SQUARE ENIX Final Fantasy XV Noctis Lucis Caelum 1/6.5 Plastic Figure
Union Creative Calne Ca JAPANESE Style 15th Memorial Costume Plastic Figure
Prime 1 Studio PRISMA WING Fuzichoco-shi Original Illustration Hi-kasa to Botan 1/7 Plastic Figure
Union Creative nana Illustration Ichinose Ririsu Plastic Figure
ALTER Blue Archive Toki 1/7 Plastic Figure
GOODSMILE RACING Hatsune Miku GT Project figma Racing Miku 2024ver.
Reverse Studio Mushroom Girls Series No.6 Haematoke Farusutake 1/1 Plastic Figure
MAX FACTORY NieR:Automata Ver1.1a figma 2B (YoRHa No.2 Type-B)
AniGift Shouri no Megami: NIKKE Crown - Naked King 1/7 Plastic Figure
FuRyu F:NEX TV Anime 2.5 Jigen no Yuuwaku Liliana Tenshi Kutei-tai / Lilisa 1/7 Plastic Figure
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Fate/Grand Order Foreigner/Yang Guifei Eirei Sai-sou Ver. 1/7 Plastic Figure
Phat! Company Phatism Umamusume Pretty Derby Transcend 1/7 Plastic Figure
DMM Factory Illustrator Collection Figure Toshiue Kanojo Illustration by wata 1/6 Plastic Figure
Union Creative Chrysa Illustration WHITE QUEEN -Lume- 1/6 Plastic Figure
ALTER iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Sunazuka Akira Layered My Edgy Ver. 1/7 Plastic Figure
BearPanda Luo Hong 1/6 Plastic Figure
MegaHouse LookUp Jujutsu Kaisen Haibara Yu Plastic Figure
ENSOUTOYS Guitar Mei Mei no Butou Kyoushitsu 1/7 Plastic Figure
TAITO spiritale Majo no Tabitabi Elaina -Kyuusoku Ver.- 1/6 Plastic Figure
MAGI ARTS Kaede Illustration by DSmile 1/6 Plastic Figure
AliceGlint Azur Lane Kersaint Holy Running 1/7 Plastic Figure
FREEing NieR:Automata Ver1.1a 2B (YoRHa No.2 Type-B) 1/4 Plastic Figure
BANDAI SPIRITS S.H.Figuarts Iron Man Mark 6 (THE INFINITY SAGA)
BANDAI SPIRITS Figuarts ZERO [EXTRA BATTLE] Monkey D. Luffy -Chojo Kessen- (Re-release)
ORANGE ROUGE Touken Ranbu ONLINE Nendoroid Doll Heshikiri Hasebe Keisou Ver.
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Jigoku Sensei Nube POP UP PARADE Yukime L size Plastic Figure
MEDICOS ENTERTAINMENT Super Figure Action JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part.7 Steel Ball Run Johnny Joestar Second Action Figure
AMAKUNI Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon Tohru Ushi-gara Bikini Ver. 1/7 Plastic Figure
BellFine Time Bokan Time Mechabutton 1/100 Plastic Kit (Re-release)
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Vandread MODEROID Vandread Dita Plastic kit
EUSUN Sleep Devil Nonos Deluxe Edition 1/6 Plastic Figure
MAGI ARTS Touhou Project Honkai! 3rd Eye Komeiji Satori 1/6 Plastic Figure
BANDAI SPIRITS S.H.Figuarts (Shinkocchou Seihou) Kamen Rider Ryuki
ORANGE ROUGE Haikyuu!! Nendoroid Plus Kuroo Tetsuro Rubber Mascot
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Houkai: Star Rail Nendoroid Yaiba
MegaHouse LookUp Attack on Titan Levi Plastic Figure
MegaHouse LookUp Haikyuu!! Hinata Shoyo Plastic Figure (Re-release)
MegaHouse G.E.M. Series Gintama Tenohira Hijikata-san Plastic Figure
ACTION TOYS Heavy Metal Shin Mazinger ZERO Mazinger Z Action Figure
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Avatar Densetsu no Shounen Aang Nendoroid Zuko
SQUARE ENIX Final Fantasy XV Noctis Lucis Caelum 1/6.5 Plastic Figure
