Anime Figurines Thread

[Esclair]

Originally Posted by noir senshi

Hey people, I have a bunch of figures I bought on trips to Japan but I've been wanting to buy some online. Are there any reliable sites with international shipping that you all order from?

I use Hobby Search Japan: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
A lot of people use amiami: http://www.amiami.com/

Those 2 shops ship overseas to you as soon as the product comes out. Depending on the shipping you choose you can get it in 2-3 days (EMS) vs 2-3 weeks (SAL). Depending on the country you're in you might have to pay additional fees at customs.

American based shops like Hobbyfan, HLJ, etc don't receive their items until 1-2 months after the initial Japanese release but at least you don't have to worry about customs as they will receive the items from Japan first then ship it to you locally. However, you are not always guaranteed an item because they sometimes don't always have the stock they promised and sometimes their orders fall through.

For 'exclusives' you need to use a proxy service like BigInJapan or TokyoHunter.

[Lord of Fire]

Originally Posted by Esclair

American based shops like Hobbyfan, HLJ, etc don't receive their items until 1-2 months after the initial Japanese release

HLJ is Japan-based, actually, and the longest I had to wait for them to ship after release (and by that, I assume you mean actual release, not announcement) was a week, maybe two. Definitely not a month, let alone two. When it does take a long time, it's always due to local customs holding my stuff hostage.

However, you are not always guaranteed an item because they sometimes don't always have the stock they promised and sometimes their orders fall through.

I've used HLJ for years, bought pretty much all my figurines from them, and never had any issues with them whatsoever. If they do have any issues, I have yet to come across them. Then again, your experience may differ from mine (assuming you've ever used them), so maybe you just got really unlucky.

I myself tried HS, and am not really happy about them. My main issue is that you can't cancel an order after a week (I can cancel anytime between preorder and release at HLJ), which became a bit problematic when I was really strapped for cash and had barely enough funds to pay for an order I placed with them.

[Esclair]

You're right about HLJ, I was thinking of another shop with a similar sounding name.

[dfens]

HLJ up until recently has been my go to shop for figures. Usually they ship out your order 1 week for me after release.

I'll still use them but they just burned me real bad on my last order.

I ordered a figure 1st day or pre-order back in June that kept getting pushed back manufactures fault so it's cool. Then I noticed it said item discontinued on the product page but I still didn't get billed or emailed for mine.

Had to send them a email they replied that they didn't get enough to fill all the orders but they would see if someone canceled. In the end they sent another email sorry no longer available. After all the money I spent with them over the years no discount on another figure or shipping.

And the worst thing that pissed me off the most I had to email them to find out what the hell was going on.

Their lucky I'll I give them another shot since this is the first time this has happened in 5-6 years.

[HurricaneHige]

Originally Posted by dfens

HLJ up until recently has been my go to shop for figures. Usually they ship out your order 1 week for me after release.

I'll still use them but they just burned me real bad on my last order.

I ordered a figure 1st day or pre-order back in June that kept getting pushed back manufactures fault so it's cool. Then I noticed it said item discontinued on the product page but I still didn't get billed or emailed for mine.

Had to send them a email they replied that they didn't get enough to fill all the orders but they would see if someone canceled. In the end they sent another email sorry no longer available. After all the money I spent with them over the years no discount on another figure or shipping.

And the worst thing that pissed me off the most I had to email them to find out what the hell was going on.

Their lucky I'll I give them another shot since this is the first time this has happened in 5-6 years.

This exact thing happened to me for the "World is mine" Miku wall figure. HLJ is good when it is not a rare/LE figure, but tends to drop the ball when it is.

What did they ended up screwing you out of, if you don't mind me asking?

[bigbadmrt]

hi can anyone identify this guy



thanks

[noir senshi]

Originally Posted by Esclair

I use Hobby Search Japan: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
A lot of people use amiami: http://www.amiami.com/

Those 2 shops ship overseas to you as soon as the product comes out. Depending on the shipping you choose you can get it in 2-3 days (EMS) vs 2-3 weeks (SAL). Depending on the country you're in you might have to pay additional fees at customs.

