I mostly get them online. Either thru Hobbysearch or HLJ. Amazon doesn't do figure shipping overseas but it's easily solvable via a deputy service (Not yet tried ^^;) Don't really get them from the shops. Am afraid of it being a used bukkake figure (I Kid :p) But actually, am afraid that those sold in the stores are fakes and I try to minimize any chances of getting a fake.
Offline. This is Los Angeles afterall, home to a few retailers, some which originated in Japan such as Anime Jungle from Osaka Japan, and Anime Gamers from Akihabara (i believe). Anime Gamers, formerly located in West L.A., actually lost a lot of business and i feel it may go out of business soon as well. All the ratailers in L.A. follow the same release dates found on-line anyway. The best retailer in L.A> is Anime Jungle since they carry way more figures than the rest of the retailers in L.A. That's the first place i'm dropping by soon as the scheduled Moetan figures are released in the states.
Everything is way too expensive locally (and far away) But I've found Rainbow 10 to be really good. http://www.rainbowten.co.jp They're based in japan, and their prices are cheap, and shipping isnt that bad. Even though ordering is a bit sketchy at first, it all works out in the end.
I use to buy most offline but it seems all the stores in Dallas Texas just stopped getting any new ones in stock. So now I have tried KidNemo.com and got good response from them but i see it on your site and others in Japan and want it now. So now i have been ordering from hlj.com but the have been very slow to get the order out seems like it takes a week sometimes and this is not good to someone that gots to have it now. I would like to find someone that would ship from Japan within 24-48 hours. So i am still looking for the best place either online or offine.
I mainly buy from GundamStoreAndMore.com, Tisinc99.com, and AnimeXing.com. Although I've yet to order from TMPanime.com myself, I plan on doing so in the future. AnimeCorner.com also sounds like a good place to shop. I've had issues ordering from AnimeWild.com, and it's happened twice. From my experience I'm just gonna say the service is terrible. My first package came in mint condition which is a plus, however, it came practically a week late, after a few back and forth emails. Maybe I'm just unlucky.
depends... Ebay for rare stuff (I haven't been hit with a fake just yet). Used to go HLJ, but their process is really slow and annoying (b/c you don't get them shipped all at once). For parts, I usually order at Rainbow ten, and they are particularly nice... Giving me warning if it's just cheaper to just buy the damn kit, rather than ordering the specific parts... I want to order from Hobby Search, for the points, but I haven't gotten to them yet... otherwise, local hobby store, and when I am in Japan, whenever I see it and I want it XD -usually yodobashi though
I get most of my stuff from either HobbySearch or preorder from a physical store in Singapore.
Well, mostly i get my figurines from local stores, but if the figurine is out of print from local/online stores then i get from auctions like eBay. Some local stores i would purchase/pre-order original figurines from are: KKnM(Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise), ToysNToys, Ani-play. Other local stores: LaTenDo, Hobby Art Gallery Homepage of the figurine/model kit stores mentioned: http://www.theanimehouse.com/ http://www.latendoshop.com/ http://ani-play.com/ http://shop.toyntoys.com/
i get 75 percent of my otaku stuff online, the rest of it i get it at anime conventions. these are my favorite websites that i use: www.thisisanime.com www.animecornerstore.com www.hobbywave.com www.399animeshop.com www.imageanime.com walloffame.net
Hmm... I'm saving this on my favorites bookmarks. While I do love figures and am willing to pay extra to have them, I still didn't buy any online. I am on the other side of the world, and I think the only places that sells figures here in Brazil are some event-only stores. They open up only during big events, which happens only twice or three times along the year, and on a city that's 16 hours away from where I live. But Danny mentioned an interesting option there. I do have a friend living in Japan. And I already did something similar (buying stuff on Amazon and asking a friend to ship it) only he was in Germany, and for an electronic gadget (Archos 604). The only store that sells Imported Artbooks is also on this city 16hours away... and they also charge a lot for them. Sometimes almost 5 times the original price. Only problem now is browsing for stuff. I don't read japanese. That and the fact that the figures may get here all broken into pieces... but I'm willing to risk some money to have moe-tan's, Shana's, Yuki's, Haruhi's and some other figures....
i barely started ordering stuffs online since my trusty old local store is getting slow in their Gundam and figurine inventory for the past few days. Toyslogic is the online way for me. They are kinda fast to respond to questions.
