New Release Photo Review: Figuarts ZERO - Basil Hawkins

Officially released last Saturday, 16th of March is Figuarts ZERO - Basil Hawkins as Bandai's follow-up to their Supernova Figuarts ZERO series. Figuarts ZERO - X Drake was also released on that same day, but today we're just going to look at some early shots of a Figuarts ZERO - Basil Hawkins's retail release.

Judging by these photos, Bandai surprisingly produced another well done Figuarts ZERO. I was actually convinced that Bandai doesn't care with the quality their releases given their crappy releases in the past. I'm not really looking forward to this release, actually. In fact, I didn't even prerodered, Drake and Hawkins. But upon seeing these images, I am quite sure that I'll be getting at least Basil Hawkins sometime soon even if I had no intention of completing the Supernovas in Figuarts ZERO form.

From any angle, I don't really notice any offensive paint application mistakes on this particular figure. It looks close enough to the promo images. His cape/upper garment seems to be painted with silver glittery effect, something that isn't seen on any of the promo images. I love how they painted that metallic thingy on his left shoulder. The boots are also well painted with glittery effect.

The best detail that draws my attention here are the straw voodoo dolls. I was worried before that they might screw up in this part. But it seems that Bandai has pulled-it off. It can be further improved actually, but this finish quality is on an acceptable level. The only thing that I don't like is the lack of detail on his pink sash. They should've put a little bit of paint shading on it.

The details are absolutely impressive or it just gotten past my expectations. Either way, this is really not bad for a Figuarts ZERO release. Having said that, I highly recommend this one whether you're a fan of the character, or a Figuarts ZERO collector like me. Retailing for 3,360 yen, he's still available at most retail hobby shops for and I believe he isn't going to be sold out anytime soon. So you can just relax for now and consider your budget. 

New Release Photo Review: Figuarts ZERO - Jewelry Bonney

Following the release of Figuarts ZERO - Killer a week later, Figuarts ZERO Jewelry Bonney has been released last Saturday, 23rd of February 2013. As usual, we got some early shots of the retail figure courtesy of blog.livedoor.jp. From what I'm seeing here, it's just an ok release. It's nothing special nor it isn't also too bad.

The overall look is just how it looks like in the promo images. Though there's some paint imperfections which are common to most figuarts ZEROs, it isn't a horrible looking figure. The only thing that annoys me is the hair color on the alternate head. The pink paint coloring on it's two halves of the hair is not even.

It's just a plainly simple looking figure and I can't say more. For the price of 2,940 yen, there are a lot more better Figuarts ZEROs you can get for that price range. But if you are going to complete the eleven supernovas on Figuarts ZERO, or you're just simply a fan of Jewelry Bonney, this could be worth getting.

New Release Photo Review: Figuarts ZERO - Killer

Just released last Saturday, 16th of February 2013. Bandai's Figuarts ZERO Killer just hit the store shelves to add to your Figuarts ZERO One Piece Supernovas collection. This will be the fifth Supernova if you will count the earlier released Luffy and Zoro (the other two are Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kidd). Here are some early shots of the retail release for you to see what you will get if you have preordered or just planning to purchase one.

You may hate me when I say I never liked this release. Eiichiro Oda may not have thought too much about the name given to this character, but I believe he has a reason why he named him Killer. And this figure is not really a "killer". It's a "caller", or a "model". Look how lame is that pose. It's like he's modelling for some clothes, or calling someone from his custom blade-phone. C'mon Bandai, Killer is supposed to show some scary bad-ass pose. 

Figuarts ZERO - X Drake and Basil Hawkins Preorder Announcements

Bandai is really in a rush! To empty our wallets, that is. They just announced that Figuarts ZERO - X Drake and Basil Hawkins will be available for preorder this coming Monday, 12th of November 2012 at 16:00 (JST). These two figures has been announced earlier for March 2013 release, but I never thought that preorders will be offered this early.

Somehow I think that Bandai knew what other manufacturers are up to and they are trying to offer preorders as early as possible before new product announcements are made. Yes, I'm looking at you MegaHouse. It's possible that there will be Supernovas and Film Z on POP's line-up which will be shown on the upcoming MegaHobby EXPO 2012 Autumn event, since they already have an upcoming Kidd and Killer, and there will definitely be some Film Z POP editions.

