Only a few days left until the end of 2012!
This is the last blog update for the year!
I hope everyone has had a good 2012! When you look back on an entire year it’s hard to remember a lot of what happened, but here at Good Smile the biggest event of the year was definitely the move to the Skytree!! It feels like we’ve been here for over a year already… the time passes by so quickly!
As normal I’ll have the Good smile Sales Ranking as the last post, but this year there are some other interesting rankings as well! ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ
All the statistics in this post are based on products that were released in 2012. The products that have been announced, but not yet released are not included! So let’s take a look at some of the Good Smile Stats over the past year!
| – Number of Products by Company –
*Includes Goods *OEM Products not included.
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The number of products each company released!
These stats obviously only relate to the products that Good Smile Company was involved with in regards to distribution. I can’t believe how many Good Smile Company products were released this year – it includes the smaller things like iPhone cases and the lottery prizes, but even so… that’s a lot of products!!
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– Products by Product Category –
*All company’s products included. *OEM Products not included.
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Next we have the category rankings!
The web team simply can’t believe that so many Nendoroids were released this year! Next year we’re going to aim for 100!! ^^
There were also a huge number of scale figures – they are definitely the category that require the most work, but they’re definitely worth the work, and they’re as popular as ever! The ‘Other’ section includes things like straps, plushies (that aren’t Nendoroid Plus), T-shirts and various other things!
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– Products by Gender –
*All company’s products included. *OEM Products not included.
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The genders of all 2012 Products!
As is to be expected, there are far more females in the line-up, but there were actually quite a few male figures this year too! I wonder if they’ll increase even more next year…?
The ‘Other’ section here includes things like pliers, or the suction and clip stands!
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Products by Hair Color
*All company’s products/goods included. *Each product sold in a set is counted separately. *Products without hair not included. *Colors as determined by Mikatan
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An interesting ranking by hair color!
This table shows which hair colors were used most often in 2012 on our figures! Blond hair look took the highest place, but brown and black were quite close behind. It’s a rather interesting ranking to read through!
The most viewed blog posts this year!
The most viewed post was the prototype review of the 1/8th scale Ultimate Madoka which was released yesterday! In just one day the Japanese blog received over 200000 views of that post… that’s just how much attention that figure was attracting!
Another post that I was interested in was the 8th place – Aichi-kun! I posted him on twitter as well and was amazed at how fast he spread across the internet!! Thanks to everyone who reads the blog, and everyone who passes on the posts to friends!!
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– Combined Local and Overseas Sales Ranking –
*Nendoroid Petites counted per box-set.
5th Place: Megurine Luka: Tony ver. 6th Place: Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Append 7th Place: figma Kyouko Sakura 8th Place: Saber & Saber Motored Cuirassier 9th Place: Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Yukata Ver. 10th Place: figma Sayaka Miki 12th Place: Nendoroid Petite : Uta no Prince-sama 13th Place: Nendoroid Sayaka Miki 14th Place: Saber: Zero ver. 15th Place: figma Black Rock Shooter: TV ANIMATION ver. 16th Place: figma Link 17th Place: Nendoroid Shuukan Hajimete no Hatsune Miku 18th Place: Nendoroid Saber: Zero Ver. 19th Place: BLK Limited Edition (with figma BRSB) 20th Place: Nendoroid Erio Touwa 22nd Place: Racing Miku: 2011ver. 23rd Place: figma Ika Musume 24th Place: Nendoroid Golden Darkness 25th Place: Nendoroid Nyaruko 26th Place: Homura Akemi 27th Place: Nendoroid Aisaka Taiga 28th Place: Nendoroid Saber Lily (Rerelease) 29th Place: Nendoroid Petite: Racing Miku Set 2011 Ver. 30th Place: figma Nadeko Sengoku
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Finally, a word from GSC President Aki regarding the 2012 ranking!
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A big thank you to everyone for yet another wonderful year! I hope that all the products everyone has bought this year have brought a smile to your face!
Looking through all the sales data this year shows that the figure market thrived again, which has left GSC with great results for the year. There are more and more new figmas and Nendoroids headed out to fans all over the world. I also believe that through various market creation techniques including the recent lottery products, we have been able to expand the figure market to more people who have never bought figures before. This year has led all the companies in the industry to compete with a higher standard and with more precise products, allowing more and more people to understand the wonders of the figure of the world than ever before. The overseas market, particularly Asia, has seen a large increase in sales which is very encouraging. It’s wonderful to be able to share the joys of figures with the international world. The GSC website, twitter and Facebook have pages in English, French and Chinese for fans all over the world. With the detail, precision and presentation of figure prototypes reaching new levels of quality all the time, one has to wonder just how perfect a figure can eventually become – it’s a challenge that cannot be turned down. We’re producing five, if not ten times as many products as we were just a few years ago now, and each of those is competing to be the best – it really shows off the passion of those who work on them – although I think it can drive them a little bit mad sometimes too. However, we are researching and trying out various new production techniques in attempts to make things more automated and to save on labor. Ultimate Madoka, who was just released, includes one of these new techniques in her design – it’s not easy to spot what it is, but you’re welcome to try and figure that out! Over the past few years we’ve seen so many wonderful series which have led to the growth of the figure market, and all the time I’ve been thinking it’s time to move things onto the next step. Next year we’ll be taking all the planning, sculpting, direction, manufacturing and support from the fans that have been building up over the years and turning it into a truly wonderful year! I hope that everyone will be watching over us as we move out of our 11th year, and into our 12th from May this year! |
And with that…
Mikatan Blog 2012 has come to an end!!
There have been so many times this year that I thought I wouldn’t get through it, but the staff have really got me through some tough times – I once again managed to update the blog almost every weekday this year!
To everyone who loves figures,
To everyone who reads this blog,
To all those who help out with the blog…
Thank you all for yet a wonderful year!!
The blog has been going on for six years, and I hope it’s been of some use to everyone! I’ll be continuing next year in the hopes that I can pass on the wonders of figures to everyone once again! I hope you’ll all be there to cheer me along!
The next blog will be on the 7th January (Mon)! (`･ω･´)ゞ
(I’m actually going to China… I hope I’ll be back in time…)
But that’s all for today!
It’s been really cold this year, so take care of yourselves over the new year!
I hope to see you all again in 2013!!