Touken Ranbu -Online- Isul Yagen Toushirou

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Klein

Earlier this year, Groove started an exciting new collaboration series with Touken Ranbu -Online- . What’s Touken Ranbu -Online-? It’s an incredibly popular online card game in Japan, the player travels into the past and is able to bring various historical swords to life to aid them in their battle to defeat the evil that wants to change the course of history…. all of the swords are of course, personified as attractive boys. I will say the premise is original and it sounds like it would be fun to play and it must be fun to play based on how popular it is! The game is so popular that it has spawned two different anime series based off of it as well as countless merchandise such as nendoroids and other figures.

Yagen Toushirou is the first doll to be released as a part of the Touken Ranbu -Online- collaboration series, a second doll Taeyang Higekiri has been announced but his release is still forthcoming.  He has a MSRP of 26000 yen which makes him the most expensive Isul released so far. Isul Yagen Toushirou was released back in May in Japan, distribution outside of Japan for this release has been somewhat limited. I had been waffling for months about whether or not I should try to import him, I was recently browsing Pullipstyle and I noticed that they had received a small number in stock any remaining willpower I may have had immediately ceased to be; I had to have him!Isul Yagen Toushirou
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Revolutionary Girl Utena: Utena & Anthy Pullips Announced!

Posted on September 16, 2017 by Klein

Months and months ago now, Groove had teased an upcoming collaboration series with the beloved classic shoujo manga and anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena via their blog but there had not really been any additional news about it since then.  Last night, Groove officially announced the upcoming releases of Pullips Utena Tenjo & Anthy Himemiya the two main characters of the series. It is not known at this time if this will be a continuing collaboration series like the Sailor Moon collaboration series is, where we saw literally dozens of dolls released from the series or if these two will be the only dolls released as a part of the series. I love the series so I am not sure what to hope for as much as I’d love to see dolls of characters like Touga, Nanami, Kozue, Shiori, Mikage and well the lists continues on, basically I would probably end up buying all of them and that would be a problem for my wallet not to mention the sheer amount of shelf space I would need to house all of them!

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of the television series, so the timing of the Pullips’ release seems most fortuitous. This has been a great year for Utena, much to my delight it was recently announced that the series would finally be released on blu-ray in the US by Nozomi and that there would even be a special edition blu-ray box set with an art book, a rose crest ring and a black rose crest ring which I had to immediately preorder! If you are a fan of shoujo anime and you have not checked out the series yet, you really need to!
Utena and Anthy are set to be simultaneously released in December in Japan (if they are to be released in the US, they would be available one month later). The dolls are priced at 21600 yen each which is approximately $194.92 as of this writing per xe.com . Reservations will open soon via Groove’s Official Store and the pair should be available for preorder elsewhere as well.

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Mocha MIO Make It Own Dal Kits Announced!

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Klein

Groove recently made a very exciting announcement for all of those who enjoy customizing Pullip and friends, for the first time ever the Dal MIO or Make It Own kits will be released in the Mocha skin tone. The Mocha MIO Pullip kits were something that community had been hoping for since the MIO kits were first announced so I know a lot of people will be excited that now we will be able to have Dal kits in Mocha as well. I wonder if we will see other dolls such as Isul released in Mocha too eventually.

The Mocha MIO Dal will be released in September in Japan they are already available to preorder versus Groove’s official store here. The Mocha Dal kits are not expected to be released in the US until one month later. The kit has a MSRP of 4200 yen.
MF009_A4_web

Pullipstyle has said that they are expecting a restock of the Pullip Mocha MIO kits around the middle of September, they had recently restocked Pullip Natural MIO kits but the pent up demand for MIO kits meant that they did not last very long once they did come in stock.

Edit: Pullipstyle just opened preorders for five packs of Pullip Mocha MIO kits via their website here. Pullipstyle does not offer preorders for single kits, they didn’t offer a preorder option at all for the kits until recently when they compromised and opened preorders for multi-packs.

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I found Pullips in CT- Akiba Underground!

