Jason Moses
September 25, 2014 
The idea that the figure behemoth Good Smile would expand its offerings is almost absurd, given they’ve produced over 600 figures in the Nendoroid and figma lines alone. Or it isn’t, because the flagship figma line– an action figure line that has become the default for nearly every popular anime character who isn’t owned by Bandai– is expanding with an offshoot called figFIX (slightly NSFW image).
figFIX blurs the line between the simple, cheap figma action figure and the fixed-pose, expensive PVC statues that have always been popular with anime fans. Simply put, the figFIX (“figma x fixed x figure”) is a statue that’s about the same size as a figma, sold at an extremely low price.
The interesting thing here is that they’re so, so cheap. Prior to this, Wave’s Beach Queens line was the bottom end of PVC, running about 5000-7000y ($50-70). The really good ones, figures truly worth owning and displaying, tend to run $100 or more.
GSC massively undercuts everybody, including themselves, with these tiny statues: the elaborate Kancolle piece is 3900y ($39), and the more modest Nisemonogatari figure is 2400y($24). These prices are very much in line with the humble figma, and indeed the figFIX will even be able to swap face parts with the figma.
This is a clever move from GSC: they both undercut their competition by a huge margin and create an “entry drug” for figma collectors who might be interested in a fixed-pose statue. After all, despite the beautiful prototype photos, $24 is simply not going to get you the level of quality of a high-end piece… and if they choose to make that decision, certainly GSC will be there too.
Source:
Good Smile Company
Related Posts
