The March 2008 issue of Hobby Japan magazine will be on store shelves tomorrow (January 25th), but we’ve got an early look at it today courtesy of 2chan’s hobby board. Several interesting items to scoop today, including a castoffable Queen’s Gate Nijihara Ink (of Moetan fame), a look at the next Queen’s Blade character, a Volks PVC series featuring characters from Alice Soft’s upcoming Choukou Sennin Haruka (Beat Blades Haruka), several new PVC items from Griffon, and a bunch of Wonder Festival preview news. And more! Details below:
The next figure in Hobby Japan’s Queen’s Blade series isn’t from Queen’s Blade at all – nor is it from Megahouse. It’s sculpted by T’s System and produced by Clayz, and features Nijihara Ink from Queen’s Gate, the official QB spinoff that includes characters from alternate universes – Moetan, in this case. We’ve seen several Ink figures in the past, but as part of the Queen’s Blade lineup this is the first one ever to be castoffable. It’s coming via mail order limited edition from Hobby Japan, with preorders open through March 10th and release scheduled for July. International customers should be able to order this from Play Asia, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for her there.
In other QB news, limited color versions of Megahouse’s Airi and Echidna PVCs will be on sale at Wonder Festival 2008 Winter on February 24th, and the next character in the Queen’s Blade lineup has been revealed to be an elven warrior with a very heavy staff by the name of “Arein”. Design and illustration duty is from Matsuryuu, and no release date has yet been confirmed.
The main heroine of Alice Soft’s eroge Choukou Sennin Haruka (official English title: “Beat Blades Haruka”) is coming in PVC from Volks! Price and release date are unknown, but this is apparently the beginning of a new partnership between the brands that will see a series of PVCs inspired by the spiritual successor to Beat Angel Escalayer. This is great, but I wish this PVC deal had been struck prior to the release of Sengoku Rance instead… more details can be found at the official project page on the Volks website.
Kotobukiya is putting out a Milfa PVC from To Heart 2 Another Days. It comes with a bonus Ilfa head (gotta love that android compatibility) and will go on sale at Wonder Festival on Feb. 24th, with Kotobukiya limited shop release the following day. She’s 1/8 scale and going for 5,000 yen, plus tax. Kotobukiya also has a Suzu PVC on tap from Nagasarete Airantou, due out in June at 6,090 yen and 1/7 scale, and Cospa (perhaps Resinya?) is putting out a Shana (waitress ver.) PVC from Shakugan no Shana II, 1/6 scale (26 cm tall) with release planned for March at an unknown price, and a sculpt from Hiroshi of Sakurazensen.
This is a page from Dengeki Hobby, not Hobby Japan, but it’s close enough: featured are a second round of Suzumiya Haruhi petit Nendoroid figures from Goodsmile, due out in April at 500 yen each in a set of 10 (five characters, two variations each) plus one secret. Also shown is a Sumomo figure that will come with the Nintendo DS version of Nanatsuiro Drops, which is due out in March.
A scan of Griffon’s black and white ad page in HJ showcases their upcoming PVC and resin lineup, dominated by Ikkitousen on the PVC side (Ryomou Shimei maid ver. coming in March, Ryomou and Kanu China dress versions coming in April) along with Pram from Phantom Kingdom and Rosalind from Disgaea 2 both due out in March as well. On the resin side Queen’s Blade represents with new Reina, Nix, and Echidna kits, scheduled to be sold pre-painted (though quite expensive). Winter Wonder Festival goodies include limited color editions of their [ERO] DX Kanu and shark-crushing Plenair, and Harada Takehito designed Al Ajif (Demonbane) and Saber (Fate) garage kits.
Wave’s Treasure Figure Collection bunny girl Haruhi is pictured here, scheduled for release at 2,940 yen and 1/10 scale (16 cm tall). She’s due out in May, but will see advance release at Wonder Festival and online via Wave’s official site at the reduced price of 2,500 yen.
Yamato steps into the bishoujo action figure arena with the first entry in their new “vmf” (variable motion figure) line, Ikkitousen’s Ryomou Shimei. She features 16 points of articulation, removable skirt, and is larger than much of the competition at 1/7 scale (25 cm tall). Release is expected this summer at an as yet undetermined price.