Back to the figures, these two are looking awesome (as most Figuarts ZERO promo images are). Figuarts ZERO - X Drake is wielding his sword pointing upwards with his four-bladed axe on his right hand. The cape is blown away nicely and his boots looks awesomely detailed, I hope they can do the same on the retail releases. Figuarts ZERO - Basil Hawkins on the other hand looks cool with his straw voodoo dolls coming out of his left arm. This left arm can be replaced with an alternate arm without those dolls but holding a card. I would love to preorder these two but I'm worried about the outcome of the final retail product. I'll better wait for the release availability before getting these two. And besides, MegaHouse might announce these two characters on their POP line-up. If that happens, I might end up not getting these Figuarts ZEROs.

As mentioned, to be released on March 2013 with the following prices

Figuarts ZERO - X Drake

Price: 3,675 yen

Figuarts ZERO - Basil Hawkins

Price: 3,360 yen

Update: Preorders are now available at Amiami [ Drake | Hawkins ], and Hobby Search  [ Drake | Hawkins ].

Official Photos: Figuarts ZERO - Jewelry Bonney and Killer

Less than two hours left before preorders for Figuarts ZERO - Jewelry Bonney and Killer starts, but before that, take a close look at these official photos of the two figure. These photos might help you decide if you're still arguing with yourself whether to join the preorder battle on the Japanese market or not. These photos looks really nice, but it does not mean that the final retail version would look just as nice. Recent Figuarts ZERO releases are hit or miss specially on the One Piece product line. So let's hope that these two will not suffer a poor quality as some others and stay as much as they look like in the photos.

Jewelry Bonney has an alternate head option with a different expression and an alternate left arm. Her sailor hat is removable and can be used on both heads. For Killer, I noticed that he is a lot taller than Figuarts ZERO - Eustass Kidd as shown in the photo below. Is that accurate? I understand that these Figuarts ZERO are not scaled so no point arguing in this matter, but since you would normally display Killer side by side with his Captain, it might not look appropriate, unless Killer is really this much taller than Kidd.

To be released on February 2013, these figures priced for 2,940 yen each. Preorder details can be found here

Update: Preorders are now open at Amiami [ Bonney | Killer ], Hobby Search [ Bonney | Killer ] and Hobbylink Japan [ Bonney | Killer ].

Figuarts ZERO - Jewelry Bonney and Killer Preorders

As announced earlier, Figuarts ZERO - Jewelry Bonney and Figuarts ZERO - Killer will be available for preorder on Thursday, 1st of November 2012 at 16:00 (JST). These two figures will then be released on February 2013, and will be followed by Figuarts ZERO - X Drake and Figuarts ZERO - Basil Hawkins on March 2013. So preorders for the latter two is expected to begin by next month. No official photos of Bonney and Killer yet so just check on these photos from the Tamashii Nation 2012 event.

Tamashii Nation 2012 - One Piece Figuarts ZERO

Tamashii Nation 2012 event has already come to an end yesterday and there were lots of surprises and new figures to look forward to. Unfortunately, some figures were marked "Do not photograph" like these new One Piece Figuarts ZEROs. But apparently, some true One Piece fans uses their pirate instincts and took these shots which made its way to the internet. Event organizers cannot contain the excitement of these avid fans as they break the rules.

I have waited too long till they release the official photos of these, but it seems that they aren't showing these officially to the web anytime soon. So I'll take this opportunity to get these literally "stolen shots" and show them to you.

Being stolen shots, these photos aren't so clear and some are totally blurry, so please forgive me. But at least you can have a good idea on how these figures look like and quench your anxiety. But once the official photos of these figures were made available, I'll make sure to post those here on this site. So for now, let's take a look of the photos, shall we...

Figuarts ZERO's Waves of Supernovas

Looks like Bandai is preparing for waves of Supernovas as the following planned Figuarts ZERO releases were announced

February 2013

• Figuarts ZERO - Jewelry Bonney
• Figuarts ZERO - Killer

March 2013

• Figuarts ZERO - X Drake
• Figuarts ZERO - Basil Hawkins

No photos for any of these figures yet but we may be able to see them on the upcoming Tamashii Nation 2012 event which will be held on 26th to 28th of October (Friday to Sunday) at the Akihabara UDX 2F AKIBA_SQUARE/4F UDX Gallery. Visit the site (Japanese) for more details.

