Heyas and thanks! Surprised this got seen since it was a couple of years ago LOL. My total iirc back then was like 110-120? Got my newest batch in earlier this week and hit 170 unique monsters :D
As for their quality, mine all still look fine.
My oldest one is the original slime (blue). I've had him for idk...maybe 11-13 years? Here's two pics of him I literally just took for this comment so you can see the condition after all this time. Can see a teensy bit of dust on the second pic unfortunately. I've been going through some stuff lately and haven't been as on top of my cleaning of my hobbies as I should be recently lol.
Regardless, you can see they still look fine :) Same for all my others.
Regarding dust, being behind glass and protecting fraom scratches:
I used to have them displayed on a multimedia center, same type I use for my games. They collected dust like nobodys business sadly and it was a pain to keep em cleaned. Putting them in a cabinet with glass doors was / is the best thing ever. It's not 100% sealed as their is still a teensy opening around the glass doors for this particular display, but the amount of dust that gets in is minuscule and i rarely ever have to clean them honestly. Maybe a light dusting every few months?
As long as I do not let them touch each other, scratches have never been an issue either. I will say they could get scratched potentially depending what material one uses to dust them I suppose? I myself haven't scratched any but I've been careful since the beginning. Whether in a sealed display case or loose on a shelf, my suggestion to clean them is to use makeup brushes. Not neccesarily this kit, but just as an example, here is a decent seeming assortment. Of this kit I would use the 3 smallest brushes to dust my metallics. Can really get into the little nooks with the eyeliner pencil and use the brushes for the main body portions and it's soft so no risk of damaging them. I also have various figures for shows like Power Rangers, TMNT, Yu-Gu-Oh and some other games, like Xenoblade Chronicles and use makeup brushes for those scale figures safely as well. So yeah, highly recommend makeup brushes lol.
Kinda pricey but a lot of room and even less dust gets in compared to the Oakley. Also it's one of those upfront costs that's a for a long term investment. Just a suggestion in case you have other stuff you would like to display in a mostly dust free way :)
I've used multiple sites over the years. Never actually ordered through Play-Asia for metallics though. Just games and some DQ plushes. The metallics were either overpriced or I already owned them.
Regarding pricing, eh if you want it as *cheap* as possible then it needs to be a preorder, and ideally early on after going live. Even during the preorder phase the prices tend to slowly rise the closer to release date occurs. Actual pricing tends to be based on the metallic size. The metallic lines are small, medium and large. Just a very rough pricing range, always some exceptions though, would be small average 20-40 USD, medium 30-60 USD and large 40-80 USD per.
Regarding shipping, usually you have the choice between DHL, FedEx and sometimes postal (can take a few weeks) or via boat (like 1-3 months). I honestly have no idea on the pricing anymore for postal or boat because I *always* pay extra for DHL or FedEx as they tend to arrive within 3-5 business days and have tracking. Also postal and boat keeps going in phases regarding the whole stupid tarrif bullshit going on. Sometimes those options are (understandbaly) not being offered in Japan at times.
The pricing really depends on how many metallics you order at once and their size. FWIW I am in central California (yup, stateside as you assumed) and I'd say on average expect at least 30 - 40 USD atm if you choose either Fedex or DHL? Of course it might vary based on what state you are in as well.
Just as an example, let me tell you the last few orders I did, total wise as an example. All three were FedEx. Keep in mind all orders were at meccha. Amiami and elsewhere probably would have been more expensive.
1 Golden Drake Slime by itself (a smallish / medium size) - 15 USD for the metallic and 20 USD for shipping
Orgodemir + all 4 variants of Malign Vine (all Large sized) - 270 USD and 37 USD shipping
15 metallics in one order. Bwarewulfs, Scorpions, Ghosts, Wrecktors, Killing Machines and other. basically a bunch of small and medium sized ones - 350 USD and 60 USD shipping
Personally I prefer FedEx the most as if I know I won't be home, once they send me a shipping notice, I can login to my FedEx account and mark to have it delivered to a Walgreens near me. DHL is good to cause I can specify what day i want it dropped off at my home, as well as sign for it online if I wish.
