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

The long-awaited MASTERLISE Rao, Thief, and Muniel figures are here!
And that's not all! Big acrylic stands of the Swimmers and Satan, cloth posters with super cute or awesomely cool designs, and an amazingly complete History Post Card Collection are available! Every item in this set is sure to please fans of SAND LAND: THE SERIES!

These products are all Ichiban Kuji Online exclusives! We couldn't wait to get our hands on these items, so I asked a developer all about them and his passion really surprised me!
Alongside this awesome interview, we'll give you the lowdown on this exciting lineup!

A Manga That Brings Readers Joy

—What are some of your memories of "SAND LAND"?

After the Dragon Ball manga ended, I read some of Akira Toriyama's short run comics like "Cowa!" and "Kajika", and some one-shots as well like "Bubul of the Majin Village" and "Neko Majin". But I remember that it was "SAND LAND" that made me think "this is SO Toriyama!" With its fantasy creatures, middle-aged men, military-like mecha, as well as both action and comedic scenes, it's a manga that brings joy to readers!

A Prize & B Prize - Looking Absolutely Incredible as Figures -

—The A Prize, Rao, and the B Prize, Thief, have been created with a great attention to detail, from their beards and the wrinkles on their faces, all the way down to the texture of their clothing!

Akira Toriyama's older male characters in particular really pop off the page, so they look incredible as figures.
To make sure that these figures popped in the same way, we got help from some amazing sculptors who were responsible for the prototypes of Ichiban Kuji Dragon Ball EX series' Kamesennin and Taopaipai!

We asked the sculptor to not only incorporate important elements from the anime, but also elements from the manga from when it was originally serialized in Jump back in 2000!
Personally, I think the style in SAND LAND leaves more of an impression than the muscular aesthetic in the later parts of Dragon Ball. I wanted to reproduce that style in figure form, so that was the basis for any corrections I gave for the prototypes.

Ichiban Kuji SAND LAND Released in 2023
I Want to Display Them with the A Prize Beelzebub

C Prize -I Wanted to Recreate Akira Toriyama's Art as Faithfully as Possible-

—Muniel appears in several different forms in the story, why did you pick the hero costume for the C Prize?

I thought that Muniel's angel costume is very form-fitting and sleek, whereas the angel costume would be easier to convey a lot of information about the character visually when made into a figure.

Also, the first time I saw Muniel was a character design illustration of him in the hero costume drawn by Akira Toriyama. So, I used that illustration as a reference for all the poses and gazes when creating this feature. Additionally, I wanted to bring Akira Toriyama's work to life as accurately as I could.

Akira Toriyama's Design

Last One Prize - Bringing This to Life Should Be Interesting!

—The Last One Prize, Beelzebub, is painted to match the teaser image, but what made you decide to use this unique coloring for this figure?

I wanted to make sure this lineup featured Rao and Thief, so fans can line them up with Beelzebub from last year's SAND LAND set, but I needed to think long and hard about whether or not to include another Beelzebub in this set, too.

At the risk of tooting my own horn, I thought the A Prize Beelzebub from the last set was really well made, so I initially didn't think there was any point in having another figure like it. But when I saw the visuals for the movie, I thought "it'd be interesting to bring this into the real world!"

The character visual didn't include the feet, so I tried my hand at drawing them myself, and for the back side we had an illustrator draw different illustrations or use different color patterns, which were checked by other related companies.

Character Visuals From the Movie

Special Coloring Used To Recreate The Cool Character Visuals!

D Prize - A Prize of This Size Would Normally Be More Difficult to Win -

—What made you decide what to include these Big Acrylic Stands in this lineup?

—The first thing we decided to include in this lineup was the Swimmers. We had acrylic stands in the lineup last year too, but due to size and lineup limitations we couldn’t include the Swimmers, which was disappointing.

Also, since this series is more expensive than other products in the Ichiban Kuji series, we can include prizes in lower ranks that would normally be more difficult to win.
For the characters, we used some larger ones like Satan and the transformed Muniel, but since there were also movie teaser images of the five main characters from the series’ "The Story of the Angel Hero" arc, we included them too. Considering this set is based on the anime series, we wanted to make sure we included images from the series' opening and ending credits as they are unique to the anime!

When comparing these new acrylic stands to the collectable acrylic stand (Beelzebub) from the first series,
these really stand out with their larger 14-20cm sizes!

E Prize - We Wanted to Meet as Many Fans’ Desires as Possible -

—How'd you come up with all the different designs for the cloth posters?

Outside of the figures, Prizes D through F, were designed specifically so winners could choose the designs that they wanted. Furthermore, when we designed them, we wanted to satisfy as many fans as possible by offering lots of different designs to choose from, with minimal overlaps!

F Prize - I Hope You Get One! -

—The History Post Card collection has a lineup of a whopping 78 different postcards in total, divided into sets of six. I'm sure you like all of them, but would you mind telling us what your personal top 3 is?

This might not be all that interesting of an answer, but I like the set that includes scenes from the first episode when the three are talking in Rao's car, because it really feels like the start of a new adventure! Also, I really liked the part right after that scene, when Beelzebub says, "How's that? Pretty badass, right?". I felt like it really cemented Beelzebub as a character!

And each set includes a non-story visual, like one from the opening credits, closing credits, or posters. Personally though, I really like the main visual of episode 13, "Story of the Angel Hero"!

And that's not all! This time, anyone who buys ten Ichiban Kuji tickets will be given a SAND LAND movie one-year anniversary celebration illustration, so I hope you get one!

You Can Get One Every 5 Or 10 Purchases!

—Thank you so much! Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to people who read this interview?

Those who are reading this right now probably aren’t surprised to hear that I am a fan of SAND LAND and Akira Toriyama’s other works, just like all of you! (Laughs)
As a fan, I want to develop products that are filled with my love and admiration for the original work, so it would fill me with joy if people who are also big Toriyama and SAND LAND fans also enjoy these products!
I know that this set of Ichiban Kuji is a little more expensive than usual, but the odds of winning a figure were purposely made higher than the standard rates! Plus, you can choose the design you want for the non-figure prizes as well, making this a great time to try for those new to Ichiban Kuji! I hope that with this SAND LAND set as a starting point, even those who have never partaken in Ichiban Kuji before can experience the fun for themselves!