For the most part I get all my stuff thru Hobby Link Japan. They can be a bit slow in processing orders but their customer service is great. I received a Masterpiece Starscream missing fingers on one hand and had the pieces replaced right away at no cost or hassle. They also have a service for ordering replacement Gundam kit parts in case ther are any accidents >.< Also their packing is always very well done, never had anything arrive damaged. Other than that I try to save up for when I go to Hong Kong to visit my wife's family, I always make sure to pack my suitcase light or ship back what won't fit. It's my big buying binge for the year. Other than that yeah good figures and gunpla are hard to come by in the states. Especially if since I'm not in one of the coastal cities with larger Asian poulations. So sad for me..
there are a few decent shops in singapore that specialises in figures and gundams. one of them is KKnM http://www.theanimehouse.com/ KKnM is where most singaporean otakus hangs out. they do pre-orders for all the soon to be released figures at reasonable price. beside KKnM is a gundam shop (Hobby Art Gallery) which sells gundam kits at affordable price as well. most department stores here sells gundams at twice it's japan's price. :(
There's a general anime shop here where I get both figures and gundams, usually at cheaper costs than what I find online. But they never get the latest in stock and takes a couple months before it comes in. But they do carry it which is great for me ^^.
http://www.hlj.com/ I've been using the sight for years, they never let me down.
yep. Hlj FTW!! but their shipping price sometimes kills and their policy of reserving too :P
we have a few here: http://www.greattoys.net/ecom/ toy kingdom toys r us lil's hobby center (no homepage?) but the cheap and good ones (IMHO) are here: http://www.wasabitoys.com
well, I get my figures from my store ^^;
If i'm going to order i usually just go to JList , thats if they have what i want or HLJ.
I ordered a few figures and GFF gundams from http://toy-wholesaler.jp/ a while back (unfortunately they don't sell MG kits). service was good and they were the only one I found that sends via DHL or Fedex. then again amazon japan would probably ship via those courier as well. ^^; I usually buy my MG kits locally, although they cost almost twice as much, I figured it might be more expensive for me to have the kits shipped.
i do my shopping both offline and online but that depends on the rarity of the figure in subject ^^ large toy shops here like Toy Kingdom and Toys R' Us carries figures and gunplas but they only have limited choices and sometimes the price is way too steep and i usually avoid these shops. we have small specialty shops here that only a few of us in the community here knew about them that carries the latest and the best figures, gunplas and toys straight from japan and there are some shops where you can pre-order items and if they don't have the item that you want in stock, you can order one from them and they'll buy it for you ^___^ i wanted to return to Hong Kong where there's a district there that has a plethora of specialty toy shops who carries all kinds of figures, gunplas and toys straight from japan and you can even haggle for the price. simply a haven for you financially challenged collectors ^_____^
10116222, yeah, http://www.wasabitoys.com does have the best locally priced kits. a little clarification tho, kits here cost twice as much as the ones in Akiba, probably since the ones I saw were priced down. ^^; makes me wonder though why even the newer kits like the MG destiny they have there were marked down?
i do my shopping for gunpla & modeling stuff mostly offline...only once i bought Strike Gundam + IWSP online thru e-bay..local toy shops that i've been to & bought some things are time machine (Berjaya Times Square), the only hobby shop at Low Yat Plaza(i cant remember which floor) & also a hobby store at Malacca (Mahkota Parade) Micky Trading. But most of my gundam mecha my brother bought for me from Japan.he's studying at Fukui right now i got to buy those gundams at normal or sometimes way much cheaper than here in Malaysia...
hmm.. usually the local folks due have some gunpla, but as you said..overpriced, usually double.. but i usually shop HLJ and they can take as long as a month to get things here so its sometimes if they have it in stock is to pay the extra cost to have it right away.. especially if i wan t it NOW!
Mostly buy them from HLJ. I'll also buy a few that I may have missed every year at Anime Expo even though they may be slightly more expensive there. Just can't resist buying them when the figure is right in front of you pleading for you to take it home. :)
When I just started collecting I buy them from local stores and later I buy from a local collector that get his stuff direct from Japan. Nowadays I most of the figures I buy are from Hobby Search, occasionally will shop at Play-Asia or HLJ.
The anime culture has been growing in London over the few years. At first it was Forbidden planet who provided the manga, dvds and figures. Now there's another two who are considered rivals: Orbital Manga and TokyoToys. I've posted up entries of them at http://www.typestatic.com/?cat=16 for your viewing pleasure. Another way of buying gundam and figures would be the London Expo's in May and October T_T; Other then that, it's mostly HLJ for me. They never fail ^^;
I only buy my figs offline from local stores or from Japan direct ~ (Actually I've never bought ANYthnig online before. cept maybe for movie tickets） (；ﾟДﾟ) I need to see, touch, feel, compare, and get distracted by the other figures sitting on the shelf before purchasing. LOL. Then usually I end up with more than just one figure ... （；^ω^）
I buy from a local store that "imports" every couple of months. Meaning they get a dude to go to Japan and just try to pick up as much stuff on his check list b4 flying back. lol I generally like to check the quality of the product before purchasing, i dun really want to end up with something thats defective or dislike.
