Nakoruru (TAKARA, 1993)

[Tasuke]

i just won this classic little maiden, "Nakoruru" from ye olde vintage Arcade fighter "SAMURAI SPIRITS"
("SAMURAI SHODOWN" in U.S.) a once white-hot popular fighting video game series
from arcade developer SNK, made for their "NEO-GEO" cartridge-based arcade system
back around the time my little sister was born in 1993;

http://snk.wikia.com/wiki/Nakoruru

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Sh ... eo_game%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Sh ... 8series%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_%28system%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNK_Playmore

i got an unbelievable steal on her, a princely $13.85 shipped.
now, a few years back, i did actually catch her for as little as $60 shipped,
but i had had to pass, due to more pressing matters on my docket at the time.
that was the best price on her i had seen by far to that point,
and i sure didn't ever believe i'd ever find any better a price than that,
and most certainly not the bargain basement theft i just paid here!!!

being my favorite SNK character, and one of my favorite female video game characters ever,
i've wanted this doll for a while now. she'll be seeing all due TLC when she arrives,
including an OBITSU body all her own...














the cosplay costume i made a few years back for my Shaorin from the Mamotte Shugogetten series;

[zirconmermaid]

I have that doll too! I love her, she is so cute!

[Tasuke]

cool!! do you have photos you can share?

in any case, with a NATURAL SKIN tone OBITSU body, this TAKARA should rate pretty close
to the arguably superior DAIKI KOGYO brand Nakoruru;

[Lamia of the Dark]

I'm not familiar with teh game she's from, but that doll has an adorable face!

[Tasuke]

she's from "SAMURAI SPIRITS" (SAMURAI SHODOWN in the U.S.) an arcade game series from SNK corp.
that stretched over 5 entries, from the "golden age" of arcade fighting games in 1993,
to the very last release for SNK's own aging NEO-GEO arcade hardware, -before finally being retired- in 2004.

SNK corp. and their hottest, most well known game properties, (FATAL FURY, SAMURAI SPIRITS)
was the close, direct rival to CAPCOM corp. and their far more generally beloved
and well known "STREET FIGHTER" series.

it is often felt that SNK fighters, though more niche, and locked to an aging late-80's
hardware platform such as that of the NEO-GEO system, were the far more superior
fighters out there due to their higher complexity, and stronger, deeper character personalities.

for my part, i tend to agree there; for one, IMHO, Nakoruru here is a far deeper and more appealing character
than STREET FIGHTER's Chun-Li, already an appealing chara, just rather one-dimensional,
-as most of CAPCOM's SF characters tend to be- and never really fleshed out as she deserves.

much the same holds true for FATAL FURY's Terry Bogard, IMO a much cooler, deeper
and generally likable character than his closest STREET FIGHTER equivalent, Ken Masters.

to each their own opinion, naturally, but i'll always feel SNK's games, -their fighters, anyway-
had some of the most lovable characters to ever be found in 1990's video gaming,
and are still strong contenders even in the 21st century, despite the fact pretty much all of them,
-as well as their parent company- have been generally long forgotten today,
while CAPCOM and their SF characters continue to be closely held by a great many,
with no sign of fading away anytime soon.

don't get me wrong; it's great that once so mighty a vintage video game property can still hold
strong relevance in today's video game market, but all the same, sometimes it feels like
there just isn't a terribly great degree of justice in the world. it's all relative anyhow, so whatever i suppose...

[Tasuke]

ZOMG!!! ♥My Nakorin♥ She's so Lovable, such fluffy-soft lovely hair!! So Beautiful♥















- alas, her facial tone does not match too well with the OBITSU NATURAL SKIN type.
still and all, She's such an Angel♥





as it would probably be obvious to any owner of this doll, i have made modifications
to make her clothes fit more naturally, and have replaced her solid plastic sheathed blade
with a detailed metal 1/6 short katana replica that works with her quite beautifully.

also, -as probably quite obvious to any Nakoruru fan out there- there are distinct differences
between the styling of Nakorin's Pantaloons between SAMURAI SPIRITS I and II,
with the pair supplied with the doll being based on the first entry in the series.

the redesign for II is a much fuller and longer (fully down to her ankles) pair of Pantaloons
that i happen to prefer, so i shall be making Nakorin♥ here another pair
modeled from the II design, so i can be having both styles readily at hand.

i'll be right on back, soon as i'm finished!!

[Tasuke]

there were at least two versions of this doll TAKARA produced in '93; normal and 2P purple "evil Nakoruru"

far as i know, the normal was a full general sales release, while the 2P was some sort of GAMEST magazine exclusive (JPN general ARCADE and HOME video gaming magazine)






TAKARA produced two more SPIRITS dolls in the late-90's or so, one of Nakoruru, and one of her sister Rimururu;






DAIKI KOGYO, nominally a resin model company, tried their hand at finished character dolls at one time (late 90's/early 00's, i presume)
with two 27cm. Nakoruru dolls of their own, both with different outfits from some of the later SPIRITS entries (i forget which ones)












in VOLKS corp's pre-Dollfie era, they had a fairly extensive line of very small scale character dolls they called the "Ultimate Figure Series"
among them, a lone Nakoruru from the SPIRITS era where Nakorin was re-imagined and/or reincarnated as a tiny forest Sprite;





finally, there are these dolls, which i can only assume are also TAKARA editions of either limited or general release, or perhaps merely one-off customs;

[Iwa_Hoshi]

This brings back memories. I thought it was only Marmit and Mamachapp that did videogame dolls. I was chasing Chun Li back then, it kinda got me into customising dolls.

[Tasuke]

This brings back memories. I thought it was only Marmit and Mamachapp that did videogame dolls. I was chasing Chun Li back then, it kinda got me into customising dolls.

kinda similar to my one time situation with this Nakorin's elusiveness to me,
driving my to make the cosplay for my larger scale Mamottte Shugogetten Shao doll;




lucky me indeed i was able to finally track down the real McCoy, and for such an an unbeatable yard sale price at that.

i'm assuming the Chun Li you mentioned is far more elusive and/or pricey to obtain?

also, -as probably quite obvious to any Nakoruru fan out there- there are distinct differences
between the styling of Nakorin's Pantaloons between SAMURAI SPIRITS I and II,
with the pair supplied with the doll being based on the first entry in the series.

the redesign for II is a much fuller and longer (fully down to her ankles) pair of Pantaloons
that i happen to prefer, so i shall be making Nakorin♥ here another pair
modeled from the II design, so i can be having both styles readily at hand.

i'll be right on back, soon as i'm finished!!

and here we are;

[MeltedCaramel]

Aha I am so glad I'm not the only one who collects old Takara figures! It's such a pain in the ass finding jointed dolls that colour match though. I have Miyu (she's my gem oh gosh she's so gorgeous! T^T And I got her for such a steal! Some asshole on Ebay wanted $290, and I found her for $20 on Rakuten!) and I also collected the even older Sotsugyou M boy doll Sho. I need to take a pic of mine but for now here's a blurry auction pic:


There are 4 more in this series but unless I can find a more suitable jointed body I'm not sure if I need to collect all of them, considering one of them is around $40 (definitely not worth it), but since I customize too having so many different head types is pretty freaking awesome. There are some real gems in the old Takara and Tsukuda Hobby collections!!