I think that is covered under the current Star War license since it was an existing part of the franchise. At least as far as Revell, they are still producing the Jedi Starfighters. Bandai coul dprobably produce OT stuff with their current license, but they couldn't get it out of Japan which does us no good
Attention: BANDAI will stop selling kits outside Japan
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I think that is covered under the current Star War license since it was an existing part of the franchise. At least as far as Revell, they are still producing the Jedi Starfighters. Bandai coul dprobably produce OT stuff with their current license, but they couldn't get it out of Japan which does us no good
Good info. Thanks.
mythshaker
Active Member
This is silly. Bandai is not selling outside of Japan by wholesaling to HLJ and Disney has no licenses with retailers in Japan. So Bandai has no business telling HLJ there they can or cannot sell their products. This of course assumes that Bandai and HLJ are not somehow related entities in which case it could be considered a straw sale.
dbarnblatt
New Member
A typical wholesaler (bandai) to retailer (HLJ, for example) agreement sometimes has language in it that restricts the markets that the retailer can sell to.
But that does not mean that HLJ can't sell the kits outside their market, they can. But if they do Bandai might terminate them as a authorized Bandai dealer... and then HLJ won't have any Bandai kits to sell anywhere.
Hunk a Junk
Sr Member
Someone tell me, how much pressure was put on online distributors not to sell Revell's Into Darkness JJprise that was only supposed to be licensed to the European market? Did Revell have any problem with THAT kit being imported into the U.S.? I remember having to buy mine through England when it came out.
newmagrathea
Sr Member
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Dedalus5550
Sr Member
Um did I miss something. Was that a double negative? Did someone who is a legal professional and language specialist show him how to give a fake denial? Or is just plain ignorant? And no one called him to task?
I think that statement was translated from German. Honestly, even the video put out by HLJ expresses that all the legal reasons for the current situation are not clear and this lack of clarity is being compounded by rumors and speculation. I am personally hoping that this is more of a legal hammer being brought down on Asian exporters, because Bandai/Disney/Revell are already working on some way to officially export the model kits to the international market, and are closing off all the secondary/unofficial flow of goods to make sure there is enough demand for the kits through what ever official international marketing venue they have planned.
astroboy
Master Member
Currently it's just Japan. But I have the feeling that they will be soft on Hong kong
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rbeach84
Sr Member
Uh, which level 2 kit are you referring to that is 1/50 scale (I'm assuming that is what you meant by '1/150')? Sorry if I missed it somewhere...
R/ Robert
PS:--------------------------
Now the Revell TIE fighter kit is 'out of stock' on HobbyLinkJapan's website... corporate d**ks!
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Galactican
Sr Member
Both new Level 2 X-Wings are about 1:49 and the new Level 1 TIE is about 1:51. So with a little work these could indeed match in a diorama.
(Strangely the Level 1 TIE has the correct bolts around the cockpit frame, the cockpit frame of the Level 2 TIE is clean.)
(Strangely the Level 1 TIE has the correct bolts around the cockpit frame, the cockpit frame of the Level 2 TIE is clean.)
Dedalus5550
Sr Member
Awesome! The same way a $180-sh FM MF became a $300 Revell kit
Yeah... that 300 dollar price tag for FMs.... I think someone at Revell saw what it was selling for on ebay and said, Awesome! knock 100 dollars off that and it'll be a bargain.
rbeach84
Sr Member
Just a bit of anecdotal 'data' to consider RE: Revell's "mindset". Few years past, I had made contact with REV regarding reissue of their Apollo 11 'moon shot' model kit (the CSM & LSM stack kit, in 1/48 scale) as part of their 'Selected Subjects Program' (SSP). During that communication I was politely rebuffed. However, literally *the moment* Dragon Models issues 1/48 scale kits of the CSM & LSM spacecraft, Revell reissues their kit. Of course, it was too late, as the Dragon models were much more accurate & reasonably priced, which tended to hurt REV's sales I'm sure since their kit was at nearly the same price point - sort of self-fulling any projections of 'little interest'. So, instead of taking advantage of the 'no other option' situation and the obvious demand (well, seemed obvious based on the stupid prices being paid on eBay due to some serious bid-battles...), they missed the boat. In this day and age, it seems inconceivable to miss the signals that are floating around... do they even have one person monitoring the 'chatter channels'? But, I am just a 45+ year 'veteran' of the hobby market, what might I know?
One of our own RPFers, working on creating the most accurate replica of the Firefox movie aircraft to date, had approached Revell GmBH about sharing his data with them in support of creating an injection molded kit. Essentially, this Corp that is so successful in negotiating licenses from the entertainment industry said it was too hard to tackle, off hand. No, 'oh we'll look into that and let you know' just a 'thanks but we're busy with other more important things' sort of response. Would a Firefox kit be a good seller? The movie did well back in the day, and a reputable kit company approaching Mr. Eastwood & the IP owner might convince them a '35 year Anniversary' marketing campaign would hold some water, seems pretty reasonable. It was a good story after all, and the effects still hold up very well. But, ah, no thanks. Sounds familiar to me...
