Neither strikers, nor gaurdians, nor an ecchi feline will keep Miku from being mine
This has been a fantastic week to be a figure collector. We’re finally seeing one of the larger and more established companies in Alter get into the Ikki Tousen seen with fantastic results; we’re seeing the birth of “actsta”, the love child of GSC and LiquidStone responsible for a new line of action-PVCs; and Max Factory is putting out a breath-taking Miku Hastune.
EDIT: Just saw the info for Kotobukiya’s 1/6th Asuka go online and I couldn’t wait a week to talk about her.
I’m not going to whine since I love this hobby sometimes…
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Shimei Ryomou & Myousai Kakouen
Series: Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians
Company: Alter
Scale: 1/8
Release: Nov 2009
Price: 70 USD // 6,800 Yen
Notes: Each sold separately.
The Short:
A company other than Griffon decides to get in on the Ikki Tousen action and the results are glorious.
The Long:
Shimei Ryomou and Myousai Kakouenwere probably the biggest surprise of the week. I must have been living under a rock because these two were totally unexpected; even more so as I find myself wanting both! Alter is no stranger when it comes to quality and they look fantastic – good coloring, fantastic faces, and great coloring.
I may be jumping the gun here, but it looks like Shimei and Myousai could have some sort of cast-off/polo system action going on. That’s total conjecture on my part, but the the huge seams in their shoulders are odd otherwise. The clothing also looks like it’s more flexible than normal, but I might just be fooling myself. Still, take a good hard look (at Myousai in particular) and tell me you can’t see where I’m coming from.
As great as I think these are, they’re definitely a little “bland” when compared to the plethora of Ikki Tousen PVCs out on the market. With the few fantastic (and many gag inducing) variations out there these just feel safe; like there should be more too them.
That would explain why I’m stuck on the polo system theory, however.
Rico’s Verdict:
Shimei is almost certainly a purchase; Myousai is weighing heavily on my mind too.
Nozomu Ezomori – 4 Leaves Ver.
Series: Kanokon
Company: Kotobukiya
Scale: 1/5
Release: Jul 2009
Price: 105 USD // 10,000 Yen
The Short:
After saying that I wasn’t interested in her, I know find myself inexplicably drawn to Nozomu.
The Long:
Nozomu is another one of those figures that’s supposed to start off as an exclusive, this time for Wonder Festival, and later be put out Kotobukiya’s direct online shop. Until we hear word to the contrary or start seeing orders for at places that will ship overseas, I’m filing her under “exclusive”.
I tried to get Kotobukiya’s first release of Chizuru, but the place I ordered from never got any in (they got tons of the Special Edition Chizuru and offered me one of those, but that one didn’t interest me at all). At any rate, because I didn’t get Chizuru I wasn’t interested in Nozomu, but that was only until Aka pointed out Chizuru could still be had and Nozomu has grow on me since. 
Nozomu herself is oddly cute and much more ecchi than Chizuru. Which is fine and all, but as she’s 1/5th scale it also makes it much harder to display her openly. I like the cat ears and tail that come with her too (though I prefer the half doffed skirt look). I think the thing that draws me to her though are her eyes – they’re just so big an inviting.
Rico’s Verdict:
Want, but still want Chizuru more so she’s the priory (for the moment anyway).
Source.
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actsta Subaru Nakajima
Series: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StikerS
Company: Good Smile Company
Scale: 1/8
Release: Nov 2009
Price: 97 USD // 9,300 Yen
The Short:
GSC teams up with Liquid Stone to make ‘actsta’: a line of action figures ala figma but HUGE.
The Long:
OK, so at an 1/8th scale this first actsta figure isn’t all much bigger than a figma, but it’s certainly a big step upward. Eye-balling it with some of my own figmas, I’d expect Subaru to be about 1.5 times larger. If that’s the case, what makes her 3 times more expensive?
