The Wonder Festival 2013 Summer has wrapped-up, leaving us a lot of new upcoming figures to look forward to. But the best ones are the product lines that you are following and collecting. And that's POPs for me. MegaHouse has unveiled some new and previously announced but fully painted prototypes. Two of those painted prototypes are actually going to be released as post Christmas presents to ourselves (assuming no more delays).
These two are POP Edition-Z - Aokiji Kuzan and POP MAS - Rob Lucci (Leopard Kami-e Bushin Ver.). Announced to be released this coming December 2013, preorders for these two POP starts next Wednesday, 7th of August 2013 at 18:00 (JST).
So let's talk first about what we will having on our display shelves after Christmas. First we have POP Edition-Z - Aokiji Kuzan. The first non-Mugiwara under POP Edition-Z. This POP may be falling under Edition-Z since this is Aokiji's Film Z movie appearance, but this can also be a Sailing Again POP since he appeared in this same outfit at Punk Hazard (sorry for the spoiler), not sure about the colors though. Making him an Edition-Z makes sense actually, since the first time we've seen an animated post-timeskip Aokiji is on Film Z.
I'm sure most of you has decided to include him on your must-get list even before he was fully painted. Seeing him now if full colors makes it clear that we will be crying if we're going to miss this release. The unpainted prototype shown back at MegaHobby EXPO 2013 Spring has his right hand inside his pocket. This time his right hand is fully transformed into an ice which is so cool. I really like seeing figures with a hint of their devil fruit abilities. So we can assume that he will come with two right arms, one with his hand inside his pocket and one with ice effect. I hope he will come with more accessories, but with a price of 7,980 yen, I think all we can see is one optional arm and a base.
The next one is POP MAS - Rob Lucci (Leopard Kami-e Bushin Ver.) or (Leopard Paper Drawing Fighting Form Ver.). It is under the new POP classification called MAS which means Motion Ability Statue. I really don't know what that means, but since there were already two POP that falls under this class, the other one being POP MAS - Tony Tony Chopper (Horn Point), I'm assuming this belongs to the Zoan transformed to their half-animal appearance. That's the case of this Rob Lucci POP and the Chopper that I have mentioned. Or it could also be as it name implies "Motion Ability" which maybe like a capture of their attacking form, more like Figuarts ZERO Battle ver line-up or Attack Motions, but without much effect parts. Anyway, we'll see about that later in future releases.
Getting back to this POP, Rob Lucci is in his half-leopard mode. This is actually his Seimei Kikan: Kami-e Bushin ability, which literally means Life Return: Paper Drawing Fighting Form. Kami-e makes the users' body go limp in order to avoid any attacks, and float like a piece of paper. This technique makes Lucci's half-leopard form smaller, lighter, and possibly increasing his speed. At any rate, he is much more agile in this form, and harder to hit - as opposed to his hulking normal half-leopard form.
It's nice to see MegaHouse come up with new POP class just to make character forms like this. I love how Lucci was posed in this form, showing a cat-like posture. Being the first of it's class, this is also a must get for every POP collector. I wonder if we can also see other CP9 or any other Zoan under this class. Marco is a good candidate. Or maybe he's better off being under Maximum with all the bells and whistles. What do you think?
Below are the details of these two POPs
POP Edition-Z - Aokiji Kuzan
- Class: Edition-Z
- Price: 7,980 yen
- Release Date: December 2013
POP MAS - Rob Lucci (Leopard Kami-e Bushin Ver.)
- Class: MAS
- Price: 7,980 yen
- Release Date: December 2013