Got from local stores. Never tried buying online yet, maybe next time.
Heh, I live near Seattle and don't seem to have a problem with Gundam availability at least. The store I go to gives you punch cards so that subsequent purchases are like 10 bucks off. Other than that whenever I visit family in Tokyo, I stock up on all my Gundam/anime needs.
I made one Gundam model when I was in the 6th grade, It took me 2 months and I lost most of the pieces... I'm a hopeless.
in the past... i bought a lot of gundam figure... but then i stopped because i had cousins... they came and broke most of my figures really2 sad T.T, assembling it is probably the most fun you can get out of it though.
No anime goods store (well, no ones that sell proper pvc figures, only DVDs and mangas), so I ONLY buy mine online, sometimes to shops based in Paris, but mostly on HLJ and HobbySEARCH.
I get a vast majority of my figures online, as im fed up with the somewhat random and limited range of stuff my local comic shops have. I usually get my stuff from UK based TokyoToys, though they can be slow at getting new figures in. In that case, I go to Hobby search as they ship on the release date in Japan and are quite cheap. Gah - you got the FREEing Kyon's sister! Its WRONG! Seeing an 8 year old in a bunny suit just makes me feel all dirty inside ;^ .^ Im surprised you havent got the Mikuru one - shes got massive eyes, a cute expression and lovely legs...
In the lines of buying figures in South Africa..... lets just say that there are places to get the more mainstream things like the Macfarlane figures and the Bome figures...but as for gundams....VERY little places to buy from so..... HLJ ALL THE WAY!
there are only a few places in the UK that seem to stock them and they cost 3-4 times the price they would in Japan and the 2-3x the U.S price. There again everything costs more in the UK >< so im used to it now. The few Gundam i do have came from www.gundammad.co.uk and i've had no problems with them so would reccomend :D This is just gives me another reason to move to Japan :D
Bought a couple localized 1/100 MG Gundam kits on Amazon (I think the retailer was Toys R Us) on sale for around $10 each, which was a great deal. Got Kempfer and GP-02 Physalis, great kits at a great price!
When I was back in Melbourne, it would be primarily HLJ. Now that I live in Fukushima, I tend to buy heaps from Akiba (the bargains are just awesome) or from local Japanese online retailers like amiami and Hobbystock.
the problem here is release date, so long after release date bfore we got it here. the prize are "quite" forgiving compare to seattle stuff some store sell their stuff in reasonable prize, some not. and fortunately those some not guys never supply the on date stuff, which is gut
erm, so far im getting figure from a shop near my house, usually the figure i want there also have, only those exclusive and limited can't get it, but will getting one figure from online shop soon...
I have no other choice than ordering my figures online, since shops that sell figures are very very rare in Holland. The only two shops I know that sell figures are in the capitol city and they don't even have big inventories. I usually order from HobbyLink Japan, but I've also ordered a figure from Treasure Island Sports Inc. and Archonia. Although I wasn't completely satisfied with the last one, because the box was really faded for some reason (too much light exposure I'm guessing). BTW has anyone ordered some figures from Zonvic (www.zonvicworld.com)? If so, how's the service and are their figures real (thought I ask that since the store is located in Hong Kong and we all know that most bootlegs come from China).
My first Gundam kit was purchased when I was in Hong Kong for Hols. Most of my gundam kits were bought in the same way (makes for an interesting return trip as we figure out how to get everything back) but otherwise, i use HLJ for anything inbetween trips. Resin kits I either buy from Yahoo! Japan auctions thru a friend or buy them on a whim when on hols to the far east (again, usually HK and definitely recast). Since I almost never buy PVC Kits, the topic is a bit moot but I have bought my revolvtechs from my local comic shop (orbital Manga in London).
I get most of my stuff from KKnM like what the other Singaporeans here have commented. They usually have the best selection of goods and I love them for bringing in cospa goods at reasonable prices.
usually i buy my figures/gundams though yahoo auction (singapore). it's like the equivalent of ebay. i compare the prices and bid on it. then arrange a date and time to meet with the seller to collect the item and pay him. as i get to know the seller better, i will contact him again if i'm looking for any particular item. i also buy from stores as well.
For very specific figures I usually use the online, but here in Spain have very good places with very good stuff, and nice prices, so is better wait more, and pay lees, you know :)
Online only for me. I tried HLJ but now prefer Play-Asia.com. Though it's based in Hong Kong, the price is sometime cheaper than HLJ. Plus free shipping to Thailand. Play-Asia is my primary online shop now.
I usually buy from my local store but see from the feedback that HLJ is very slow in their process. Can anyone tell me is hooby search slow as well?
