For those who aren’t familiar with Bluefin Brands, they are one of the leading distributors of toys, collectibles, novelty, and hobby products in North America, as well as the exclusive North American distributor for brands such as Bandai Collectors, aka “Tamashii Nations,” Bandai Hobby, Bandai Shokugan, Mr. Hobby and GSI Creos, SEN-TI-NEL, Flame Toys, and Storm Collectibles.

I also didn’t realize this at first because of all the different signages on their booths, but whether it’s on the West Coast, East Coast, or anywhere in between, Bluefin Brands has been a staple at pretty much every major comic book/nerd/pop culture convention in the country. In fact, I remember seeing them in Chicago at C2E2 2019, then a week later I saw them at WonderCon in Anaheim, and I remember my Dad was talking to one of their reps about how we just saw then in Chicago and their rep told him that they were actually going back to Chicago for Star Wars Celebration in a few weeks. I also remember back at LA Comic Con 2019, they had a somewhat lackluster booth at that Con, and one of the reps told me the reason for that was because they had such a huge activation setup at New York Comic Con a few weeks earlier and everything was still in New York because they were going back for a Star Wars convention.

Bluefiun Brands is a company that I’ve been paying attention to for quite a while—even before I got the idea to start doing this site. Aside from seeing them as vendors at almost every major convention I’ve been too, over the years I’ve also picked up a couple products from some of the various brands that they work with, including a pretty decent collection of Tamashii Nations Meisho Movie Realization figures.

I’m not sure if this was something that they had been planning for a while or if this was something they came up with to make up for the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down all the conventions and large gatherings, but over the last couple months Bluefin Brands has been opening pop-up shops to sell some of their stuff. I remember it started with a GUNDAM pop-up in Little Tokyo back in December of 2020, a few months later they did a Tamashii Nations pop-up in Manhattan, and now they just opened up another Tamashii Nations pop up shop in Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade.

When I first heard Bluefin was doing a pop-up shop in Southern California I was really excited. There are a few things I’ve been hoping to get for my collection that I haven’t been able to find either at Frank and Son’s or online and I was hoping I might be able to find them there.

Unfortunately, while they did have a lot of stuff at the Tamashii Nations pop-up shop, they didn’t have any of the things I was looking for. From what I saw on display and what I heard online and also overheard the employees say, most of the stuff that was being showcase at the shop were items that wouldn’t be available until the Comic-Con @Home event.

On the plus side, the trip wasn’t a total loss. Probably because I brought my dog with me—who the employees loved, I was able to talk to one of the marketing/social media guys for Bluefin who got the Bluefin Brands company Instagram to follow me. It’s been a goal of mine for a while to get noticed by some of the companies out there and hopefully get them to follow me on social media to add some legitimacy to my website and social media presence. Also since I had my DSLR on me, my dad suggested I get some pictures for my blog which is why I’m writing this piece.

The first thing that caught my eye were these little posters that were made out of some of the promo pics they use for some of the products. Another goal of mine is to reach a level with my photography where I can take pictures as cool as these. I started following a couple other toy photographers on social media, and honestly those guys do some crazy shit for their shots, from building really incredibly detailed dioramas and backgrounds to using M80s and other small fireworks to create micro explosions for action shots, it’s just insane to see what they’re doing. The results are amazing though, because these guys are producing pictures of toys that look like they’re screen shots from movies.

In the first case next to the door there was this piece, which at the time was only available for pre-order, it is the Tamashii Nations Figuarts Zero Gol D. Roger Kamusari from One Piece. This particular piece is supposed to be a recreation of the moment Roger used the Kamusari divine intervention attack to defeat Oden Kozuki.

In the same case next to Roger was another piece from One Piece, the Tamashii Nations Figuarts Zero – Extra Battle Kozuki Oden.

Next to the One Piece case was a case with XXXG-01H Gundam Heavy Arms, GM-001 Gundam Exia, and ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam in it representing the Gundam Universe line. The Gundam Universe line is actually a fairly new line from Tamashii Nations with their figures offering screen accurate details along with full articulation.

So this is the main reason I came to the Tamashii Nations for. Not the SH Figuarts Avengers: Endgame figures. No, I came in for the Meisho Movie Realization stuff.

While I am into comic books, the Avengers: Endgame stuff I’m just not interested in. Maybe because even though they are toys made for adult collectors the fact they’re of superheroes just makes me think they’re for little kids.. Although you have to admit SH Figuarts did an amazing job with these figures, the details on them are just amazing.

