I've noticed some nice stuff by Unifive pop up on YJA from time to time like re-pops of vintage Kamen Rider villains and/or vintage wrestlers. They seem to go very cheaply. Is Unifive a Japanese vinyl company or are the figures cheaper (and inferior) Chinese vinyl? What's the story of this company - are they affiliated with any of the major Japanese vinyl companies like Marmit or Marusan or are they an independent? Just wondering.

Thanks!

They were a part of the Bandai group and did a bunch of nice repro toys, even Jumbo Machinders. But I think they have closed shop since then, that was a few years back. I may be wrong but I have not seen anything from them in a looooong time.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure UniFive was folded back into Bandai, but Bandai still makes products that serve that market segment. A lot of those are branded with the Popy logo, I believe.

Bandai has operated many different subsidiaries over the years, including UniFive, Yutaka, Banpresto, MegaHouse and B-Club. They structured it that way to foster friendly competition, but also to allow certain divisions to specialize for specific areas like crane game prizes, vintage toy reissues, etc.

Thanks dudes! Once again, the experts at SB have come through.

Calling all Kamen Rider experts!

So for every Unifive repro produced I've also seen their vintage counterpart... except for this guy:



Ive seen this vintage one on the far right with a different color scheme...



but not one in red & black...

Does anyone know why this one Unifive villain is different or if there actually was a vintage version I missed? I'm attempting to be somewhat complete with my Unifive collection so this just left me wondering. Thx!

It's some sort of limited version but I can't remember what for. Usually way more than I want to pay when I do see them.

Ah, that makes sense... Maybe an original that never made production?