SKREEONK!

Happy Thursday, all! Jon @ UnCanny here.

I must admit I’ve garnered much more excitement for the clear vinyl ‘Fusion’ line than I have these Tokyo Vinyls. That being said, these little guys are the only original sculpts we seem to be getting from Bandai US this year. They’re brand new in every sense of the word – Godzilla toys the likes of which haven’t been sold before. They are, however, smaller than expected and rather overpriced.

Now perhaps I’m biased, but I just don’t see a 5.5 inch SD figure released by Bandai US warranting an $18 dollar pricetag. The figure sells in Toys R Us retailers for $17.99 right now (some are $17.95, minute difference) and are selling online for anywhere from $25 to $30. That’s too much. If you must have these little guys, I’d imagine the in store price won’t break anyone’s wallet. The online prices, however, are to be avoided.

Why such a price difference, you ask? Pictures speak a thousand words. I took a trip to my local Toys R Us today and snapped some shots for all you Skreeonkers out there. Picture #1 illustrates my point rather well:

Note the size of the figure relative to the packaging. I think I can hear trees crying…

Thats a shit ton of plastic and cardboard for such a small little guy! The figures, as stated, are 5.5 inches tall – smaller than the average 6″ standard Bandai. Yet the box is a 12×12″ encasing that attempts to make the figures seem as if they are more than they really are – and therefor warranting a $17.99 price tag.  They don’t, but still. The jacked up online prices are no doubt a result of the oversized boxes. Shipping a 14×14″ box is relatively expensive, no matter how light the figures are. When you see these figures online for $25, if that includes shipping its actually a decent deal (especially if any of your local retailers arent carrying the figures). $25 + Shipping, however, is a bust.

I took a couple more shots of the figures on the shelves, my store had at least a dozen of these guys. Luckily, they still had some large scale Bandais on the shelves too, which will help with scale referencing:

All that being said, the packaging for these little vinyls is actually rather attractive. The red and black strikes an immediate impression on the shelf, and the silver logo Bandai has developed is pretty slick. Here are some shots of the overall packaging:

Above is the top of the box. The double shot below illustrates both the back of the box and the left side.

 The promo shot of the Shinsei Godzilla TVinyl on the back of the box clearly illustrates my problem with this figure… it looks terrible from the front. He’s got some sort of mutant alligator/frog thing going on… not sure I can dig it. I know a lot of collectors who think its rather cute, but I’m a much bigger fan of the Mechagodzilla. He’s adorable. Here are some shots of the Godzilla in his gigantic box:

I’ll be purchasing each of the ‘Fusion’ figures when they are released, which should be within the month if Bandai delivers on their statements. Here’s to hoping! As soon as I get a hold of them, I’ll do a similar evaluation for you guys. Until then, true believers!

Jon @ UnCanny