Plastikitty Wants: Summer Wonder Festival 2012

So, our Summer WonFest wishlist was a bit of a failure. We didn’t get anything we wanted (though PersonaSpace came darn close!), but that doesn’t mean WonFest didn’t leave us drooling. There were tons of awesome announcements, some of which we’re more excited for than others. Lots of surprises, along with some figures we expected but were still thrilled to see. So what got our wallets crying at the event? Hit the jump and find out!

Leah’s Wants

Native’s Cat Lap Milk: I have been waiting over a year to see this beauty sculpted, and Native definitely didn’t disappoint. It’s like they sat down and though to themselves “what kind of things does Leah like? Let’s put them all in a figure together!” Seriously, all she’s missing is crazy-colored hair, which I honestly think would be overkill. This figure is perfection just the way it is!

Max Factory’s Hacker: Samurai is my most-anticipated figure of 2012 by a long shot. She’s gorgeous and unique, and I was dreaming of more figures from the series. Well, Max Factory certainly delivered with the Victorian-style goth loli Hacker! What an amazing color palette. I have to say, I can’t make a clear decision until we see promotional photos but at the moment I like her even more than Samurai!

Medicos’ Ookami no Kodomo figure: This was a bit out of left field, since I don’t know anything about the source material and it certainly didn’t seem like it was going to get big merchandise like this. Yet I find this piece totally captivating and so so different from what we usually see. There’s a sense of intense melancholy, a feeling that figures rarely invoke, and there’s no way I am passing this figure up!

Kotobukiya’s Bunny Style Laura: Kotobukiya’s bunny Charlotte had something special going on. Maybe it was the pose, the art, the bunnies, the face… either way, she sold out in hours and apparently captured the hearts of a lot of people. Charlotte and Laura are my favorite IS girls so of course I was hoping we’d see a matching Laura at WonFest. Well, there was no sculpt, but we did get an announcement! I am really hoping that Laura has that same spark that we all saw in Charlotte.

Figma Soniko: As a huge Soniko fan, how could this NOT be on my list? I don’t get to play with my figmas often but I do love them, they offer a great range of poseability and Soniko here looks very very close to her animation model. I love that we’re finally getting a SFW version of her as well, though I have no issue with her figures (which should be clear by now!). I know a lot of people were really hoping for a Tiger Parka version and a figma, but did we ever think our dreams would combine into this glorious version of the pink-haired idol?

Vertex’s Mitsuru Kirijou: I think wanting this figure already might be a bit premature, since we only have the art and Vertex has really only done one other scaled figure that won’t be coming out for a while. But I don’t care! Mitsuru is one of my very favorite characters and is sorely lacking in figures, so this is just amazing news. Based on Asuka’s sculpt I also trust them to turn out a good end product!

Max Factory’s Elf & Dark Elf: What can I really say about these two? The sculpts are absolutely beyond my wildest expectations, with a level of precision we don’t usually see from MF. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and their products, but small outfit details aren’t really their strong point. These two, though… HNNNG. So beautiful!

Alter’s Princess of Crystal: I am sure it will come as a surprise to no one to hear that this figure is sculpted by Yagyuu Toshiyuki. He’s added his usual level of amazingness! This is a figure I’ve been waiting for to come along: I was so disappointed with the GSC version (both in terms of sculpt/paint and pricing), so it’s great to see my favorite sculptor and favorite company taking her on! And this is really a majestic figure, one that will command attention on a shelf.

Orchid Seed’s Nishieda Cover Girl: Orchid Seed first unveiled the art for this two full years ago, and apparently it’s taken that long to sculpt. I had kind of given up hope that she’d ever actually get done, but apparently Orchid was waiting because they have some pretty lofty plans for her. In fact, she comes with an entire mini library! It’s amazing that they went the extra mile, especially since I like the art so much. While it was a long wait, she is definitely worth it–in fact, Orchid has definitely exceeded my expectations!

