Our coverage of Comic Market 73 begins with a look at the figures on display in the industry booth section. While not much new information was gleaned, it was an opportunity to see a few kits up close that we hadn’t been able to experience fully before; see below for photos and the few bits of news forthcoming from the event:

Goodsmile / Max Factory

The Goodsmile presence was relatively subdued at the event, with a display case for Figma (no photography allowed) showing the entire Haruhi main cast in dance formation; looks like we can expect them later on in the action figure lineup. The only real piece of fresh news other than that was word that Shuraki will be receiving a manga adaptation beginning in the March ‘08 issue of Dragon Age, with a preview in the February issue on sale January 9th. Max Factory’s May-release Kemeko Nendoroid and Em Em PVC were available for shooting as well, so I took the opportunity… Kemeko Deluxe is serialized in Dengeki Gao with an anime coming later this year.

Lashinbang

Lashinbang had the prototype of their Spica figure on display, set for PVC release in Summer ‘08. To my knowledge this won’t be a general release, so proxy purchasing will likely be required.

Toranoana

Tora provided a first opportunity to see their new Witchblade PVCs up close and personal and the immediate impression is that they are small. 1/10 should be taken literally here; a price that might otherwise be seen as a bargain starts feeling a bit expensive at this scale, and may warrant thinking twice about the purchase for some. The real news from Tora is that they’re producing a PVC version of Kitutehu Characters‘ original character Garance; she’s due out this spring at 3,465 yen and 14 cm tall (non-scale).

That’s a wrap of what I was able to pick up from the figure department on the first day; stay tuned for more C73 event coverage soon!