When DBZ Figuarts popped up on the US store not only did they start with two available at the same time (one being US exclusive). But from that point on, all P-Bandai figures appeared on the US store. There were a couple that were skipped but those became retail releases in the US.

I do not understand the reasoning behind not including as much as they can. The P-Bandai is literally to try and cover any overhead that would make them reserved before producing a figure.

You should also realize P-Bandai doesn't exist JUST for Kamen Rider. The site serves other premium products for other Bandai lines. KR's the outlier due to the lower level of exposure.

Things are going to be slow if they're gonna start introducing P-Bandai Rider SHFs to the US site. They're not gonna suddenly start throwing every exclusive up.

I agree with that! But this is still better than the 0 we had before

P-Bandai isn't a physical store front. Other franchises don't take up shelf space over other franchises. KR also never puts out dozens of exclusives at the same time. And if offering too much product at the same time was actually detrimental, they wouldn't do it with Gundam which they routinely do already.

Gundam is one of their biggest properties worldwide.

I forgot Kamen Rider was some small obscure property and not their third biggest seller only behind Dragon Ball and Gundam respectively.

in the US, Kamen Rider is nowhere near their "third biggest seller"

Emphasis mine.

The Premium Bandai US store's' primary focus is the United States.

I don?t know how big Godzilla is for Bandai, but all those SH Monsterarts releases, even the Japanese p-bandai ones, get regular retail releases in America. Those boxes are huge and cliunky too. Must be a pain in the butt to ship.

And if you are some kind of business exec who loves money, surely you would rather be paid in the ascendant Dollar, than the weakened Yen. All the US import places are getting a great windfall off this conversion rate, so surely Bandai would want to get in on that action. It?s smart for Bandai to start selling these Kamen Rider SHF in their own store, in my opinion.

So why did you respond with talking about worldwide popularity when you tried to belittle my post?

Wasn't battling anything. Gundam is infact big worldwide, and that includes the US. Kamen Rider, however, is not big all around the globe, as it is still very niche in the US. It's been growing, yeah, but it's nowhere near the level of Dragon Ball or Gundam as of right now.

That new map thing that they have in their Tamashii Web product pages now shows the regions they sell products in (haven't actually really looked into it), and they divided it into Japan (self-explanatory), US (also self-explanatory), Asia (China, Korea, most of Southeast Asia, and Australia), EU (Europe, South Africa, and some tiny bit of Saudi Arabia), and LATM+ (Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil). It's not actually worldwide, considering that most of Africa, West and South Asia, and Russia are omitted.

But back to Kamen Rider, yea it's big in Asian countries, but in the West it's really not. It's still really niche compared to Toei's and Bandai's other big properties, so it's not unexpected that they're not immediately putting up KR P-Bandai exclusives on the US Tamashii Web store.

The grass is greener where you water it, right?

Toei should just make a deal with netflix, round up some anime or video game english voice actors, dub a bunch of kamen rider series and throw it up there. Squid Game being as big as it was convinced me this is how you get people to watch non-english language shows in America. As long as they put the original language with subtitles as an option for me, I’d be happy with such an arrangement.

But yeah releasing all these p-bandai figures for shows that are not available in America probably would have some exec scratching their head. “Who would know what this is? WHY do they know what this is?! Just sell another Goku to those Americans, and stop wasting time!!!”

I'm a bit worried Shadow Moon might be too niche and it won't pull in the numbers Bandai would want. But I hope with the Geats SHF line coming soon, they take a chance on that the same way they're doing with DX and offering it stateside

In other news, it looks like amiami is maintaining their strategy of putting up new POs a day after everyone else sold theirs. The Shin Trio (Ultra reissue, Godzilla Resurgence, Shin KR) & Suletta Mercury SHF go up Nov 2 11am JST

This sucks so badly. AmiAmi was a shit pre-order gacha for a long time, now it's a shit pre-order gacha in the middle of the night. Screw that garbage.

If I really want anything, I have to buy it elsewhere.

But just in case anyone needed more intensive not to buy from them:

https://i.imgur.com/n8442NR.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/40Zrf75.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/Txdl4kK.jpg

SUCH DISCOUNT, MUCH WOW

Meanwhile here's another item from the drop that probably won't be in hot demand:

https://i.imgur.com/AJXNnW2.jpg

Weird, huh?

For me it makes it much easier, because it goes up at 2AM rather than the 7AM it usually would be for me. It's only one option though so I can only hope I get it

They're also doing a Shin Evangelion re-issue btw. Not exactly Figuarts or Toku but worth noting alongside the other Shins

https://i.imgur.com/8kkbSFX.png

yikes

I just checked Anime-Export and they have most of those right now still open and for less. No listing as of now for Shin KR

I'm glad it's a bit easier for others now at least, but for me everyone updates their shop sometime before noon - except AmiAmi.

This worries me - but some things I thought they "never" listed were just very late so - maybe tomorrow?

It seems to be mostly accurate barring a couple oddities like the recent Angewomon not being available in the US despite many US stores already having her up for pre-order.