And also, expect more Figuarts ZERO Film Z editions to be revealed during that event.

Update: Preorders for Figuarts ZERO - Jewelry Bonney and Killer will start on Thursday, 1st of November 2012 at 16:00 (JST)

Official Photos: POP Neo-Maximum - Eustass Kidd

Following my post for POP Neo-DX - Killer, here we got the official photos for POP Neo-Maximum - Eustass Kidd. We've already seen lots of photos showing the two different faces and the optional huge metallic arm which is probably why it cost so much that MegaHouse decides to start a new classification which is the Neo-Maximum. The price is about double as that of a normal Neo-DX which will hurt the wallets of many collectors including me :(

Same release schedule as POP Neo-DX - Killer which will be on December 2012 for 12,600 yen, preorders will start 12th of September 2012 at 18:00 JST (Japan time).

Official Photos: POP Neo-DX - Killer

The official photos of POPs Eustass Kidd and Killer are out now. Though this isn't a surprise for everyone anymore as we already know how these figures looks like, these official photos are still nice to look at. First we got POP Neo-DX - Killer, different shots shows that the both blades can be rotated. No optional parts shown here but we'll see later when it is released. An alternate shirt to show post time-skip maybe?

Slated to be released on December 2012 for 7,260 yen, preorders will start 12th of September 2012 at 18:00 JST (Japan time) along with POP Neo-Maximum - Eustass Kidd.

Official Posters: POP Kidd and Killer

Two days before the preorder begins for POP Neo-Maximum - Eustass Kidd and POP Neo-DX - Killer, MegaHouse releases the official promotional posters for these two. And based from these posters, the price for Kidd is 12,600 yen and price for Killer is 7,560 yen, both tax included. Kidd is almost double the price of an average DX. Not so surprised because of that huge accessory. I guess that's what a Neo-Maximum subline is meant to be. Both are December releases.

Announcement: POP Kidd and Killer Preorders

September POP preorders has been announced and it will be POP Neo-Maximum - Eustass Kidd and POP Neo-DX - Killer. Preorders for these two figures will start next week, Wednesday, 12th of September 2012 at 18:00 JST (Japan time). Prices and release date has yet to be announced but I will update this post as soon as this information is available, so be sure to keep an eye on this blog site or follow my Facebook page to receive updates from Facebook.

Event Photos: Chara Hobby 2012 - POP

Last weekend, 25th and 26th of August, the Chara Hobby (C3 X Hobby) 2012 was held in Japan. This event was sponsored by Dengenki Hobby and Hobby Japan. And as usual, there are lots of new model kits and anime figures on display, but what caught my attention the most are the MegaHouse's new POPs, particularly Eustass Kidd.

Announcement: POP Sailing Again - Tony Tony Chopper (Kung Fu Point) Preorders

POP Sailing Again - Tony Tony Chopper (Kung Fu Point) has officially been announced by Megahouse today. This figure will be released on November 2012 for 3,150 yen. Preorders will be opened next Wednesday, 8th of August 2012 at 18:00 JST (Japan time). At the same time Megahouse will also be accepting preorders for POP Sailing Again - Sanji re-release. So if you missed the first production run of Sanji, this will be a good opportunity.

Event photos: Wonder Festival 2012 Summer - One Piece

Yesterday, Wonder Festival 2012 Summer was held at Chiba, Japan, and Megahouse as well as other figure manufacturers came there to showcase their upcoming One Piece products. Of course Megahouse brings their popular Portrait of Pirates product line to display and we get to see the previously announced figures (during the Megahobby EXPO Spring 2012), now in their fully completed and painted form.

Event Photos: Megahobby EXPO Spring 2012 - One Piece

Megahobby EXPO Spring 2012 was held last Saturday, 26th of May 2012 at Akibahara Tokyo, Japan. And as usual Megahouse's Portrait of Pirates merchandise were there to show their new and upcoming releases as well as those that were released previously.