Preorder Outlook XLVI

It’s been too long since the last preorder post and there are way too many figures to discuss. I’ve left off Japan-exclusive figures, since there are so many that I haven’t yet looked at the ones that I might be interested in. It doesn’t help that I don’t yet have a reliable source for ordering exclusive figures, though Nippon-Yasan is currently packing up my Bikini Warriors pally figure and I’ll see how that goes.

April 2016

Sakura Saber from Fate/Grand Order
Once upon a time, there was a Saber in a blue dress. Sometimes she wore just the dress, but most of the time, she wore panniers of cast iron on top of it. Then a few more Sabers followed; one with a ponytail, one that put her in a peculiarly masculine business suit. And then an impressively diverse array of Sabers followed, including some that bared her buttcrack and some that squeezed her into booty shorts, and then there’s this one, which re-imagines her as a ninja. And well, why not? She obviously has an appealing design. Really the only complaint I’d have here is that given how so many of her recent stylistic cousins emphasize their backsides, it’d be nice if her ninja incarnation had a bigger ass.

May 2016

Escalayer from Beat Angel Escalayer Reboot
Once upon a time, manufacturers enthusiastically produced figures based on Alicesoft’s games. The very first PVC figure review on this site featured an Alicesoft character – one with a connection to Escalayer, in fact. Beat Angel Escalayer was popular enough to receive a number of figures, a pretty solid anime adaptation, and a spiritual successor in the form of Beat Blades Haruka, which was just localized into English by Mangagamer (I bought it a week ago after confirming that Mangagamer no longer bothers with their irritating, perpetually-resident DRM program). It’s great to see a manufacturer adapting their work again and I’ll need to give ordering Escalayer some thought.

Yuko Sagiri from Triage X
I really wanted to like Triage X; it has many of the ingredients that I look for in anime, namely violence, sex appeal, and a somewhat less generic plot than so many of the light novel adaptations that pervade anime (not that that’s difficult to do, and not that Triage X is an exemplar of originality, either). However, it was a markedly joyless show that left the impression that it should have been better – or at least more fun – than it was. That’s not too detrimental to the appeal of its merchandise, though. I didn’t plan on buying the first version of this figure, which had her wearing a white outfit, but the black pants seem a lot more appealing, and I’m thinking about picking it up mostly for that reason.

June 2016

Nina from Breath of Fire
This is a very lovely figure from Kotobukiya, who’ve made a number of extremely attractive figures in the last couple of years. The only qualm I have about it is the price, which is very high for a 1/8 scale figure. I also have no familiarity with the Breath of Fire franchise at all. Nonetheless, it is quite a nice figure and it’s one I’ll need to consider, particularly since June appears to be a relatively empty month in terms of figure releases that I am interested in.

July 2016

Master Arturia from Fate/stay night
Yet another version of Saber, and I don’t know anything about this one, aside that she resembles a schoolgirl. I assume this smartphone-age student is still an interpretation of King Arthur, not that it really matters for purchasing considerations. In truth, I probably wouldn’t be interested in this figure if it weren’t a Saber figure, but I think this will be a nice addition to my Weird Saber collection.

August 2016

Black Odile & White Odette from T2 Art Girls
These two ladies are being both sold individually and as a pair. Being that I like them both, I’m going to just buy the set, even though I don’t think it will save me any money (and as far as I know, the only advantage is that they throw in an extra base that can accommodate both figures). While many, many great Tony Taka figures have been released in recent times, these two look to be amongst my favorites.

Maria Bernard
I’m a big fan of Cobra Kai’s sculptor Toshirou, the man who sculpted Fate, Kanu, the second vmf50 doll I bought (Miu, whom I’ve never reviewed), and of course, gangsta lean Saber, whose review has been pending here for over half a decade. His style is readily evident here, from Maria’s heavy-lidded eyes, prominent lower lip, and muscular build, though his idiosyncrasies seem to not be in held in as much disdain here as they were with gangsta lean Saber, for some reason or another. At any rate, this was one of my favorite figures at the recent Wonder Festival convention, and it’s one that I am very much looking forward to.

