Figure Pre-Orders: Headphones, Alchemists and Orbital Frames
I pretty much have at least one or two figures on pre-order at any given time, and receiving one of them in the morning is always a good start to my day. I thought it might be cool to give you guys a quick listing on the ones I’m most looking forward to and why I’ve got my eye on them. Maybe you’ll see something you like, maybe not.
1/7 Murata Range: Headphone Girl
I want to kick things off with what is probably my most anticipated figure out of this list, imaginatively titled Headphone Girl. This figure, bought to us by Moon Toys, is an original character design drawn by one of my favourite Japanese artists; Renji “Range” Murata.
Renji’s pretty well known among anime and manga enthusiasts for using Art Deco elements often in his 
illustrations. His kick-ass skills have allowed him to design characters for various anime series’ plus this isn’t the first time a toy manufacturer has released a figure based on his work.
Enough about this awesome motherfucker though, let’s talk about the actual figure a little. It’s not often that I see figures being released of girls with headphones, and it’s no secret that I have a bit of a fetish for girls with headphones. Hey, I’m writing a post about all the toys I’ve spent stupid amounts of money on, I can’t get any lower than this so my fucked up fetishes no longer embarrass me.
It seems her dress can be removed for the classy gentlemen who’d would like to showcase this girl in her undergarments, which do look rather kinky by the way. I think it’s cool how her glasses are attached to the headphones, though that would be a questionable thing to have in real life… Still, she’s a cutie – I love me some flat chested girls with short hair and headphones. She’ll be out in September, costing me about sixty quid. Just take all my money, Renji.
1/8 Triela PVC
I think most anime are set in Japan or a fantasy world, perhaps this is why Gunslinger Girl, set in modern day Italy, has left a lasting impression on me. Though Triela isn’t one of my favourite characters from the series, I don’t particularly dislike her either so I decided to grab this in case I end up regretting it 
after it goes out of stock, and trust me it isn’t uncommon to regret not pre-ordering a figure you were on the fence about.
Triela’s outfit is pretty tame which is a nice bonus, and I appreciate having more figures in my collection toting realistic guns instead of Katanas and various fantasy swords. Personally I think she might look better without the trench coat, not because I want her to be as naked as possible, but because she’s nearly completely covered in black. Still, this is based on some official artwork if I’m not mistaken, and I hope Good Smile Company bring us more figures from the Gunslinger Girl series. She’s supposed to come out some time this month so expecting a despatch any day now.
1/8 Strength -Animation Version- PVC
I haven’t seen the Black Rock Shooter anime yet, though I hear it’s pretty dire so I’m in no hurry to do so. Fortunately, Black rock Shooter was never about the anime, but about the character designs. Renji may have had his artwork turned into PVC figures, but Huke’s original character drawing of Black Rock Shooter inspired a music group called Supercell to create a song about it, 
then they made figures and lots of them, followed by an anime and video game. All of this based on a single piece of original character art? I’m fucking jelly son.
Black Rock Shooter is the main character however, this young lady goes by the name of Strength and I found her design much more interesting than others from the series. I know nothing about her other than what you can see from the image, but I assume she’s an amputee who has been given ridiculously large arms so that when Japanese nerds are drawing hentai starring Strength, it always ends with the guy’s cock getting crushed or something. Seriously though, I just don’t see many petite girls with huge mechanical arms, so this looked like something worth adding to my collection as it would definitely stand out. She’s also out in September, giving me plenty of time to set my money aside.
1/8 G.E.M. Edward Elric PVC
I’ve been waiting to get my hands on a proper PVC figure from Fullmetal Alchemist for some time, and come September I’ll be getting one in the form of this 1/8 scale figure from MegaHouse. During the peak of my love for the series I purchased trading figures which lack the size and detail to be worthy of 
display on my desk. When MegaHouse opened pre-orders up for Edward I didn’t think twice about picking it up.
Figures of male characters are hard to come by and I don’t collect anime figures of my ‘dream girls’ like most otaku seem to be doing. I just want little statues of characters I feel are awesome and when it comes to anime, the males characters are usually the cool ones and the females are there to be cute. The anime figure business is dominated by males who vote with their wallets and these wallets are saying they can’t get enough of their favourite female characters in sexy swimsuits, but would rather pass on having statues of men on their desks as I imagine it feels awkward when you’re trying to fap and Edward Elric is staring into your soul or something.
The good news is that once they finally got around to releasing an Edward Elric figure they made sure it wasn’t a half-arsed job. Edward’s expression and pose reflect his character from the manga and anime series well. As an added bonus he has interchangeable faces and arms to give you some variation in his pose, plus you can remove his red cloak too.
1/8 G.E.M. Series Zero PVC
Edward isn’t the only male character I managed to get my hands on recently (no homo?). Also from MegaHouse’s G.E.M. series is Lelouch, AKA Zero of the Black Knights. If you’re not familiar with Code Geass, then you should be, so go watch it. Lelouch is easily my favourite character from the series, the way he schemes his way toward his goal with that confident smirk on his face, I love it.
As it seems to be the norm with figures from the G.E.M. line, Lelouch has multiple poses he can be put into
for a bit more variety. You can have him keep his iconic helmet beside him, or pop it on his head for example. Personally I’m going to leave it off on mine as I want to see that ‘serious business’ face he’s making, not to mention the glowing eye.
The main issue I have with Lelouch is that it’s his face I find awesome, whilst his outfits have always felt too boring to stand out from the ones worn by my other figures. I think with this particular figure it’s still his face and iconic helmet which will attract the most eyeballs.
SIF EX Gwendolyn
Gwendolyn will be keeping me company in October as the only pre-order I have lined up for that month. Vanillaware make gorgeous looking 2D games with great character art and it’s no surprise to see these move into the realm of figures. I’ve yet to play Odin Sphere but already own a figure of another character from the game so I decided to pick up Gwendolyn to sort of pair them up and complete the set.
Odin Sphere figures tend to employ vibrant colours in their costume design and Gwendolyn’s base is pretty eye catching so I felt she would stand out quite nicely from the rest of my collection. To be honest she was a bit of an impulse buy so there’s not much else I have to say about this young lady – she’s the only figure I’m considering cancelling from my pre-order list as I might use those funds to order something I’m more excited about.
Jehuty (Plastic Model)
Last but not least we have the Orbital Frame Jehuty from the Zone of the Enders franchise. I’m a pretty big ZOE fan to the extent where I would probably buy any ZOE related merchandise I can get my hands on. I 
have no experience building or painting plastic model kits, so why have I strayed away from my PVC figure safe haven into the world of kit building? I haven’t, technically.
My plan is to commission a skilled model kit builder to build and paint Jehuty so that it looks beastly. It will likely be the crown jewel of my collection and I will forever have it on my desk to admire when waiting for videos on YouTube to finish buffering or something. Well, at least until they release an Anubis model kit and I go nuts over that instead.
I could offer some example photos of the incredible results achieved by skilled kit builders but I think this post has become much longer than I anticipated so there’s no need to add to the clutter. It’s now 08:03AM and I haven’t slept yet so I’m going to take my zombified ass to bed now. Feel free to leave a comment if you’d like some additional information on any of the figures that have caught your eye.
About the Author
Mustafa Unal is a blogger and YouTube commentator living in London, UK. His distinguishing features are never shutting the fuck up and having a terrible sense of humour. Also, he runs this bitch.
So THAT’S why your online handle was always Anubis. :O
I’m a big ZOE fan and also found the Egyptian gods interesting at the time, so Anubis seemed suitable. There’s also an Orbital Frame called Nephtis in the sequel, just so you know…