Welcome to this summer's report on Wonder Festival, the world's largest figure and garage kit expo! Held twice a year from 1984, this amazing event is split into two areas: one for individual creators to show off and sell their garage kits, and one where companies set up booths to exhibit their products.
While the last event in winter 2022 only saw about a third of the usual turnout from companies, this summer's Wonfes saw the return of its usual bustling atmosphere. We braved the heat with the folks at Geek Lab to give you a look inside, so let's see some standouts from Japan's biggest figure manufacturers!
First up is Medico Entertainment's booth, which attracted a line of over 100 people just 10 minutes after the event officially began. Figures on display were inspired by all sorts of franchises, from iconic series like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to newer ones like The Demon Girl Next Door and The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious.
F:NEX's booth drew people in with its 1/4 scale figure of Nanachi from Made in Abyss, which had already made quite a splash online. Fans also enjoyed figures from hugely popular series like Spy x Family and Love Live! Superstar!!
Figure and hobby goods shop AmiAmi was also on the scene with a handy freebie for everyone who came by: huge cloth bags that were perfect for carrying heaps of figures bought that day! While we weren't able to photograph their booth due to them having an 18+ area, we can certainly tell you that they were popular with attendees, to the point of having to restrict the amount of people even after the busy period.
What we can show you, however, are AmiAmi's collab items with figure brand Amakuni, including these Fate/Grand Order and Persona 5 Royal figures.
Figure manufacturer Wanderer offered a diverse lineup that included items inspired by anime like Sword Art Online, as well as games like Azur Lane and even Nijisanji VTuber Mito Tsukino.
Taito, which runs entertainment facilities throughout Japan, also made an appearance with figures of characters from Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, and more. Many of their items aren't scheduled for regular releases, meaning that you can only make them yours by winning them at places like game arcades.
eStream brought over tons of figures from popular franchises to its Shibuya Scramble Figure booth. Standouts included Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen, a Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! version of Miku, and Kokoro from Princess Connect! Re:Dive.
While these figures are no longer available for preorders, they deserve some love too!
In addition to manufacturers specializing in figures and hobby goods, there were quite a few booths from the companies behind popular anime and games.
Anime production company Aniplex unveiled a new figure from their hit series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Fans were also able to enjoy figures from My Dress-Up Darling, a fan favorite that aired last winter, and Disney's Twisted Wonderland.
Publishing company Kadokawa was also present, even announcing a figure sculpting contest to mark the third year of their own figure brand, KDcolle. The booth itself was surrounded by new and upcoming figures from franchises like Fate/Grand Order, Made in Abyss, Mushoku Tensei, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
If that wasn't enough, fans were also able to see new items from Date A Live IV and A Couple of Cuckoos, as well as Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World, which is airing now!
Games giant Sega showed off figures from their own brands, including S-FIRE, which boasts high quality figures that also allows collectors to interact with them through AR. In addition to a My Hero Academia figure, there was a tablet for fans to try out the AR experience.
Sega's lineup for its prize figure brand, aptly named SegaPrize!, featured super premium figures from worldwide hits like Evangelion, Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
As the organizers of Wonfes, figure company Kaiyodo naturally came out in full force!
Besides figures, Kaiyodo also had plenty of other special items on display.
Aside from booths where the giants of the figure industry gathered all of their respective lineups, there were tons of smaller displays focusing on certain individual brands. Take this area from Taito's high quality figure brand Spiritale, where we found these figures inspired by My Hero Academia, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Date A Live IV, and Hatsune Miku. Numbers for all four also happen to be limited to the amount of preorders made.
Anime merch company Zero-G Act displayed their 1/6 scale figures of Mikoto Misaka and Misaki Shokuho from A Certain Scientific Railgun T, which was released in 2020. Their pure white wedding dress version of Mikoto, which is now set for re-release, was also available for photos.
We've introduced quite a few booths from figure companies, but this isn't even half of them! We'll be showing you some more photos of wonderful figures from various manufacturers and brands, so be sure to keep reading.
How did you like this year's offerings? There's no such thing as too many figures, so keep scrolling for more photos in the gallery below this article!
Coverage/Original report: Geek Lab Editorial Department
Photos: Geek Lab Editorial Department, T. Hara (Tokyo Otaku Mode)
Produced with the cooperation of Wonder Festival Production Committee and Tokyo Otaku Mode.
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