26 янв 2011 23:53:26
As much as I (and many people) love Bandai, I must admit that it's a rather tsundere relationship. Their figures are among the best on the market, and they delve into properties other companies tend to overlook (tokusatsu, Digimon, Shonen Jump franchises, etc.); but their fondness for exclusives is downright brutal. And that trend continues - they've announced another batch of Tamashii Web exclusives, and there's something for everyone (to rage over). Let's take a look at the damage, shall we?
BANDAAAAAAAAAAIIIII
First up would be the second s-CRY-ed release in the S.H. Figuarts series, Straight Cougar. While I only had a passing interest in the anime, I'll be damned if Straight Cougar wasn't one of my favorite characters in quite a while - I have a fondness for eccentric-mentor-types, and Cougar's design was pretty cool. And the Figuarts is looking great, with removable sunglasses and three faces (cocky, excited, and even more excited - the latter would make Revoltech Woody proud). So why, Bandai, did you have to go and make him exclusive? I mean, Kazuma isn't even out yet - how do you know that he won't go flying off the shelves, with a huge demand for more characters? At any rate, Straight Cougar isn't the only character being struck by this flawed marketing strategy.
Bandai doesn't want these Power Rangers go-going anywhere outside Japan, it seems.
Many people were excited when Bandai announced that they were doing S.H. Figuarts for Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (or Power Rangers: Samurai, if you prefer). Preorders for ShinkenRed and ShinkenGold sold out within 15 minutes of opening on the major retailers. So Bandai, why the hell have you decided to make the remaining Shinkengers exclusive!? Not only are ShinkenBlue and ShinkenGreen confined to the realm of Tamashii Web, but they've also confirmed that ShinkenYellow, ShinkenPink, and the female ShinkenRed are getting the same treatment. This reminds me of the Figma MISAKA Sisters, in that it's just plain stupid from a financial standpoint. The first two Shinkenger Figuarts sold extraordinarily well. Sentai characters are the type for which people like to buy the full team (because anything less just looks silly). So cutting off both the international market and a good chunk of the domestic market is just an utter waste of money, in my opinion. While I try to calm down, let's move on to some exclusives that actually make sense.
A wild Claydoll appeared!
To be honest, the Claydoll Dopant, of all the characters in Kamen Rider W, doesn't exactly strike me as a mega-hit figure. So it makes sense that they made her an exclusive. However, Wakana Sonozaki does include one very cool accessory (to those familiar with the show) - the Domestic Shorthair cat Mick (affectionately known as the Cheezburger Dopant), whose discontent visage serves as the icon for this post. Another more reasonable exclusive would be this duo...
You... kick the medals one two and three?
Kamen Rider OOO has a lot of combos. And the Kamen Rider Double alternate-form two-packs ended up shelfwarming, so Bandai is this time releasing OOO alternate-Combo two-packs as exclusives. The second pair getting released are the TakaGouBa and GataToraBa Combos. But in order to give a bonus incentive for the purchase, Bandai is including some bonus accessories - medal-spewing effect parts for both OOO's feet and Medajalibur, as well as the Batta and Unagi Candroids. Speaking of bonus accessories...
...Bandai's recently-announced Chogokin Hoihoi-san is getting a weapons pack, too. Including a handgun, an automatic machine gun, a mace, and a hand-held drill, those bugs are already dead! But I'm not sure if this pack is really worth 2800Y plus proxy fees. Anyway, let's move on to the last of the new Tamashii Web exclusives.
"YOU STUPID CUBES GIVE ME BACK MY ARM"
The Evangelion Robot Damashii line is continuing with Unit 01's Awakened form from the climax of Evangelion 2.0. In addition to the cube-cannon effect part, the figure includes alternate arms (both normal and glowy), an untorn AT Field, and the halo seen during the Third Impact. Again, Bandai's fondness for exclusivity with the Eva RDs strikes me as rather silly - Units 01 and 02 sold like hotcakes, and there's a lot of demand for 00 and 03. But all of this has kind of made me give up on Bandai for my Eva fix - especially now that these beauties have been leaked.
"Why can't i, hold all this missile?"
Kaiyodo's next two Evangelion Evolution Revoltechs have been leaked, and it's confirmed that neither Units 00 nor 03 will be exclusive! I honestly feel that this subline could well dethrone the Damashiis as the king of posable 1/144 EVAs. They have equal articulation to the Damashiis, far more impressive accessories (light-up Sachiel, the rotation base, Angel cores, THE NERV N2 MISSILE, the list goes on), a lower price (around 2500Y compared to the Damashiis' 3000Y), and none of the exclusivity twaddle. They also revealed the sculpts for the next two in the series...
It's the Unnecessary Limbs Brigade!
Unit 00 is due for a May release, Unit 03 in July, and while they didn't provide a date for Unit 05, it's safe to say that it'll come out in September. From that point, I could see them doing Awakened 01, the blue 00, or maybe an MP Eva (*crosses fingers*). Below, you can see some painted parts and accessories for the subline.
Everybody do the Sully!
So far, it looks like 00 will include a dust cloud, as well as more Angel bits. But moving on, there's also new tidbits regarding the Sci-Fi line. First off, Jack Sparrow has been confirmed to come with multiple faces. This means that there are more accessories than what was shown in the HJ scan, so the jar of dirt or some rum bottles are a possibility! Second, the next two Pixar characters to get Sci-Fi Revoltechs will be Mike and Sully of Monsters, Inc. The sculpts look a bit small and preliminary at this point, but we'll probably get a clearer look come Wonder Festival. There's also one other new Sci-Fi Revoltech concealed within this scan, but I'll let you discover it for yourselves. Here's a hint: it works much more successfully as a Revoltech than as a musical.
