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mysticdragon3md3 · 5 years

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Things I learned from 7 years of collecting Nendoroids (part 1?)

- Preorder. Always. Not only does this make things easier later, when you're at conventions and worried about booths' stocks getting sold out before the lines cap off, but it supports the companies (both Good Smile Company, so they can keep making figures, and the anime production studios so they can keep making anime). Those preorder bonuses are pretty sweet too. But most of all, if you’re buying a popular character, the preorder is the cheapest price you’ll find. Those after-market price increases after the figure is actually released will go as high as the popularity and demand of that character will allow. So better to just preorder before you get scalped. - Group order. I've been doing group orders with my brother for several years now, and it really diminishes the argument that ordering directly from Good Smile is too expensive. Sure, the only shipping option is that expensive $20 EMS shipping, but if you split the cost with other people, it becomes much cheaper than buying from a store, where they'll generally charge at least $10 more than the MSRP to cover their own shipping costs, in addition to the after-market price increases. - Wait to place your order near the end of a preorder period. Good Smile's social media hypes up the day a figure's preorder window opens and encourages you to "preorder today!" ...Yeah, don't do that. It's a little known fact that Good Smile will only charge shipping for the first box in an order; the rest of the boxes are free. If you order 10 figures and only 5 of them are released at the same time, Good Smile will mail that first box for $20; then when 2 more figures are released a few months later, those are shipped for free; then when the last 3 figures are released, they're mailed out for free too. And I can't blame Good Smile Company for not letting that information spread around. My brother and I have saved a LOT of money, gaming that feature. If you order each figure, immediately when their individual preorders open, each figure getting its own individual order, then you're paying $20 shipping for each of those figures. That makes every figure $20 more than its listed price. Each order with only one figure in the entire order, will charge full shipping for every single figure you order. But cram in as many figures as you can into a single order, and that $20 EMS shipping is dispersed. So instead of placing only one figure in your order and that $60 Nendo getting saddled with $20 shipping and jumping to $80, place 10 figures into one single order, and that $20 shipping gets divided into only $2 extra for each figure. Then your $60 Nendos only jump to $62 instead of $80. Figure preorders are generally open for around a month, and during that month, several other figures could open up their preorders. Cram as many open preorders into any single order as you can! Because $2 shipping for each of 10 figures is better than $20 shipping for each figure. (Then top that off with a shared group order, like I have with my brother who is also preordering 10 figures, and suddenly I’m only paying $1 extra shipping fees per figure.) - Hold off on those after-market marked-up buys. It's been joked about in web comics now, that every time you give in to buying a Nendoroid at the after-market price, because you just have to have that character...Then Good Smile will immediately announce a re-release. -.-; I've fallen into this; every figure collector has fallen into this. But now with more KanColle "Kai II" versions and Marvel "DX version" Nendoroids, there's now a very similar problem of buying a figure, and though it doesn't immediately get announced for re-release, a better revised version of the same character gets announced. Sure, those "DX versions" cost more than the original versions, but with the price increase on all figures after their release date, prices found in online stores for the original figure, are pretty comparable to just preordering the "DX version". And the more years pass, rereleases seem more and more frequent. Each time another character from the same series is released, Good Smile often does a second print run / rerelease of the Nendoroid of a previous or main character from the same series. It’s become a pretty consistent pattern. And sometimes they’ll just rerelease a figure becasue their series is getting another season after a long hiatus or their videogame is getting a new port. So unless you’re buying during intense sales, like Black Friday, or have insane discounts/coupons/reward points with a store, it’s better to just wait and trust that a re-release will come. ...And if they don’t, you can request rereleases on Good Smile Company’s Product Inquiry Form too. (Product Inquiry Form will be discussed in the bullet point “Request figures”, listed below.) - It's okay to throw away the boxes or packaging. Most of me still feels like this is a cardinal sin, but practical space reasons necessitate that I can't keep it all anymore. Most of us in this situation recycle the plastic "bubble" packaging, fold away the boxes, and keep them collapsed as preserved official art. But there are people who throw away the entire box, official artwork and all. And knowing that really helps alleviate the guilt. But if you're planning to sell your figures one day, then keep all the packaging and boxes. On the other hand, there are stores like J-Figure who will buy used Nendoroids and are willing to sell them without boxes. - Use My Figure