Bandai 1/12 Scale Star Wars Figure Model Kits

[Jeff]

Sandtrooper model kit is shipping now...  and the 1/12 Boba Fett model kit (and the 1/144 Slave I kit) is up for pre-order at HLJ!

[Jesse James]

I barely, and boy do I mean BARELY, got my order in for the Fett kit...  It requested payment today.  Whew.  Dodged a bullet on that.

Does anyone have any advice on 3rd party buying services in Japan?  Anyone do that stuff ever?

I definitely want to keep up on these kits.  I'd happily pay more for them, just don't wanna get into Figuarts territory or I'd maybe just go that route instead. 

[Diddly]

Jesse, I've used Amazon Japan to buy the SH Figuarts Luke... you have to create a separate Amazon account and use a courier/forwarding service for address purposes, but they let you bill to an American address, and they have English translations. They appear to still be selling the Bandai kits too.

It's at least worth trying to do some digging around on there. I've been trying to find other hobby sites to get all of the SH Figuarts figures so I'll let you know if I find anything.

[Jeff]

There have been so many new announcements since Force Friday, it's hard to keep up with everything - Jesse, have you seen the new TFA kits yet?

GunJap has a ton of pics from the recent hobby show:
- 1/12 TFA Captain Phasma Figure Model Kit
- 1/12 TFA C-3PO Figure Model Kit (based on the OT version, now with red arm)
- 1/12 TFA R2-D2 & BB-8 2-pack
- 1/12 First Order Stormtrooper Figure Model Kit

Does anyone have any advice on 3rd party buying services in Japan?  Anyone do that stuff ever?

I buy a lot of my Gundam kits on eBay, US Amazon.com (from Japan sellers), or Amazon Japan. 

Another good place to check is Rakuten Global Market.  It has links to a ton of places that ship to US - AmiAmi, Hobbyzone, denethhobby.

[Jesse James]

What courier service should I use?  I only found Tenso.  :/

And no I handnt seen those Jeff thank you!  I need these.  I feel lucky HLJ put my Boba order through.  I was literally the last order before it went order stop.  Whew. :x

[Jesse James]

Interesting to note in those pics that the elite TIE is very different to a regular TIE which appears to be just like TIEs of the OT.  I was curious.  Also the XWing model should put to bed the theories that the new XWings are smaller than the OT ships.  Looks pretty beefy imo.

[Diddly]

What courier service should I use?  I only found Tenso.  :/

I use Tenso, but I have also heard of White Rabbit Express, which supposedly offers cheaper shipping options. I haven't tried them yet since I'm lazy and don't order stuff from Japan THAT frequently. Tenso is usually around $20-25 to ship stuff to the US (since they only offer express shipping) but they will consolidate your packages if you have a bunch of stuff from different places. Here's a good guide that explains how Tenso works.

[Jesse James]

My biggest question about Tenso I guess, is do they let you pile up stuff and ship at once, ala the Private Warehouse on HLJ?  I was hoping for that, however I couldn't seem to find anything definitive on that question.

I just know, especially after Jeff's links, that I have to find a way to order this stuff for reasonable prices haha.

Read the Fett reviews that are popping up too, and sooooooo glad I got off the pot on that.  Wish I'd gotten two really.  What an awesome looking figure.  Gonna be a bit of a b to paint, but that's fine.

[Diddly]

Yes, you can stockpile stuff on Tenso. Basically what happens is when a package arrives you get an email, then you go to their site and pay for shipping. Or you can let it sit there if you're waiting for other stuff, then when it all gets there you can consolidate it into one package and they ship it all out together. Very similar, if not the same, as HLJ's private warehouse. I just don't know if there is a time limit they have for holding stuff before they automatically ship it out.

[Jesse James]

Due to the Bandai ban I was wondering if others are jumping into these still?  The Phasma looks insane, and the FO Stormie is out.  Think I'm still in and may pick up another Sandie to make the other rank(s).  Ebay prices even with shipping aren't horrid.

