2005 has been a great year characterized by the rise of exquisite (but equally expensive) trading figurines. When the likes of resin kit manufacturing companies like Max Factory, Good Smile Co., Volks, Solid Theater & Atelier Sai joined in the fray of a market previously ruled by the likes of Bandai, Kotobukiya and Kaiyodo (in collaboration with various) companies, you can expect miniature figurines collector like myself buzzing with utmost anticipation month in month out. However the price of trading figures had risen tremendously over the period as now it seems like 500¥ is a norm and Volks had came out with a “Akane Maniax” set with an extravagant price of 830¥!! (Previous record held by Square Enix’s “Kingdom Hearts Formation Arts Part 1” at 780¥) Pressured by such price inflation, Kotobukiya One Coin Figure series will usher a new 600¥ series, starting with “To Heart 2” in February 2006; and in January 2006, Solid Theater will produce a “Nitroplus ~ The First Bullet~” trading figure set marked at 800¥ each, the sky is the limit for manufacturers to price their future series.

While blind box style trading figurines are well received, I feel 2005 has seen the stagnant stage of capsule figurines or gashapons. Although a new fashion adopted by companies such as Solid Theater, Gargoyle & Wahuudo to have both blind box & capsule version of the same series of figurines, I feel it is rather redundant unless they start to do things in the unscrupulous way of throwing in a different chase piece for both versions (as seen in Pocket Theater: Hakkaya & PSE Solid). The last Kaiyodo & Movic (K&M) capsule toys series was back in July last year with Akira Part 3 and we had not seen another series since; which was a pity as they had a fabulous run, churning delectable miniature figurines (often in vignette diorama formats) which really douse my interest. Yujin’s SR (super real) figurine series has seen vast improvements (or they had always uphold that standard which I had not been appreciating all these time) but their run for the past year has been well-noted from Binchotan to Zoids Art Collection to Ichigo 100% to Tsubasa Chronicle & Capcom Fighting Jam and 2006 will see them continuing in such similar pattern. By contrast, Bandai’s quality for their gashapon figurines can be as consistent as my nation soccer team. You can just compare the quality between Naruto Real Part 6 with Naruto Ultimate collection or between HG Dragonball Z Imagination Part 5 & 6 and the list goes on. For the first part of the year we do see Toys Works kicking off their Capsule Works range well epitomized by the delightful Ichigo Marshmallow figurines but their stark absence had left everyone puzzled after August

Shokugans (Candy Toys) nowadays largely belong to Bandai and they had been consistently producing tie-ins for some of their madly popular anime series and live action heroes shows. But in the world of miniatures, Rement had set a stronghold (together with Megahouse) and their intricate products had left a trail of hardcore collectors worldwide and the company has no better way to reward such celebrated support but to monthly produce a few series of miniature figurines to whet the appetite of the ardent collectors

Since late last year, I had been smitten by the nice book/magazine figurines out in the market. A lot of these figurines are nicely made and perfectly complimenting the miniature figurines in my collections. But it is really the magazine exclusive figurines campaign that got me and many fellow collectors buzzing including the Afternoon Manga magazine X Kaiyodo “Belldandy ~on the earth” in the early part of the year, as well as the Dengeki Daioh Ichigo Marshmallow Summer Campaign and the 2005 Netrunner Girls campaign. Last but not least one of my biggest coup from my Japan trip this year has to be the array of “doujinshi” exclusive figurines which I desired immensely.

Talking about my Japan trip, the 2 Wonder Festivals this year (in Feburary & August) definitely etched their reputation as the arena for all the big players in the toy industry (less Bandai) to show what they had in store in the coming months. The summer edition was fun and was pretty rewarding; which once again I had to emphasize that you have to be there to experience it for yourself to actually realize how grand the event can be.

Last but not least, the new fad in the local hobby scene has to be the pre-painted complete PVC figurines of some of the hottest anime/ games shoujou characters out there. They usually comes in 1/8, 1/7 or 1/6 scale and fully painted (mass produced), replicas of some of the most popular resin kits out there. It surely gives collectors alternatives to own some of the nicest resin kit figures around without the need of time or talent to create one from scratch. However price-wise, you will have to look at 2900¥ to even 15,000¥; and with the likes of Max Factory, Kotobukiya, GSC, Alter, Atelier Sai, Yamato, Yujin (SRDX), Kaiyodo, Megahouse, Solid Theater, Toy’s Planning, Wave, Solid Theater, Wahuudo to choose from, you will need a large enough budget to support that kind of addiction. I had bought a Nijihara Ink from “Moe-tan” as well as Saber from “Fate Stay Night”; and I actually prefer miniature figurines despite the latter would not be as high quality as the former. But with respect to my budget and space constraint, I think I had made a wise decision to halt the spread before the addiction becomes malignant.

Ok enough of the rattling let’s roll down the honors of the best collections of mine for the year of 2005:

© Copyright KK Heng 2005