Well, I think that most of that extra expense comes from the engineering, particularly in Subaru’s joints. Take a look at her knee – it actually looks like the knee joint pulls in and out of her legs. It’s hard to tell for certain right now, but even if I’m totally wrong about that GSC/Liquid Stone did an exceptional job at hiding the joints. I think that’s where most of your money goes.
The rest could be in materials, but I’m even less sure on that. From what I’ve seen on the Internets there isn’t anything special about this actsta line, but I’m hoping for some cold cast action ala what Liquid Stone did with SSCQC Yuki.
Of course, since GSC is involved, the figure has exceptional coloring and sculpting to showcase but that usually goes without saying.
Rico’s Verdict:
Bought.
Source.
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Miku Hatsune
Series: Vocaloid
Company: Max Factory
Scale: 1/7
Release: Nov 2009
Price: 87 USD // 8,400 Yen
Notes: Sculpted by Shining Wizard@Sawakin, who’s other works are just as impressive.
The Short:
Max Factory is making that outfit work!
The Long:
Shimei and Myousai above may have been the biggest surprise of the week, but Miku is the one I’m most looking forward to. I guess it wouldn’t be fair to make comparisons to Good Smile Company’s Miku, so I’ll not say “Max Factory’s figure mops the floor with the GSC one” nor will I say “anyone who has the GSC one on order should cancel it and wait for the Max Factory one”.
Everything that this sculpt lacks in energy it doubles for in detail and polish. Look at her outfit – there’s so much fine detailing there that you can almost feel, hear, and smell the fabric. At the same time, it just glues itself to Miku’s body allowing her limited assets to shine trough gloriously. Seriously though, I think this figure is amazing: this Shining Wizard@Sawakin dude even went so far as to Miku’s thigh-highs zippers!
Beyond the shear genius in the sculpting and pose, I have a lot of love for Miku’s face and hair which is just spot on and completely works for me. Max Factory also brought back the semi-translucent hair they’ve experimented with before. I don’t think that’s something which should be used liberally on figures, but it was the perfect choice this time around.
I will say this for GSC: the ones that they have coming up soon certainly have the edge on originality, but this Miku is the best “traditional” Miku Hatsune hands down IMO. She looks lifted straight from the original design even.
EDIT 2: After Aka found those Asuka pics, I was able to find some more Max Factory Miku pics. If these pics show the final color scheme then I’m much more happy with the way her skin tones turned out. The official sets looked just a tad too pink to me.
Rico’s Verdict:
I’ll buy three: one to keep, one to share, and one to spread the gospel.
Source.
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Asuka Langley Sikinami
Series: Evangelion
Company: Kotobukiya
Scale: 1/6
Release: Oct 2009
Price: 70 USD // 6,800 Yen
The Short:
After strong starts with Rei and Misato, Kotobukiya continues to hammer out fantastic 1/6th scale Evangelion PVCs. Plus, Asuka’s not an exclusive!
The Long:
So you can ignore everything I said about being the most excited about Miku, because Asuka here completely wins that honor. I’ve been waiting for this figure since Rei first came out. I only had my gut to go on, but somehow I just knew this day would come. The wait was certainly worth it because Kotobukiya just nailed Asuka.
Asuka, like Rei before her, looks quite alluring in her plug suit but, unlike Rei, she does it in a way that’s flirtatious and outward – which I think fits her character perfectly. I wish there was a shot closer to her face, but from what I can see it looks to be sculpted beautifully. In fact, she looks more like Asuka than Rei looked like Rei to me, if that makes any sense.
Asuka showcases both a vibrant palet and well placed highlights that is perfectly consistent with what Kotobukiya does at this scale. It’s odd though. I’ve noticed that Kotobukiya does a better job painting their larger figures while other companies tend to have difficulties with the larger scales. I wonder why that is.
Man, if Kotobukiya can keep this up, they might even be able to make Mari look good in her plug suit.
EDIT 1: Aka found plentiful pictures of Asuka via Akiba Hobby. You get better shots of Asuka’s face and it only confirms the awesomeness of the sculpt. Check them out.
