Nendoroid Guide: The Readers’ Questions Edition
Keep your nendoroid questions coming!
Hi all! Welcome to my second guide on Nendoroid! ^ ^
I’m honestly quite blown away by the positive response to my first guide on buying nendoroids that I posted in 2020. Nendoroids: A Guide on Buying Nendoroids has become one of my highest read/view posts to date and I am grateful for it. Thank you! ^ ^
I do hope the information I provided has been useful. Here’s also a shout-out to all of you who actually took the time to PM me on Instagram, Twitter and via emails to let me know that you found my guide helpful. It really makes my day to know that people are reading and finding my posts useful.
So, ever since I posted my first guide on buying Nendoroids, I have been receiving quite a number of questions on Nendoroid and Good Smile Company from people all over the world.
I figured others might have the same questions as well, so why not compile all of them here? My first guide was already too long as it is, anyway. So, think of this as an expansion pack? LOL. It builds on what has been written in that guide.
If you are new to the world of nendoroid and GSC, I recommend you read my first guide: Nendoroids: A Guide on Buying Nendoroids before this. It’s basically a 101 on all things nendoroid with tons of information and will be useful for your own collector journey. Everyone else, just jump straight in! ^ ^
On a related note, I’ve also written a guide about Kuji which you can find here. Even if you have played Kuji before, I’m pretty sure you can find something new in the guide for you. I know I did ^ ^
Page Contents
Nendoroid Questions
Q) How do you know if the Nendoroid is legit and not a bootleg?
Personally, there are three signs to watch out for.
The First is the price. If it’s too cheap, the nendoroid is likely fake (although exceptions do apply. See below “My Advice” for more information). Take note that a typical nendoroid costs between 4000 yen to 6000 yen, excluding shipping.
The Second is the packaging. Often, the fakes and bootlegs get something wrong in the words/placements on the box (e.g., mis-spellings). Print quality is bad as well.
The Third is the place/platform you are buying from. If you are buying from a shop, you can check on the GSC website if the shop is a legit GSC PARTNER SHOP. They list all the shops carrying their products. If buying from a reseller, always check reviews and request for an actual photo of the product.
GSC has also written up a post about bootlegs and fakes, complete with photos. You can find it here.
That being said, it’s is getting increasingly harder to differentiate between the fakes and real items.
So, my advice is to:
- Always buy from official GSC partner shops & retailers, and the GSC online shops
- If buying from re-sellers (especially for nendoroids that might be out-of-print), try to ask them to show you the actual photo of the nendoroid + packaging. Always refer to reviews as well.
- If the price is too good to be true (re: cheap), it usually is. A typical Nendoroid cost between 4000 yen to 6000 yen, excluding shipping cost.
The only exception is when you are buying from the reputable second-hand Japanese (goods) shops. I have managed to buy some nendoroids at great discounted prices before and they are definitely legit. One important point to note is that the status of the box it is in, also plays a part in the pricing. Usually, if the box is damaged, it will be sold at a discounted price too. (Remember, how I mentioned in my fun facts in Nendoroids:A Guide on Buying Nendoroids that most collectors never take out their nendoroids? So the box is important too.)
Q) How long does it take for a Nendoroid to be made/released?
Based on my observations, it typically takes about 6 to 8 months after pre-orders are opened for the nendoroids to be released. It can take up to a year from the point the nendoroids are announced and their prototype shown at the various festivals and exhibitions. Do take note that delays are quite common nowadays as well.
On the other hand, re-releases tend to be faster, often requiring a shorter order-production run time.
Side-note: My only concern is that with the speed that GSC are announcing its new nendoroids, the quality of some do suffer. I had one or two which the quality is really not up to GSC standards (e.g. Joints keep falling off, the paint job isn’t even or smooth) Thankfully, most nendoroids are still pretty good.
Q) What nendoroids do you recommend buying?
This is really a pretty subjective question. Naturally, you would buy the nendoroids that are your favourite characters and/or from a series that you love.
Putting aside your fan preferences though and just purely looking at the quality (e.g. paint-job, texture, sculpture), it is true that some nendorids are indeed better made than others. Some studios/production companies somehow does a better job in either the design or attention to details.
Side-note: There are many different studios/companies making nendoroids under the GSC brand. So not all nendoroids are made by the same production studio. Majority of the nendoroids are made in China, with only a select few characters made in Japan.
Personally, in my opinion, the Touken Ranbu nendoroids by Orange Rouge (OR) is really one of the best under the GSC brand. They are really well-made and the attention to details is astounding. If you have one, you’ll know what I mean. Their non-nendoroid figurines are also super nice as well. Well-worth every dollar and yen spent. ^ ^ (Geeky Travels and Fandoms is not affiliated with OR in any way.)
Q) Why isn’t GSC making/releasing a [insert your fav character] nendoroid?
It all boils down to licensing (IPs) as well as popularity + profit. If you take a look at their product catalogue, you will find that some series only released 1 or 2 characters, whereas others have like 5 or more (e.g. Naruto; JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure; Attack on Titan; Harry Potter). So generally, if the first characters of a series sold well, naturally they will release others in quick succession.
