Hi people, time for a New Preorder Post. The last few times it appeared like I was cutting back on figure purchases, but it’s no use, I like collecting them too much and I placed a few more orders.

Figure Treasure hunt Order – a few “bargains”  triggered these following purchases.

Fate/Hollow Ataraxia – Saber – Maid Version R

Last time I “accidently” bought ALTER’s old Saber Maid figure, but I wasn’t that satisfied with her. The outfit is very pretty, but you see that she’s old when looking at the medicore sculpting of her face. I will sell the older one, cause I’d rather want to have the slightly improved new one.

I already finished my review of the non R Saber Maid figure and I will probably write one about the newer Version. As the slightly altered re-release was announced the price of the old one dropped a lot, but also the new release had a big pricedrop. I don’t really understand why but I got her for 4500 Yen at Mandarake. Hopefully I’ll like Saber’s new, updated maid version more.

Suzumiya Haruhi –  Gekisou Version

Im a big fan of the Suzumiya Haruhi animes and stories, even though I haven’t even read a quarter of the novels. This will also be the first scale figure of this franchise, that I’ve ordered. I always like if there are figures of anime characters I know which show them in an outfit different from their usual dress, this special Haruhi from Max Factory is a good example for that criteria.

This Gekisou Version was always around for 12000 Yen on the aftermarket after it’s release in 2009 and it was quite popular for some years. Recently I noticed her in Ami Ami’s Pre owned section for around 8000 Yen, quite a steal, so I didn’t hesitate one more minute before ordering.
Suzumiya Haruhi –  Gekisou Version is scaled 1/8 and has a height of 21 cm. Good that I got her.

Last minute order – unforeseen purchases

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi … – Honma Meiko 

I actually didn’t intend to get this Menma figure, but the purchase happened when fellow blogger Leonia asked me if I would take over her order, after giving it some thought I accepted. All went very smooth with surprisingly fast SAL shipping and no customs fee, thank you again =).

This figure turned out very nice, the figure itself has a simple design, since her white summer dress isn’t what you would actually call fancy. On the other hand the sculpting of her body and also the pose are quite good and enchanting. The base base is recreated after the hideout of Menma and her friends, it looks very detailed and the combination of figure and elaborate base look great and bring this figure to life. This Menma from ALTER, scaled 1/8 and she has a height of 21 cm (with base). The release of ALTER’s Menma occured in October 2013, I “ordered” her from Otacute for 72,90 €. My review of ALTER’s cute Menma will be published very soon.

New Figure Preorders – finally something convincing

Yuru Yuri – Akaza Akari

Finally my impatiently awaited figure of Akari which was still a grey prototype on last Wonfes went up for preorders, to readers of my blog it should be no secret that I adore the sweet Akari from Yuru Yuri. Even though the show mainly makes fun of her, she’s a very popular and beloved character. I really like this kind and caring girl with her always cheerful and motivated attitude.

Cheerful as always, Akari is sculpted with a cute waving pose, as outfit she is wearing her regular middle school uniform and her blue bag. It’s not the most exciting attempt, but it captures the character of Akari perfectly. She is from ALTER, scaled 1/8 and she will have a height of 18 cm. The release of Akaze Akari is scheduled for April 2013, I ordered her from Ami Ami for 5400 Yen.

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA – Prisma Illya – Manga Version

I have no experience with and no real opinion of Phat Company! so far, but this figure is my second preorder, Hibari should arrive by the end of November. This figure is based on a spinoff manga called “kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA” which will also get an anime adaption very soon. I haven’t read a single page of this manga, but I know Illya and liked her cute incarnation as magical girl. I like the general magical girl with a cute and girly dress, but since I only buy figures that really convince me, I only have a small number of figures that would fit in this category.

The figure has a really adorable face, with her big eyes and the big open mouth I just couldn’t resist. Teenage Illya has a delicte body and her dress is even a little sexy with her short skirt. This figure is from Phat Company! and is scaled 1/8 and she will have a height of 19 cm. The release of Illya is scheduled for March 2013. I ordered her from Big in Japan for 6090 Yen.

Maybe Baby List

K-ON! (Movie) – Azusa – PureNeemo – Birthday Memorial version

Isn’t she just adorable? This is a Azone PureNeemo Doll of Nakano Azusa from the K-on! Movie
She is scaled 1/6 and has a height of 23 cm, she comes with three winter outfits and additional hands. Oh my god she looks so cute (>◡<)♡ She has a very moveable body and the clothes cover her joints very well. I already have bunch of Azone doll clothes that I’ve used for some of my figures, so playing with Azusa might be a lot of fun ^_^.

This Azusa is an exclusive item and costs 14550, the release date is sheduled for April 2013.

