the last episode of panty and stocking aired on christmas day 2010, meanwhile the nendoroids of the titular characters released in june of 2011.
i had preordered both nendoroids before the final episode aired, i loved the series enough to feel warranted in doing so.... but came to regret it. the ending didn't land for me when i first saw it, and that half a year between the episode coming out, and receiving an email saying it's time to pay for my preorder gave me time to reconsider my feelings about the series.
i ultimately didn't follow through with my preorder, not paying for it, therefore not receiving the nendoroids.

this is the biggest purchase related regret i have made in my whole life

the nendoroids go for exponentially more expensive nowadays. and as much as i like panty and stocking, it's not one of my favorite series... my love isn't enough to warrant spending the price they yield now. so i've for years hoped for a reissue, new figures, something.

you can then understand my joy when november of 2022 saw the announcement that good smile company would be releasing new panty and stocking figures! under their pop up parade line, they announced 4 figures, two in the series iconic style, and two in their "transformation" more detailed style (under the 'repent version' sublabel). i'm only going to be discussing the figures reflecting the series more typical style, since that's where my interest is.

prototypes were shown, both professionally photographed for goodsmile's gallery, and exhibited for people to look at irl. here's what they looked like:

you can tell they're early in development both from the gigantic "pending licensor approval", the lack of paint, as well as uh... they sure do have 3d printing artifacting on them! i was just happy they got announced that i didn't form many thoughts on the sculpts themselves, i felt i needed to see them further into development/painted to get a real feel.

no updates were given until july 2023, when updated sculpts were professionally photographed for goodsmile's gallery, and exhibited for people to look at irl at anime expo 2023. and these sculpts ARE MY FAVORITE

the cartoony-ness is on full display, the way there's an optimal angle to view them at that's being played to is so delightfully 2D!
i printed out the above images of both the november 2022 prototypes as well as the july 2023 prototypes to put on my art inspiration corkboard, because it's such a great example of refining something. the core idea/pose/etc is all the same, but the changes make for such a polished and beautiful look... it's a "spot the difference" that's worth studying.

it's worth mentioning that these sculpts were contentious. i saw a lot of comments on myfigurecollection and social media saying they preferred the november 2022 sculpts. i can't see this myself, they look better to me in every way. i guess i'm so forgone in being enamored by them that i can't understand other perspectives... but i respect it needless to say. and it's worth mentioning.

if it were just these professional images released, i'd be nervous they only looked good because of photo editting or something, but no! they were exhibited for people to see irl and this means more candid photos exist as well.

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the last photo there is showing the limits of how a cartoonish figure playing to a window of angles to make their 2D illusion work is ... still not bad looking imo! it's the trade off you have to make when translating such a cartoony style into 3d if you ask me.

so anyways. there was another drought of information. a whole year actually. when at the NEXT anime expo, ANOTHER set of new prototypes were shown off.

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these admittedly confused me. they don't look bad, but they don't have my jaw on the floor like the july 2023 prototypes did. why does panty have backlace (her gun) now, while stocking doesn't have either stripes? stocking in general looks more similar to the november 2022 prototype than she does the july 2023 one... and these prototypes didn't get professional photos by goodsmile like the others did, they were only exhibited. how absurd for these figures to have been announced nearly 2 years ago at this point, AND for them to now have THREE different prototypes with none of them painted? right?? i've been figure collecting for many years and i've never seen that lol.

so anyways, cut to yesterday, it's been almost another year since we last saw them. their painted sculpts finally are shown. no professional photos by goodsmile this time either, only exhibit goer photos.

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they certainly don't look bad. but i dunno... it's the faces. i prefer the july 2023 sculpts. the angled eyes have more life in them to me.

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the text at their feet still warns that these are prototypes, not a finished product. so they could still change, but isn't this funny? three unpainted prototypes, one painted, all of them different.

what i've been comparing them to this whole time isn't the nendoroid i mentioned at the start of this journal, but instead the twin pack of figures released by phat in 2011 (who is the producer of pop up parade these days).

the pose and goals feel very different. but it's worth comparison if you ask me.
i don't even really... have a conclusion. just what a weird production history these figures have. i just hope that when they do get released, they look nice and make people happy.