Great (non-Japanese) stores for kaiju figures
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:25 am
Already posted most of this in the Gamera Rebirth thread but I thought it deserves a separate thread where we can recommend shops that specialize in this stuff outside Japan.
So, I live in Huntsville Alabama and let me tell you about Replay Toys. The place opened like a year or so ago and always had a few kaiju toys knocking around (imports and US stuff). I got a nonposeable Banpresto Shin Ultraman figure there about a month ago. They've just expanded their little kaiju nook into what is now almost an entire wall in the back essentially aping the look of the kaiju section of a Japanese toystore. Amid a modest stack of SHMA boxes, bagged CCP mid-sized figures, and American Super7 and Mezco stuff is... pretty much the entire Bandai Movie Monsters series currently available, hanging on pegs just like in Japan. The entire line or at least the lion's share of the lines for Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, Singular Point, KOTM '19, Godziban, Chibi Godzilla, and the currently issued classic figures: so Jet Jaguar, Daimajin, Gyaos '95, Legion Queen, Legion Soldier, Kiryu, Moguera '94, Megalon, KG '91, MechaKG, MechaG '92, both Gigans, Mothra '03... the only conspicuous absences I noticed were no Gamera '95/'96/'99 figs. BUT! Buuuut - they had the Gamera Rebirth figures! Yeah, before the show even airs! Rebirth Gamera is a really big Bandai figure. He dwarfs, for example, the Shin Ultraman figures.
Few other things mixed in through the rest of the store: SHFA of Rider 1 and Bandai's of the evil Riders from Shin Kamen Rider mixed in with the anime figures (next to the Bandai Movie Monster figures of the Eva units) and that deluxe, not visible joints Mezco Ultraman stacked with the other Mezco figures in that line. Also a ton of Universal Monsters (Neca, Mego) and if you've got a thousand to spare you can get a matching pair of Lee Dracula and Cushing Van Helsinki statues... seems someone in charge is a big monster fan!
So, I live in Huntsville Alabama and let me tell you about Replay Toys. The place opened like a year or so ago and always had a few kaiju toys knocking around (imports and US stuff). I got a nonposeable Banpresto Shin Ultraman figure there about a month ago. They've just expanded their little kaiju nook into what is now almost an entire wall in the back essentially aping the look of the kaiju section of a Japanese toystore. Amid a modest stack of SHMA boxes, bagged CCP mid-sized figures, and American Super7 and Mezco stuff is... pretty much the entire Bandai Movie Monsters series currently available, hanging on pegs just like in Japan. The entire line or at least the lion's share of the lines for Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, Singular Point, KOTM '19, Godziban, Chibi Godzilla, and the currently issued classic figures: so Jet Jaguar, Daimajin, Gyaos '95, Legion Queen, Legion Soldier, Kiryu, Moguera '94, Megalon, KG '91, MechaKG, MechaG '92, both Gigans, Mothra '03... the only conspicuous absences I noticed were no Gamera '95/'96/'99 figs. BUT! Buuuut - they had the Gamera Rebirth figures! Yeah, before the show even airs! Rebirth Gamera is a really big Bandai figure. He dwarfs, for example, the Shin Ultraman figures.
Few other things mixed in through the rest of the store: SHFA of Rider 1 and Bandai's of the evil Riders from Shin Kamen Rider mixed in with the anime figures (next to the Bandai Movie Monster figures of the Eva units) and that deluxe, not visible joints Mezco Ultraman stacked with the other Mezco figures in that line. Also a ton of Universal Monsters (Neca, Mego) and if you've got a thousand to spare you can get a matching pair of Lee Dracula and Cushing Van Helsinki statues... seems someone in charge is a big monster fan!