Oh DEAR. Miku with a toothy little grin? Be still, my beating heart! Mikatan blog updated this morning with a slew of new photos of this adorable lady. Based on an original Red Juice illustration (see the original in the gallery), this is going to be another one of those super rare Nendo packages you can only get your hands on if you become a sponsor through the Good Smile Racing site.
Preorders are currently open through Nicoshop and there are apparently four different sponsor packages that you can buy: one for 7,000 yen,one for 10,000 yen and two higher tier ones for 30,000 and 50,000 yen respectively. For that price, the real Miku better come to my house in the full size version of that awesome car. She'll be out this September, so if you feel up to a challenge, you can try to get your hands on her!
Widely popular girlfriend simulation Love Plus has been received a lot of attention ever since its release. However, the merchandising for the series has been very limited until recently especially on the figure front. That's slowly been changing with Good Smile Company announcing a set of Nendoroid figures as well as releasing a set of charms based on the lovely trio of ladies you can court. However, we have yet to see any standard scaled figures from the series just yet.
Konami Digital Entertainment seeks to remedy that void with magazine scans revealing 1/8 scale figures of Takane Manaka, Kobayakawa Rinko, and Anegasaki Nene, all based on illustrations. The figures are currently in a prototype stage and it's hard to judge them from the magazine scans. Nevertheless, this is a real treat for Love Plus fans.
They are all looking very delightful. I wouldn't mind owning all of them but I'm fearing they may all be exclusives to Konami's online store. Anyone else excited to see Love Plus get some attention in the figure scene?
The Slobots have arrived in Japan, just in time for the Kaiju Comrades 2 show in Tokyo. Mike Slobot is one of the many artists participating, and he's sent some brand-new creatures to represent the Slobot brand. I especially like the two you see above. The show was supposed to run this past weekend at Design Festa Gallery's East Room 303. I wish I could have gone and seen how all those hand-made kaiju pieces turned out!
While all those kaiju figures are over in Japan, though, a few other Slobot pieces have returned from their shows and are now up for sale on the Slobot Etsy store. Head on over and check them out! And keep an eye out to see if any of the unsold Slobot kaiju figures pop up there in the coming weeks!
Just like the Nintendo DS, moe band series K-On! prints money and animation studio Kyoto Animation knows this. So much so that they have entered the figure business to cash in on the phenomenon that is K-On. And it's looking great so far with the release of a 1/8 scale Akiyama Mio figure based on the ending credits animation, "Don't say 'lazy'". An excellent choice for figure design and something that hasn't been done by other manufacturers.
KyoAni has my heart aflutter with announcement of their next release based on "Don't say 'lazy'", the positive and energetic drummer Tainaka Ritsu. Minus the "Hammer" pants, the outfit and Ritsu's pose are beautiful. KyoAni has posted samples of the mold and the art looks to have transition very well to figure form.
Sadly, as this is KyoAni producing the figure, it will be an exclusive only. Be sure to keep your eyes open on Tomopop for more information on the release of this good-looking figure and to keep your proxy service ready. Anyone else just as excited and who would you like to see next?
Welcome to part 2 of Reserve or Regret and this week's preorders for comics, movies, television and everything else. Very light on the comics this week with mostly model kits from Superman, X-Men, and Wonder Woman. It's mostly movies and television this week including a line of Barbie dolls based on the AMC television hit Mad Men.
A lot of interesting reproduction model kits covering classic movies and television are coming from Mobeius Models. This seems to be their specialty with titles such as Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Lost in Space. Speaking of classics and space, there is no better television classic (is it old enough to be called such?) than Star Trek: The Next Generation. Dragon will be releasing 1/6 scale figures of Jean-Luc Picard, Worf, and the lovable android, Data. A nice addition for Trekkies.
What caught my attention the most has to be the various Little Giants sets by Jailbreak Toys featuring adorable miniatures of famous people throughout the years. Really interested in the set of scientists. What about you? Hit the jump for the complete list and let us know what interests you.
In case you didn't catch it in part 1, Reserve or Regret will temporarily move to Sunday afternoon for the duration of my school semester. Getting harder to work on this weekly with education getting in the way.
