Of elusive renders and broken dreams - Tekken 4's Nina Williams

Throughout the years Namco have sent out some of the industry's nicest press kits for its Tekken series, each of them designed beautifully, usually packing some cool and creative memorabilia. When I got my hands on the Tekken 4 press kit I couldn't help but ignore all this and instead tear open carefully unwrap the box to find the holy grail each of these press-exclusive sets comes with: the press disc. Would I finally solve the mystery of Nina's official Tekken 4 CG artwork? Was the beautiful headshot we got when the game released back in 2002 indeed just a close-up, cut from a full-body render, the ones Namco has created for every single one of the Tekken games. Where else, apart from Namco's servers or Harada's personal HDD, would I possibly be able to find this elusive artwork if not on Tekken 4's official and extremely rare press disc?

Nina Williams Bishoujo prototype revealed at WonderCon 2014

Just a quick update on Kotobukiya's Nina Williams Bishoujo statue. Kotobukiya held a panel at last weekend's WonderCon to preview their Spring 2014 line-up where attendees got an exclusive first look at the Nina Williams statue which is next in line in their Tekken Tag Tournament 2 bishoujo run.

Kotobukiya announces Nina Williams Bishoujo featuring all new design

My first post after such a long time was supposed to revolve around the making of the pre-rendered ending cinematics for Tekken Tag Tournament 2, but 2 days ago, just as I was trying to make sense of the Japanese text I was reading, Kotobukiya (FINALLY) announced Nina Williams as the next release in their long running Tekken Tag Tournament 2 bishoujo line.

Nina Williams memorabilia/merchandise/useless collectors' stuff

Got a little surprise in the mail today...

Augmented Reality Nina Unbirthday Surprise

I visited my family for the weekend, and thanks to my brother - who's a fan of unbirthday gifting and totally awesome btw -  I finally had the chance to try out the augmented reality feature of the physical TCT cards...

Review of PHICEN's Nina Williams Death by Degrees Collectors' Figure

At last! After a month long odyssey basically just being stuck at customs, PHICEN's Nina finally showed up, and man was she worth the wait...

First PHICEN Nina customer pictures

Pictures of PHICEN's NINA VER.1.0 have been popping up online after preorders were dispatched earlier this month...

Nina Williams PHICEN figure preorders ending May 5th

Just a short reminder: Preorders for PHICEN's 1:6 scale Nina Williams collectible figure are ending May 5th. More on this stunning piece later (/pieces actually, as the figure comes with a plethora of accessories), in my interview with Chad, the man behind SMcG Customs, who has worked with PHICEN on several pop culture femme fatale beauties before, and basically is the reason this figure exists. You can preorder NINA VER. 1.0 through one of your local places or, as I did, directly through SMcG's official site smcgcustoms.com

Tekken 3 x Star Wars - Nina Williams "red card" figure

This must be one of the coolest and most unique promotional figures Namco has ever created for any of their games. Check out why, after the jump...

Review and editorial pictures of the Street Fighter x Tekken Minimates Series 1 Nina Williams figure

Minimate Nina finally showed up at my frontdoor, and she's a cool little fella. Here's my review...

Craig on SFxTK Minimates Nina, Cammy and Lili

I'm still on vacation, but having just checked the shipping status of my USPS parcel I can tell you there'll be some interesting things for me to write about as soon as I return. Part of this will be my review of the Nina Williams Minimate, which has been released a couple of days ago as part of Diamond Select Toys' newest assortment of fighting Minimates: Street Fighter X Tekken. For now I will have to make do just enviously looking at other people's pictures...

Street Fighter X Tekken Minimates Are Almost Here - Nina Williams VS Cammy battle shots

To preview wave 1 of the Street Fighter X Tekken Minimates that will be released next week, the folks at Art Asylum took the Series 1 figures and staged their battles 'on location'. More after the jump...

Official TTT2 arcade stick features Nina Williams artwork

One of the most unique features of Mad Catz' stbr Tekken Tag Tournament 2 TE S+ arcade stick is the interchangeable artwork panel. You can easily replace the default shattered glass design with a panel featuring artwork by Tomio Fujisawa. Additional bottom padding, the PlayStation 3 version’s homage to old Namco sticks and the easy panel swap function are all great features, but this stick's best feature is definitely Nina's Artwork being all huge and focal-pointy...

