Aranea Highwind Play Arts Kai

Today I picked up a figure that I’ve been super excited about! It’s a Play Arts Kai figure of Aranea Highwind from Final Fantasy XV! She is my absolute favorite character in the game, so I was really happy when they announced a figure of her and of course I had to pre-order~

Aranea arrived at a perfect time, since yesterday was the one-year anniversary for Final Fantasy XV! ♥ I was really surprised how fast the Air Small Packet shipping was - it took less than a week to arrive, so pretty much EMS speed D: The actual EMS shipping would've been double the amount I paid, lol.

Anyway, let's move on!

Here's the box from front!

And from back

The front of the box actually opens like a book, on the other side there is some information on Aranea's character and a bad ass photo of her >:3 ♥

The figure and all its accessories are packed really nicely. If someone prefers to collect figures leaving them inside their boxes for display, this is one of those figures that looks pretty neat in a box!

Love this art! ♥

I tried to get a close-up of her face through the plastic, sorry about the light reflections... :'D

The stand

Some instructions on how to change the parts

Aaand instructions on assembling the stand... This kinda reminds me of Ikea furniture XDD And let me tell you, assembling it really felt like putting together an Ikea furniture, hahah! I'm still not sure if I did everything 100% correctly...

Removed the plastic cover! I didn't realize it until later, but as you can see from the photo, her helmet is missing from the package ;___; There's just an empty space on upper right where it should be. I double checked the outer box and everything, but there's no sign of it anywhere. I've already contacted Amiami customer service about it and hopefully they'll send me the missing piece... *fingers crossed* I hope that they won't ask me to send back the whole figure and then send a new one to me... That would be much more complicated and end up costing them a lot more too, since shipping from Finland to Japan is quite expensive. But yeah, we'll see what they answer!

Ms. Aranea is out of the box! I absolutely love her, she's looks lovely and has so many nice details ♥ Her armor looks really nice too. The paint job isn't 100% perfect and there are some slight imperfections here and there, but overall I'm very happy with the quality!

From side

From back

Posing with her lance! *o* You definitely don't wanna make this gal angry... The lance came in two parts that were attached together, but I forgot to take a photo.

Face close-up! The paint job doesn't look the most flattering if you look closely, but I'd say that it's understandable for such a tiny face. But I don't think it's too bad! She even has eyelashes, that's so cute! :D

Details on her... skirt? Or whatever that's called :D

I loooove her boots! ♥ I think they were painted to look worn out on purpose.

The "tail" for her helmet that doesn't exist... :'D It can be bent from multiple places, I can imagine that being useful for action poses.

I realized that she can make a heart with one pair of the extra hands! ♥

I need to take some proper photos of this girl at some point! I don't have any photo ideas for her yet, but maybe something will come to my mind later, at least once I get the helmet (if I ever get it XD). I also plan to buy the Ignis figure to accompany Aranea, because I totally ship them!! ♥ That might have to wait for a while though, since I have some expensive figures on pre-order and my Japan trip is getting closer too...

The time has gone SO fast, it's hard to believe that it's December already! Are you ready for the Christmas season? :3 I've usually bought a Christmas chocolate calendar every year, but this time I'm skipping since I couldn't find a Hello Kitty calendar, hahah. Me and Sarg made the first Christmas tarts of the year yesterday and maybe during the weekend we'll put some Christmas decorations around the house \o/

Summer WonFes 2017

I was planning that my next blog post would be for some summery photos, but that'll have to wait a bit since WonFes happened X'D WonFes means that it's time for some figure news! There were lots of announcements and updates that caught my attention, so I'll be sharing some of my thoughts with you guys~

In my previous WonFes posts I've pretty much just listed everything randomly, but this time I decided to try arranging the figures in some kind of an order. I listed new announcements first, then grey prototypes and lastly colored figures :3 I decided to not include the Azone doll announcements this time, since there wasn't really anything that caught my interest...

Previous WonFes posts:
Winter 2017
Summer 2016
Winter 2016
Summer 2015
Winter 2015

Love Live Sunshine Kisekae World Nendoroid More series by Good Smile Company

As a big Love Live fan, I'm always excited to see new LL stuff, of course :D And this time there were not many LL announcements, but this Nendoroid More series seems interesting! Not the biggest fan of the outfits, but we'll see how they look on Nendos :)

Furikawa Nagisa Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

The announcement of this Nendoroid was probably the biggest WonFes surprise for me, but I'm very excited about her! Clannad is one of my all time favorite series and I looove Nagisa, so I definitely need this Nendo ♥ I really hope that GSC will make other characters from the series as well and it would be wonderful to see some Kanon characters as Nendos too ;___;

Kuro no Rider Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

It was quite obvious that there'd be some Fate/Apocrypha figure announcements :D I've been enjoying the anime so far and this character seems really interesting, so I might want to get him!

Aka no Saber Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

Yay, more Nendoroids for my Saber collection! ♥ It's a shame that "Red Saber" has gotten such little screentime in the anime so far, but from what I've seen I'm definitely loving her character~ Also, her voice actor is Miyuki Sawashiro, who is my favorite seiyuu of all time so that makes her even more precious ♥♥ 

Fujita Tatara Nendoroid by Orange Rouge

I really like Ballroom no Youkoso and I hope there will be more Nendoroids from this series, since it'd be fun to display them together x3 I don't think that I'd get Tatara just on his own, but if he gets a partner, I'd be tempted...

 Yamada Elf Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

I love Elf and was hoping to see her as a Nendoroid!! ♥ I have Sagiri Nendo on pre-order, so I obviously need to get this girl too :3

Jabami Yumeko Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

YES! ♥♥ Kakegurui seems to have become my favorite series from this anime season, even though I would've never guessed to love it so much... I don't know what it is about Yumeko's character, but I absolutely love her in all of her insanity XD This is going to be a must-have to my figure collection! ♥

Jabami Yumeko 1/8 scale by Kotobukiya

Ahhh *____* I loooove her pose and expression, Kotobukiya has captured her character perfectly! ♥ Looking forward to seeing the finished figure~ If this still looks stunning when colored (and the price is reasonable), I might have to get her... >3<

Saber EXTRA Figma by Max Factory

SABER!! ♥ ...Nothing more to say XD

Saber EXTRA by Aquamarine

This has to be one of the most gorgeous Saber figures that I've seen! If she doesn't end up looking weird colored, she might end up in my collection :3 That sofa would also make a nice photography prop for tiny dolls... XD

Roy Mustang Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

Looking good, Roy is definitely on my wishlist! I'm hoping that GSC will make Riza Nendoroid as well ;3; Roy x Riza was one of the first pairings that I got into and I still love them~

Original Character by Flare 

This is completely random, but something about this figure captured my eye ^^; Guess I really like fairies, huh... The artwork that it's based on looks really pretty too!

Hatsune Miku Harvest Moon 1/8 scale by Good Smile Company

I've probably said it before, but I'm not really a fan of Vocaloid or Miku... But I really like how this one looks ;w; Since I have the Miku Harvest Moon Nendoroid, one could say that I have a weakness for this design? :'D Now if only they make this one with pastel hair as well...

Akuma Homura 1/8 scale by Aniplex

This looks just so stunning that I have no words... *o* I have Madoka on pre-order and will definitely pre-order Homura as well, can't wait to get them home and display them together! ♥ I just hope that they fit in the place that I've reserved for them, otherwise I'm gonna have problems... XD

Ariel Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

Yay finally pictures of Ariel! ♥ She's my favorite Disney character and means a lot to me, so I just have to get her x3 Her face does look a bit disappointing though, but I kinda knew to expect it. GSC just doesn't seem to be able to make the eyes look right for Disney Nendos, all of them have had this kind of weird expression... ^^;

Tachibana Taki & Miyamizu Mitsuha 1/8 scale by Good Smile Company

These two looks so pretty and I love how their bases connect to form a circle when displayed together ♥ I talked with Sarg that she should get Taki and I could get Mitsuha... Or the other way around XD We watched Your Name recently and it was AMAZING! (If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend to watch it :3)

Sakurauchi Riko 1/7 scale by Alter

It's difficult to try to buy figures just of my two best Aqours girls (Mari and Kanan) when the other girls sometimes get such pretty figures with stunning outfits ;___; This Riko looks really pretty! ♥ Still, I'm trying hard to resist XD

Mercedes by Phat Company

Awww she looks so cute! ♥

Gwendolyn Dress ver. by Flare

This figure looks divine colored *___* Could I just have unlimited funds and unlimited display space for figures, please? :'D

Narmaya 1/7 scale by Broccoli

I haven't played Granblue Fantasy nor know this character, but oh gosh this figure is so beautiful ;___;

***

I think that's all! There were quite a few iDOLM@STER related announcements/figures for display, but none of them were characters that I like the most so I'm thankfully safe from those XD All iM@S figures do look amazing though...