Here’s the Star Wars Meisho Movie Realization stuff. I have most of these figures in my personal collection, I’ve been meaning to get some of them photographed and up on my site but they’re currently buried under the giant pile of Lego sets and Transformers I’m trying to get through. I think the only figures I’m missing from this display are the Imperial Guardsman, Darth Vader, the Storm Trooper with the drum, the black Storm Trooper, Kylo Ren, and C-3PO, and the reason I don’t have them is I just don’t like them. I know I probably should have bought them to round out my collection, but honestly I can’t justify spending the money on them if I don’t like them.

When I came down to the pop-up shop I was really hoping that they would have a Meisho Movie Realization Mandalorian. When they first announced the pre-order for it, I thought I’d skip it and just wait for retailers to get them because I was scared it might get messed up in shipping. However, if I knew that that figure would turn out to be a super-limited release only available in Japan I would have taken that risk. One of my guys at Frank and Son’s got one in but he wanted like $275 bucks for it which made me hesitate getting it. Unfortunately, when I came in a week later to get it he said he sold it already and didn’t have any more. I’m still hoping I’ll be able to find one and I’m really hoping I can get one for less than 200 bucks.

In honor of Pac Man’s 40th anniversary, Soul of Chogokin and SH Figuarts had announced they would be making these commemorative figures. Unfortunately they were also not available for purchase yet.

I was eye-balling the Soul of Chogokin Pac Man mech ever since I first saw it was announced. I’m a little disappointed at how small it is but at the same time I’m a bit glad because now I know it won’t be too expensive or take up too much room.

I was originally going to pass on the SH Figuarts Pac Man, but after seeing the real thing I’ve changed my mind.

Next to the Pac Men case was Char Aznable’s MS-05S Zaku from the GUNDAM FIX FIGURATION METAL COMPOSITE line. I believe this particular Gundam was featured in the Mobile Suit: The Origin manga and OVA adaptation.

Here are a couple more SH Figuarts Dragonball Z figures. I overheard some of the employees talking that these are some of the exclusives from this year’s Comic-Con @Home event and was going into great detail how they were setting up the ordering system so it’s only 1 per customer so scalpers can’t buy them all out.

The SH Monsterarts line was another product line they were really pushing at the pop up.

Here’s King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Kong with his giant axe with the blade made from Godzilla’s dorsal plates.

Here is a Liolaeus from Monster Hunter.

According to the boxes this particular Godzilla was an event exclusive item from San Diego Comic Con 2019.

The Soul of Chogokin Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, or as he’s known here in the US, Vehicle Voltron. I remember when I first saw this at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, I wanted it so bad so I made sure to go out and get it as soon as I knew it was out. I also have the rerelease of the Lion Voltron they put out too. I told one of the employees I was hoping to pick up some of the Super Sentai/Power Ranger Megazords but they told me most of those have long since been discontinued. With the Power Rangers 30th anniversary coming up in a few years I’m hoping Soul of Chogokin will consider doing a rerelease.

A few more Gundam Universe figures.

Here is the “Journey to Planet Namek” Bulma figure from SH Figuarts.

SH Figuarts “Universal Survival Saga” Androids 17 and 18. Despite being small these little guys are super expensive.

A few more SH Figuarts Dragonball Z figures. Unlike most of the Dragonball Z figures they had on display, I believe these were already on sale at the time I was there.

At first I thought this was 1 piece but after staring at the SHFiguarts website for a few minutes I’m convinced it’s actually two separate pieces which are the Son Goku Kaioken Ver. and the red Tamashii Effect Energy Aura.

King Piccolo with I believe his “birthing an egg” expression head.

Here is a Soul of Chogokin Swordfish II, Spike Spiegel’s personal space ship in Cowboy Bebop.

Sailor Moon flanked by Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.

Figuarts Zero Kyojuro Rengoku Flame Breathing from the Demon Slayer series.

If you’re like me and are already creeped out by Funko Pops with their black beedy eyes, here’s something else straight out of your nightmares, Tamashii Nations’ Figuarts Minis line.

Here’s another Demon Slayer-inspired Figuarts Zero piece, the Inosuke Hasibira Beast Breathing.

I’ll close this post out with this Figuarts Mini Akaza, another character from Demon Slayer.

That’s it from the Tamshii Nations Santa Monica Pop-Up Shop in Santa Monica. Like I said earlier, while I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to find the pieces I was looking for the trip wasn’t a total loss since I gained a pretty big Instagram follower as well as the content for another post. The employees did tell me to keep an eye on their social media pages for announcements of new products as well as to come down later to see if they change things up, so I will come down at least 1 or 2 more times before they close up. And who knows, depending on what they have I might do another post on the shop.