Haha, well I actually planned to get Dollfie soon, but I can’t justify to spent so much for a single item at the moment and I can’t really imagine were I could put a 40-50 cm high doll either,

Im really on the fence with this Azusa Doll, I might have already orderded her at this point

Interesting New Figure Prototypes – some updates about upcoming figures

Nitro Super Sonico – Sonico – Cheerleader version

SoniComi – Sonico – PKG version

It’s been some time since I received my last Sonico figure, the last one(s) from Gift or the Nurse version from Orchid Seed didn’t convince me enough. But last week Orchid Seed updated two of their gorgeous upcoming Sonico figures, I had wet eyes as I saw this 1/6 Cheerleader version, not because she looked so bad, but I was looking forward this figure since illustration status. It might be another year until I will be able to preorder her, but then I will be the happiest figure collector ever. I also was happy to hear that the PKG version was updated, now she will be scaled 1/5 with a height of 31 cm.

Shining Blade – Altina Mel Sylphis 

This upcoming Shining Blade prototype from Kotobukiya also picked my interest, she is called Altina Mel Sylphis and will be a 1/8 scaled figure with a height of 21 cm. If the painted figure looks close to the illustration I will probably order this cute Toni Taka styled elf girl.

Preorder Roadmap Winter 2012

Hi a new figure has finally arrived, after a lot of anime related posts I can present you a new figure review. Today it will be about Hirasawa Yui, she’s a premiun prize figure manufactured by SEGA.

Her origin is the popular anime adaption K-on!!, the slightly airheaded Yui was the unofficial main character in the first season. In this figure adaption she is shown in her official HTT (Happy Tea Time) band t-shirt which she sported at the last performance on the school festival with Mio, Ritsu, Mugi and Azusa in episode 20. Ah that scene afterwards was such a big tearjerker, parting with your schoolmates and previous schoollife can be so sad hard. “stop crying damn wimp” XD
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pOoLvamGvM&feature=related

I never thought about buying a Sega figure before, last year, I began to notice, that their quality seemed to be better than I actually thought. I couldn’t find this Yui figure at japanese shops and ordered this figure at an US-shop, later she appeared on Mandarake for around 1600 Yen, I paid a little bit more, 35 $ + shipping (rage!), for prize figures you should give Mandarake a try.

First Impressions

Despite beeing a prize figure Yui comes with a nice looking box, she is a fully assembled figure, already fixed on her flip-flop colored base and with her beloved guitar “gitah” in her hands.
This “Windmill” Yui figure is quite big, she measures 21 cm which lets her look like 1/7 +

As I first unpacked her I felt a bit dissapointed with her, Yui was so unexpectedly big, I expected something more close to 1/8. Because of the huge size the lack of details on this prize figure is very prominent. I guess I became a bit spoiled with the level of detail from my high price figures.
Well, while doing the shooting with Yui, I slowly got the feeling that Yui actually is a very nice looking figure and that I was too harsh with her at the beginning even though there is still a difference in comparison with figures from other manufacturers that have a higher reputation.

Pose and random Infos

As you see this is a quite dynamic pose SEGA had chosen for her, I think they wanted to recreate the trademark windmill move of Pete Townshend, a member of The Who, he also owned the same Gibson Les Paul guitar like Yui, in fact he had 9 different Les Paul guitars for the concerts.

Yui raises her plektrum in the air like she wants to ROCK!, her movement with the spread and slightly crooked legs is captured very nicely, well her back is more leaned forward, but thats mainly because of the weight of her guitar, I suppose it’s a quite heavy instrument for a girl of her size. Yui’s guitar is the Les Paul Standard Sunburst made by Gibson, they did a very good job in recreating the details of this popular guitar model, the plastic has a nice polished wooden look, the turning knobs are on the right placed and also the belt around Yui’s shoulder looks cool.

Yui has a wild waving hairstyle with several detailed strands and her 2 yellow clasps. There are also some shading effects which have been rarely used on the rest of this figure. They gave her face a nice open mouth and some cute  blushmarks and nice eyes, overall she resembles Yui very well, maybe her eyes appear a bit too big in comparison with her face, what do you think?

The reason why I have ordered this figure adaption and not one of the other Yui’s is mainly based on this cool looking pose and partly based on my aversion to western styled private school uniforms, they are so plain and bourgeois. With the white HTT t-shirt her outfit has more credibility, now she really looks like a member of a band. Thats the spirit of Rock n’ Roll!
Well, Im ok with the skirt and her black pantyhose, since they accentuate her nice legs.

Also the sculpting of her dress with the detailed wrinkles on skirt and shirt is very well done. There are nearly no visible seamlines, also the simple paintjob looks clean and smooth.

Final Words

Yui is a premium prize figure and in terms of quality she’s actually a very good figure. At first I was a bit dissapointed because of her big size, but after the shooting and some days on my desk, she grow on me a bit more.

Well, you can clearly see where Sega cut the budget for prize figure Yui, aside from the hair this figure has no shading and the good sculpted guitar has no strings, nevertheless it’s remarkable, that a prize figure comes with such a good quality. Well for the price I’ve paid I would had expected a decent figure, but when you’ve just paid 1500 Yen this is more than a very good deal.