Tokusatsu, merchandising and rampant consumerism (yipee!)
 

Despite my love for tokusatsu, I am quite concerned over the rampant consumerism present within these shows. Don't get me wrong I'm still going to watch toku, but shows like Power Rangers, Super Sentai and Kamen Rider ultimately exist to sell toys. I often ponder upon the effects this has on kids and adults. Consumerism has been linked to decreased life satisfaction and happiness while also linked to an increase in depression and antisocial behaviour.

I know I often joke that my wallet is in danger whenever a new toy is announced, but I often find myself thinking long and hard before purchasing something, which is usually enough time for something I want in the moment to lose its appeal to me. Hence, I don't have a single Figuart in my shelf. I may be protected to a degree thanks to my stinginess, but I wonder how this merchandising train affects kids watching these things. I know parents would usually buy these things for their kids.

Take Kamen Rider for instance, which over the years have increased its arsenal of weaponry and belts. Thanks to the efficiency of production increasing over the years, more and more merchandise can be pumped out compared to years ago. Take Kuuga, who had a simple (relatively speaking) arsenal compared to the merchandising onslaught of Zero-One's 'collectible belts' (if Zero-One's 'collectible items' were belts, then I guess one could argue that Saber's real collectible items are swords, not 'books').

It's not just Kamen Rider. What about Super Sentai? Well, let's not forget the buttload of gimmick-stuffed mecha which have increased over the years to the point that some don't stay for very long. And then there's the plethora of interactive trinkets that you are encouraged to buy, some of which can only be obtained through special sets or lotteries (Ranger Keys anyone?).

I know that toku is not going to stop selling stuff to kids and collectors anytime soon, why would they if its making them boatloads of money? Rather, the increase in the amount of P-Bandai over the years seems to indicate that Bandai wants to appeal to collectors as well as children, something which Hasbro has been doing in the West as well through Hasbro Pulse, thus encouraging spending in adults as well. Oh, and making something limited edition just adds a certain appeal to the whole scheme of things. And it's not just exclusives that make merchandising more appealing to collectors. 2-packs, team sets, build-a-figure-whose-body-has-been-separated-through-different-other-figures, combining weaponry that are sold separately. These are all advertised with slogans such as "build the most powerful weapon" or "collect them all to complete the ultimate team" to make the buyer think they are in control and it all benefits them, but as P.T. Barnum once said, "there's a sucker born every minute" (actually we don't know if Barnum ever said that but the point still stands). And then there's also the merchandise which target childhood nostalgia and/or harken back to the roots fo the franchise (Transformers Generations anyone?)

So am I against merchandising? To a degree I am. If merchandising really is going to have a negative mental effect on people then I am quite against it as at that point they have been captured by the snares of consumerism. On the other hand, I am aware and recognise that there are people who can exhibit self-control and can shield themselves against the growing consumerism over our age so I wouldn't call a worldwide ban over it. However, that does not change the fact that I'm still extremely concerned over the possible effects this might have on one's mental state. I know I myself have fallen into the pit of merchandising in the past, with the 'gotta have it!' attitude.

But it's not just me, there are also a few testimonies from around Tokunation as well (I apologise in advance for not asking permission):
TL;DR - Toku usually involves merchandising, consumerism has been linked to negative mental effects, I'm worried over the effects this could have on kids and collectors. I fell into the rabbit hole of consumerism once with all the negative side effects, and I'm not the only one here who got captured by it.

To those who are about to fall in the rabbit hole of buying toku merch, I advise you to exhibit caution; once you drop it's hard to stop. Spare yourself the pain that I and many others have experienced. Please think about your needs first before your wants. I also advise saving money for any future emergencies or in case your family or friends have any trouble that you could lend your financial aid to.

To those who are currently spending lots of money and have a 'buying addiction' or seemingly insatiable need for toys and merch, I ask you to please stop for a while and think over your life. Your life may not have become worse, but has your life improved via these purchases? What about your finances? Space in your home? Relationships? Spirituality (for those who are spiritually or religiously minded)? If any of these have been affected negatively after purchasing, I say stop immediately.

