Trivia / Figma

• Development Hell:
  • Max Factory are infamous for this. Chances are the products they announce will take quite a while before they even reach a working prototype phase. If they didn't receive the prototype sooner, chances are they're going to be silently canceled (i.e. being withheld indefinitely) without any further announcement whatsoever. Known cancelled figmas can be seen in the What Could Have Been section below.
  • The most infamous example of this would be Figma Lancer Cu Chulainn, released in May 2020, over three years after being announced. Other notable examples were Figma Demi-fiend^* an unpainted prototype of Demi-Fiend finally released last WonHobby event, Figma Saber Nero Lily and Figma Phospophyllite, who were announced and haven't gotten any working prototype whatsoever.
  • Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, certain figures ready to be released were delayed several times throughout the timespan, with Figma Styles Swimsuit Chiaki being delayed several times and ultimately being released with her virgin-killing sweater variant, who also got delayed twice until its eventual released in late September in Japan^note Figma Styles Makoto Swimsuit would eventually receive more delays despite a supposed release date at the same time as two Chiaki figures. The fact that China used a mass blackout for a set period of hours everyday around the country pushed back releases even further to the end of the year because company factories in China were affected as well.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Unlike Bandai, Max Factory (and to an extent, Good Smile Company) rarely reissues their lineups on their shelf or their web shop. Sometimes, they won't bother reissuing that product at all, especially on seasonal releases. If the item you were looking for got discontinued, your only chance is to probably find a dubious eBay link that sells your item for threefold the price, if there are any.
  • This also means that if a figure part is broken, the replacement can only be found by getting exactly the same kind of figure and cannibalizing it for the same exact part. Luckily, Figma archetype and recently Figma Styles are pretty common and has most of the major parts you can take parts of. There were "Basic Joint Sets" in black, white, and flesh tones released for a limited time in 2020-22.
• Pre-Order Bonus: Pre-ordering at the Good Smile website gives an exclusive accessory, which is usually an additional facial expression or item for a given character.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise:
  • The existence of Moemura (a braided haired Homura with red glasses) was spoiled because those accessories along with a smiling face were provided in the Figma Magical Girl Homura set. This set was formally announced in July 2011 after the series finished airing in Japan.
  • Also applies to figma Void. Formally announced in October 2016, even though the 2016 anime's first season had concluded, there was already a 1997 anime in which Void appeared.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: There is an image◊ of a set of announced figures, which shows a release based on Lynn Minmay, Atsuko Kagari, Kaede Takagaki, Ochako Uraraka^* She was later announced officially in 2020 and has been released later in October 2021, Nadia, a yukata variant of Sakura and Tomoyo, and so on, giving the hype for each character's fanbase. The image was well spread in various image boards like 4chan and Futaba channel. Sadly for them, the image and the announcement was revealed to be fake.
• What Could Have Been: Certain releases that were announced by Max Factory for years never had a prototype in the works, most likely left under the rug and never saw the light of day with few exceptions (like Figma Lancer mentioned above). However, there exist elusive releases that was going to be released but ultimately cancelled due to varying reasons. Examples include Figma Jonathan Joestar, Figma Ryougi Shiki (Yukata version), Figma Kotone and Joan Love from Full Metal Daemon Muramasa -Kotono no Tsurugi-, Figma Minoru Torihada, and many more.