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I debated whether or not to post this news here, but decided it's newsworthy as it's horizontally related to Space Marine Heroes and something that Brother Kierdale, one of B&C's Main Man in Japan, told us about. Source: https://www.goodsmile.info/en/product/8253/PLAMAX+MF+36+minimum+factory+Nene+Makeup+Edition.html According to that site: A booklet (Japanese) with tips for painting with Games Workshop's acrylic Citadel Paints is included with the plastic model kit. Citadel Paints are being promoted in Japan. At the time of this writing, we are unable to confirm if the aforementioned booklet with feature Duncan saying "2 thin coats" in Japanese. We also hope for the love of the Omnissiah they remember to tell people to basecoat the models 1st, for crying out loud. Here's the context. These miniatures models are by famed (and mostly adult-only) manga artist 山下しゅんや (written in Japanese because the cuss filter actually redacted his name, click the link for his ComicVine entry his English name), who also did character art or re-designs for franchises like Marvel, DC, Tekken and others, specifically their Bishoujo Statues: "Behold! My invincible and perfectly comfortable sword stance!" As for how Citadel Paints got featured in relation to these Japanese models, it turns out that the distributor/promoter of the figures being painted, known as "Military Qtys" (pronounced "Cuties", look, it creeps me out as much as it does you, I'm just reporting the facts here), are being promoted by Max Factory, the same company that is bringing us the Space Marine Heroes series (including the recently revealed Space Marine Heroes Plague Marines). This past week we've had the revelation of Space Marine Heroes Series 3, the Bandai-Games Workshop partnership as well as this, showing Games Workshop's committed entry into the Japanese Hobby market. What does this have to do with us? It is thanks to Brother Kierdale's reporting in Japan that I 1st realised the Japanese painting technique is quite different than the one we know and take for granted. Non-Warhammer painters see Citadel Paints as good alternative acrylic paints. From his on-site report at a famous hobby centre (please see his full briefing and Like his post): At the bottom of the paint rack, you see that sign with the Citadel logo? The tagline at the top, with the light aquatic 1st character, basically reads "usable with WATER" like it's some unique feature. UPDATE - I've just been informed by a Warhammer Store friend that Vallejo paints did an advertising campaign in the same area that Brother Kierdale covered, Akihabara, that also focused on this aspect, as a major selling point. I have observed the same phenomenon here in Hong Kong, as we're a microcosm of East Meets West, where mostly people learned how to model and paint from Bandai and Tamiya. About once a month, I happen to be in our popular local Warhammer Store when some random uncle comes in and asks about Citadel Paints. They are familiar with painting, but mainly Japanese methods and paints. The reaction to Citadel Paints is always the same, a sort of "Eureka!" moment when he gets very excited about water-soluble paint that doesn't involve weird alcohol based concoctions that require specific thinners and don't smell that bad. To us, that's normal, but to those that don't have it, it is like The Holy Grail. With those observations in mind, I for one am really interested in what new ideas our Japanese Battle Brothers will bring. They will have the same tools as us, but their own ideas, experiences, vision. This can be a huge opportunity for us to learn from one another. To parallel, for those here that have been around as far back as 40k 2nd edition and further back, do you remember when Mike McVey left Games Workshop to help found Privateer Press/Warmachine, then he started showing us how he used Japan's Tamiya "Smoke" ink? That was a breakthrough moment for a lot of us and Smoke remains an integral part of my own personal painting arsenal. Now, that situation is reversed. Combine that with the new possibilities created by another painting innovation from Games Workshop, Contrast paints. What's old shall be made anew...with more new coming our way. (There's also the business angle...which I won't tangent off into right now, but feel free to discuss that if you like. I'll just tie this to something I mentioned before in the Bandai news...that if you want to get Japanese business, Japanese customers only ask that you also "get them", their ideas, their way of doing things...but they are also totally willing to meet you halfway, to learn from you, to take your ideas as well. This is very much evidence of that.)