P-Bandai survey on international sales

Gotta wonder what kind of price strategies Bandai would bring to the UK. I spoke to some pals about this earlier today and we're all of the same opinion that anime is already far too expensive to buy now. I'm kind of worried that 2017 will see further hikes in RRPs. Especially if direct sales become a thing.
 
HdE said:
Gotta wonder what kind of price strategies Bandai would bring to the UK. I spoke to some pals about this earlier today and we're all of the same opinion that anime is already far too expensive to buy now. I'm kind of worried that 2017 will see further hikes in RRPs. Especially if direct sales become a thing.
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This is completely OT, but I have been thinking the same thing. I'm increasingly concerned that the UK's largest anime distributors are relying on retailer exclusives, be they of small components like Universal with Zoom and AL with Zavvi, or of entire titles, like AL will be with Space Dandy S2's standard edition.

I appreciate I'm highly cynical and probably rather unfair to these distributors, but I genuinely don't trust them to set their own prices in ways that are good for the consumer. And I think the community needs to work to put a stop to these ideas before it's too late and we're look at retailer exclusives with huge pricetags, and no way of overcoming them. It won't happen though, we seem to be far too trusting of distributors.
 
But Manga UK have been doing retailer exclusives for ages. I remember going all the way to HMV in London to get Perfect Blue on VHS when it was first released because it had an exclusive bonus poster (woohoo... though in fairness I did display said poster for many years). Then there were the Virgin-exclusive Death Note figurines with the singles. And so on.

I feel the only real difference now is that we actually know about them; there have been loads of HMV-exclusive Manga UK editions which have never really come up on my radar at all. The actual rate of exclusives seems on par with their frequent appearances in the history of the UK industry.

Exclusive editions like the Space Dandy SE are annoying, but if it truly sold so badly that a widespread release simply isn't viable then I prefer it to the alternative (again, we've seen the alternative playing out in the UK before with the infamous FMA Brotherhood situation and even in the US it's happened with a few titles, despite their much bigger market).

In any case, this survey is about merch which is always cripplingly expensive unless you're minted or buying bootlegs, so I think it's a good idea for anyone interested in shaving some of the costs of importing merchandise off to participate!

R
 
Rui said:
But Manga UK have been doing retailer exclusives for ages. I remember going all the way to HMV in London to get Perfect Blue on VHS when it was first released because it had an exclusive bonus poster (woohoo... though in fairness I did display said poster for many years). Then there were the Virgin-exclusive Death Note figurines with the singles. And so on.

I feel the only real difference now is that we actually know about them; there have been loads of HMV-exclusive Manga UK editions which have never really come up on my radar at all. The actual rate of exclusives seems on par with their frequent appearances in the history of the UK industry.

Exclusive editions like the Space Dandy SE are annoying, but if it truly sold so badly that a widespread release simply isn't viable then I prefer it to the alternative (again, we've seen the alternative playing out in the UK before with the infamous FMA Brotherhood situation and even in the US it's happened with a few titles, despite their much bigger market).

In any case, this survey is about merch which is always cripplingly expensive unless you're minted or buying bootlegs, so I think it's a good idea for anyone interested in shaving some of the costs of importing merchandise off to participate!

R
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I guess you could say the difference is that Manga seem to actually be fighting for cheaper editions (or at least frequently stumbling into them), instead of just talking about fighting for cheaper editions. Whilst it's just superfluous stuff like art and character cards it doesn't bother me, but how soon until it's more substantial bonus features?

It's interesting that you think P Bandai having a domestic presence would decrease prices, it could feasibly go the other way. I did try and fill the survery in, but I felt bad answering it, because as you said merch is far too expensive for me to buy, and it seemed to be aimed at serial purchasers instead of people like me, who'd maybe occasionally buy something cheap. Especially since I'm trying to save money this year.
 
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Buzz201 said:
I guess you could say the difference is that Manga seem to actually be fighting for cheaper editions (or at least frequently stumbling into them), instead of just talking about fighting for cheaper editions. Whilst it's just superfluous stuff like art and character cards it doesn't bother me, but how soon until it's more substantial bonus features?

It's interesting that you think P Bandai having a domestic presence would decrease prices, it could feasibly go the other way. I did try and fill the survery in, but I felt bad answering it, because as you said merch is far too expensive for me to buy, and it seemed to be aimed at serial purchasers instead of people like me, who'd maybe occasionally buy something cheap. Especially since I'm trying to save money this year.
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I'll join you in raging if we start seeing actual on-disc content limited to exclusives, especially exclusives which make things harder for buyers (though again, I note that this has happened: IIRC it was Eva 1.11 from Manga UK which had the 1.01 cut only available if you purchased the release through HMV back at the time? I imported.)

At the moment, the only way you can get most P Bandai goods is to order through an agent of some description who will order on your behalf, pocket all of the loyalty points and charge a fee plus doubled up shipping costs to cover the extra hop to their address in Japan. So yeah, I see it as a win for buyers (who want expensive merch) if they have the option to order directly. The usual channels will still be available anyway as they're already illicit and not condoned by the shop, so technically P Bandai shipping direct to the UK would increase competition and make things better for buyers no matter how terribly they do it.

R
 
Rui said:
'At the moment, the only way you can get most P Bandai goods is to order through an agent of some description who will order on your behalf, pocket all of the loyalty points and charge a fee plus doubled up shipping costs to cover the extra hop to their address in Japan. So yeah, I see it as a win for buyers (who want expensive merch) if they have the option to order directly. The usual channels will still be available anyway as they're already illicit and not condoned by the shop, so technically P Bandai shipping direct to the UK would increase competition and make things better for buyers no matter how terribly they do it.

R
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I feel like I should fill it in to be nice to other (richer) people, but then I'm going to be honest and say that the only piece of merch I've ever wanted to own for an anime is the non-Titan Eren Jaegar Funko Pop Vinyl Figure. I don't even know why, I don't even like AoT that much. I never ended up with it anyway, it was too much for something I couldn't justify why I wanted (and it's weirdly difficult to get hold of from reputable suppliers)...
 
Form completed. All I really want from Bandai is cheaper gunpla in the UK, though I doubt that is realistically going to happen. A £15 set in Japan can cost £40 when it's sold from a UK retailer, so it's something I only do maybe once a year even though I would like to buy sets more often.
 
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