Hello, and welcome to All Your Monies, where The Glorio Blog’s resident toy and figure collecting crew (and Iro) will run down the last week’s new pre-orders, turning a loving or scathing eye over what’s been put out for you to spend your hard earned cash on. This time we have scythes, glasses, yukatas and toilets.

Kaede Takagaki -The Beginning Place- (The iDOLM@STER)
Kotobukiya, August, ¥10,000

Zigg: There’s a simple but charming elegance about this which I can’t quite nail down but really like, leading me to promote it to the top spot this week. Maybe it’s the attractive yet tasteful outfit, the nicely laid back colour scheme or just the general lack of shamelessness? Regardless, I do dig the translucent effect on the skirt, which is just the right side of tacky, and there’s some lovely poofy hair too. Under the radar a little perhaps but still  a charmer.

Jel: Simple, elegant, and not too boring, this is a nice figure overall. The cool green color scheme and flourishes like her gloves and layered skirt help jazz up what is otherwise a pretty generic idol outfit. The pose is pretty boring and her design is not terrible exciting either, so it’s still kind of bland, but if I were a fan of the character I’d be happy with it.

Iro: I guess it’s at least inoffensive? There doesn’t seem to be anything really good or bad about this. I do like the green, but otherwise this is another interchangeable idol.

Livie Collete (God Eater 2)
Good Smile Company, August, ¥12,963

Zigg: I actually really dig this a lot. Sure, the dress is probably a touch on the unrealistically revealing side, but it copntrasts nicely with the red hood and white stockings. The of course there’s the giant killer mechanical scythe of death, which is as beautifully detailed a you’d hope. The overall effect is perhaps a little ‘generic anime 14 year old would draw in his workbook’ but it’s striking nevertheless and GSC always deliver on quality and detail.

Jel: I’m trying to figure out her outfit. Is it a swimsuit with a skirt? Is it some kind of lingerie? I’m not even bothered much by it being skimpy and skin tight, it just seems way out of place for the design. I guess I should really be focused on the GIANT RED MECHANICAL DEATH SCYTHE, but that’s pretty much standard for anything God Eater related. I feel like we’ve seen better things from this series, I will say though those boots are amazing.

Iro: Sadly, this isn’t even the worst character design to come out of God Eater. You’d think people fighting giant monsters in a rusty, post-apocalyptic world would wear more sensible clothes. Like, I could vaguely buy the argument that the monsters are strong enough that conventional armor would be ineffective (something similar occurs in UC Gundam stories where the proliferation of beam weapons render armor effectively useless so the Mobile Suits start specializing entirely in speed), but what about just basic covering up? You could trip and fall on a rusty nail and get lockjaw or something. Put on some fucking clothes.

Miku Maekawa (The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls)
September, September, ¥11,000

Zigg: I included this because it’s perhaps the blandest, most uninspired character figure ever and good god I’m almost falling asleep jsut looking at it.

Jel: Sorry girl, the cute cat pose can’t save you. You are just another generic anime school girl. I’m liking the hot pink glasses though.

Iro: Yawn.

Aigis: Yukata ver. (Persona 3)
FREEing, July, ¥10,000

Zigg: I’ve always been a sucker for contrasting the super-robotic aspects of Aigis with the sort of bizarre everyday fanservice of the figure world, so I actually think this is rather cute. Look at thos hooves peeking out from the bottom of the yukata, it’s adorable! The pose is not the greatest but it does imbue the character with jsut the right amount of uncanny femininity and the strong blue is a nice, unconventional look for her. Still a tad pricey though.

Jel: I love Aigis and all but this is just bizarre. I mean, the chain gun wrists and mechanical robo hooves kind of ruin the effect of the traditional yukata. It’s a nice color choice though with the blue and I like the simple flower pattern. One thing I did notice is she is not wearing the red ribbon or tie she usually has on her neck and, based on what happens when you max her social link in Persona 3, doesn’t that make this figure kind of naughty?

Iro: It was always a bit off-putting that Aigis had hooves instead of feet, and this figure doesn’t help her case. Also, while I get I have to suspend my disbelief for basic anime tropes, it always bothered me that nobody at school in Persona 3 noticed that 1. she has hooves, 2. her fingers are steel gun barrels, and 3. she has a weird hood thing that encircles her head and chin. Come on.

figFIX Sakura Kinomoto: Battle Costume Ver. (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Max Factory, August, ¥5,093

Zigg: Of all of the myriad Sakura costumes you could have turned into a figure, this isn’t really the one I would have gone for to be honest. It’s kind of far out and that translucent plastic effect doesn’t really look great, especially at the low scale and level of detail of a 1/12 figure. Kero is as delightful as ever but everything I’ve said before about this line stands – too much money for too little and why would you want this instead of a regular figma anyway?

Jel: I don’t know anything about CCS so I’ll defer to Zigg on context. All I see is a little girl in a weird blue jester costume. It’s certainly interesting to look at, but I think I prefer original design.

Iro: Hey Zigg, how many different costumes did Sakura wear over the course of that show, and how many have gotten their own figures? (Zigg’s note – she has a new costume for every battle, plus a bunch that only appear in promo art. So maybe 50 or 60?)

KoroColle! Set (Digimon Adventure)
Megahouse, August, ¥4,400 (Exclusive)

Zigg: These are super duper adorable and a pretty left-field, inspired choice for a set of trading figures. Once again though, Bandai sucks for making something which should be a super cheap impulse buy exclusive. They’re all incredible but i think if I had to pick one I’d double up the adorable factor with super cute baby Kari too.

Jel: Proof that Zigg cannot go an entire post without mentioning Digimon now. Iro, what have you done to him? Also at first glance I thought that said “KanColle” set, which would probably be less shocking than it sounds if you think about it.

Iro: Koromon/Agumon may as well be the de-facto mascot for the entire Digimon franchise, and this set of figures is accordingly adorable. Having four of solo Koromon and one of him with Kari seems a bit weird, but who caaaares Koromon is super cute. The watermelon one is definitely the winner of the set, though.