It’s Day Two of our 2012 Summer Wonder Fest coverage! Today we’ll be featuring images from companies like Kotobukiya, Alter, Griffon, Medicos, and more! And perhaps even more exciting is that Robert has some answers to reader suggested questions posted on the forum!
First up is the Q&A!
I’d like to thank Robert for taking our forum questions to the various companies for us. Like I said yesterday, this is one of the few opportunities that western fans have a chance to directly connect with our favorite Japanese companies. This has definitely become one of my favorite aspects to Wonder Fests coverage.
If you want to check out the original questions, or just converse about the coverage in general, then check out the thread on our forum.
From logandelanoche:
Q: “Are there are plans to create any more Michael Jackson Figmas? I loved the Thriller figure they came out with, and with so many iconic looks for the late King of Pop, I’d like to add many more to my collection!”
A: Due to the complications in dealing with the estate of a person who has passed away (relatives popping up and insisting that they are entitled to a cut), there are no plans to manufacture any other Michael Jackson Figmas.
From Vault:
Q: Good Smile also recently made a Figma of the God Warrior from Nausicaa. Are they planning on doing any more Studio Ghibli characters?
A: The Figma Giant Warrior was developed as a one-time collaboration for an event being held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. There are no plans for more Ghibli characters at the moment. But from the reaction I got, it doesn’t seem to be a dead end.
From Vault & Snowglare:
Q: I’d love to know what Nintendo properties they’re wanting to make. Are there any plans for variant colors of Samus or Link? And are they planning on doing any Figma figures of characters from Legend of Zelda or Samus in her Zero Suit?
Q: Could you find out out anything about Nintendo Figma and Nendoroids. More Legend of Zelda? Mario?
A: Concerning all Nintendo Characters, there is nothing new on the books outside of what has already been shown. Any new character will be from new titles only, the only way for an old character to be manufactured is if that old character is brought back in a new title.
From Snowglare:
Q: I’d like to know if Max Factory/Good Smile Company have any further plans for Code Geass figma, specifically Karen and C.C.
A: No plans exist for new figma of Code Geass characters. Good Smile Company says they are finished with that series.
From Tochiro:
Q: Given how risky making male chara (that aren’t prettyboys targeted at the fujoshi) seems to be in Japanese domestic market figure lines, it’s surprising that Fujiko didn’t make the inital cut for the Lupin III figures. What happened? Heck, a tie-in with the ‘Woman called Fujiko’ TV series seemed logical.
A: There were two slots for the Lupin series which meant Lupin and one other character. If this would have been profitable, more characters could have been added. The Lupin and Fujiko combination had been done previously by TakaraTomy, but more than that, Lupin’s sidekick is Jigen. From the start of the manga series, throughout the multiple TV series and all of the movies, Jigen has always been there. In the eyes of many, Jigen is absolutely requires in the Lupin franchise but the absence of Fujiko will not have much of an impact. In fact, based on several popularity polls, the order of importance in the Lupin franchise is 1)Lupin 2)Jigen 3)Zenigata, Goemon actually barely beats Fujiko for 4th place. Tie-ins with the new series are not being considered. The figures of Lupin and Jigen didn’t sell well enough and the ratings for the new series are not too promising.
Q: Why no repaints? Again, seems logical. Green jacket Lupin (needs new heads), pink jacket Lupin, color variations for Jigen (and again, new heads), Monkey Punch version Lupin and Jigen (just need new heads), etc.
A: Although repaints and alternate versions are an interesting idea, Kaiyodo is not willing to take a chance on any more Lupin products at this time.
Q: (Big Giant Company) is making Toho Kaiju figures in the spirit of the Revoltech figures, and this has seemingly closed the door on ‘you’ making further figures. Does that also close the door on Toho ‘super science’ vehicles like the Maser tank and the Goten-go (aka Atragon)? I think many would love to see ‘you’ make the Moonlight SY-3 and other vehicles.