Heads up, folks! Reserve or Regret is now on Sunday afternoons. This will be a temporary move that will last only the duration of my school semester. It's getting harder to work on this feature while I have education in the way. So, remember to have your wallets ready for Sunday.
I hope you also have your wallet ready now as there are quite a few releases this week. We have covered many note worthy releases already this week on Tomopop such as Shining Wind'sClalaclan Philias, Little Busters! Ecstasy'sTokiso Saya, and the various hotmen from MegaHouse.
Other releases this week include preorders for the second shipment for the figma version K-On's Tsumugi as well as the disgustingly cute Prop Plus Petit figures. Hey, it's Nodoka! Can I have a 1/8 scale figure of her, please? Global will be releasing another poor quality cold cast figure. This time it's Haruka from Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu.
What has me reaching for my wallet has to be Bandai's Half Age Girls Macross Heroines 2 set. Finally there is a decent looking Mylene Jenius figure! It only took how many years? Anything you see in here worth preordering, Tomopoppers? Hit the jump for the full list and let us know in the comments!
We've had a few requests at Tomopop HQ for a little more Macross coverage, just not the Macross Frontier stuff and being the kind of people we are, we aim to please!
With that in mind, perhaps some of you Macross fans out there will be interested to hear of the news that Yamato are busy preparing to re-release a few of their transformable Macross fighter toys. Bandai seem to hold the licence for producing Macross Frontier merchandise with regards to the VF-25 and VF-27 variable fighters from the show but their soul of chogokin line doesn't hold a candle to some of the offerings from Yamato!
So if you were unfortunate and missed out on one of these beauties, Yamato will be giving you a second chance to pick them up in May and June! Confirmed for re-release are the 2 fighters from Macross Plus, the YF-19 and YF-21, both in 1/60 scale as well as the original VF-01S Hikaru Ichijo and Roy Fokker types in 1/48 scale.
As a purist, I would aim for the VF-01S and since they are the movie types I would lean for the Hikaru version. The YF-19 is also a very good choice. I actually own one of those and, aside from one design worry which affects the transformation into battroid, it's a brilliantly designed toy which I never actually thought I would see come to pass. Same with the YF-21!
If you want one of these little numbers, you should be able to place a preorder at your preferred online store such as Amiami and HLJ.
Over on GIJoeClub.com, this years membership exclusive has been announced to be Big Lob! Debuting in the GI Joe animated movie from the 80's, this 3 3/4" figure is available for FREE! Wow, that is awesome... oh wait, there's more.
Big Lob is available free if you are an Officer Level member of the GI Joe Club,which you have the opportunity to do so before March 16 in order to get this figure. Officer level membership is $49 so that is technically nowhere near free, but if you are a big fan of Joe's and are not already a member, it might be worth a go for this and future exclusives.
After the jump, check out Big Lob in action in video form, both cartoon and figure!
It's that time again! Your window to the chibi world has opened once more. For this edition, I've decided to review my brand new set of Death Note Nendoroids. This was one of my "must-haves" from last year when this set was announced. Much like the Case File #01, The Death Note series of Petit Nendoroids follows the manga and anime of the same name, this time featuring characters from the second half of the series.
What I enjoy most about the Death Note Petit series is that the chibi look of these characters is REALLY out of character for each of them. The series is so much about death and killing, it's so refreshing to see something like that immortalized in chibi form.
Hit the jump to hear my take on this fantastic chibi collection!
I'm far from a sports fanatic, but for some reason every time the Olympics roll around I am completely immersed and watch as much as I possibly can from the opening ceremonies to closing. This year my favorite male figure skater since Brian Boitano, Evan Lysacek, took home the gold and we got some fantastically cute mascots for the games.
These official vinyl toys were created by Happy Worker and were for sale for the most part only at the games and in specific stores around Canada. Hit the jump to check out more about these little guys and see why I love them so much!
Collectible toys, vinyl, vintage, papercraft, oddities, and more: Tomopop is a place where people of all ages can all enjoy our inability to grow up when it comes to our toy collections! If you're new to Tomopop check out a note from our editor.
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