Fans of Beatmania II DX will be happy to hear that Konami today tentatively launched a series of 1/8 scale PVC figures based on the Bemani characters. I say “tentatively” because the production of the first in the series (Iroha Umegiri) is contingent on Konami receiving 2,500 preorders for the item by June 17th; certainly a safe way to do business, but one bound to frustrate those of us unable to preorder via Konami’s exclusive site; the lack of a production model or resin sample of the kit does little to inspire confidence either, though the lone design illustration does have some promise. Something tells me Konami won’t reach 2,500 orders without throwing a bit more in the fans’ direction first… (no more)
Konami did this back when they were resurrecting the PS2 releases of the IIDX games: told people “if we don’t get 10,000 preorders via Konamistyle, we aren’t releasing, PS2 IIDX is over, etc, lol@u”. The order numbers were really slow– almost deliberately so (wink wink black helicopters in the skies)– but they cleared the target, IIDX 7th came out and they’re up to 12 now. The preorder campaign was more about getting the existing fanbase scared and buying (worked like a charm) than the production being in any kind of trouble.
Ah, I’m so bitter about Bemani games nowadays!