This week had a ton of really great releases, more than we usually see in such a short period of time! Some really big-deal figures that have been hyped for a while were finally released, right in time for the companies to unveil a whole new batch for Wonder Festival. Well, that’s great news for collectors–knowing that we won’t have to wait another 6 months for figures is always a bonus!
We had a lot of game-related figures this week, with offerings from several big series like the Tales Of franchise, Metroid, and Persona. Of course there were also Beach Queens, figmas, swimsuit girls, and the usual NSFW offerings, but surprisingly no Nendoroids! Hit the jump to check it all out.
AlphaMax
Ui Hirasawa | 1/7 | ¥6,800 | August
Leah: I passed on Yui when she went up, but Ui looks so cute! Cute enough to make me want to get Yui as well, because it would be odd to have 3 out of the 4 released so far.
Stephen: I really am liking this K-On! line by Alphamax and I really think that these are the best representations of the characters, which is weird since they’re swimsuit figures.
Alter
Rita Mordio | 1/8 | ¥8,800 | June
Yuri Lowell | 1/8 | ¥6,800 | June | Re-release
Leah: While the Tales line from Alter has never really wowed me, they make good, solid figures for it with some wonderful coloring.
Stephen: Rita here looks great and Yuri has quite a lot of fan appeal and is a solid figure. Two solid releases from Alter this week.
Daiki Kougyou
Kurumi Imari | 1/6 | ¥11000 | June | NSFW
Katja | 1/12 | ¥4600 | June
Tomo | 1/12 | ¥4600 | June | NSFW
Leah: Daiki confuses me so much. They make some really lovely, tasteful figures… and then they do this. Imari is like a better-made Giga Pulse offering and the overpriced 1/12 scale girls are very confusing.
Stephen: Three more dud figures from Daiki this week; it’s not even worth saying any more than that.
Good Smile Company
Sayaka Miki | 1/8 | ¥7,800 | June
Leah: Sayaka! She looks SO good, a lot better than I expected–no doubt in part because she’s sculpted by Grimrock.
Stephen: Sayaka looks great, which I’m glad about because she’s my least favorite of the girls, and she looks quite stunning when added to the rest of the set.
Kotobukiya
Naruko Anjou | 1/8 | ¥6,800 | June
Leah: Naruko has an odd spark to her–she’s simple but quite lovely.
Stephen: Naruko is cute, but personally I just can’t get past that incredibly awkward hair sculpt that looks like a gloopy spider-web due to that awkward hole. Couple that with a lack of shading and this is just an ok release.
Max Factory
Samus Aran | 1/8 | ¥7,800 | June
Samus Aran | figma | ¥3,800 | June
Irisviel | figma | ¥3,000 | May
Leah: A great week for Max Factory! The scaled Samus is stunning, the figma is pretty cool as well, and Iri is one of the best figmas in a long while.
Stephen: Finally we get some Nintendo figures and both of these Samuses are stunning. The scaled figure looks to be one of the contenders for figure of the year already, the figma has the perfect poseability and paint job, and let’s not forget Irisviel too, who is also quite stunning and shows just how much better figmas have gotten!
Phat! Company
Izanagi & Hablerie | 6.25″ | ¥3,800 | June
Leah: I am a huge huge MegaTen fan, but even I am getting a little tired of the deluge of P4 merchandise. Do we really need a poseable Izanagi, a scaled one, AND a trading figure? Come on, give us some under-represented characters or move on to P3 or other MegaTen games (Demifiend from Nocturne, perhaps?).
Stephen: Izanagi and Hablerie look great, but as Leah said, can we please get some figures of something OTHER than the same three or four characters over and over again in slightly different poses? I mean, come on companies, you really can’t bitch that these don’t sell well when you’re not offering anything innovative or different…
Wave
Kobato Hasegawa | 1/10 | ¥3800 | August
Azusa Miura | 1/8 | ¥7,800 | September
Leah: I love both of the figures from Wave this week–Kobato is adorable and Azusa is one of my favorite Idolm@ster girls (though I hate the short hair and am very glad she comes with a long-hair option).
Stephen: Kobato is just ridiculously adorable and Azusa is quite interesting as well. Two solid releases from Wave this week!
Well, that’s it for this week, which had a few really big name releases, more duds from Daiki, and a few surprises in between. What did you order this week and what do you hope to see at Wonder Festival in a few weeks that’s related to some of these figures that went up for order? Let us know in the comments below!
I really like the way Ui turned out as well! From all those, I just ordered Rita for stupid reasons. I was high on meds that night and I thought “oh how cute *press button*”. I’m gonna watch the Vesperia movie now to clear my conscience =P
There is a reason why the deluge of P4 merchandise is occurring now, and not around 2008-2009.
Unless P3 and other MegaTen games get their own (successful) anime adaptations, or perhaps get remade for a contemporary system, I highly doubt we’ll be seeing new figures based on those older games.
Maybe if the new fighting game is popular enough we might see figures of Mitsuru and Akihiko.