Back in late November, a storm caused the ONE Apus shipping freighter to roll and drop nearly 2,000 of its cargo containers into the Pacific Ocean, and we now know that while there were thankfully no serious human injuries, a precious set of Dragon Ball Super Goku figures may have been among the casualties. The ONE Apus has been returned to port in Japan, and inventory and damage control will take quite some time. Dragon Ball fans who bought the figure will be left this holiday season with a familiar sense of waiting around nervously for Goku to show up.
The figures, special-made by Bandai for the 2020 convention season, feature Goku performing the ultra instinct sign he uses in his battle with Moro, and then later again in his final confrontation with the menacing Jiren, a conflict so hotly anticipated by fans it received numerous full-sized fight promotion posters through its marketing campaign. Though the figures were set at $60 on pre-order, the cancellation of conventions made them a uniquely important find for collectors, as part of the Figuarts set of Dragon Ball characters. The result was a blistering fast online sellout (around 15-20 minutes to be exact) and an immediate subsequent price hike from resellers (often more than double the original price). To combat the price gouging and puts fans at ease, Bandai made a second batch of Gokus to order and sent them off on the ONE Apus.
The first order, the original sellout, shipped before and made it to its buyers, but nobody is sure as of yet about the "made to order" second batch. According to Kotaku, who was forwarded Bandai's apology email to buyers, the status specifically of the Goku figures is still unclear, as nearly $200 million in cargo was spilled into the depths of the sea. From the email:
“The containership that carried Bandai products was hit by severe storm and lost many containers near Hawaii. The ship is at Port of Kobe, Japan for investigating its damages. It will take several weeks to over a month. We are currently waiting to hear about the container’s status from the authority, and we’ll announce any shipping information as soon as it’s available.”
Anime figures are an absolute mint of an industry. Convention exclusives like this, while they tend to be cheap at first ($60 is nothing to the hardcore collector), tend to rise exponentially in price as time goes on and finishing a set becomes more difficult. Ultra Instinct Goku is a fairly popular version of the precious boy, having been added as DLC to FighterZ this summer and forever tied to the Goku vs. Jiren hype machine. Bandai has been nothing if not realistic, admitting to fans they won't even know for a while if the figures are still on the ship somewhere.
Dragon Ball Super itself was fairly controversial, inconsistent in its narrative and aged down for a younger demographic than its predecessors. This fact does not stop collectors, and while there's no use crying over spilled milk, these are investments potentially lost at the bottom of the Pacific. Collectors take this stuff seriously, and their subsection of the internet has been ablaze since the news broke that the second order of Ultra Instinct Gokus was on the ONE Apus. Again, there were no serious injuries to actual living human beings, so allow the Dragon Ball collector community to mourn the potential loss of their precious boy by the hundreds.
Source: Kotaku