Union Creative Calne Ca JAPANESE Style 15th Memorial Costume Plastic Figure
Prime 1 Studio PRISMA WING Fuzichoco-shi Original Illustration Hi-kasa to Botan 1/7 Plastic Figure
Union Creative nana Illustration Ichinose Ririsu Plastic Figure
ALTER Blue Archive Toki 1/7 Plastic Figure
GOODSMILE RACING Hatsune Miku GT Project figma Racing Miku 2024ver.
Reverse Studio Mushroom Girls Series No.6 Haematoke Farusutake 1/1 Plastic Figure
MAX FACTORY NieR:Automata Ver1.1a figma 2B (YoRHa No.2 Type-B)
AniGift Shouri no Megami: NIKKE Crown - Naked King 1/7 Plastic Figure
FuRyu F:NEX TV Anime 2.5 Jigen no Yuuwaku Liliana Tenshi Kutei-tai / Lilisa 1/7 Plastic Figure
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Fate/Grand Order Foreigner/Yang Guifei Eirei Sai-sou Ver. 1/7 Plastic Figure
Phat! Company Phatism Umamusume Pretty Derby Transcend 1/7 Plastic Figure
DMM Factory Illustrator Collection Figure Toshiue Kanojo Illustration by wata 1/6 Plastic Figure
Union Creative Chrysa Illustration WHITE QUEEN -Lume- 1/6 Plastic Figure
ALTER iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Sunazuka Akira Layered My Edgy Ver. 1/7 Plastic Figure
BearPanda Luo Hong 1/6 Plastic Figure
MegaHouse LookUp Jujutsu Kaisen Haibara Yu Plastic Figure
ENSOUTOYS Guitar Mei Mei no Butou Kyoushitsu 1/7 Plastic Figure
TAITO spiritale Majo no Tabitabi Elaina -Kyuusoku Ver.- 1/6 Plastic Figure
MAGI ARTS Kaede Illustration by DSmile 1/6 Plastic Figure
AliceGlint Azur Lane Kersaint Holy Running 1/7 Plastic Figure
FREEing NieR:Automata Ver1.1a 2B (YoRHa No.2 Type-B) 1/4 Plastic Figure
BANDAI SPIRITS S.H.Figuarts Iron Man Mark 6 (THE INFINITY SAGA)
BANDAI SPIRITS Figuarts ZERO [EXTRA BATTLE] Monkey D. Luffy -Chojo Kessen- (Re-release)
ORANGE ROUGE Touken Ranbu ONLINE Nendoroid Doll Heshikiri Hasebe Keisou Ver.
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Jigoku Sensei Nube POP UP PARADE Yukime L size Plastic Figure
MEDICOS ENTERTAINMENT Super Figure Action JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part.7 Steel Ball Run Johnny Joestar Second Action Figure
AMAKUNI Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon Tohru Ushi-gara Bikini Ver. 1/7 Plastic Figure
BellFine Time Bokan Time Mechabutton 1/100 Plastic Kit (Re-release)
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Vandread MODEROID Vandread Dita Plastic kit
EUSUN Sleep Devil Nonos Deluxe Edition 1/6 Plastic Figure
MAGI ARTS Touhou Project Honkai! 3rd Eye Komeiji Satori 1/6 Plastic Figure
BANDAI SPIRITS S.H.Figuarts (Shinkocchou Seihou) Kamen Rider Ryuki
ORANGE ROUGE Haikyuu!! Nendoroid Plus Kuroo Tetsuro Rubber Mascot
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Houkai: Star Rail Nendoroid Yaiba
MegaHouse LookUp Attack on Titan Levi Plastic Figure
MegaHouse LookUp Haikyuu!! Hinata Shoyo Plastic Figure (Re-release)
MegaHouse G.E.M. Series Gintama Tenohira Hijikata-san Plastic Figure
ACTION TOYS Heavy Metal Shin Mazinger ZERO Mazinger Z Action Figure
GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Avatar Densetsu no Shounen Aang Nendoroid Zuko
Oops, Justin did it again — Calling out BAD journalism by journalist Justin Ling and Wired.com article "How a Major Toy Company Kept 4chan Online" from March 29, 2023

