The Best Legit Anime Figures: A Complete Anime Merch Buying Guide

Anyone who watches anime knows that one of the best parts of the anime experience is buying random officially licensed merch to cherish. There’s a reason why some people dedicate entire rooms to displaying their best anime figures and spend thousands on the hobby.

But, there’s so many different types of merchandise. Popular series like  JJK, Demon Slayer, Dragon Ball, One Piece or My Hero Academia will have thousands of different types of figures. Don’t get started on the billions of merch options for Pokemon. The point is, there’s a TON of different anime merch out there with different aesthetics, sizes, prices and interactability. That’s not even considering what anime online store to buy merch from!

This is why we’ve put together a guide on what anime merch to buy, where to buy it, and how to display it afterwards. This is put together by long-time collectors, and we hope this guide helps you on your merch journey!

Prize Figures

There’s two types of figures every anime collector knows: a scale figure and a prize figure. Initially, they both appear like regular 3D anime figures. However, they are made for very different purposes. 

A prize figure is an affordable character statue that’s mass-produced. Originally, they were made as prizes for Japanese crane machines. Although they’re still frequent rewards in arcades, they’re also sold as standalone figures.

• Price Range: £15 - £60
• Size: Typically below 20cm
• Appearance: The character is usually in a static standing or sitting pose. The amount of dynamic poses available are limited.  
• Official Brands: Luminasta, ABYstyle, Blokees, Taito, Banpresto, Good Smile Company

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Scale Figures

Scale figures are the fancier older sister of prize figures. When you hear of an anime figure costing hundreds of pounds, it will refer to scale figures. These are detailed and dynamically posed characters that are scaled down from the character’s actual dimensions. These figures are commonly scaled at 1/7, 1/6 and 1/4. 

• Price Range: £150+
• Size: They’re usually quite bigger than prize figures. There can even be 1:1life-sized character statues. 
• Appearance: For the price, there is a much wider variety of poses and details. A lot of scale figures will include background splash art or environmental art in the statue. 
• Official Brands: Good Smile Company, Alter, MegaHouse, Kotobukiya

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Nendoroids

Funko Pops and Nendoroids are two sides of the same coin. They’re both small chibi-style figures that are all made with a standardised art style. Nendoroids, however, have modular faces, clothes and can be articulated into many positions. 

• Price Range: £60+
• Size: Palm sized 
• Appearance: They all have a chibi style with massive heads. Their limbs can be adjusted to whatever pose you want. 
• Official Brands: Good Smile Company

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Funko Pops

Funko Pops are similar to Nendoroids but are much more affordable. Although they can’t be articulated, this means they’re much less fragile and easier to display without fear of it being tipped over. Additionally, while Nendoroids are almost exclusively anime, Funko Pops are made for a wider variety of TV shows and movies. 

• Price Range: £15+
• Size: Around 15cm tall
• Appearance: They all have a chibi style with massive heads. They all tend to be standing or sitting. 
• Official Brands: Funko Pop

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Blind Boxes

Blind boxes are all the rage these days. They need any explanation, but here we go anyway. Blind boxes are an evolution of the gachapon, a capsule toy vending machine that’ll give you a random toy from a pre-known selection. But while gachapons will only store tiny toys, blind box merch is usually a bit larger. Like in gacha, there is often a rare secret toy you’ll want to unbox. 

• Price Range: £15+
• Size: 10cm - 15cm tall
• Appearance: Blind boxes range in design and aesthetic. But the style will be consistent throughout blind boxes series.
• Official Brands: Blokees, Puremind, Cosbi, Funko Pop, Cureplaneta, Pop Mart

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Gunpla

Gunpla are vastly different from any other merch figure. A portmanteau of Gundam (a popular anime mech series) and Plastic Models, Gunpla are model construction kits of enormous mechanical military robots from mech anime. It is a lego-like hobby that requires precision tools to piece together hundreds of little plastic parts. Although many who are fans of the original Gundam anime, there are plenty of Gunpla enthusiasts who haven’t watched Gundam. Rather, they just enjoy the meditative experience of carefully building something piece by piece.

• Price Range: £15 - £500 Depending on size.
• Size: 10cm - 30cm
• Appearance: They all have a similar aesthetic because they’re from the Gundam anime. 
• Official Brands: Bandai 

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Pins, Badges & Standees

Character pins and acrylic standees are great because they don’t take up a lot of space. They’re a little harder to find in the UK, but they mainly show up in smaller non-chain anime merch stores.

• Price Range: ~ £15
• Size: Acrylic standees are usually about 15cm. Badges have a typical diameter of 5cm - 12cm
• Appearance: They’re usually printed with promotional art from the anime.
• Official Brands: Aniplex, Kadokawa, Good Smile Company

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Where to Buy Anime Merch in the UK

In the UK, finding a store that sells legit and officially licensed figures can be a journey, especially if you enjoy a more obscure anime. To help you, we’ve put together a detailed list of where and how you can satisfy your anime merch craving in the UK. 

Importing from a Japan Anime Merch Store

One way of getting official anime merch is to buy them directly from Japan. And you don’t need to learn the Japanese language or fly there. Luckily, there are plenty of proxies and Japanese stores that’ll ship to the UK. 