Posted on August 13, 2017 by Klein

Earlier this year it came to my attention through a facebook ad that there was a newer anime store in Connecticut, such things are pretty rare in New England so I had meant to check it out somehow managed to completely forget about it until a few weeks ago. I struggled to remember the name but after some googling, I managed to find Akiba Underground’s website, while they do not sell via their website they did have a list of different products they sell and on that list was Pullips. A store that sells Pullips less than an hour away from my house???  I definitely had to go check out the store as there are just so few physical stores that sell Pullip in the US. We went about two weeks ago, unfortunately it was kind of close to closing time so I didn’t really get as much time there as I would have liked but I am happy to report that they do actually carry a small selection of Pullips.
akiba

When I visited I found Dal Princess Minty, Byul Romantic Queen, Taeyang Butler, Pullip Yuri, Isul Fairy Lumiere, and Dal Magical Pink-Chan (who I know has since sold to another Pullip lover in CT). Prices were fairly reasonable the dolls ranged in price from $90 to $135 with Magical Pink-chan being the cheapest and Pullip Yuri being the most expensive. If they had a release I didn’t already own I probably would have bought one unfortunately I owned all six dolls. I did ask how often they received new/different Pullips and was told that it wasn’t on any sort of set schedule but they did still receive Pullips and little Pullips from time to time.
akibaundergroundEven though I didn’t end up buying a doll, I did not walk out empty handed I bought a Cardcaptor Sakura figure, the kiddo got an alpacasso plushie and the mister got an anime shirt.
akibaunderground1
In addition to Pullip, they stock lolita and fairy kei type clothing as well as various anime figures there were a variety of figmas and nendoroids (ran into a similar situation there, already had all the ones I would have wanted) as well as quite a few Gundam kits not so many scaled figures though. If you are in the area or are visiting the area, I definitely recommend checking it out!

I unfortunately don’t think that I will be able to go back very soon as I’m back to limited mobility right now. I’ve had some recent complications with my leg break, it’s a nightmare I have an ortho boot and a knee scooter plus I’m not supposed to drive. It’ll be like this for at least another month before they do another round of x-rays and decide whether or not to operate so I predict lots of video game playing and anime watching on hulu in my near future especially since my husband is away so I am basically trapped at home right now >_>.

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gouk collab Pullip SHION & gouk Miyabi collab Pullip KAGEZAKURA announced

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Klein

Groove recently teased an upcoming collaboration with fashion brands gouk and gouk Miyabi via their blog even going to far as to post design sketches of two upcoming releases link. Normally we fans don’t really get to see the designs before they are prototyped so it was kind of interesting to be granted the chance to catch a rare glimpse into the design process of Pullip. Earlier this morning Groove officially announced the collaboration series via their blog it will feature two dolls Pullip SHION which is based on the design of the gouk fashion brand and Pullip KAGEZAKURA which is based on the design of the gouk Miyabi brand.
Pullip SHION and Pullip KAGEZAKURA are to be released in November of 2017, this is to coincide with the release of the autumn/winter collection of gouk and gouk Miyabi which will also be released in November. The dolls will not be released until one month later here in the US. Both dolls have a MSRP of 20000 yen each which with current conversion rates is approximately $183.06. The dolls are available for preorder in Japan as of today, I already see that preorders have opened for them on Groove’s official web store  as well as some of the Japanese sites such as Amiami and Hobbysearch. Hopefully preorders here in the US will open soon as these appear to be a made to order product that needs to be preordered. The end date for preorders is September 3rd.
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Revolutionary Girl Utena Pullips teased!!!

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Klein

Groove just announced a very exciting upcoming collaboration series via their blog and I am beyond elated for it as the new collaboration series is with one of my all-time favorite anime/manga series Revolutionary Girl Utena ( Shōjo Kakumei Utena). No photos of the dolls have been revealed yet just a teaser image of Utena Tenjou & Anthy Himemiya on Groove’s blog so far but they did mention that both will dolls will be Pullips. I don’t know if these are the only two characters who will be released or not, I know it’s extremely unlikely but I’m kind of hoping that my personal favorite characters Nanami, Kozue and Shiori get released.

So what is Revolutionary Girl Utena? Revolutionary Girl Utena was originally a manga series by Chiho Saito as well as anime series. The anime series is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary this year and was directed by the same director as the original Sailor Moon anime series Kunihiko Ikuhara. Revolutionary Girl Utena follows the story of Utena who was so impressed by a mysterious prince who saved her that she decided to become a prince herself, she becomes entangled in the rose bride duels when she tries to save a fellow student Anthy. This series is amazing, if you somehow haven’t seen it already I totally recommend checking it out.

I will be sure to update once more information becomes available.

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Touken Ranbu -online- Taeyang Higekiri Announced

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Klein

Earlier this year Groove announced the start of a new collaboration series with the ultra-popular Touken Ranbu -online- game series, back in April Isul Yagen Toushirou became the first doll released as a part of this new series. Groove just announced  the second doll in the Touken Ranbu -Online- series Taeyang Higekiri via their blog a short while ago.

