Month: November 2023

Wonfes 2022-2023 Shanghai – My personal picks

In this article, I’ll detail the statutes and figures that caught my eye. Not seen much activity on Wonfes Shanghai on MFC, so thought I’d add something of my own.

The first thing I’ll cover is a figure I’ve already got preordered – Dragon Princess by ULoop Studio:
https://i.ibb.co/h7rLzhC/20231002-123220.jpg

Promo:
https://i.ibb.co/nPhR582/7cf7d9f7ab604791b257ff9efe2002f0.jpg
Was on the fence of whether I was going to preorder her as I thought she might be pricey. When she came out as 899cny, into the cart she went. I love the carefree expression and the mechanical parts – am a sucker for mechanical parts, horns and tails – so this figure delivers for me. Doubting she’ll be cast-off – would be nice but I think she’s fine as she is even if that’s not an option.

Whilst we’re on ULoop, this figure was shown:
https://i.ibb.co/HGtLLQ2/uloop.jpg
Cormorant is a family of coastal-inhabiting birds, which is something I learned when looking this one up. So yeah, she’s part person, part bird. She doesn’t have any specific “yes” points for me, but for some reason she appeals to me. Will see what the finished prototype is like and her price – if both are good I may stick this one into my basket. A pretty unique figure.

Now onto Evangelion stuff – let’s start with one I may preorder – the CCP x Yoshi EVAs:
https://i.ibb.co/R6hzhF2/20231002-114732.jpg
These figures weren’t revealed at WF Shanghai, so some people may already have these on their radar, but it was my first time properly noticing them. Unless the price is utterly bonkers, I’ll likely order the EVA-01 and the EVA-MP. Not sure I’ll buy the EVA-02 – I don’t have infinite space, and not so into EVA-02. Beast mode and I probably would XD.

Now onto some EVA stuff I’d love to order but will be stupid-pricey so I won’t bother.

First this one by Jimei Palace and Weta:
https://i.ibb.co/RTmt2G2/20231002-144340.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/54WKTv5/20231002-144353.jpg
I love the diorama and the very mechanical look of EVA-01, but this one is priced at a premium as expected – 6888cny. Looking at the MFC page, seems like it went up for preorder some time ago, so good luck finding one too. Still, will be a great piece for the people who have the space and the dough. If I had it, I’d probably display it with the default arm, but the one with the spikes is eye-catching so I’d probably use that one for a time.

Onto these EVA-01 and EVA-02 pairs by Kaiyodo:
https://i.ibb.co/KrQ9vPB/20231002-154754.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/68cVBCp/20231002-154730.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/3WzWTsV/20231002-154734.jpg
In the background you can see the price is a spicy, spicy 49,999元… That’s over 1 million JPY! Or just under 7000USD for each pair! Looks like they have done previous versions of these, but as of writing these ones aren’t added to the database.
I really love the EVA-01 with the white accents, but this one ain’t going to be fitting in my wallet. Sadge.

This figure I added to my WF2023Shanghai folder but probably won’t order:
https://i.ibb.co/pRYXd3L/20231002-160327.jpg
She’s Princess Wakasetai by Charm. I love the colours and pose, but I don’t think she’s a stand-out enough figure to displace anything from my collection.

Then there is this dude by Ribose:
https://i.ibb.co/KG7ctcP/ribose.jpg
Ensemble Stars!! isn’t a series I’m familiar with, but I’m a sucker for wings and tail, plus a dude. Being Ribose his pricetag is likely to be on the lower end, so I might squeeze him in somewhere despite being a franchise I’m not familiar with.

Onto the last thing that I may actually order:
https://i.ibb.co/JdWScST/O1-CN01-Il8-Kq51-L1-Vbmbvn-Y4-62061239.jpg
Yep, a figure by ODD had to squeeze in here :P. The shipping on this one will no doubt be baaad, but who else is gonna produce a shark lady in a tank? This one was announced awhile ago, but still waiting for them to open preorders for her. She’s gigantically tall, so finding space for her will no doubt be interesting. I have an idea of a space if it doesn’t get filled by anything else in the meantime!

Gamma Studio showed this insecty lady:
https://i.ibb.co/BLsVYDj/gamma-studio.jpg
Looking at their other stuff, the preorder prices weren’t toooo high so she may be affordable for me. Though I’m on the fence of how much I like her – will just have to see how the coloured prototype goes. I like their other insecty/augmenty stuff they’ve shown but not enough to plop down a preorder.

Aaaand back to the things I love the look of but unlikely to be able to afford.

These two are a series called “Life and Death” and are by PIJI studio:
https://i.ibb.co/xSq7XhS/PIJI-Life-and-Death.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/8zL9xs0/PIJI-Life-and-Death-2.jpg
They look amazing, but no doubt they’ll be highly priced. Thinking 8,000cny or north of that (1,000USD+, 166k+ jpy). If I was to get one, it’d be the black insectoid one. PIJI announced these a long time ago but they’re not yet in production. Ah, if only I had infinite space and budget.

And onto the pricey fellow that maybe I’ll try and work into the budget if possible:
https://i.ibb.co/NSzcD6x/MYOUHEstudio.jpg
This statue is by MYOUHE Studio. The title of it is “幻·灭”, but not sure how it should be translated due to not knowing Chinese. DeepL offered up “phantasmagoria”, which I think fits it well.
And, oh boy, is this one going to be a space hog:
https://i.ibb.co/MNvhdJ6/005-YFXZVgy1hik6zxtgj1j327w199kjl.jpg
An amazing and interesting piece. Here’s some more photos:
https://i.ibb.co/DksQ6W9/005-YFXZVgy1hik701kc1yj32801hcqv5.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/wzBYm0F/005-YFXZVgy1hik6zwxjfpj31hc2801ky.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/3TWy6ZN/005-YFXZVgy1hik6zvoiioj32801hcb29.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/V9ZJX9X/005-YFXZVgy1hik702qzw8j31hc280x6p.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/hRM5drf/005-YFXZVgy1hik703wefgj31hc280qv5.jpg

Promos:
https://i.ibb.co/Yb721Hz/006y-UEz-Vgy1hieu5nqj09j31y72xge81.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Pgby6VG/006y-UEz-Vgy1hieu5n596qj33bh2bchdt.jpg

Overall from Wonfes Shanghai 2022-2023 there isn’t a huge amount added to the “must preorder” column for me. A lot of impressive and pricey stuff was shown, though generally you’ll see more of that through Chinese social media vs the “more boring” PVC stuff. Though from the PVC photos I did see, most stuff was already on my radar or not of interest to me. I do like the Chinese Wonfeses, as they tend to have more unusal stuff that isn’t garage kits versus the Japanese one.

Did you follow any of Wonfes Shanghai this year? Did anything catch your eye?