A: The Toho monsters and super science vehicles in Tokusatsu Revoltech were released with the eventual goal of releasing Godzilla. Even if Bandai doesn’t release the older Godzillas, it is thought that Toho will not grant any Godzilla license to anybody other than Bandai. Kaiyodo, without the possibility of acquiring a Godzilla license, has lost all interest in producing Toho monster related products.
From Vault:
Q: Will the Revoltech Takeya line continue?
A: Revoltech Takeya will continue. In addition to the Fujin (God of Wind) and Raijin (God of Thunder) figures that were displayed at Wonder Festival, there are several more already in the works.
In addition to this, Revoltech Takeya has expanded into the manga/animation property “GeGeGe no Kitaroh”. The first of the GeGeGe no Kitaroh characters to be released was Kitaroh (July 1st), Medama Oyaji was the second with Nezumi Otoko to be released (September 1st) as the third figure.
To top this off, a couple of rumors:
It is said that Good Smile Company has acquired the rights to the movie version of the Avengers. This may keep Kaiyodo from releasing an Iron Man Mk VII figure unless the Mk VII is used in the Iron Man 3 motion picture.
As I was leaving the Kaiyodo booth, there was mention of “Dark Knight Rising” – but not necessarily a character – but not necessarily not a character.
“Is it a character and vehicle set?” I asked.
My response was met with a huge grin…
-Robert
Gallery A – Kotobukiya
Gallery B – Kotobukiya
Gallery C – Alter
Gallery D – Griffon
Gallery E – Art Storm and CM
Gallery F – Medicos and PLUM
Gallery F – Wonder Showcase and Yamato
Whoa, what’s the deal with that stealth Motoko? Is that a regular release, or some kind of exclusive?
At this time, Stealth Motoko is for display only. CM’s was looking at public reaction in order to decide if the figure is worth persuing.
I’m a bit disappointed that there’s no Zero Suit Samus in the mix. That seemed like a given since she appeared in Other M with it. Also, Good Smile made a statue of her in that suit. So disappoint.
I am excited to get more Buddhist deity figures though. And Revoltech doing a vehicle is really interesting.
Thanks again Robert!
I expected the “no older games” part, but I’m very surprised to hear they’re only making one figure (two if you count Dark Pit) from each of the games they’ve licensed so far. Samus seems to have sold gangbusters and Link’s sold out most places with two months till his scheduled release. I guess there’s hope for Zelda and ZSS from future games, but you never know. As the answers here show us, any given franchise might have one shot before it’s abandoned. Sales are, of course, the best way to encourage milking a license, but I wonder about things like “There were two slots for the Lupin series.”
Why only two? That seems to be the standard approach Japanese companies take. One or two figures, then more if they sell well enough. Trigun got two, FMA got two (after getting three in two earlier lines), Code Geass got two… and they must not have been successes, ’cause they never got more. I can only guess they believe the risk:reward to be favorable for one or two figures only, and that they’re generally right. From a fan’s standpoint, though, it’s like watching line after line die before we even get one whole wave. I’ll be sad if we get Figma Mario… and that’s it. Or Mario and Bowser, but no Luigi or Peach or Toad or Yoshi or Koopas or…
Maybe that’ll be one of the exceptions, though. Mario’s bigger and more expansive than anything else Nintendo, right? Metroid is Samus and a couple name villains, Link has maybe half a dozen characters a casual fan could name, and it’s all I can do to remember the difference between Pit and Kid Icarus. That’s if they get the Mario license… or SSMB. Both are loaded with possibilities.
As far as the game related figures are concerned, there hasn’t been any official word as to how many figures will made from each title. The toy industry, with the ever-changing interests of the collectors, can be risky and hard to anticipate. Good Smile Company appears to taking cautious steps for game figures while they are going all out with Miku and Fate which they believe will continue to sell for a while.
