Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Super Mario Bros Dot Design Mat

Banpresto hasn't officially gone into the home furnishings market yet but the company occasionally produces accoutrements for the home based on popular and recognizable gaming totems. NCS has stocked Nintendo Clocks, Famicom cushions, and other plushy products in the past but Banpresto pushes into a new direction with their latest offering. Mats. Just mats that are plopped onto the floor and just sort of lie there. At first glance, they may look like mere placemats but they're much bigger than that - 40cm x 40cm (15.74 x 15.74") to be exact and plushy. Five styles are on offer which are perfect for the game room... «more»

Catch the Dots: Twinbee

Just when we thought Tomytec would never show love for the Twinbee game, the company releases miniature Dots toy sets based on the classic shooter from Taito. Two kits are on offer: one which features the blue warrior known as Twinbee and another which shows off 'bee's female counterpart, the pink-hued Winbee.

Each Twinbee Dots kit includes an 8cm pegboard, a mounting stand, and roughly 200 pegs to construct the main Twinbee character, bells, enemies, and other pixel-perfect objects which wing their way through the airspace of Twinbee. Pricing is set at US$9.00 per kit.
All preorders will ship today and new orders are welcome. «more»

Chocobo Magic Book Plush

Whenever Chocobo's out in the wild, the feathered beast generally runs, pecks, and squawks up a storm. Add one more activity to Chocobo's to-do list: reading.

In the recent NDS
Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon game, a magic book was the source of Chocobo's woes as well as its eventual salvation. With Square Enix's new Chocobo plush, the big bird apparently enjoys reading from a magic book of spells. Measuring 18cm tall, Chocobo kicks out its legs and uses them as a book holder to prop up the thick tome. By using its wingtips, Chocobo flips through the pages of the volume to find the spell that it needs to cast. If you push aside Choc's left talon, you'll see that the cover of the book shows Sabotender running away from a horned creature of some sort. Preorders ship today and new orders are welcome. «more»

Doraemon Zodiac Plush Set

The irascible yet lovable hellion known as Doraemon is depicted as all 12 signs of the zodiac in Sega's "Doraemon 12 Stars" plush collection. We're partial to the Leo version of Ding-Dong (The Cantonese interpretation of the Doraemon name) but Cancer and Pisces are also endearing. For his Aquarius turn, Doraemon creeps out of a green water jug while looking a little tipsy.
The plushes measure 12cm or 4.72" tall and pricing is set at US$79 for a complete set of all 12 zodiac plushes.
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Fate Stay Night Trading Figures

Originally released by Good Smile and Alter in early 2006, fan demand prompts a reproduction of the Fate Stay Night Trading figures. Six warriors from the Fate Stay Night property are on offer in a set of toys which measure 11cm tall and are packaged in randomly sorted boxes. The characters featured in the set are: Illyasviel von Einzbern, Archer, Rin Tosaka, Saber, Sakura Mato, and Rider. Along with the 6 figures, 2 secret figures are also randomly packed - one of which is a variant of Illyasviel in full purple regalia and the other is a maskless version of Rider. Pricing is set at US$78 + shipping for 1 factory sealed box of 12 figures. «more»

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Plush

The latest Pokemon games (Diamond and Pearl) were released in Japan last year and the parallel plush toys finally make it to market this month. The plushes measure 15cm or 5.90" tall and five types are on offer. Sadly, the indomitable Munchlax didn't make the cut.
On the top row and going from left to right, we have Naetoru, Hikozaru, and Pochama which are perfect plush representations of their video game incarnations. On the bottom row, Dialga and Palkia sort of look like their Nintendo DS video game counterparts.
All preorders will ship today and new orders welcome at US$10.50 per plush. «more»

The Oneechanbara Figure Collection

The dueling sisters of the PS2 Oneechanbara games have dazzled fans with their slaughtering skills and lithe leonine movements. Towards the end of 2006, Aya and Saki slashed it up on the Xbox 360 with the well-received Oneechanbara vorteX. Around that time, Yujin shipped the Oneechan gashapon to market. Two months after being shipped, NCS finally receives our consignment of capsules on a slow boat from Nihon.
The heroines of the blood-soaked gaming series are crafted in pristine PVC representations of their bad-ass selves. Joining Aya and Saki in the set are Riho Futaba, Makato Futaba, and Reiko for a total of 6 toy figures. Please note that there are two versions of Aya - one where she's standing and another where her knees are bent and apparently ready to kill. NCS supplies this item as a complete set of six figures. «more»

Mina Majikina 1/5 Scale Figure

After showing her off at the Wonder Festival 2006, prolific Japanese manufacturer Good Smile Company releases the new 1/5 scale Mina Majikina PVC figure to market.

Mina measures 30cm or 11.81" tall and is dressed in her trademark white with blue trim ensemble which consists of a bikini, a skirt of sorts, and a pair of blue tabi socks. A big blue bow is wrapped around her head which rises upwards like a pair of bunny ears. Squint harder to make out the bunny motif you need to.

As white-haired demon-destroyer extraordinaire, Mina bends her knees and grips the Chinsei Hachijou in her left hand in an apparent attack stance. A quiver of arrows is strapped to her back to ensure she has enough arrows to knock down anyone foolish enough to make a move. In the background, the impish Champuru clings to her skirt and appears happy to be near its mistress. Mina's skirt isn't really a skirt but rather more like a piece of cloth that has been tethered to the woman warrior's waist.

Retail pricing is set at JPY7500 or US$75 from NCS. Due to dimensional weight sizing for this product of 11 lbs, NCS recommends only shipping with UPS Ground within the United States. Any air service such as UPS 2nd Day Air or Overnight Air will incur hefty shipping charges.
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