September 2016

Aoi Tenjiku from T2 Art Girls
The two ballerina girls sport a veneer of respectability and elegance; this figure, also from SkyTube, evinces nothing but lewdness. The manufacturer has made a number of figures that are similar in style and theme and they’ve all been good, and there’s no reason to expect that this figure will not be of identical quality.

Fate T. Harlaown from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve gotten a Fate figure. I guess it hasn’t been that long – Alter recently released one that nobody seems to have paid any attention to – but they used to come out more frequently. So did Kanu Unchou figures – I wonder if anyone remembers her? This is a nice figure but suffers even more from questionable valuation than the Nina figure; Fate is 1/8 scale and costs a whopping 20k yen. I remember when gangsta lean Saber went up for preorder and everyone was agog that she was 25k yen, even though she was a 1/4 scale figure with a relatively small production run. September’s already looking like an expensive month, and I’m not sure there’s room in the budget for Fate, even though she’s my favorite Nanoha character by far.

Hazuki Kuryu from Lewdness
Just your average figure of a young girl getting milked. Joking aside, it’s amusing to observe that this isn’t the first figure to feature a character hooked up to a milking machine. I’m not a big fan of the cow motif but I suppose I don’t hate it either, and with everything that this figure has going for it, I’m certainly going to buy it.

Marie Mamiya from Starless
Strangely, Marie can also be purchased as a set with Hazuki. I’m not sure why, as they aren’t particularly similar figures, other than that they’re based on Sei Shoujo artwork from Empress eroge. Regardless, Marie looks great, too. Just don’t speculate about what’s in the cup.

October 2016

Ran Kohinata from Comic Aun
No stranger to producing sexualized figures, Skytube’s Ran Kohinata is amongst the most pornographic that they have yet manufactured. There’s overt bondage, incontinence, and a strong inference of rape, which is phrasing it charitably, being that she apparently comes with a little nightstick that can be inserted into her vagina. Tasteful. Even I might be a little squeamish about this sort of concept, if this weren’t a little plastic anime figurine. Ahh, who the hell am I kidding; this figure is awesome! Alphamax deserves big huge props for daring to make a figure such as this.

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

33 Responses to Preorder Outlook XLVI

  1. TomTheCat says:

    Concerning Hazuki and Marie, there’s a Sei Shoujo artbook featuring artwork from both Lewdness and Starless. On the cover of this artbook, these two characters are depicted together in exactly the poses we’re seeing here. Hazuki’s leaning with her elbow on Marie’s sofa, and all the props (Marie’s glass with nondescript fluid and milking machine) are present.

    People are indeed discussing the contents of the glass. My guess would be, given the situation, that it is Hazuki’s fresh milk. Other folks argue that Marie exclusively drinks a fluid that originates from men. The matter will remain unsolved however, unless someone is able to question Sei Shoujo himself what he had in mind when he created this particular piece of artwork.

    • Lykaios says:

      Yep. It is the cover from Sei Shoujo’s Line Art book covering both series (should be able to Google something for it). Seeing this on the list and the comments have me coming out of lurking, I am SOOOO looking forward to this set.

      I distinctly remember thinking to myself what a great figure set the cover would make, but how it would NEVER happen. Figure-wise, don’t think I have ever been happier to be wrong.

      Oh, and before you go into an undefined hiatus, Tier, PLEASE give us gansta lean Saber….please ^_^

      • Lykaios says:

        Found a decent link. It is one word, Lineart evidently….
        http://myfigurecollection.net/item/167967

      • Tier says:

        I thought the same thing about the SkyTube figure of the office lady/teacher lying on the floor post-bukkake session; I really liked the artwork but I never imagined that anyone would adapt it into a figure. I’m still quite a bit surprised that they decided to go with that one when there were so many more sedate illustrations they could have picked from.

        Ha, yeah, I really need to do that review. The original problem was that I wasn’t sure what backdrop I wanted to go with; now the problem is that I kinda want to review all my weird Saber figures together but I don’t have ideas for photographing most of them.

    • Tier says:

      Interesting, that makes sense, then. Ha, well, given the content of Starless and Marie’s position – and the theme of Discipline and other such Sei Shoujo-illustrated works – I would guess that the fluid is more for reproduction rather than infant nourishment. It is probably for the best that we will never know for sure.