That said, GSC does run surveys from time to time, inviting fans to suggest and vote on what characters/series you would like to see a nendoroid of. GSC takes these surveys pretty seriously. Several nendoroids (especially from older titles) unexpectedly came out this way. So, when the surveys comes around, make sure you do it!
Q) Has GSC ever recalled its products/figurines?
In short, Yes. There has been rare instances of GSC recalling back products (nendoroids) for exchange. So it’s always best to buy from the official platforms and/or their partner shops as they can help to arrange for exchanges.
To be fair, recalls for product exchanges are really rare and doesn’t happen often. I think the most recent one (that I can recall) happened a few years ago with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Dio Brando (Part III) nendoroid. The first run had a few batches missing his iconic 3 marks on his ear. GSC issued an apology and arranged for product exchanges/recall. Take note that GSC doesn’t support recalls/product exchanges if you did not buy from their partner shops or its own online stores.
Q) Why can’t I buy nendoroid from the GSC online shop?
If you can’t buy from the GSC online shop, it is likely because they can’t ship to your country. The other reason is Geographical Restrictions.
With the growing popularity of nendoroids around the world and GSC setting up country-region specific shops, they have started to be really strict on WHERE you can officially buy their nendoroids from. For example, if you are not shipping to an address in China, chances are you can’t buy anything from GSC’s official shop on Taobao. (They used to allow Asia countries who were using Taobao’s official forwarder to purchase but they stopped it in January 2021) Likewise, if you are from the United States of America and want to get something from the global GSC webstore, it is likely they will direct you to the USA webstore instead.
Side-note: Interestingly, I’ve started to notice that the available stocks and promotions has started to differ in the respective regional webstores. Previously, they tend to run the same promotions and campaigns.
So the gist of it is, you can only buy from the corresponding country specific GSC online shop to where your shipping address is. There are of-course, work-arounds with proxy buyers and forwarders. Check out my guide on Geeky Goods Spotlight: Forwarder, Buying Service & Proxy Bidding (Anime Goods) for more information.
Q) How do you know if the item is really MISB?
MISB = Mint in Sealed Box.
I guess you would need to trust the source that you are buying from. Perhaps the best way to ascertain that the item is really MISB is by looking at the condition of the box. The sticker seals on the top and bottom of the box should be untouched and smooth.
Q) What is this GSC wrapped white paper?
Some resellers online might mention that the nendoroid box is wrapped in a GSC white paper. As far as I know there is no official GSC-branded wrapping paper. I think what they are referring to is this thin white paper that is wrapped around the nendoroid box. There isn’t a GSC logo on it. ^ ^
From what I can remember, only nendoroids ordered directly from GSC online itself has this. Most of the official retailers/GSC partner shops doesn’t have it.
Nendoroid Dolls – Dress-Ups
Q) What Skin Tone do you use for your nendoroid dolls?
For the GSC nendoroid dolls, I use Peach. Peach is the default colour for the nendoroid doll bodies. Personally, I find this skin tone colour suitable for most nendoroids.
For OB11 dolls, I bought a Shiny White. It actually matches most of my nendoroids really well.
Q) How do I fit a nendoroid head on an OB11 body?
It’s actually pretty simple. There are instructions on the back of the OB11 doll body box on how to do it. Basically, you take a screwdriver and unscrew the top cap to remove the upper ring.
Here’s also a video: “How to attach a Nendoroid head to a 11cm Obitsu body” by “Go Dolly” to show how it’s done. This is a pretty clear and straightforward video that my friend sent me when I first started using Obitsu Body 11 cm dolls.
Q) Where do you buy your nendoroid doll clothes?
Most of the clothes I bought are from shops that specializes in selling doll clothes or from GSC itself. I’ve also bought from individual sellers online and at conventions as well. (There are so many talented people out there!)
I’m currently in the process of making my own nendoroid doll clothes too as well. Stay tune for updates. I’m pretty excited on this project. ^ ^
If you have a nendoroid doll clothes shop, and you would like to do a collaboration or partnership, do drop a PM on Instagram or email.
Q) What about fan-made dolls?
Now this is a tricky area. GSC has not publicly made any statement about these dolls but I’m pretty sure GSC know they exist. Why else would they sell blank Nendoroid face plates? Its for fans to customize dolls as they seem fit. Most of the time, these fan-made dolls are of characters that hasn’t had the nendoroid treatment. However, I have started to see more “fan-made” dolls of characters that do have a nendoroid counterpart so it may be a matter of time that we see a statement from GSC.
To Be Continued…
And that’s all folks! I’ll be adding questions to this guide from time to time so do bookmark it and/or check back from time to time. Alternatively, you can sign up for the G.T.F mailing list. ^ ^
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Do feel free to send questions or any feedback to me via my Instagram; Email or leave a comment below.
Check out my other Guides & Posts!
If you enjoy and/or found this guide useful, perhaps you might be interested in my other anime and manga guides as well:
- Nendoroids: A guide on buying Nendoroids
- A Kuji Guide: All You need to know and more!
- Figuarts Mini VS Nendoroid: A Comparison Guide
- Geeky Goods Spotlight: Forwarder, Buying Service & Proxy Bidding (Anime Goods)
- Capcom Store Tokyo
- Animate Cafes (How-to & Tips)
Check out my other posts!