At any rate, are any of you disappointed about one or more of these exclusives? And how to you feel about Kaiyodo's aggressive attempts to trump Bandai? Sound off below!
BANDAAAAAAAAAAIIIII
First up would be the second s-CRY-ed release in the S.H. Figuarts series, Straight Cougar. While I only had a passing interest in the anime, I'll be damned if Straight Cougar wasn't one of my favorite characters in quite a while - I have a fondness for eccentric-mentor-types, and Cougar's design was pretty cool. And the Figuarts is looking great, with removable sunglasses and three faces (cocky, excited, and even more excited - the latter would make Revoltech Woody proud). So why, Bandai, did you have to go and make him exclusive? I mean, Kazuma isn't even out yet - how do you know that he won't go flying off the shelves, with a huge demand for more characters? At any rate, Straight Cougar isn't the only character being struck by this flawed marketing strategy.
Bandai doesn't want these Power Rangers go-going anywhere outside Japan, it seems.
Many people were excited when Bandai announced that they were doing S.H. Figuarts for Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (or Power Rangers: Samurai, if you prefer). Preorders for ShinkenRed and ShinkenGold sold out within 15 minutes of opening on the major retailers. So Bandai, why the hell have you decided to make the remaining Shinkengers exclusive!? Not only are ShinkenBlue and ShinkenGreen confined to the realm of Tamashii Web, but they've also confirmed that ShinkenYellow, ShinkenPink, and the female ShinkenRed are getting the same treatment. This reminds me of the Figma MISAKA Sisters, in that it's just plain stupid from a financial standpoint. The first two Shinkenger Figuarts sold extraordinarily well. Sentai characters are the type for which people like to buy the full team (because anything less just looks silly). So cutting off both the international market and a good chunk of the domestic market is just an utter waste of money, in my opinion. While I try to calm down, let's move on to some exclusives that actually make sense.
A wild Claydoll appeared!
To be honest, the Claydoll Dopant, of all the characters in Kamen Rider W, doesn't exactly strike me as a mega-hit figure. So it makes sense that they made her an exclusive. However, Wakana Sonozaki does include one very cool accessory (to those familiar with the show) - the Domestic Shorthair cat Mick (affectionately known as the Cheezburger Dopant), whose discontent visage serves as the icon for this post. Another more reasonable exclusive would be this duo...
You... kick the medals one two and three?
Kamen Rider OOO has a lot of combos. And the Kamen Rider Double alternate-form two-packs ended up shelfwarming, so Bandai is this time releasing OOO alternate-Combo two-packs as exclusives. The second pair getting released are the TakaGouBa and GataToraBa Combos. But in order to give a bonus incentive for the purchase, Bandai is including some bonus accessories - medal-spewing effect parts for both OOO's feet and Medajalibur, as well as the Batta and Unagi Candroids. Speaking of bonus accessories...
...Bandai's recently-announced Chogokin Hoihoi-san is getting a weapons pack, too. Including a handgun, an automatic machine gun, a mace, and a hand-held drill, those bugs are already dead! But I'm not sure if this pack is really worth 2800Y plus proxy fees. Anyway, let's move on to the last of the new Tamashii Web exclusives.
"YOU STUPID CUBES GIVE ME BACK MY ARM"
The Evangelion Robot Damashii line is continuing with Unit 01's Awakened form from the climax of Evangelion 2.0. In addition to the cube-cannon effect part, the figure includes alternate arms (both normal and glowy), an untorn AT Field, and the halo seen during the Third Impact. Again, Bandai's fondness for exclusivity with the Eva RDs strikes me as rather silly - Units 01 and 02 sold like hotcakes, and there's a lot of demand for 00 and 03. But all of this has kind of made me give up on Bandai for my Eva fix - especially now that these beauties have been leaked.
"Why can't i, hold all this missile?"
Kaiyodo's next two Evangelion Evolution Revoltechs have been leaked, and it's confirmed that neither Units 00 nor 03 will be exclusive! I honestly feel that this subline could well dethrone the Damashiis as the king of posable 1/144 EVAs. They have equal articulation to the Damashiis, far more impressive accessories (light-up Sachiel, the rotation base, Angel cores, THE NERV N2 MISSILE, the list goes on), a lower price (around 2500Y compared to the Damashiis' 3000Y), and none of the exclusivity twaddle. They also revealed the sculpts for the next two in the series...
It's the Unnecessary Limbs Brigade!
Unit 00 is due for a May release, Unit 03 in July, and while they didn't provide a date for Unit 05, it's safe to say that it'll come out in September. From that point, I could see them doing Awakened 01, the blue 00, or maybe an MP Eva (*crosses fingers*). Below, you can see some painted parts and accessories for the subline.
Everybody do the Sully!
So far, it looks like 00 will include a dust cloud, as well as more Angel bits. But moving on, there's also new tidbits regarding the Sci-Fi line. First off, Jack Sparrow has been confirmed to come with multiple faces. This means that there are more accessories than what was shown in the HJ scan, so the jar of dirt or some rum bottles are a possibility! Second, the next two Pixar characters to get Sci-Fi Revoltechs will be Mike and Sully of Monsters, Inc. The sculpts look a bit small and preliminary at this point, but we'll probably get a clearer look come Wonder Festival. There's also one other new Sci-Fi Revoltech concealed within this scan, but I'll let you discover it for yourselves. Here's a hint: it works much more successfully as a Revoltech than as a musical.
At any rate, are any of you disappointed about one or more of these exclusives? And how to you feel about Kaiyodo's aggressive attempts to trump Bandai? Sound off below!
