Why do anime figurines cost so much?

A few days ago, Japan had an earthquake. A Japanese netizen posted a picture on a social platform showing that his cabinet of figurines and model toys were broken due to the earthquake. As a result, netizens forwarded and commented crazily, with more than 110,000 likes. This incident was reported by domestic media. I found that most of the comments were from “outsiders”, that is, friends who did not understand anime, the second dimension, and otaku culture, or even friends who did not know what figurines were. However, they all knew that figurines were expensive, but they did not understand why a plastic figurine could be sold at such a high price. It seems that although they do not know why anime figurines are sold at such a high price, they know that anime figurines are expensive, which means that the high price of figurines is also considered “outside the circle”.

As a figurine collector for many years and a self-proclaimed anime otaku, I would like to introduce to friends outside the circle why anime figurines are so expensive?

The figurine pictures in this article are all taken by me.

1. Manual production process
Nowadays, 3D printing technology is indeed applied to commercial anime figurines, but as a user, I personally feel that the current 3D printing technology is not mature enough. It is not that the shape is not good, but that the material makes it very fragile. Among the 4-5 3D printed figures I bought, 3 of them broke when dropped lightly. Traditional figures are more solid.

In the traditional figure production process, you need to order from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer will only produce after confirming the output. If you go to Taobao to buy genuine figures, the store often asks you to wait for a few months before the goods are available, because if it is not a hot model, you basically need to order it. In this process, the figure goes through steps such as mold opening, assembly, and coloring, many of which are done by hand, such as coloring.

In fact, to restore the original character’s shape for an anime figure, the requirements for stylists are very high. I heard that a domestic stylist spent a month just on the flowing hair before he made the final draft, and it is difficult to mass produce if each one has to maintain this level.

Yes, many people think that figures are just made into a mold and then mass-produced. That’s those pirated ones. The quality of pirated figures is uneven. If you are lucky, you can pick up a decent quality one. If the quality is not good, it is probably a “hell god”. It can be said that genuine figures are not mass-produced, but limited. The market determines how many units are shipped and whether they are reprinted. Once a set of figures is no longer produced, the price will soar. This is what “scarcity makes things valuable” means.

2. Copyright fees for animation
The characters of animation need copyright fees for commercial use. The upstream consortiums of many toy manufacturers are animation copyright companies, such as Japan’s Aniplex, and Bandai also produces some figures and toys. Therefore, part of the cost of the figures you buy is paid for the copyright of the anime characters, which is why pirated figures can be very cheap because they do not need to pay copyright fees.

The income from copyright is actually very important for figures. If the peripherals sell well, some works will also rise in popularity, and the possibility of sequels will also increase. For anime fans, supporting genuine figures is even more meaningful than collecting them themselves.

3. The value of things
Many comments believe that figures are just decorations in the shape of anime characters, and their materials are also very cheap plastic. This concept of judging the value of items is very simple. For example, a bottle of water is sold for 2 yuan in the city, but it is not surprising that it can be sold for 200 yuan in the desert. This is almost the same reason. The value of things cannot be directly equated with its materials and craftsmanship, but lies in the value given to it by people.

Two-dimensional figures are equivalent to making two-dimensional characters three-dimensional and then physical. They carry the dreams of otakus. Some are support and enthusiasm for the works. Exquisite figures restore the two-dimensional characters, just like summoning the two-dimensional characters to the three-dimensional world. For otakus, this is simply a dream-fulfilling process, so they feel good when they put them at home. A good mood is more than money can buy, which is almost such a feeling.

In the end, many people still ask questions that otakus think are nothing to be surprised about because they don’t understand subcultures. I think the gap between mainstream culture and subcultures cannot be solved for a while.