Good Smile Company has announced that they are now taking pre-orders at their online shop for new figures including fan-favorite Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, Armin Arlert from Attack on Titan and Shinobu Oshino and Nadeko Sengoku from Bakemonogatari. The figures will be shipped between June and July of this year, with pre-orders closing soon.

Anime blogger and entrepreneur Danny Choo has announced that he is working on releasing a robotic doll dubbed the Smart Doll based on his character mascot, Mirai Suenaga. Originally posted as an April Fools joke, apparently the joke generated enough buzz for several robotics experts to join the cause.

According to Danny's post, the Smart Doll will contain: "about 24 servo motors, a CPU board, bluetooth and touch sensors." The initial production models will run off external power plugged into the back of the neck with future models currently conceptualized to be charged via a USB mobile battery.

Features currently planned include reactions to users who pat her head via touch sensors, an idle mode where the doll will look around and shift its body, dance to existing sequences made in the popular program Miku Miku Dance, move via Microsoft Kinect, and preprogrammed gestures and movement including Android and iOS remote control.

Currently as the doll is still in the development, there is no price; however, Danny has mentioned that the Smart Doll will be cheaper than the price of standard dolls on auction sites. I am assuming he is referring to Volk's Dollfie Dream line (which is probably also what the Smart Doll's exterior is based on) which normally sells for around $1000 with the more expensive dolls selling for $2000 on Yahoo Auction.

The first version of the prototype is expected to be completed by June and we'll do our best to get a hands on preview at Anime Expo in July where Danny is most likely to bring with him.

Good Smile Company has finally released additional information regarding the highly anticipated Belldandy figure from the popular series Ah! My Goddess.

The figure will be release as part of figure maker Max Factory's 25th anniversary. The figure was originally a garage kit but due to the complexity of the kit, making a faithful PVC rendition would have proven too difficult. From the delicate curves of the wings, to the thin strands of hair, if I could only pick 1 figure to own, this would be it!

She will be available for preorder starting on February 22 for a whopping 19,800 yen, probably one of the most expensive PVC figure to date! Check out additional images inside.

With a rough total of 195 new figures at the latest Winter Wonder Festival 2013, there is a lot to cover. Fortunately, we've taken the time to look through most of the new releases and picked out the best ones we think deserve the spotlight and your precious pre-order dollars.

Not surprisingly, Good Smile Company ranks in as #1 for their sheer number of new figures.  Granted more than half of them are Nendoroid and Nendoroid Petit series, but they've covered good ground and haven't left their non-Nendoroid fans in the dark.

Max Factory has 26 new figures, most of them are figmas, while Kotobukiya previewed 11 new figures for their line up.  (Warning: This post is very image heavy.)