Anime Figures for Beginners: Prize vs. Scale vs. Nendoroid, the Market, and How to Display Them

A figure that sells for a few thousand yen and one that sells for tens of thousands are not comparable until you line up size, materials and how each is sold. Even the same character comes in types whose prices differ enormously.

Illustration of figures lined up on a shelf

When you compare prices, look beyond the sculpt and paint. Whether a figure is offered as a prize or sold as a finished product changes what a fair comparison looks like.

The Short Answer: The Price Gap Comes From Where You Get the Product

A figure’s price range is set by its distribution channel before it is set by the skill of the sculpt. Figures given out as arcade prizes face a legal cap on prize value, so they have to be designed to be cheap to make from the start. Finished products sold at a list price in stores or online face no such cap. Even with the same sculptor, a different destination means a different number of parts and a different number of paint layers.

So a “cheap figure” isn’t a shortcut. It’s the best sculpt achievable inside a constraint. Keep that in mind and you’ll neither look down on prize figures nor feel intimidated by scale figures.

Same character, different routeWhere a figure comes from decides how it is built

Arcade prize

Capped by law

Prize value has a legal ceiling
Fewer parts, fewer paint steps

Finished product

Sold at list price

No such ceiling
Sculptor's work and multi-layer paint

A cheap figure is the best sculpt possible inside a constraint.

The Four Types in One Table

These four categories are where beginners actually get confused.

Type	Approximate price	Main way to get one	Features	Best for
Prize figure	Around ¥1,000 to ¥4,000 on the secondary market	Arcade prizes, shops that sell won items	Designed to fit the prize value cap. Quality has improved sharply in recent years	People who want to try displaying one / people who want the satisfaction of winning it themselves
Scale figure	From the ¥10,000s to several tens of thousands of yen (varies by scale, specifications and release timing)	Maker’s official online shop, hobby shop preorders	A high-precision finished product with a stated scale. Sculptor’s work and multi-layer paint	People who want a definitive figure to display for years
Nendoroid	Varies by series	Official online shops, hobby shop preorders	Deformed at 2 to 3 heads tall. You can swap face parts and props	People who like displaying them in rows / people who like taking photos
figma	Varies by series	Same as above	Articulated figures. You can pose them and recreate scenes from the original	People who want to move and play with them

Some data backs up those prices. Aucfan, which compiles auction results, shows an average winning bid of ¥11,616 for 1/8-scale figures and roughly ¥14,000 to ¥22,000 for 1/7 scale as of June 2026 (Aucfan, in Japanese). For the same character, changing the denominator by one moves the price by close to ¥10,000. That is the first fork in choosing a figure.

What auction results showOne step in the denominator, about ¥10,000

¥11,616: Average winning bid, 1/8 scale
¥14,000-22,000: Level for 1/7 scale, June 2026

Aucfan compiles auction results, so these are resale prices, not list prices.

Source: Aucfan (in Japanese)

The 7 in “1/7” Divides the Character’s Height

The scale notation is what trips beginners up most. 1/8 is one eighth of the character’s official height; 1/7 is one seventh. The smaller the denominator, the bigger the figure, which runs against intuition.

For a character whose stated height is 162 cm, 1/8 is about 20 cm and 1/7 is about 23 cm. The 3 cm difference looks small as a number, but on a shelf the presence is completely different. Measure the height and depth of your shelf before you buy, so those 3 cm don’t catch you out.

Reading the denominatorThe smaller the number under the line, the bigger the figure

SmallerLarger

1/8About 20 cm for a 162 cm character
1/7About 23 cm, and priced higher
1/4About 70 cm, shown at an industry event

Three centimeters looks small on paper and large on a shelf.

The denominator ties directly to price. The standard size has moved from 1/8 to 1/7 and beyond, and price ranges have risen with it. The weak yen, the rising cost of raw materials such as PVC, labor costs and a race toward bigger sizes and more elaborate effects are all in the mix. There is no single reason for the increases. As one example of the push toward bigger sizes, a 1/4-scale figure (about 70 cm tall including its effect parts) of Kyojuro Rengoku from Demon Slayer was displayed at an industry event in October 2021 (Anime Hack, in Japanese).

Who Makes Them: How the Major Makers Divide the Field

Price ranges reflect the makers behind them. Once you know which major brand covers what, the shelf gets easier to read.

Good Smile Company runs Nendoroid, figma and scale figures across the board. The first Nendoroid came out in 2006, and as of 2026, the lineup has more than 3,000 items (Good Smile Company). As early as 2015, total shipments had exceeded roughly 5 million units (Mynavi News, in Japanese)
BANDAI SPIRITS, the figure arm of the toy giant behind Gundam model kits, makes prize figures, Ichiban Kuji lottery merch and the articulated figure brand TAMASHII NATIONS, among others. It holds many of the routes by which fans win figures from a lottery or at an arcade
Kotobukiya specializes in figures that come as model kits you assemble yourself. Its series, such as Megami Device and Souchou Shoujo Teien, combine articulation with assembly
Kaiyodo, a long-established name in candy toys (small figures packed with snacks) and garage kits (limited kits made by hobbyists and small studios), runs sculpt brands such as Revoltech and ARTPLA (Kaiyodo, in Japanese)

Production deserves a quick look too. Good Smile Company has the Rakugetsu Factory in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, with a manufacturing capacity of 12,000 figures a month. In April 2025, it established and began operating the Mochizuki Factory, its second production site in the same city (Tottori Company Guide, in Japanese). That these figures are made in Japan is not widely known.

Nobody Actually Has Exact Market Figures

Look at the overall toy market and the size of figures alone separately.

