Defunct Figure Makers

Remembering the companies that shaped this collecting scene and the figures they left behind

The Business Challenges of Figure Manufacturing

The anime figure business looks glamorous from the outside (colorful prototypes, enthusiastic fans, sold-out pre-orders) but the economics underneath are brutal. Manufacturers typically announce figures as unfinished prototypes and open pre-orders six months to a year before the expected ship date, with most retailers charging collectors nothing until the figure actually ships. That means the company is financing tooling, factory time, painting, packaging, and shipping on its own cashflow before a single yen of revenue comes in. When everything runs on schedule, the system works. When delays compound, the financial pressure builds quickly: each postponed release is money that was expected isn’t coming in while bills keep arriving.

Margins in the figure industry are thinner than most collectors realize. Manufacturing is overwhelmingly outsourced to Chinese factories in Guangdong Province, where rising labor costs, material prices, and shipping rates have steadily squeezed profitability over the past decade. Licensing fees to IP holders take another slice. Retailer distribution margins take more. A small manufacturer releasing a few dozen figures per year has almost no room for error; two or three figures that sell below expectations or arrive late from the factory can put the entire operation in jeopardy.

External shocks expose these structural vulnerabilities quickly. COVID-19 in 2020 disrupted factories, shipping lanes, retail channels, and in-person event sales simultaneously, exactly the kind of multi-front assault that no small manufacturer’s balance sheet can absorb. But even without a global pandemic, the figure market has consolidated relentlessly over the past fifteen years. Good Smile Company, Alter, Kotobukiya, and Bandai Namco command the strongest licenses, the most efficient factory relationships, and the strongest collector trust. Smaller companies trying to compete on the margins face a simple reality: this market rewards consistency, and consistency requires resources that stretch most small manufacturers thin.

Griffon Enterprises

Griffon Enterprises built a following during the mid-2000s figure boom by targeting side characters and supporting cast members that few other companies were covering, producing them in low print runs. For fans of Touhou Project, Fate, and other niche franchises, Griffon was often the only company making figures of their favorite characters. That focus on characters collectors were excited to see in figure form was a real contribution to the collecting scene.

The company struggled with consistency between its promotional prototype photos and actual production quality. Sculpt softness, paint application issues, and stiff poses were recurring concerns that eroded collector confidence over time. Griffon attempted a rebrand to "Grand Toys" to reset its reputation, but the underlying quality challenges remained. The company also operated an unusual parallel business called "Master Fossil," trading in dinosaur fossils, trilobites, and minerals, one of the more surprising corporate footnotes in figure industry history.

On January 22, 2019, the Yokohama District Court issued a bankruptcy order against Griffon Enterprises. Unpaid suppliers, unfulfilled pre-orders, and canceled retailer commitments were left unresolved. Warning signs had been visible: the company stopped appearing at figure festivals in December 2017, and communication with retailers broke down in the months that followed. Despite its challenges, Griffon played a meaningful role by bringing figures of niche characters to collectors who had few alternatives at the time. Several of those characters have rarely been revisited by other manufacturers since.

Clayz

Clayz occupies a particular place in figure history as a company from the transitional era when the industry was shifting from garage kits, which buyers assemble and paint, toward mass-market PVC plastic figures. Founded by sculptor Miyagawa Takeshi, the company specialized in cold-cast resin pieces and early figures made from PVC during the early-to-mid 2000s, covering characters from properties like Cardcaptor Sakura, Fate/stay night, and various visual novels. Clayz also produced a Resin Kit Series that catered to hobbyists who still wanted to assemble and paint their own figures, a bridge between the garage kit world and the pre-painted convenience that would eventually define the market.

The figures Clayz produced had a handmade charm that reflected the era’s experimental spirit. The industry was still figuring out what PVC scale figures could and should be, and manufacturers of that period were making real aesthetic discoveries alongside technical ones. Some Clayz sculpts captured their characters beautifully; others suffered from awkward proportions or rough finishing that would be unacceptable by modern standards. The company never scaled up with the industry, never secured the factory partnerships or distribution deals needed to compete with the rapidly professionalizing market around it.

Clayz did not end in bankruptcy. Instead, the company pivoted to B2B custom figure production, regional mascot work, and event-related services. Their official website (clayz.jp) and X account remain active, and HobbySearch still indexes their products through 2025-2026. What looked like a quiet disappearance was actually a business model shift that moved Clayz out of collector visibility while the company continued operating. The consumer-facing figures Clayz produced still exist as artifacts of a specific moment in figure collecting's development, and collectors with an interest in figure history seek them out precisely because they feel like time capsules from an earlier era of anime figure production.

Aquamarine

Aquamarine’s bankruptcy stung harder than most because this was not a manufacturer known for cutting corners. Founded in October 2011, the company had built a solid reputation for interesting license choices, crisp sculpting, and vibrant paintwork that put it in the upper tier of mid-size manufacturers. Aquamarine specialized in figures from visual novels, TYPE-Moon properties, Touhou Project, and romance-adjacent anime, franchises with dedicated collector bases who appreciated that someone was giving their favorite characters the quality treatment.