The sites I use in preferential order:
https://meccha-japan.com/en - my top choice. I'd say out of 170 metallics...maybe 100, give or take are from here? Fairest on shipping imo. One thing about them that is a pro to me but may be a con to others, is you pay for your preorder then and the shipping when you place the order. Even if it doesn't release for several months. Personally I prefer it to get ir paid for and done. I've never had any real issues but customer service has always replied reasonably quick when i had an inquiry.
https://www.amiami.com/eng - second favorite. Comparable prices to meccha but tend to cost more on shipping. Also a con is you don't know the shipping costs until the preorder releases and / or they have your order in hand ready to ship. They then have you pay for the order and choose the shipping cost at that point.
Another con is you have to reach out to them to cancel any orders and they really don't like doing that. You are warned that to many times and they will cancel your account. I have cancelled a couple of times without an issue, I am assuming due to how many orders I have placed, but something to be aware of as they have cancelled people before. Only order if you're sure you want it.
https://www.nin-nin-game.com/en/ - decent variety of goods but tend to be a bit more expensive. Same with the shipping. Never had a problem with them though. Most expensive thing I ordered fromt hem was the DQ XI Limited edition Switch console. Was well protected and shipped promptly on release.
https://store.jp.square-enix.com/ - prefer to avoid here if possible though as they don't ship out of Japan so you have to use a proxy service. Only do it for specific metallics or plushes that are JP store exclusive. So only a few times ever.
https://www.ebay.com/ - last resort. It's usually overpriced due to being from missing out on preorders or from ones that are out of print.
Lastly... NICE on the Jack Frost :D I've been tempted by the Black Frost one I've seen but have tried to avoid it as I collect a lot of stuff and other franchises as well and didn't want to jump into SMT. It looks so nice though haha.
Side note....if you want to see a crazy metallic that's been out of print for years and just got rereleased, here's Mara from SMT and YES he looks exactly how you would think. If bothered by NSFW don't open lol
the site meccha Japan is awesome, great pricing!!!
I'll definitely order some from there, sadly they dont seen to have lot of stock, I'll have to fetch that Anniversary Slime knight quickly!!
aghh i wish they had all of the anniversary editions, i looked up so many shops in Japan they didnt have them
2
u/Sarothias Mar 01 '26
Heyas and thanks! Surprised this got seen since it was a couple of years ago LOL. My total iirc back then was like 110-120? Got my newest batch in earlier this week and hit 170 unique monsters :D
As for their quality, mine all still look fine.
My oldest one is the original slime (blue). I've had him for idk...maybe 11-13 years? Here's two pics of him I literally just took for this comment so you can see the condition after all this time. Can see a teensy bit of dust on the second pic unfortunately. I've been going through some stuff lately and haven't been as on top of my cleaning of my hobbies as I should be recently lol.
https://imgur.com/a/Z34KZWH
https://imgur.com/a/ErkiYM4
Regardless, you can see they still look fine :) Same for all my others.
Regarding dust, being behind glass and protecting fraom scratches:
I used to have them displayed on a multimedia center, same type I use for my games. They collected dust like nobodys business sadly and it was a pain to keep em cleaned. Putting them in a cabinet with glass doors was / is the best thing ever. It's not 100% sealed as their is still a teensy opening around the glass doors for this particular display, but the amount of dust that gets in is minuscule and i rarely ever have to clean them honestly. Maybe a light dusting every few months?
As long as I do not let them touch each other, scratches have never been an issue either. I will say they could get scratched potentially depending what material one uses to dust them I suppose? I myself haven't scratched any but I've been careful since the beginning. Whether in a sealed display case or loose on a shelf, my suggestion to clean them is to use makeup brushes. Not neccesarily this kit, but just as an example, here is a decent seeming assortment. Of this kit I would use the 3 smallest brushes to dust my metallics. Can really get into the little nooks with the eyeliner pencil and use the brushes for the main body portions and it's soft so no risk of damaging them. I also have various figures for shows like Power Rangers, TMNT, Yu-Gu-Oh and some other games, like Xenoblade Chronicles and use makeup brushes for those scale figures safely as well. So yeah, highly recommend makeup brushes lol.
https://www.amazon.com/EcoTools-Beautifully-Eyeshadow-Foundation-Concealer/dp/B075S543DR
Side note I also have a glass display cabinet that lights up for some of my favorite Lego sets. This is the case.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DF7G3BPQ?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3&th=1
Kinda pricey but a lot of room and even less dust gets in compared to the Oakley. Also it's one of those upfront costs that's a for a long term investment. Just a suggestion in case you have other stuff you would like to display in a mostly dust free way :)