Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Nendoroid vs Pinky

← BTW, this is Nendoroid. "Nendo" means "clay". In the beginning, this series specialized in super-deformed gag face version of certain non-mainstream game characters. Eventually they turn towards popular anime/game/media characters. And then they also put less emphasis on the gag face.

This might be a threat to Pinky Street. It's cute and retains character likeness very well. Although quite limited, it's posable, and it's body size matches Sylvanian Family funitures. There are still a few things that haven't caught up with Pinky yet.
  • It can't stand up on it's own without a base.
  • It's character-specific. The head is way too big to be customize-friendly.
  • Parts from different characters aren't exchangeable. But the newer ones are. And the company is developing a universal system.
  • They actively pump out products unlike Pinky, which products are difficult births and almost always delayed. Keep the fans waiting too long and they'll go elsewhere.
  • Much more expensive then Pinky. (Pinky default series = 714-777 yen, characters = around 1700 yen. Nendoroid around 3000 yen.)
However, their Petite Nendoroid at 500 yen is dangerous. Sold as blind box trading figures, they have almost the same features as the full size ones (minus the props). I wonder if their heads can be transplanted onto Pinky bodies.

At this point, the 2 companies' product concepts are completely different. If Nendoroid releases its original characters, then they will be crashing directly at each other. Pinky Street is a well thought out concept and well-designed system. There's a Korean imitator "Ava Doll", and a Disney one "Minnie Up!". There's also a Hong Kong one but I can't find any info online yet. None is as good as Pinky.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I think the consumers and market for Nendoroids are different from Pinky. Although I think Pinky is cute, I never had much interest in collecting them. Nendoroids however... they started to consume me... I needed to get more and more, it's quite well designed for something that size! Especially the puchi/petite figures which are a lot cheaper.

But I think that the Pinky St products will remain relatively stable, since it has a lot of customization that the nendoroids lack.

What I think will happen and is more likely is that while the Pinky St. numbers won't be affected, nendoroids will eventually if it has not, exceed them in popularity due to the new customers it's bringing in.

Rather than taking away existing customers from Pinky St. pretty much is what I'm saying.

However, I have no idea how the Pinky St market is like, so I'm making an assumption here! I also found this post by accident, but found it interesting.

Oh by the way, take a look at this http://en.akibablog.net/archives/2008/04/nendoroid-miku-080401.html
This is nendoroid Miku Hatsune at the pinnacle of popularity! Impressive isn't it?

Anonymous said...

http://en.akibablog.net/archives/2008/04/nendoroid-miku-080401.html

That's the link and err javascript wasn't enabled, so I posted as anonymous. But good post nonetheless!

MC said...

Thanks for your comment, "marshmallow doggie"! (^_^) I can totally see how Nendoroid is so addictive. They're dangerous! There is only one local store that carries the mini ones and they're $12 each. A bit out of my budget. $3 more and you can buy a Pinky. (Sometimes even less.) So I'll be staying away from them until they make characters that I really want. Right now, Pinky is completely occupying my time and wallet. (^_^)

Thanks for the link! And Miku flooded Yahoo auction after that.
http://search4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/search/auc?p=%A4%CD%A4%F3%A4%C9%A4%ED%A4%A4%A4%C9+%BD%E9%B2%BB%A5%DF%A5%AF&auccat=2084023782