News by Matt S.
Over the weekend the latest Wonder Festival took place in Japan – the twice annually convention in which all the figure manufacturers come out to show the latest models and designs that fans will be adding to their collection. Hatsune Miku is always prominent at these shows, and this weekend was no different; in total, 11 new figures were either announced, or shown off.
So let’s start with the figures that have full paint jobs completed and are therefore closest to being ready for stores (note: that’s not to say they will be available imminently, figure manufacturers have a truly amazing capacity to delay releases over and over and over again). There were two painted models on display (all shots sourced from MikuFan):
Snow Miku remains one of the most popular lines, and every year there’s a new community-driven design and associated figures. Every year I look forward to a Snow Miku finally having a Yukine to go with her (Yukine being her pet rabbit), and finally this year delivers. It’s adorable.
Racing Miku is another incredibly popular line, given that Good Smile Company – one of the major manufacturers of Miku figures – sponsors GT and bike racing teams. It’s a good opportunity for tie-in merchandise, and Racing Miku is always known for being on the… sexier side of the spectrum. This one is positively restrained by the series standards, but there’s still a good look at Miku’s wonderful midriff in there.
Next up are the gray sculpt figures – these ones have been sculpted, but have yet to be painted (or, at least, the paint job has yet to be revealed). These ones are still early on in the manufacturing process, but are tantalising nonetheless:
Of these two Racing Mikus, the one on the bottom is my pick. Of course they’ll both be awesome, but where the one on the top is a fairly standard leotard-like look, the one on the bottom has both midriff and g-string straps on the side. Double awesome.
This is the latest in the SEGA series – they’re relatively cheap figures that are initially put up as prizes in the UFO machines in Japanese arcades. After a while they wind up on sale on the second hand market and in stores through anime stores for around $20 or so. These are simple figures, but as they’re the costumes that you can use in the Project Diva games, they’re good to have for collectors.
Finally, we have the images. These are figures that will be produced down the track, but for now there’s not even grey sculpts to share.
Symphony Miku is one of the more elegant series – it goes with the classical symphony collaboration concerts that Miku has been involved in in recent years. So it’s all variations on formal wear… though the skirt this time around is rather delightfully short.
Two more Racing Mikus! One with a rather strategically placed heart motif in the design. The other a very skimpy take on the sailor uniform indeed. It really is amazing just how many variations of fan service the Miku community is able to come up with. I guess it does make for easy sales with these expensive figures through.
Last but not least, we have a couple of special edition Miku tie-in to various concert events and expos. The top two here are from Miku tours to South East Asia. The bottom is a figure based on Magical Mirai – the Japanese home-grown event.
All of this is in addition to five figures that were reveal at the previous Wonder Festival, early this year, that were not there this time around… that’s an awful lot of Miku in the pipeline.
– Matt S.
Editor-in-Chief
Find me on Twitter: @digitallydownld
Become a Patron!
