Update 3: Figures

Sorry for the delay, a bunch of IRL stuff happened at once and I was quite busy until now.

This is the 3rd update of my 1 year break (1 more to go, I hope). I need to do a review of the stuff I received in the last couple of months and I will be completely updated! I hope I'll be able to finish before I receive the Comic Market loot, because backtracking old loots is a pain in the ass and is much easier to review them as I receive them...

FIGURES

Since all the figures are already in display, I'll do a brief listing with only one picture of each. Also in some photos appears old figures, but I'm only referencing the new ones.

1/6 Shikinami Asuka Langley [Test Suit] by Amie Grand, sculpted by Suzu.  

Suzu is one of my favorite sculptors, and I buy every figure sculpted by him released by Amie Grand despite being extremely expensive (being polystone instead of PVC).

1/7 Selvaria Bles Swimsuit ver. by Alter, sculpted by Yagyuu Toshiyuki. Unlike previously released Selvaria figures, this one is close to RAITA's original design. 

FREEing yukata versions of Illya, Saber and Rin.

The limited edition of 1/8 Saber Lily Golden Caliburn sculpted by Kawahara Takayuki.

1/8 Saber Motored Cuirassier sculpted by Kawahara Takayuki (again).

Max Factory`s 1/8 Saber Zero Refined version sculpted by Kuroda Masanori (I kinda prefer the older version) and Griffon Enterprises 1/7 Nadia sculpted by Ohsaka Miki.

 

Phat Company's 1/8 Prisma Illya (Manga Version) sculpted by Mazaki Yuusuke.

 

  The extremely puny Chogokin Saber by Bandai.

 

Kotobukiya's Cu-poche Saber.

 

1/8 Wave figures of the Ryugu Komachi trio (Asuza, Iori and Ami) from iM@S, sculpted by Abira.

1/10 Saber Lily, 1/10 Saber [Zero ver.], 1/10 Saber Alter and 1/10 Saber Extra by Wave from the Beach Queens figure line.

A group photo: the Beach Queens figures of iDOLM@STER (only missing Yukiho and Ritsuko to complete the set) along with the TYPE-MOON Nendoroid Petit.

The rest of TYPE-MOON Nendoroid Petit.

Cheerful Japan campaing Nendoroids of Saber and Rin.

Nendoroid casual Saber.

Nendoroid Zero Saber.

Nendoroid Aozaki Aoko and Kuonji Alice.

TYPE-MOON Figma: Phantasmoon Eclipse, Irisviel, Zero Saber, Kiritsugu and Saber Extra bride version along the regular one.

iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Figmas: Shibuya Rin and Futaba Anzu (Wonderfest exclusives).

Figmas from Muv-Luv series. Since I got Kagami Sumika along the games, I purchased Mitsurugi Meiya, and to complete the set Takamura Yui and Cryska Barchenowa from Total Eclipse as well.

Sadamoto, Kubooka and Colorful Highschool

Today I'll post a short story of my otaku youth and a bit of field work research, too.

In '93 I watched Fushigi no Umi no Nadia and I fell in love with the character designs. Months later, I read in a videogames magazine that a Japanese RPG called Lunar: The Silver Star was causing furor in the US. Thanks to the tiny pic, I instantly assumed that the character designer of Lunar was also Sadamoto Yoshiyuki, designer of Nadia.
I was young and was the pre-Internet era, so I didn't realized of my mistake until years later, in 1995, when Shin Seiki Evangelion was announced.
I became an instant fan of Evangelion because of Sadamoto's designs, and realized that the person who drew the Lunar characters was in fact Kubooka Toshiyuki, who was the animation director of Fushigi no Umi no Nadia.

Left, Fushigi no Umi no Nadia cast.
Right, Lunar: The Silver Star cast.

After that, I more or less followed the works of both Sadamoto (FLCL, .hack series, Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo...) and Kubooka (Lunar series, Giant Robo, iDOLM@STER...).

When the arcade version of The iDOLM@STER was released, it's aesthetics reminded me of a previously released arcade game also with Kubooka as the main designer and also released by Namco, but at the moment I didn't paid much attention because those kind of games are fated to never see the light of day outside Japan...

Now, obsesed with iM@S, I began to dig for information about that game, called Seishun Quiz: Colorful Highschool.
The game was released in the still unemulated (as far as I know) System 10 arcade board in 2003, but is almost unkown even inside Japan.
As a quiz game, it follow the steps of Capcom's Quiz Nanairo Dreams, but instead of moving randomly in a board game world, in Colorful Highschool you have to specifically date with the girls and make them happy answering correctly her questions.

I don't know why it doesn't became famous, because it really seems like an early iDOLM@STER game but changing the idol part with more traditional dating sim parts, but the main focus of the game is the "events", like the "Communications" in iM@S.
The girls' movements are like in iM@S (they MOVE, and not just change from static pose to static pose) but in 2D, and despite being only partially voiced, the seiyuu cast was well known.

The characters are:

Kanzaki Miku

The transfer student. Kind, modest and pretty much the default main heroine of the game. Asks about general knowledge. Voiced by Nasu Megumi.

Kujou Ayaka

The ojou-sama from a rich family. Intelligent, good at sports and overconfident. Asks stuff from the fashion and trendy world. Voiced by Takahashi Chiaki, who also voices Azusa in Idolmaster.

Shishido Megumi

The tomboy basketball team captain. Genki type. Asks about sports. Voiced by Saitou Chiwa.

Takamura Marie

The intellectual meganekko. Clumsy and otaku, so asks about that theme. Voiced by Ueda Kana (also Tohsaka Rin's voice!).

The game was re-released in 2008 for mobile phones, and there are rumors of a possible Nintendo DS port as a cheap alternative to PSP's iDOLM@STER...

There's not really much info on the net about this game, and most of it comes from the official site (worth checking, specially the sketches of the characters). Also, the user Misokatsu from Nico Nico Douga have uploaded a full playthrough until Ayaka best ending in his list.

EDIT: For the non-NicoNico users, I uploaded the first video on YouTube.