As every Friday, we revisit Hokuto no Ken figures. This week, we spotlight an extraordinary piece: a four-figure-priced statue, produced in only five hundred copies and weighing twenty kilograms. But beyond this impressive creation, it is the studio itself that interests us most. Specializing in duel scenes, their project was closely followed by Tetsuo Hara and Buronson.
An identity built on duels
Figurama Collectors was founded in 2015 out of a professed passion for Japanese animation and American comics. Its name, formed from figure and diorama, already sums up the studio’s approach: at Figurama, characters and their environment are conceived as a whole. The studio describes itself as a community of collectors, claims you have to be an otaku to work there, and nicknames its fans the Figuramians.
This philosophy is especially evident in its prestige line, the Elite Exclusive. Rather than depicting characters alone, Figurama favors the confrontations that defined the works: Kenshin versus Shishio in Kenshin le vagabond, Devilman versus Amon, Teresa versus Priscilla in Claymore… The statues are designed around the face-off, with the characters, their attacks, and the setting united in a single composition. An approach that gives the scene itself a central place in the sculpture.
Filling “a gap in the market”
Hokuto no Ken was a natural candidate. The studio’s boss, who goes by Shanab and serves as the piece’s art director, explains it bluntly in the February 2024 press release: “There is a gap in the market around Hokuto no Ken. Nothing truly represented the action, the masculinity, the fights. Most existing statues show a character standing alone, without any sense of dynamism.”
The assessment is debatable, as one thinks of the dioramas by Tsume Art and HEX Collectibles. But there is some truth to it: the final dojo duel between the two brothers of Hokuto, the one every reader carries in memory, had never been tackled at this scale.
Three years of development under the authors’ watchful eye
The project required three years of development. The team is clearly identified, which is not so common in this segment: Daniel Kamarud on concept, Miguel Leonardo on digital sculpture, and Shanab on direction. But above all, the project benefited from exceptional supervision, that of Buronson and Tetsuo Hara themselves.
“We worked very closely with Buronson and Tetsuo Hara on the statue’s design,” Shanab recounts. “They drew over our concepts to convey their feedback, and they granted us real exceptions on the designs and outfits we were allowed to use, because they were extremely pleased with the project.”
Supervision by the rights holders is part of the standard process for a Japanese licensed product. But seeing the scriptwriter and the artist directly rework a foreign studio’s concepts with pencil in hand is far more unusual. When our product page refers to a piece approved by the authors, this is very concretely what it means.
What the base conceals
Then there is everything the manufacturer presents as “easter eggs,” details to spot throughout the scene. The multiplied fists of the Hyakuretsu Ken, the Nio guardian heads embedded in the ruins, the Big Dipper lit by LEDs… And the most beautiful of all, hidden among the rubble: the helmet of the Last General of Nanto. Yuria is absent from the battle, yet she is very much there, just as in the manga, the silent stake of the confrontation between the two brothers.
Five hundred copies, a year of waiting
Pre-orders opened on February 24, 2024 at 11 PM Japan time, at $1,310 per unit for five hundred numbered copies. Payment could be spread over twelve monthly installments, with a non-refundable 20% deposit at the time of order, a sales model that has become the norm in the premium segment. Deliveries took place during 2025, and the piece is now sold out from the manufacturer, which only displays a waitlist.
When the duel goes three-dimensional
Just another statue on the shelf of unattainable pieces? Not quite. What this piece really tells is a rare moment: the one where the two authors of the saga sat down, pencil in hand, to figure out how to bring their most famous duel from paper to sculpture. For the rest (dimensions, configuration, box contents), our product page awaits you.
Sources
- Figurama Collectors, Kenshiro vs. Raoh product page: figurama-collectors.com
- Figurama Collectors, interview with the statue’s creative team: figurama-collectors.com/blogs
- Figurama Collectors press release dated February 17, 2024, via Anime News Network
