A new figma for Black Rock Shooter franchise has been announced. This time it's the Insane Black Rock Shooter (aka IBRS).
The character design of IBRS comes from huke's original artwork as seen on pixiv. The previous image mimics the pose of the one in the illustration above.
The figma will be bundled with "Completely Limited Production Edition of Black Rock Shooter TV Animation DVD/Blu-ray BOX, which has a hefty price tag of approximately 25,000 Yen and 30,000 Yen respectively. This seems to imply that the character will make appearance in the anime.
Looking at the preview pictures and the original artwork, I can see how WRS has drawn elements from the IBRS. Notably the trimmed down jacket and the way one of her twin tails are shaped.
IBRS does look tough and mean, and the weapon is definitely one ofthe longest I've seen for figmas so far.
But the price is pretty scary, and perhaps fittingly "insane"... Approximately 25,000 Yen for the DVD box and nearly 30,000 Yen for the Blu-ray. The Black Rock Shooter franchise has a lot of variations of the same character (mainly with BRS herself), and with a figure bundled with limited box here and there, the way this franchise becomes very commercialised makes me feel quite wonky over it... I like the original character design, but the way it is heading for does not really appeal to me.
I haven't watched the said anime that the figma will bundle with yet. From what I've heard so far the opinions are still a bit mixed, but it seems to be slightly positive over the 2009 OVA. After having a fairly sour taste with the OVA and the unrelated PSP game, I want to keep my distance from the future media in general.
Fortunately IBRS does not catch much of my attention, so I am definitely passing on it. What do you think about it?
Source:
Black Rock Shooter TV Animation Official website
http://www.noitamina-brs.jp/bddvd/figma.html
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ReplyDeleteHuh, somehow BRS suddenly surpassed TYPE-MOON's Saber in commercialism. I mean 5 figma variation (original, game, white, tv, insane) in less time than Saber's variations ;^^.
ReplyDeleteI saw the anime for two episodes, and I still can't comprehend why the 2D character graphics looked bad while the show started midseason after Noitamina did Thermae Romae that have very limited animation (I thought they're saving their resource on BRS. The 3D was OK, but on 2nd episode the framerates started to drop, guh).
The story theme was pretty much the same as the OVA, which is emo symbolism taken to eleven. It's slightly (and by that I mean a tiny weeny bit) more fleshed out compared to the OVA though.
Oh, and finally, after two adaptations (OVA & game), finally a BRS adaptation actually had a Black Rock Shooter song. Surprisingly it was sung using Hatsune Miku instead of hiring somebody (I expected Nagi) to sing it. I'm not sure whether I'm going to take that as "respecting the original source" or "just plain lazy".
It sure looks nice.. I think I'm going to pick one up at YahooAuctions later (without the BD/DVD... since there will not be any subs)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an overpriced item...I can get so many MGs lol..
ReplyDeleteThe design is nice though, but the price tag is just insane
This is one insane figma and I may have to get it, if I can steal money from my mom - LOL. That price is as insane as the figure looks.
ReplyDeleteI caught the first show of the series and it is not what I expected and not sure if it will be good. They get into the school girls too much and not enough of BRS
I think it looks pretty cool, especially because of the blade/cannon; I guess you could call it a canonblade?
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing this, I have a feeling that BRS is going to have dozens of different versions in the future in order to milk the franchise for what it's worth.
Look at her weapons...insane...and yeah, the price is indeed more insane
ReplyDeleteI do have money to buy it, but I don't know if it's worth it. I've noticed that figmas always appear to be bigger in pictures than they really are, and they often have balance/standing issues. Otherwise I would have been all over this in a second.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the twintail imbalance actually was actually in all the designs for BRS, Quentin. It's most noticeable in the game, where if you take a peek at the status screen with BRS, she clearly has a bigger tail.
@ hiroy_raind:
ReplyDeleteI have anticipated this to happen soon or later as the franchise has been exploited quite a bit lately. It sure happened faster than Saber I have to agree @_@;
The fact that the TV anime got shortened to just 8 episodes rather than a complete cours (~13 episodes) makes me think that the budget is very limited, just like the OVA earlier.
What you've mentioned seems to be coherent with what I've heard so far. Not sure whether I will like the execution as I am still holding it off until the anime ends so I can see how it will turn out overall. Maybe as I looked more into what BRS was originally that I don't look forward to see it as it may ruin my expectations of what it should be; the previous adaptations didn't really give me what I want, and I don't look forward to get another sour taste for another one based on something I like. I heard a lot of people happy about having Miku to sing for the theme song. Maybe rather than "just plain lazy" not changing what was originally good is a good thing I'd say.
@ otakusan167:
Whoa you're gonna get it! Picking it up from online auctions may be a good idea, especially if the price drops a lot as time elapses.
@ chubbybots:
Anything labelled as limited tend to be overpriced anyway. I can get many more HG 1/144 plamos, or many more military miniatures!
To be honest I really don't like how more of these figmas are bundled with media so that the latter can sell better just because of the figma. :\
@ bluedrakon:
Back then I thought figma WRS that got bundled with the PSP game was mad enough. I guess it can only get more insane, lol.
It's hard for me to imagine how they are trying to make an anime out of some character designs and a music video, as with such little info people tend to intepret or imagine BRS differently from each other (IMHO). I agree with you that they perhaps got a bit too much into the school girls rather than on BRS or on the other world; but maybe that's how the director thinks it's the way to make a story out of it...
@ Nopy:
The design is pretty cool. I wish I know what the weapons are called, but I don't think there are info or names on them at the moment.
Regarding on milking, I think that some like the Gundam franchise have been (for a lot of the times) done quite well because they have reasons and/or background lore to back them well. BRS on the other hand seem a bit too forced, hence it seems a bit too blatantly obvious to be a money tree before it dies out. This is what I hate to see for something that I want to like, but there's nothing I can do or say about it though.
@ h4mster:
The name not only implies on how she looks, but also on the price tag... It truly is insane the way how this figma is to be sold.
@ L:
There's a saying that for bundled figmas the figma itself is the main dish, while the media (usually the game) that the figma bundles with is supplementary (and usually bad). I had similar feelings with you when I was considering figma WRS, but I went ahead with that one asI somehow really like that design. Last time I checked on Amazon Japan the game bundled with figma is selling for as low as 3000 Yen. While IBRS really does look cool, I personally am not into that particular design it's now out of the question for me.
Ah when I was talking about the twintails I was talking about one of the twintails (in particular the longer one). It's not about the uneven lengths, but how it's more messy and less curved compared to the original BRS. However Stella (BRS2035)'s hair does seem to resemble IBRS' more with retrospect.
this is insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteInsane in every single way I gotta say! XD