March 11th, 2016. The latest color version of the D-3 Digivice Ver. 15th became available via the Premium Bandai web shop today, in a run of just 3,000 units. Like with the black and blue Ver. 15ths before it, the Paildramon Color device is being given a limited run. Based on the color scheme of Motomiya Daisuke & Ichijouji Ken's Jogress D-3, the toy goes on sale for 9,990 yen from 11:00 PM Japanese Standard Time. The finished devices will ship in July. Those that order it will receive a Paildramon illustration sheet.
The Digivice will contain more than 150 Digimon, with more than 80 being usable by the player. There are six available partner Digimon, the selection being derived from Digimon Adventure 02; Patamon, Hawkmon, V-mon, Wormmon, Armadimon, and Tailmon. Aside from the color the device appears to be identical to its predecessors, with the structure of the Paildramon Color's gameplay following the same route as the original Ver. 15th D-3. The LCD toy tours players through the world of the anime series, culminating in a final battle with Armagemon. Imperialdramon Paladin Mode will be available on this Digivice just as he will be in the preceding D-3 Ver. 15th, and by connecting it to a first generation Ver. 15th, tamers can unlock a special message.
As of March 16th, the device is sold out, with "no plans" for a continuation.
January 11th, 2016. Bandai Fashion Net added the Digimon Adventure Agumon Fluffy Pouch (Virus Version) to the Premium Bandai web shop today, listing it at a price of 2160 JPY ($19 approximately at the current exchange rate). The limited edition plush toy, which was previously sold at Comiket 89 in December, will be available for purchase through Premium Bandai beginning January 13th, 2016, 11:00 AM Japanese Standard Time. 200 of these plushes were sold at Comiket, and a remaining 100 more will be sold online. Those not residing in Japan will have to go through a middleman service to obtain the plush toy, just as they would have for the Monzaemon Fluffy Pouch and D-3 Ver. 15th Digivice.
January 1st, 2016. The fifteenth anniversary remake of the D-3 Digivice is no longer available; all six thousand units have been ordered, and will be shipped to consumers in June 2016. The Motomiya Daisuke color D-3 sold out first, becoming unavailable on December 30th, while Ichijouji Ken's could still be ordered until today. The D-3 Ver. 15th is being produced in extremely limited quantities, possibly as a way to test the market for products beyond the original Adventure series. Along with the D-3, a reissue of the original Ver. 15th for March 2016 was simultaneously announced, but those orders closed several days earlier.
Over December 25th, the complete page for the Garurumon & Ishida Yamato G.E.M. Series figure was uploaded to Premium Bandai, opening up orders for MegaHouse's latest Digimon figure set. Previously featured at Jump Festa 2016 and the Mega Hobby 2015 Autumn Expo, the figure is preordering for 11,232 yen, approximately $94 at present. Garurumon & Yamato will ship in July, and are sized to be compatible with MegaHouse's existing Digimon figures.
The G.E.M. Series
is a line of high quality figures aimed at young adult women, featuring
characters from popular anime and manga series. The G.E.M. Series has
most recently featured Wizarmon and Tailmon from Digimon Adventure,
which has been one of MegaHouse's most popular G.E.M. Series franchises
since it became a part of the line in January 2014. Past Adventure G.E.M. figures include multiple versions of Takaishi Takeru and Yagami Hikari with the various forms of their Digimon partners, repeated reissues of Yamato and Taichi, and other members of the Chosen Children.
Over December 25th, Premium Bandaitweeted that the Yagami Taichi, Ishida Yamato, and Anime Original Color models of the Digivice Ver. 15th will all be reprinted in March 2016 to coincide with the recent preorder launch of the D-3 Ver. 15th. Preorders for the second run of the Ver. 15th are currently open until the launch date. The price of the device is set at 9990 yen, approximately $83 at the current exchange rate, and unlike the D-3, no specific limit on orders has been set. Tamers will have to order their Ver. 15ths before the launch date to receive them, and those outside of Japan will have to go through a proxy to purchase the Digivices.
Premium Bandai is Bandai's dedicated web shop, which sells directly to consumers rather than to toy stores. From August 26th to December 25th, 2014, Bandai sold the Digivice Ver. 15th in orange and blue to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of Digimon Adventure, and the Anime Original Color Ver. 15th later became available from March 3rd to May 11th, 2015. The AOC Digivice shipped with a flyer for the D-3 Ver. 15th, a limited six thousand units of which are currently available for preorder and will ship in June 2016. The Ver. 15th series has helped revive a long tradition of play in the Digimon fandom, becoming one centerpiece for the fan-organized DIGIMADO tournament series.
This article uses affiliate links. Affiliate links are hyperlinks to
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December 25th, 2015. In less than five minutes, the Japanese clock will tick over to 11:00 AM on the 25th, and the Premium Bandai web shop will begin opening up preorders for the D-3 Ver. 15th Digivice. The 15th anniversary D-3 is an extremely limited product that will only ship a cumulative six thousand units between its black and blue models. Given the short window of acquisition and strong demand, this leaves western fans with a conundrum--how do they purchase a product deliberately made unavailable to them?
Enter the middleman service. This is a section of commerce which acts in place of a foreign consumer, buying the product and shipping it to them. This is how westerners acquired last year's Digivice Ver. 15ths, and it's how they'll acquire this year's D-3. Some proxies operate through eBay, while others are independent sites hosting their own services.
Be aware that the middleman has to eat too. You will not be paying the base price of the Digivice; P-Bandai is normally a case of the manufacturer selling directly to the consumer without an intermediary, and introducing a proxy service into the equation effectively adds a layer of markup because of the additional labor it creates. The import service has to turn a profit on buying the device and selling it to you, which generally takes the form of either a flat commission fee or a percentage fee derived from the base price. They also have to pay for shipping and transportation costs, and this means that you will probably be paying closer to $100 rather than $80, possibly more. The good news is that many such middlemen deal in huge volumes of product being sold to hundreds or thousands of consumers, which reduces the markup on any individual product.