Collection. https://myfigurecollection.net/ Firstly, their databases take a lot of the unknowns out of buying figures for the first time, or from an unknown store, or if you’re worrying about bootlegs. Every entry for a specific figure will list if a bootleg exists, and often photos of the actual bootleg so that they’ll be easier to spot and avoid. Their store database lists online and physical shops, as well as proxy buyers, listing them by alphabetical title or by country. And every entry in their database rates each store, including multiple reviews from the hundreds of users of the MFC website. They will warn you if a store is known to sell bootlegs, if they have bad sales practices, what their shipping policies are, if they have restrictions for first-time buyers, etc. It’s incredibly helpful, especially if you’ve never done international orders before. Outside of their database, signing up for an account allows you to keep track of your collection. Sure, there are some data points that MFC does not have entry fields for. Like dates orders were placed for a figure. But it is so helpful to avoid duplicate buys, keep track of budgeting, and when figures are coming in. At least in America, if you're not home when your figure is being delivered, the post offices will hold packages for only a short amount of time, before they are mailed back to sender. So you need to constantly check to make sure they didn't attempt a failed delivery and are already starting the clock without your knowledge. MFC's quick roll-over popups with release dates, really help me stay aware of when to expect figures. Otherwise, there's nothing like waiting months for your Nendo, only to find that not only did you miss it, but you're going to be missing it for maybe another month or more. Fortunately, you can just contact Good Smile and they'll re-send the figure. (I'm not sure if that's for free though. But I expect it would be?) - Watch unboxing video reviews. Maybe a figure has been released for a while and it's a good price to justify any after-market mark-ups. If it's not a character you care about, but you just gotta have those accessories for some other figures in your collection, make sure they do what you need. Sometimes you'll have an idea for a custom Nendo, a custom assembly of parts, but then you get them home and find they don't fit. Official photos and official reviews don't try to mix parts between characters, so they often won't show the full details of how things work/fit. Official sources will only show the figure, in and of itself, doing only what limited poses they intended. If you're going to do more than that with your display or figure photography, check out the unorthodox angles of an unboxing video. - Read Kahotan's Blog. https://mikatan.goodsmile.info/en/ Despite my previous point, that's not to say official reviews have no use. Kahotan's Blog is the official blog with behind-the-scenes reviews of upcoming Nendoroids BEFORE they are released. This makes the decision easier to preorder before dates close and after-market prices mark-up. And Kahotan's Blog photos will often have more angles and even a few animated gifs demonstrating special features of a Nendoroid. Like the swivel joint in Tracer's hair. And yes, the URL says "mikatan.goodsmile.info". The blog used to be "Mikatan's Blog", until she left Good Smile Company. And right now there are multiple people writing on Kahotan's Blog, at times. Don't let it confuse you. These are all official Good Smile employees with insider reviews. - Request figures. Often on Good Smile's official social media, people will essentially comment, "This figure announcement is trash! Where is such&such character instead?" There's really no reason to do this. Especially when you can say, "This character is great too, but I'd love a Nendoroid of such&such character <3" or "I'm happy this character's fans are getting a Nendoroid, but any news on such&such getting a Nendoroid?" Granted, Good Smile representatives have said to inundate/"harass" them with requests on their social media, so they know what we want. But I'm certain they meant "harass" as a joke. And here's something for all the people complaining about requests for such&such character, on Good Smile posts announcing another Nendoroid: What do you think these companies have social media accounts for? Make no mistake, their social media is for MARKETING. They want to know what we will buy and what would be worth their money to allocate resources towards making. They _want_ us to express what we want. Hell, Good Smile is even willing to change features of announced figures with prototypes already approved for production, before their release dates, even after their preorders opened. Legend of Korra got added element accessories and another faceplate, and those were retroactively added to everyone who had already placed their preorders. They changed the eye colors of both Harry Potter and Kingdom Hearts's Riku, just because of Facebook comments. Good Smile's former representative Mamitan used to tell the story of how Nendoroid Menma got a rerelease because people in the comments on every post about other figures/characters were all, "We want a re-release of Nendo Menma!" So if you're one of those people who went to the comments section of a figure announcement, expecting to see nothing but fanboying over just that figure, and are inexplicably angry when people discuss other figures/characters, then I don't think you understand why Good Smile bothers maintaining their social media in the first place. https://partner.goodsmile.info/support/eng/productrequest/ Good Smile has actually improved their figure request