Aquamarine’s closure came at a particularly difficult time. On August 3, 2020, the company filed for bankruptcy alongside companion manufacturer Easy Eight, which shared financial infrastructure. COVID-19 had disrupted factories, shipping, retail, and event sales simultaneously, exactly the kind of multi-front challenge that puts enormous strain on a small business. Production delays and limited capital had already been stretching operations thin before the pandemic compounded those pressures.

The story changed when Good Smile Company stepped in to complete and release a portion of Aquamarine’s unfinished catalog. GSC announced it would take over development and release of Aquamarine products that had already been available for pre-order and were slated for GSC distribution, including figures from SSSS.GRIDMAN, Touhou Project, and Ane Naru Mono. It was a goodwill gesture that saved some collectors from total loss, though many pre-orders were still canceled outright. The figures that Aquamarine completed before its closure now trade at premium prices on the aftermarket, valued as the work of a company whose craft and creative choices earned real collector appreciation.

Penguin Parade

Penguin Parade is not defunct in the traditional sense (the company remains nominally active) but it belongs in any discussion of figure industry oddities because so much about it remains mysterious. The small outfit is best known for its Petanko line, a series of palm-sized soft-vinyl chibi figures that shrink popular anime girls into super-deformed form. Characters like Misaka Mikoto, Asuna, and Rem received the Petanko treatment, producing adorable little figures designed for desk display rather than formal shelf presentation.

Beyond the chibi work, Penguin Parade also dabbled in slightly larger 1/8 scale female-character figures, some featuring removable clothing that placed them in a very different market segment from their cute chibi roots. The most persistent question in community forums is why Penguin Parade’s public corporate details are so sparse, making the company’s structure harder for collectors to understand than those of most peers.

What Penguin Parade gets right, regardless of its corporate mysteries, is proportion. The Petanko figures have a deliberate charm; the design choices read as intentional rather than compromised, which makes a meaningful difference in how they sit on a shelf. Paint quality is solid for the price point, construction is sturdy enough for casual display, and the simplified details suit the chibi aesthetic rather than undermining it. Sometimes a collector just wants something cute, affordable, and uncomplicated.

What Happens When a Manufacturer Closes

When a figure manufacturer ceases operations, the immediate impact is felt by collectors through their outstanding pre-orders. The figure hobby’s pre-order model means that at any given moment, thousands of collectors are waiting on figures from manufacturers whose financial health they have no visibility into. When the closure notice arrives, the outcome depends heavily on where the pre-order was placed. Collectors who ordered through major retailers like AmiAmi or HobbySearch that charge at shipment typically lose nothing but time and anticipation. Collectors who paid upfront through smaller shops or direct from the manufacturer face the difficult reality of unsecured creditor claims in insolvency proceedings, which rarely result in meaningful recovery.

The fate of unfinished products varies case by case. Aquamarine’s story showed the most favorable outcome: a larger company with existing distribution ties stepped in to finish and release figures that were already deep in development. Griffon’s closure had a more complicated outcome. Some prototyped but unproduced figures were picked up piecemeal by other manufacturers like Flare, while many announced projects simply vanished. Prototype molds scattered across the industry rather than being consolidated under a single buyer.

Warranty and aftermarket support evaporate instantly upon bankruptcy. Collectors holding figures from a defunct manufacturer who discover a broken part, a paint defect, or a manufacturing flaw have no recourse, because the replacement parts programs and customer service infrastructure that living manufacturers provide simply cease to exist. This reality makes condition especially important when buying defunct-manufacturer figures on the secondary market. A chipped sword or a cracked base on an Alter figure is an inconvenience that customer service can resolve. The same damage on a Griffon or Aquamarine figure is permanent.

Collecting from Defunct Brands

The aftermarket for defunct manufacturer figures follows interesting patterns shaped by supply constraints. When a company closes, its existing catalog becomes a closed set: no new production, no reprints, no re-releases, ever. Supply can only decrease as figures break, get lost, or enter collections where they stay permanently. For companies that produced excellent figures, like Aquamarine, this limited supply keeps the figures especially sought-after among collectors who value the brand’s history. Condition matters enormously because there is no manufacturer to source replacement parts from.

Griffon presents its own distinct aftermarket dynamic. The company carved out a real niche by covering characters and franchises that few other manufacturers were producing, particularly Touhou Project during Griffon’s most prolific period. Most Griffon figures remain affordable on the secondary market, though specific releases have gained collector value through a combination of rarity and franchise attachment. Early Touhou figures sometimes become harder to find precisely because Griffon was one of very few manufacturers covering those characters, and alternative versions remain uncommon.

For collectors considering hunting figures from defunct brands, a few guidelines help. Shop through reputable secondhand platforms like Mandarake, Suruga-ya, and MyFigureCollection’s marketplace where sellers are accountable and item condition is documented. Inspect photos carefully for yellowing, paint transfer, broken pegs, and the subtle lean that older PVC figures develop over time. Most importantly, buy because the figure itself speaks to the collector, not because a discontinued brand’s name carries collector cachet alone. The figures worth seeking from defunct manufacturers are the ones that were well-made when they were new.