Ask Kotobukiya

[Subby1938]

When is weapon X fine art statue being released ?

[Kotobukiya_EN]

It has been really hectic here the past couple of weeks with Holiday season around the corner, so I apologize for not having been able to respond as quickly!

But now that I finally have a little bit of time, I would like to sit down and answer some of your questions!

Originally Posted by Dark Knight.

Any plans for ArtFX+ DC characters? Marvel ArtFX+? Star Wars ArtFX+ prequel characters?

Yes to DC and Marvel ARTFX+, but what figures we will be releasing we can't announce quite yet. Star Wars prequel ARTFX+ I honestly have no idea about, so either it is being talked about but hasn't been shared with departments outside of planning, or no talks yet. But I think with the popularity, they are talking about it up there! (Star Wars toy oversaturation in the market and lower customer demand is hurting many Star Wars toy companies right now, so it's a little harder to figure out what will go through planning right now)

Originally Posted by hunnipot85

- Will Ikemen continue after the Bat boy family? Any chance we'll see other licenses in Ikemen? (Marvel, GI JOE, etc?)

- Any idea when we will get to see sculpts for the GI JOE Bishoujos?

- Any plans to do more Animated Series ARTFX figures? (for instance Spiderman TAS)

- We are trying to figure out what direction we want to go with IKEMEN series after Bat boy family. It sadly isn't selling as well as our BISHOUJOs are... If you or others are interested in IKEMEN, what would you want to see? What series would you want to be IKEMENified?

- The sculpt is still not done, so I don't have any expected date just yet. But once we do know, we will either announce on our SNS, or often times for big titles like this, we will showcase it at an event first.

Originally Posted by Storm Lover

Will the Sentinel base displayed with the ARTFX X-Men be available for sale?

Would love to have it.

No plans for it at the moment, but that sounds like a great idea! I will forward the suggestions to the planners!

Originally Posted by mortadela

Hi Gyoza, Welcome to the forum.
What is the status of the Aquaman ARTFX 1/6? The Jime Lee line.

Nothing I can announce at the moment. Sorry! (Doesn't mean 0 plans)

Originally Posted by Bea625

I love KOTO, but the artfx+ statues are getting to be very expensive. The quality is great, but when it comes down to it, they're plastic statues. There is major competition from Diamond Select in PVC now for Marvel and DC. The paint and sculptwork is not on the level of KOTO, but it doesn't justify their Iron Spider priced at $40 in a 1/8 scale and KOTO at $110 in a 1/10 scale. Even the polystone statues by Iron Studios are the same price or cheaper. I just feel that $70-$80 is a fair price point for most releases...it's double Diamond Select, but not as expensive as a polystone statue by Iron Studios. The paint and details are worth paying 40-50% more most times. I'm very disappointed with the pricing of the Infinity War line. I love 3/4 of them, but will have to hope the price drops upon release.


I also have a question. What are future plans beyond the Bounty Hunter line for Star Wars? Nothing new was shown at SDCC or NYCC. Thanks

Thanks so much for being honest about our pricing. This type of input is very valuable, and goes into our price negotiations. One of our more recent figures we released (I'm not allowed to say which one it is) was actually slated to be a little more expensive than we offered, but due to the voice of fans as well as the audience we were trying to sell to, we were able to negotiate to a lower price point.
When we announce statues on our SNS accounts, please feel free to comment about pricing as well even when you don't know how much it will be. We might not be able to offer at the price requested, but getting price input from multiple users helps to give us comments to reference back to when we are trying to negotiate with various planning departments!

As for Star Wars, no new announcements I can say on here, but we are definitely planning more!

Originally Posted by QUick16tt

I seen your response to the ArtFX X-Men 92 line and many of us I think are taken by surprise. In a video from Toy Fair 2018 a representative (Dan) from Kotobukiya stated this line was gonna go deep and had legs. Hopefully that is still in the works really looking forward to future releases.

We definitely got good feedback on our X-Men 92 line, but just nothing has been confirmed as of yet. I'm sure that due to the feedback, the planning department are talking about it, but nothing I can confirm at the moment.

Originally Posted by Shaughn54

Were you referring to the Weapon X in the "fine arts" statue line or are you referring to the "Danger Room series" line with the 90s X-men on sentinel bases?

I was referring to the latter. Fine Arts is kind of a special case for us in general. We strive to make higher quality statues in the fine arts line, so the number of figures that are released a year are usually very low, which makes it a little harder to make into an ongoing series line. We will let you know when we have more information about releases down the line!

Originally Posted by CyberAthlete

Hi Kotobukiya,
I will be in Japan for 2 weeks. What's the best Kotobukiya store to visit in Tokyo? I will only get chance to see 1 store. Which one should it be? Thank you!

Hi CyberAthlete! Thanks for being interested in visiting our store! I would say if you had to go to one, come to Tachikawa store because you can see me.
But jokes aside, I would recommend going to the Akihabara Store! It is a big store and is located right in the heart of Akihabara so you'll be surrounded by all sorts of Japanese subculture stores! Our Akihabara Store has 4 floors and is full of various different products that we make, and we sometimes hold events in our Event Space on the 5th floor. Check out our detailed floor guide below:

http://en.kotobukiya.co.jp/kotobukiy...e-floor-guide/
Don't miss out on our Kotobukiya store exclusive products!

