Bandai release schedule
- Thread starter TazMan2000
- Start date
Analyzer
Master Member
Unfortunately I think he is missing that Bandai mainly targets a Japanese audience and larger 1/48 and1/24 models in the several hundred dollar plus range are not really that target market. It may be what some westerners want, but I do not think it is the cash cow people think it is. A smarter approach would be the HasLabs type of method using pre-orders for a run with a goal of total orders to hit. It eliminates the risk of larger and more expensive kits
Last edited:
Zuiun
Sr Member
I think he's also missing the big point that Bandai doesn't own the IP. This is Lucasfilm / Disney pulling the strings. Do we really know which elements of the Star Wars universe Bandai has been granted rights to? Does anyone really think Bandai is just doing whatever they want (or as the video suggests, don't want) with the property? Do we know for sure if they've even been granted research access to any other elements besides what they've released?
This video is just cringy across the board. We've been given a gift of model building gold in the form of beautifully engineered Bandai Star Wars kits, but somehow the company is just crapping all over us fans by not releasing any and all possible kits from the franchise?
I'm craving new SW kits from Bandai as much as anyone. If no more are coming down the pipe, I'll be immensely disappointed. But in the meantime, I have some absolutely phenomenal kits at a level of detail and accuracy I never thought I'd have the opportunity to build.
Wah wah wah.
This is so tiresome. Why does some random guy cursing in his basement think he knows best for Bandai's bottom line? What makes him an expert in their economic decisions?
He wants specific types of toys. Good for him. Doesn't mean that what he wants lines up with Bandai's desire to make money, and the size of the actual market.
Middle-aged North American model makers seem to think that they define the market for model kits. They really gotta grow up and realize they don't. Just because they're not aware of the larger world doesn't mean it doesn't exist. This sort of self-entitled childish rage - but they MUST make something just because *I* want it! - is kind of pathetic.
Those of us interested in detailed and accurate models from a certain film franchise have been incredibly lucky that the desire of a big Japanese toy and model company happened to overlap enough for us to benefit. Maybe that's over now. Oh well.
This is so tiresome. Why does some random guy cursing in his basement think he knows best for Bandai's bottom line? What makes him an expert in their economic decisions?
He wants specific types of toys. Good for him. Doesn't mean that what he wants lines up with Bandai's desire to make money, and the size of the actual market.
Middle-aged North American model makers seem to think that they define the market for model kits. They really gotta grow up and realize they don't. Just because they're not aware of the larger world doesn't mean it doesn't exist. This sort of self-entitled childish rage - but they MUST make something just because *I* want it! - is kind of pathetic.
Those of us interested in detailed and accurate models from a certain film franchise have been incredibly lucky that the desire of a big Japanese toy and model company happened to overlap enough for us to benefit. Maybe that's over now. Oh well.
Last edited:
Zuiun
Sr Member
It's one thing to ask questions of a company. It's another to do so while coming off as a spoiled, entitled child, which that video certainly does.
I think we'd all be in agreement here that Bandai has produced some of the best commercially available Star Wars kits the modeling community has ever seen. But this guy literally claims Bandai is doing a disservice to the community because.... why? Their Death Star kit isn't big enough for him? They aren't releasing kits based off of Star Wars cartoons? Because their existing kits are hard to find right now during a pandemic year when manufacturing and shipping avenues have been shut down most of the year?
Would it be nice if we knew what to expect from the line? Absolutely it would. But most companies aren't in the habit of making announcements about things until they... actually have something to announce. Unless they have some specific agreements in place with Disney regarding what kits they can produce next and have actually begun the tooling process, about the only announcement I'd expect from them would be "well, yes, we still have the license" -- which really doesn't tell us much of anything. Otherwise, I doubt their shareholders would appreciate the company making speculative announcements just to appease hobbyists.
That video is a disservice to our community. It makes us all look bad.
TazMan2000
Master Member
I didn't listen to all of his rant. The first 30 seconds was enough. Cringeworthy, childish, entitled...yes. This guy sounds like all of those, however, each of us has a part in ourselves that thinks exactly like he does. We all love Bandai and when there is an announcement, we all hope that it will be something that hasn't been done and overdone in the past, and most importantly, something that each of us wants (where there is no consensus).
The Bandai Star Wars line has become a sort of a narcotic. Once you build one and see the quality, you want to build more and more.
We all understand the result of Covid19 on the manufacturing industry...but we don't have to like it. The guy is just venting. Who knows, something good may come of it.
TazMan2000
The Bandai Star Wars line has become a sort of a narcotic. Once you build one and see the quality, you want to build more and more.
We all understand the result of Covid19 on the manufacturing industry...but we don't have to like it. The guy is just venting. Who knows, something good may come of it.
TazMan2000
monsterpartyhat
Sr Member
There is no eye roll GIF large enough for that rant.
Attirex
Well-Known Member
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the other issue is that as has been stated time and again on these forums, Bandai's primary market (Japan), doesn't want or need huge kits (ie, a two foot tall AT-AT) because there just isn't enough room in the typically smaller Japanese residences for them. Heck, I live in a good sized house in the US and ran out of room for displaying my small collection of SW and military kits a couple of years ago. I keep building them, though, but....that's my problem. 
Am I disappointed Bandai didn't make a huge SD? Sure, but I understand why they might not have.
And seconding pandemic, supply chain issues, and other business reasons maybe why Bandai hasn't produced any more SW kits. I am a VERY patient man, though, and can wait. And if for some reason this is the end of the road for SW and Bandai, I'm happy with what I have.
