STAR WARS Merchandise Episode - 2

[treatment]

now up for pre-o at ami and cdj:

Meisho MOVIE REALIZATION Rounin Boba Fett

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-013089

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOGDS-151050

11/15 release

Edited August 7, 2015 by treatment

[Black Valkyrie]

SW MOVIE REALIZATION Sandtrooper & Imperial Royal Guard.

[Mog]

Considering the crap treatment Hasbro's been giving to the 3.75" scale (more 5 POA figures, mediocre--at best--paint apps, rising prices for less quality, etc.), some idiot jackhole decided to make his own KOTOR-era Sith Troopers.

Malak's finally getting the backup he deserves:

Edited August 29, 2015 by Mog

[Black Valkyrie]

Hear me, Leia.

[Dobber]

Bandai has announced their initial ST 7 kits!

http://bandai-hobby.net/sw/schedule/2015.html

Oct.

1/72 resistance X-wing

1/144 Ep. 7 Millenium Falcon

Nov.

1/12 First Order StormTrooper

Dec.

BB-8

1/72 First Order standard TIE

More to come in 2016. Probably a 1/72 First Order Special Ops TIE.

The X-wing Looks fantastic! The FO Stormtrooper as an interesting piece of gear too

Chris

[wolfx]

SH Figuarts Captain Phasma. That shall be mine!

[Black Valkyrie]

Hasbro should learn from Bandai.

[Chewie]

Those Bandai figures are fairly inexspensive for the detail they have. Dang.

Edit: Aaaaand they're sold out everytwhere it seems. =O

Edited September 4, 2015 by Chewie

[derex3592]

I'm gonna have a 20 foot tall pile of Bandai SW kits to build soon.......

Edited September 4, 2015 by derex3592

[wm cheng]

Bandai has announced their initial ST 7 kits!

http://bandai-hobby.net/sw/schedule/2015.html

Oct.

1/72 resistance X-wing

1/144 Ep. 7 Millenium Falcon

Nov.

1/12 First Order StormTrooper

Dec.

BB-8

1/72 First Order standard TIE

More to come in 2016. Probably a 1/72 First Order Special Ops TIE.

The X-wing Looks fantastic! The FO Stormtrooper as an interesting piece of gear too

Chris

What happened to that Star Destroyer that they teased us with last year?! - argh.

[Black Valkyrie]

The 3.75" Black Series will continue but Walmart exclusive, at least there will be Episode VII figures.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Black Valkyrie

[Scyla]

I must say in neutral lighting Kylo Ren looks pretty boring in all black. In the trailers there was always a red/copper shine to him from the surrounding light sources which looked pretty bad ass.

[calubin_175]

I ordered the Black Series 6 inch scale First Order TIE Fighter. I think this will be a one-off vehicle release as most vehicles aren't feasible to be made in 1/12 scale. At least, it is properly to scale unlike the toy gimmick scaled vehicles for 3.75 inch figures.

The other 1/12 scale vehicle I've seen ever is the Hot Toys Bat. Threezero had 1/12 scale mechs from Titanfall and the Fullmetal Ghost.

Maybe we'll see small scale <5 metre tall walkers made into 6 inch scale.

The size limit for any toy is probably 60cm in height. Hong Kong sets it at 45-50cm(Threezero) as a premium collectable scale, while Japan has a ceiling of 30cm, excluding those large size sofubis.

I personally own two Threezero 45cm figures and one Neca Pacific Rim 18 inch.

Edited September 5, 2015 by calubin_175

[Chronocidal]

I do wonder if the vehicle is actually in true 1/12, or if they're doing a little internal shenanigans to get a 1/12 figure into a 1/18th or 1/24th vehicle. That's the way the old FX-scale X-wing did it.

If they're really making 1/12 vehicles, my living space may be in serious trouble.

[calubin_175]

750cm/12 = 62cm high wings. So it is right. I am just hoping that it is accurately proportioned to the film model. The 3.75 inch toy scale one already has a squeezed look to reduce the height of the wings.

That FX X Wing was for 3.75 inch figures so it needs to be 1/20 scale in order to be correct, otherwise, it will just be like the AT-AT, AT-TE and MTT.