American based shops like Hobbyfan, HLJ, etc don't receive their items until 1-2 months after the initial Japanese release but at least you don't have to worry about customs as they will receive the items from Japan first then ship it to you locally. However, you are not always guaranteed an item because they sometimes don't always have the stock they promised and sometimes their orders fall through.

For 'exclusives' you need to use a proxy service like BigInJapan or TokyoHunter.

Originally Posted by Lord of Fire

HLJ is Japan-based, actually, and the longest I had to wait for them to ship after release (and by that, I assume you mean actual release, not announcement) was a week, maybe two. Definitely not a month, let alone two. When it does take a long time, it's always due to local customs holding my stuff hostage.



I've used HLJ for years, bought pretty much all my figurines from them, and never had any issues with them whatsoever. If they do have any issues, I have yet to come across them. Then again, your experience may differ from mine (assuming you've ever used them), so maybe you just got really unlucky.

I myself tried HS, and am not really happy about them. My main issue is that you can't cancel an order after a week (I can cancel anytime between preorder and release at HLJ), which became a bit problematic when I was really strapped for cash and had barely enough funds to pay for an order I placed with them.

Thank you so much for the info guys. It was very thorough. I ended up ordering something through HLJ just because of price and availability. Will update when I get the order.

[Esclair]

Also a correction on tokyo hunter, it seems they are currently dealing with legal troubles and are no longer operating. So for proxies, I think most people use:

http://biginjap.com/
http://www.nippon-yasan.com/
http://www.mbttoys.com/

Also, www.hobbyfan.com also carries a lot of exclusives figures that you'd normally need a proxy for. So if you don't want to deal with a proxy you can order through hobbyfan. Hobbyfan does charge a sales tax though, so the price does come out to be around the same as ordering through a proxy, although sometimes they are cheaper. However they do get stuff 1-2 months after the initial Japanese release though, so only use them if you don't mind waiting. They ship from the US so anything you get from them has already passed customs.

[aohige]

The proxy I use is JAA - Japan Auction Agency.
Not for the auction part, but to store, consolidate, and ship orders.

They are very easy to get hold of and communicate, so I place my trust in them and have been using them for years.

[dfens]

HurricaneHige sorry for the late reply, I ordered Mio Sakamoto from Alter it was a re-release. First time around I had to cancel, money was tight when I had hours cut back at work. I could have still got her but at the time the Yen to dollar rate was high it would have been over 130-140 US Dollars shipped. Didn't want to dip into my savings for a figure.

So I was excited that a re-release was coming at the normal price and with a much better exchange rate. I ordered her first day it went up but they took more orders than they could fill, this has never happened to me in the 6 plus years I've used them.

Now I check HLJ to get the description and it's in stock. What a world, they could have notified me. Guess now I'll order it once again they better not jerk me around since it says in stock.

Luckily this time around I'm working so many hours at work that I have so much extra money coming in then I know what to do with, hell if it wasn't for online sales I don't have any time to spend it.

[noir senshi]

Thanks again Eclair and Lord Fire.

Just got this Monkey D Luffy figure for my cousin's birthday. He loved it. HLJ were great and shipped extremely quickly. Great suggestions guys.

Images

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[Revan21]

Got my Momo. She's H O T

[Nightbat®]

Originally Posted by noir senshi

Thanks again Eclair and Lord Fire.

Just got this Monkey D Luffy figure for my cousin's birthday. He loved it. HLJ were great and shipped extremely quickly. Great suggestions guys.

Spoiler for IMAGE:

http://i.imgur.com/eTZ25F2.jpg

Holy resize Batman!!!

[Hiroi Sekai]

I'm so glad they made a Colette figure. Now that I have it, I can't help but want a Presea one...

[Archaeon]

Originally Posted by noir senshi

Thanks again Eclair and Lord Fire.

Just got this Monkey D Luffy figure for my cousin's birthday. He loved it. HLJ were great and shipped extremely quickly. Great suggestions guys.

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Is that from Megahouse or some other company?

