Dr. Claus
Banned
Do you love collecting detailed figurines, vinyl toys, custom made mechs, action figures, or anything that may fall in between? Whatever it is, post it here, celebrate what you love, and showcase your collections.
- Please do not post anything NSFW. This primarily is directed toward nudity of any kind. Bare breasts, ass, and other such are not OK. Post the name of the character and the model number instead so people can search for it if they are interested.
- Do not scan or upload any magazine photographs.
- Follow the general rules of GAF. Should go without sayin'.
One day, you wake up and notice that there is this killer Japanese Exclusive Hello Kitty Death Metal Edition figurine that you need to put in your collection. The only question is, how do you buy it? There are three primary stores that you should be on the lookout for:
- Japanese Stores
- Western/Non-Japanese Stores
- Hobbyist Stores
Often times, figures you see have yet to be released and are only available in limited quantities. Preordering from the source (i.e. a Japanese store) tends to be the most common method of acquiring your desired figure. These preorders are usually up 3 to 6 months prior to release and only for a limited time window.
There are pros and cons to using a Japanese storefront to purchase your figure. Some of the pros tend to be that they are cheaper as you will be preordering directly from the source, you get them on release, you will be able to earn frequent buyer rewards if you use the same store, and you can sometimes cancel a preorder within the time window if you don't think you will have the funds. However, not every store will allow cancellations and shipping costs can become troublesome if you live in certain parts of the world. Thankfully many stores tend to have an English option (as is the case with AmiAmi and GoodSmileCompany) so the language barrier is less of an issue than it used to be.
Some Japanese Stores:
AmiAmi
- Thanks to their large preorder discounts, AmiAmi has become one of the most popular destinations. From figures to video games, they have a wide variety of merchandise to choose from. They will not give you a shipping cost until the order is packed and ready to go. They also do not normally allow cancellations, but have done so in the past when emailed. With their frequent buyer points program, you can earn some small discounts on future purchases.
- Hobby Search is another popular shop. While preorder discounts are not as high as AmiAmi, their member rewards are superior. Hobby Search also has a more lenient cancellation policy where you can cancel any preorder within a week of the original order. They don't have a regular sale section, but will have seasonal sales with large discounts (but small stock). You will get a shipping cost for in-stock items before placing your order.
- GoodSmileCompany are most well known for their Figma and Nendoroid lines. You can get special preorder bonuses for certain figures here, as well as links to other sites where you can purchase if need be. These are almost always preorders for products that won't release for 3-6 months, however they are well known for quality and excellent customer service.
Thanks to the internet, there are plenty of sites you can use in the west to purchase your figures and other collectibles. However, these tend to be more expensive due to the nature of how limited some figurines tend to be. Due to the lack of a language barrier, customer service is easier to deal with and western figures can be easily found as well. Listed below are just a few of the many sites you can use. Find which one suits your lifestyle best.
http://www.kirinhobby.com/shop/
http://www.kidnemo.fm/
http://www.play-asia.com/
http://www.toylet.net/
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/
http://thegrandlineshop.com/ - One Piece only
http://www.animarket.com/
http://www.sideshowtoy.com
Sadly, you were too late and the preorders for that Japanese Exclusive Hello Kitty Death Metal Edition figurine were long since closed and the western stores are sold out. What now? You are going to have to look around Hobbyist stores that sell all manner of new and preowned products, but this comes with many problems of its own from bootlegs, missing pieces, damages, or just an absurdly higher price tag.
Bootlegs have been a major issue with figure collecting and the previous Figure OT said it best:
Mandrake
- The best Hobbyist store that will almost always guarantee that you will get an out-of-production figure without worry of it being a bootlegged version. Despite them dealing with pre-owned products, they tend to always be of great to good quality at a decent price. The biggest downside is stock as things sell quickly and the store is constantly updated.
- Similar to Amazon and Ebay where third parties sell products through a single site. Listed below are two suggested stores as mentioned in the previous Figure OT that have had good reputations. English is not the best for this site, so the language barrier is pretty difficult to deal with.
http://www.rakuten.co.jp/surugaya-a-too/
A fellow by the name of "Moro" has written a number of guides over on MyFigureCollection. They are a good starting point for newbies looking to get into the hobby.
http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/2196
http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/2212
http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/2253
http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/2276
http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/2296
- Where can I buy [figure] that was released [date] and is sold out everywhere?
- Ebay, Amazon, and Plamoya tend to be your best option if you do not mind spending a large amount of money. You also have to deal with possible bootlegs at Ebay and Amazon. If you are patient, you can find them on AmiAmi or Mandrake occasionally. Use both English and Japanese names to help find the product you are looking for.
- UPDATE: You can also setup an alert on figinstock that will send you an email when your item is in stock (thank you previous Figure OT).
- Where can I buy [figure] that hasn't been released yet but preorders are sold out everywhere?
- Check AmiAmi and other Japanese Stores occasionally. You can occasionally find those figures being available for preorder when other folks fail to pay for theirs.
- UPDATE: You can also setup an alert on figinstock that will send you an email when your item is in stock (thank you previous Figure OT).
- When is [figure] going on sale?
- Check out the blogs for various production companies such as GoodSmile's Mikitan. Sometimes prototype to preorder can take months or even up to a year+.
- It says [figure] is "For sale in Japan only." Can I still buy it?
- Yes, you can safely ignore that warning as it is rarely enforced. If it is listed on the Japanese store's English page, you can usually buy the product. If you are unable, you can buy it from a third party/hobbyist store.
- What figures have been released from [anime/game/manga/light novel]?
- Search on MFC. It will list the origins of every figure, and will let you search for figures from the same origin.
- Why hasn't my tracking # updated for so long?
- Tracking #s are pretty useless outside of Japan. It's not uncommon for the tracking to not update at all once the item leaves Japan until after it's been delivered. They mainly exist for peace of mind and for insurance purposes.
- How do they make these things?
- The Goodsmile Company blog did a series showing how they are made. You can check that out here.
- What is a garage kit?
- Garage kits are unpainted, unassembled resin figures. They are usually sold in limited quantities at events like Wonder Festival. Sometimes a company will produce complete mass produced versions of popular garage kits, but this is not guaranteed.
EDIT 1:
Some of the folks in the thread were kind enough to post other stores that you can purchase figures! You can find them in the spoilers below.
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