Chara Craft Finding Dory Dory

Release 2016.6

Price ¥1,000

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Runners

Small gates are used, so you can easily pop the parts off by hand without nippers.

Stickers

Parts diagram

Manual

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Various angles

The fins on both sides rotate, and the body can spin a full 360 degrees.

Chara Craft Dory - With 3 eye options and 3 mouth options to mix and match, you can make a total of 9 different facial expres

With 3 eye options and 3 mouth options to mix and match, you can make a total of 9 different facial expressions.

Chara Craft Dory - Various display options using the extra stickers. (1/4)

Chara Craft Dory - Various display options using the extra stickers. (2/4)

Various display options using the extra stickers.

Chara Craft Dory - Various expressions by combining the extra face and eye parts. (1/5)

Chara Craft Dory - Various expressions by combining the extra face and eye parts. (2/5)

Chara Craft Dory - Various expressions by combining the extra face and eye parts. (3/5)

Various expressions by combining the extra face and eye parts.

In June 2016, alongside the Figure-rise Burst series, Bandai launched a brand-new lineup called Chara Craft. It's a series that turns animated characters into injection-molded kits, and the very first release is "Dory" from the 2016 anime film <Finding Dory>.

First off, likely with younger builders in mind given the character's audience, small gates are used so parts snap off easily without nippers, the part count is low, and the build process is nice and simple. The color separation combined with just a few stickers does a solid job of capturing the character's colors, and you can swap between a total of 9 different expressions by mixing and matching 3 eye options and 3 mouth shapes.

As for articulation, only the fins on either side rotate to any real degree — aside from the gimmick where the body spins on the stand, the body itself is completely fixed. So really, this is a display-style character model kit where the fun comes from swapping out the eyes and mouth to change up the expression.

Even with such a simple build, this kit does a great job of capturing that adorable character feel, making it an easy entry point for younger builders, female fans, and really anyone who loves plastic models and anime. That said, the price comes in at ¥1000 for what you get — probably due to licensing costs — which feels like nearly double compared to similar Bandai kits, and that's a bit of a shame. Still, it's a fun new lineup, and I'm looking forward to seeing what other releases come out of it. :-)

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.