The Megahobby EXPO 2013 Autumn event has already wrapped up by the end of Saturday, 30th of November 2013. But the butterflies of excitement for the upcoming new figures are still clinging on my whole body. Of course the first thing that I watched out for are the new POPs by MegaHouse.
MegaHouse has a whole lot to offer, but as usual, they have to give the best priority to their most famous 1/8th figures of One Piece characters product line, the Portrait of Pirates. We got six new surprises. By surprises, I mean new figure prototypes that we haven't seen before. Two fully painted and four unpainted ones.
What's more surprising is that MegaHouse is on full throttle on bringing us characters that hasn't even appeared on the One Piece manga yet. The problem with this is that non-manga readers or anime-only followers may not even know these characters yet. So this is some kind of spoiler for them. So before you proceed reading this, I should warn you of some spoilers. But if you're a manga reader or you just simply don't worry about spoilers, let's go check out the photo and talk about it as we go.
POP MAS - Marco The Phoenix
First on the list is the return of the 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and the only mythical Zoan that we know about. He's already been given a POP treatment before in the form of POP Neo-DX. This time he is now a part of the new MAS class which shows his Zoan devil fruit ability. It's the first time that we have seen this prototype but it's already fully painted. It's probably going to be the next preorder.
Before the expo, I actually wished for Marco's return under the Maximum class. That's because I missed the DX version and I wanted to see some blue flamed effect POP of Marco. MegaHouse didn't give me the Maximum but they surely gave me what I was wishing for.
Marco is in his mid-transformation towards his phoenix form in this figure. His right arm is fully transformed into blue flaming phoenix wing and his left eye got that blue flame effect. The lower legs were already transformed into bird feet with some effect parts on the left leg, but the rest of the body is still in human form.
The base is also interesting cause it looks like we aren't getting the common octagonal base but a cool blue flame effect base. The pose is totally dynamic which I'm digging very much. This is clearly a display of how much MegaHouse has improved on their products. I'm looking at it as one of their high quality and highly detailed figure. I can talk about this truly amazing figure the whole day but we have to check out some other figures too.
To be released on 2014, but no exact release date and price announcement yet. I was actually hoping that it would be a December 2013 preorder and to be released by March 2014. But MegaHouse already announced their December preorder line-up and there isn't any POP on the list. So we probably need to wait until January 2014 more before we can get more details about it. Needless to say, this is on my top of the list.
POP Sailing Again - Hyena Bellamy
I told you about the new manga characters right? This one is in between the old and new characters. Anime-only followers, you remember Bellamy right? From Skypeia Arc? The former captain of the Bellamy pirates who was punished by Doflamingo after being beaten by Luffy? Ring any bell? Ok, he wasn't a popular character before, but on the new events on the manga, he returns as a gladiator competing at the Corrida Colosseum.
The figure is still on the unpainted prototype stage. Being a post-timeskip character appearance, it is under the Sailing Again class. Not a huge fan of a character but the figure looks appealing. Even without the colors, you can see how nice and detailed the sculpt is. From the hair, face and muscle formations, it looks great. I'm not planning on getting this one but that may change once I get to see the fully painted prototype.
To be released on 2014, but no exact release date and price announcement yet.
POP Sailing Again - Bartolomeo the Cannibal
Now this is a new character from the manga. He is also a gladiator competing at the Corrida Colosseum. So as a new character, it is only apt for it to be under Sailing Again class.
He isn't also a very likable character but if you look into the character design, there is a lot of details going on which was nicely transferred into PVC sculpt. But even though it might look awesome in colors, I think I'll pass on this one. Unless his character played a big role on the upcoming chapters, I may rethink my decision.
To be released on 2014, but no exact release date and price announcement yet.
POP Sailing Again - Cavendish of the White Horse
Another new character from the manga and also a gladiator competing at the Corrida Colosseum. Again, under the Sailing Again class.
I also didn't like the character but the character may become likable because of his looks. Yeah kinda girly look, but it maybe appealing to girls. I don't know. The sculpt also looks great but it's really hard to appreciate a figure of a character that you don't like very much. And like Bartholomeo, I don't have plans of getting this one unless he would have major role in the One Piece storyline that would eventually make him very likable.
This is the third gladiator on the new manga events to have the POP treatment. It's quite surprising that MegaHouse is giving priorities to new manga characters. There are so much One Piece characters that are way long overdue to be given a POP treatment. Characters like Buggy, the rest of the supernovas or the Baroque works characters. But they decided to do some not so popular yet characters. If they are eager to do some new characters, why not do a Rebecca, Violet or Baby 5. I may sound like a pervert but the reality is that beautiful female characters are very likable and would be a sure sold out POP.
Anyway, Cavendish is also to be released on 2014, but no exact release date and price announcement yet.
POP Neo-DX - Kaku
Now this is another something to look forward to. It's great to see MegaHouse is contnuing with CP9 members. I love to see them all get the POP treatment. Or maybe just until Jabra and Blueno. I can't imagine a POP Kumadori and Fukuro. And I'm not a fan of Nero, he's barely a CP9 member. But if ever they would all get the POP treatment, I'll probably get them all just for completions sake. After all I'm a huge fan of CP9.
Ok, let's talk about this POP. Just like MAS Marco, it is already fully painted and could be the next in line for preorder. The figure looks very simple as all the past CP9 POPs are, aside from the MAS Rob Lucci of course. But I think they didn't give too much attention on Kaku here. I noticed that there too much white shading on his all-black outfit. It made the his outfit look too worn out. The line the covers the zipper on his crotch looks weird. It didn't blend in his pants. These are just some minor flaws but I'm hoping that it could be fixed before the release. Well, fixed or not, this is already a must get for me.
To be released on 2014, but no exact release date and price announcement yet.
POP CB-EX - Momonosuke
The sixth new POP announcement is a Chibi. It has been a while since we saw a new POP chibi. Here we got the character Momonosuke, the son of the Samurai Kinemon. It's odd that we got Momonosuke first before Kinemon. But I believe that a Kinemon POP will come out soon.
As for the figure, there isn't anything special. Just a lifeless looking Momonosuke. Yeah sure it's PVC that's why it's lifeless but c'mon, he's just simply standing very straight with straight eyes looking forward. They could have given him some interesting pose and an expressive face. Unless they would give him some optional alternate parts, he wouldn't be on my must get list. For a small POP, it maybe a cheap figure, but it's just a waste of money if it turns out to be uninteresting.
To be released on 2014, but no exact release date and price announcement yet.
- Below are the earlier announced POPs.
To be released on February 2014
Notice that unique base. Really cool
To be released on December 2013
POP Neo-DX - Monkey D. Garp
Is he getting a re-issue, or he's just here to be displayed with Sengoku?
To be released on March 2014
To be released on December 2013 (Jump Festa 2014 Exclusive)
To be released on February 2014
To be released on February 2014
Released July 2013 and September 2013 respectively.
Released May 2013
POP Sailing Again - Brook (Funky Donkey Ver.)
To be released on December 2013
To be released on January 2014 and December 2013 respectively.
Released November 2012
- Some other random POP Photos during the EXPO
Photos by blog.livedoor.jp