Kaiyodo has a general policy of doing two figures at a time. Protagonist and antagonist or main character and sidekick. If this sells, the series continues. However, this is not absolute law, there have been many exceptions and there will be more in the future.
As for Lupin, maybe I should have said there were only two slots for the initial release of the Lupin series. If sales figures had been better, the release of all main characters as well as variants would have been likely – with the possibility of some of a few other notable characters.
Anyway, two figures make the figures a lot easier to play with than just one. Three figures in an unproven line is too big a risk. And if two figures are successful, they can always make more. But if more figures are made and the line fails, the figures that they made can’t be un-manufactured.
Oh man, thanks so much for the pictures of Koto’s Cu-Poche figures. Apparently Japanese collectors weren’t too taken with them, this is the first time I’ve seen photos of the Haruka prototypes. They didn’t quite get Madoka right, but Haruka looks adorable. Hopefully these figures end up pretty good, I’d buy everyone from iDOLM@STER.
Not surprised about Lupin figures being nixed, many people hated the joint designs on Lupin and Jigen and the new anime was pretty far-removed from the older series. After seeing their Kenshin, I don’t think I’d like to see them try Goemon.
Can’t wait to see GSC’s Avengers; I’m already buying the Hot Toys, but I could use a smaller-scale Cap or Thor for heroics with my other figures or a cute Nendo Hulk to mess with.
I admit to being a touch shaky about the look of Lupin and Jigen’s shoulder artic, it is pretty extreme and odd, but I fell in love with it when I got a Lupin. He can pose in very insane dynamic ways and emulate scenes from the various TV and movies and manga easily. Right now my Lupin is sitting with an exhausted look on his face, surrounded by various My Little Ponies.
Dorkey, thank you for managing to get my questions asked. I hate to say it but the answer about the Toho vehicles seems a little… I dunno, short-sighted. Killing a line because they can’t get Godzilla seems foolish. How do they know that keeping it going wouldn’t have shown Toho something about the company?
I mean, that’s how it should be, but from what I’ve seen over the years Toho tends to be a dick. See also the recently extrasless Godzilla Vs. Megalon released by Tokyoshock/Mediablasters and the pulling of a most excellent Destroy All Monsters from shelves.
Also? I need those Dirty Pair figures. Yes I do. Kei and Yuri with multi POA? I need those. 🙂
Looking at the toy industry in Japan, unless you are on extremely friendly terms with Bandai, they will do everything they can in order to obliterate compitition that tries to produce an item that could be produced under a license that Bandai has acquired.
If you even make a custom figure for personal enjoyment and post some pictures of it on the internet, if Bandai owns the license to that character, they will threaten you with legal action. In this case, Bandai has no legal ground to stand on but most people can’t afford the time and money involved in such a legal battle – even if they’re guaranteed to win.
(Note: The Japanese legal system will not grant you any compensation for lost work or emotional trauma during such legal procedings)
I don’t think Dirty Pair has been released yet, but CM’s Corporation has already shown them at two (that I know of) Wonder Festivals, so I believe production is almost guaranteed. Although I can’t imagine each of them coming close to the 10,000yen price tag that Motoko carries, the pair will probably be quite expensive.
So it must really upset Bandai that Toho licenses Godzilla to other companies, altho mainly for statues.
Yet company ‘Yamato’ keeps cranking out Macross toys and surely that’s an affront to Bandai’s senses.
Man, Bandai seems to have turned into a ’60s Yakuza. 🙂
That’s right, I recall that Kei and Yuri were CM’s Corp protos. Damn, yeah, expensive. Probably at least 7,000 Yen each. dammit.
Most Godzilla toys and statues sold by companies other than Bandai are products that Bandai isn’t interested in pursuing. Bandai doesn’t do much along the lines of statues (although they do seem to be going in that direction with Figuarts Zero) and they aren’t interested in doing neo-retro vinyl reproductions.
