Figure maker Kotobukiya announced at their Anime Expo 2019 panel that Fire Force characters Tamaki Kotatsu and Shinra Kusakabe will join the ARTFX J series of figurines in 1/7 scale, but did not announce the price or date for either of the figures.
The unpainted prototypes look good, not being personally familiar with the characters or the series, I like Shinra’s teeth (they’re gizaba) and Tamaki having her boobs all out like that is pretty nice too. Assuming the show is any good (I didn’t get to see the episode previewed at Anime Expo on July 5), I’ll probably buy that Tamaki.
In addition to Fire Force, Kotobukiya’s marketing coordinator and licensing manager also announced an ARTFX J figure of Lio Fotia from Trigger’s upcoming anime Promare in 1/7 scale. Likewise, they did not announce a price or date for the figure.
The last new announcement they made was figures for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba characters Nezuko, Tanjiro, and Zenitsu. These are in such early stages of development that they didn’t have prototypes to show at all and the slide for the announcement was only illustrations of the characters, but Kotobukiya does good work and I expect I’ll end up buying their Nezuko.
They also promoted previously announced figures for Rikka and Akane from SSS.Gridman, Fruits Basket’s Yuki and Kyo, and bishoujo figures of several G.I. Joe ladies, My Little Pony characters, as well as Sakura and Karin from Street Fighter. They also went over My Hero Academia figures of Izuku Midoriya, Todoroki, and Ochaco that had previously been announced, and also later on Twitter announced four new My Hero Academia characters will be getting figures: Kirishima, All Might, Shigaraki, and my favorite Himiko Toga gets yet another figure after Takara Tomy already excited me with their take on the villain two weeks ago.
The rest of the panel was devoted to product planner Kengo Kasai explaining the development process of a figure, which was mildly interesting. I didn’t realize that each stage of development had to be cleared with the licensor. That’s a nice way to protect the integrity of the characters.
It’s looking like I might need a new shelf for some great new waifus.