SFxTK Minimates Pack Shot - Nina VS Cammy 2Pack

Here's a packaging shot of wave #1 of the Street Fighter x Tekken Minimates. As previously announced, Nina comes bundled with Street Fighter's Cammy. I'm happy Diamond Select Toys will use blister packs, which I prefer to windowed boxes. Pack design's looking good, too. If you look closely you can see that Nina will come with what looks to be a knife, presumably to fit into her right leg knife holster. I like! The SFxTK Minimates are currently expected to be released September 5th. I'll post my review of the Cammy VS Nina 2-pack as soon as it arrives here.

Free Nina & Anna Poster with pre-orders from GameStop

If you are in the US and planning to get Tekken Tag Tournament 2 you might want to consider pre-ordering via GameStop. They currently have an offer where you will not only get the previously advertised pre-order bonuses, but also GameStop exclusive items, one of which is a poster featuring Nina and Anna. Anna taking up most of the space might be a bit of a bummer, but at least, for once, it's not the usual Mishima fest.

While supplies last!!! + Looks like the poster is only offered with pre-orders taken from July 25 until July 31.

Nina Williams getting Kotobukiya's Bishoujo treatment by Shunya Yamashita?

Katsuhiro Harada revealed a Tekken T-Shirt design for the 2012 Japan Expo in Paris (July 5 - 8) via his Twitter (Harada_TEKKEN). What has me excited is the fact that the print was done by famed Japanese illustrator Shunya Yamashita, the artist behind Kotobukiya's Bishoujo Statues.

What's so exciting about this you might ask?

Minimates & Nanomen - Nina Williams, Street Fighter x Tekken

 

  

Nina's got a Mini-Me, too.

Tekken's First Lady will be joining the ranks of other famous comic-, movie- and video game characters who've gotten the Minimate treatment.

Minimates are a block-styled miniature action figure primarily released to specialty retailers and aimed at adult collectors.

Designed and sculpted by Art Asylum Series 1 will include a Nina VS Cammy pairing exclusively available at specialty stores (/online). The other Series 1 box sets are Ken VS Steve, Sagat VS King and Poison VS Lili (the latter exclusive to specialty stores, the former two also available at Toys'R'Us). Each Minimate stands 2 inches tall with 14 (!) points of articulation and a variety of removable and interchangeable parts and accessories.

I usually prefer my (action-) figures to be rich in detail, accurately bearing the likeness of the original character. But the extremely simplified form is a central design theme with these figures and I do really like what I see. Also, with 14 (!!!) points of articulation these mates are pretty much double jointed all over.

(Warning: super nerdy collector's talk in 3..2..1..)

As usual I'll be buying several copies of the Nina box set to have one that I can unpack, one to put in a CGA graded UF-5 acrylic custom case (♥) and some more to lock away somewhere dark and safe and dust-free. lol

Now here's something that's killing my collectors heart a little.

I've actually been waiting for a block figure rendition of Nina for quite some time now. Back around the time Tekken 5 was released for PS2 there was a line of Tekken Nanomen in the works at visual entertainment and licensing studio Kinetic Underground Inc.

Unfortunately this line didn't make it past the prototype stage and was never officially released, which is such a bummer, because I really liked the look of this type of block figure. Also, (AFAIK) Nanomen Nina would have been slightly taller than Minimates Nina ... and a bit prettier.

See for yourself:

Originally scheduled for a June 2012 release Diamond Select's Street Fighter x Tekken Minimates are now expected to ship October 2012 but can already be pre-ordered online. No official statement on why it was pushed back, but the new release date might actually coincide with the release of Streeft Fighter x Tekken for the PlayStation Vita, which is currently scheduled for Fall 2012. Convenient, no?

Photographs (pictures 3-6) were taken at the Diamond Select booth / Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo 2012 by youbastards @ minimatemultiverse.com
You can find his C2E2 gallery here http://photobucket.com/youbastards-at-C2E2