Anyone curious in (Japan's) Space Marine Heroes?

[N1SB]

Is anyone interested in the Space Marine Heroes that's a Japanese exclusive? Because we actually have them in Hong Kong. Not sure if we actually Shanghai'd 2 boxes off the back of cargo container that was meant for Japan or something.

They come in this cute container that looks like this:

That container actually closes to resemble a Rhino. A huge one, I put my normal Wyvern next to it for comparison:

They do have their own dedicated website, made from the typical template GW uses: https://spacemarineheroes.com/

I'll go buy a box if there's sufficient interest. I'm curious too, but they cost about 7 pounds/8 euros/9 dollars PER MARINE. So this is a novelty purchase to be sure, but if you guys want I'll take a financial bullet for the team and do an unboxing here.

[Sete]

How much is a rhino box?

Is the Cap included in the box?

[Olis]

Colour me curious. I'd like to see what the deal is with these exclusive models. :tu:

[D3L]

I bought a set from the Prince Edward Store back in December.

 

1040 HKD for all 12+Captain.

 

I believe once they sold out in JP our regional sales manager took the opportunity to push them on to us in HK, considering we pay a hefty mark up on rrp it worked out as a bit of a Xmas sales gift to the store

 

At least one box was also available north of the border too.

 

I only unboxed Captain T because I've had so much on, but the rest of the set is in the background

 

Captain Thassarius https://imgur.com/a/BGGhs

[Race Bannon]

I'm VERY curious, yet am likely to get some anyway because I'm cursed with a collectors gene :cry:

[THUNDERFISTS]

I bought a set from the Prince Edward Store back in December.

 

1040 HKD for all 12+Captain.

 

I believe once they sold out in JP our regional sales manager took the opportunity to push them on to us in HK, considering we pay a hefty mark up on rrp it worked out as a bit of a Xmas sales gift to the store

 

At least one box was also available north of the border too.

 

I only unboxed Captain T because I've had so much on, but the rest of the set is in the background

 

Captain Thassarius https://imgur.com/a/BGGhs

That pose looks a lot like the exclusive Primaris Captain mini GW teased at Adepticon.

[darnarth lysander]

 This is the only one that really stands out to me as a really unique model, although the one with omnispex is a bit different I guess.

[Dracos]

How soon before Space Marines hit mainstream in Japan? Bout the time we see an anime with Sgt Telion escorting a schoolgirl through a demonic forest in search of her father, the Emperor. Just speculating of course :)

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I’m liking that Captain.

[crazyterran]

How soon before Space Marines hit mainstream in Japan? Bout the time we see an anime with Sgt Telion escorting a schoolgirl through a demonic forest in search of her father, the Emperor. Just speculating of course :)

Id watch it.

 

An isekai with a modern japanese teenager stuck as a guardsman in a tyranid invasion, clearly.

[Kierdale]

I have the captain, heavy bolter marine and flamer marine. They’re very nice sculpts :tu:

I’m looking forward to seeing what the TDA Series 2 will be like!

[N1SB]

Brother Kierdale, I've been meaning to ask your advice on this very issue.

 

Context - I lived in Tokyo as an itty bitty N1SBaby, just a block away from Omotesan~do.  I remember many things, very fondly, but not sure if I remember it right.

 

My question is as follows, and I understand there's a lot of collectors' models sold in this random box way in Japan (we get them here in Hong Kong)...is it considered a faux pas NOT to buy something in a shop before leaving?  I remember people went to a store, and even if the shop didn't have exactly what they're looking for, they'd at least buy like a stick of gum or minor item.

 

The reason is, Games Workshop is one of those places where we'd go just to play, or watch a game, or just to hang out.  Is this Space Marine Heroes product kinda piggybacking on the cultural norm of "here, at least buy a single Marine before you leave?"

[Kierdale]

There’s no obligation. I rarely get to the stores as I’m busy with work and family so when I do goninusllu can’t stop myself from buying something - and the SMH are convenient for that :D - but I don’t think it’s a cultural norm (im not Japanese anyway), or specifically a GW tactic. :) Most staff do ask if you’re interested in this week’s releases, the new WD, etc, but that’s pretty standard everywhere, right?

