Ichiban Kuji SAND LAND: THE SERIES

Not sure how many of you also watch and collect figures from the Sand Land series, but below is the latest from Ichiban Kuji including an interview with the producer from producer of Bandai Spirits, check it out below:

“Ichiban Kuji SAND LAND: THE SERIES” is available for pre-order on Ichiban Kuji ONLINE until 23:59 on Tuesday, October 1st!

The long-awaited figure of Lao Shifu Meunier from “MASTERLISE” is now available!
In addition, “Big Acrylic Stands” of Swimmers and Satan, “Cross Posters” with cute and cool designs, and a super-rich “History Postcard Collection” are now available!!
All items are a lineup that will make “SAND LAND: THE SERIES” fans drool!!

This item is sold exclusively on Ichiban Kuji ONLINE. I couldn’t wait until the products arrived, so I asked the developers for more details about each prize…I was surprised at how passionate they were!!
Let’s introduce the lineup along with a passionate interview!

A work that leaves you with a very gentle feeling after reading it.

Development Manager R Taira
is in charge of planning and developing Ichiban Kuji in the Lottery Innovation Division of BANDAI SPIRITS. He launched “Ichiban Kuji SAND LAND”, which was released in 2023, and the “Dragon Ball EX” series.

–Please tell us your memories of “SAND LAND”.

After the serialization of “Dragon Ball” ended, I read all of Toriyama-sensei’s short-term serializations such as “COWA!” and “Kajika”, as well as one-shot works such as “Majinmura no Bubble” and the “Nekomajin” series, but among them, “SAND LAND” was the one that had elements of monsters, old men, military, various machines, and also battles and scenes that made me laugh, and it was also a work that left me with a very gentle feeling after reading it, so I remember thinking, “Everything is so Toriyama-sensei-like!” and enjoying it.

A Prize and B Prize -These figures look amazing-

–A Prize Lao and B Prize Thief have been sculpted with great attention to detail, from the wrinkles on their faces and their beards to the texture of their clothes!

The old man and grandfather characters drawn by Toriyama-sensei look incredibly three-dimensional, so they look amazing when made into figures.
In order to make the most of the three-dimensional look, we enlisted the help of some very skilled sculptors who have experience creating prototypes for Kame-Sen’nin and Tao Pai Pai in the “Ichiban Kuji Dragon Ball EX” series and other titles.

I asked the sculptor to incorporate the style of Toriyama-sensei’s drawings from 2000, when he was serializing “SAND LAND” in Jump, while also placing importance on the elements of this anime.
Personally, I felt that Toriyama-sensei’s drawings from that time had a more stylish impression, compared to the muscular atmosphere of the final part of “Dragon Ball”. I wanted to be able to reproduce that impression in the prototype, so I gave instructions for corrections.

I want to display it next to Beelzebub, the A prize from “Ichiban Kuji SAND LAND” sold in 2023 !

C Prize – I wanted to recreate Toriyama-sensei’s artwork as faithfully as possible.

–Meuniere appears in various guises throughout the story, but why was the hero costume made into a three-dimensional figure for Prize C?

First of all, I thought that since the angel costume fitted the body well and had a very sleek look, the hero costume would be easier to convey the amount of information when made into a three-dimensional figure.

Also, when I first saw Meuniere, it was in a design drawing of the hero costume drawn by Toriyama-sensei, and I used that design as a reference for all of the poses and gazes when creating it. Another reason is that I wanted to recreate Toriyama-sensei’s drawing as faithfully as possible in 3D.

Toriyama’s Design

Last One Prize -It would be interesting to make this into a 3D model!-

–The Last One Prize Beelzebub is painted in a way that reflects the image in the teaser, but why did you decide to recreate this unique coloring in a figure?

For this lineup, we had decided to focus on products featuring Rao and Shifu, who people would want to display alongside Beelzebub from the first series, but we struggled to decide whether or not to include the main character, Beelzebub, in the second series as well. This may be a bit

self-serving, but I thought the A-prize Beelzebub from the first series was a pretty good product, so I thought there was no point in delivering something similar…and then, when I saw the character visuals from the movie, the idea came to me: “It would be fun to make this into a 3D figure!”, and I decided to go for it!

The character visual didn’t even include the feet, so I drew that area myself, and for the back side I had an illustrator color several different illustrations, which were then supervised by related parties.

Character visuals from the movie

Special coloring that recreates the coolness of the character’s visuals !

D Prize – A prize that is usually hard to come by! –

–Regarding the big acrylic stands, please tell us why you chose this lineup.

The first thing we decided to include in the lineup was Swimmers. We had acrylic stands in the lineup last year as well, but we were really disappointed that we couldn’t include Swimmers due to lineup slots and size restrictions.

Also, because this is a little more expensive than the other Ichiban Kuji lottery items, it includes prizes that are usually harder to win, but are more likely to win.
For characters, there are large ones like Satan and his transformed Meuniere, and for the rest, there are illustrations of the five main characters from the “Angel Brave” arc, which have a similar feel to the movie teaser visuals, so we used those. Since this is a product based on the anime series, we used the wonderful illustrations from the opening and ending credits, which are unique to the anime.

Compared to the first edition’s collectible acrylic stand (Belzebub), it has an overwhelming presence!
It’s a big size of about 14cm to 20cm!

E Prize -We want to meet various needs-

–When it comes to cross posters, how do you think about and create the various designs?

All prizes D through F, except for the figures, are designed so that the winner can choose the design they want. Furthermore, we made them with a desire to meet various needs by offering as many different designs to choose from and actively incorporating designs with different tastes, with as few overlaps as possible.

Prize F -I hope you get it!-

–The History Postcard Collection has an astonishing lineup of 78 postcards in total, divided into sets of six. I’m sure you would recommend all of them, but what are your personal top three?

This might be a very mundane answer, but I really like the scene in episode 1 Assort where the three are talking in Rao’s car because it feels like the beginning of an adventure. Also, right after that when Beelze says “He’s quite the bad guy, isn’t he?” I feel like that’s what Beelzebub is all about!

Additionally, each assortment includes one non-story visual, such as an opening, ending, or poster visual, and I particularly like the main visual for the “Angel Hero” episode 13 assortment!

Also, the one-year anniversary illustration of the movie “SAND LAND” that will be given as a gift to those who buy 10 Ichiban Kuji tickets this time is very nice, so I hope you will get one!

Get a free postcard after 5 or 10 purchases !

–Thank you very much! Finally, please give a message to everyone reading this article.

Those who have followed this interview article may already know, but I am just a fan who loves “SAND LAND” and Toriyama-sensei’s works, just like you all (laughs).
As a fan, I try to develop products with my own love and respect for the works, so I couldn’t be happier if people who love “SAND LAND” and Toriyama-sensei in the same way enjoy this product! This
Ichiban Kuji is a little more expensive than usual, but the probability of winning a figure is set higher than usual, and all prizes other than the figures can be chosen according to the design you want, so it is easy for first-timers to try. I hope that “SAND LAND” will be an opportunity for people who have never bought Ichiban Kuji to experience the fun of drawing a lottery!