VeeBee and Hagop were good enough to hit the Bandai booth for me during the show, my son even sent a slew of questions for VeeBee. Dunno if they got answered but I’ll be certain to make an update if they were answered. Sadly, I forgot to send off my questions, like will Bandai Namco, Bandai and From Software team up to give me some Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 super articulated six inch action figures. C’mon make it happen! Or let me make it happen! Wait, that could be cool.
Enough about my crazy ideas. Let’s talk S.H. Figuarts. Bandai showed off a number of figures from different properties. But first Naruto. Yes, it is Shippuden Naruto, but Naruto none the less. Between 2004 and 2008 when I was taking the train for a 3 hour commute to work and home again I watched a lot of One Piece and a lot of Naruto. Man did those anime get me through some tough days. I would laugh, I would cry and I would get lost in another world for a little while in my stressful chaotic day. My oldest son would watch them with me, he like Naruto more than One Piece, but that’s forgivable. This is not the first time that we’ve seen the S.H. Figuarts Naruto, but it is great to see it at a show like Toy Fair. I love the figure and design and I cannot wait to for this to go up for pre-order so I can order a handful. Yes a handful and this is one figure that you can get away with ordering a handful.
I hope Naruto gets more love that One Piece did in S.H. Figuarts. My biggest disappointment from Bandai is not continuing the core crew from One Piece. And while I am super excited about getting Naruto, he won’t be Naruto without Sakura, Sai, Sora, Sasuke, Kakashi, Yamato, Jiraiya, and maybe Gamabunta (like in scale…)
Dragonball Z is another popular S.H. Figuarts line based on the uber popular manga/anime of the same name. I’ve been stand-offish with this property as I wanted a regular black haired Goku. I love the Super Saiyan looks, but I need a regular non powered up Goku for my collection. Since his announcement (and my pre-order) I’ve been slowly getting the characters that I want. Starting with buying Industrial’s Piccolo, which is an amazing figure and one that I need to write up very soon. I’m not seeing anything new that hasn’t already been announced, again, great to see this getting some good presence at Toy Fair.
There wasn’t much new to report on the S.H. Monsterarts front, Bandi showed off Godzilla, Aliens vs Predator and that was it. I’ve already reviewed the Alien Drone from AvP and I know that the Wolf Predator from Requiem in due out this month in Japan, just waiting on my order confirmation! They showed off Big Chap, I’ve got 2 on order and might get a 3rd down the line. Love these figures. Godzilla continues to be a strong property for this line and I’m glad to see some love here. I reviewed Godzilla 200 and it is still my favorite Godzilla figure. I might have to start getting more of the 2000 era figures.
LOOK! Hello Kitty Chogokin! Sweet!
I’m gonna throw this out now. Micheal Jackson S.H. Figuarts. Yes. You read correctly. Following up their Daft Punk release of musical personalities, we have Micheal Jackson. This isn’t the first six inchish scaled action figure of the King of Pop, Figma did a Thriller version a few years back. Not much is visible and this looks to be a fun figure.
We’ve covered Figuarts Super Mario so much of late that I can’t say more about him. I’ve pre-ordered one for my house and might turn into a nightmare that I’ve done this. I think he’ll land in my youngest son’s room alongside Figma Link. I predict lots of shenanigans in their future.
Bandai showed off some Figuarts Sailor Moon and I know that Industrial is super excited about these and ordered them all! He loves him some Sailor Moon!
I’ll jump into Power Rangers here. Bandai showed off the Power Rangers that we all know and love here in America, yeah yeah Super Sentai Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. I know, my oldest kid lets me know all the time. We have the red Ranger and White Ranger (he is Power Rangers canon, not Super Sentai). He’s written a review of the Red Ranger that I need to take pictures for and post. The White Ranger is younger brothers and we’ll get that one reviewed as well. As well as the Megazord. My oldest already requested that I get the rest of the team (we’ll share the burden of the cost) and review them all. He’s big into watching the episodes online. It’s really cool seeing the whole team together.
Finally. Batman. Bandai is doing Batman as part of the… They’ve done Batman before for the Dark Knight movie in their S.I.C. line which is more 1/10 scale, you can get it on Amazon.com here. Now, Batman here is part of the Injustice: Gods Among Us DC Comics video game. I’ve never played the game, but I think it is a standard beat ’em up fighting game. This is clearly a prototype, not a final product and begs an number of questions. The figure is posed to show off the articulation and it is fantastic to see the articulation on this thing, Prodigy, eat your heart out. Even the cape is articulated at least it looks that way, kinda like the old 10th Anniversary Spawn cape. What I want to know is how tall is the figure? What does it look like with a vanilla pose? Does it scale with other S.H. Figuarts? Marvel Legends? DC Universe Classics? Oh so many questions. What I can say, is that right now, I want this figure. Badly. And I might want more! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! Flash! Aquaman! Martian Manhunter! The possibilities are endless.
