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Where to buy anime figures?


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kakitamike



Joined: 24 Jul 2007
Posts: 183
Location: Akron, OH
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:51 pm Reply with quote
Anyone have some recommendations of places to buy legit figures.

Specifically i'm looking for Yuki Nagato, Asahina Mikuru, Kaolla Su and Spike Spiegel, but just a good place to start would be nice.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:14 pm Reply with quote
I love HLJ who has a decent selection. CDjapan has a sale going on right now on although they don't keep a big inventory.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:23 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I spend way too much at HLJ.com myself. Seems like every week I'm getting a box from them, got two this week...

Empty wallet --> Anime cry

Emerje
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eazydoseit



Joined: 18 Aug 2007
Posts: 14
PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:25 pm Reply with quote
Hmmm i use entertainment on earth......it has a nice collection, they recently just had a great sale about a month ago and i got a lot of nice figurines...hmmmm i also use google to basically start off on a good search and compare from there on out. Lots of sites sale good products but every now and then u can come across a rare one........
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:08 pm Reply with quote
Yep, I got in on that Entertainment Earth sale myself, picked up four Revoltech figures and two Dragon Quest figures for only around $80 shipped. However, outside of the sale the prices are kinda high, their selection isn't anything you usually can't find elsewhere for cheaper.

Emerje
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DuelLadyS



Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 1705
Location: WA state
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:06 am Reply with quote
I don't know how they stack up price or selection-wise, but I buy most of my pinky street figures from a site called Freebento.com. They carry mostly designer toys (ala Urban Vinyl and Kubricks), but they have some anime figures. As far as the pinkys go, the prices are defintely in the right place, but I've yet to compare anything else.

Most importantly, their customer service is absolutely top-notch. Phil (one of the two owners) takes the time to visit my pinky street board with information and offers, and personally messages me when things come into stock- I don't know any other company that takes such time to deal with customers one-on-one.

Plus, they always add some sort of free item into their boxes... I've gotten trading cards, pins, rement miniatures, Japanese food-shaped erasers... once I got a pencil sharpener shaped like a nose. It's almost as much fun to see what your extra goodie is as it is to get your item! Very Happy
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jkno



Joined: 18 Mar 2006
Posts: 155
Location: Classified
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:18 am Reply with quote
Tokyo Fantasy. I met Winston (the owner) on this forum and he is a really great guy, very friendly. If something doesn't appear on the site you can always write him an email and he does his best in getting it. I got some rare Ghost in the Shell figures from him and he always included a small present as well.
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Ioriya



Joined: 25 Mar 2007
Posts: 17
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:55 am Reply with quote
http://www.hlj.com/

i recommend that u go to this site for the most recent figures. its a international retailer, so they'll be sending the figure to you from Japan. the entire site in in English and the sellers know fluent English, so you wont have much trouble navigating the site. I've bought most of my figures from them and i have about 5-6 more pre-ordered. They're very reliable and the merchandise is sent in good condition. i haven't had any issues with them yet.

The only thing you gotta look out for is your Credit Card company. Hobbylink Japan is a international seller, so you may wanna see how much your Card charges for international transaction fees. I use CapitalOne, because they don't have a international transaction fee, so you may wanna apply for this card if u don't have it.


the thing is, from my experience, i have noticed that American retailers tend to overcharge you by $10 to $20. they also release the figure almost half a year later after the figure has been released by the japanese. i dont like waiting that long....
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joel_s95387



Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1804
Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:28 pm Reply with quote
Unfortunately I don't buy old figures and from hlj because... well they are very expensive and I barely get by as it is.

If you have a local comic shop, I suggest you ask for the current "Previews" magazine. This magazine/catalogue contains future releases of almost everything. Sometimes they have "Offered Again" items, which are previously discontinued item that are... offered again. I just placed an order for the old Eva figures in "launch-tube packaging".
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ayakoaya



Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:44 am Reply with quote
I've ordered stuff from tisinc99.com without problems. Smile
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Grico



Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 201
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 11:26 am Reply with quote
Well it depends on how rare/obscure the items you want are. One smaller online shop I buy from online on occasion is :

http://www.hammergirlanime.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=6

They have a nice little shop in Rochester, NY and have good prices but a somewhat limited selection. They also only charge 3.99 for shipping for orders over 24.99, which is good considering figures can cost quite a bit to ship.

