It's also an obstacle in terms of licenses. Bandai of America, whether we like it or not, holds the license for Power Rangers in the United States. Other toys from Tamashii Nations couldn't be brought over due to other conflicting copyright claims by other companies, such as Ultra-Act Ultraman and Zoffy.

(And they're nothing like Harmony Gold. If Harmony Gold was in charge, we wouldn't even see SRC Daizyujin coming state side.... and the line would probably have disappeared in the 2000's.)

2012 playboy, it just got REAL!

I remember how back when Bandai America got the Megaman license in the mid 90's, I already started losing hope. While Bandai Japan later put out plamo-esque fully articulated Rockman X figures, Bandai America put out under-articulated figures based on the Mega Man cartoon which was on in the US at the time.

Right now Bandai America has a dying Thundercats license, Gundam in the US died under them, and all they really have that sells are Ben10(if even), and Power Rangers.

So as an older collector, I prefer what Bluefin has brought over.

Good to hear that one day in the future we won't have to pay marked up prices for Exclusives.

Here's hoping with Megaforce coming that we get the entire team of Goseigers.

I wonder if the Megazord sells well if it could mean a possible Dragon Zord.

Great interview and a good read. I like hearing more about the inner working of how bluefin works.

Great interview, good to hear they're working on bringing over Web Exclusives. I imagine the inconsistencies that lie with releasing Sentai stuff is in case BoA for some reason would want to release it themselves, even if it is unlikely. It's probably not this way, but I can't help but imagine some stubborn executive denying the rights in case they decide to possibly consider that they may want to think about bringing over some Figuarts.

That's what I think too.


My fear is that SRC Dragon Caesar or option parts to combine with SRC Daizyujin would be god forsaken TamashiiWeb exclusives BUT, then again, maybe Bluefin will come to the rescue! BLUEFIN FOR TEH WIN!

Awesome interview, BlueFin has become a really important feedback of the US market and demand to Bandai of Japan, I am happy for this.

Oh shit, is that what's the problem? Bad enough that it's affecting Zoffy and the new Ultraman. Is that going to apply to Ultra-Act as a whole or just the Showa offerings?

I know they didn't elaborate on it, but I wonder if this is boiling down to, yet again, Tsuburaya vs. Chaiyo. You want to compare anything to Harmony Gold, ask Tsuburaya how much they enjoy having Chaiyo fuck up everything.

I knew about the conflicting copyrights that held up UA Zoffy, but I didn't realize it had to do with Chaiyo until you mentioned it.

I thought Tsuburaya won the rights back for the early Ultra characters and could sell them outside Japan. If not, that could affect other Ultra-Act releases here like you mentioned about Ultraman 2.0 or possible future releases like Jack, Ace, or Taro.

Man, Chaiyo screwed it up for everybody!