I don't like speaking ill of the, uh, "company", especially one that holds a brand I am fond of, but I would expect better performance from a presumably high-dollar management team. Would it really have been that much more costly to create kits with higher fidelity or was it a cost cutting exercise to maximize the profit? What happens when products are of high quality AND reasonably priced? They are found "in every home" & "become synonymous with the category" aka Xerox! Or in this case, Bandai & Fine Molds!
Just a bitter taste in my mouth, and not due to 'sour grapes'! It is the fact that I know Revell could do better (as proved time & time again) yet still at times chooses to take the low road. I mean, WTH happened to that beautiful 1/48 scale Mosquito kit? After Revell issued it, it seemed to disappear to be replaced by a FORTY YEAR OLD PLUS tooling (the old Monogram kit) that is inaccurate, difficult to build and full of 'old mold artifacts' plus it has no appeal for a scale modeler other than availability (there being superior Tamiya & Airfix kits of the same, in the same scale...) So, they had a high-quality kit at a better price point than the competition and they just tossed it away.
I await further developments.
R/ Robert
One of our own RPFers, working on creating the most accurate replica of the Firefox movie aircraft to date, had approached Revell GmBH about sharing his data with them in support of creating an injection molded kit. Essentially, this Corp that is so successful in negotiating licenses from the entertainment industry said it was too hard to tackle, off hand. No, 'oh we'll look into that and let you know' just a 'thanks but we're busy with other more important things' sort of response. Would a Firefox kit be a good seller? The movie did well back in the day, and a reputable kit company approaching Mr. Eastwood & the IP owner might convince them a '35 year Anniversary' marketing campaign would hold some water, seems pretty reasonable. It was a good story after all, and the effects still hold up very well. But, ah, no thanks. Sounds familiar to me...
I don't like speaking ill of the, uh, "company", especially one that holds a brand I am fond of, but I would expect better performance from a presumably high-dollar management team. Would it really have been that much more costly to create kits with higher fidelity or was it a cost cutting exercise to maximize the profit? What happens when products are of high quality AND reasonably priced? They are found "in every home" & "become synonymous with the category" aka Xerox! Or in this case, Bandai & Fine Molds!
Just a bitter taste in my mouth, and not due to 'sour grapes'! It is the fact that I know Revell could do better (as proved time & time again) yet still at times chooses to take the low road. I mean, WTH happened to that beautiful 1/48 scale Mosquito kit? After Revell issued it, it seemed to disappear to be replaced by a FORTY YEAR OLD PLUS tooling (the old Monogram kit) that is inaccurate, difficult to build and full of 'old mold artifacts' plus it has no appeal for a scale modeler other than availability (there being superior Tamiya & Airfix kits of the same, in the same scale...) So, they had a high-quality kit at a better price point than the competition and they just tossed it away.
I await further developments.
R/ Robert
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rbeach84, your stories fit perfectly into my picture of the company. They seem to build on the stupidity and lazyness of model kit builders not informing themselves before buying their products. Look at all the reboxes of 30+ year old kits. There is this joke that they are essentially only good new decal sheets where you get some old plastic as add-on. If you don't know exactly which kit is a rebox, you burn your money with a really high probability.
The first time I really got impressed as how little they seem to care about the standard of their products was when I build their 1/48 Rafale kit, which was a really nice kit until I was applying the decals. The instructions were unclear, so I tried to place them to the model by using photos and realized that the panel lines were just totally off - a fact that is ok for an old kit, but that I can not understand for a modern kit where enough references can be found in a minute of googling. Having found this, I wasn't able to build one more Revell kit without finding similar or much heavier errors, and completely lost interest in this company. The new kits look nice, but if you have a closer look at them, they just lack the love it would need to make them a great model.
I really hole that Bandai will be able to sell their models in Europe in the future, without another company (except for the shipper ;-) ) adding more to the price.
The first time I really got impressed as how little they seem to care about the standard of their products was when I build their 1/48 Rafale kit, which was a really nice kit until I was applying the decals. The instructions were unclear, so I tried to place them to the model by using photos and realized that the panel lines were just totally off - a fact that is ok for an old kit, but that I can not understand for a modern kit where enough references can be found in a minute of googling. Having found this, I wasn't able to build one more Revell kit without finding similar or much heavier errors, and completely lost interest in this company. The new kits look nice, but if you have a closer look at them, they just lack the love it would need to make them a great model.
I really hole that Bandai will be able to sell their models in Europe in the future, without another company (except for the shipper ;-) ) adding more to the price.
Subzero121
New Member
Gone are the days when a company rose and fell on product quality. I wont buy Revell's 2nd rate offerings or over prized FM kits anytime soon, even if they are the only game in town. I managed to get a nice set of Bandai kits before all this issue so I consider myself lucky. I just hope the pre orders I set up in eBay for the FTA kits come through as well. Too bad that we may not get to see the AT-AT and Star Destroyer Bandai teased us with on the net. Well, need to start saving pennies for the Randy Cooper or Anigrand resin kits. Down with the Mouse!!!
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