Bandai America: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:12, 16 February 2019

Bandai America is the American distribution arm of Bandai, which produces and releases toys for the American market. Bandai America has been releasing Godzilla figures in the United States since 2002, which were primarily available at Toys 'R' Us and Kmart until 2019, when Walmart began selling figures from the line's 13th wave.

Classic Godzilla Figures

Wave 1 (2002)

Bandai America's first Godzilla figures became available online at the end of 2002, reaching brick-and-mortar stores the following year.

Wave 2 (2005)

After several years of silence, new Bandai America Godzilla figures arrived in stores without any prior announcement.^[1] This would become a staple of the company's releases. Bandai America planned to include two additional figures in this wave, Anguirus 1955 and Mecha-King Ghidorah, but they ultimately went unreleased.

Godzilla 2001
King Ghidorah
SpaceGodzilla
Mechagodzilla
Unreleased Mecha-King Ghidorah and Anguirus 1955 figures

Wave 3 (2006)

Every monster included in this wave was from Godzilla: Final Wars, which Sony released on DVD in the United States in December 2005.

Wave 4 (2007)

The fourth wave was released in 2007, and featured all-new figures. It was also the first wave to introduce figures in a new 12-inch scale.

Wave 5 (2009)

This wave included reissues of Godzilla Millennium, Godzilla 1968, Hedorah, Destoroyah, and Anguirus. It also introduced a 1-

Wave 6 (2010)

Wave 6 included reissues of Godzilla 2004, First Godzilla, and Rainbow Mothra.

Wave 7 (2011)

Wave 7 included more reissues, this time Godzilla 2001, Gigan 2004, and SpaceGodzilla.

Wave 8 (2012)

Like the past two waves, Wave 8 consisted entirely of reissues. Bandai America planned to include a new LittleGodzilla figure in this wave, but cancelled it after learning of the character's low popularity among Godzilla fans.^[2]

Fusion Series Wave 1 (2012)

Following the release of Wave 8, Bandai America launched a series of figures called the Godzilla Fusion Series. Figures in the Godzilla Fusion Series are reissues of previous molds but made from softer, translucent, and glittery vinyl.

Fusion Series Godzilla 1968
Fusion Series Gigan
Fusion Series Mechagodzilla

Wave 9 (2013)

This wave was headlined by a new King Caesar figure, along with reissues of Burning Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, Gigan, Rainbow Mothra, and Godzilla 1968, along with the 12-inch Godzilla 2004 and Mechagodzilla.

Fusion Series Wave 2 (2013)

The second wave of Fusion Series figures was released in 2013. It consisted of figures not part of the initial Fusion Series Line. Bandai America planned a variant of the Fusion Series Burning Godzilla made of bright orange vinyl representing Godzilla melting down during the climax of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, but this was never released.

Fusion Series Godzilla 2000
Fusion Series Rainbow Mothra
Fusion Series Burning Godzilla
Fusion Series Burning Godzilla prototype
Unreleased Meltdown Godzilla

Wave 10 (2014)

Wave 10 consisted entirely of reissues.

Millennium Godzilla, Godzilla 1954, and King Caesar

Wave 11 (2014)

Wave 11 was released to commemorate the release of Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, and consisted of a figure of Godzilla from that film along with reissues of Godzilla 1954 and King Ghidorah.

Godzilla 1954 and King Ghidorah
Godzilla 2014

Wave 12 (2015)

This wave included reissues of the 6-inch Godzilla 2014 and King Ghidorah figures, as well as a reissue of the 12-inch Godzilla 2004 and a new 12-inch Godzilla 2014. Bandai America's Toy Fair 2015 display included Godzilla 2014 and MUTO figures from Bandai Japan's Godzilla-E.G. line, rebranded as "Hatch-n-Heroes," though they were never released.

Wave 13 (2019)

This wave began arriving at Walmarts in January. Though Bandai America had released figures of all these characters before, they partially resculpted King Ghidorah^[3] and gave Godzilla 1968 a duller pink mouth. Rainbow Mothra, Godzilla 1954, and Godzilla 2000 figures have been sighted in stores as well, though only Rainbow Mothra has a listing on the Walmart site.

Play Sets

Pack of Destruction (2002)

This set features ten 2.5-inch kaiju figures: Godzilla 1954, Burning Godzilla, Minilla, Manda, Mothra Larva, Mothra Imago, Gigan, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., Destoroyah (Aggregate Form), and Destoroyah (Complete Form).

Godzilla Crumble Zone (2002)

This set features all the monsters from Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, although the film had yet to be released in the U.S.: Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Mothra Larva, Mothra Imago, and Baragon. It also included a large mat, several vehicles, and breakable buildings.

Tokyo Vinyl (2012)

In 2012, Bandai America began a line of smaller stylized vinyl figures, consisting of Godzilla 2004 and Mechagodzilla. Due to poor sales of this line, Bandai America cancelled plans for Godzilla 1954, King Ghidorah, and Minilla figures.^[2]

Chibi Figures (2013)

In 2013 Bandai America began releasing small chibi figures of several monsters.