This site has a history of X Wings.

http://4lomkuss.com/history-of-red-squadrons-x-wing-releases/

A 1/12 X Wing would need to be 1 metre long and wide, so it would be impossible to release Poe's X Wing. But then they might still attempt at their first 1m long toy depending on the sales.

Speaking of scale, I was thinking whether those Galoob Micro Machines mini figures and vehicle sets were to scale as my only Star Wars toy back in the 90s was the AT-ST battle pack. It turns out that they weren't to scale as it could only fit one driver.

Oh well, it appears that the giant TIE Fighter will be the only to scale action figure and vehicle set.

The next thing I will buy might be those Bandai kits as they have the most accurate sculpt, namely the 1/48 X-Wing and AT-ST.

Edited September 5, 2015 by calubin_175

[Kelsain]

Woo, after a bust yesterday, my wife snagged a 6" first order trooper for me. That's all I was looking to get at this point.

[Dobber]

Well crap! Apparently Bandai is now restricting their model releases to Japan only and making Japanese retailers only sell to Japanese addresses and removing them from English sites. AmiAmi and Hobbysearch have already done it. HLJ, hasn't yet but it is still the weekend.

Posted from a customer who tried to preorder a new kit on Hobbysearch

"Thank you very much for shopping at HOBBY SEARCH.

Regarding the Star Wars kits from Bandai, we were planning to deal

the product but were forced to remove the listing.

We had been contacted by Bandai and they had requested that

we stop the sales of the new Star Wars kits outside Japan,

and had asked that the old ones to also be removed as well,

so we have no choice but to stop the sales outside Japan.

As we cannot ignore Bandai's request, we are very sorry for

your inconvenience but we are unable to provide you the products.

We appreciate your understanding of this matter, thank you very much.

Sincerely Yours,

Ryo Negishi"

Chris

Edited September 6, 2015 by Dobber

[calubin_175]

Did the western model brands negotiate with Bandai? Could it have been the licensor's decision as well? Maybe Lucasfilm/Disney thought that Bandai may dominate and don't want them to kill off the Western brands so that they could continue to reap more license fees off multiple companies.

Similar thing with Bluefin not being allowed to bring American character Figuarts to the US.

Edited September 6, 2015 by calubin_175

[Chronocidal]

This still smells like something being lost in translation. Did Disney make another deal with other companies to make kits for the rest of the world, or did they just completely screw the pooch, and not realize that Bandai would want to do this?

It's not like Star Wars is a nationally recognized property or anything.

[wm cheng]

Damn!!! Revell or AMT probably wanted to issue their pieces of crap to North America. I guess SW figured it could sell the same license multiple times all over the world to grab more cash.

[calubin_175]

I thought it was too good to be true to get Bandai level kits of western characters. When they first released their X Wing and TIE Fighter, I knew that they would wipe the floor with Revell and AMT. Now it seems like they want to restrict it to the Japanese market so that the international market remains unaffected. Well, there is always ebay and under the table deals.

I would laugh if the Japan customs scan for outbound Bandai Star War kits as strict as they would for drugs.I would never have thought that smuggling Bandai kits would become a new trade.

Edited September 6, 2015 by calubin_175

[myk]

750cm/12 = 62cm high wings. So it is right. I am just hoping that it is accurately proportioned to the film model. The 3.75 inch toy scale one already has a squeezed look to reduce the height of the wings.

That FX X Wing was for 3.75 inch figures so it needs to be 1/20 scale in order to be correct, otherwise, it will just be like the AT-AT, AT-TE and MTT.

This site has a history of X Wings.

http://4lomkuss.com/history-of-red-squadrons-x-wing-releases/

A 1/12 X Wing would need to be 1 metre long and wide, so it would be impossible to release Poe's X Wing. But then they might still attempt at their first 1m long toy depending on the sales.

Speaking of scale, I was thinking whether those Galoob Micro Machines mini figures and vehicle sets were to scale as my only Star Wars toy back in the 90s was the AT-ST battle pack. It turns out that they weren't to scale as it could only fit one driver.

Oh well, it appears that the giant TIE Fighter will be the only to scale action figure and vehicle set.

