Preorder Roundup: 2015.06 Edition

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Periodically, I like to take a look at new figures that are available for pre-order. This isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list, but rather a selection of new releases that I personally find interesting or notable.

It’s been a while. Six months, in fact. I’ve been a pretty lazy bum of late with regards to blog upkeep. The sad part is I had 90% of this post penned back in February, but opted to hold off in hopes that I could get a new review out first. That hasn’t happened and the preorder commentary is somewhat time-sensitive in nature, so I’m pushing this out now before it grows any more stale than it already has.

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Preorder Roundup: 2014.11 Edition

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Periodically, I like to take a look at new figures that are available for pre-order. This isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list, but rather a selection of new releases that I personally find interesting or notable.

After my previous preorder post, I decided a more frequent cadence might be beneficial to keep these posts from growing so monolithic in nature. This is the first of what will hopefully become a mid-quarter format. I still managed to find fourteen figures to talk about since August, which was a bit of a surprise as well as a strain on the budget given that some manufacturers, notably Alter, seem to have dramatically shortened their preorder windows here recently.

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Preorder Roundup: 2014.08 Edition

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Periodically, I like to take a look at new figures that are available for pre-order. This isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list, but rather a selection of new releases that I personally find interesting or notable.

Once again, I find myself scribing a preorder roundup with WonFes in the recent past. The timing isn’t deliberate, but it is a curious recurring coincidence. This time I’m tackling 16 new figures and potential purchases, which happens to be a personal record and a good indication that I should probably be doing these posts about twice as often as I do.

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Year-End Report: Best of 2013

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I’m rather embarrassed by my lack of activity this year, having pushed out a paltry two reviews, which means this post will have to stand in as a set of mini-reviews until I get around to something more formal. The list below represents my personal selection of my five favorite purchases of 2013. The usual year-end financial report will follow tomorrow.
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Review: Max Factory 1/8 Shana

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Remaining loyal to the North American anime industry is an exercise in perseverance. One must repeatedly endure the inevitable time lag between a series airing in Japan and seeing it licensed, localized, and ultimately released on domestic DVD and/or Blu-ray. At best, this delay is measured in months; at worst, years. Shakugan no Shana is a series that had it worse than most. Its fate was tied to the sinking ship that was Geneon, which was responsible for releasing the first season of SnS on DVD years ago. Despite the apparent transfer of numerous Geneon licenses to Funimation back in mid-2008, which presumably included the Shakugan no Shana rights, the second SnS TV series from the Fall 2007 season did not make its NA debut until December 2012. The 2007 feature film and Fall 2009 OVA series followed in January and the third, and final, TV series is promised for next month. At least Funi is making up for lost time by releasing all of SnS in rapid succession.

As part of the NA Shakugan no Shana (re)launch, I have been re-watching the series starting from the first season, which I already had on DVD from the Geneon days, and proceeding through the newer content. As such, I thought it would be a good opportunity to dust off one of my figures of the eponymous loli-tsundere heroine for review, while the series is still fresh on my mind.

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