Official Bandai (Japan) Thread 2.0

[Creature22]

Yeah, maybe. I think their international shipping option (for figures at least) is fairly recent too. So maybe they didn't anticipate the amount of people buying domestically + internationally.

[Petezilla]

I just got my pre-orders in for the December MMS Ultraman and Gamera releases. I remember there also being a 'Shin Ultraman (Flying Ver.)' in those 5ch leaks, which is still nowhere to be found.

Which brings me to the question whether those upcoming MMS Godzilla leaks are really 100% on point or not.

I remember a similar leak back from when the Godziban vinyls released, where a' Chaos Godzilla' from the show was also listed for release, but that never came to be, either.

[Executive Hamster]

I wouldn't be surprised if they waited till 2023 to do an official reveal (unless there is a date somewhere I missed). We've got a lot this year so I wouldn't be shocked if they held off on the rest of them.

[canofhumdingers]

Well, as I said I’d post an update, here it is. This info excludes the MMS 1984 that hasn’t been released yet.

My large package arrived at the Buyee warehouse and the shipping price quoted (for what I assume is DHL or similar; 2-7 day transit time) is $70. That’s about 40% of the total order price of ~$175. So shipped from Japan these items total $246. To buy the exact same items from US dealers/stores would be $337 and that’s *before* any sales tax or shipping charges. So I easily saved $100 or more by ordering direct from Japan.

Now the question is do I play it safe and wait for G’84 and then combine the packages and ship it all at once or roll the dice and ship them separately? I’m probably gonna ship them separately because I’m feeling impatient.

[canofhumdingers]

Well, I figured out the G84 figure isn’t supposed to come out until after my free 30 day storage period runs out at Buyee anyway so I went ahead and shipped the big package. And airmail (2-7 day delivery time) was only $62 so I saved another $8.

Ultimately, it’s clearly cheaper to import directly right now while yen is so weak compared to the dollar. Take advantage while you can!

It will be interesting to see the comparison import vs domestic price of just one single figure with G1984 in December. Obviously buying in bulk usually saves on shipping fees.

[Legion1979]

Eh, since I'm not a psycho "I literally need EVERY Bandai they release" sort of collector anymore I'm perfectly happy picking up the occasional Bandai from a small American business.

We've fully established that buying in bulk from Japan is financially smart. I'd say it's time to stop beating that dead horse and move on.

[canofhumdingers]

Yeah I wasn’t trying to beat a dead horse but just provide accurate data once I had it. But I agree, the data present I think is more than enough now. I might post one more once I ship out the G’84 because I am genuinely curious how the economics play out with a single figure vs a bulk order.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted them, but I saw Eva Unit 01 and 02 at Toys R Us. They look good, but suffer a little bit from being a little "plasticy" where the Eva units are a mix of metal and organic bits. In other words, they're nice, and have more paint than most recent Bandai figures, but still a little smooth. Eva Unit 02 will arrive in a few days.

Anyways, here's what they look like:


I think these are great additions to vinyl Godzilla/Ultraman/Gamera collections, especially paired with Shin and Shin Ghidorah, but I have a feeling Eva freaks already have their own high-end metal figures.

[JVM]

Well, I figured out the G84 figure isn’t supposed to come out until after my free 30 day storage period runs out at Buyee anyway so I went ahead and shipped the big package. And airmail (2-7 day delivery time) was only $62 so I saved another $8.

Ultimately, it’s clearly cheaper to import directly right now while yen is so weak compared to the dollar. Take advantage while you can!

It will be interesting to see the comparison import vs domestic price of just one single figure with G1984 in December. Obviously buying in bulk usually saves on shipping fees.

Yeah, I misunderstood the shipping prices so I'm now waiting for my stuff to hopefully stack up before I ship anything over here.

[Executive Hamster]

Also since my goal was to get every Godzilla version, I now am legally obligated to get the ride version

Damn. Took me long enough. 1 year 6 months. But Ive finally done it.

[LSD Jellyfish]

So, that Godzilla 1994 that I got from a friend a few days ago is pretty pristine after giving it a complete wash in soap. It looks beautiful, and it's amazing. However, there's one problem; the right foot has some white paint on the toes. I'm assuming my friend scratched up the vinyls feet really bad 20+ years ago, and the paint came off. To compensate, he "fixed" it with white paint, that is not whatever silver highlight they used. When looking at the figure it's not noticeable, and certainly when displayed among other figures no one would notice one of the toes being a little white, but I'm wondering if there's anyway I can remove the paint without irrecovably damaging the figure. I'd rather the figure look like the paint has been scratched from use/play, versus intentionally filled in with white. Could I, perchanse use a nail file+some other solvent to "fix" this? Would everyone advise against that?

Don't worry, I won't act on this until I get responses. I can take photos. I'm mainly just curious if anyone has been attempting this.

[miguelnuva]

Went to place my order, Varan and Megagurius are in the warehouse and Godzilla Gigan Rex and G84 were pre-ordered. Gorosaurus Godzilla 91 and Ride Goji were all sold out it seems.

