Living In Australia (Figure Collecting Down Under)
Does anybody know what it takes to collect figures down under?
Well do you? In Australia figures must be imported, but they are subjected to import tax and of course, quarantine regulations, to pass customs. The bloke who works at my local anime figure shop explained this to me.
Take the Haruhi nendoroids above for example. The theory behind how the local anime shop up the road from me works is, because the Australian dollar is performing badly at the moment, import tax is high, so the shopowner must wait a few months after a figure is released for the price to go down so it is imported and able to sell at a reasonable price. Factor in that some anime shows haven’t been released down here yet and you have yourself a problem.
This picture of Sakaki being bitten by a cat is a lot like how Australian figure collecting works. You want to have the figures, but you get bitten by import tax and customs first. The kitty is cute, so you want to hold it, which is why you keep trying. Unlike Sakaki in this picture, figure collecting resolves itself in an eventual “figure get”. Figmas are notoriously hard to come by in Australia because they are so new, so you can only get the older ones when they reduce in price.
Reissues of figures are helpful to Australian figure collectors, and figures are usually reissued at the anniversary of an anime series, which means the fandom of the said series is somewhat revived. Take for example this Mizuho Kazami figure which was reissued last year, I picked it up round about that time for a much cheaper price than I normally would have to importing it myself from overseas.
Well, I hope that’s given you a nice summary of what I have to go through to get my anime figures in Australia. If you can find a nice shop that sells them locally, all the more joy for you, but such shops are rare. Hopefully the situation improves in future.
At least it’s not Malaysia, where they consider them as being wrong… :p
All hail Singapore Anime goods shops!!!
What will we do without you!!!
@Arayden: lol
So back when I began internet gaming, in 1997-1998 period, Aussie ISPs were the suck. Looks like that trend has only moved towards figure collecting and other areas and not really gone away despite the ISPs getting better…wait. The ISPs have a bandwidth limit! That still sucks!
In my country there are no places to by anime/manga related stuff, figures included. Most internet sellers also don’t ship here, and those that do aren’t affordable by our measly pays.
So i hate you Australia.
Exactly why online shops exist.
The only time I can get Anime goods are from the New York Anime festival but if I look around a little more I’ll bond to find a anime store in New York.
I too, live in Australia. I bought my last 2 figmas for AU$50 which is like 2500 yen or something. There is TAMARKET (thank god!) and some other sites too. But I’m planning to get those haruhi bunny nendos ( shown in the pic) and a miku hatsune figure for $20 (each, and 20 bucks for the three pack too! eBay. If I get enough money I’ll get this mikuru nendo too ^_^. I LOVE YOU EBAY!
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