Dragon Ball Merchandise In North America - The Bandai Era

[Super Sayian Prime]

During this week's podcast it was mentioned that Toei's international licensing is down. Licensing is only one part of the equation, because in theory there could be a time where you earn $0 off of licensing due to saturation so you get merchandise sales to prop you up. The problem is - what if there is no merchandise?

In 2008 Bandai assumed master toy licensing duties from Jakk's Pacific who held the toy license rights since 2002, and manufactured toys until Bandai's rights were in effect. From then on they produced product for the Fall and Winter 2008 product seasons, alongside a smaller Spring 2009 line (as the main Dragon Ball focus was the Evolution toyline). Bandai US stops producing any Dragon Ball toys after the remaining Evolution toys are released in the summer. Their website officially says "We're no longer manufacturing this product".

Also, in 2008 Bandai gained the CCG license previously held by Score Entertainment who ran their Dragon Ball Z TCG from 2000-2006. Bandai release concluded after three series of cards, ending in October 2009. While it is still a part of the Bandai CCG page, it is no longer advertised as a product on the Bandai US portal.

In 2009 Namco Bandai gains the the video game rights from Atari, and have published six Dragon Ball video games across the PSP, PS3, 360, Wii, and DS. It is too early to judge if Namco Bandai's Dragon Ball publishing will remain active. It should be noted that Namco Bandai closed their fan portal after the launch of this past fall's titles, and opted to a much cheaper alternative.

Dragon Ball/Z/GT were not on any television channel in the US during this period of licensing, and hadn't been for years. It actually puzzled me when Bandai picked up all these rights to Dragon Ball. The product was just going to sit on the shelves since there was nothing advertising it. Then it all became clear when Kai was announced - they were going to have merchandise already set in advance for Kai's launch. Except when Kai premiered in the US, and nearly a year later they have only video games to back them up. Video games which they don't market to the demographic who would primarily purchase their video games (children) via television, and the limited marketing they do does not highlight why one should buy that version over a previous release. Not to mention their insane release schedules that put games in the same span with huge titles, and not to mention other Dragon Ball titles. Who can remember Fall 2009 when Namco Bandai launched 3 separate Dragon Ball video games within weeks.

With incompetence like this, it's clear why Dragon Ball isn't a merchandise super power in the US. It's partially due to Funimation (weren't they filing breach of contracts against Atari for lack of advertising? - Bandai's doing worse than they ever did), but it's clearly on the hands of Namco Bandai. Who releases product related to a years old show that didn't have a TV-tie in for the merch in years, but then removes all products before the tie-in actually airs? While we don't get full NPD sales reports for video games, or Nielsen video scan for DVD/Blu-Ray sales, we do get charts for the New York Times best seller, and it should be noted that since Kai started airing on Nicktoons, and the CW4Kids VizBig volumes have actually charted. Prior to this, none ever charted. I feel it's safe to contribute that uptake in sales to the broadcast of the show, and it has gotten some form of renewed interest in this franchise.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

In 2008 Bandai assumed master toy licensing duties from Jakk's Pacific who held the toy license rights since 2002, and manufactured toys until Bandai's rights were in effect.

Just wanna toss this out there - before 2002, in the late 90's Bandai had the license and release a good amount of DragonBall merchandise.

[Eddie]

Bandai does seem to have handled DB very poorly as of late. They actually released a ton of stuff at the end of '08. I own a couple of rubbermaids full of the stuff. Why they seem to have given up is beyond me. Did the Evolution stuff sell? Hell no. Did the Z (and GT) stuff underwhelm? Probably. As you said, though, Bandai just didn't advertise the stuff. Evolution merch never had a chance, but I really think a bit of the Z stuff would have been on the kiddies' Santa lists in '08 if they, y'know, knew the damn things were available. You can't expect to make money when you're not putting some dollars into marketing. When Kai came along they blew a perfect opportunity to launch a new line of figures. I don't know exactly how well it rates in the US, but Kai actually seems to do quite well, at least on Directv. There's an interesting feature on Directv (well, on my box, at least) that shows you the top several programs currently being viewed. During the daytime Nicktoons reruns, I've seen it place in the top 5 quite a few times. Reruns seem to be beating out original programming. Kids are watching, Bandai. Kids like toys. The DB merchandise may not do well nowadays in Japan, but I think Kai could have actually sold some toys here in the States.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Kai does really well on the CW. It's usually the highest rated, or second highest rated show on the block. And it is clearly doing well on Nicktoons for them to keep the show in primetime this long (IIRC didn't they release a press release saying it had their largest premiere audience?).

Japan's problem was constant over saturation, and while we certainly have that in regards to the video games, I feel there is a market for toys. There are kids who have had their first Dragon Ball experience with Kai, and to not have a single shred of merchandise on the shelves outside of manga, DVDs, and games (the later two often out of reach for kids) is quite poorly thought out. Then again this is Bandai America, the company who released Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight toys weeks before the show was cancelled. Who then launched one of their biggest kids properties in Japan with just magazine ads, and didn't bother to get their anime localization team to bring over the 22 minute advertisement (Battle Spirits). Smart management doesn't seem to be there.

In 2008 Bandai assumed master toy licensing duties from Jakk's Pacific who held the toy license rights since 2002, and manufactured toys until Bandai's rights were in effect.

Just wanna toss this out there - before 2002, in the late 90's Bandai had the license and release a good amount of DragonBall merchandise.

I believe that was actually just like the 95-96 DB dub era. I believe Mattel produced toys for the Saiyan and Freeza storyline before Irwin Toys took the rights to the franchise until the company closed in 2002. I can't find any press materials for the 90's era of toys, but I do know Irwin produced Dragon Ball toys for years (most of my figures are from them). Though, anyone with a greater knowledge on this subject is free to correct me.