Also, if anybody in the seventh market is making toys that Bandai wants to, Bandai can do it at a fraction of the cost – effectively quashing anybody foolish enough to make such an attempt. Therefore, Bandai doesn’t consider seventh market to be a threat, but Kaiyodo is a major manufacturer and an extremely viable threat to Bandai and Bandai’s “Monster Arts” rung across the entire industry as a very serious warning against Kaiyodo.
One more thing.
Bandai probably doesn’t look at Yamato as a threat. Yamato is selling to a limited market, most people will buy less expensive products from Bandai. If Yamato was capable of lowering their prices, or if Yamato’s clientele were to multiply…
My guess would be that Bandai will try to subdue Yamato, or buy them out and turn them into a subsidiary of Bandai.
MMmm, ‘Yamato’ has been around a good number of years now, and they’ve dabbled their toe in Super Robot Chogokin. Macross is still somewhat a tentpole for them ever since they bought up Imai and concurrently becoming part of the Big West partnership. The frustration for them seems to be an unwillingness to challenge Harmony Gold’s claim to worldwide control of all things Macross outside of Japan, a situation similar to what happened with the Ultraman franchise and that Taiwan company that had snaked world rights from the original creators/owners. That FINALLY got straightened out a couple years ago IIRC.
See,what I understand, Bandai can’t sell a single Macross toy in America without chucking some of that money at Harmony Gold. This must just completely chap their shorts. Not that Bandai gives a rip about America at the moment as they focus everything on the Pac Rim.
darn it, really could use an edit function here… 🙂
Above, that’s Bandai I’m talking about, with Macross being one of the tentpoles and blah blah. Yamato can sell Valkyries in the USA because of their deal with Harmony Gold, Bandai can’t.
OoooOOOOoooooh! Mosasaur . . . Allosaurus skeleton . . . T-Rex . . . Dromaeosaur skeleton . . . two different colours of Marella . . . Anomalocaris . . . Velociraptor . . . Carnotaurus . . . .
WANT!!!
But, no room, no budget. Alas and lackaday, such are the vagaries and vicissitudes of collecting.
tell me about it… were i a dad w/ a higher toy budget, those would be used to spoil my oldest rotten. they look absolutely fantastic
Definitely! The only things that would make them better would be articulation, Jurassic Park size compatability, and a decent price and availability. Then I’d be all over those like tattoos on Darth Maul.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the two Diplocaulus! How could I forget the giant boomerang-headed amphibians?!
Sad news, but at least it is news. I can give up hoping for more Code Geass now, and just hope the fan poll helps Lelouch get a rerelease. Thanks for asking. 🙂
ok, on page 7 of the photos, the anatomical girl in row 3, positions 2 and 3 from the left… any and all info on her would be sweetness.
BTW, much love to both vault and dorkey for our annual droolfest… dorkey takes the highest volume of great photos of any reporter on any website anywhere, bar NONE and vault always gets them to us w/ much haste. you guys are a lethal combo.
I knew someone was going to ask about that.
Unfortunately, at the time that I was taking those pics, the guy at the desk was in the middle of a conversation with somebody else. And in order to get as many photographs as I could, I had to forego the questions.
I’ll ask around and see if anybody has any information.
Cool beans, but in regards to Revoltech and the Toho Kaiju, I wish someone would’ve asked about the Daiei /Kadokawa monsters.
This is why I had asked people to post questions on the forum before Wonder Festival.
http://www.itsalltrue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=709
All I can say now is that I’ll ask the guys at Kaiyodo the next time I get a chance.
I just asked about Daiei/Kadokawa and threw in Nikkatsu for good measure.
The response was that “There is proposal up for an item”. Is it a monster? Is it a machine? That is information that cannot yet be revealed.
I just asked about Daiei/Kadokawa and threw in Nikkatsu for good measure.
The response was that “There is proposal up for an item”. Is it a monster? Is it a machine? That is information that cannot yet be revealed.