Thanks to Snaku from ActionFigureGAF:
Well...this really fucking blows. For the uninitiated, Hasbro holds the primary toy license for Star Wars in the US, and with that they have been notorious for cheaping out on the materials and sculpts that they use for their figures. Then, along came Bandai and they started to hit home runs left and right. For example:
Hasbro:
Bandai SH Figuarts:
The difference in quality is night and day, and I was willing to pay a premium for the better looking figures. Amiami.com has since removed their preorders for all Bandai Star Wars figures, and it doesn't look like they're coming back.
Bruce's Scale Modeling Domain said:HEADS UP FOLKS!! I have received some feedback regarding the restrictions imposed on Bandai from selling their Star Wars kits outside Japan. Apparently the directive and pressure is from Disney themselves, and not from Revell or any other party as indicated from other forums and posts. In fact, Disney may be beginning to apply pressure on other Japanese Manufacturers involved with Star Wars merchandises to restrict their sales to only within the country, and may include other items such as PVC figures, statues, toys, etc etc. Hence depending on the company's agreement with Disney, we can expect more stuff to get pulled out of the overseas market later. I can't reveal my source due to legal reasons but I can tell you they are dependable - and very worried about their sales and profit margins. In the event this rule is applied nationwide (since I still see a few shops selling them) the only option is to get Kit Hunters from Japan to get them for you. Look for my notes section to see who these people are. If you are residing in Japan and not affiliated with any shops there but are willing to help, please let me know and I'll include your contacts there.
UPDATE: Apparently I just found out the original contract between some of these manufacturers and Disney did state that the merchandise were indeed for sales within Japan only. Somehow these got through to online shops that didn't know about this rule. So now we have a lot of very unhappy vendors there as well as very unhappy fans outside Japan.
UPDATE II : I have been asked to list down all the effected merchandises. Unfortunately I don't have a list given to me. The only ones I know for sure were the Bandai kits since I am more into model kits. But if you were to look at Hobby Search's Japanese site and compare it to the English site, you can already see some of the things not model kits related there (at the Japanese site) missing from the English site. As for other brands like SH- Figuarts, Kotobukiya, etc etc, I have no idea if they too will be effected. I was only told Disney is applying some pressure to have these Japanese Manufacturers comply with their agreement
Well...this really fucking blows. For the uninitiated, Hasbro holds the primary toy license for Star Wars in the US, and with that they have been notorious for cheaping out on the materials and sculpts that they use for their figures. Then, along came Bandai and they started to hit home runs left and right. For example:
Hasbro:
Bandai SH Figuarts:
The difference in quality is night and day, and I was willing to pay a premium for the better looking figures. Amiami.com has since removed their preorders for all Bandai Star Wars figures, and it doesn't look like they're coming back.