For Beginner Figure Collectors #10: Exclusives

By TReina - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - No Comments

To All,

It has been a slow and arduous month of exam after exam for me and now that the holidays are approaching, I would like to seize the break to discuss about exclusives!

Exclusives

For starters, I would like to cover three different kinds of exclusives -- manufacturer exclusives parts that come with the item, shop exclusives that come when you preorder from the different online shops, and lastly, strictly exclusive figures!

For manufacturer parts for Nendoroids, Good Smile Company usually have some bonuses which come with the item, shop exclusive items if you order at their store. The drawback of doing so would be the lack of discount (compared to ordering from other stores like Amiami) and flat rate of 2000yen EMS shpping fee if you ship overseas (do note that domestic shipping is free), which makes it extremely expensive if you only order a single Nendoroid.

The shipping for a single Nendoroid is about 560yen on average. However, if you were to go a group order, you'll easily be able to use this to your advantage! Just note that you'll have to consolidate all your orders in a month into a single order and combinations across orders are not accepted.

Getting back to the manufacturer's bonuses they include:

Background sheets

Rubber Straps

Extra Figure Parts

As far as I've noticed, exclusives which are based on items that are 'additional' such as background sheet and straps (and to a lesser extent, Rin's energy drink) face more support from buyers who are unwilling to purchase from Good Smile Company directly, thus missing the exclusive item.

On the other hand, exclusives such as Hoozuki's pipe received quite a bit of bashing from fans as it is an integral part of the anime, and Hoozuki was shown using it quite a few times. Thus, fans of the series felt like they were getting the short end of the stick by opting for ordering at other stores instead of from Good Smile Company's own online shop. As for Rin's energy drink, I'm only able of finding a solid link between it and Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Rhythm game, Starlight Stage, otherwise known as Deresute. You can find more information about this game in one of my older articles here.

For manufacturer exclusives for scale figures, they are typically extra faceplates or parts to change the poses (such as an extra arm or accessory). Sometimes, these extra parts do come with the regular releases too. For instance, Komaeda Nagito 1/8 scale from Kotobukiya had an exclusive 'insane' faceplate for collectors which purchased directly from the Kotobukiya Online Shop (Japan branch only).

Unfortunately, they had no international shipping and proxy or forwarding was necessary along with the purchase of the figure if you live overseas. Not to mention, you'll need to think about domestic shipping as well.

Regular Release Faceplate:

Exclusive Faceplate (this is an extra so with this, you'll get a total of 2 faceplates)

Moving on to shop bonuses, depending on the store which you order from, there might be different bonuses tied to your item. For instance, Amiami, an online shop which I frequent, do come up with bonuses like wall scrolls and LED keychains for customers who order the specific item from their store. You can look through the list of exclusives under the "Exclusive" tab on their website itself! Though, this is more often seen with their games rather than figures.

Lastly, allow me to cover strictly exclusive figures. They are usually from a collaboration between Aniplex and Stronger, or Dengeki, or even Native. These figures are usually more expensive (approximately 12,000 yen) as compared to regular figures (approximately 8,000 yen). However, the thing about exclusives is that they have the tendency to spike in prices in the aftermarket while the prices of the regular ones have the chance to head in either direction.

These strictly exclusive figures can be bought via their online stores. For instance, Aniplex exclusives can be ordered via the Aniplex online store. However, you'll need a proxy or a forwarding service to order from Aniplex Online Store if you live outside Japan since they only ship domestically. However, other stores such as Big in Japan do put up pre-orders for these exclusives lately, albeit at much higher prices than the original cost of the figure on pre-order on Aniplex website itself. This would help you bypass the trouble of locating and communicating a proxy and forwarding service.

I believe that Madoka fans might have came across a few of these more popular figures.

Love Live! fans would have also came across a few pieces from Dengeki, termed the "Birthday Project" line~

With all 9 girls in the Birthday Project line sculpted and painted, maybe it's time for Love Live! fans who haven't collected any to finally start collecting them, I'm sure the bases which spell out "Love Live!" would definitely bring tears to your eyes when you remember their disbandment scenes.

However, do note that most of them have rose in price and can reach up to 25,000 yen currently so it might be wise to wait a little before ordering any.

Personally, I haven't collected all the figures in the Birthday Project line yet, though it is my dream line for collecting all their scales (there's no other line of scale figures at the moment with them all in the same costume). I have no idea why none of the other figure companies would like to make them all in the same outfit!

But if they were going to, I would really like to have all of them in their wedding outfits! I'm sure it'll turn out to be such an amazing and extraordinary display!

From Your Fellow Collector,

Reina-rin