 

Actually I bought a SMH at Yodobashi (the electrical appliance department store) in their hobby department last time. You get 10% of the price of what you buy as points you can use as a discount on future purchases...which reminds me I have enough for a free SMH next time I go! It’s nice having a Yodobashi in my town :)

[N1SB]

Thanks for this field intel.  I missed the forest for the trees here, what you said makes total sense:

 

Actually I bought a SMH at Yodobashi (the electrical appliance department store) in their hobby department last time. You get 10% of the price of what you buy as points you can use as a discount on future purchases...which reminds me I have enough for a free SMH next time I go! It’s nice having a Yodobashi in my town

 

I had no idea GW already reached places like Yodobashi.  That's like a huge puzzle piece right there IMHO.

 

Brothers, just to share (and pls correct me if I'm mistaken, Brother Kierdale, but these are my honest impressions), Yodobashi is an ELECTRONICS retail chain in Japan...but IIRC are also famous for their hobby sections, like Gundam mecha models and stuff.  Like they're aiming for a younger clientelle, so while they have, y'know, washing machines and boring grown-up stuff, I remember they were famous for their stereos and cameras and video games...the cool stuff.  They kinda expanded horizontally and included things like remote control cars and Gundam...because they were electronic toys and/or mecha or something.  IMHO they've become just as famous for games and models now (my friends fly to Tokyo partly to go to Akihabara to shop for like Iron Man statuettes or something).

 

What I remember most was their stores...all Japanese stores, to be honest, were really tightly packed with stuff, yet still very pleasant and well-organised.

 

GW has been trying to expand their reach beyond their official Warhammer Stores.  I've seen it myself in Hong Kong, like I'd walk into a Japanese model range hobby store and find a box of Stormcast Celestials staring at me, which looked so out of place.  However, we have much lower standards in terms of shopping experience.  You want to break into Japanese stores (i.e. what GW classifies as the Trade channel in their reports), it's got to look like Space Marine Heroes in their Rhino-themed box.  Furthemore, it's an exclusive you can't buy even online, which makes it a deal sweetener to encourage Japanese stores to carry their stuff.  Like a Japanese store really might not like the large Dark Imperium boxes, it's gaijin stuff that takes up too much space.

 

(A very relevant sidenote - when I was young, I would go to a 7-11 convenient store and they would carry Gundam, which was weird because it mostly sold snack foods and drinks, etc.  These were special smaller ones...about the size of an easy-to-build box of Primaris, for example.  So I buy one, open the box, dump out the stuff, and invariably there was a pack of gum with the Gundam.  They were the only Gundam with pieces of gum.  They were also the most disgusting pieces of gum I've ever tasted, I still remember how bad it was and I only chewed it the 1st time, ever since then I threw them out immediately.  20 years later, I go do my MBA, got talking to a friend who lived and worked in Japan about this.  He explained that disgusting piece of gum in the Gundam box got that toy classified as a food item...which was why 7-11, either due to by-laws or company policy, would be willing to stock it.)

 

The moral of the story here is, when you see a square hole, find a square peg.  Japanese stores have that square hole on their shelves...they've optimised it, it's the best square hole devised by humankind.  Looking at Space Marine Heroes, GW tried to make the optimal Rhino-shaped square peg to go in there, and even if it's not perfect, it shows they've made an earnest effort to fit Japanese preferences.

 

Brother Kierdale, that's my take, but did you notice any other 40k products there please?  I feel like GW made these just to get a foot in the door.

 

Meanwhile, I'm really interested in this product now, much more than before, now that Brother Kierdale gave me this puzzle piece I was missing.  I'm thinking of getting a Space Marine Hero, then going to my 7-11 and buying a similar toy/model, so we can compare the two, side-by-side.  The miniature itself is not the story; now it's the total package (with the packaging and the inserts, etc.)  This is a far more fascinating story now.

[Kierdale]

I’ll photograph all Yodobashi has and put it here (and in the Japan thread in the International section ;) ) next time I’m there :tu:

[Xenith]

This is the only one that really stands out to me as a really unique model, although the one with omnispex is a bit different I guess.

You can make a very similar, if not identical model with the current devastator box, if you discount the scenic base.

[Michaelum]

Do you know something about the second wave? there was a Terminator silhouette posted on the Warhammer community some time ago.

[Kierdale]

Okay, so I completely forgot to take a photo of everything at Yodobashi. Will do next time.

But I did pick up another SMH and got the auspex-user. Nice. I may convert him into a Chaos Lord to keep in the backfield with the bigs guns for rerolls.

EDIT: beyond the initial silhouette we know nothing more about the TDA series.

[Tach]

Yeah- man. I’d love to get my hands on a set of those guys.

