Banpresto the Underdog of Robot Figure Companies?

I would bet that the number of threads or forum headings for collectible figures that include the name Banpresto are an infinitesimally small fraction when compared to almost any other robot figure producing company. Banpresto is pretty much an under-the-radar figure producer. Most of their figures don't get what you would call high profile coverage, often having limited distribution and little press. Yes Banpresto is more diverse and perhaps less focused on figures than say Max Factory, CM's, or Fewture, where they are best known for their video games. Regardless of this Banpresto still produces a fair number of figures and always seems to find success even with a limited amount of media exposure.

So with this article I want to consider a couple of their most recent and popular areas of success with robot figures.

First we've got the Musha and Kiba Gundam figures. Anyone who owns a set of these figures knows how incredibly super cool they really are. Highly articulated, highly detailed, and dirt cheap. But because of their hybrid nature they often get bypassed by collectors as they mix classic Samurai and Gundam robots into a mythical oddity. Of course it wasn't Banpresto that came up with this whole idea, but their version has been the most accessible and fun in my book. If I was kid (debatable) this could possibly be the perfect toy. It has robots, swords, guns and myth all wrapped up in a highly imaginative, highly posable, yet durable and cheap package. With all this said, I fear that Banpresto's articulated Musha Gundam line may be coming to a much lamented end as Bandai is slowly moving the Musha ideas back into other figure and model lines. As of this writing there hasn't been any announcements for new Musha Banpresto figures in this line for few months. I really hope this is just a short break until we some new entries.

Dengeki SRW figures

The Dengeki SRW figures were like an overnight sensation turning from a limited mail in only, specialty product to a mad rush of insane collector fervor with equal amounts of fretting and gnashing of teeth as prices and availability spun and fluctuated out of control. Thankfully that is no longer the case, but in hindsight the oddest thing about this phenomenon was that nobody seemed to know any specifics about them, at least not outside of Japan. Nobody knew where to buy them or what the production quantities were, nor where or how to get them outside of Japan, and that's not to mention quality, gimmicks etc. To put this in perspective, for about a year the price of the SRW Dygenguar character was never less than $400+ on Yahoo Japan auctions, and that was if you could find one. It was the same with Granzon and Alteisen both of which readily fetched $300+, and all the other characters had $150-$200 price tags, even for the newly released figures. I don't know if there has ever been price jumps like that in the collectible figure market before or since, and all for 6 inch plastic action figures. Of course giving them such a simple description as mere action figures is being somewhat unfair, because what this doesn't express is how awesomely cool they look; design arguably being their real success. As I mentioned, things have since settled down as everyone became more informed and realized that these figures weren't going to instantly disappear into thin air.

Just recently Bandai gave the big nod to Dygenguar and Aussenseiter as they have been ushered into the SOC line which basically affirms SRW as something of classic status.

Alteisen

This moves us right into Alteisen. Alteisen is likely the most popular design to come from the SRW robot designs thus far. Watching this fan favorite robot over the last five or so years has been like watching a classic in the making. Let's just see if I can count the Alteisens which all have come out in less than five years. First Kotobukiya has put out three plamo model variations with numerous presses of each. There has been the Dengeki mail in special and the Alteisen Riese mail in special, then another limited figure offer that came with one of the SRW animes. Banpresto did another joint effort with Wave and Unifive to produce a die-cast version, and finally we have the upcoming Bandai produced Super Robot Chogokin version. That's a lot of Alteisens and a lot of popularity for a robot design. But then Alteisen is about as kick-butt in robot design as you'll find.

So oddly enough Banpresto remains as something of an underdog as the company isn't a name seen or heard often among collectors or even gamers really, yet Branpresto remains quite prolific. So while other companies often bang each others heads trying to produce the same thing first, I give Banpresto a big thumbs up and hope they will continue to mine the riches in new avenues of the imagination.