Friday, May 02, 2014

I'm not entirely sure what a 'sofubi' is, but I'll take one of each of these Animal Crossing: New Leaf sofubi figures anyway

Seriously, if anyone can provide me with a comprehensible definition of "sofubi," I'd greatly appreciate it. I attempted to find one on my own last night, but all I could come up with is that sofubi refers to the soft vinyl material that's used to construct figures like the ones seen below.


My question to all of you "figure heads" (get it?), though, is this: how do sofubi figures differ from, say, the nendoroid figures that seem to be all the rage these days?

Regardless, I think the K.K. Slider, Lisa (Reese), Shizue (Isabelle) and Tom Nook figures seen throughout this post look pretty sweet.


Each of them look to be about five inches tall, by the way--if size matters to you when it comes to such things.

Also, AmiAmi is selling each of these New Leaf-inspired concoctions--which will hit store shelves in early August--individually and in sets of two. Individually they'll run you about $13, while the sets (K.K. Slider and Isabelle or Reese and Tom Nook) will set you back just $24.

20 comments:

michaelstearns said...

Someone else may have more info on this, but I don't think "Sofubi" is a brand and really does just refer to the material. The deal with Nendoroids is that they are a specific brand and they all follow the same basic body plan and proportions and look like they form a set regardless of their source, but the downside is that the figures are less true to their source material. For Animal Crossing the Nendoroids are pretty close, though! To me the implication with sofubi (and vinyl in general) is that it suggests a static, fixed-pose figure (like "collector" vinyl) as opposed to the more toy-like, poseable, and accessory-including Nendoroids (and others).

thegaygamer.com said...

Ah! So Nendoroid is a brand? I didn't realize that. And they're all posable, have the same proportions, etc. Are they usually made of a harder plastic, too? Anyway, thanks for the info, Michael!

michaelstearns said...

Yeah, definitely the kind of plastic you'd associate with a plastic figure (PVC and ABS).


I don't know for sure on this but that doesn't necessarily mean that the "soft vinyl" of figures is all that soft either though, it would probably be a mistake, for example, to think they'd be "squishy" (if you were thinking anything like that). I think it has more to do with the manufacturing process, apparently sofubi has a different quality as far as holding shape and detail compared to other vinyls. I own a couple vinyl kits (no pre-built figures) and the pieces are all quite hard.

michaelstearns said...

Oh, and it looks like some Nendoroids don't pose, they only look like it by swapping out arms and other accessories. Clearly some (like that great-looking Luigi one) do allow for some flexibility there, though.

thegaygamer.com said...

Interesting! I'm such a noob when it comes to this area :)

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, so some actually "move" while others can just be, er, re-posed by swapping out arms, legs, accessories, etc?

michaelstearns said...

Yep, it seems to depend on the figure.

michaelstearns said...

I'm kind of a noob myself. I said I own those kits, but I haven't built any of them! ;D

thegaygamer.com said...

Hey, you're still more experienced with them than I am! At least you can examine the pieces and vouch for the feel/look of the plastic, etc.

thegaygamer.com said...

Interesting! BTW, going back a bit, I have to say I really like the looks of most of the Nendoroid figures I've seen. I have no real reason to buy any of them, of course, and as such I can't imagine I'll start collecting them anytime soon, but that won't keep me from drooling over them :)

Noonie said...

So cute. I want.

thegaygamer.com said...

Glad to hear I'm not alone, Noonie! So, does this mean you're going to buy one (or more) for yourself?

Freezair said...

Nooot an expert speaking, so don't take my word for it, but I would theorize that "sofubi" is a contraction of the Japanese transliteration of the English words for "soft vinyl." Like I said, I'm not an expert (or a translator), and I can already spot a few holes in that theory (like the first syllable of "vinyl" would probably be transcribed more like "bai" than "bi"), but I've never quite understood the full logic behind Japanese contractions. Probably the patterns would be more obvious if I actually spoke the language...

thegaygamer.com said...

Hey there, Freezair! Thanks for trying to shed some light onto this situation for me. Thankfully, a few other folks (here and on Twitter) have helped me (mostly) understand what a sofubi figure is and how they differ from, say, a Nendoroid figure. Anyway, the name/contraction definitely has to do with the "soft vinyl" material the figures are made out of, no question about that!

Walter Beast said...

As someone who has toys made into "sofubi" I can confirm, that yes, its means "soft vinyl.
Comes from the days of Kaiju and old monster toys (Godzilla/Ultraman).
Though firm and hard, the process is unique and a Japanese traditions carried on from the early days of kaiju toys.
When heated, they can be rather squishy, but will always retain form as it is casted into that mold.
Here is a video from RAMPAGE Toys (who has produced my little characters from Instagram @BobbyBeast) when he visited a mom & pop factory (as most independent factories are for producing sofubi).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cHuU_cKD0M

thegaygamer.com said...

Thanks for the info and the video, Walter. How interesting!

Angela Kelly said...

I want one so bad!
If I buy one.......
My reaction:

The Annoying starlow said...

Look!Kawaii Daisy!

thegaygamer.com said...

Ha! I love these illustrations. Keep 'em coming :)

thegaygamer.com said...

Hmmm, are you and LuigiFan and Angela all the same person or something??