[risingstar3110]

Recently ordered my first figure ever, and it actually got me curious about how the system work.,,,

Obviously living in Australia, so it's best to get them through online store. Also shipping cost do take a huge chunk out of whatever i want to get (seems to be ~30%). But had a couple of questions I want to ask:

1. Firstly AmiAmi seems to be the shop to beat here? As their price seems to only can be contested by BigInJapan? But they had more stocks, sale, and you can find pre-owned from them. I means i don't even see the need to "shop around" as these two are almost uncontested?
2. Why most English/local import site that i found had a price of almost double what were offered on above two sites? Even the Amazon for Good Smile. Other than the actual cost and the shipping cost, did I forget something? Like extra tax, extra local shipping cost? Why do people ever paid $200 for what they would only cost them 12k yen+ shipping cost?
3. I planed to buy that Wo-class nendodroid~ish from Phat!. But aohige just warned something about they are known for not doing paint job properly or something. Is it something really obvious or is it more like "you won't notice unless you look at right angle" kinda thing?
4. Finally, can i just leave my nendoroid on my desk and they will survive. Or do i have to... like clean them with vinegar or something otherwise they will started to be discolored in 2-3 years time?

[Klashikari]

1) No contest, but they are pretty much not the best option for anything rare or already sold out for months or event mere weeks.

2) Shipping fee, taxes (which can be huge dependant of the country), logistic expenses, shop own profit margin. Some people aren't trusting online shopping to commit with the latter, and would rather have the real item in front of them before any purchase, even if it means they are paying premium price tag.

3) Depend of the paint job, which is not possible to guess before the product has been mass procuded and shipped. Some companies are infamous for being a bit shoddy with sculpt or paintwork (Griffon for instance), but that's an exception, not the rule.

4) Vinegar is a very bad idea. Simply using water (and optionally a gentle soap) will be enough. Just don't expose it to sun light, nor to very high and very low temperatures.

[risingstar3110]

Something rare? Are figures like diamond? Where despite high demand, the company will still only produced a fixed amount to make sure people will jump in to order whenever new one is released?


The vinegar is more of a joke, i think it's supposed to apply for burn wound or something
But from physic point of view, wouldn't wash them making it easier for the paint to be washed off? Is dusts the only thing that needed to be worried about? If so, I thought everyone would have one of those brush thingy where you see movies with museum caretakers brushing their treasures with?

[Revan21]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

Something rare? Are figures like diamond? Where despite high demand, the company will still only produced a fixed amount to make sure people will jump in to order whenever new one is released?


The vinegar is more of a joke, i think it's supposed to apply for burn wound or something
But from physic point of view, wouldn't wash them making it easier for the paint to be washed off? Is dusts the only thing that needed to be worried about? If so, I thought everyone would have one of those brush thingy where you see movies with museum caretakers brushing their treasures with?

Yeah, that's about it. There are companies, like Kotobukiya which re-release their own figures from time to time (take Holo for example, she's getting her fourth release this year), but other top grade manufacturers (like Max Factory or Alter) usually never do that. They produce a small set amount and if you do not pre-order a popular character's figure you risk missing out on it and may have to buy it later on an even higher price from a re-seller.

For example, today I acquired a Ryofu Housen figure that was made by Yamato back in 2006.

Spoiler for Pic:

It's quality is not higher than average and Ikkitousen is not even that popular anymore, yet the re-sellers on ebay are still asking between $60 and $200 for it because it's rare and you cannot buy it from an official international webshop.


You can use a makeup brush to get rid of slight layers of dust. If the figure is more dirty than that, just put it in bowl of cold water and wash it by hand.
Never put it under a running tap though, because that might damage the paint after a few occasions.
Apart from the dust, the other importnant concern is heat. If you live on a hot climate, lesser quality figures might bend because of the constant heat, and their painting could also turn sticky. Nendoroids are not bothered by this, GSC is one of the top figure manufacturers after all.

And of course, don't put the figures out under the sun on a regular basis, because like with everything else, their colors will fade out.

[GDB]

What qualifies as a "hot climate"? 70F? 80F? 90F?