New Line will be releasing a pre-painted resin figure of Benis from Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de. She’s 16 cm tall, and will receive a Wonder Festival 100-unit limited release at 15,000 yen.
Volks’s Kasutama P action figure series continues with a couple of figures from August’s Fortune Arterial. They’re like a black hole of boredom sucking at my soul, so I’ll avert my eyes hastily and move on…
More Wonder Festival news comes from Movic, who will be releasing an [ERO] bare-chested alternate color version of their Yamashita Shunya-designed Cocona PVC at the event, along with alternate color versions of their Sekirei Musubi and Matsu PVCs and the advance release of their Evangelion plug suit Rei. Orchid Seed will be releasing an event limited version of their Chichinoe+2 figure at Wanfesu as well, though its “limited” characteristics are unclear.
Finally, Pit Road will be releasing a series of “Machine Girls” figures based on an illustration comic from PC GIGA magazine. The four figures x two variations are due out this spring at an unknown price.
If there’s anything of import that didn’t make these scans I’ll post it tomorrow when the magazine goes officially on sale. Things are really heating up as we approach Wonder Festival – just a month from today! We’ll bring you continued coverage as further news comes to light, so stay tuned. :3
Oh my. That new Queen’s Blade character looks awesome. Hurrah for elf girls! I can’t wait. And the Queen’s Gate Ink figure looks pretty good too, even if I’m not gonna be doing any cast-off on that one. The limited edition colors of Airi and Echidna I can pass on, though…
hmm…I’ve had my eye on Echidna for a long while now, but I think the original color variation is still the best! The peach skin with the dark lipstick color…mmm it’s pretty nice lookin lol. Too bad the people who sell them on ebay price them at totally ridiculous prices though >< Somethin with the black color variation doesn’t really strike a chord with me. Think it’s the weird red fading on the stockings. Don’t think she’s got lipstick on either. Though they took it straight from her color variation in the book, the blue skinned variation looks odd :o At least they fixed the stocking color though lol. That next QB character looks great. Wonder if they’ll ever release a book based on Shizuka and Yuumil or whatever her name is first? Figures came out before the book lol… I’d also love to see what the Griffon Echidna looks like painted.
as a final comment…lol at the names Milfa and Benis…
Thanks for the heads up Shingo, good work as always! Can’t wait for the Queen’s Blade PVCs to be released. Kanu is also on my watch list too…
Man, that QB Ink has too much into her, I’ll just have to buy her! :P
The only ones I’m interested in are the Griffon Haruhi and their Rozalin! ^_^
And suneo>
I got Hobby Search to send their last copy of the restock of the original colour Echidna today (it only appeared briefly yesterday and I immediately bought her), so she was there, if somewhat briefly..
LOL!! Gonna swipe up a Queens Blade Ink!! For reasearch purposes only……Promise!! ^^;;
Yamato stepping into the figure territory looks promising- plus the larger size really appeals to me. Hopefully this will work out.
[…] t’s system, takamura kazuhiro, Winter Wonder Festival, wonderfest, wonfes Heisei Democracy’s got an early two scoops of raisins on the contents of this month’s soon to hit the […]
Definitely looking forward to getting myself a figure of Haruka. Can’t wait!
>>Deibi
ah ><
How did you manage to drop in at just the right time? lol
>>suneo
I agonized over whether to get the original or dark Echidna as they both looked so good but the dark vers. just barely managed to appeal to me more. Same with the Guernsey Hanako-san. I don’t know if you’ve seen them in person but the red on the stockings looks much nicer and smoother than the stock photos on the web. She is wearing lipstick, its a pale red/pink. I agree that the blue vers. looks odd, she’s like zombie Echidna.
I’ve run out of my already limited shelf space. I am in despair.
Is this a factor for other people as well? One day , everybody’s going to run out of room and it’s going to seriously cut into future purchases.
hmm nope I haven’t seen it in person. Only pics I’ve seen are the various item pics from online stores, and they all seem to make the red on the stocking look horrid :\
Oh well I’ll eventually pick her up if I see her somewhere for a decent price. I’ve been goin a bit crazy with the preordering lately…must hold back lol
can’t wait to see those Griffon Ikki Tousen figures in color. I dig the CoCoNa alternate, too bad it’s a con exclusive. Looking forward to seeing that Shana (Waitress Ver.) in color too. Some cool stuff.
