Interest

Saint Seiya Gets US$600,000 Pure-Gold Figure

The Bandai Namco Group revealed a Saint Cloth Myth Pure Gold Model Sagittarius Cloth statuette from the Saint Seiya series. The statuette, as the name implies, is made entirely from pure gold. It weighs two kilograms (about 4.4 pounds) and is 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) high. The statuette is not for sale now and will not be in the future, but its worth is estimated at about 60 million yen (US$600,000). The figure was made to celebrate the Saint Cloth Myth figure series' 10th anniversary. The figure replicates the final transformation of the show's main character, and will be shown primarily at Bandai events in Hong Kong and Japan.

Bandai also announced a number of normal retail figures for the anniversary. A figure of the heroine Saori in the Saint Cloth Myth series under the Saint Cloth Myth Goddess Athena title will debut in December with a price tag of 10,500 yen (US$106). Another figure titled Saint Cloth Myth Pegasus Seiya (God Cloth) 10th Anniversary Edition will retail for 7,875 yen (US$80) in late September. Both figures will come with detachable face parts and hand parts.

The company is planning to release one figure for the anniversary every month, with a total of six scheduled by February 2014, and it also intends to release the figures in 17 countries around the world at the same time as Japan's release. Other figures in the lineup include Saint Cloth Myth Dragon shiryu (to be released in October), Saint Cloth Myth Cygnus Hyoga (to be released in November), Saint Cloth Myth Andromeda Shun (to be released in January), and Saint Cloth Myth Phoenix Ikki (to be released in February).

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web