Rico’s Verdict:
Oh so bought.
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You know, I hadn’t considered the fact that Nozomu was 1/5th scale. I’m pretty sure I acknowledged that she was. But it never occured to me that that would mean she would be of fair size. That also makes her price seem not so bad.
I too prefer her in the skirt, but I wish/hope there was/is some way to use the skirt and tail at the same time.
The others I’m not so interested in. I’m not a figma person, despite the purchase of Drössel. Since she’s a robot the joints don’t bother me.
Miku, I think I prefer the GSC version, the normal version. She seems cuter, though perhaps maybe too pale? I remember some paleness anyway.
All said, I do still think Alter did a good job, even if I don’t like the characters or series.
-Aka
Interesting. I thought you’d be all about this actsta stuff since they do a better job of hiding the joints. Guess I was wrong.
GSC Miku was too pale or Max Factory Miku is too pink – I can’t really tell which. I think it’s more a matter of taste than anything. Though, arguably, GSC Miku is more in line with the character art.
EDIT: More Miku pics found. Hope that’s her final color scheme because I like that more than the official shots.
Was Asuka there the whole time? I just noticed her now…
Anyway, I’m interested in that Asuka figure more than any other so far. I’ve seen her priced ranging from 70 USD to $90 USD. My fingers are getting itchy… I want to click the check out button.
My only complaint so far about Asuka, I think her bum looks too big. But I’m basing that off these pictures. Namely the very last picture I suppose.
Oh yeah, the actsta stuff is better for sure. Subaru looks very well done and at times I can forget there are joints. But I think 4chan ruined the joint thing for me with Rozen Maiden pr0n
bleh. Plus I’m just not a fan of Nanoha.
-Aka
No, Asuka was a late add. It just felt wrong to wait another week to talk about her.
I guess her butt is a little big. Looking at my Kotobukiya Rei, it looks to be part of the theme. Certainly doesn’t bother me at all!
Ah, 4chan. Messing with our minds since 2003.
I just pre-ordered the Alter Ryomou, for my mini-collection of Ryomou figures. I’m tempted Myousai Kakouen but I don’t know her character …. So, I’m going to hold off a bit.
I also pre-ordered Miku — just judging from the photos, I think I’m more partial to this new Max Factory figure than to the splendid GSC Miku I have. But I think it’s in the 1.a versus 1.b category of preference.
And I will definitely be pre-ordering Asuka to go with my Kotobukiya Rei and Misato figures. Now, if GSC or Max Factory would put out a couple Misato’s of their own, I’d be a happy camper.
Regarding the actsta figure: I’m going to pass on this one, but I’m sure there will be a number of them down the road that I will buy. Pretty expensive though.
Truthfully, I don’t know Subaru well enough (not having seen StrikerS) to really justify the purchase on that level. But at the same time, sine this is the “first” eve actsta figure, I feel like I have to own her. Since, like you, I can eventually see them putting out figures I do want.
I think the knee joint issue with Subaru was covered up with her knee guards. The oval shaped parts overlap onto the upper part of the knee (or lower thigh, whatever).
But yeah, ActSta has already reserved a place on my shelf.
XD
Wonder who’s gonna be next in line…
Hmmm, good eyes. Given that, I’m now thinking that the knees on these actstas might look questionable on a figure that doesn’t use some sort of armor. Guess we’ll see for sure when that happens.
Personally, I would like to see them move away from MGLNS and get some Eva, some other world Haruhi (like the PSP exclusive), and Gurren Lagann, but I think we’re going to see them finish of MGLNS first.
I’m sure Good Smile will find a way, they are rather capable after all. (Or I could just be bias towards them…)
Same here. I would love to see them complete the Vocaloids. Well, at least the Character Series would be nice.
However, MGLNS have a lot of nice detail, which could be their main selling point. Along with their popularity, of course. So, yeah, we’ll most likely be seeing all of them.
Oooooo. actsta Vocaloids would be awesome!