Disclaimer:

  • This piece is, once again, NOT about 4chan, you will not find anything about 4chan here. Go somewhere else.
  • We are not here to defend GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC), rather, we are here to point out all the WRONG FACTS in the March 29, 2023 Wired article written by, yes, that Justin Ling again.

In a follow-up article to his original "Who Owns 4chan?" (https://www.wired.com/story/who-owns-4chan/) published by Wired back on May 26, 2022, freelance journalist Justin Ling [https://twitter.com/justin_ling] is at it again, with a few details in the first half of the article caught by our keen eyes.

First thing first, the link to the new article, "How a Major Toy Company Kept 4chan Online" (https://www.wired.com/story/4chan-good-smile/), and let's be fair for just a tiny-second: it is a good read.

Now, did Justin take up on our 2022 challenge and actually finishes his assigned homework??? A BIG NO, and unfortunately, he failed his new assignments yet again. At this point, we are just flabbergasted by how much "incorrect" information on GOOD SMILE COMPANY (GSC) Justin kept throwing out with none of the editors at Wired fact-check them. At this point, Otaku HQ should be paid by Wired for all the corrections we have to dole out to keep our own sanity in-check.

Alright, first error: it is in the secondary article title, right off the bat.

Documents obtained by WIRED confirm that Good Smile, which licenses toy production for Disney, was an investor in the controversial image board.

What's the problem??? GSC do not "licenses toy production for Disney", they obtain permissions and licenses from Disney, as well as other companies and entities (i.e. anime production committees) to create toys based on characters owned by those companies under GSC's brand or for their clients. GSC make their own plans for the merchandise, and ask for proper permissions and licenses to do so, end of story. This funny line creates the illusion of GSC is dependent on Disney to survive, which is 100% fake news, and we will further elaborate later.

Minus 10 points for Justin's classic mis-direction.

Second error:

Good Smile produces licensed content for a variety of major brands, from major manga series like Attack on Titan to video games like Assassin’s Creed and movies like The Matrix. But Good Smile's largest licensee is, without a doubt, Disney. The company markets dozens of toys and figurines from Disney properties, like Spider-Man, Buzz Lightyear, and Mickey Mouse.

Justin did some of his homework here, we will give him that, but his words as quoted above is simply a pile of "loaded crap". Why??? Disney is a large global company, but just because Disney is large, it does not mean it has the largest share of GSC's merchandise. In fact, if you go through a thorough product count on GSC has ever produced since 2004, Disney-related characters only takes up no more than 5% of their portfolio (and roughly only 10% if you only look at Nendoroid), and that's a fact.

If Disney really stops dealing with GSC from now on to eternity (as Justin indicated that will happen in his article), GSC will not cry, nor they will care much. They will just create something else and make more money, end of story. Making it sounds like a death knell to GSC might be nice for your ego, Justin, but it just shows you have once again not doing your homework PROPERLY. THAT'S YOUR JOB! UGH!

There will be fans who hate the fact GSC will not be able to make any future re-runs for those Disney characters products, and you know exactly who to blame (Justin, or Aki-san for some). But most hardcore figure collectors do not really care, anyway. At most, we might mourn the fact that we might never see another re-run of Nendoroid Stormtrooper or Nendoroid Darth Vader, that's it. Then again, Justin just help jacking up the second-hand market prices for them, making Justin the latest public enemy No.1 for many collectors.

As for whether Disney will completely cut off GSC, that remain to be seen, and certainly Justin Ling will want you to believe so. But I can already give one likely exception: Disney Twisted Wonderland characters for Nendoroid, these are licensed to ANIPLEX and likely will continue with new items coming out, even though GSC handles "everything". WAH HA HA HA HA.

Minus 20 points for Justin's favourite play-with-numbers (and very bad at it, AGAIN).

Third, the last bunch of errors:

In recent years, Good Smile has branched out into content creation, working with various animation and film studios, has opened online wholesale companies in China and elsewhere, and has even sponsored a Super GT racing team.

Yes, GSC has dipped into "content", but you forget to mention they are into mobile games too. Minus 10 points for missing easy-to-find facts.

As for "wholesale companies", that's just yet another completely loaded crap. GOOD SMILE Arts Shanghai is a subsidiary making toys based on China IP and various anime titles, but "wholesale"???? Where the heck you get that information from, Justin????? They have distribution partners around the world, and none are owned by GSC, Justin. The closest thing they have is their domestic logistic business (for managing their own distributions to hobby stores large and small within Japan), and that does not equal to "wholesale", period. Minus 30 points for factual errors.

And, "sponsored a Super GT racing team"???? Aki-san OWNS (or partly owns) the team, "GOODSMILE RACING", since 2008 (and currently known as "GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO"). Minus another 30 points for yet another factual error that are easy to check.

Final score for Justin Ling on this assigment: MINUS 100 POINTS. Why are we not surprised??

Flushing out all these crap just proves not all journalists are equal. Do your homework properly, Justin Ling. As for Wired editors, that simple single word again: fact-check, you bunch of "lazy-bones".

[April 8, 2023 Update] A slap in the face for Justin Ling: GSC released a really short press release on April 7, 2023 on its corporate website (https://corporate.goodsmile.com/ja/news/1852/), denying any "direct" involvement with 4chan. What's done is done, and if you want to hate GSC like Justin Ling, you are free to do so, and we are not here to change your mind, nor we care about your feelings. GSC will be around for years to come and ignore the noise, and that's a fact, whether you like it or not.

With Justin having sour grapes that GSC never acknowledged him and Wired directly, nor GSC "contacting" him about their press release, we certainly will look forward to another crap-loaded GSC article by Justin in the not-so-distant future (and we rather hope you can disappoint us, Justin).

Written by Otaku HQ

First published on March 29, 2023.
Adding official GSC press release on April 8, 2023.

May 19, 2023: Justin Ling Twitter account went inactive after April 20, 2023, and who says we are letting him off the hook?? His "ugly" website [https://justinling.ca/] and his Mastodon account [https://mastodon.online/@justinling].