Wonder Festival is the biannual figure show held in Tokyo’s Big Site. Anime figures were not a big thing in the days when I had more interest in anime but now it appears to be a growth industry. More than 40,000 people attended the show and it was the first time for me. Since I don’t watch alot of anime anymore I don’t really have much interest in figures although it was fun to see some of the craftmanship that went into many of the figures. The Getters above have been around for a while and I’ve seen them on Yahoo Auctions but not in real life. A lot smaller than I imagined.

Lots of people were there. Mainly males of the otaku variety. Everyone was sweaty from the heat and looking at hentai figures. Backpacks bumping into me all day (1) Some companies sell limited edition figures or figure accessories that you can only buy at Wonderfest. This is one of the monster lineups. ALL these people are lined up, waiting to get to the “figma” sign which is where the cash register is. Can you believe people will line up like this to buy a figure? Then again, it’s not surprising because people will line up for donuts and burger king. Many hours later, the line was much smaller and there was still lots of stock left. So next time you don’t have to line up, just wait until afternoon (2) And this a shot of where all individuals and smaller shops can rent a table and sell their stuff. There was too much to look at and I gave up after a couple rows (3) Most of the figures were displayed in glass cases making it very difficult to take photos because of the crowdedness and glare. I’m not good at taking photos of figures because I prefer to take photos of living and breathing things ;-) Can you spot Brad and Hector in this photo?

Most of the figures on display I’ve seen in shops in Akihabara, but when they are displayed altogether it looks very cool and I was almost tempted to buy some. In particular, the Revoltech series of figures were nice.

I used my new F1.4 50mm lens to take these Revoltech figures. And as you can see the depth of field was way too shallow. Too much bokeh. Only a small part of the figure is in focus. I’m still trying to get used to this lens.

(1) Dragonar is still popular? I’m surprised people still know this show (2) A line of new soft vinyl Mazingers and Grendizer. I’m not crazy about the style of the faces. The Marmit ones are so much better (3)(4) I like these poses.

(1) Nice Cyborg009 figure in silhouette (2) This Cutey Honey figure was very nice. I almost bought it. You can take her clothes off too (3) The Minerva from Crusher Joe. The best anime movie ever.

(1) Some replica weapons from Galaxy Express. I’ll never get tired of Matsumoto Leiji’s mecha design. It’s poetic (2) A character from Dead or Alive, I think.

At the Evangelion stand these models were wearing the plug suits that you can buy for ¥500,000. Apparently they really work. You have to find your own Eva though.

If you’re thinking about bringing young children to the Wonder Festival, let me warn you that not all the figures are for the whole family. This lovely figure captures the true spirit of the f*ked up side of the anime world. While it is a well crafted figure, I can’t imagine what kind of person would proudly display this in their living room. A thousand years from now when some archaeologists dig this up what are they going to think about us?

Anyway, if you want to see better pictures of the figures and cosplay events make sure to see the posts over at DannyChoo.com and kiranet.com