In case you missed it, Wonder Festival 2010 [Winter] was held this past Sunday in Japan. Wonder Festival is a major trade show for the figure industry so almost all the major manufacturers were on hand to show off a bunch of new figures at various stages of completion. Like most fans outside of Japan, attending WF2010 physically would have been less than convenient for me, so I had to make due with blog coverage of the event.

For the English speaking world, Wcloudx (kumo) did a very nice job three post set listing all the new figures announced by the various WF2010 attendees.  If you see a figure you like, you can head over to one of the many Japanese hobby blogs covering the events for more pictures from various angles.  For convenience, I’ll list some of the more prominent examples I came across here:

• Akiba Hobby
• AmiAmi Blog
• foo-bar-baz
• GA Graphic
• Hobby Stock Blog
• moeyo

Now, let’s take a look at some of the more interesting new figures that were shown at WF2010.

GSC’s next Black Rock Shooter figure had already been teased online prior to WF2010, but this is the first we’ve seen of her fully painted.  I love the Black Rock Shooter iconography and this figure is looking nearly flawless.  That said, now that I have the original BRS figure in my possession, I’m not feeling like there’s enough different with this figure to justify picking it up.  It’s too bad, because GSC looks like they have another winner on their hands.

Here’s a figure that seems to be generating a lot of buzz. I expect the excitement mostly revolves around the fact that it’s a new Miku figure, which I can appreciate. GSC has been doing some interestingly elaborate bases of late and this figure would appear to take that theme to a whole new level. Honestly, I think they might have gone a bit too far, as the massive megaphones seem to overpower the character. Maybe my opinion will change once I see the completed version.

GSC’s 1/8 Hitagi was one of many Bakemonogatari figures on display at WF2010.  I think I like this one the best because it’s a direct translation of the series artwork featuring Hitagi lifting her skirt to expose a torrent of miscellaneous office supplies.  It’s bizzare and interesting at the same time and it’s precisely the reason I want to check out Bakemonogatari in the near future.

GSC also had a new Flyable Heart figure on display featuring Inaba Yui, who I’m guessing is the main character of the eroge. Obviously, I don’t know a lot about the game itself, but I appreciate the fact that it sports Noiji Itou-penned artwork, which GSC has done a nice job translating into figure form. I’m liking the colors and little details like the donut (or is that melon bread?) and kitsune tail, which I hadn’t noticed before on Yui’s character.

This Valkyrie Complex figure is the last of the GSC figures that piqued my interest. I’m not at all familiar with Valkyrie Complex, but I’m digging the spear/shield combo along with the soft blue and gold color scheme Ms. Kyrie is sporting here. I hope to see more of this figure down the road.

Alter showed off a little present for Muramase fans at WF2010. I haven’t played the game yet–still hoping for a PS3 port–but I’m certainly appreciative of the game’s unusual art style and its sword-swinging heroine. This is definitely one of the figures on my short list of WF2010 figures to watch out for.

There were quite a few new K-ON! figures on display at WF2010 from various manufacturers. I like the look of Alter’s new festival Mio more than their first attempt, but I’m still not convinced it’s the Mio for me.  I really like the outfit that she (apparently) wears in the ending sequence, so I plan on holding out for a figure featuring said outfit.

I didn’t notice a lot of interest concerning Alter’s new Saki figure from other fans, but I thought it was one of the more interesting designs of the show. Koromo’s character gives off a strong Alice in Wonderland vibe with her lolita attire and accents like the pocketwatch and bunny-ear hair ribbon. I like it. A lot.

Kotobukiya showed off a good many figures at WF2010, but the one that interested me most was a new Feena Fam Earthlight from the eroge Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na ~Cresent Love~.  Feena has one of those unique character designs that manages to stand out from the masses of generic eroge characters and I really think she would be good figure material. Unfortunately, I have yet to see a Feena figure I like the look of and Koto’s new Feena doesn’t change that. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why, but I’m finding her dress very unflattering here. Maybe it’s the angle or lack of paint, but so far I’m disappointed.

Resinya showed off a very detailed figure featuring Aegis from the game Persona 3: FES.  Having played P3FES a fair bit, I’m certainly happy to see her get some figure action. Resinya has a track record of doing mostly 1/6-1/7 scale figures, so I expect Aegis will be quite large with the massive base shown here.

One last figure that caught my eye was this Ikaros (from Sora no Otashimono) figure. It’s apparently being produced by a company called Grands, which is very much an unknown quantity to me.  While I’m not familiar with their past work , I can appreciate the fine detailing on this figure, particularly on the wings and hair. Probably not something I’ll be picking up, but I could understand why someone else might grab this figure.

As you can see, there’s plenty of stuff in the pipeline to keep the budget strained for the rest of the year. (-_-)

Images from Hobby Stock, AmiAmi, and GA Graphic blogs.