[Rockythedog]

I would love to get these guys. Looking at about £120 to buy and ship them to the uk.

Be great if they did a limited run for the rest of the world, or even sold them at Warhammer World

[N1SB]

Update - the 2nd Space Marines Heroes series will be Blood Angel Terminators.

 

Reading the display box, there will be 6 of them.

 

I see a Terminator holding a banner.  There is another with the Cyclone Missile Launcher.

[N1SB]

Okay, so I completely forgot to take a photo of everything at Yodobashi. Will do next time.

No worries, Frater Kierdale. Just sharing this in the spirit of being helpful, taking the burden off of you. Frater D3L got you covered.

Credit goes to Frater D3L above, please Like his post to show appreciation. Being a World Traveller he was in...probably the same shop you go to, and took this:

(In fact, would be curious if it was really the same shop. I don't imagine these are everywhere, though I wish it was.)

Retail channel management is a skill. I'm not the expert, but I was picking it up from my retail channel colleagues, and there's a lot you can tell from this image.

The word bubble, in Japanese, basically means "the current special". Like in a Japanese restaurant that'd be "Today's Special (Dish)". It's confusing to Chinese speakers because they're using Chinese characters with a meaning that's different for the Japanese. I'm guessing, it's not really "the current special". I'm guessing it's like one of those "on sale for a limited time" items that are perpetually on sale because it's not exactly flying off the shelves.

The other tag that is absolutely "you can't make this stuff up" is "JAPANESE LIMITATION SPECIAL ITEM". Obviously, we can all tell that was some auto-translate thing going on, they meant "Japanese EXCLUSIVE" or something. The fact that they wrote it in English is very, very telling, and it appeals to 2 segments. The 1st is obviously gaijin Westerners. The 2nd is Japanese people who really, really like Western stuff and find it exotic.

Another huge clue is location, location, location. Just as a shop location is very useful information, a product's location in the shop, its shelving space, is also very telling. Look at what's around the Space Marine Heroes.

On the left is Dougram, which is basically not-Gundam (Gundam being the biggest mecha franchise, Macross/Robotech is probably second). Dougram...isn't even 3rd or 4th or 5th. It's very obscure and that box looks like it's been there for awhile. Dougram was a very short-lived series that found a lifeline as being adopted by American gamemaker FASA as part of Battletech and spin-off games; you might recognise the designs from there. I'm guessing this shop has like 5 shelves, full of Gundam...and this 1 or 2 Dougram boxes.

On the right are Kamen Rider/Masked Rider bikes. That's the i.e. tokusatsu/Power Ranger-like series. Notice it's JUST the bike...not the Rider/main character it's supposed to go with. That suggests it's a lesser product item, some minor SKU, it's not even placed near the Kamen Rider figures apparently.

Thus, it's been relegated to, NOT the bargain bin, but this seems to be sitting in a pretty lonely corner. Very interesting.

+++++

None of this is to say this is a problem. It's a start. But I think Space Marine Heroes really haven't found their groove yet in Japan.

I kinda want to dissect one and a similar item that you may find in a Japanese 7-11, a real compare and contrast. Will look around my locale (we have lots of Japanese goods here, so much so the potato crisps I had growing up was in fact a Japanese import). I think there's some lessons worth learning. I aim to buy a Space Marine Hero this weekend, will report back here.

My 1 concern - it's not if this 1st Series of Space Marine Heroes didn't succeed yet. It's a trial, for GW to learn from. What would be a concern is if GW didn't take this hard-earned lesson and do something with it. Having seen the early pics of Series 2, it's like they're just repeating the same thing but with Terminators, which is probably not enough of a change to get a different outcome. It's too early to say, we'll see more of Series 2, but it's something to look out for.

[Margulix]

Bought three of this while was in japan - they are fine, and you can make a nice conversions using their parts. They have some weird cards on japanese with some weird rules - but i have no idea what are those.

[Tokugawa]

Update - the 2nd Space Marines Heroes series will be Blood Angel Terminators.

 

Reading the display box, there will be 6 of them.

 

I see a Terminator holding a banner. There is another with the Cyclone Missile Launcher.

All Blood angel? That is less attractive, since BA already have plenty of good terminator models, and BA won't field many terminators in matched play.

[Race Bannon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Terminators are painted in BA colors but are otherwise generic models themselves.

 

Even looking at the Ancient, I don't have the impression it is BA-specific.