[canofhumdingers]

So, that Godzilla 1994 that I got from a friend a few days ago is pretty pristine after giving it a complete wash in soap. It looks beautiful, and it's amazing. However, there's one problem; the right foot has some white paint on the toes. I'm assuming my friend scratched up the vinyls feet really bad 20+ years ago, and the paint came off. To compensate, he "fixed" it with white paint, that is not whatever silver highlight they used. When looking at the figure it's not noticeable, and certainly when displayed among other figures no one would notice one of the toes being a little white, but I'm wondering if there's anyway I can remove the paint without irrecovably damaging the figure. I'd rather the figure look like the paint has been scratched from use/play, versus intentionally filled in with white. Could I, perchanse use a nail file+some other solvent to "fix" this? Would everyone advise against that?

Don't worry, I won't act on this until I get responses. I can take photos. I'm mainly just curious if anyone has been attempting this.

Definitely post photos. What is the toe made of? Rubber? Vinyl? Hard plastic? This really really matters when considering a solvent to use. Use the wrong thing and you’ll risk melting the toy. I would strongly advise against using a file. Some very fine grit sand paper could be ok. If you’re new to model building and painting (these are the skills you need to do it correctly) then I’d suggest perhaps just painting over it with a more appropriate color of acrylic paint and leave it at that.

[Creature22]

Starting to see/read early reviews for Varan and it seems like it's going to be a pretty large figure, scaling better with the 8 inch line than the 6 inch series it was intended for. On one hand I understand the frustration, but on the other I'm kind of relieved that it's bigger and not smaller. The gradual shrinking of Bandai vinyls is real.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Definitely post photos. What is the toe made of? Rubber? Vinyl? Hard plastic? This really really matters when considering a solvent to use. Use the wrong thing and you’ll risk melting the toy. I would strongly advise against using a file. Some very fine grit sand paper could be ok. If you’re new to model building and painting (these are the skills you need to do it correctly) then I’d suggest perhaps just painting over it with a more appropriate color of acrylic paint and leave it at that.

Here you go. Check out the right toenails on the right foot (assuming you're not Godzilla):

Spoiler:

As you can see, white paint has been applied to the toes, presumably because the silvery bits that were the toes before got scratched off. Check the other foot for reference. I'm wondering if there was any way to remove the paint, or at least dull it to make left noticeable. Sanding it down to just make it black, and look as if it's been scratched is better.

I have no intent to resell this, so don't think I'm trying to be disingenuous or trick someone. I just want to restore it for my own collection. It's otherwise, after I cleaned it with Q-tips+baby soap, completely immaculate (for almost being 30+ years old) and quickly became one of my favorite figures:

Spoiler:

[canofhumdingers]

Wait, is this just the standard Bandai vinyl, not one of those rubbery electronic figures?

If so I’d start by trying some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip to remove the white paint. Start gently and get tougher as needed. Isopropyl alcohol shouldn’t harm the vinyl. But it will probably remove the silver paint in addition to the white paint.

The safest course of action would be to just touch up the toes with some fresh silver paint that better matches to hide and cover the white paint, but that probably won’t completely solve the problem.

The most complete solution would be to totally strip the toes and then airbrush some fresh silver paint.

If you do add paint, make sure it’s acrylic and not enamel or lacquer. Those will melt the vinyl.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Wait, is this just the standard Bandai vinyl, not one of those rubbery electronic figures?

If so I’d start by trying some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip to remove the white paint. Start gently and get tougher as needed. Isopropyl alcohol shouldn’t harm the vinyl. But it will probably remove the silver paint in addition to the white paint.

The safest course of action would be to just touch up the toes with some fresh silver paint that better matches to hide and cover the white paint, but that probably won’t completely solve the problem.

The most complete solution would be to totally strip the toes and then airbrush some fresh silver paint.

If you do add paint, make sure it’s acrylic and not enamel or lacquer. Those will melt the vinyl.

Nah, the rubbery figures are a separate project and are very clean, minus dust. This was one of the large bandais. Thanks for the advice. I'll get onto it in the weekend.

"restoring" figures is something I've never done before, so it's a little exciting for me.

[canofhumdingers]

I can’t say I’ve done restoration work (meaning restoring it to factory fresh while not adding something that wasn’t there originally) on figures before, but I have done some repaints.

My most recent was an old, beat up Bandai Mothra larva that I painted to go in my GTTHM X-Plus display.

[Executive Hamster]

Goes to show just how good a lot of Bandai sculpts are that a simple, at home repaint can make it look borderline xplus quality.

Added in 1 minute 47 seconds:

.....and quickly became one of my favorite figures...

This one and the 91 Bandai did around that time are definitely among my favorites. Something about the shine of the plastic, the size, and even the sculpt just make it so nice to look at. Mine is signed, so even better.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Varan arrived, and I picked up Eva Unit 02 (but not unit 1) a day ago.



Varan is a really nice figure. Excellent mold and detailing. While I originally didn't like the lack of paint, it's still a fantastic figure. While you can't make it stand up on it's handles, you can angel it to be a "tripod" with the tail and get an excellent figure.

Spoiler: