Wonderful fan creations that you can’t find anywhere else.
We recently stopped by Wonder Festival, Japan’s biggest exhibition of anime and video game character models and figures, and shared a huge batch of photos covering the newest offerings from the industry’s most prominent companies. Wonder Festival isn’t only for the big fish of the figure pond, though, as it’s got a strongly beating fan artist heart too.
Similar to Comiket, Wonder Festival’s policies allow for the sale of independently creature figures, even without an official license from the IP holders, provided the production batch is small and they’re only available on the days of the convention (that’s the basic gist – full compliance details are available through the Wonder Festival official website). Some independent artists aren’t even interested in selling their creations at all, and just want a space to display them in order to share their passion project and build their reputation.
So before we headed home from Winter Wonder Festival 2024, we sauntered on over the independent artist and dealer section, which had some of the most amazing work of the entire show floor.
Starting things off was a 1:1-scale garage kit of Blue Archive’s Toki Asuma, in a bunny girl outfit, from Kaoru Sakaki.
According to her official character bio, Toki is 165 centimeters (65 inches) tall. We didn’t get out a tape measure to check, but we believe the dimensions are accurate, based on her height relative to our field correspondent Tatsuya Egawa’s.
Blue Archive had a very strong showing in the independent exhibitor’s area, with multiple artists having turned their talents to a multitude of characters from the hit mobile game.
▼ Erika Hatami, from Hatch Scale
▼ Midori Saiba (Q-Pula)
Mobile games in general continue to see robust support on the fan-figure front, which makes sense considering how many of the most successful titles earn their player bases through appealing character designs and backstories.
▼ Fate/Grand Order’s Mysterious Alter Ego Λ (Raio Kou)
▼ Azure Lane’s Prinz Eugen (Tony@Awaken)
▼ Uma Musume Pretty Derby’s Mr. C.B. (no relation to this Mr. C.B.) and Symboli Rudolf (both by Tetsukoryu).
It wasn’t all gals dressed in glamorously girlish outfits, though. Wonder Festival’s independent artist section also had room for the decidedly grittier aesthetics of video game developer From Software’s beautifully brutal Elden Ring and Dark Souls.
▼ Elden Ring’s Ranni the Witch (Naruyo Higata)…
▼ …Melina and Torrent…
▼ …Vagabond…
▼ …and Dark Souls II’s Fume Knight Raime (the three of which are by Haiishi).
Speaking of From Software, the company’s recently revived mecha action series Armored Core was represented by the Schnieder frame from Armored Core 6…
…and Armored Core 2’s Filial (both by Deon).
For a softer side of a mecha series, there was also Macross 7’s pacifist protagonist Basara (also by Naruyo Higata), out of the cockpit and strumming on his guitar.
…and, rounding out what we saw on our rounds, even more Blue Archive characters.
▼ Kisaki Ryuge…
▼ …Fubuki Nemugaki…
▼ …and Seia Yurizono (all three by Momosuki)
▼ Junko Akashi (Eekon)
▼ And finally, Kayoko Onikata (Hatch Scale)
Again, since all of these were in Wonder Festival’s at-show-only independent exhibitor section, they’re not available for purchase. Still, they’re proof that you don’t need a big business budget to make amazing figures, and we can’t wait to see what these artists create next.
Photos ©SoraNews24
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