Bandai Spirits - Ichiban-Kuji - Gathering Of Dinosaurs

[Blackdanter]

Ever the creative sellers, Japanese manufactures seem pretty deft at finding new ways to sell and create hype around their merchandise lines. We're all probably aware of the Gashapon and UFO Catcher Prize phenomena which have probably shifted many thousands of different figure lines by a myriad of Japanese companies. The latest in these gimmicks seem to be 'Kuji' or prize lotteries.

In essence, a manufacturer creates a new limited line which is then publicised widely, seemingly for a limited time and, at what sometimes appears to be, a limited location. Participating venues then advertise the in store (and online) lottery, a big part of which, is the limited stock element of the merchandise available. the customer will then purchase a batch of tickets which are checked in store and the relevant prizes dished out. In terms of figures, these seem to drop infrequently, most of the prizes being cheaper items such as stickers, posters, key rings etc.

Bandai have so far produced two lines of figures (as Bandai Spirit) under the 'Gathering of Dinosaurs' line which have featured in two dinosaur themed lottery events. It's not entirely clear exactly when the first of these occurred but the second wave appeared in July 2022.

The second wave of figures seems to have been something of a re-rinse with the majority (of smaller figures) being repaints of previous figures. Two large new figures (Spinosaurus and a new Tyrannosaurus sculpt) replaced the previous events large figure (Tyrannosaurus) and one new figure (Deinonychus) in the smaller line replaced a previous line figure (Velociraptor).

The sizing given in publicity material seem to be under actual figure sizes.

As far as I can establish, the first wave was as follows:





Small figures:

Peize B - Tyrannosaurus (Green) - 8cm
Prize C - Triceratops (Orange) - 8cm
Prize D - Velociraptor (Grey - 8cm)



Prize E - Stegosaurus (Green) - 8cm



Prize F - Brachiosaurus (Grey) - 8cm

Large figures:

Prize A - Standard Tyrannosaurs (Brown) - 24cm
Prize A - Last chance/Double chance Tyrannosaurus (Grey)

The second wave (released July 2022):



Small figures:

Prize C - Tyrannosaurus (Red) - 8cm



Prize D - Triceratops (Purple) - 8cm



Prize E - Deinonychus (Green) - 8cm (New Figure)



Prize F - Stegosaurus (Yellow) - 8cm



Prize G - Brachiosaurus (Grey/Cream) - 8cm



Large figures:

Prize A - Spinosaurus - Grey - 24cm



Prize B - Tyrannosaurus (New sculpt) - Green - 24cm



Prize A - Last chance/double chance - Spinosaurus - Black - 24cm



Here are the figures that I have from these lines:






















 

 

[CityRaptor]

Yeah, those Dromaeosaurs are bad....

Lots of other JP inspirations, too. And the upright green T.rex somehow makes me think of this:

Guess it is meant to face the Spinosaurus.