Nendoroid is the line that taught a generation of collectors a figure could be cute, poseable, and a little bit of a toy all at once. Good Smile Company launched it in 2006, and the very first one was Neco Arc from Tsukihime, shown at that winter's Wonder Festival. The formula has barely changed since: a roughly ten-centimeter figure with an oversized head, a small body, and a face that pops off so you can swap in a different expression. The name comes from Nendoron, the in-house team that sculpts them, which in turn nods to nendo, the Japanese word for clay.

What made it spread was the play in it. Faces, arms, and legs come apart and recombine, parts carry over between characters, and a little stand keeps everything upright mid-pose, so two Nendoroids from different series can share a grin. The brand grew outward over the years into Petite, More, Plus, Doll and other offshoots, but the core idea held well enough that Good Smile passed twenty-one million Nendoroids shipped by 2022. Most are made by Good Smile itself, with some handled by FREEing or Phat Company, and all of them move through Good Smile's distribution.