Oh, and also, I may have talked a lot about physical merchandising in this post, but consumerism also extends to the digital medium as well (loot boxes, DLCs, etc.) so keep an eye out.

So what about you guys? I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions over this matter. I've given my two cents, let's hear yours.

And I am not even going to go into the whole 'mint in packaging' or 'box in mint condition' mentality some collectors have, it's gonna drive me nuts (I won't judge you if you do prefer to keep your box in mint condition though).

Don't worry about not asking permission, me personally I think it says alot that you're ultimately looking for the wellness of others via this post.

And yeah, like anything, buying things can most certainly become an addiction, especially in recent times where it's more tempting than ever to buy something just for the sake of buying it due to boredom, loneliness, etc.

Like anything that says "think of the children" though, my response is that it's ultimately on the parents/guardians to teach their children self control and to know when to stop, as well as the difference between a want and a need. Needs should always come first.

Could you interpret these shows being glorified toy commercials as scummy? Sure, but it's not like there isn't any substance behind it. Substance which has only grown as the years have gone on. And unfortunately, selling merchandise is the primary way shows like these survive. Heck, alot of media in general does, whether it be DVD sales, posters, etc. Just kinda how a section of business and the economy works.

I'm not really great at contributing to discussions like these, but again, I appreciate you taking to time to think something like this out!

Jesus, this post has really made me recount the trash fire of 2015-2016 where I bought up so many of Gundam IBO kits. In short, I got really into the anime and wanted to buy so much of the coolest designs I could get. It started with just the Astaroth Origin and now I'm stuck with a lot of them. I managed to trim it down substantially by either throwing some away, selling them, or giving them to friends, depending on the condition of the kit. I had plans to trim them down severely this year but, it's obvious why not.

Sometimes I think I want an almost clean-slate. Make all the model kits I bought disappear, keep only the expensive figures. Get into painting, caring for each individual kit instead of snap-fit and go.

Going back to the topic of tokusatsu merch. I'm starting to not be a really big fan of large rider casts. Zero-One was the catalyst for this but I didn't really mind since I found all individual characters interesting, but Saber, coming with seven riders out of the gate put a bad taste to my mouth.

I wanna buy SHFs of the riders, they're really cool designs but I also don't wanna buy almost all of SOL since I know that a season is a yearly thing and these characters would either just become irrelevant or get a mainstay upgrade that makes my previous purchase irrelevant (FF Jin vs BF Jin).

It's also why I don't buy DX toys. It looks painful for a lot of people. Let's say the DX Zero-One driver is released, people buy it en masse since it's the spiffy new belt, regardless of the price. People buy the rest of the upgrades too, full price. Then the show ends, and now you have Mandarake being flooded with the same toys you bought, just now dirt cheap.

But this shines a light on something I'm slowly be aware of in modern day society. The consumerism aspect that we have grown accustomed to that are further enabled by things like Netflix, shows that it becomes extremely difficult for something to be a "classic".

You'd watch Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, you buy merch, show finishes, move on to Build, rinse and repeat. It's a scary and unsustainable of consuming media.

At the end of the day, it's a kids show. You yourself have the ability to control yourself if you wish it so. And also, I gotta go and clean up my gunpla flood.

Oh man I hear you. I don't really care about collecting Gunpla anymore, no matter how cool they might be. However, I do dream of eventually creating my own original Gunpla that I can call my own, with custom paint, detail and everything. I guess I'm just affected by the plastic mecha romanticism from Build Fighters hahaha.

I definitely would have preferred if you asked permission first, but this is very much something I agree with -- and you probably won't find too much pushback on this forum, considering how much we go on about recent shows having too many toys!

I've been thinking about this recently in two particular ways as well. First off, I was without a laptop for almost two months and hence I missed a LOT of ongoing Toku -- and I love Toku enough to not, like, go on Kissasian with my phone or whatever; I decided to wait till I could actually watch it on a new computer. And when I did finally get it, I was able to watch through episodes 21 through 29 of Kiramager!

