Today’s Updates

• WHF Ariake 18: Osiris’s Persona 3 Aegis
• WHF Ariake 18: Ero Garage Kits
• WHF Ariake 18: Cobra-Kai’s Saber
• Shining Wind Mao, Blanc Neige progress report
• WHF Ariake 18: Yoko vs. Yoko

Much other interesting news from the past few days has been covered by Zepy and EvoSpace, for those who haven’t been reading Canned Dogs and Akihabara Channel religiously. There are a few other items percolating that will probably show up here in the morning, in addition to our continued WHF and Futaket coverage; meanwhile if you’re wondering what’s new at Play-Asia and DLsite, we’ve got you covered:

Osiris of sculpting circle Heavy Gauge is one of the most skilled hands working in the PVC figure arena today (Holstein Hanako-san, Guernsey), and it’s unsurprising that his personal garage kit work is equally remarkable. Along with his Heavy Gauge colleague Kana he participated at WHF Ariake 18 yesterday under the circle name “3D Megane”, where the painted prototype of his Persona 3 Aegis (Aigis) kit was on display. The results of an ensuing photographic frenzy can be found below:

We continue our coverage of WHF Ariake 18 with a look at the [ERO] garage kits present at the event. If something you were expecting to see here is not, odds are we’ve covered it in past event coverage; I’ve tried to generally avoid redundancies, though they do creep in on occasion. I should note that this particular batch contains more extreme content than usual, so those of weak stomach and those not of legal age to view explicit content should look elsewhere. I repeat: those not legally able to view sexually explicit material should not browse past this point. If you’re an adult with an open mind, by all means proceed!

Sculptor Toushirou of circle Cobra-Kai is known for his epic large-scale works, usually featuring characters with voluptuous builds and his trademark heavy-lidded eyes. When I first saw the rough draft of his resin rendition of Fate/stay night‘s Saber at last Wonder Festival I momentarily didn’t recognize it as his work; she seems so far afield from what he normally sculpts. But now that the kit is complete it’s apparent that it’s none other than his genius hand at operation, and this is a kit that made one of the biggest impressions at yesterday’s WHF Ariake 18. See below for a full castoff [ERO] gallery:

The official blog of all figures Shining updated over the weekend with a look at the two newest items in Kotobukiya’s Shining Wind bishoujo figure lineup, Mao and Blanc Neige. The Mao shots aren’t unique to this post (this is the same prototype we’ve seen at Akiba Hobby and in Amiami’s product listing for the past couple of weeks), but the Blanc Neige initial PVC prototype is seen here for the first time. With this up at the Shining blog it seems we can expect preorders for her to appear soon. Pictures below:

What happens when two of the bishoujo sculpting masters of Japan decide to tackle the same subject with their own unique interpretations? We found out yesterday at WHF Ariake 18, where I was treated to my first look at the completed renditions of two new Gurren Lagann Yoko “space look” resin kits by two veteran hands of the craft. See below for gallery reviews of both: