Another summer is beginning to wind down and instead of this week’s AYM we decided to take a look at and bring you our favorites from the second of this year’s biannual Wonder Festival event. There was once again no shortage of figure prototypes and garage kits on display and some wonderful folks at MFC have collected them all in a list of new stuff and list of updated stuff, so be sure to hit the comments and let us know your favorites as well.

Jel’s Picks:

Nono & Lal’C Mellk Mal (Diebuster/Gunbuster 2/Whatever you want to call it) by Max Factory

Jel: Max Factory does Diebuster is really all I should have to say. I would have been excited for these even if they were just standing in a boring pose, but I appreciate they are doing something a bit different with having them sit on a ball. Will they both be able to sit on the same ball somehow? That would seem unlikely, but it’s an interesting idea. Granted, I’d rather have a more action oriented pose but this still works too. If the best figure company is going to make one, let alone two new figures from a 12 year old series you shut your mouth and take what you can get.

Masami Utoku (Maccha Green) vs. Kuniko Shigyou (The Rolling Girls) by Good Smile Company

Jel: If this figure somehow gets made someday it could be in contention for the Greatest Figure of All Time. The opening fight scene from The Rolling Girls is one of the coolest anime things that happened this year, and this looks to capture one of the best of many great moments. I’m shocked that GSC is attempting something so ambitious for a show that wasn’t very popular, which makes me think this will never see the light of day. Even if it does, I could see it getting delayed for years and when you add on the fact that it’s basically two figures in one it’s going to be EXTREMELY expensive. All that said, it’s great to see GSC even try as their scale figure line gets more and more conservative. Here’s hoping they follow through.

Timmy‘s Picks:

Yuzuruha (Muramasa: The Demon Blade) by Alter

Timmy: With Momohime being my first and all time favorite figure, and my liking of their Kongiku quite a bit as well, it was a really nice surprise to see them continuing their Muramasa line with Yuzuruha. I have always liked Alter’s and their sculptors’ take on George Kamitani’s designs in general and that hasn’t changed. Yuzuruha has so much amazing detail going on that I can’t wait to see her in a coat of paint, and as usual she will come with a very nice and interesting base similar to the other two. Hopefully Yuzuruha sells well, as there are plenty of other characters in the series that I would love to see Alter tackle and put on my shelf alongside her.

Sonico (SoniAni) by Max Factory

Timmy: Not long ago I started noticing a little bit of Sonico x Good Smile Racing merchandise going on so I was actually expecting to see some sort of crossover figure. And well, I certianly am not disappointed. It is slightly odd that they decided to tie her in with Miku instead of going for a more original design for her but at the end of the day I think it still works, and having her cosplay for a tie in makes sense. So lets see here. We have Sonico with her hair in twintails, Sonico sporting a very cute face, and Sonico being made by someone who I consider on equal footing to my beloved Alter. I don’t care how much she will cost just tell me when I can have her.

Iro’s Picks:

Cornelius & Velvet (Odin Sphere) by Alter

Iro: Odin Sphere is about to get a fancy-pants HD remake, so this is as good a time as any to highlight one of the game’s important couples. It’s, uh… pretty cool looking, I guess? Velvet’s outfit was always George Kamitani as fuck, but I appreciate details like the seams on her stockings. I vaguely remember figures of the rest of the Odin Sphere crew, so it might be nice to own the whole gang, if I had a pile of cash the size of Scrooge McDuck’s.

Takeru/T.K. & Angemon (Digimon Adventure) by Megahouse

Iro: I loved Digimon as a kid, and T.K. was always my favorite of the Digidestined/Chosen Children, partly because he had the coolest Digimon partner. Who else could defeat the evil Devimon besides Angemon? Even Myotismon, the main villain from two whole story arcs later, was driven to retreat by Angemon. And there was that time in Adventure 02 where he almost beat BlackWarGreymon… Look, what I’m basically saying is that I hope Digimon Adventure tri. turns out to be fun.

Euri’s Picks:

Kirby by Good Smile Company

Euri: Yeah, I know, it’s a Nendoroid. However, not only have GSC done fantastically with their Nintendo-nendos thus far, but Kirby here is going to be appealing to even those of you who are sick with this figure line. Kirby stands out and comes with a bunch of accessories (including a star rod which isn’t shown above) and at least another face, which given the nature of this figure, might be a separate body. Shout outs also to the Mega Man Nendoroid, which is also looking amazing. 

Hatsune Miku mebae Ver. by Max Factory

Euri: Here we are with yet another Hatsune Miku scale figure! I can’t be too mad that the other Vocaloids (read: Luka) continue to be snubbed when we get crazy figures like this every once in a while. Oddly, I don’t think I’d go ahead and say that I’m in love with this, or that it’s an insta-buy, but I do love to see some variation in scale figure poses, and deviation from anything swimsuit or yukata related. Her hair is obviously the focal point of the figure, but you can’t disregard the pose itself and it’s weird, exaggerated, stalker-like properties. Also, check out those toes. That’s what happens when you wear heels that are a size too small.