How popular are Dragon Ball toys in the west?

[dbboxkaifan]

In London I can't find a single toy store which has them, no not even Toys R' Us or Hamleys (nor Selfridges or John Lewis) but over at Andorra (between Spain and France) there's a high probability of finding it in those areas (wish I lived there). I kinda regret not having bought a Kuririn official plush toy they had for 6€ but then again I'm not really a fan of Kuririn so that's sorta okay.

In Andorra not only did they have figures of Dragon Ball characters but also the mangas with the slipcovers (at E.Leclerc) which looked really nice but since they were in Catalán I didn't buy any (have 'em too in Castellano god dammit! lol).

So I suppose that for small areas in Europe it's doing fine but for the major it's not even thought of because it wouldn't be lucrative to them.

[TheKingOfKamehamehas]

In America, the chance of finding a Dragon Ball toy currently is pretty hard and you rarely see it. I was lucky enough to see a local anime stand in my shopping mall which had Dragon Ball S.H Figuarts Zero if that counts as a toy.

[Chuquita]

I used to see them at comic stores. Currently, my local bookstore plans to have a display with some dbz sh figuarts, and some scouters. It won't be up till next week, but it'll probably look like that display I recall seeing on Tanooki's twitter earlier this year.

[Zenkai]

They used to be common in big stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and K Mart, but I haven't seen any of those stores have them in years.

[UpFromTheSkies]

I don't know about toy stores, I haven't been to one since I was a kid, but all the comic book stores I go to have Dragon Ball toys.

[MrSatan2099]

Last time I can remember them being at any big box retailers was around five years ago when Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc were carrying the Ban Dai of America 3 3/4 line and Dragon Ball Evolution toys. It's been bone dry since then. You might be able to find some of the Figuarts at specialty stores or hobby shops, but that would be about it right now.

[Hellspawn28]

Besides the toy line for Evolution, I think most big stores like Toys R Us, Wal Mart and Target dropped DBZ stuff after GT. Comic Book stores and collectors stores will have the figuarts. It's a shame that kids who enjoy Kai on TV, don't have any toys to play with. They have to play with air this time.

[Gonstead]

S.H.Figuarts for Dragon Ball survives purely on western demand, mostly North American, if that counts.

Normal retail? Not since 2008. Italy did create some new stuff to celebrate re-airing Dragon Ball Z though!

[WesMan23]

My local FYE has some merch. Not "toys" per sé, but they have a plush Chibi Trunks and Fat Buu, coffee mugs, key lanyards, t-shirts, wristbands, and keychains as well, as well as a couple hats. I actually bought one of the lanyards not too long ago. It's got a card holder and a little rubber Dragon Ball on it as well. So, you can find some stuff in stores if you look hard enough.

[Hellspawn28]

I don't think my local toy stores had the Bandai America toys that they did back in 2008 anywhere. I remember calling my local Toys R Us at the time and they were like "Nope sorry. We don't have those". I was surprise that Bandai America would be making DBZ toys at the time since the show was pretty much dead and Naruto was more popular. I would imagine kids at the time would be like "DBZ? Naruto is cooler" and "What's DBZ?".

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I haven't really seen any anime based toys in stores since 2000 or 1999, so it's been quite a long time since I've seen them.

[theoriginalbilis]

Ten years ago? Sure, you find DBZ/GT toys at pretty much any toy store.

Nowadays? You can only find them at collector/hobby stores.

I've only seen DBZ figures at local comic stores in recent months, and they're usually the S.H. FiguArts brand.

[Hellspawn28]

I remember when Kai was going to on Nick Toons, I was expecting Bandai America and Burger King to do kids stuff for the show. Bandai America makes some pretty bad stuff, but at least kids have fun playing with them. I'm kinda glad that Bandai America didn't toys for Kai other wise they would have made Buu purple since pink is a girls color and they want boys to buy the toys .

[MCDaveG]

In Italy also. I didn't saw anything as I was in Tuscany and not actually going or stumbling on any toy store, but my GF snatched SSJ4 Vegeta in Dolomites.

[NitroEX]

As I recall finding DBZ toys was a rare occurrence in England even back when the show was popular (2000-2003). To find anything good I remember having to go to specialised comic stores or a local market which had imported stuff. The big stores like Toys R Us would only carry those useless miniature statues.

The new Figuarts blow everything else out of the water though and they're easy to get ahold of online.