... and hooooly SHIT that was a massive deluge of toys all at friggin' once. And I liked these episodes, quite a bit! But it was hard to escape the feeling that the vast majority were writing around having to advertise a billion toys at once. We'd just gotten the Mashin Driller and PB Yodon Changer; but now they got a new train, then the Kiramai Arrow, and now the Oradin mech. And every single one meant that while writers have gotten clever at writing around these; this forced them into a loop of writing the same story every two weeks -- bad guys up the ante, need a new powerup, get a new powerup in part 2. And while I like how some of these went (LOVE the moral of the Kiramai Arrow 2-parter; wasn't expecting it at all), it was difficult to feel like I wasn't watching the same thing over and over; and that if they'd just cut out the second train or something it would have been a lot smoother. It was most noticeable with this stretch of Kiramager, but there's countless other examples recently -- Saber's episodes so far have had like three new toys each, and bless your soul if you were keeping track of Build's fullbottles or Ryusoulger's keys. In many ways modern Ultra is a little more resistant to this; still being on a budget meaning they have only a handful of toys and the auxiliary forms still actually matter. Still have a lot of irrelevant items like Z's lance but it's nowhere near Toei's big two.

The second way is... as stated in that quoted post, my SHF collecting is relegated to a specific few collections of characters that I like. And I have a list of those -- which recently I've been pretty ruthless in cutting down. I have a W/OOO/Fourze display, and I'd like to see that completed; but do I seriously like Accel enough to hunt him down and drop £60 on him when I care way more for Birth and Fourze that I got for far less? Like I'd go for an FRS in an instant, but... no. No. You're cool, dude, but c'mon. I've also been cutting Ultras from the list on the realisation that the two I have coming up I'm more than happy with at the moment and I could always go after the other few at a later date especially with how good SHF Ultra is about re-issues; I've been realising that certain earlier SHFs are probably good enough instead of waiting for renewals; etc. As such my potential spending list has been cut down by a lot and it's very refreshing.

I think just... I dunno. The whole thing gets a bit depressing after a while if I'm honest; and I'll be happy to get to the point where the few new SHFs I want run out and I can just focus on earlier SHFs and FRSes, which are both much cheaper and always readily-available so I don't have to be ready to dump down £50 by next wednesday.

Yeah, come to think of it, just looking at Zero-One and Saber they are pushing two sets of collectibles; Zero-One started off with them Progrise Keys but eventually a second set of collectibles emerged through the belts. And Saber continues this newfound way of collecting two sets of collectibles with the Wonder Ride Books and the transformation devices, in this case the swords. Now I am curious if this will continue next year with Reiwa rider no.3 as well.

You know it's bad when they're selling the friggin' functionless buckle Kenzan and Buster just happen to wear...

https://i.imgur.com/kh4vSY1.png

I keep track of my collections with a spreadsheet which helps me both manage it and give me a better appreciation of when it gets absurd or out of hand.

I hope people realize that just about every reason we use to justify a purchase (gap filling, limited edition, set collection, etc) is well understood by the makers to sell those things to us. It's not our justification, it's theirs.

Considering my Toku collection so far fits neatly on my dresser, I think I have a little bit of wiggle room before I start needing to worry about this stuff. Buuut still, probably a good idea to keep an eye on myself.

Well this is - quite the personal topic. Sounds like you needed to get something off of your chest which is absolutely fine.

The way I see it, yes, they market their stuff on purpose so they have lots of things to sell and lots of kids who want it. But the danger in that lies less with the products and the marketing, but the way children are raised IMO. It's up to their parents to not let their wants spiral out of control and to teach them the value of their toys and what effort is needed to get them.

As far as the adult collecting thing goes: Focus and control are everything. You need to establish what you want, and it needs to be the lowest priority for you to spend your money on. Personally, basic needs are to be covered first, then you put a good deal into savings and whatever is left at the end is free to spend. That's control.

And for the focus, that is something every collector needs to discover on their own. I have discovered a few brands I'm 100% into, Figuarts being one of them, while others even though hot with collectors I don’t touch because I don't like the way these figures "feel" in hand. It may also help that not everything is readily available around here so I often have to look for imports and be prepared to pay shipping and import fees.

