Questions about Kotobukiya Products

[Hakaru_chan]

I reposted my reply in a new thread since it addresses a few questions and I wasn't getting an answer...
:-\
Reprinted: a kotobukiya booth would be AWESOME. i love their one coin figurines but the only chance i have at getting them is when they're at japantowne, and by the time i get there, its too late!   

but the thing is that.. i know kotobukiya only sells their products to retailers. which brings up 2 questions that i have.

1) do those one coin figurines ever get discontinued? (some websites say that they do not have it in stock/or it says "discountined" - does this mean they just haven't ordered anymore from kotobukiya's main site? or is it really discontinued from the time it was released? do they have reshipments and redisturbutions of one coin figurines occasionally? i kinda feel like they do with the tales series (abyss, symphonia) 

and 2) how do we go about asking retailers (that show up at cons, in person and through websites) that we would like them to order this particular series/set? i know some websites have request kind of links where we can ask them to order, but even if it says on the website that its "discontinued?" what does "discontinued" actually mean and how does a figurine go to "discontinued forever" history?

sorrie if my questions are confusing. i have alot of questions about this whole figurine retail market and im not sure wheres the best place for this thread to be.   

[ewu]

this is a list of our current dealers: http://www.fanime.com/events/dealers.html

feel free to visit their websites and contact them

[heeroyuy135]

this is a list of our current dealers: http://www.fanime.com/events/dealers.html

Is that a complete list?

[ewu]

for now it is, we are updating it as we pick up more dealers.

[dfens]

Yes those one coin figurines like all japanese collectible figures get discontinued.

Usually not in stock and discontinued mean the same thing but sometimes not in stock, as long as it's not too long from release date usually can be ordered if it's still being manufactured.

Some websites won't restock a item until a new order has been placed for it, but only if it's still being made and can be ordered from the manufacture or another distributor.

Most of the time once it's sold out it's gone for good.

You can ask the dealers direct at the con, or call/email them they usually have shops they operate outside of fanime but usually once it's discontinued it's impossible for them to order more. Unless they have what your looking for in stock that went unsold. Going this route mostly is a waste of time.

Finally to put it bluntly discontinued means "That it is no longer in production from the manufacture." Also that most of the time it will never ever have another run made so what ever was produced that is all that their will be.

I collect all kinds of figures and for a long time now, so I know all aspects of it.

Here is how it works. To guarantee you get one you have to pre-order it before it's even released. I have one figure that I ordered on March 31st, it doesn't even come out till June. It was listed 3 months before pre-order but only in March would they accept the order first come first serve. Withing less than 12 hours they were no longer taken any more orders, since the supply they were getting would not equal the demand/requests. If the manufacture can make more and they can sale more they'll take more orders.

Now if you missed the pre-order and it's not in stock and it doesn't say discontinued you have a slim chance. Once I was put on a waiting list and they managed to get one 3-4 months down the road.

In some rare instances if the show is still on-going or getting a new season, demand is high etc. they will re-release a figure but this is really rare. For one of my figures it came out in Dec 07 sold out quickly and in Feb 09 was re-released I ended up buying one for almost double retail 6 months after the first production run.

My advise to you is check Ebay some seller in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and maybe even the US might have what your looking for. If you're really lucky they'll sale it to you for the original retail, if not and it's rare or in high demand expect to pay at least 2-3 times the going rate maybe even higher.

If that doesn't work you'll have to go to or have someone go directly to japan and pray that a figure shop has one new/used for sale.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask.