While checking Play Asia‘s listings today to update our figure release schedule I came across a puzzling item: a cold cast figure described as “The Art of Shunya Yamashita Fine Art Bust Cold Cast Statue: Niniane“. It’s a roughly 1/8 scale cold cast bust (15 cm tall, 18 with sword) retailing at 9,710 yen on the PA site, with release scheduled for next April; I’m not sure if this is a limited edition item, a non-Japan release, or even whether it’s legitimate at all, but I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of it beyond the Play Asia site so a mystery she shall remain for now. It’s supposedly from Kotobukiya, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for news from that quarter… other newly updated items can be found below. Update: see below for the evening’s figure take, and a first look at Daiki Kougyou’s Shiranui Mai castoff:
Now On Sale
- Art Storm’s Nakoruru PVC from Samurai Spirits [Play Asia]
- [ERO] Yamato’s Dynamite Keikaku Kanu Unchou (prisoner ver.) PVC from Ikkitousen [Play Asia] [J-List]
- Art Storm’s Mizuka PVC from Sengoku Ace / Sengoku Cannon [Play Asia]
- Daiki Kougyou’s Shiranui Mai PVC from King of Fighters (Fatal Fury) [Play Asia]
- Shueisha’s Gally (Alita) action figure from Gunnm Gaiden (Battle Angel Alita) [Amazon.co.jp] [J-List coming soon]
Kanu, Mizuka, Mai, and Gally reviews coming soon!
New Play Asia Preorders
- Kotobukiya’s Art of Yamashita Shunya Niniane cold cast (original design) [Play Asia]
- Max Factory’s Pec Champo (Baek Changpo) PVC from Senko no Ronde [Play Asia]
- Kotobukiya’s Uesugi Kenshin PVC from Sengoku Rance [Play Asia]
- Kotobukiya’s Tina PVC from DOAX2 (Dead or Alive Xtreme 2) [Play Asia]
- Kotobukiya’s Kureha PVC from Shining Wind [Play Asia]
- Toranoana’s Tsuzuki Shiori (transformed ver.) PVC figure from Witchblade [Play Asia]
- Toranoana’s Amaha Masane (transformed ver.) PVC figure from Witchblade [Play Asia]
- Tecmo’s Yamashita Shunya-designed Kasumi (blue ver.) PVC figure from Dead or Alive [Play Asia]
- Tecmo’s Yamashita Shunya-designed Kasumi (white ver.) PVC figure from Dead or Alive [Play Asia]
More recent bishoujo figure preorders can be found here.
Malaysia’s based XL-shop had her on preorder for a few days prior
For the Niniane bust, hobbyfan has it too. So it looks legit to me
WOOT!
Woman with no name Daimakura is up for pre-order at Hobby Search!
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10066426
Niniane is legit, she’s listed on AAA and will be in the next Diamond Previews here in the US of A. Koto seems to have decided that western markets no longer deserve a better deal on their figures, so the number of Kotos I buy in the future will certainly be taking a dip. The first Bome was $12 MSRP in the US, now they’re $30. Kotos used to be $20-$50 MSRP, now they are up to $40-$80 MSRP. I know that yen prices have gone up a lot as well, but we used to get a good deal in the US, now we basically pay a premium, and this is for the stuff that gets official US distribution. The gap between US release and import has shrunk pretty damn dramatically.
I’m so jealous of you right now Shingo for having those 2 Toushirou giants in hand… here’s hoping they live up.
Great news about the new Shunya’s bust.
And about the Kasumi figures at Play-Asia,are they the same as the sega figures listed at HLJ? The different price is bugging me.
Hah didn’t know you ordered the Gally with the comic too. Mine probably will come next week.