It's weird but after a while at least I learned quickly what I want to buy. If I see something and it checks all my boxes, I pre-ordered it without second thought and usually end up satisfied. If there's something really cool that I could afford but have the one nagging thought in the back of my head "Do you really want this though?" I usually don't order it; let the feeling cool down a bit and then see if it still interests me after a week or two. Usually it doesn't and that’s money saved.

Wow, now things have gotten personal on my end too, huh? What I'm trying to say is, try to maintain control and focus, finding it isn't easy and may lead to some acquisitions you regret and sell later on. But once you find your focus and have control, collecting is a very rewarding hobby. Seeing new figures revealed that I'm into is always exciting, even though I don’t buy most of them. But that one thing becoming reality you always wanted to see can really turn some bad moods upside down, and a package coming your way at the end of a month is a nice little thing to look forward to.

I stopped collecting Figuarts because of this. My Figuarts collection used to be FUCKING massive, then I realized I was GROSSLY overpaying for these figures when I could have just been patient and saved at least 30% of their original price on the aftermarket. I took way too fucking long to realize AmiAmi and Mandarake existed. There was a time in my life where I thought it was okay to spend 120 USD for an SH Figuarts Kamen Rider Chaser. I sold that one years later because I was having some personal issues, and then years later, when I wanted to get back into Figuarts, I found him for literally less than 40 USD on both Mandarake and AmiAmi. So after swearing off of Figuarts, I got back into them again because I found out about secondhand. I somehow convinced myself I was saving money lol I was so amazed by how cheap Figuarts could be on the aftermarket.

Not long after that, I built up another collection; probably the most Figuarts I ever owned. I had over 80. I literally had an entire room dedicated to my collection. One day it just clicked to me; wow, these guys are getting really dusty...how in the fuck am I going to keep maintaining these guys? I was like, only 6 months in before I came to my senses. Why was I spending so much money on these guys if I'm just going to display them...and then let them get dusty? There was no point. I love Kamen Rider, but this was absolutely, insanely unhealthy. It's true that there isn't a better 1/12 scale option if you want to collect Kamen Rider figures, but why do I need to have the absolute best of the best? The answer is that I don't; at all. Figuarts are not my calling.

But then, thank god for SO-DO and RKF. I've enjoyed collecting Kamen Rider stuff SO much more; knowing I'm spending so little for so much quality AND quantity. Plus, since I seal the stickers myself and do a little painting, they feel more personal to me. Personally, I don't collect the model kits, but I can see others doing so for similar reasons. They're also smaller and always come with their own stands, so it's just...too convenient. If they get a little dusty, I won't feel bad since they're so cheap. I'm so much better off spending less than 50 bucks a month to have almost every single suit and form change from the currently airing series, and more. 50 bucks wouldn't even get me a SINGLE Premium Bandai exclusive Figuarts nowadays.

I could go on for much longer, but my Figuarts phase was one of the worst phases of my life, in hindsight. I'm absolutely done with that and I cannot fucking wait to sell off the last of my Figuarts collection. I can't even stand to look at the boxes I have lying around.

This is sort of where I'm at too; just substituting Figuarts with Figure-Rise Standards and, uh, old Figuarts that are pretty cheap. Literally of the SHFs I still want to get, if there were Figure-Rises instead; I'd just go for the FRS for all of them except Kuuga. I'm actually quite happy to pay premium for higher-quality versions of my absolute favs (OOO, Tajador, Build, Cross-Z, Kuuga), but for others I really wish there was a much cheaper and readily-available option. Rider gimmick lines used to be this but then RKF happened and your only options now for that scale is SHF and FRSes which unfortunately only seem interested in doing main riders and a couple repaints.

That's kind of the issue with SHF no-one brings up these days -- with RKF and SO-DO being a completely different scale and FRS not doing anything current or beyond the main rider, SHFs are literally your only option for a 6' figure of a recent rider. Don't want to pay 12,000 Yen for a pre-owned SHF Valkyrie even though you just want a decent figure of her at that size? Tough, suck it up or get a smaller one.

It's a sort of balancing game with SHF now with what you can wait out and what you absolutely have to buy to avoid aftermarket prices.