However, products like the D-3 are sometimes limited in how much quantity can be sold to individual buyers, which means each intermediary can only acquire a specific number of them. Meaning each resource has a limited quantity that they can sell. So where can you buy these devices?
Option 1: eBay
A small number of sellers have been taking preorders for the D-3 ahead of the actual preorder date open. Whether these preorders will be reasonable or not when compared to what independent sites are offering remains to be seen. Currently there are four listings available on eBay, two sets of black & white, and one black and one blue separate:
Each of these offer free shipping. The up front cost reflects slightly under a 40% markup from the $80 base price (the set of two is technically $10 cheaper, but only if you were planning on buying both versions in the first place). While these listings provide "free shipping," that's implicitly a formality--the persons selling these devices still pay to ship them, and instead is including the shipping cost in the base price along with all other expenditures. Some sellers are attempting to charge $154 for each D-3, which is very questionable when others are offering it for $120.
Option 2: Independent Sites
These order options will not be available until the device itself goes on sale. These sites are run by a single store rather than being available through a commerce network like eBay, and are sometimes managed by only a single person. The reason the D-3 isn't available early is because these stores are waiting until they can actually purchase the stock off of P-Bandai before they list it. It's somewhat questionable whether the eBay stores were behaving ethically in listing the D-3s without actually acquiring them first, as there's a remote possibility that they will be unable to purchase the Digivices and be forced to refund their buyers. You may see a fairer deal from these independent sites, which will charge either a flat rate like $10 per order, or a percentage of the original price on top of it. However, expect that shipping and handling costs will still factor in.
The catch is that no one quite knows which sites will have the D-3 available. Some may buy D-3s but not list them immediately after the products go live. Others may list them immediately. The product could sell out in a few hours, or the high price may intimidate consumers out of buying Bandai out of their stock up until its release date in June. Part of the reason the D-3 is so limited is that the company isn't sure that Digimon series other than Adventure can sell anymore.
December 25th, 2015. The Premium Bandai web shop has updated with a new trailer featuring the upcoming D-3 Ver. 15th Digivice, which will become available for preorder in a few hours. The revised D-3 will include over 150 types of Digimon, including six possible partners based on Digimon Adventure 02, and the never-before-playable Imperialdramon Paladin Mode. According to the updated D-3 homepage, the new device will connect with the Ver. 15th to unlock a "special production and message." Many more details have been given on the official website, and are summarized below.
Based on this information, the new Digivice has very likely been programmed with the original Digital Monster rules available for battle, ensuring connectivity with almost all two-pronged Digimon toys released since 1997.
According to the updated D-3 Ver. 15th homepage, the in-game quest map will be based directly on the world of Adventure 02. The first area "Digital World 1" will be based on the Digimon Kaiser arc (episodes 1~21) of 02, with Chimeramon as its area boss. The second area "New York," will be based on the third movie Hurricane Touchdown!!/The Golden Digimentals with Cherubimon as its featured Digimon. The third area "Digital World 2," will be based on the Dark Tower Digimon arc (episodes 22~37) with Black War Greymon as its boss, area 4 will be Japan based on episodes 38~39 and featuring Triceramon, area 5 will based on the World Tour arc of episodes 40~42 and feature Mammon, and area 6 will be set in Tokyo (episodes 43~50) with Belial Vamdemon as its boss. Finally, area 7 will be set in Odaiba, based on Diablomon's Counterattack, with Armagemon as the final boss.
Hurricane Touchdown!!/The Golden Digimentals has had a disputed status in the fandom for many years now, with a significant number of fans arguing the film to be noncanon based on alleged discrepancies between it and the TV anime. Its inclusion in the Ver. 15th Digivice, as well as the inclusion of a Crest of Destiny in the most recent toy lineup, points to Bandai considering the film to be in continuity with 02. It's important to note that the company has never actually taken an anti-movie 3 stance, and no product has ever definitely stated that the film is noncanon.
Unlike last year's made-to-order Digivices, the D-3 Ver. 15th is being produced in far more limited quantities, with only 6000 units being manufactured between the Motomiya Daisuke and Ichijouji Ken editions of the Digivice. Each D-3 order will come backaged with five separate illustrations which collectively form a single interlocked image, featuring Yagami Taichi, Ishida Yamato, Ichijouji Ken, and Motomiya Daisuke.
１５年の時を経て…冒険は再び、フルスピードで回り始める―
"Through fifteen
years' time...The Adventure once again, begins to revolve at full
speed--"
December 8th, 2015. Bandai Fashion Net announced that an upcoming Agumon Virus Fluffy Pouch will be appearing at Comiket 89, which will take place from December 29th to December 31st, 2015. Only a limited 300 copies of the plush toy will be produced, with 200 of them being sold at Comiket, and 100 others via the Premium Bandai web shop. The pouch's MSRP is 2,000 yen, a little over $16 at the current exchange rate. The design appears to be based on that of the Monzaemon Fluffy Pouch announced at the end of last November.
November 25th, 2015. The Premium Bandai shopping site updated tonight with a new fashion item for sale, the Monzaemon Fluffy Pouch. (もんざえモンもこもこポーチ Monzaemon Mokomoko Pouchi) Priced at 2160 yen (approx. $18) the plush toy uses Monzaemon's zipper to convert the Digimon into a storage pouch, which can be attached to a bag or backpack. The entire plush measures 210mm x 160mm, and will be distributed in January 2016.
The pouch is likely based on a similar Monzaemon toy carried by Etemon.
