared to GSC and Alter. It’s great to see one of the best makers making lots of sexy figures, being that GSC tends to go for cute designs and Alter tends to, uhh, make figures of dudes or something (that is, when they aren’t re-releasing things).

      • wieselhead says:

        It’s not the best topic to talk about with friends XD
        In very popular shows there is most likely a loliI, not always in a mild seductive content, though. I started to watch Ro-Kyu-Bu!! out of a misunderstanding, I thought Subaru, their trainer was a girl, so the start was pretty awkward and the comedy was sometimes questionable. Still some things abut this show were rather good.

        Well the Nanoha transformation scenes back then were already daring. I yelled at the tv “I don’t want to see that” “please stop” I like little Nanoha a lot but not for her undeveloped body. still I have no problem with ordering loli figures be it dressed or in bikini my Fate looks lovely ^^

        I hope Asagi won’t dissapoint, I guess preordering might be not necessary, when she turns out good enough I would like to have her.

        haha GSC either picks cute or emotionless figures, like BRS or Steins Gate . ALTER got a little more daring, Strike Witches with all the crotch focus, Maeda Keiji or the bikini Sonico. Still Max Factory is great at giving us sexier, appealing figures with lively expressions

        • Tier says:

          It is not XD My friends used to watch some anime back when we were in college; they liked shows like Rurouni Kenshin, FLCL, and Evangelion. I don’t think there’s much on TV now that’s like that (except maybe Evangelion, but a lot of the imitators aren’t nearly as memorable).

          Haha, yeah, I saw those transformation scenes and was pretty amazed. Aside from Fate getting flogged and stuff, the first movie seems like a reasonably fun children’s show (though I detested it), except for that part, which would make most parents go aghast, I think. I don’t have a big thing for lolis specifically but I guess I don’t really mind them. I even have a few dakimakura covers of characters who look kinda young-ish.

          Yeah, I have the feeling Asagi won’t be a super high-demand figure … though then again, I didn’t think the Planet of the Cats figures would be either, and I’m not sure whether those are easy to come by these days.

          Alter does do some very risque figures, like Metatron, or their upcoming Mu-12. I wonder if they’ll show it at Wonder Festival. At any rate, hopefully they show off some more promising stuff soon.

  7. Steve Chen says:

    Getting Udonya’s cover girl and GSC Jubei (cast off……hey it’s a start lol!) D@mn Native! They still don’t deliver to my neck of the woods…………

    • Tier says:

      That is highly unfortunate; I guess there’s still always the proxy route. I’m pretty curious about Jubei now; I have a lot of figures of her and it’s not like I need another, but hey, it’s GSC, it’s probably not going to be bad.

      • Steve Chen says:

        Yup. Proxy……no choice. Maybe Mandarake or BIJ.

        • Steve Chen says:

          Just got Jubei Yagyu. Quality wise awesoe but GSC pulled a cheat……………same method used on MH Qb Irma, switching bodies.

          • Steve Chen says:

            Updating the interested.

            She changes between default and bikini via the Megahouse Irma/Annelotte commando figure method……switching bodies

            GSC used what seems to be treated/laminated twisted strings to serve as the cords of Jubei’s bikini

            Jubei has an undocumented feature. What with the Megahouse gals simply switched bodies to be topless, Jubei’s bikini top can actually be “cast off”. Nowhere in her instruction manual nor solicitation does this feature appears.

            Kind of reminds me of Queen’s Gate Junko Hattori, also by GSC where the cast off is made very impossible and yet the figure has actual painted nipples and areola.

          • Tier says:

            Interesting; I didn’t buy Jubei but I like that method better than removable clothing, so that’s a plus in its favor in my view.

  8. Tian says:

    I’m on board with Alter’s Ass-uka. I love that she doesn’t look happy at all, which is very fitting for the movie. And the butt cleavage.

    Hadn’t seen that X-eros Cover Girl figure before. It’s pretty expensive but looks properly erotic. Native’s great and all but they seem to be not ero enough these days.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, her expression is great; I like the combination of her casual jacket, her “WTF are you looking at?” expression, her pirate patch, and her super-tight plugsuit. It’s one of those times where these disparate elements really complement each other well.

      It’s kinda funny, I remember a friend of mine looked at this site back when Chie was the top post and he told me, “That is one porny-ass figure.” Lately it seems like they’ve gotten away from that a bit. With Alphamax (and Dragon Toy) continually upping the ante, I wonder if they’ll try to out-ero their competitors.

  9. Jigsy says:

    I don’t have any figures, but I do have a few dakimakura.

    However, I’m really taken aback by that Mokan figure, so I wondering what I should do…

  10. Saki says:

    I plan to get the Kotobukiya’s Saber figure. I’m new to figure collection, and so far I own a total of 10 figures, but when I purchased my Peace Keeper Daisy figure also by Kotobukiya I ended up totally loving how this company works. Plus, I already own a Saber figure in her bride outfit and I love this character so much! I’m also looking at the Asuka Langley Shikinami figure with interest, but I’m still not sure if I’ll end up getting her too.

    • Tier says:

      Kotobukiya has definitely done some really, really nice stuff recently. They’ve been sort of a middling-quality company in the past – a lot of their stuff was budget-priced and some of it still is (like the Bishoujo series), but they’ve been making some very impressive figures. Unfortunately some of those figures come with even more impressive price tags. Nonetheless, it’s good to see them stepping it up, considering how prolific they are.

  11. Tsunami3k says:

    Looks like an abbreviated version of my wish list save for Asagi and the X-Eros figure. I like that Asagi figure a lot but I can’t shake the fact that it reminds me of a figure of Fasalina from GunXSword from way back. There’s no good reason for it to be off-putting but it is distracting. I’m sure your inevitable photo shoot will jolt them out of superposition for me.

    As for the X-Eros girl, thank you for making me aware of her! She’s very racy but just brimming with Alphamax charm.

    I was also aware of Jubei but for some reason I thought I already had her. It’s fair to say that she’s had several incarnations of which I have several and yet I still want this one, the prior Penguin Parade release and the upcoming Penguin Parade version. I guess I really like her character design?

    • Tier says:

      I remember one of the Fasalina figures (the one where she’s kneeling with a pole between her breasts; I can’t remember who made it) was one of the figures I wanted the most back in the day. That one and Max Factory’s Kotona Elegance, anyway; I remember HappySoda had really nice reviews of both figures. I never did get either, though.

      A lot of the Jubei figures seem to look alike. The GSC one looks kinda like a blend of both of Alter’s, with the original’s costume and a similar pose to the swimsuit one. She does have a very nice character design, as do the rest of the Samurai Girls cast; I guess that’s one of the few things the series had going for it.

  12. blackimari says:

    Not going to get that New Reika Kitami?

    http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-002305

    • Tier says:

      Nah, I’m not getting it; the breasts are a little over-large in my view and Reika wasn’t one of my favorite characters from the show (I’m also not really a big futanari fan). The characters I’m hoping they make a figure of are Aki Ichikawa and Yukiko.

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