  2. Shashin says:

    That’s a nice set of figures. Personally, thing that interests me most though is the localization of Beat Blade Haruka; an officially licensed AliceSoft localization is huge. I’m still waiting on Daiteitoku to be translated, since the initial translation effort died about a third of the way through and it was never successfully picked up again. I was actually looking into it recently, since I do want to complete the story at some point, and it seemed like the newer translation efforts were halted because it was likely that MangaGamer would pick it up at some point. I can only hope that this leads to Japanese publishers being more open to the Western market in the future, especially those that produce quality games. And that we get less releases like that one publisher who licensed their game but refused to uncensor it due to the fear of reverse importation.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I was ecstatic when they announced they were porting it, since I liked the game when I played it through an auto-translator. It’s great to be able to play it in English and uncensored, even if the uncensoring isn’t quite as good as many of the nude filter pictures on Gelbooru and such. I’d love a localization of Daiteitoku, too; I really enjoy that game, even if the combat is fairly formulaic, and I’d particularly love a localization of Rance IX, since it has Senhime as a major character. I guess I’m not holding my breath for a Daiteitoku port though, since as I recall, it was the game that caused Alicesoft to wall off its website from foreigners.

  3. Vince says:

    You gonna order this?
    http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-018183&page=top

    I am very tempted. It has many uses with ero figures.

  4. Sienar3 says:

    Speaking of Yuko from Triage X, Sasara Kusugawa will also have a black version in her axe warrior outfit. Might order one just because black bikini looks so shiny and terrific.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I like that figure a lot as well. I ordered the white one since it reminds me of (and I’m sure it was patterned off of) Tyris Flare from Golden Axe, and I was a big huge Sega fanboy back in the day.

  5. bostonbrandon says:

    Upon seeing the first shots of Hazuki and Marie I had assumed that they were both from Starless and that I simply hadn’t met Hazuki in the game yet. Well, I just finished my first round of game play and discovered that she was not in the game; though *spoilers* there were other animal themes.
    My God, I have played Bible Black a few times but Starless takes the cake. I’m pretty sure that of all the potential endings I got the worst one for my first attempt. “Even I might be a little squeamish about this sort of concept, if this weren’t a little plastic anime figurine. Ahh, who the hell am I kidding; this figure is awesome!” That statement really seems to resonate with how I felt after the credits began to roll.

    • Tier says:

      As much as I liked the Bible Black anime (and Discipline), I have to admit I don’t have much interest in playing Starless, even though it has a US localization, because of the amount of scat I saw in the CGs. I mean, there were some instances where I couldn’t imagine the amount expelled could fit inside of a human body. I am still very happy to admire the figures, though.

      • bostonbrandon says:

        Believe it or not, I don’t recall there being a single scat scene in the entire game. There was a joke or two about Marie having chronic constipation but that was the extent of it.

        • Tier says:

          Really? That’s strange, I could swear I saw such scenes when I looked at the CG (and there was definitely some huge scatological suggestiveness in the anime). Perhaps I’m confusing Starless with another Sei Shoujo-drawn game.

          • bostonbrandon says:

            While giant insects, pig-men, and slime creatures don’t concern me, the Closed Game art-book displayed a rather large amount of feces which isn’t great. Nonetheless, I’m still really looking forward to Dragon Toys Celicia Lockhart! When it comes to Seishoujo’s designs it’s a guaranteed purchase. I still desperately need to pick up his take on Kan’u Unchou; but, good grief those after market prices!

          • Tier says:

            Yeah, I’m pretty liberal with the sort of things I like, and I’ve occasionally come around to some things that I previously abhorred, but scat isn’t something I ever see myself liking.

            Huh, I really would not have guessed that Celicia’s sculptor was the guy who did bride Ignis and the Space Battleship Yamato figures. I kinda just assumed it was a Shunji Hagii figure since he does this sort of style and he’s done a Starless figure before.

  6. Steve Veloso says:

    Tony does Swanlake with Odette and Odille! Who new ecchi could be “artistic”?

    • Tier says:

      Artistic and educational, it seems; I had no idea that their names were from Swan Lake.

      • Kass says:

        Which makes the whole concept of the name “original character” a little curious i mean can they really call them original tony when they are lifted of a play… Or maybe because they are cast off that’s what makes them original? O.o

        • Tier says:

          Perhaps! At the least, their names make sense to me now; I remember thinking they were very strange (and I kept wondering if they were some weird wordplay on “odalisque”).

