Why did the low-priced "POP UP PARADE" figure series decide to raise its prices? An interview with Good Smile Company on the development of "POP UP PARADE!

The figures are of a size that makes them easy to pick up and display, reasonably priced for easy collection, and released at a rapid pace. Good Smile Company's "POP UP PARADE" figure series is characterized by its well-crafted modeling and painting.

It has been three years since the series was launched in 2019. POP UP PARADE", which has been released at a furious pace every month, is undergoing a major transformation. In addition to the standard conventional sizes, L and XL sizes will be added to the lineup, and on April 15, it was announced that the basic price of the series will be revised from 3,900 yen to 4,800 yen.

How did the "POP UP PARADE" series come about, which has established a low-priced line in the figure industry and entertains users with a lineup that reaches their itch every time? We also asked Shuhei Torii of Good Smile Company why the "POP UP PARADE" series is now taking on the challenge of making various changes.

The concept is "POP UP PARADE

─ ─ This year marks the third year of the "POP UP PARADE" series. At the time, people thought that if you wanted to buy a figure of a certain quality, you would have to pay a certain price, but it was a shock when the series suddenly appeared at the affordable price of 3,900 yen. What kind of response did you receive from users?

Torii: When the information first came out, the response was "it's nice and inexpensive," but since it was the start of a new series, we were also concerned about whether it was the right thing to do.

───For Torii-san, did you start out by groping to see if there was a demand for low-priced figures?

Torii: We started the project based on the hypothesis that there must be customers who want low-priced figures, but we couldn't just go full throttle, so we had to wait and see how customers responded before we got started.

─ How did you decide on the size of the figures?

Torii: As the name "POP UP PARADE" suggests, we wanted the figure to be displayed in a room as if it were a POP UP PARADE. And we started with the idea that customers would probably be pleased with this size.

───The "POP UP PARADE" series is a mysterious series with a fast release cycle, low price, and yet solid production.

Torii: The quality and speed of release are undoubtedly due to the cooperation of our prototype designers and finishers. In addition, the speed of product development and low prices are linked, and we manage costs on a yearly basis by saying to some of our partner factories, "We want your factory to produce this much per year.

This system fits our brand concept very well.

As I mentioned earlier about "POP UP and PARADE", considering the cost and effort required for statue figures, once the hero and heroine are released, it is difficult to release a third or fourth popular character. However, thanks to the "POP UP PARADE" system, we are able to produce 5 to 6 characters for a single work, IP, or anime title.

Standard "POP UP PARADE" series

─ ─ Is the secret of the low price also in the efficient division of parts and painting?

Torii: Of course, the more parts, the larger and more complex each part becomes, the more molds we need to increase and the more ingenuity we need to use. Of course, we do our best to keep the price down, but we do not cut costs to the extreme.

Also, we don't have much of an idea to make a profit from the "POP UP PARADE" series alone. It is partly due to the times, but the situation of the Corona disaster has increased the number of people enjoying anime with more time at home, both in Japan and overseas. Watching anime makes me want to get a figure. Therefore, I would like to propose a "POP UP PARADE" for those who are thinking about what to get for their first figure. The company would be grateful if we could propose affordable products to such people, and if they could step up from there.

─ So you also have the character of an entry model for figure beginners. That's a strategy that only Good Smile Company, a company that handles all kinds of hobbies, can implement.

Torii That's right. We want customers who are looking for more creativity to step up to statue figures, and for those who want a lively collection of a single title, we present the "POP UP PARADE" for them to enjoy.

Popular characters vary by country and region

─ I am impressed that the lineup is not limited to characters that Good Smile Company specializes in, such as Hatsune Miku or popular anime characters. For example, the lineup includes a wide variety of characters, including popular characters from the past such as "Captain Tsubasa.

Torii: Our target is not only Japan. As I mentioned earlier, the habit of watching Japanese anime has taken root around the world, and the number of figure users is increasing accordingly. Among them, there are works that are popular in Japan, in China, and in Europe, and each region has its own unique characteristics. For each of these, for example, we would propose "Captain Tsubasa," which is overwhelmingly popular among European users, and similarly, for North American users, we would try this one because it is classic but still popular today, and so on, while being aware of this. But in any case, we are conscious of delivering "POP UP PARADE" worldwide and in all directions.

─ I had no idea that the popularity of Japanese figures was growing so much overseas.

Torii: It has been 12 years since I joined the company, and when I first joined the company, the ratio of products for the Japanese market was about 8:2 or 7:3, but now it has already reversed. It depends on the brand and the work, but it has become the norm.

───What are the characteristics of popular characters in each region?

Torii: I think that in the Asian region, the key is to make cute girls look cute. On the other hand, in North America and Europe, classical works with cool boys are more popular. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of live-action adaptations of old Japanese anime overseas, and many people have come to like these works and have decided to watch the anime as well. This has ignited the popularity of the anime, and we sometimes offer to produce figures based on the anime as well. This culture is now providing us with a tailwind. I think the low price is also a hook for people to choose the first figure they see.

─ ─ Personally, I'm interested in the "Baki" lineup.

Torii That is already my hobby. ......

───Does the "POP UP PARADE" series reflect your own taste?

Torii Yes, it does. I explain to the company that this is my intention and this is the approach I take. ...... (smiles).

───Can you tell us about the products that have been the most successful or exciting so far?

Torii The most obvious example is VTubers, such as hololive, which is already very popular. What we can see from this is that the price range of POP UP PARADE matches the customer base that likes hololive.

───That means that POP UP PARADE is also a market research tool.

Torii Yes. When we plan an item, we research and forecast how much the item will sell to the target audience.

If it turns out to be a bad idea, this clientele would not have been at the "POP UP PARADE. A scale model might have been better. If it had sold, it might have matched the clientele. So I felt like, let's put out a few more series.

However, it doesn't mean that we will no longer do the series because it didn't work out, but rather we will try again with a new hypothesis. I think this is a series that probably sees a lot of customer comings and goings, so we want to keep developing it and constantly cultivate new customers.

The new L-size product in the lineup, "Hatsune Miku: Miku Hatsune: Even If I Don't Love You, I Still Have You Ver. L

──There have been many new developments recently, such as the release of products in different sizes and the announcement that the price will be revised from 3,900 yen.

Torii: We recently announced that we will stop selling at 3,900 yen, but this is due to the fact that low-priced products are extremely susceptible to social conditions. Until now, we had basically taken the line of not taking a large profit, but we could not continue to do so if we were only making a loss, so it was a difficult decision to make.

However, we are keenly aware of the need to pursue quality that satisfies our customers even more than before. We must maintain quality without slowing down our pace. We need to maintain quality without slowing down, or pursue even higher quality.

On the other hand, in terms of another price range, we are currently producing a size L, which is about one seventh or one eighth the size of the original, and a huge size XL, which is about one quarter the size of the original. We are challenging to make figures from "POP UP PARADE". We would like to create another step up in the POP UP PARADE series.

Statue figures are priced at 15,000 yen or 20,000 yen, which is a bit different from "POP UP PARADE". We think that the "POP UP PARADE" series can fill the gap between the two. So, "POP UP PARADE" L size is cheaper than a typical statue figure. This "POP UP PARADE" is one step up from the satisfying, high-priced figures.

This is also a new lineup of XL size product "FAIRY TAIL" Final Series Lucy Heartfilia XL

And "I love this character so much, I can't help it". How about XL size for you, and so on.

In this way, we would like to fill all kinds of figure culture with "POP UP PARADE".

We are planning to have the same prices as before for both L and XL sizes. After this, we are still adjusting our prices so that we can offer figures to our customers at lower prices.

─ ─ Speaking of XL size, I was really overwhelmed by the Eren Jaeger I saw at the exhibition event.

Torii: I made that one too big (laughs). It is one of the largest Good Smile Company figures. I made a mistake and made him in a crouching pose at that height, so if I were to make him stand up, he would be even bigger. But we are working on adjusting it so that we can release it at that size.

Eren Jaeger from "The Progress of the Colossal Giants": Progress of the Colossal Giants Ver. XL

Points to keep in mind for the smartphone age

─ What are the points that you pay attention to when working on your figures?

Torii: Naturally, I want the figure to resemble the original picture, but recently smartphones have become the norm, so I am concerned about how much I can make the customer's hand stop when a bust-up of the figure appears while the picture is sliding down the screen. How should I swing my eyes, or how far can I follow the surface of the face? Where do I cut the ridges of the molding? Where do we put the shadows in the photo? These are the things we pay special attention to in "POP UP PARADE. I think it would be interesting to keep this in mind when looking at figures in general, not just "POP UP PARADE.

─ How about the poses?

Torii: One of the targets of "POP UP PARADE" is customers who are buying figures for the first time, and we want to present them in poses that are as familiar to them as possible so that they do not feel uncomfortable.

Therefore, we would like to propose poses that are most often seen in key visuals and eye catchers in animated films. Or poses that are memorable, even though the time spent in that pose is short.

───What would you like to challenge in the future?

Torii: We plan to further accelerate the development of the "POP UP PARADE" series. In addition to that, we have been attacking "POP UP PARADE" mainly with standard series and classics, but I would like to develop it more in line with the speed of new animations and IPs. Super-hit IPs are being created with greater frequency than ever before. We need to make our brand capable of developing in line with the speed of these new IP. We are currently working on creating such a system.

We want to create an environment where fans can purchase products on the spot when they see an anime and think, "I like this character" or "I want this character.

FAIRY TALE" Final Series Elsa Scarlett XL scheduled for release in the future

──I look forward to more miscellaneous product development in a good way in the future.

Torii Thank you very much. Personally, I think the XL size "Eren Jaeger" is meaningful because it is an XL size. I would like to think of it as a product that has meaning in terms of volume and character. The same goes for the L size, and we would like to propose various ways to listen to the market.

POP UP PARADE Hatsune Miku: Even If I Don't Love You, I Still Have You Ver.
Manufacturer: Good Smile Company
Price: 8,800 yen (tax included)
Release Date: October 2022
Specifications: Complete painted plastic figure
Specifications: Complete painted plastic figure - not to scale
Stand included
Height: approx. 240mm
Sculptor: Otaku Mito (knead)
Color: namoji

POP UP PARADE Lucy Heartfilia XL
Manufacturer: Good Smile Company
Price: 25,000 yen (tax included)
Release date: November 2022
Specifications: Complete painted plastic figure
Specifications: Complete painted plastic figure - not to scale
Stand included
Height: approx. 400mm
Sculptor: mayaka.
Color: Tomofumi (WATANA BOX)

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