Bluefin Brands

Bluefin Brands aka Bluefin Corp. was an American retailer based in Anaheim, California which specializes in collectible products such as toys, figurines and hobby kits from Japanese toy brands and various intellectual properties. They were a subsidy of Nippon Imports, LLC. In 2018, Bandai Namco acquired an 80% stake in the company to accelerate the import distribution of their toys to North America.https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-09-21/bandai-namco-acquires-bluefin-establishes-u.s-toy-company/.137100 In 2024, the e-retailer was folded into Bandai, becoming the USA division of Premium Bandai and making the company effectively defunct.
==Team Rider==
In 2019, Bluefin Brands founded Team Rider, a promotional brand team whose purpose is to market and interact with fans of Kamen Rider in the North American region with David Clarke as its brand managerhttps://news.tokunation.com/2019/11/17/interview-with-david-clarke-brand-manager-of-team-rider-bluefin-brands-64205. The group made itself known to the public at the 2019 Anime NYC convention.
This included social media, fan events at conventions and online as well as the sale and distribution of official Kamen Rider merchandise made by Bandai. The members of the group are fans of the franchise themselves and the team interacts with internet personalities in the fandom and tokusatsu news websites.https://news.tokunation.com/2020/01/04/recap-our-interview-with-team-rider-from-bluefin-brands-65218
On February 22, 2020, Team Rider appeared at the 2020 New York Toy Fair for a fan meet up at the Midtown Comics shop, which featured a group photo op, deals on Bandai toys and a prize giveaway of a DX Sengoku Driver. https://news.tokunation.com/2020/01/20/team-rider-at-toy-fair-nyc-fan-meet-up-at-times-square-65492
On June 23, 2020, Team Rider rebranded itself as Team Kamen Rider per Toei Company's request.https://twitter.com/TeamRiderUS/status/1275111884950089730
On July 2020, the group announced "Heisei Week", a celebration of the Heisei Riders which counted down to Shout! Factory's streaming premiere of Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever. The event consisted of livestreams with Team Rider chatting with fans about each Heisei Rider series from July 6th to July 11th. Other activities included special merchandise announcements such as new products and bundle sales and an exclusive deal with Amazon to make US size versions of the Heisei Rider 20th anniversary T-shirts to sell on the e-retailer website.https://news.tokunation.com/2020/07/03/heisei-kamen-rider-apparel-now-available-on-amazon-usa-sizing-and-color-options-67666https://www.bluefinbrands.com/heisei-week During the movie's premiere, Keisuke Watanabe appeared upon Team Rider's request to say hello to American fans of Kamen Rider, giveaway an autographed DX BeyonDriver to a lucky fan and introduced the film before it started.http://ukiyaseed.weebly.com/ukiyaseeds-other-blog/actor-keisuke-watanabe-opened-kamen-rider-heisei-generations-forevers-us-screening
On April 3, 2021, Team Kamen Rider began a week long celebration of the franchise’s 50th anniversary called ‘’’Rider Week’’’. Events included a montage of fans doing henshin sequences, special merchandise deals and reveals, livestreams and limited event online Rider movie screenings. 
A public announcement during the event from one of Shout! Factory’s representatives was that Kamen Rider Ryuki and Zero-One would be streaming on TokuShoutsu at an undetermined date, which was revealed during a livestream as well as a home video Blu-ray release for the latter series. A live special message from Daichi Yamaguchi and Satsuki Nakayama to American fans of Kamen Rider was broadcast, with the actors surprised that the series had western fans and gave thanks to them for their continued support. 
On August 2021, Heisei Week II began, with Team Kamen Rider having live streams, giveaways and sales on merchandise including a special Team Rider 50th Anniversary jersey to celebrate Kamen Rider turning 50. A special interview with Rider fan and Hollywood film director James Gunn was shown on August 5th during a livestream who also used his time to promote his Suicide Squad film.
On September 10, 2021, Team Kamen Rider held a fan event in Santa Monica, California outside the Tamashii Nations pop-up store. The event included prize giveaways, photos and a meet and greet with Kamen Rider Zero-One, with Toei sending an actual costume from the TV show to the USA for a promoter to wear.https://mobile.twitter.com/TeamRiderUS/status/1436490450454515716
On September 13, 2021, Team KR posted a new consumer survey indicating they are interested in partnering with major retailers such as Target, Walmart and Hot Topic as well as comic shops and e-retailers to sell Kamen Rider products based on consumer feedback. They also are interested in feedback on sending Revice toys to the North American market.https://mobile.twitter.com/TeamRiderUS/status/1437446350937808896
On November 28, 2021, the group appeared at a special fall edition of San Diego Comic Con as part of a Kamen Rider 50th anniversary panel. 
They announced: New clothing and toy merchandise coming to the USA, comic adaptations of Kamen Rider Zero-One, a US release of the Kuuga manga and teased possible ideas for 2022 and beyond during the Q&A panel such as Fathom Event releases of Rider movies in theaters and a boxed set of the original 1971 series from Shout! Factory if Zero-One's upcoming Blu-Ray box set sold well. https://news.tokunation.com/2021/11/28/team-kamen-rider-shout-factory-sdcc-2021-special-edition-panel-recap-72646
On July 2, 2022, Team Kamen Rider attended a panel at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California with Shout! Factory and Crunchyroll to discuss the Futo PI anime as well as news and announcements related to the Kamen Rider franchise.
Despite Bluefin going defunct in 2024, Team Kamen Rider continues to support the franchise by promoting its products through their official social media and attending conventions to promote things such as the Shout! Studios Blu-Ray release of Kamen Rider Geats at Anime Expo 2024.
==External Links==
*Official Site
* - The company's Twitter account
* - Team Rider Official Twitter
*Team Rider Instagram
*Team Rider Facebook
Category:Real World