Over the summer, Premium Bandai promoted some exclusive San Diego Comic-Con figures. While the event itself was canceled due to COVID-19, the limited edition figures were still on sale and, in the case of the event-only color version of the SHFiguarts Son Goku Ultra Instinct “Sign” figure, it immediately sold out in a few minutes.
The demand for fans for the figure was high, so Premium Bandai opened additional pre-orders for another week. The last pre-orders will be shipped later, as the manufacturer would need time to create more stocks. Initial SDCC pre-orders have been shipped successfully, but subsequent shipment may never reach collectors. As they say, Goku swims with the fish.
Goku figures, along with other Bandai cargo, were loaded aboard the Japanese ship A sunset as he headed from China to California. The ship encountered strong winds and rough seas about 1,840 miles northwest of Hawaii on November 30, causing more than 1,900 containers to pass overboard. A sunset returned and is now anchored in Port Kobe, Japan to be assessed for damage. Premium Bandai told customers in an email sent on December 21 that it would take several weeks to more than a month to confirm what was lost.
Figurarts Goku is in good company. Premium Bandai also notified customers who purchased the SDCC SHFiguarts color variants of Android 17 and Android 18 and SHFiguarts of Son Gohan – Era for Kids – that they may not be available. Additional articles uploaded on A sunset include Metal Build Eva-02 production model, SHFiguarts Scarlet Witch, SHFiguarts Iron Man Mk-85 -I AM IRON MAN Edition and THE ROBOT SPIRITS
Lost containers are huge for an industry that has averaged no more than 1,400 shipments lost at sea in the last decade.
Thanks to Kevin Snow for the news tip.
Source: email correspondence, Star Advertiser (Rosemarie Bernardo), Reuters (Aaron Sheldrick), The Loadstar (Gavin van Marle)