Because maybe D-arts and Figuarts have different rules?

Hell, maybe licenses or somethinf have to do with it? I hardly doubt Bluefin is just like "Haha! We'll bring over D-arts exclusives, but NOT Verde or these other guys, that'll sure piss people off!" I mean, really wouldn't Bandai be the one's saying who gets released? Bluefin is a distributor, not the toy makers.

I'm happy about this; don't care about the rest of you. That's actually a pretty darn good price too if you ask me.

because the market for rider merchandise is small. hell they have to constantly fight with toei to bring over regular rider figuarts, we learned this from an interview with bluefin

That's because Abyss is NOT an exclusive, right? Also, they've released other exclusives to the US before, it's just that Bandai Japan is pretty nitpicky about what comes over here and whatnot. Bluefin doesn't make the toys, they distribute them.

As for me, I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS RELEASE.

Already got my preorder in over at AmiAmi so this doesn't really affect me. That said, it is pretty sad that they can't bring over the web shop exclusives. I mean, if you're going to bother releasing Kamen Rider figures in the first place (fully aware that the market is smaller than for, say, Dragonball or Megaman), why not bring in their exclusives as well? Some background deal that doesn't let them sell KR exclusives is all I can think of as a reason (though to my knowledge they never divulged any such rule or reason for why they can't), since they've no problem bringing over exclusive DBZ Figuarts and the aforementioned D-Arts Megaman exclusives. Oh well, If we want the exclusives I guess we'll just have to stick with middlemen for now. A reason for why they can't bring them over would be appreciated though.

the market is just too small, toei already is iffy about releasing mass release kamen rider figuarts over here, let alone the exclusives. the fact we got black condor at all is a miracle

I still don't quite understand why you guys are getting upset that this guy is happening...

That's a great price.

Also did everyone here not watch that cool interview one of the staff from this site did with a Tamashii Nations employee last year? They explained about the exclusives. Some franchises like DBZ, MonsterArts, and (some) D-Arts are much more popular in the US, so the decision to make them is based on US sales.

In those cases, Bandai is making them for the US market first, and the Japanese market second. With those lines, it's not a case of Bluefin negotiating for some of the exclusive stock, but a case that without the US interest those figures wouldn't be made at all, even as Japanese exclusives. The DBZ SHF bombed in Japan. But since they're now making them for the US market, they might as well offer them as exclusives to the few Japanese collectors who want them.

It's the reverse for Kamen Rider. Since there is no Kamen Rider media presence in the US, Bandai is skeptical about the appeal of KR merchandise in the US. Bluefin WANTS to be able to release the exclusives, but they are not allowed to. We're lucky we even get the standard releases.

I'm pretty sure no one is upset that Abyss is being released. They're likely upset about the fact that we're not getting the KR exclusives. Say one is collecting Ryuki Figuarts and only buy from shops that Bluefin supports, surely they'd be disappointed that they won't be able to get all of them. It's as simple as that and definitely not about Abyss himself. It just happens to be discussed here because he is technically a Ryuki Rider, and Scissors, Verde, Gai and Ryuga won't be released here.

Neat! I'll still be trying for the Japanese release, to get him sooner, but if I can't find a deal I like, I'd be perfectly happy getting Abyss thru Bluefin.