I have also bought from www.estarland.com They have a decent selection overall, if not the lastest Japanese releases.

I haven't bought anything from them yet, but

http://www.toysnjoys.com/medicom.html

seems to have quite a good selection as well as actual stores in Hawaii. would love to visit one of those stores some day.

www.jlist.com also has a decent selection of stuff, although please note that if you search for a series there they sell alot of adult stuff and it will randomly come up in your perfectly innocent searches. Not exactly a work safe place to search.

Ebay can also be good, but I caution looking there unless you really know what you are doing, as there are alot of fakes being sold there.
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Mylene



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Indiana
PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:17 pm Reply with quote
Grico wrote:


I haven't bought anything from them yet, but

http://www.toysnjoys.com/medicom.html

seems to have quite a good selection as well as actual stores in Hawaii. would love to visit one of those stores some day.


I believe there have been a couple of ANN members who have had trouble with this particular retailer via the online service. Not receiving the merchandise, refunds, or much if any correspondence from customer service.

Quote:
www.jlist.com also has a decent selection of stuff, although please note that if you search for a series there they sell alot of adult stuff and it will randomly come up in your perfectly innocent searches. Not exactly a work safe place to search.


For work safe, just use www.jbox.com instead. Same place, but the jbox side doesn't have the adult stuff.
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ivorymoose



Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Posts: 240
PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:15 pm Reply with quote
I have not come across Toys N Joy but I am still angry with Toys R Joy. I met Toys R Joy in e-bay. I bought figurines of Howl's Moving Castle, the price was high after factoring in hidden costs. When the figures arrived, what I saw online did not match I get. Sophie's ponny tail was damaged and the paint work on the figurines are very bad. My colleagues asked me to contact the Japanese manufacturer directly to launch a complaint because the workmanship is unacceptable. I was too busy to bother with returning the boxset and wanted to throw it away. I paid around US$50. I complained several times to Ebay without a response but this seller is now no longer listed with Ebay Hong Kong. I am still angry, the box is still with me, I never look at the figurines again.

I also should mention that the boxset was tampered. Sophie's ponny tail would not have been broken if it had been in its original box packaging. Somebody opened the box and stuffed the space with bubble wrap which damaged Sophie's ponny tail. I forgot to mention that there were hidden costs in addition to the advertised price. Hidden costs included shipping insurance which was rediculously high and I felt compelled to pay for the insurance because I feared the seller may purposely send me a damaged item and then not take responsibility for it. The hidden cost of insurance was why the total I paid was very high. Irony is that after paying the high insurance, they still send me a damaged boxset. The damage is not caused by shipping, it is caused by someone opening the box and stuffing it with bubble wrap. I think this seller is trying to test to see if I would take legal action. I am a very busy person at work and this matter does not deserve attention which is why my colleagues asked me contact the manufacturer directly. If it's a bootleg, these people must be caught. It is a waste of time dealing with them.

My enjoyment of Howl's Moving Castle is very negatively affected by this incident. The title fell off my favourites list. After this, I never again bought anime toys. This was the last time! That was also the last time I bought anything from sellers in Hong Kong.
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LilacShadow



Joined: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 165
Location: Kentucky
PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:27 pm Reply with quote
I haven't bought any anime figures (yet), so I can't help with places to buy them. But since someone mentioned toysnjoys.com, I thought I'd warn that they sell some bootleg stuff. I don't know about their figures, but they sell bootleg DVDs and CDs. I bought an Inuyasha CD from them once, and then I found out it was a bootleg (which exlains why it skipped so much), so I decided not to buy anything else from them. I've never ordered any of their DVDs, but they must be bootlegs too because they're all region free and have English subtitles.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:01 am Reply with quote
ayakoaya wrote:
I've ordered stuff from tisinc99.com without problems. Smile


I scoped out (with no luck) all the above sites in order to see if they have the Gundam Seed RAH DX kits that I'm still missing. When I went to tisinc99 they had this listing "Gundam Seed Destiny RAH DX Shinn Asuka PVC Figure 1/8 Scale - gd927982" for the Athrun figure! Granted all of Hirai's characters look the same but the box even has Athrun's name on it in kana.

I'm really looking for the Lacus in the Black w/ pink trimming figure, but the cheapest I've found it is about $100 on ebay (only 4000 Yen kit) or as a (12,000 Yen) three pack with Yzak and Stella who I already have.
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