Before I go much further, I feel like I should say something for the benefit of those who may be asking just what the heck is Touken Ranbu -online- anyway? It’s a Japanese online card game that allows the player to bring various swords to life which take the form of very good looking boys. The game is incredibly popular in Japan and so popular that it has inspired two anime series.
Taeyang Higekiri will be released in October of 2017 and has a MSRP of 27000 yen (approximately $238 as of this writing).
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Frog Prince Fairytale Inspired Isul Caros

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Klein

Fairy tales are something that most of us grew up hearing as children, the details may change across time and cultures but even though the details may change fairy tales are an almost intrinsic part of our childhoods. It speaks volumes that though some of the tales may be hundreds of years old they still continue to inspire us to this day.
Caros & DanaFairy tales have in the past provided inspiration to Groove to make dolls based on various beloved characters from our childhood such as the Starry Night Cinderella series that was released back in 2013 or last year when we saw the release of Pullip Gretel and Isul Hansel.  Grimm’s “The Frog Prince” is the latest fairy tale to provide inspiration to Groove, Isul Caros plays the titular Frog Prince while Dana plays the princess who is responsible for transforming the frog back into a prince whether it be my kiss as in most modern retellings of the tale……or by throwing him against the wall in disgust as in the original tale.
Isul Caros and Dal Dana were released in late February of this year, they have a MSRP of 18000 yen each. Dal Dana has already been featured here and now it is time to focus on the Frog Prince himself, Isul Caros!
Caros
Because you pick up a ball of the money….Let me sleep together in a bed….Situation Like So.
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Groove teases future collaboration with Gouk

Posted on July 3, 2017 by Klein

Groove just announced a future collaboration with Gouk which is a Japanese clothing company via their blog. Gouk seems to specialize in wa-loli style clothing. Groove included two sketches of potential designs by Gouk in their blog post, I’m assuming because we are seeing two very different designs that it is likely that we will see both dolls released eventually one might be released sooner than the other but I’m sure with time we will see both dolls actually receive a release. What is really interesting about this is we normally do not receive news of dolls until they are much farther along in the stages of design, a prototype might be spotted at an event months before it is announced but we rarely see designs before they prototyped I can’t recall if this ever actually happened before or not. This is kind of a unique glimpse into the design process.
I really love this design, it’s definitely my favorite of the two designs though I feel like both designs are really strong! I love the colors and the mix of patterned fabrics, she kind of makes me think of a wa-loli version of Little Red Riding Hood. I know it will likely be Pullip that will get this design but how adorable would this outfit be on a Dal?
The first design has a bit of a youthful feel to it, this design definitely seems more refined and mature. There is a simple elegance in this design. I really hope that the Pullip has a dramatic face up with lots of purple or blue eyeshadow to make this design really pop.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of these designs and how well they translate into doll form, I can’t wait for further news about this upcoming collaboration!

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Groove Announces Disney Beauty and the Beast Doll Collection

Posted on July 3, 2017 by Klein

Groove announced the second and third doll in the Disney Doll Collection via their blog a few days ago now, I apologize on my tardiness on getting this written up but I’m in the middle of a cross country roadtrip with limited internet access ^^; . Earlier this year, Cinderella became the first doll released as a part of this new series she still has yet to receive an official release here in the states though.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991, I would have only been about seven years old at the time and I remember going to see it in theaters and that it quickly became one of my favorite films as I too was a brunette that liked to read. A live action remake was made earlier this year that I have somehow managed to not see despite the fact that I have an eight year old daughter that loves Disney movies. I was very excited to see that Belle and Beast were announced as the second and third dolls to be released as a part of this new Disney series, I’m particularly surprised to see a boy doll announced so soon as the male characters are often overlooked when it comes to making dolls but then again I can’t even remember most of the Disney Princesses beloved’s names so perhaps they don’t matter as much as the princesses after all?
Belle and Beast are to be released in October in Japan, it is not known at this time when, how or if they will be distributed within the US. Belle has a MSRP of 20000 yen while Beast has a MSRP of 22,000 yen but since he does come with some extra stuff I feel his slightly higher cost is justified. Both dolls are already available for preorder via Groove’s official Japanese store Rakuten please see their respective links Belle and Beast .
It is important to note that though Belle and Beast look like Pullip and Taeyang they are never referred to as such by Groove, they are instead referred as a part of the Doll Collection line or as ” “Big Head Doll” that expresses characters in hair, make-up fashion,to a body that has a wide range of motion and is capable of various poses.” as they did in Beast’s listing on their store website link.
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