Heroes: One Piece

One Piece Anime Heroes / Anichara Heroes, subtitled Mini Big Head Figure, is a series produced by Plex, with some other company producing limited edition figures, first ZaccaPAP, then Tokimeki Mall under their Charazo trademark. One edition is generally composed of 25 figures, one of whom is a secret, and 3 limited edition figures. This series is quite interesting because it features characters never picked up before, and also because the rendering is focused on character's facial expression, leading to a head/body proportion of nearly 1:2, whereas regular SD rendering makes it with a 1:3 ratio and normal proportion should be 1:7 or 1:8. The very first part of this series for One Piece contained only 19 figures and 1 limited edition. It was also subtitled Pocket Figure Series, not Mini Big Head Figure. One explanation would be that Plex didn't intend at first to make regular releases for One Piece, and the first release was merely a test to see the feedback of the market.

There are 3 ways to purchase figures from this line:
 * Get hold of the regular box of 20 figures,
 * Order the special 2-box set, which come with the limited edition figures, available till those limited versions are out of order,
 * Order the 20-box set, with a discount of 20%.

The line Anime Heroes is a common trademark for Plex, which is also applied for several other well-known shounen series like Dragon Ball, Captain Tsubasa, Yuyu Hakusho and so on. In the middle of 2009, the line name has shifted to Anichara Heroes, the only exception being Saint Seiya, for which Plex uses the name Super Anime Heroes. Anichara is a Japanese word issued from the contraction of the English loanwords Anime and Character.

～Winter Island Edition～
「アニメヒーローズ ワンピース ～冬島編～」
 * Anime Heroes One Piece ～Fuyujima Hen～


 * Content: 18 figures + 1 secret (Ace) + 1 limited edition (Walking Point Chopper)
 * Release date: August 26th 2008
 * Price: ¥4725 per box of 18 figures, ¥263 per figure
 * http://www.zaccapap.jp/36_243.html
 * http://www.plex-web.com/products/toy/lineup/onepiece/popup/4560173-82146-9.html

To obtain the limited edition figure of Chopper, you had to order 2 boxes of this set from the manufacturer (so you got a total of 36 + 1 figures). It was available at a time from the ZaccaPAP site but now this marketing operation expired, hence the "limited edition" name.

～Breaking Into Grand Line Edition～
「アニメヒーローズ ワンピースVol.1 ～グランドライン突入編～」
 * Anime Heroes One Piece Vol.1 ～Grand Line Totsunyu Hen～


 * Content: 24 figures + 1 secret (Gol D. Roger) + 3 limited edition (Going Merry bronze version)
 * Release date: April 28th 2009
 * Price: ¥5250 per box of 20 figures
 * Special feature: 3 figures (and their alternative colored versions) can be combined to make a complete Going Merry
 * http://www.zaccapap.jp/36_323.html

To obtain the 3 limited edition figures of Going Merry, you had to order 2 boxes of this set from the manufacturer (so you got a total of 40 + 3 figures). It seems like this time this offer wasn't handled by ZaccaPAP, nor by Charazo.

On May 4th 2010, this set will be re-released, this time with another limited edition Going Merry by Charazo: Going Merry silver ver. These 3 figures will be produced with a quantity of only 100 issues each.
 * http://tokimekimall.jp/NASApp/prd_detail/0/1/20090393428/000001050190007/
 * http://tokimekimall.jp/NASApp/prd_detail_info2/1/20090393428/

～Arabasta Fierce Fighting Edition～
「アニキャラヒーローズ ワンピースVol.2 ～アラバスタ激闘編～」
 * Anichara Heroes One Piece Vol.2 ～Arabasta Gekitou Hen～


 * Content: 24 figures + 1 secret (Bon Kurei impersonating Luffy) + 3 limited edition (Marine boat clear blue version)
 * Release date: Early October 2009
 * Price: ¥5250 per box of 20 figures
 * Special features:
 * 3 figures (and their alternative colored versions) can be combined to make a complete Marine boat.
 * Princess Vivi and Carue can be combined to make Vivi sit on Carue.
 * http://tokimekimall.jp/NASApp/prd_detail_info2/1/20090893612/

～Skypiea Edition～
「アニキャラヒーローズ ワンピースVol.3 ～空島編～」
 * Anichara Heroes One Piece Vol.3 ～Skypiea Hen～


 * Content: 24 figures + 1 secret (Flying Merry Go) + 3 limited edition (Ark Maxim clear yellow version)
 * Release date: Early February 2010
 * Price: ¥263 per figure
 * Special features:
 * 3 figures can be combined to make the Ark Maxim.
 * Gan Fall and Pierre can be combined to make Gan Fall ride on Pierre.
 * http://tokimekimall.jp/NASApp/prd_detail/0/1/20091293850/000001050190007/
 * http://tokimekimall.jp/NASApp/prd_detail_info2/1/20091293849/

～Water Seven Edition～
「アニキャラヒーローズ ワンピースVol.4 ～ウォーターセブン編+α～」
 * Anichara Heroes One Piece Vol.4 ～Water Seven Hen + α～


 * Content: 24 figures + 1 secret (Afro Luffy) + 3 limited edition (Thousand Sunny Go clear orange version)
 * Release date: May 26th 2010 if pre-ordered from Tokimeki Mall, late June 2010 in shops.
 * Price: ¥5250 per box of 20 figures, ¥10,500 for the special 2-box set and the 3 limited ed. figures, ¥84,000 for 20 boxes
 * Special features:
 * 3 figures can be combined to make the Thousand Sunny Go.
 * http://tokimekimall.jp/NASApp/prd_detail_info2/1/20100393960/