There are nearby numbers. A Japan Toy Association survey found that the domestic toy market (main items) in fiscal 2024 topped ¥1 trillion (roughly $6.7 billion) and set a new record. The three genres that drove market growth were card games and trading cards, character goods, and miscellaneous goods. (Dengeki Hobby Web, in Japanese). But the survey does not break out figures on their own.

Going back further, Yano Research Institute reported the figure market at ¥30.5 billion in 2019 (ITmedia NEWS, in Japanese). That number is seven years old, though, and no basis for describing today’s scale. Compare figures only when the survey year and scope match. We have gathered overall market figures in The Size of the Oshi-Katsu Market (2026 Edition).

How Buying Works: A Preorder Is a Promise to Your Future Self

Buying a scale figure runs on a different rhythm than buying in a store.

Unveiling the prototype. Prototypes go on display at events such as Wonder Festival. The summer 2026 edition (July 26, at Makuhari Messe) had about 2,000 exhibitor groups (Wonder Festival official site, in Japanese)
Preorders open. Makers’ official online shops and hobby shops take them. Popular titles close early
Manufacturing. Several months to a year. Power restrictions at factories in China or problems in materials procurement can push back the release date (Anime Hack, in Japanese)
Release and shipping

The scale-figure calendarFrom prototype to your shelf

UnveilingA prototype appears at an event
Preorders openPopular titles close early
ManufacturingSeveral months to a year
ReleaseDelays can still happen

A preorder is a bet on your future self.

A preorder is a bet that your self six months from now will still love this character, will be able to pay, and will have made room for it. That is exactly why trying your first figure as a prize makes sense.

Display and Storage: The Enemies Are UV Light, Heat and Dust

Three main culprits wear figures down: ultraviolet light, heat and dust.

Avoid windows. UV rays from direct sunlight and fluorescent lights cause yellowing over time. Once resin has yellowed, it doesn’t come back
Put it in a UV-blocking case. Such cases are said to cut 90% or more of UV light (Minoru Cube, in Japanese). A case also protects against dust
Watch the room temperature in summer. PVC and ABS resin are weak to heat, and in a closed-up hot room there is a risk of deformation or softening
Dust it off early. Once dust bonds with oils, it becomes stubborn dirt. Use a soft brush regularly
Decide whether to keep the box. Whether you keep figures sealed (the “unopened pile” habit, tsumi-figure) or open and display them, decide where the boxes will go first and you won’t be stuck later

The overall approach to storage, including how to present things as a saidan (fan altar), is covered in Oshi Merch Storage Ideas.

Your Options When You Let Go

If you collect, the day will come when you let something go. Buyback shops divide into those strong at appraising rare and limited items and those quick to react to the latest prices and strong at bulk purchases, so don’t assume one shop’s offer is the going rate. Timing tends to be better when the title is in the news, such as when a new anime starts airing or a film is released. Whether you can offer the box and all accessory parts together also affects the appraisal, so deciding at unboxing that “I won’t throw the box away” is the cheapest preparation.

Developments in the Past Year

April 2025: Good Smile Company’s Mochizuki Factory began operating. It is the second production site in Kurayoshi, following the Rakugetsu Factory (Tottori Company Guide, in Japanese). Meeting global demand with domestic production is becoming a stronger pattern
Collaborations widened. Kotobukiya announced spring 2026 new products: collaborations between Souchou Shoujo Teien and Megami Device and the Honda Motocompo, to be released in March and April (Hobby JAPAN Web, in Japanese). Figures that absorb characters and brands from other industries bring in people who were outside the shelf

Notes From The Oshi Lab: What Stops Beginners Isn’t the Price. It’s the Lack of a Map

We think figures are an interesting market because the industry itself offers almost no explanation of the entry point. The difference between prize and scale, what 1/7 means, the lead time from preorder to release: all of it is common knowledge inside fan communities, and none of it is visible to anyone about to buy. A shelf where ¥3,000 and ¥28,000 sit under the same word is, to a beginner, a shelf they can’t choose from.

Here is a plain opportunity for planners. One is how to communicate size. “23 cm tall, a little longer than the short side of an A4 sheet” tells people whether it will fit better than “1/7” does. The other is being upfront about preorder risk. For a product where delays happen structurally, saying so from the start means you don’t wear down trust with every delay. Part of why Ichiban Kuji and capsule toys are growing is not only the quality of the sculpts but also the clarity of getting it right there, today.

For first-time figure buyers, businesses should explain the figure’s height, its width and depth with the base, and assembly and care requirements before purchase. Comparisons between price ranges should also help customers assess space and upkeep alongside sculpt quality.

For consultations on merch planning and product design, contact KAZAORI Inc. (in Japanese). You can also try the Oshi Level Check (free diagnostic).

FAQ

What is the difference between a prize figure and a scale figure?

Prize figures are offered as arcade prizes, so their value is capped and they are built with fewer parts and fewer paint steps. Scale figures are finished products sold in stores: high-precision models that state their scale.

What do the numbers 1/7 and 1/8 mean?

They are the scale relative to the character's official height. For a character with a stated height of 162 cm, 1/8 is about 20 cm and 1/7 is about 23 cm. A 1/7 figure is a size larger and tends to cost more.

Should I choose a Nendoroid or a figma?

If you want to swap face parts and display it with small props, a Nendoroid suits you. If you want to recreate poses from the original and move the figure, figma is the better fit. Both are brands of the Good Smile Company group.

How long does a scale figure take to arrive after preordering?

Usually several months to about a year. Release dates can slip depending on how factories in China are running, so treat the release month you see at preorder as a plan, not a promise.

How can I keep a figure from yellowing?

Avoid UV light and heat. Keep it away from sunny windows; a UV-blocking case is said to cut 90% or more of UV light. Watch the room temperature in summer, too.