When Alter announced a Hobby Japan-exclusive version of Hyakka Ryoran heroine Yagyu Jubei clad in revealing swim attire, it didn’t take long for me to decide that Jubei was a character worth at least two figures. Acquiring this version of Jubei was made complicated by the details accompanying the release announcement. Beyond the simple fact that Hobby Japan won’t ship outside Japan, Jubei was also to be limited to 1,500 pieces distributed via lottery. It seems that the old “first-come, first-served” adage need not apply here. The lottery clause effectively eliminated the option of ordering the figure through a proxy service because there was no guarantee that they could fill the order.

I had noticed in the past that the US-based ToysLogic seemed to carry Hobby Japan exclusives from time to time. I contacted them regarding the new Jubei to see if they would be accepting orders. A few days later, I got a response that they would indeed be accepting orders for the HJ exclusive. I was concerned as to how they would get around the lottery problem, but I didn’t press the issue and decided to place my order through them. A box from ToysLogic arrived at my doorstep seven months later.
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