Bandai has been releasing Rider merch in the US officially for many years now. Long before there was an official/legal release for any of these series. Don't see why it's now suddenly a problem.

Not to mention, the other figure that just got announced for pre-order, Agito, can be watched legally. And once again, this is an online storefront where Bandai has customers prepay for figures bypassing most overhead costs that a traditional store ensues.

Oh yeah, the agito subs from TokuHD, lol. Honshin!

I get why Bandai does not want to draw attention to that.

Reloaded the second the hour turned, clicked immediately, and then the checkout said not available and then it's labeled out of stock. Literally what am I supposed to do better here

Shin Ichigou went up on Amiami and preorders closed within 2 minutes.

Got lucky and was able to secure one the moment the clock hit the preorder hour.

They... appear to be back up and aren't running out in seconds?? Weird but I'll happily take it; just secured mine

Don't ask why I'm awake. I got the same result as Kurona so I assumed they closed manually, surprised to see that Shin Henshin actually managed to get through. 20 minutes after they opened orders again and I got one. Still open now.

Have to say, I'm pretty surprised by Shin Ultraman selling out so quick. He seemed to have been readily available for a while before this re-issue

I feel like all the initial wave of merch was out but the movie was delayed , so there was less interest until people were finally able to see it

I?ve thought about picking it up but I feel the Mafex version is a tad better

I did see the Mafex listing and got curious. Does anyone have a basic comparison/rundown of the differences between the various similar Shin Ultraman figures?

Here?s an SHF vs Mafex review. https://youtu.be/8Eg_leXe30A

I have both and my Mafex arrived with one of the arms put on backwards and I would have to rip apart the whole thing to fix it, so I put it back in the box. The SHF wins it for me.

Eyes on shf are much better. They are sort of clear and shiny, whereas the eyes on mafex are opaque. The hips on the shf look better too, in my opinion. The mafex is a lot taller though, if you like that.

The guy strangely doesn't seem to go over it (ironically for how much he's complaining about the thigh cut on SHF) but does Mafex not have a thigh swivel?? Seems a pretty big omission compared to SHF. And then the whole thing with the eyes... yeah, think the SHF is what I'll go with. Thank you :)

I watched that video about a year ago, and kind of forgot what he talked about. I was trying to make the same decision and bought the mafex first, then switched to the SHF.

I guess the other thing that might stick out to you is the triangle tip on the waist of the SHF ultraman. Part of it is on the abdomen, and the other part is on the underpants cutout (don’t have a better term; at least I did not call it a diaper) if you twist the waist, the silver triangle might not line up. Mafex does not have that problem.

Something about the mafex does not feel like the shin ultraman to me. It is kind of… beefy? maybe? It doesn’t quite feel like the slim weirdo that shin ultraman normally looks like.

Plus as far as I know mafex is not making more shin ultraman figures, so if you want your guy to have friends, the SHF is a nice selection.

Mad at myself for forgetting to set an alarm for when Shin Ichigo went up. Was around 7pm my time, I would have had nothing going on, I just totally forgot

Is Shin Ichigo the official name of the figure?

Is the character referred to as Ichigo?

The figure is labeled "Kamen Rider (Shin Kamen Rider)" on the Tamashii website so the character should just be called "Kamen Rider" I think.

It has a thigh swivel, it's just hidden. The short version for Shin Ultraman figures is that if you want better Articulation, go to MAEX. If you want shinier paint, go with ThreeZero. Go with SHF if you plan to collect multiple characters.

Or buy all 3 if you're mad. Source: Me, because I bought all 3 :lol

Haven't gotten the ThreeZero one yet though, should be here soon.

I prefer the Mafex over the SHF myself, but Rabbitman's argument is valid, Tamashii will do more, Medicom probably won't, so if you want compatible foes for Shin Ultraman I'd go with the SHF.

I'm just going with Ultraman himself - I'm specifically after a Shin Japan Heroes display - but the SHF does look overall better to me, especially with the eyes. Mafex's butterfly joint looks downright weird to me, and bothers me more than the triangle thing on the SHF's waist would

According to Tamashii's site, Shin Ichigo will be sold at the usual retailers in the US. So for those who missed Japanese pre-orders and are in the US, they shouldn't panic about securing one.

These re-issues have really worked wonders. I see Kuuga, W, Gomora and even Wizard on Manda for a fair bit less than what they used to be -- still overpriced for some of them, sure, but a lot more reasonable than before

As a serious Toy Collector for the past 34 years, I ALWAYS detest reissued figures with NO OBVIOUS DIFFERENCES than the original. Never seen so much complaining about prices from people. This is an Adult hobby. It?s aimed at 15 & older, and premium prices are the usual fare for collecting, not casual buying.
Kind of a slap in the face of the collectors to constantly reissue figures/cash-grabs until it?s no longer fun to get them. But not everyone is a Toy Collector, some just get what they like and move on. And Rider is definitely not the only line I collect that CONSTANTLY abuses their fans (ANY Godzilla line from ANY maker) with pointless (for moi wallet & I ) cash-grab reissues. Also, I use my collecting to control my rampant OCD.