The next thing I will buy might be those Bandai kits as they have the most accurate sculpt, namely the 1/48 X-Wing and AT-ST.

Thanks for posting that link to the large X Wings; I love those toys and didn't even know about the ones outside of the original FX and Red Leader versions. Did the other versions have lights and sound like the original FX? That webpage doesn't make mention of it.

On another note, I picked up the little Ep. 7 X wing at Wal*Mart today. All in all, I'd say I'm disappointed in the new fighter and will cling to the old design. This new machine's design seems...lazy and uninspired, or something. That's not to say that I won't pick up the new fighter in whatever versions they decide to sell...

[calubin_175]

Revell's kits are nothing compared to Bandai's.

http://www.sirstevesguide.com/2015/09/04/fun-lights-sound-vehicle-models-for-star-wars-the-force-awakens-new-from-revell/

Their X Wing's proportions is completely off.

[Kelsain]

Boooo!

I was totally going to get their 1/72 fighters some day. I was also looking forward to getting more 1/12 figures.

[derex3592]

This news SUCKS. Damn. These Bandai kits are freaking great. I guess if these Revell Master level kits are direct copies of the old Fine Molds kits, that's cool, but I wanted a lot of the newly announced Bandai kits.

Edited September 6, 2015 by derex3592

[electric indigo]

Hellooo grey market...

Let's wait until Disney and Bandai sort it out how much there is to gain/loose with an extended license.

[wm cheng]

Revell's kits are nothing compared to Bandai's.

http://www.sirstevesguide.com/2015/09/04/fun-lights-sound-vehicle-models-for-star-wars-the-force-awakens-new-from-revell/

Their X Wing's proportions is completely off.

Wow! Are they bad!!! I'm actually surprised how bad they are... I would have thought that there would be some improvement in North American models in the last 40yrs - they are actually worst than the original AMT X-Wing model from the 70s.

[wm cheng]

What a perfect illustration of the sad state of toys in NA...

Bandai...

Revell...

[calubin_175]

HLJ still hasn't applied the restriction yet. Try mass ordering from them.

I ordered the 1/48 X Wing just to symbolise the superiority and rarity of the entire line.

[VF-19]

Well, I just ordered (and will soon pay for) the 1:72 X-wing from Bandai. I'd better ship the Y-Wing too, before this silly restriction hits HLJ.

[Dobber]

What a perfect illustration of the sad state of toys in NA...

Bandai...

01.jpg

Revell...

01a.JPG

I will admit that the level 2 Revell new X-wing looks pretty good. Not Bandai good, but still a lot better than that build and play kit pictured above.

Here is an interview with the GM of Revell discussing the kits. It's actually not a bad watch. Part 3 has the level 2 kits featured. X-wing looks to be about 1/48ish the TIE looks huge!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Chris

[Chronocidal]

If Revell is truly getting the old Fine Molds kits to sell, it's not all bad. I really prefer Fine Molds' 1/48th x-wing, just because Bandai filled their version with all the electronic stuff, and I'd rather have a cheaper kit without all the extra fluff.

The Bandai 1/48th one was marked down to about $50 though, so I put in an order for one each of the Bandai kits at HLJ to see if I can get them. The 1/72 x-wing, y-wing and tie are still in stock, with the tie advanced and 1/48th x-wing are backordered. Whether they'll ever get restocked though...

[derex3592]

I picked up the Bandai 1/12 C-3PO from SSM last night. I wanted the storm trooper as well, but it's back ordered. I'll keep an eye out and see if it come in. That covers me for the current Bandai releases of what I want. The future releases, well, we'll just have to wait and see how that plays out.

[Dobber]

It's sounding like this new enforcement is coming from the mouse.

https://m.facebook.com/BrucesScaleModelingDomain/photos/a.356162081142577.83789.356160371142748/883582135067233/?type=1

Chris

[VF-19]

Good to see that HLJ will honour orders, so I should be able to get that X-wing, and ship the Y-Wing. I'd be rather upset if Disney forced HLJ to not ship my previously paid for Y-Wing (purchased around July, and private warehoused). I guess I'll find out in a bit how this will all go down, and I'm crossing my fingers for the payment email.