Chibi Figures 2 Packs
Chibi Figures 6 Pack
Chibi Figures
2 Pack Chibi Godzilla and Mechagodzilla
2 Pack Chibi Mothra and King Ghidorah
Chibi Godzilla
Chibi Mechagodzilla
Chibi Mothra
Chibi King Ghidorah
Chibi Gigan
Chibi Destoroyah

Convention Exclusives

Bandai America has released two convention-exclusive figures: a Burning Godzilla 2004 at San Diego Comic-Con 2013, and a Godzilla 2014 with blue dorsal plates at New York Comic-Con 2014.

Burning Godzilla 2004
Burning Godzilla 2004 + Box
Burning Godzilla 2004 + Box
Godzilla 2014
Godzilla 2014 with box

Godzilla (2014) Figures

Atomic Roar Godzilla

This figure's jaw unhinges to shoot out a pillar of flashing atomic breath as it roars. It is powered by three button cell batteries, which are included.

Godzilla Fighting Figures

A button on the tail of the Smash Strike Godzilla causes it to thrash around, while a button on the chest of the Tail Strike Godzilla causes its tail to swing.

Smash Strike Godzilla
Loose Smash Strike Godzilla
Tail Strike Godzilla
Loose Tail Strike Godzilla

Packs of Destruction

The Packs of Destruction each contain a small monster figure, several destructible buildings, and a military aircraft. Each pack has two variants with differently-colored buildings. These packs scale with the larger Destruction City set.

Godzilla (grey buildings)
Godzilla (red buildings)
Winged MUTO (grey buildings)
Winged MUTO (blue buildings)

Destruction City

The Destruction City consists of small figures of Godzilla and the Eight-Legged MUTO, several buildings, and five military vehicles. The pieces of this set scale with the smaller individual Packs of Destruction.

Godzilla Chibi Two Packs

As part of their Godzilla merchandise, Bandai America released chibi figures of Godzilla and both MUTOs. These figures are the same size and style as the company's 2013 chibi Godzilla figures.

Chibi Godzilla and Winged MUTO
Chibi Godzilla
Chibi Winged MUTO
Chibi Battle Damaged Godzilla and Eight-Legged MUTO
Chibi Battle Damaged Godzilla
Chibi Eight-Legged MUTO

Japanese Releases

Main articles: Movie Monster EX Series, King of the Monsters Series.

At minimum, the Smash Strike, Tail Strike, and Atomic Roar Godzillas, as well as the Destruction City, were all sold in Japan. Bandai Japan also released the six-inch Bandai America figures of Godzilla 1968, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla 1974, and King Caesar under the name Movie Monster EX Series in 2015. The following year, they released the company's 12-inch Godzilla 2004 and Kiryu figures in their King of the Monsters Series.

Atomic Roar Godzilla
Tail Strike Godzilla
Destruction City

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Bandai America announced plans to produce figures of Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah for Godzilla: King of the Monsters in a 2015 interview with Toho Kingdom.^[4] As of February 2019, no news of these figures has surfaced. The company also expressed plans to release toys for Shin Godzilla in the same interview, which never came to pass.

Bootlegs

Knockoff versions of Bandai America Godzilla products include 12-inch figures of Godzilla 2004 and Kiryu, vinyl versions of the "Smash Strike" and "Tail Strike" Godzilla 2014 figures, and a malformed Godzilla 2000 with a glowing chest and dorsal plates.

Trivia

Bandai America has long been erroneously referred to by Godzilla fans as "Bandai Creation," due to packaging for their first five waves of figures reading "A Bandai Creation."
From December 2014 to February 2015, Toho Kingdom hosted a Bandai America poll for fans to weigh in on which non-Godzilla monsters they wanted the company to produce next.^[4] The top six vote-getters were Anguirus, Megalon, Titanosaurus, the Eight-Legged MUTO, Varan, and Biollante. Bandai America has yet to make any of these figures, nor the Shin Godzilla figures they referred to in a follow-up interview with the site.

References

This is a list of references for Bandai America. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

[VM1-1] Vinyl Madness - Bandai Creation Second Wave Series

[cancellationMattFrank-2] 2.0 ^2.1 "As I've been told, the reason why we never got any more Tokyo Vinyl toys was because the last ones, Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, just didn't sell. Same goes for the chibis, which is why we'll never see any more chibi sets from Bandai America. We'll also never see another King Caesar, and when Bandai found out how much the fandom hated Little Godzilla they just went ahead and cancelled it." — Matt Frank, February 21, 2015, Facebook.

[TK_Forum-3] Toho Kingdom Forums - Re: Godzilla Bandai USA/Creations Discussion

[TK2-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Toho Kingdom - Interview: Bandai America (2015)

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