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NEWS: Bandai Namco Acquires Bluefin, Establishes U.S. Toy Company




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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:34 am Reply with quote
I dunno about that... Bandai has been kinda erratic lately and they're trying to push p-bandai trough there store more and more, except it's absolutely terrible and is the very last place you should ever order p-bandai stuff (shipping is ridiculously expensive and you can't combine multiple shipment). So them acquiring a distributer could very well lead to worse service.

They've also been going after 3rd party kit maker really hard lately, they might decide that after that they'll go after 3rd party kit seller...
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Kamijou Touma



Joined: 01 Oct 2017
Posts: 139
Location: Gakuen Toshi
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 10:41 am Reply with quote
Maybe Macross stuff will finally be available in the US.
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Aresef



Joined: 22 Jun 2005
Posts: 909
Location: MD
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 11:39 am Reply with quote
I talked to a Bluefin guy at Power Morphicon and he said that Hasbro taking over the toy rights next year probably meant curtains for the official Power Rangers imports. I wonder what the handover means now.

As for Bandai, this seems to be a desperation move to keep a foothold in the US toy market. Because once they lose PR, their properties are rather thin.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 1:00 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
I dunno about that... Bandai has been kinda erratic lately and they're trying to push p-bandai trough there store more and more, except it's absolutely terrible and is the very last place you should ever order p-bandai stuff (shipping is ridiculously expensive and you can't combine multiple shipment). So them acquiring a distributer could very well lead to worse service.


On the other hand, maybe this is the first step towards a North American-based P-Bandai service! (I've gotta remain optimistic about something, right? Laughing)

meiam wrote:
They've also been going after 3rd party kit maker really hard lately, they might decide that after that they'll go after 3rd party kit seller...


I'm under the impression that pretty much everyone in the model kit industry still remembers the massive drop in kit sales that resulted from Games Workshop's going after 3rd party online Warhammer 40k retailers ten years ago. It was a huge PR nightmare, and (although they'll never acknowledge it) led to a ton of people jumping ship to Privateer Press' WarmaHordes. I can only hope that Bandai remembers this and doesn't follow the same mistakes.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 3:29 pm Reply with quote
BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:
meiam wrote:
I dunno about that... Bandai has been kinda erratic lately and they're trying to push p-bandai trough there store more and more, except it's absolutely terrible and is the very last place you should ever order p-bandai stuff (shipping is ridiculously expensive and you can't combine multiple shipment). So them acquiring a distributer could very well lead to worse service.


On the other hand, maybe this is the first step towards a North American-based P-Bandai service! (I've gotta remain optimistic about something, right? Laughing)

meiam wrote:
They've also been going after 3rd party kit maker really hard lately, they might decide that after that they'll go after 3rd party kit seller...


I'm under the impression that pretty much everyone in the model kit industry still remembers the massive drop in kit sales that resulted from Games Workshop's going after 3rd party online Warhammer 40k retailers ten years ago. It was a huge PR nightmare, and (although they'll never acknowledge it) led to a ton of people jumping ship to Privateer Press' WarmaHordes. I can only hope that Bandai remembers this and doesn't follow the same mistakes.


Yeah Bandai has been making some move that seems like they'll try to beef up the US base p-bandai website, but there's no model kits available and it remain to be seen if it'll be worth using (I'm fine with buying my kit from hong kong or japan and waiting 1 month in exchange for it being 20% cheaper, but it might be good for people who want them asap).

As for jumping ship, there's not that many good alternative sadly, kotobukiya make some decent kits but there not at bandai level and the gundam IP is worth a lot. I get bandai wanting to squeeze more out of it, but I buy 3rd party because they make kits bandai would never do (or more often do right after the 3rd party made them, like the woundwort, avalanche exia dash, deepstriker and so on).
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1816
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:43 pm Reply with quote
Kamijou Touma wrote:
Maybe Macross stuff will finally be available in the US.


Not as long as Harmony Gold still has the Macross license.
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RommieSG



Joined: 10 Feb 2004
Posts: 125
Location: Hokuei High School
PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 11:03 pm Reply with quote
If it brings kits faster from Japan to America, I'm all for it. Seems like it takes forever after announcements these days.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 11:53 pm Reply with quote
fuuma_monou wrote:
Kamijou Touma wrote:
Maybe Macross stuff will finally be available in the US.


Not as long as Harmony Gold still has the Macross license.

Expires March 2021, the end is in sight! However I'm about 85% sure Hasbro is going to snap that license up as soon as its available.

Emerje
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