News Related to anime figures and toys.
Hong Kong based figure maker HobbyFigures has sent us a press release earlier yesterday morning regarding their newest figure, a 1/8 scale cold cast Jin from the series Samurai Champloo.
HobbyFigures appeared last year with their debut figure Mugen also from the same series; however, the figure itself never saw an offcial public release due to quality control issues. Apparently the company will be releasing Mugen along with Jin at the same time.
Jin will be limited to 2000 pieces worldwide retailiing at $149 with a release date of January 1, 2009.
HobbyFigures is also still working on Fuu from the same series, and Risty from Queens Blade. We'll let you know when we receive pictures of them.
Lots of pictures of Jin after the jump.
Yes that's right folks, Max Factory has revealed at the 2008 Miyazawa Mokei Exhibition that they will be releasing Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki in their rocker outfits from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in 1/8 scale PVC form. Only photos of Haruhi has surfaced online while poster pictures are available of Mikuru and Yuki.
(Edit: We found a photo of all 3 figures over at Goodsmile's blog which has been included after the jump)
Definitely loving the detail work on the guitar but again like Max Factory's previous sculpts of Mikuru, there's something odd about her. Yuki looks fantastic.
Haruhi will be released sometime in March 2009.
More pictures after the jump.
In the December issue of Hobby Japan, the first colored pictures of Griffon's Belldandy figure from Ah My Goddess! Prototypes of the figure appeared at several conventions in the past (can be found here and here).
Part of the 20th Anniversary celebration, she will be available for 12,390 yen around Spring 2009.
Full page scan inside.
Japanese seinen manga magazine Afternoon has included a new Holybell figure from Ah My Goddess! in their November 2008 issue. As to who the four eyes is, I have no idea. Any guesses? I will have to assume your generalized otaku?
The magazine retails for 680 yen and can be purchased from amazon.co.jp (product page here) or a local Japanese book store.
Get it while you still can!
More pictures including magazine cover inside.
While browsing the latest issue of Hobby Japan (#11, November 2008), one of the figures caught my attention, Nanako Sakura. At first glance I thought it was another Shana figure (Shakugan no Shana), but noticed the familiar Sakura Sakura logo.
I remember vaguely admiring artwork from the series over half a year ago, but never figuring out what exactly it was from. After a little searching, Sakura Sakura turns out to be a new ero game that will be releasing this month.
The sculpt looks excellent and overall character design exceeds my expectations. Definitely keep an eye out on this figure.
From what I can make out, this figure will be released by Megahouse's Brilliant Stage figure line for 7,040 yen.
Full page scan from Hobby Japan inside.
Apparently Alter is releasing a limited variation to the now famed 1/6 scale swimsuit KOS-MOS figure from the Playstation 2 trilogy Xenosaga. The new figure called "KOS-MOS swimsuit ver. another type [Orange]" will feature orange highlights instead of the blue found on the original, and can only be preordered through Hobby Japan's online store located here for 9,240 yen.
The last day to place your preorder is on October 9 so I suggest you might want to contact a deputy service soon.
The figure will be released in January 2009.
Click read more for the full sized image.
Volks has updated their site a few days ago with the 7th figure from the PVC M.O.E. (Model of Entertainment Collection) figure line, Aschen Brodel from the Nintendo DS game Mugen no Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga.
The game was codeveloped with Monilith Soft most famous for their work on the Playstation 2 series Xenosaga hence Brodel's resemblance to one of the characters from Xenosaga.
Volks added a 1/7 scale Kaguya Nanbu, also from the DS Super Robot Wars game, a few months back.
The 1/7 scale Brodel will be available only to Japanese reisdents through Volk's online store for 7,500 yen and be released in 2009.
From the available stock photos, it seems Volks needs to work on their figure skin tones. It would be nice if they airbrushed a bit to add shadows and highlights.
The colored stock pictures are popping up on Japanese figure retailer websites everywhere of the 1/8 scale Asa Shigure by Kotobukiya from the emotional romance comedy series Shuffle!
Previously seen as an unpainted prototype at this summer's Wonderfest, the sculpt is amazingly detailed especially the should strap buckles, though the hair sculpt from the side angles looks a bit bulky.
The figure has a great resemblance to the character unlike Alter's offering.
The paint job looks a bit messy at places, but overall it's good to see Kotobukiya working on adding highlights and shadows by airbrushing.
This figure will be released around January 2009 for approximately 6,800 yen.
More pictures after the jump.
Probably one of the more exciting news to come out of the mostly gundam orientated convention CharaFest last week was the showing of two new Yoko Ritona figures from the anime series Gurren Lagann by figure maker Alter.
The first will be Yoko wearing her updated clothing after the timeskip with her jacket estimated to be released in 2009.
The second will be of Yoko in her teaching outfit scheduled to be released around March 2009. Both figures currently have undecided prices and are 1/8 scale.
Been waiting for a decent "timeskipped/pre-spaced" Yoko figure but I will wait for the painted pictures before deciding.
That's right folks, it's that time again and the Summer Wonder Festival has stated! We'll be bringing you all the latest information on the newest figures and toys as usual. So far you've probably already heard there was an escaltor accident during opening and over 50 people suffered minor injuries.
As usual, please remember that we take no credit for any of the pictures as we are only collecting and organizing all of them.
Check back this post frequently for updates.
With approximately 2 week left before one of the largest figure and hobby show, the Summer Wonder Festival, begins, figure maker Daiki Kogyou announced that they will be selling a 1/6 scale rendition of Kanu Unchou from Ikki Tousen. Sadly only 40 kits have been made retailing for 18,000 yen each. I wouldn't be surprised if this gets turned into a PVC figure later due to the popularity of the original art . Definitely keeping my fingers crossed.
More pictures inside.
Been hectic since it's convention season. Still recovering and working on articles from FanimeCon and Anime Expo. Onwards to figures.
Kotobukiya has announced they will be releasing a 5,800 yen 1/7 scale 'castoffable' beach Haruhi Suzumiya figure . You can remove her top this November.
Fans from the west probably haven't heard about this series, but Kotobukiya will also be releasing a 1/8 scale Index figure from an up and coming title To Aru Majutsu no Index, that will also be recieving an anime adaptation soon.
Probably more exciting news is Kotobukiya's 1/5 scale Chizuru Minamoto from Kanonkon releasing under the new "4-Leaves" risque figure line. She will also be releasing in a limited edition version where she is in her kitsune form (blonde, tailed, and earred.) She will be released this October for 12,800 yen.
Alter will be releasing a 1/8 scale Haruhi Suzumiya and a 1/8 scale Asa Shigure from Shuffle both releasing this November for 5,800 yen and 6,800 yen respectively. Unfortunately I am not a personal fan of Asa's facial design or her pudgy leg sculpt.
More pictures after the jump. Who's your favorite Shuffle character?