Alter’s Amane Suzuha: Something about this figure I find irresistible. It’s not a character I ever though I’d want a figure of to be honest, which just goes to show how good Alter is! The pose is so sleek and natural, and the sculpting on her body is flat-out amazing. Add a cool diorama base and a lovely muted color palette and I am sold!

Stephen’s Wants

Insane Black Rock Shooter: The Black Rock Shooter universe is one of my all time favorites and one of my all time favorite characters within that universe is Insane Black Rock Shooter. I am so incredibly happy that Kiking will be sculpting this as his work on past figures has been flat out amazing and Insane Black Rock Shooter here looks no different; if anything she looks even better than them! I’m happy they chose her original art as well.

Orchid Seed’s Soniko: I love Orchid Seed’s figures and I love Soniko so it’s a no brainer for Orchid Seed’s new Soniko to be on my list. Her body sculpt is fairly realistic and I adore her hair sculpt and face sculpt; they just seem so natural and convey so much emotion. While I don’t necessarily need yet another swimsuit Soniko, Orchid Seed’s is different enough and well made enough that it doesn’t matter.

Kotobukiya’s Fire Sakuya: Fire Sakuya looks stunning. The amount of detail in the hair sculpt and body sculpt is amazing and I adore her giant weapon. I hope her final product comes out with the level of detail seen here though and not what happened with Maxima and whatnot where the original sculpt looked amazing, but the materials used in the final product made the figure look quite… clunky and cheap…

FREEing’s Force Nanoha: I’m glad to see someone start making the Force designs from Nanoha as they’re just so awesome; the combination of giant mecha elements with the flowing outfits and hair just look great and FREEing really captured both flawlessly here. Now to wait for Fate and the rest of the girls.

Yamato’s Soniko: Cats, food, and a fuzzy base? What more could I ask for in a Soniko figure!?

Good Smile Company’s Lysette: Lysette is flat out adorable. I love her face sculpt and her light flowing hair and she’s just so different from what we’ve been getting from companies of late; most figures depicting younger characters seem to have been in battle poses or have quite serious tones to them, but this figure greatly reminds me of Alter’s Alice and the fun, playful, innocence that that has, and to me, that’s a good thing.

Kotobukiya’s Dark Magician: Yu-Gi-Oh! was a very large part of my childhood. I watched every episode every weekend, collected the cards and battled with friends, and even went to tournaments. And through it all, one of my favorite cards to play was the Dark Magician. Yeah, yeah, it’s cliche, I wanted to be like Yugi I guess, but unlike Yugi’s mish-mosh of a deck, I built mine completely around the Dark Magician and other spellcaster type monsters. The Dark Magician means a lot to me and to see Kotobukiya produce such a flawless figure of him in such an amazing pose almost brings a tear to my eye thinking back on all of the memories I had with Yu-Gi-Oh!

FREEing’s Racing Miku 2012: The sculpt is already floating around for this figure, but was listed as do not photograph, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to lust over this awesome piece. The hair sculpts on the Racing Miku figures just keep getting more and more ridiculous and I love the overall design for this year’s Racing Miku. I can never have enough Miku!

Jumbo Miku Nendo: I’m really surprised it took so long for a jumbo Nendoroid to be announced, but I’m not surprised in the least that they started off with Miku. I love Nendoroids and have almost all of them and being able to have some of my favorites in a larger, more easily displayable, size is something I’m definitely looking forward to. Miku here looks great and I can’t wait to see who’s next!

FREEing’s Soniko: As you can see from this list I quite like Soniko and FREEing’s offering is no exception. Her face is a tad off, but the ruffles, attention to detail, and flowing elements all make for one great figure.

So, that’s it for our most-wanted figures! Of course we kind of want everything, but these are our absolute must-haves. You know, the ones you’d slam down $300 for! Which honestly is kind of what I’m assuming Insane BRS will be. In terms of characters Soniko is the clear champion, with 4 entries! As far as companies go it seems Max Factory is in the lead with 4, though GSC, Koto and FREEing tie at 3 each. Seriously, FREEing! Who would have guessed. So, what are your must-have figures from this WonFest? Let us know in the comments!