process. The Product Request Form has recently gotten its own page, whereas it used to be part of the form for reporting product defects or asking bootleg verifications. It's become more streamlined, more user-friendly, and more inviting for frequent use. I can understand why the Product Request Form is still buried under their Customer Support pages. They can't address all figure requests, especially if it becomes a deluge. But it is a much more productive form of requesting Nendoroids than just trashing whatever figure announcements they just posted on social media. And Good Smile has said at their anime convention panels that if they get 3,000 to 5,000 requests for a figure, they'll consider making it. And it has worked, multiple times before. So it's always worth filling out the form and informing friends to do the same. - Unbox your figures. There's been a long-standing culture established by American action figures, that boxed figures, with packaging that's never been opened, are more valuable. This is not true of Nendoroids. They are made form a type of plastic which needs oxygen to maintain itself. Good Smile representatives have repeatedly warned that Nendoroids which do not get air, develop strange yellow and/or black spots or tint. As I understand it, most of the plastics used to make anime figures are constantly evaporating off their plasticine, the ingredient used to soften plastic for manufacturing molds. If these emitted plasticine vapors are trapped within box packaging, they will bounce back to the figure and begin to melt its surface. I've dealt with this on some Ranma 1/2 trading figures (not even from Good Smile Company) and it is slimy, takes some patient cleaning, and always puts figures in danger of losing their surface details. Unbox your figures! Let them air out. And if your display cases are air tight, give them regular internals to breath. I was lucky that my Kagome and Lucky Star Figma actually melted my display case base, instead of the other way around. That plasticine will react unpredictably with different plastics, so make sure they are regularly aired-out. - Use display cases. Granted, my previous point seems to make a case against display cases, but they are still more useful then they are trouble. I used to keep my figures in open-air on shelves...Where they would gather cakes of dust. Then every once in a while I'd have to scrub them with a dedicated soft-bristle toothbrush. And I'd wonder, is this the cleaning session where I scuff a paint job? It's just a lot easier to put your figures into display cases. You don't need big expensive display cabinets. You don't even necessarily need display boxes. Because display boxes can become more expensive with size, I use clear folded gift boxes for my larger figures. These clear "gift boxes" are often at craft stores in the gift wrapping section. There was even a time clear paint cans were trending as gift boxes, and I used some of those to display figures. But where hard display boxes/cases can be $20, a collapsible gift box is generally around $1 or less. They're too soft to stack, but sometimes you just need to keep the dust off. Well, most of the dust. Foldable gift boxes are still not very rigid, and their folded sides do have a tendency to dome up. But I think this lets just the right amount of aeration inside, while keeping most of the dust away. Don't just get Ikea's Detolf. There are some good thrift store finds for less cost. I got my display cabinet from a local thrift shop for $30. Daiso's $5 "Collection Box Arch" can hold 6 Nendoroids if you angle the Nendos' bases. (As long as the Nendos don't have tall ahoge nor are floating with big wings.) - Carry a Nendoroid with you. Whether you're on vacation or running some errands, you never know when a cute photo op might appear. And even a less interesting outting becomes eventful, when looking for good compositions and having your Nendoroid interact with the scenery. Get a small plastic hard case, line a tin with cushioning felt/bubblewrap, or get a small plastic food container, and carry around your Nendoroid. - Birthday greetings. Figure photography doesn't have to be a self-contained diorama. Some very interesting figure photos break the "fourth wall". Nendoroids make great birthday messages to friends, because they're so cute, no one cares if they don't know the character.

- You don't have to buy figures of characters you don't know. I have no grievances with collectors who care solely for figures as "beauty pieces" regardless of any attachments to character or knowledge of a series. I'm just warning that it can be an unnecessary use of budget. I've wasted a lot of money on Nendoroids which were pretty, but don't have that extra worth of feeling personally attached to the character/series. Some are worth it, but not always. I remember there was a time that I almost bought a Figma Kirito because I love long black trench coats, even though I didn't know SAO (and would later not care much for it). But by 2017, Figma Joker was announced after I had gotten into Persona 5, and suddenly there was a character I already loved with a long black trench coat. It's like waiting for a rerelease. If you just wait, a figure announcement will appear, more perfect than previous options. (Actually, that was advice I got from the sword collecting community. "You don't have to kill your budget with every beautiful sword you see; a better one will inevitably come along.") [I don’t know why I stayed up to write this. If I write more, it'll be a part 2.]

#figure collecting #nendoroids #tips advice suggestions #nostalgia

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