[DoctorPadawan]

I've gotten a few of them (Vader, the astromechs, Threepio) through Amazon and, although they wind up being a tad more expensive than going directly through other sellers, if you have Prime shipping it does kind of offset that end of things since many are fulfilled by/ship from Amazon warehouses.  I have zero skills as a model builder and even less as a painter (my nerves are shot all to hell, so my hand shakes when trying to paint, making detailing impossible), so a friend's brother does that for me, but the building is incredibly fun and rewarding.  I managed to slice my finger open with an Exacto knife while building Threepio, but no stitches so it was all worth it.   

I mainly got into these because I was so disappointed in the Black Series Vader and R2-D2 (Vader looking so "off" and R2 being small).  Even though they didn't have the "heft" of the BS figures, they look the part and fit right in.  When I heard there was a crackdown coming, my first thought was that Hasbro was somehow involved because of them being seen as a competing product line.  Whether or not that's true, I don't know, but I can say for me personally, it is definitely why I did it.  I'm still buying the Black Series figures, but the Bandai kits are to supplement the BS figures, not replace them.  I still plan on getting Boba Fett (just because he's been my favorite since I was a kid and he's my character focus), and I may get Phasma, but it's not a line I'm all in on.  But, boy, it is rewarding to look at them when you're finished putting them together. 

[Jesse James]

Doc, I had a similar thought on the "ban".  Disney kind of came out of the blue with it...  Revel immediately put out even a press release denying they said anything, and that they welcomed Bandai on the shelves in the US (more the merrier kind of thought).  I think they took some serious flak right away.  People just assumed and it's tough to argue.

Hasbro's taken shots at Lego over the years, so I'd not be shocked in the slightest if it were they who actively asked Disney to step in and enforce this.  These 1/12 kits are still kits though, but either way Bandai isn't a US property and so on.  They make one HELL of a figure though and ultimately they require very little painting (sorry about your hands...  My mother's shake now a good bit, and I've been dealing with an issue since August that has impacted my ability to simply build a kit actually.  I have to take baby steps now because of focusing issues).

I've really taken to these though.  I didn't buy any 6" Hasbro offering but Bossk...  Bandai's kits though, they were so cheap on HLJ I figured why not?  So I got the droids and Stormie, and it just rolled forward from there as I really didn't want to buy 6", and I don't feel compelled to support Hasbro pushing 6" as a format...  Kind of my lame political stance, haha.

But yeah, I mean these kits are insane, they're detailed (more so than Hasbro's figs), they're poseable, they're infinitely more customizable IMO as they're designed to be painted unlike Hasbro's plastic type.  Just all around I prefer them.  I wish they'd do less armored or droid characters and look at "real" characters.  I think they have the ability, even eye decals are a thing, so painting shouldn't be much of an issue there.

That said, I've contemplated Figuarts figures as a means of staying away from Hasbro but still filling out some of this scale with main heroes like Jedi Luke and so forth.  Not sure how the two compare to one another.  Kinda curious really.

I've seen comparisons done with Hasbro's stuff, and gotta say, their Vader and R2 are laughable.  X-Wing LUke though looks great WITH the droids.  Just perfect.  Bespin Luke as well.

[Jeff]

When I heard there was a crackdown coming, my first thought was that Hasbro was somehow involved because of them being seen as a competing product line. 

If it was Hasbro, why would they want Bandai to stop selling the 1/12 model kits but then still allow Bandai to sell actual 6" Star Wars action figures under their Tamashii Nations S.H.Figuarts line?  Or allow any of the other Japanese companies to keep selling their competing 6" Star Wars figures (Medicom MAFEX, Kaiyodo Revoltech, etc)?

I guess it's possible that they tried to get all that stuff banned and the model kit stuff was the only one they were able to get canned.


And LOL at that Revell press release if it's true.  If it was Revell who was responsible, what else were they going to say about it?  "Hey model builders, we know you're pissed at us for having the Bandai kits shut down, but please buy our model kits anyway?"   

[Jeff]

1/12 Model Kit Shadow Stormie

[dave in the basement]

Now that is too cool!