Japanese Figures: Why Prices Differ, and How to Check One

Why two figures that look the same are priced multiples apart

Figures out of crane machines and game centres are made in bulk to be given away as prizes, and were never sold at retail. You can see it in the simpler paintwork, the smaller parts count and the thin cardboard box. Nothing in that group has a retail price behind it — what you see is a price sellers set among themselves.

The other group was sold in shops. It carries a maker's name, a scale such as 1/7 or 1/8, and it was built to the number of advance reservations taken. By release day there is little left on the shelves and it goes fast, so anyone who finds the piece later has one route: the second-hand market.

The line that settles which one you are looking at is the scale and the maker in the listing. Prize figures rarely state a scale.

To judge whether today's asking price is high, compare it against other listings of the same piece that are live right now. A launch price quoted in an old news post is not a comparison any more.

One more kind turns up occasionally: resin kits sold to be assembled and painted by the buyer. Unless that is the hobby you came for, skip them.

What the listing says, and what it does not promise

The first thing to find is whether the piece is still sealed or has been opened. Sealed always costs more, but it also means the seller has never seen what is inside. Shrink wrap is no defence against heat or light, so a box stored for years can hold a yellowed figure that was never opened.

A listing that includes the box is not a listing that promises a good box. A clean figure in a dented box, or one with crushed corners, gets a separate line of its own. If you are displaying it and throwing the box away, that barely matters. If you might sell it on one day, the box is part of the price.

A piece sold as-is comes with no returns and no claims. Where you see that, treat everything the photos do not show as your own risk.

Bootlegs are rarely caught by the sculpt — moulds are copied closely. Paint and print give them away first: colour bleeding past its edge, a box printed off-colour, blurred lettering, or no maker's logo in the corner. When you are unsure, ask for a photo of the box side carrying the barcode.

Where a used figure fails, and the front photo says nothing

• •Yellowing hits white parts and clear plastic first. Years on a sunlit shelf show up when you compare one part of the piece against another, and a photo shot under warm orange light hides it entirely.
• •Leaning or bowed legs come from heat. Figures balanced on one leg, or leaning their weight forward, are the worst affected — a side-on photo tells you whether the piece still stands square to its base.
• •Missing parts: the base, spare hands and small weapons go missing most often, because they are the pieces meant to be swapped.
• •A snapped foot peg or joint. A figure that can no longer stand still photographs perfectly from every front angle.

The two angles listings leave out most often are the underside of the base and the back, which is exactly where cracks, repairs and broken pegs live. You can always ask for those before you order.

Light, bulky, and easy to break

Shipping a figure is not priced on weight alone — the size of the packed box counts too, which is why a single scale figure often costs more to send than its weight suggests.

Fingers, hair that juts out and thin weapons are what snap in transit. If the original box survives, leaving the figure in it and wrapping around that is safer than taking it out and padding it on its own. How each shipping method is priced is set out in the shipping service details.

The flow from search to checkout is in the Mercari ordering guide.

Frequently asked questions