Arknights Nendoroid 1859 Saga

 A strange choice for the next Arknights Nendoroid release, but against all odds the Higashi Perro Vanguard operator Saga got her Nendoroid treatment way before other top Arknights waifu candidate. Scheduled for October 2022 release, Nendoroid Saga will be sold for 6800 Yen.

 As usual Arknights Nendoroid fall on slightly more expensive price range probably due to licensing fees that Hypergryph demand and Saga's accessories is rather lacking for its worth. Nendoroid Saga comes with her Naginata and bowl of Natto Gohan as her accesories as well as her ecstatic face expression which is typical of a Perro race. Saga made her appearance in Arknights 1.5th anniversary being the featured 6* Operator along with Dusk. Saga played a minor role in Dusk's storyline being another outsider apart from Rhodes Island operators who are stranded in Dusk's painting world. This is the exact reason why Saga is a strange choice for GSC to release its Nendoroid first because Arknights still have other plenty 6* Operators to work with such as Skadi, Angelina, Bagpipe or Nian but in any case the doggo operator got lucky somehow.

 In terms of gameplay, Saga is a low cost Vanguard operator with solid DP generating ability and good offensive capability. With her S3, Saga realy shines when deployed in intersection tiles as she is capable of dealing spammable AOE damage in 4 directions which works well against grunt unit swarms. The only downside is that she will constantly spam gibberish lines related to food when activating the skill due to airheaded nature of Perro race. Anyway, Saga's Nendoroid is easy skip for me since i am still waiting for Skadi which is due for a long time already.
 

Hexagear 1/24 V-Thor

 I haven't paid attention with Hexagear series for quite a long time but the latest entry catches my attention for sure! Hexagear is Kotobukiya's original lineup that put more emphasis on combined arms mecha. Featuring 1/24 mechanised soldiers and beast mecha as the bulk of the lineup, the latest entry of Hexagear is a humanoid robot called V-Thors is fresh breath of air for this lineup. Scheduled for August release, Hexagear V-Thor will be sold for 8480 Yen.

 While Hexagear had some humanoid robots in their lineup before such as Bulkarms, V-Thor literally break the mold for its kind. V-Thor sleek design combined with giant katana weapon exudes protagonist mecha aura which even put Frame arms design to shame which also reminds me of Genji from Overwatch. From its aesthestics, V-thors appear to be Elite infiltration mecha unit that specialise in targetting high value targets. Hexagear V-Thors would have been a huge steal had it include a 1/24 Pilot unit but its beautiful design had made up for its price tag. If Kotobukiya is insightful, they could utilize this V-Thor mold for couple more variant

Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 Moderoid Madox-01

 A surprising entry for the Moderoid lineup but a welcome one nonetheless! Hailing from OVA series in  during the Mecha Golden Age of late 80s, GSC announcing Moderoid for Power Armor Madox-01. Moderoid Madox-01 is scheduled for September 2022 with 7200 Yen price tag.

Madox is quite a big deal in mecha world because it is one of the Shinji Aramaki works who is famed for his power armor designs like Megazone23 and Mospeada. Madox OVA series itself is rather forgettable since the storyline is basically a teenage boy tried to impress a girl by hijacking a prototype power armor and shoot down bad guys. As bad as the plotline goes, Madox-01 is a very beautiful mechanical design and probably Aramaki used Madox as the base for Marauder Armor in Starship Trooper Invasion CGI movie. Since Moderoid is a model kit, this version of Madox is easy skip for me though i am willing to wait for some action figure. If Madox could make it, i think Garland or Mospeada have a good shot in Moderoid Lineup too.
 

Genshin Impact Nendoroid 1795 Venti

 Genshin Impact is one of the hottest piece of IP since 2020 and the hype is still going very strong with merchandising department up until now. After Aether and Lumine, the first playable Archon character, Venti makes it as the first non main character from Genshin to make it as Nendoroid. The mischievous drunkard Bard is scheduled for September 2022 release with 5500 Yen Price tag. 

  For over 5000 Yen price tag, Venti comes with Skyward Harp Bow and his harp as the accessories which seems lacking but Goodsmile definitely will not able to fulfill all demands from the initial batch. Over past one year for some reason Goodsmile are unable to produce several of their products in large quantity which heavily affect Nendoroid Lineup including Genshin Impact's Aether and Lumine.

In Genshin Impact, Venti or Barbatos is one of the 7 Archons in Teyvat, controlling Anemo element and preside over Monstadt region. In the Mondstadt story Arc, Traveler assist Venti in restoring Sanity of his Dragon companion named Dvalin who went insane due to lingering poison and machinations of Abyss order. As an Archon, Venti's personality is very carefree and lacking of responsibilty, he is often seen being drunk in a Pub owned by Diluc. Venti is very famous due to his ~Ehe~ moment which made one of the most memorable moment of Paimon in the game. In terms of Gameplay, Venti is very popular due to being one of the best Crowd Control character and often used in competitive lineup for Abyss floor. Personally Venti is one of my target character as i happen to own Skyward Harp and need a worthy user for the weapon, though i am conflicted with Venti since there is a future Hydro bow-user named Yelan who seems to provide the same role with him.

 In any case i am still waiting for Waifu characters like Ganyu, Eula and Raiden to get their own Nendoroids which is just a matter of time.

Uma Musume Pretty Derby SHF Tokai Teio

 Uma Musume Pretty Derby was a huge hit in Japan last year and recently had celebrated its 1st Anniversary with generous gifts for the players. Since early this year the merchandise for the series had picked up its momentum and around this time Bandai finally joined in with SHF lineup. For the initial release, Bandai is releasing SHF for Tokai Teio and Rice Shower while GSC probably got license for Goldship and Mcqueen. SHF Tokai Teio is scheduled for July 2022 release with 6300 yen Price tag.

  Bandai's SHF lineup tend to fall on affordable price range especially for main kamen rider characters, but Uma Musume's pricing is slightly higher since i think Bandai try to focus the face sculpt quality to match up to Figma Standard considering bishoujo character had been a long term weakness for Bandai. For its 6300 Yen Price Tag Tokai Teio comes with generous amount of expression face plates sufficient enough to replicate poses for Umapyoi Densetsu, one of the most memorable song from the series.

Tokai Teio herself is one of the Uma Musume that was given the main heroine spot in the Pretty Derby along with Special Week and Silence Suzuka during the initial release. Prior to the game itself, Teio already had some major role in the anime series even becoming the lead heroine along with Mcqueen in the Second Season. Teio's character is basically an energetic young Uma Musume who possess great potential and aspire to reach the same fame of her idolized mentor, Symboli Rudolf. In the anime series, Teio ultimately fails to follow her Mentor footsteps but reached her own height of fame through her own path. In the fanbase Teio is sometimes depicted as Yandere due to some of her interaction in the game. 

Personally i think Teio's SHF would be quite decent since Bandai seems to be determined to improvise their sculpt for this lineup considering they are also getting license to make SHF for Special Week and Silence Suzuka to complete the starter trio.