This happened to me with SHF Jin. Jin's pre-orders went up right after his and Horobi's death. I thought that I shouldn't pre-order Horobi since he died and he didn't have any leaks of an upgrade unlike Burning Jin. I bought Jin, not Horobi, and now Horobi is so high up in teh aftermarket.

Won't repeat this mistake for Saber tho. I know Cailbur (and maybe Espada) are going to be high in the aftermarket, but I can also probably wait out Jaouh Dragon to be made into SHF.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm glad I ended up cancelling my Vulcan Shooting Wolf pre-order in the end; it was just because I couldn't justify it at the time but he's actually become surprisingly cheap and readily-available on the aftermarket. Guess it's because it's Rampage and Assault where people started liking him!

Though of the yet-to-be-announced SHFs I want - Rampage Gatling, Den-O Climax, New Den-O, W Gold Xtreme - I can see all of them getting pretty expensive on the aftermarket, so I'll just go for them as they happen. Oh how I regret not getting Seihou Kuuga's re-issue...

Seihous in general are going to become to expensive regardless. I wanna play the waiting game on Assault Wolf tho, since I like that form. Assault Hopper is already popping up in Mandarake for 6500 yen which is not bad. If they make Orthoros Vulcan, I'd prefer that.

The strange thing is, I can find both OOO and Den-O for close to retail price on Manda. OOO I can get due to his re-issues, but Den-O is wild to me.

Unless it's Shinkochou Seihou, I've found that every Figuart becomes cheaper if you just wait enough, or at least one guy will eventually show up out of nowhere who just wants to get rid of his figure(s), even at a net loss for himself.

Kamen Rider Chaser used to not only be hard to find, but even harder to find at less than 100 USD. Nowadays it's actually impossible to find him for more than 70 USD. I've even seen multiple listings around 50 USD.

Prices are bound to fluctuate and change, you just have to keep an eye out for it. I have had unbelievably good success with Ebay in this regard, back when I still collected Figuarts consistently.

It depends on the series. With Ex-Aid and Zi-O, for instance, most of their figures are pretty easy to get on Manda for cheap with the exception of certain popular or rare outliers like Dangerous Zombie and Ohma Zi-O. However, most of the Build and Zero-One figures became more expensive, rare or both on the aftermarket instead -- I've basically had to give up all hopes of ever getting Rogue or Valkyrie with how high their prices have risen. It's generally only the retail stuff that escapes that fate, but even then Rising Hopper has also gone up in price.

It doesn't depend on anything. Some of them take longer than others, but it always happens. I've never seen a Figuart that didn't hit a price below its MSRP at least once; not even the modern ones. When you're buying secondhand, people can throw on their own price tags, and sometimes people are desperate.

Mandarake is great but it isn't the gold standard for secondhand. I've seen plenty of good deals on AmiAmi, Okini, Ebay, and even Twitter. There are always outliers but their days will always come, too. The Dangerous Zombie I bought earlier this year was only 70 USD and it came from Ebay. Same guy was selling 3 of them.

Valkyrie is still very recent, so I definitely wouldn't hold my breath, but I'd still keep an eye out. I've seen multiple Rogues for less than 70 USD, which is still higher than the original MSRP, but not bad at all for such a prominent character. You'll definitely see more Rogue figures like that next year, since Prime Rogue has an updated head mold. The first batch of RabbitRabbit, if you can find it, is relatively cheap for similar reasons.

Retail releases are so cheap it's honestly hard for me to see them dipping below MSRP on the aftermarket, unless it's something that was kind of too expensive to begin with, like Shooting Wolf.

I'm talking about consistency too, though. Outliers will always exist - I got a pretty decent deal on Twitter a month back - but if I go on Mandarake or something right now, I can guarantee I'll see Den-O Liner or Lazer Turbo at a good price, and if they're not there, they probably will be within a week or two. This has never been the case with any Build figure aside from a small handful that aren't popular (Cross-Z Charge, Mad Rogue) and I won't be surprised if it's the same thing with Valkyrie and Horobi given how popular they got.

I guess this would be the best topic to put this in. For anyone who might need it, here's my personal tips to try and keep yourself from going overboard.

