Wonder Festival 2014 Summer Company Booth Report

Wonder Festival 2014 Summer Company Booth Report

Wonder Festival is a huge event at which fans of Japanese figures and model kits gather. Here, we continue our coverage of this event held on July 27. This time, we’ll introduce the high quality figures and models on display at company booths. From hugely impressive items to niche items that drive enthusiasts wild, there was a full lineup of products!

The first company we will introduce is Good Smile Company. They had a huge booth at this year’s event as well, which appealed to their presence as an industry leader. The booth was also full of things to experience including an electric signboard, an event stage, and an area to take pictures with a life-size Nendoroid. Well then, let’s take a look at some of what Good Smile Company had on display!

The booth was gigantic! It was too huge!
There were also tons of products on display! This one was extra huge!
Hatsune Miku in the style of Little Red Riding Hood. Cute!
Different generations of Iron Man all in a cutely gallant style. We had the feeling that we’d see Tony Stark at one of the booths.
A Knights of Sidonia Honda bike produced by TOM!
Techniques used to make articulated figures were also introduced.

Next up is Megahouse. Popular here were figures of characters from Dragon Ball, which is tremendously popular worldwide and known by just about everyone, as well as the nostalgic ‘80s anime Aura Battler Dunbine and Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Also on display, of course, was Sailor Moon, which turns 25 this year. On sale were event-exclusive chibi figures of the Sailor Scouts!

Super Saiyan Goku and Piccolo

Chibi figures of the Sailor Scouts

Aura Battler Dunbine, an anime created by Yoshiyuki Tomino of Gundam fame, shown here in chibi form
Gin from Gintama, the popularity to which hasn’t slowed down despite the anime having ended

Next is Kotobukiya, which is releasing ambitious bishoujo-ified figures of characters from American comics and horror movies. Of course, they also make perfectly realized figures of characters from Japanese works including Attack on Titan and The Idolmaster. Among the figures on display, the intensity of the mecha Tsugumori figure from Knights of Sidonia that shows it holding a gigantic weapon was tremendous.

Jason Voorhees, who is even hugely popular on TOM
Mikasa Ackerman dashing with bullet speed through the sky
A figure of Tsugumori from Knights of Sidonia. The photo doesn’t do it justice though...
Whoa! That weapon is huge! It’s the 1/100th scale Jagd Mirage from Volks!
Aside from just bishoujo and mecha, they had figures of nice guys too! Here is the ubelievably cool Black Butler.
Here is humanity’s strongest soldier, Levi, who is incredibly popular among female fans.
Also on display were the customizable, articulated chibi figures called Cu-poche.

Kaiyodo was displaying an offensive stance with the launch of four new brands collectively referred to as “The Rebirth of Kaiyodo.” Among them, large expansions to its Star Wars figure series were announced. On display were action figures of well-known characters from the series including Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper. Since Kaiyodo has a reputation for its mecha-style action figures, fans will be looking forward to other developments to come. It also looked like there will be great developments to its huge hit Danboard figure series.

The Empire has invaded Japan!
Tony Stark was also at the Kaiyodo booth.
A popular series of action figures of Buddhist statues.
Also on display from Kaiyodo was a life-size Danboard.
Visitors were able to freely play with the Revoltech figures.

The lineup at the Aniplex booth focused primarily on Madoka Magica. What gathered considerable attention was a figure of Homura Akemi equipped with black wings. Her bewitching beauty is filled with witch-like charms that look like they came straight out of the anime.

Homura...a witch born out of love.
The display was extremely eye-catching, and many fans gathered around.
Two versions of this witch Homura are currently being created.

X-Plus’ Gigantic Series was stunning with its enormous size. Figures of popular characters from Dragon Ball in an overwhelming scale were on display. A Gigantic Series figure of Super Sonico was also on display, and a deep rooting in the original work could be felt from the figures.

The intensely strong-willed Z Fighters
Super Sonico needs no introduction and is the definition of the word “ample.”
There are also mecha in the Gigantic Series. Here is a figure of Dunbine.
Wendy Marvell from Fairy Tail

Volks is known for their many series of lovely dolls including Super Dollfie. At Wonder Festival, they not only had dolls and bishoujo figures, but also high quality mecha figures. The L.E.D. Mirage, which boasted an overwhelming presence among the plethora of figures on display at the event, picked up attention for its level of detail, great size, and showy gimmicks including being able to see the interior by removing its armor.

A new product in the Super Dollfie line to release in August
A figure from the series CharaGumin, which allows fans to assemble the figures themselves
L.E.D. Mirage was created using Volks’ refined techniques.
It’s not just a portion of the parts that are thoroughly detailed, but all of the parts including all the internal parts.

Medicom Toy is developing products from dear works of years past, large-scale action figures with clothes made of real cloth, and other novel items. The booth was so popular that the “Real Action Heroes Annie Leonhart” action figure that they had for sale sold out practically immediately.

Super Mario, a character who continues to be loved after all this time.
The “RAH Annie Leonhart” action figure sold exclusively at the event. Though expensive, it sold out in the blink of an eye.
The Be@rbrick series developed by Medicom Toy. Disney characters dressed in Halloween costumes were on display.
The popular Real Action Heroes series. The clothing is made from real cloth.
Girls und Panzer RAH figures. The matching size tank gives it a full impact!

Sentinel is a manufacturer that has seen a sharp rise in popularity due to their products’ high level of completeness and its selective sense of picking characters that enthusiasts like. Their booth was more than likely one of the most lively at the event due to their sales of event-exclusive products. The cloned humans created by Tsutomu Nihei sold out in an instant. Attendees gathered around in large numbers to buy “Maschinen Danboard,” a collaborative item between Danboard from Yotsuba&! and the ‘80s sci-fi series Maschinen Krieger by Ko Yokoyama.

Danboard x Maschinen Krieger. Other variations are also in development.
Give your best war cry! It’s Eren Yeager in Titan form!
Of course, they also have Eren in his human form.
Armin is part of the lineup as well!
Optimus Prime transforms into a ballpoint pen! Unique products such as this are also in development.

Union Creative, the owners of Sentinel, had figures of characters from Ghost in the Shell, Psycho-Pass, and Yowamushi Pedal on display.

Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell
Major, there’s also a figure of Tachikoma.
Yusuke Makishima from Yowamushi Pedal
Calne Ca, complete with teal hair

Highlights at the Azone booth, a popular company that creates dolls of anime characters, were its dolls of popular characters from Love Live!, No Game No Life, and Sword Art Online.

Asuna from Sword Art Online
Laura Bodewig from Infinite Stratos
Shiro from No Game No Life

Last year marked the occurrence of the Second Impact. As such, a number of variations of figures from the monumentally popular Evangelion series have been developed.

Asuka from Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
Shinji and Kaworu, also from Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
Eva Racing Rei
Eva Racing Asuka
Eva Racing Mari

Of course, there was also a lineup of figures from the newly released Transformers movie. This included a row of figures based on the ‘80s anime. On a side note, Optimus Prime’s name in Japanese is Convoy, although this was changed recently to Optimus Prime for unity.

An ‘80s animation version of Convoy (Optimus Prime)
Unicron’s head
Of course, Transformers from the recent movie franchise were also on display!

The rich variety of figures on display at Wonder Festival also includes the figures shown below. The next Wonder Festival will be held on Feb. 8, 2015! For those of you who enjoy figures, why not plan a sightseeing trip to Japan so you can attend?

This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.

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