Am I disappointed Bandai didn't make a huge SD? Sure, but I understand why they might not have.
And seconding pandemic, supply chain issues, and other business reasons maybe why Bandai hasn't produced any more SW kits. I am a VERY patient man, though, and can wait. And if for some reason this is the end of the road for SW and Bandai, I'm happy with what I have.
That's true, but it's not just house size. It's also market segment. Bandai also sells to the youth market in Japan and Asia-wide, and that market values high-quality but affordable kits. The Western model market has mostly abandoned kids.
So, sure - middle-aged men in the West wanting to regain memories of their youth will have the space and disposable income to throw at these things. But people like me aren't the primary target market for the small affordable fun kits.
There isn't a chance in hell that Bandai will produce a bunch of giant Star Wars models, because that's not where the money is.
Self-entitled "rants" like this will accomplish nothing except make people like that guy feel important. No decision-maker at Bandai is going to be convinced by that sort of nonsense, even if they were to come across it. Why would they? They have their market strategy and market data. He doesn't.
It's all Dunning-Kruger again. Yeah! Listen to me, Bandai!
So, sure - middle-aged men in the West wanting to regain memories of their youth will have the space and disposable income to throw at these things. But people like me aren't the primary target market for the small affordable fun kits.
There isn't a chance in hell that Bandai will produce a bunch of giant Star Wars models, because that's not where the money is.
Self-entitled "rants" like this will accomplish nothing except make people like that guy feel important. No decision-maker at Bandai is going to be convinced by that sort of nonsense, even if they were to come across it. Why would they? They have their market strategy and market data. He doesn't.
It's all Dunning-Kruger again. Yeah! Listen to me, Bandai!
Last edited:
TazMan2000
Master Member
You're absolutely correct. But isn't it a missed market opportunity to have a customer possessing the funds to buy something (and pay a lot for it), and nobody wanting to make a product to satisfy that customer? Zvezda made a large Star Destroyer and everyone was clamoring to get it and even willing to pay exorbitant money on eBay to get it. Revell realized an opportunity and somehow re-boxed it to sell to the North American and European markets. Also, I'm sure everyone remembers, due to contractual obligations, Bandai couldn't sell their kits overseas. Shortly afterwards Bluefin started distributing knowing there was a demand.
But I guess the world just thinks that middle aged men in North America just want their walk in tubs.
TazMan2000
That's the thing. Not necessarily. Is the market for large expensive models as big and profitable as the market for cheap small models? I bet it's not, or else Bandai would be filling that market.
I believe that the mistake here is thinking that because you and me and a few noisy people want, say, a big kit of an Imperial shuttle means there's a big demand. It costs a ton of money to make the moulds for a big kit, and Bandai wants to make their money off it.
Just because there are three people in the world who want gold-plated Macs shaped like bananas, and are willing to pay for them, doesn't mean that Apple is going to make them, because it's not worth their while.
I mean, drop the gold-plated part and I'd be in.
Zuiun
Sr Member
But who is "everyone?" Everyone within the "General Modeling" sub-forum of the RPF is not the same everyone as the general public. There's absolutely going to be an illusion of greater demand within our community (or even all of the modeling community) over the actual market.
Companies like Bandai have to think not only of what die-hard hobbyists want, but also what a retail store is willing to put on the shelves and, more importantly, is likely to attract a buyer passing by said shelf. Certainly there's room for them to take risks occasionally with exotic kits, and they do take those risks. The Perfect Grade Falcon is a holy grail for many modelers, and I'm sure it sold relatively well. But it's also not a kit that can sit easily on a retail shelf, nor is it anywhere near an impulse buy price point (not in the way that, say, a $30 x-wing is).
There is an inherently ultra high risk with kits like the PG Falcon, or the Zveda Star Destroyer, and likely a relatively low profit margin for them, too (compared to the smaller, easy to make, ship, and stock kits). So "selling relatively well" is probably very subjective compared to how well other kits sell.
TazMan2000
Master Member
When I say "everyone", I meant generally there was a lot of people that did, in fact, want the kit and did play inflated prices, until they realize that Revell would re-distribute the kit. The 'General Modeling' sub-forum doesn't include every Star Wars model building consumer in the world. It is a small subset. So you can partially use the perceived 'want' here and extrapolate for the world wide market.
But yes, there are a multitude of factors into marketing plastic models in different parts of the world and despite myself and others stomping their feet to get more from Bandai, we all realize that our 'needs' can't always be satiated. Well...most of us do....others make YouTube videos.
When venting here doesn't produce results, you can always take it to another platform.
TazMan2000
I’m afraid I disagree. I think this is the point. The RPF is geared towards a fairly small and obsessive group of fans. The overall market for Star Wars kits is much more diverse and the RPF is most certainly not at all representative of it.
I think it’s a mistake to consider us uberfans as anything more than a small minority of potential buyers. Why else make mini transparent Death Stars and x-wings?
TazMan2000
Master Member
I think we're disagreeing on trivialities. We are basically saying the same thing. Yes, we are a small and obsessive group here, but not everybody here is into models or Star Wars. So besides all our diverse interests, we still represent a slice of the whole. I'm not saying that the marketing division of Bandai should use this website as a gauge, I'm just saying that you could make some educated guesses on what is seen here and on other websites as to what obsessive and non-obsessive consumers want. A little information is better than no information at all on making marketing decisions. Lots of marketing blunders happen when companies don't listen to the consumers.
TazMan2000
1/72 Y-wing, try eBay. 1/72 Slave 1... not so much.
