Figure news from over the weekend, including prize figure scoops from the Amusement Expo 2008, an update on Volks’ Muv Luv trading figures, a castoff look at Medicos’ Queen’s Blade trading figure set, a Gurren Lagann action figure from Kotobukiya, a review of the Tony-desigend, T’s System sculpted bloomer girl figure from E2 magazine, and more! Wonder Festival in six days and counting…

The big hobby news from this past weekend comes from AOU 2008 (aka. Amusement Expo 2008, aka. All Nippon Amusement Machine Operator’s Union 2008 Amusement Expo, aka. a big room with lots of arcade stuff on display). The expo scooped the release of several new prize figures due out later this year, a roundup of which can be found here courtesy of Dengeki PlayStation online (Note the soft breast part on Sega Prize’s HiMM figures, and their POP Wonderland Alice). More detailed looks at a couple of them are linked below:

• Gundam 00‘s Wang Liu-Mei from Banpresto (GA Graphic, Akiba Hobby)
• Code Geass‘s C.C. from Banpresto (Akiba Hobby)
• Akihabara Channel has some great English-language coverage as well!

Preorders for some of these figures have gone up at Be-J and elsewhere; we’ll be keeping an eye out for wider availability.

Volks updated with further information on the release of their MODEL OF ENTERTAINMENT COLLECTION Age Ultimate Characters 01 trading figure set from Muv Luv. The six-piece set will go on sale in advance of its official release at Wonder Festival this coming Sunday (February 24th), at 7,000 yen for an eight-piece box. Wide release of the set is expected in late March or early April, with individual units retailing at 924 yen (tax included) or an eight-piece box for 7,392 yen. Preorders will begin online on Monday, February 25th, at Volks’ shops, mail order, and online as well as other general online retailers. General release status is currently unknown.

In other Volks Wonder Festival news, if you have 58,800 yen burning a hole in your pocket on the 24th you can buy this 1/4 scale, prepainted Uesugi Kenshin kit from Sengoku Rance which is now on display at the Volks shop in Osaka (note that this is the same kit they were selling at last summer’s WF, only this version is pre-painted). It’s times like this that I wish I were independently wealthy…

Medicos’s Queen’s Blade trading figure set has been reviewed over at Ascii.jp, where they scoop the castoff status of each of the three figures in the offing (though with their typical blurring censorship). Expensive for trading figures, but possibly worth it. :3

We don’t know when it’s going on sale yet (Update: this page says it’s due out in March), but Kotobukiya has unveiled a poseable Gurren Lagann action figure they’re calling “Tengen Kadou” in this special page now online to advertise it. It’ll retail at 3,990 yen and 12.2 cm tall, and just looks generally badass – I’m glad Konami doesn’t have the monopoly on G-L figures anymore, it’s great to see what other makers are doing with the property. We’ll keep an eye out for a release date on this one.

The E2 limited, Taka Tony designed, Miyazawa Takeshi sculpted “blue bloomer girl” shipped recently, and Moeyo’s got the review. I haven’t been too hot on T’s System sculpts recently, but this is one I really wish they’d put up for general release… barring that eventuality it seems Yahoo Auctions may be our only hope.

Finally, from the “awwwww” department, comes word that Max Factory president “Max” Watanabe was promoting the release of the new Nagato Yuki Figma action figure on Valentine’s Day last week in Akihabara along with his daughter (can we call her mini-max?). They were handing out chocolate wrapped with a Figma logo label, and I can’t think of a more effective marketing technique – who wouldn’t take Valentine chocolates from such an adorable father-daughter combination?