I usually buy my gundam stuff from either Gundamstoreandmore.com or imageanime.com. But when I buy offline it's Toy Madala there's a place in the mall near me but they sell stuff 2-3 times more.
gundamad.co.uk does it for me and a few sellers on ebay. for those in the uk or for anyone using ebay there is a seller on ebay which can be trusted called gundam-modelkits. here is the url http://stores.ebay.co.uk/GundamModelKits_W0QQsspagenameZL2222QQtZkm. there are also a few other sellers without stores on ebay i would recommend. like richardchan138. i highly recommend both sellers.
Hi all, I wish you posted about AnimeWild earlier. =) AnimeWilds email response is very bad, I had to email them 5 days in a row to ask them to cancel a preorder for me. And they didn't directly answer all my questions, which i had to email another 5 days of emails. Also, I bought a PVC figure that was over $200, the Samurai Spirits one. I finally got it after a long time, but the box was in bad condition. It was dented, but at least the figure was ok. Never ever, will I deal with them again. At this rate, they will have no return customers...
I get mine purely online either from play-asia or from wasabitoys. Play-asia is HK based while wasabitoys is philippines based. The latter's ordering system is not that developed though but they do get the orders sent pretty fast and the owners are pretty accomodating to boot. My only problem with them is they don't accept credit cards yet and bank transfer really is a hassle with my busy schedule.
Great discussion. This will help other fellow otakus choose where to get their stuff and who to avoid like the plague.
Yo Danny if you been reading my blog you'll notice that lately I've been mentioning a special store in my country Jikai is its(shop) name, this guy sells things at really exciting prices for example if a Gunpla is 5000 yen he sells at 50€ I know many of you may think that its a expensive but thats because of the current €/$/¥ conversion but its still pretty cheap, I see in many US stores MG Zeta above $60 wouldn't you prefer to pay $50 instead? Comparing to many European shops his prices are really nice, for example 1/6 Saber Maid, he's selling her at 78€ and in most euro shops you find her normally above 90€. Lately I've been only buying stuff from him like gunpla and figures, magazines and hobby materials I purchase through HLJ.
Forgot to say something ^^. Payed 38€ for MaxFact Haruhi, had a snoop around in some other stores here (Portugal) and saw her being sold at 58€ O_O 20€ more than the normal price, so I recommend everyone to visit his shop if you're in Lisbon ^^, you can find some relics that are sold out everywhere like MaxFact Kazumi and many others
The bookstore that I go to frequently so far sells the right stuff there. As member I could get discount, so naturally I'll only go there. (It's just nearby...)
i do my gunpla shopping at the local mall, 5 minutes of driving from my university. Therefore i don't have to wait, plus i only pay for the petrol fee and parking fee to get there - better than ordering online.
i'm buying them online i ussualy pre order them , the figure so the price will be cheaper i know someone who sell figure so i preorder it from him, but i always do it online When the figure or gundam arrives, he ussualy send it to my house. for the gundam i go to the store, and pick it by myself even though the price is still quite normal but figure and gundam still an expensive stuff here
I mostly get my figures from Hobby Link Japan, but sometimes I get them at my local anime shop (http://tokyokid.com/)
Well we've got Pacific Mall over here and several stores sell Gunpla, its not that bad. The only thing that's much more expensive are Gundam Markers. I tend to buy kits and markers when I go back to HK.
玩具屋チェーン店にガンプラ売ってるけど 日本の定価の２倍じゃ気軽に買えないよ！orz
i recommend rainbowten! http://www.rainbowten.co.jp/english/index.html ^_^
I haven't bought anything online yet. I could not find any good website to do so. Last one I tried still haven't processed my order, which was placed in August. I usually go to the local action figure store (Calgary has few comics/anime stores, but only one of them keep their stock updated.) The price is usually double of the original price. I paid 20 Canadian for HG Gundam Exia and 100 for Kureha. And if I buy them from the internet, any website will probably rape me on shipping. so they came down to the same price. I rather go to local store, deal with the owner in person. That way I feel more secure about what I am spending on.
Hi, This is my first post, great site, great comunity. I buy at HLJ (hlj.com) mainly, the service is excellent, all my gundam kits are injection plastic (BANDAI), some option parts from COREWORKS (resin cast). But I just find the OnePice site, he or she, I don´t know, is a paper craft modeler, a good one, a great artist, check this out: http://cafe.naver.com/oppaper/6955 Really amazing paper models, all site is in korean, I don´t know if is possible download the models, I think that registration is requiered, but I can´t. Please if someone get access, please send me the model of Gundam EX-S head. Bye
Well I've bought gundams offline and online.but i like to get gundams offline because when i get gundan online the box is always scrunched up.