Proxy buying sites located in Japan are a great way of getting Japanese anime merch. A “proxy” means that they’ll purchase an item on your behalf and ship it directly to you overseas. Buyee is a particularly well-known proxy for Japanese merchandise. Just sign up, search for an item with their inbuilt browsing widget, and buy items through the platform. These are some popular exclusive anime merch sites to visit when using Buyee:

• https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/ 
• https://www.medicos-e.net/ 

While Buyee allows you to buy almost any Japan-exclusive item, it can also be very finicky to use. If you want something a little more familiar, Japanese Amazon will have some official anime merch. Many Japanese sellers will also sell anime merch using Ebay. However, the item’s authenticity can’t be checked easily when bought from Ebay.

Pros of Buying Directly from Japan:

• It is the most authentic merch you can get.
• You can buy exclusive Japan-only merch that hasn’t been released internationally.

Cons:

• With shipping costs, fees, taxes and possible tariffs, it can cost over double the price.
• Due to shipping, it can take up to months to receive your item after you’ve bought it.

UK Anime Merch Websites and Physical Stores

However, buying things online is, to put it lightly, a pain. Shipping, taxes, the language barrier… It feels much better to buy it in person right there and then. After a while of dealing with overseas shopping, you might wonder: “I’m sick of this, are there any physical anime shops near me?” Fortunately, when you look closely, you’ll find the UK has a lot of anime merch stores! 

Here are some big physical anime merch stores you’ll find nation-wide:

• Travelling Man: Travelling Man is a well-rounded site with a wide variety of board games and anime merch. It is especially good if you’re in the North of England, where they’re majorly based. They sell Danmei, BL & GL merch, too.
• Menkind: With a specialised anime figure selection, including a wide variety of Funko Pops, Menkind is a great budget option for anime merch. Menkind’s Hatsune Miku selection is particularly good. And at 60 stores across the UK, you can get in-person anime figures from almost anywhere.
• Uniqlo: Although Uniqlo doesn’t sell figures or standees, they offer quality anime clothing UK customers will know will last for years. They tend to partner with the most popular anime and manga. 
• Forbidden Planet: Even if it mostly deals with comic books, Forbidden Planet also has some anime and manga merch as well. However, their stores are rather centralised in London. It’s an anime store London loves.
• Miniso: If you love Sanrio, Miniso is the place to be. As a high-street brand, it also boasts cheap prices. 

Pros of Buying from Physical UK Stores:

• It is much quicker than shipping something from Japan.
• You can actually see the merch before buying it.

Cons:

• The item may cost a little more than its baseline price in Japan due to shipping and tax. 

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Some of Our Favourite Anime Figures

Now that you know where to get anime merch in the UK, we’d thought we’d quickly take you aside to show you our favourite anime figures. 

Jujutsu Kaisen Satoru Gojo Luminasta Unlimited Void PVC Statue

This figure is a must-have for any Gojo-simp out there who wants to show Shibuya a real incident. At 21cm tall, it’s a massive figure great as a standout piece. 

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Blokees Figures Vocaloid Hatsune Miku Terrace Party Blind Box

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love blind boxes, let alone a blind box where every diorama is this cute. 

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Death Note L 6” Figure

You can put it on your shelf, on your PC case, or on top of anything else. This figure is really versatile because it’s so steady.

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Blokees Figures Evangelion Rei Ayanami Fantastic Series

This is one of the nicest Rei figures I’ve seen for its pricepoint, especially considering the limbs are articulated and the expressions can be swapped out. 

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Jujutsu Kaisen Mahito Funko Pop! Vinyl Figure

It’s rare to see a Mahito Figure of this scene from the Shibuya incident, let alone one with such vibrant and pretty colours. Even if you despise him, you can’t deny it’s an eye-catching Funko.

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Vocaloid Noodle Stopper Hatsune Miku Flower Fairy Winter Cherry

The detailing on this Miku figure is crazy. The colour, the pose, the translucent hair where it transitions from teal to orange… everything about it is just mwah. 

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How to Display and Take Care of Your Merch

You’ve got your merch, it’s in your hands… Now what? It’s a struggle every collector has. Because how am I supposed to display all this!? 

Acrylic display stands are a popular choice due to their neutral colour and design. Or, a transparent display box, enclosed on all sides, is good for keeping dust away from expensive merch. It’s typical to put the merch on a shelf or in a vertical space. But, before you put everything into place, think about where the shelf is placed. If it’s in direct sunlight, the UV sun rays will damage the plastic and suck the colour out of it. (Sun damaging an expensive Japan-only limited edition merch item that took 3 months to arrive is profoundly devastating. I’m not speaking from experience.)  

Anyway… It’s best to keep your merch somewhere away from the sun. But in the shadows, it might be hard to see any of it. To remedy this, a lot of people put up lights in the corners or along the inside edges of their merch display. Remote control strip lights are a convenient way of illuminating your collection. 

Inevitably, dust will begin to invade your merch. If you do nothing about it, your merch will slowly be suffocated by it. That’s why I also recommend keeping a handheld vacuum cleaner nearby to dust dirt away from merch figures especially. 

After all is bought and displayed, your final job is to stand there and enjoy it. Merch is a culmination of passion and love. It shouldn’t be a laborious thing that sucks the life out of you. So, just be there, watch the merch shine in the lights.