!!
I must be the only one excited for that Pram PVC. I think I’ve actually seen the original resin version of that before (The sculptor does dinosaurs too I think?), which I tried to get but due to limited kits produced I could not attain it.
I’m really surprised Griffon would pick that up since she’s not a popular character at all.
Here’s hoping their Quality Control won’t screw it up like the discoloration of their recent Etna 1/7 PVC (Orange facial skin vs. lighter body skin, as well as misaligned left leg from base).
As for the Queen’s Blades figures… I’m so glad I am not into them, because by now I would be in debt.
The other two Shunya Yamashita Fine Art bust statues shown as silhouettes on the last pic are: and … ^_^
Oops, sorry Shingo for the mistake on the tags…As I was saying, the Shunya Yamashita Fine Art bust statues are Karin and Noel…
>>L.C
No problem, thanks for the info! Nicely spotted, I wonder why Hobby Japan opted not to publish the photos if the figures were already finished and available.
Woah! So many interesting figures!
About the Beat Blades Haruka figure,any more details about it? It’s going to be sold normally or only via online store?
And Kanu and Ryomou in china dresses are really tempting.
There goes my financial budgeting for this year…and it’s only Feb…8)
Guess I can skip those event only releases to save cash.
That means I need only 17k yen x3 for the new QB resin figures from Griffon. 8)
I’m so glad I’m not into Ikkitosen/Dragon Destiny. I’ve lost count of the number of DVD box/limited/event only/recolor releases for just 1 model of 1 character. Reminds me of the day when I was collecting Yamato’s Macross valkyries.
>>Deibi
I’m just wondering why there are frequent restocks of orignal colour Yumil and Echidna. This is the 2nd time HS restocked. I was hoping for a restock of Reina or Dark Echidna instead. Anyway, it’s a good buy for you. 8)
>>Shingo
Is there a limited number of items a person can queue to buy from one maker (e.g. there are 3 event limited items from Movic :Cocona, Musubi and Matsu PVCs. So if I join the queue, does it mean I can only choose to buy 1 piece of 1 of the 3 figures, even if all 3 figures are still in stock? Or can I buy 1 of each figure?
Thanks for any info you can provide. I’m actually tempted to make the trip down to Tokyo Big Sight this year since the event is during the time I am taking my vacation. 8)
Nijihara Ink, Looks very Cute!!
First Time is gonna to be naked *0* haha!!
Airi “Blond Version” looks bad,
Does anybody like it?
The Next Queen´s Blade Figure looks cool in the main Design, but I am Afraid that just for that armour the Figures is gonna be like Reina (I still remember everyone making a Surgery to take off her Staff XD)
Thank You So much as always Shingo!!
I hope more news about MegaHouse Figures the next WF, I still rememeber what you say about a new line.
Bye!
>>baldulf
There are no details regarding the Haruka figure yet beyond what we see here, but given the way it’s been presented I’m guessing it will be a wide release figure and not limited to Volks shops. We’ll bring further information when it comes to light.
>>blacklotus
I can’t be absolutely sure on this, but I believe you’ll be allowed to buy at least one copy of each limited edition item available when you reach the head of the line. They may restrict the purchase of multiple copies of an item, but it’s far less common to limit customers at events to a single item from among an assortment.
Policies on this will differ between makers, so you might want to keep an eye on their individual event information. I’ll let you know if I hear anything in specific on this.
>>Steve
We’ll be keeping an eye out for information on the new Megahouse lineup at Wonder Festival, and will report it here as best we’re able. Thanks for reading!
Thanks Shingo. I wanted to plan early as the Yen is strengthening against Singapore dollar.
I wanted to change some Yen now rather than wait for next month. 8)
Those Ikkitousen ones look really cool. Can’t wait until they show some color pictures.
[…] Griffon Enterprise’s line up coming in the next few months, originally scooped by Heisei Democracy and also talked a little bit about here, has finally started to leak out into the pre-order world. […]
Sweet. The new Queens Blade character originally appeared on one of the stick posters released last year. Good to see her character has finally been announced.
[…] of this. It’s not much really, but it’s a small update from when Heisei Democracy scooped it up from an early preview from Hobby Japan’s March ‘08 issue. It’s a bit of an early […]
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