  7. Kass says:

    I preordered most of those ladies and I’m most definitely looking forward to marie and hazuki set, it makes most sense that this is fresh milk marie is always looking out for her health and she’s all about keeping her youth… Nutrition is needed for that lol
    Odet and odile are very gorgeous and elegant i have been waiting to preorder them ever since i saw their prototype and i think i will not cast off their dresses these are the only figures i feel bad about them being cast off 🙁
    Maria bernard is beautiful and looks like a true work of art but i have to be honest the final product looks nothing like the prototype, prototype definitely looked better and i was a little disappointed with the final sculpt. Still a pretty stunning piece that I would never dare to miss.
    Aoi would look great next yae shoubi but Aoi definitely looks better and more.. Ehm more nude lol her feet looks cute and that anklet is so gorgeous… One for the feet enthusiasts hahaha she’s a gorgeous beautiful girl and i love her hair color and blushing expression her pose and um well assets comes last XD
    I’m still debating with myself about the police lady… I didn’t quite get the wow factor from her… She’s definitely going to be matsuri kinda quality specially with the lower body they both share the same concept but Ran definitely is so leggy her legs look too too long very different from the artwork where they look much more better, the rope doesn’t look quite right too she would be able to put her knees back together if she wanted the rope definitely doesn’t look like it’s sculpted right.. It lacks the okayama sculptors skills in rope bondage lol hiro is a good sculptor i just I’m not impressed by this one that much.
    I’m really really surprised by the fact that you didn’t give shiho a go, she’s pretty good and just the fact that she’s based on an illustration by oda non makes her so appealing.

    • Vince says:

      Let me tell you why most of these are bad looking figures… Arm rings. They tend to plunge in aftermarket.

    • Tier says:

      Shiho, Shiho … heh, I had to go look up which figure that was since the only Shiho I know of is the vmf50 doll I have. Yeah, it’s a good-looking figure but I already have like a billion figures on order for April and I can’t really fit in another, especially since there were a couple of other figures (Daiki Kougyou’s Bertille, in particular) that I didn’t order and am thinking about getting. It doesn’t help that the yen has become so strong in the last few weeks, just at the worst possible time for me.

      • Kass says:

        Are you going to preorder celicia from closed game? Lol another figure featuring tentacles haha must be your lucky year, i think she’s gorgeous i will have to wait and see what other color versions they will release since it’s dragon toy 😛 a lot of nice figures sooo little monies, figure makers aren’t cooperating with us sometimes XD

        • Tier says:

          Yeah, almost certainly, unless something unexpected happens. I have no idea who she is but the tentacles are too compelling. Yeah, I’m also wondering if they’re gonna come up with one or more alternate color schemes; I don’t dislike the original version but yellow isn’t one of my favorite colors.

  8. TomTheCat says:

    Ran Kohinata, a GigaPulse-theme figure made by Alphamax. Should turn out great XD I do already have a figure with a toilet prop, but to be honest I’m rather turned off by that fetish. Other than the fact that my dick is out in the open at the loo anyway, there’s nothing about such a place that could turn me on.

    I like her facial expression however, and I’d love to just once read a hentai manga in which the girl pays all the bad guys back. But inevitably the girls are NTR’d, and no doubt Ran will be too. It’s a pity, really 🙁

    • Kass says:

      You should attempt to write one where that happens lol. I too don’t find the toilet ensemble very appealing, if i ended up caving and getting ran i will probably display her without the toilet.

    • Tier says:

      Haha, I think I have two such figures – the Native girl with all the ugly seam lines, and Vispo’s Ringo. I don’t have a toilet or bathroom scenery fetish at all but I guess I don’t mind it when it’s used in hentai anime.

      No doubt at all; I’ve seen a few such anime and manga that have had something like that. In fact, there was one just recently called Tougijou no Senki in which the heroine gets abused and knocked around in regrettable ways but delivers some comeuppance to her assailants. It’s not particularly well-animated but it had some nice, appealing themes.

  9. matchgrade says:

    I think the Saber “ninja” is supposed to be in Shinsengumi uniform.

Leave a Reply to Kass Cancel reply

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