Just a heads up…HLJ only received 4 of the Gally figures. That’s harsh. Congrats to those who got them for that price. My hunt continues…
Yeah, the Gally figure wa s kick in the nuts especially since I ordered her back in Oct from HLJ. I didn’t get it. BUT hopefully I will be getting her from Mangaoh. I think she was still in stock there and that I ordered her correctly. I do not speak nor read Japanese so your guess is as good as mine…..
Hopefully I’ll cut and paste this linky okay- if not hopefully Shingo can help me with it
I was wondering the same thing.
Anyone know if there is any difference between the Kasumi figures at HLJ and PlayAsia? :/
For those still looking for Gally, it seems she’ll be listed on J-List next Monday (they got 20 units in).
>>the_pseudokings
Thanks for the heads up on Niniane; it seems she may be an exclusively international release, as no Japan-side shop seems to be carrying her. I wonder why that is.
>>Baldulf, Magius
After seeing the Play Asia listing I’m wondering the same thing once again. Frankly, I’m stumped… as far as I know they’re identical, but that still doesn’t explain the enormous price difference. I think we’re just going to have to wait until one or the other comes out, and see what happens.
Grrrrr……I put in some links to a site and the posts are not coming up….
I think I got Gally from Mangaoh…it’s in Japanese, which I neither speak nor read….but I think I babel-fished the pages and my receipt so it looks okay….
LOL- I know I gave them my CC info soooooo hopefully something will happen- and not on the bad side of internet shopping… ^^;;
I feel your pain Work_Ethic. I ordered Gally from HLJ early. On release day all I got was a form letter telling me that my order was cancelled. I e-mailed them about the situation and they were very kind. Even HLJ employees did not get theirs. I was told they received four and there were four people ahead of me. AAAAGH! So on I search…
Shingo, thanks for the J-List heads up. It has to beat the E-bay prices, hopefully. Does a J-List product link for Gally exist yet? If so may we have it? I e-mailed J-List but haven’t heard back yet.
>>Chogo_K
The product listing itself will go up on Monday, sorry, should’ve made that more clear. I’ll post as soon as it does.
If I strike out with Mangaoh- J-list is my only hope……
Sorry Shingo…it was clear. I was just so excited about the prospect of Gally that I overlooked it. I know those of us that missed the boat (or had our boat sank) really appreciate the help you are giving on finding Gally.
At least Revoltech Rei is on the way. :)
My brothers go to HLJ RIGHT NOW! Gally is in listed in stock…I have placed my order. Good Luck!
http://www.hlj.com/product/SYU08061
The scary thing is HLJ is on holiday. My Gally order won’t be entered into the accounting system until the 25th but hey it’s worth a shot. I’ll keep you guys posted.
I experienced the same situation as Chogo and Work_Ethic, as HLJ sent me an email stating that they were not able to supply the Gally fig.
It seems odd that they now have listing stating the opposite. Thanks, Chogo, for putting up the link for the rest of us. If this doesn’t work out, hopefully J-List will come through and we can support Shingo at the same time.
Yeah, I’m having issues with Mangaoh- I’m not realy understanding what is happeneing with my order. Credit Card issues supposedly. Fingers are crossed for everyone here to get Gally.
I just pre-ordered this one at play-asia. Yeah, never heard of it before, never saw it in any other site, and it just APPEARED out of nowhere.But it’s a shunya yamashita figure ( or so it appears to be ).Who can resist?
Well, HLJ is processing my order as usual for Gally, so I guess it’s really in stock? I wonder why they wouldn’t reinstate my original order, though…
Well, I received Gally from HLJ today. WOW! Delicate, but WOW! I think it may be my favorite figure ever. Worth the wait. My friend is going to love his.
Thanks to everyone who gave advice and help in my quest to get these. I feel bad for getting these through a supplier that didn’t kick something back to this site. I will keep my eyes peeled for something to buy that will in the near future. Thanks again to you Shingo for your assistance when you had nothing to gain but helping out a fellow fan. You Rock!
>>Chogo_K
My pleasure, I’m glad you were able to track down a copy in the end!