Preview Of Upcoming Figures

Here’s our monthly dose of figure previews from scans of Hobby Japan magazine found on various forums/boards. This month, Hobby Japan brings us exclusive previews of upcoming new figures from Megahouse, FREEing, Wave Corporation, Griffon Enterprise and themselves of course.

First up is a preview of a new Ranka Lee ~ N.A Ver. figure from Megahouse.

This Ranka Lee figure is done by Megahouse’s Excellent Core series. She is 1/8 scale and set for May 2009 release. Retail price is set at 5,985 yen. My initial thought was: What’s with the hair colour. Then I was enlightened by someone on 2chan who posted the following:

The figure is likely based on the above. Now that explains the hair colour. Anyway, I feel that the face is done quite well. But I am kinda disappointed that they are releasing her in bikini outfit though as I would have prefer her in her stage outfit or like the one by Kuji. Still, she is one to keep an eye on.

Next is a gigantic figure of Konata Izumi by FREEing.

This Konata Izumi figure is 1/4 scale and set for June 2009 release. No price info is available at the time of press. Wow … looks like FREEing is continuing their tradition of large scale figures with this offering. Konata looks really good here. I think she will be the first in a line of Lucky Star figures by FREEing.

The next few figures are also from Lucky Star, this time by Wave Corporation. First up, Konata and Kanata.

Not much information is given regarding these two figures by Wave except that they are non-scale and will stand  up to 14.5cm. Anyway, both figures look really good, especially Kanata. It’s a pity they are non-scale. If they are 1/8 scale or even 1/10, I would definitely get both of them. Hmm … decisions will be made when they are officially announced so for now will be keeping tabs on them.

Next are the popular Hiiragi sisters, Kagami and Tsukasa.

Similarly, no specific details both either except that they are 1/12 scale. What … 1/12? So that would make them slightly bigger than trading figures. I wonder what’s up with Wave on these scale. They are doing a great job on the figure sculptures only to spoil it on the scale. I love Tsukasa but it’s very hard for me to want such a small figure.

Next up is a new figure of ToHeart’s Sasara Kusugawa by Griffon Enterprise.

The painted Tamaki Kousaka has of course been announced last month. The unpainted prototype shown is the new Sasara Kusugawa figure. She is in school swimsuit version and is 1/7 scale. She is set for May 2009 release and retail price is 7,980 yen. Looks okay, but I have seen better Sasara figures. Need to see the painted prototype though.

The next figure by Griffon is Kanokon’s Chizuru Minamoto.

Haven’t watch Kanokon, but Chizuru seems popular with figure makers lately. This Chizuru figure is set for April 2009 (which means she will be announced very soon) release and will retail for 9,240 yen. No mention on the scale, but I am guessing 1/6 because she still stands a 22cm even in a bending posture. And the price … ouch. Looks real promising and might give Kotobukiya’s 1/5 Chizuru a run for their money.

Next we have an Iroha figure from Hobby Japan.

This Iroha ~ QG Ver. ~ is 1/8 scale and scheduled for June 2009 release. She will retail for 6,800. Iroha, of course, originally hails from Samurai Shodown. Here she is depicted as she is in Queen’s Gate. Figure sculpture is by Volks. Most likely not getting this one.

The last one is another ToHeart figure, Kousaka Tamaki.

She is 1/6 scale and scheduled for May 2009 release. Retail price is 7,980 yen. I can’t make out who the maker of this figure is though.  The figure is really in an awkward posture. There sure is a great amount of ToHeart figures in the market with new ones coming out every now and then. Anyway, this figure is a definite no for me.

Alrighty, that’s quite a number of new figures. Luckily, no must get figure from this batch for me, although I will be considering the Ranka figure, and maybe the Lucky Star figures by Wave as well.

Source from Figure / GK board.