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Bandai Namco Acquires Nippon “Bluefin” Imports!

under General Tokusatsu News

Exciting news for collectors this morning!

Bandai Namco Holdings has announced the acquisition of a controlling stake (80% of shares) in toy distributor Nippon Imports LLC– best known under their trade name Bluefin. A new subsidiary will be developed as a result- currently titled Bandai Namco Collectibles– and operations are tentatively scheduled to begin in January 2019.

The motive for this purchase is to strengthen Bandai’s merchandise sales in the North American toy market, taking advantage of Bluefins’ extensive experience with USA distribution and collector events.

This is definitely an exciting time for Bandai fans! A new deal could mean greater access to Japanese exclusives for US fans, OR some positive changes to current distribution methods.

Stay tuned to TokuNation as we keep you up to date on this exciting business deal!

Discussion / Comments (Jump to this Thread on the Forum)

  2. Librarian has no avatar! Librarian says

    I really hope this increases the amount of imports.

    If they could find a way to get minipla more readily available in America I'd be so down for that, as well as other products that are of a higher tier than normal toy sales like the SOC sentai mecha.

    And if this would mean an easier way to get Shodo stateside, that'd be fantastic too!

  3. Electric Turahk's Avatar Electric Turahk says

    Will definitely be hoping for the best from this. It does sound good.

  4. Shin Henshin's Avatar Shin Henshin says

    Considering how hard Bluefin suddenly dropped the ball on promoting releases and doing more than just western properties, I can only hope for the best here.

    Bandai obviously knows there's a western market for their JP toy lines. I hope they can capitalize well.

  5. IgnikaMarcus has no avatar! IgnikaMarcus says

    Hopefully this means I can actually get some replacement parts for my HG kits.

  6. Yarlick has no avatar! Yarlick says

    Here just hoping that Bandai does the same thing in Europe...
    I know that Cosmic Group is the main distributor in Europe, but it wouldn't hurt to straight up have Bandai there.

  8. dexilay's Avatar dexilay says

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sevenlima View Post
    Could Hasbro and Mattel be the next ?
    You mean like Bandai buying either of those companies? Yeah there’s not a chance of that happening.

  9. acdcguy's Avatar acdcguy says

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sevenlima View Post
    Could Hasbro and Mattel be the next ?
    There’s a better chance of Hasbro buying Bandai before Bandai could buy Hasbro. Hasbro is worth way more. But I doubt Japanese laws would allow an American company to buy one of Japan’s largest toy companies.

  10. Sevenlima's Avatar Sevenlima says

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acdcguy View Post
    There’s a better chance of Hasbro buying Bandai before Bandai could buy Hasbro. Hasbro is worth way more. But I doubt Japanese laws would allow an American company to buy one of Japan’s largest toy companies.
    But Bandai revenue is 678,3 billions.

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