If you have any personal favorites from the WonFes announcements, please tell me about them as I love hearing what figures other people are looking forward to :)

WonFes Winter 2017 news

The winter Wonder Festival 2017 was held in Japan last Sunday and there were sooo many figure announcements that I'm super excited about! ♥ But at the same time I also hope that some of these will turn out not to look so good so that I don't have to buy them all, hahah X'D Usually I'm very picky about scale figures and thus there are not many that I find interesting, but this time there were surprisingly many scale figures that I fell in love with...

Here is a list of the new announcements and here is another list for updates to figures that have been announced earlier.

Previous WonFes posts:
Summer 2016
Winter 2016
Summer 2015
Winter 2015

Ultimate Madoka 1/8 scale by Aniplex

I've followed the development of this figure since the concept art was released and pre-ordered her right away after she became available~ Thank god I won't have to pay until her release in December XD

The fully colored figure was revealed during the WonFes and she looks just perfect ♥ I can't say how much I'm looking forward to getting her ;3; Now I'm glad that I haven't bought Good Smile Company's Ultimate Madoka scale figure, since I like this one a lot more! My only concern at the moment is her huge size... 44cm with wings O_O And I honestly have no idea where she'd fit, lol.

Akuma Homura 1/8 scale by Aniplex

Aaaand of course there's also going to be Akuma Homura figure to match Madoka *o* ♥♥ There's only a prototype of her so far, but these two look gorgeous side by side~ I absolutely want to get this one too, so I hope that she won't be released to close to Madoka's release month >.< It'll probably take until 2018, though.

Hanayo & Rin 1/7 scale by Alter

These two new Love Live scale figures look lovely as well~ Neither of them belongs to my favorite characters in the series, but I might cave in and pre-order Hanayo (the one on left), depending on when she'll be released.

Ranko Dark Princess 1/7 scale by Alter

OH. MY. GOD. The prototype of this Ranko was actually on display at last summer's WonFes and now they revealed the fully colored figure! This is the most beautiful figure of Ranko so far and I really want her ;___; My wallet is already crying because of all these lovely scale figures...

Anzu 1/7 scale by Alter

Anzu will be getting a scale figure as well! ♥ I checked some art of the outfit she's wearing and the colors look really pretty... If Alter sticks to the original colors and doesn't screw things up, this is most likely going to be another must-have figure >3< Hopefully Alter (or some other company) will also make a 1/7 Kirari at some point~

Gwendolyn Dress ver. by Flare

Absolutely love the design of this, but I might have to pass on her because of all the other figures that I want to get...

Albedo 1/8 scale by Good Smile Company

I never actually finished watching Overlord, but I liked Albedo as a character a lot and this figure looks really pretty too. I seem to have a thing for pretty ladies with wings, hahah XD

Kanan Figma by Max Factory

Kanan baby~ ♥ Instead of collecting all the Love Live Sunshine girls as Figmas, I decided to only get my favorite girl, which is Kanan. Though I might want to get Mari as a friend for her too, the two are just so adorable together ^^;

Saber Lily Figma by Max Factory

Lillie Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

I love Lillie, really happy to see her getting a Nendoroid version! Though I would've preferred GSC to go with the anime version, since she has Alolan Vulpix there and that would've been even more adorable as a companion than Cosmog. Still, will most likely pre-order her, unless she ends up being super expensive and/or exclusive.

Mami Maiko ver. Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

Disney Nendoroids by Good Smile Company

This was the biggest surprise for me among the WonFes news! I think the only Disney characters that GSC has made as Nendoroids so far have been Anna and Elsa from Frozen, so this was not expected at all. I definitely want at least Ariel, since she's my favorite Disney princess ever ♥ Tinkerbell and Rapunzel are tempting as well~

Kirito DD by Volks

Last but not least, Volks revealed that they're going to make Kirito as a Dollfie Dream! I'm not interested in him as a Kirito, but excited to see if the sculpt would work as another character for my and Sarg's plans :3 It's still uncertain whether he'll be on the same DDS body as Len, or if there'll be a brand new, taller male DD body. There'll also be a new Asuna and the previous one was a DD, not a DDS, so it's possible that this new version would be on the taller body too. If that's the case, then Kirito would need to be taller than a DDS as well. According to some Twitter comments, he's already on production, so there should be more info sometime, hopefully soon!

***

Two new Pureneemo dolls were also revealed in WonFes, but those didn't interest me personally so I haven't included them in this post.

Do you guys have any favorites from the WonFes releases? :)