SHF Star Wars

[AgentHemlock]

Right now shipping from Japan is costing about as much as the figures themselves so I'm hoping Yoda gets delayed. BBTS and EE never listed him as far as I know we're all probably just screwed on getting Yoda.

Anyone know why all of the SHF figure releases recently are all Japan exclusives? Some sort of licensing issue perhaps? I mean, it's quite strange because Bandai is making English-language specific versions of the figures with packaging and instructions in English, but then they're only selling them from Japan. So they're planning for a foreign audience that it seems like they're not actually supposed to be selling to, but they know that audience buys directly from Japan to get them.

And somehow BBTS has been selling these "excliusive" figures after release anyway. I always wonder how they're getting them--are they just buying a ton from the Japanese retailers and selling them here? I really don't get it at all.

I'm now afraid I won't be able to get General Grievous when he releases, although I guess we can always wait and see what BBTS manages to get their hands on.

I believe Bandai is blocked from selling and advertising Star Wars figures (outside of Movie Realizations which is their own scale and interpretation of the IP) within the US, but they may be able to sell them in other countries, including English speaking ones.

SHF never displays their SW figures at US comic cons because of this.

I think it was back in 2018 or 19, they were going big on displaying prototypes at their international cons. Speculation was that they were trying to get into the US market, so they were really showing off what they could do. The license was up for renegotiation around 2020 apparently, so it would make sense. Hasbro was able to secure the license again though and almost immediately after SHF's Star Wars output dried up to absolute crumbs. Whether this was because they were shut out from the US again, or because the franchise itself has had some hits and misses, is anyone's guess.

There was a brief time they tried to get around Hasbro's block with Marvel by releasing deluxe sets of MCU figures in the US. For instance, they packaged Doctor Strange with a giant fire flame effect and sold him at Barnes and Nobles past the $100 mark. But it wasn't a hit. I think there is something about clearing the $100 mark in the license, where you are outside of a compete clause. I was reminded of this with Mondo's Ghostbuster figures.

As for how does BBTS get away with selling them? I'm not entirely sure. They seem to be the only US store that sells them. My guess is they are a loss leader and that they sell them for little no profit, in exchange for getting people in their ecosystem. But this is conjecture.