Tamashii Nations and Bluefin Expand the Market for High Quality Japanese Collectibles Across North America
Anaheim, CA, February 14, 2017 – Tamashii Nations, the collector's toy division of Bandai Japan and its most premium label for ages 15 and up, is expanding its footprint in North America as it prepares to mark its 10th anniversary this Spring.
Since its inception in 2007, Tamashii Nations' portfolio has grown to include products from top entertainment properties such as Star Wars, Marvel, WWE, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and DC. These new Western licenses compliment the Japanese anime and manga properties contributing to the brand's meteoric rise in popularity among toy collectors.
“Tamashii Nations is an authentic Japanese brand, however, North America is an important part of our growth strategy,” said Adam Newman, Senior Director of Tamashiii Nations at Bandai. “To facilitate that growth, we've opened a Los Angeles office to better understand our U.S. fans and capitalize on the advantages of local access to the entertainment industry, retail partners, and our official distribution partner Bluefin.”
Pioneering technologies like the Digital Color Technology, which prints an exact life-like representation of a character on the portrait of its S.H. Figuarts action figures, have been a key factor in the growing affinity for the Tamashii Nations brand.
“Tamashii Nations is synonymous with quality and as the largest dedicated distributor for Japanese collectibles and imports in North America, we are well positioned to help Tamashii Nations increase its market share and expand their consumer base here in the U.S.,” said John Parker, President of Bluefin.
As the official distributor for Tamashii Nations' products in the U.S., Bluefin oversees channel distribution to retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Toys “R” Us, GameStop, and Hot Topic / BoxLunch. Operations in North America have grown ten-fold since the two companies started their relationship eight years ago.
To celebrate the continued success of the Tamashii Nations brand, an international touring exhibit visiting 10 major cities around the world is making its only U.S. stop in New York City this spring. The Tamashii Nations 10th Anniversary World Tour will take place on Sat. and Sun., April 29-30 at the Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The event, which is free to visit, includes specially curated displays featuring exclusive and never-before-seen Tamashii Nations items, as well as a wide array of products available for retail purchase. More details are available at: https://tamashii.jp/special/tour/.
Bluefin will showcase an extensive collection of new and forthcoming Tamashii Nations releases at Toy Fair New York, taking place February 18-21 at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center in New York City. The annual conference and trade show is the industry's largest gathering. Bluefin will be located in Booth #5331.
According to retail sales data reported by the NPD Group, Tamashii Nations currently holds licenses for 7 of the Top 10 brands in the action figure segment of the $22 billion dollar U.S. toy market. Additional product information on Tamashii Nations products is available at: http://www.bluefincorp.com/catalog/tamashii-nations/s-h-figuarts.html.
About Bluefin:
Based in Anaheim, CA, Bluefin built its reputation as a leading distributor of Japanese toys, collectibles, novelty, pop culture lifestyle and hobby products. In recent years, Bluefin has grown to include a range of high quality collectible lines from the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea and established itself as the official North American consumer products and retail development partner for Studio Ghibli. Selling to thousands of specialty, chain and independent stores, Bluefin is an official North American distributor for Bandai Hobby, Bandai Shokugan, and CAPCOM, is the sole provider of Bandai Tamashii Nations products, and is also the exclusive and official distributor for Blitzway Studios, Mr. Hobby, SEN-TI-NEL, Storm Collectibles, Iron Studio, Kids Logic, X-Plus and Beast Kingdom Life-sized. Bluefin also represents TruForce Collectibles products worldwide. Additional information is available at: www.bluefincorp.com.
