*** Very out of date information here. ***
Of all the things I enjoy adding to my Shirow collection, the variety of action figures and statues remains nearly at the top of the list, right below new Intron Depot books. Over the years, quite a few art pieces of Shirow's have found themselves adapted to the action figure and statue formats, particularly with Ghost in the Shell. As I have to go and coallate all my figure and statue imagery, it may be a bit before I have images for you to look at here, but I'll work on that.
Since this was initially written up, there have been a pile of Shirow and GitS related capsule toys(Gashopon) released, at least 5-6 sets of 6 I think, simply too many for me to keep track of. I did manage to snag a complete of the first Intron Depot set(with an alternate version of Anni/Unipuma, that makes me feel a bit special) from my local comics shop who happened to get what must have been a whole box of them in. There have also been a slew of Appleseed figs/gashopon related to the new CG project, and a new statue based on my favorite Posterbook girl, but I'm going to have to sit down and do a pile of hunting to bring this all up to date.
Released in late 2002, a new set of Appleseed figures was put out. Consisting of 2 Deunan's(one with an interchangeable head to make it into a generic operative), and a huge Briareos(with equally large gun), these figures seem to serve mostly as promotional material for the upcoming 3D CG Appleseed movie, as each of the figures comes with a slightly different trailer of some of the work done so far. I'm sure there must have been more Appleseed merchandise in the past, official anyhow, as I know there's a few garage kits around, Then again, maybe there wasn't any, even though Appleseed Seburo replicas have been made, it was certainly before my Shirow days started, and so I may never know for sure.
With the release of the Appleseed CG movie, 2004/2005 has also seen the release of a number of Appleseed figures, both full 8-11" size and in the smaller 4" range.
Easily the largest single series for figures, Motoko Kusanagi has been featured in several lines of toys. The oldest ones that I know of seem to have been released in conjunction with the PSX game and we get a pair of 5 1/2-6" figures, with a half dozen variants, from that and and 8-12" figure as well. Following that, we have the 2000-2001 McFarlane figure, based on one of the movie posters. Next up, we have some MMI toys, namely 3 versions of Motoko, plus a 4th variant. Each of the normal MMI figures comes with a random decoy drone, and the variant comes with the entire set, giving anyone who buys all 4, like me, 8 little decoys =) Additionally, Alpha made 3 12" dolls in almost the same outfits as the figures, with the ad printed on the back of US MMI Issue #1.
The newest batch of figures, released by Alpha/Toycom as usual, is a pair of GitS1 manga-version Motokos, one in her white trenchcoat at the start of part 7, Phantom Fund, and the other peeling off/putting on the diving suit she was wearing in part 10, Data Drain. I had no idea these figures were coming, I just happened to see them at my local Suncoast a few weeks ago and had to snatch them up right away.
Statue-wise, there are a few out there for GitS/MMI. Probably the most well known of these is the Commando statue based on, stateside anyhow, the cover of issue #8. There's also one I'd like to get that consists of a techno-angel version of Motoko falling(from Heaven?) while reaching out to something above. As I recall, there is also a statue of Motoko wrapped in wires ala the PSX game, been a while since I checked on it, so I may be wrong about its exsistance. The newest statue, and the only one I own, is quite an eye-pleasing piece featuring Motoko in her Firewall outfit from MMI, crouching with her knees spread and arms on her legs, yum =)
Other products that have been released include a couple 12" Motoko dolls, one in camo, the other in black ops gear, not being a fan of dolls, I've passed on adding these to my collection. Unlike the dolls, there have been some Fuchikoma and tank figures/statues put out that I'd love to have particularly as they come with people like Bateau. I just don't remember where I saw them on sale and I'm on a limited budget at the moment ;_; I do have a couple Fuchikomas however, both from the GitS Solid Box. One is made up of clear, colorless plastic, is very well jointed and even has an opening hatch, currently it sits on my monitor. The other is a miniaute that originally came with the initial GitS figures, and was added to the Solid Box as a 'surprise gift.' Somewhat surprisingly, I don't recall ever coming across any GitS-related garage kits, though I'd be surprised if no one ever made any.
Making up the remainder of Shirow statues, a few different pieces have been done based on images found in Intron Depot 2. These are also high on my blow-$100 spending list, particularly the Requiem and Morning Star statues, in that order, though I've definitely got nothing against the other one, the Blades 2040 statue...
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