Anyone who happened to visit the Pioneer Animation website in the past few days has been greeted by the sight of three 'Kubrick' figures created by Japanese toy manufacturer Medicom featuring characters from the extremely popular Trigun anime.  The 'Kubricks' are block-like figures with multiple points of articulation that have become very popular in Japan and with anime collectors here in the U.S. The Trigun Kubrick figures include: Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D. Wolfwook, and Monev the Gale.   These figures are exclusive to Diamond, and will be included in the August issue of Diamond's Previews catalog. 

Diamond has forged excellent working relationships with all but the two largest Japanese toy companies, resulting in an ever-increasing number of toy imports, which are available to retailers at extremely reasonable wholesale prices.  Imported toys is an area in which Diamond has excelled over the past two years, and pop culture retailers who order from Diamond should take advantage of the opportunities presented by this type of merchandise whenever possible.