Bandai America

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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. They were primarily available at Toys 'R' Us and Kmart until 2019, when Walmart began selling the 13th wave of Classic Godzilla Figures.

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.

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 First Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, and a 12-inch tall Gigan 2004.

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.

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.

Wave 10 (2014)

Wave 10 consisted entirely of reissues, though it notably changed the box art from Godzilla (2004) to what appears to be a scan of the Godzilla (1954) figure featured in the series.

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.

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 Millenium Godzilla figures have been sighted in stores as well, though only Rainbow Mothra has a listing on the Walmart site.

Wave 14 (2019)

Beginning in June 2019, reissues of Bandai America's 12-inch Godzilla Final Wars and Mechagodzilla figures were sold in stores such as GameStop and FYE, alongside reissues of the chibi figure two-packs.

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, MOGUERA, 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 six monsters, available in two-packs or as a complete set. The two-packs were reissued in 2019.

Convention Exclusives

Bandai America has released three convention-exclusive figures: a Burning Godzilla 2004 at San Diego Comic-Con 2013, a Godzilla 2014 with blue dorsal plates at New York Comic-Con 2014, and a sparkling, semitransparent Godzilla 1954 at San Diego Comic-Con 2019.

Godzilla (2014) Figures

In addition to the Godzilla 2014 figures released along with Bandai America's Classic Godzilla Figures, the company produced several toys exclusively for Legendary Pictures' Godzilla in 2014.

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.

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.

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.

Shokugan (2014 and 2019)

Main article: Shokugan.

Bandai America brought Wave 1 of these 3.5-inch soft vinyl figures to the United States in 2014. Wave 2 figures, as well as a nearly 20-inch premium Godzilla 2018, were part of the company's display at Toy Fair 2019.[4][5] The second wave of Shokugan figures were called "3.5" Import Vinyl Figures" in Bandai America's display, while the giant Godzilla 2018 was called "Mega Godzilla." Pre-orders indicate that the wave will be split into two assortments, the first consisting of Godzilla 2017, Kiryu, Rodan 2004, Shin Godzilla's second form, Hedorah 2004, and Shin Godzilla's fourth form, and the second of Godzilla 2004, Godzilla 1989, and Anguirus 2004 in addition to repeats of Godzilla 2017, Kiryu, and Shin Godzilla's fourth form. The figures are expected to ship in August of 2019.

Godzilla Card Game (2019)

Main article: Godzilla Card Game.

Bandai America released a competitive Godzilla Card Game in September of 2019, and began supporting the game with organized in-store play events in October.

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.

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, though they were ultimately never made.[6] The company also expressed plans to release toys for Shin Godzilla in the same interview, which never came to pass either.

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 "Creation" underneath the Bandai logo.
  • 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.[6] The top six vote-getters were Anguirus, Megalon, Titanosaurus, the Female 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]

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MOGUERA
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