1. Needs come before Wants

Kinda obvious, but merchandise should really be something that's low on your priority list. Food, water, bills, shelter, things of that nature should always come before considering if you have the spare cash for merch. And most definitely don't go putting yourself in debt over a simple toy, DVD, or whatever.

2. Think about what the item represents

Assuming you aren't incredibly rich, try to limit yourself to only buying merchandise that represents your absolutely favorite characters or franchises. If the character, series, what have you, isn't one of your most cherished things, skip it. Going "all in" is a quick way to run out of money and space, and you definitely wanna avoid that.

3. Consider the amount of space you actually have

Even if your residence has alot of open space to start, once you start collecting, that space is gonna fill up quick. Try to plan where you're going to put or store something ahead of time before making a purchase. And if your reaction to not having any spare room is "Oh well I can just make room" then be sure to make the space first. Do not go buying something before you actually have the proper place to put it.

4. It's okay to cancel pre-orders

This is especially true if you aren't being charged upfront. Don't feel you're locked in and that you HAVE to buy the item in question if you put in a pre-order. If you're having second thoughts about the price, your given space, or realize that the item in question really isn't that important to you, then go ahead and cancel your order. If things change, you can always either pre-order again later, or just get the item after it's actually been released. Again, these are wants, not needs. You will survive without it.

Feel free to share any of your tips to limit spending too!

I've been thinking about this lately, as well as the need to cut down - especially in the Figuarts department since they just keep getting more and more expensive.

I won't deny I buy a lot, and the fact I review them has probably added to the habit of buying more than I probably need too (not that I need any of them, just lack of a better word). I've always had a few rules that I try to stick to wherever possible though.

- No alt forms. The only times I've ever broken this is for Gaim, Belial and Zero. That said, the multiples I bought were Gaim were ones where they were obviously upgrades as opposed to just alt forms (eg Lemon Energy Baron compared to Mango Arms, if you get the idea) so thanks to that I've managed to talk myself out of wanting the new Gridon and Baron. I've preordered Evol Black Hole so I'm debating selling Blood Stalk, but that depends on how much I can get for him without the steam effects (which I definitely want to keep).

- Do I really care about the character? I've never really been one for completing casts unless it's one I really care about. I ended up getting Thouser since I got the main five from Zero-One, but I'm drawing the line. Naki and Ikazuchi never left an impression on me so if they end up getting figures it's a hard pass. The only one I'm really on the fence on is Ichigata. Tamashii web exclusives (despite the price) have kinda become a blessing in that regard because I don't have to scramble to preorder them on the off chance I DO want them, I tend to wait until the last week of the preorder window before making my choice.

- Is an SHF really the "best" option? This is a relatively new one that I've only just started thinking about now that I buy Black Series figures. Stuff like the SHF Armorer and Heavy Infantry Mandalorian are nice, but they certainly don't feel like they're 2x-3x the price better than the Hasbro equivalents.

- Stick to figures. I have a couple of role-play toys, but generally it's always been an area I've tried to avoid. Gunning for both just feels like it's asking for trouble, especially if you want to try and get everything (or close to everything).

This might be anathema to folks around here, but I throw away all the boxes and packaging for all toys and collectibles (except for Figuarts because they are fragile otherwise!)

I do this for a couple of reason. At first it was to save valuable space, but also to curb buying and conspicuous consumerism spending. If you buy something only for it to sit inside a box for most of its life, what's the point? Are you enjoying the item itself, or just the idea of owning it; and the slight promise of reselling it- which again begs the question of how important is the thing really to you if you would just resell it.

I spend a lot of time in the enthusiast PC gaming crowd and I'm always surprised to see the way people have worshiped material items. They keep and display the boxes of their CPU chips, mouse and keyboard packaging, and sometimes straight up adverts like promo posters and stickers! Companies truly have it made in today's consumerism culture with people willingly advertising their products for them. Logos have become the fashion.

To bring it back around, I think its important to be able to look at your collection, and consider your relationship and attachment with it. How likely are you to sell something when the time comes? What would you take with you if you were forced to evacuate your residence?

A collection should bring you joy, it should never stress you out, and it should create or reminds us of meaningful experiences rather than the material value itself.