Originally Posted by Griffon

Is the (Jim Lee) Aquaman 1/6 ARTFX statue still being made & released?

Are you putting the Capt. Marvel Bishoujo back on pre-order months after the MCU movie next year? Thanks for your time.

No talks of it stopping!

There are currently no plans to put it back on, but what are your thoughts and opinions? I will bring it up to our higher ups if there is enough support!

And finally, adding up the list of characters that were suggested this time around:

• BISHOUJO Cheetah
• More X-Men '92
• ArtFX Aquaman
• Jean Grey in the X-men 92 line (Not in Phoenix form, in her original yellow/blue outfit)
• New Spider-man ARTFX+ with the sinister six
• A LOT from Augen!!! (Thanks for all of the suggestions!)

Thanks so much for all of your feedback! We won't be able to make every suggestion into a product, but I will forward the following to our planning department so they can at least get some input on what products would be of interest to them as well as introduce Statue Forums to more of our Kotobukiya staff in Japan.

Have a great weekend!

- Gyoza

[Kotobukiya_EN]

And while I'm here, let me answer 1 more question:

Originally Posted by Subby1938

When is weapon X fine art statue being released ?

We haven't announced exact date yet, but it is slated for sometime mid-2019!

- Gyoza

[jal4u2c]

Also please continue the Batman Animated Series line too! Would love to see Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Zatanna, Mr Freeze, Robin, Two-Face, Penguin.... I could go on and on. Also, after reading your reply, please put the Captain Marvel Bishoujo back on the roster. Some 1/6 scale versions of the Star Wars ArtFx+ line would be nice too. Emperor Palpatine on Throne would be awesome in 1/6. Or a well sculpted Princess Leia.

[hunnipot85]

Originally Posted by Kotobukiya_EN

- We are trying to figure out what direction we want to go with IKEMEN series after Bat boy family. It sadly isn't selling as well as our BISHOUJOs are... If you or others are interested in IKEMEN, what would you want to see? What series would you want to be IKEMENified?

- Gyoza

Thanks for the response, Gyoza It's unfortunate the line isn't selling as well, but here are some suggestions for series/characters that would fit perfectly.

Marvel Series:
- Gambit (probably the most ideal character for this line... would be awesome if there was a new Rogue Bishoujo as well)
- Angel
- Cyclops
- Thor
- Captain America
- Winter Soldier
- Hawkeye
- Namor
- Iron Man

DC:
- Superboy
- Aquaman
- Superman


And SF would be great to match the Bishoujos as well:
- Cody
- Vega
- Ryu
- Ken
- Fei long
- Guile

Also - one new question... What are the chances we will see ArtFX Aquaman statues from the film? (Like the Gal Gadot Wonder Woman released) I would love to see your sculptors tackle Mera (Amber Heard) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa)

[Augen]

Originally Posted by Kotobukiya_EN

And finally, adding up the list of characters that were suggested this time around:

• A LOT from Augen!!! (Thanks for all of the suggestions!)

Thanks so much for all of your feedback! We won't be able to make every suggestion into a product, but I will forward the following to our planning department so they can at least get some input on what products would be of interest to them as well as introduce Statue Forums to more of our Kotobukiya staff in Japan.

Have a great weekend!

- Gyoza

Gyoza, thanks for taking time to respond. I really hope the DC Bishoujo lines continues for years to come and will be thrilled if any of my list comes to be a part of it.

[Griffon]

Please continue the DC ARTFX line with Aquaman & Martian Manhunter (completing the original Justice League)!

Would personally buy DC Bishoujo Mera, Hawkgirl, Vixen, Star Sapphire, Killer Frost, Circe. A newly sculpted Poison Ivy would be great.

Please produce & release Capt. Marvel Bishoujo. Reckon it'll sell well since Carol's solo MCU film is out next year along with Avengers 4. Marvel bishoujos i'd purchase would be Gamora, Rescue (Pepper Potts from Iron Man), Mary Jane, Hela, Silk, V2 Black Cat.

More animated X-Men '92 & Batman ARTFX+ plus 1/10 scale Cheetah & Darkseid would be appreciated. Looking forward to seeing the GI Joe Bishoujo prototypes!

[elvirawynter]

Originally Posted by Kotobukiya_EN

There are currently no plans to put it back on, but what are your thoughts and opinions? I will bring it up to our higher ups if there is enough support!

So just to clarify, is this statue not happening in 2020 as per the official statement back in June?

Update on Captain Marvel via Koto US site

[UnicornPegasus]

My bishoujo wishlist is:

Marvel:
SPIRAL!!!
Current Style Jubilee (Oh, you know she's still gonna be on this list.)
Jessica Jones
Deathbird
Magik/Illyana Rasputin
Lilandra

DC:
Big Barda

Video Games:
The Witcher: Yennefer
The Witcher: Tris
The Witcher: Ciri
Borderlands: Mad Moxxi
Borderlands: Athena
Borderlands: Maya
Borderlands Lilith
Darkstalkers: Morrigan
Capcom: Crimson Viper
Horizon Zero Dawn: Aloy
Halo: Cortana

I'm hoping we get all of those some day.

Thank you for answering questions!

[mortadela]

Are there any plans to expand the Resident Evil line beyond Leon and Chris?