A BE@RBRICK date can mean announcement, release, or shipping

A year beside a BE@RBRICK is only useful when you know what it dates. It may identify a film, an anniversary, a planned sale, or an expected shipment. Treating those as the same event creates a collection history that looks precise but cannot be supported.

The BE@RBRICK Master Index preserves source date wording and its available precision. Read that wording before converting a year into a statement that a figure definitely reached buyers at a particular time.

Keep the event attached to the date

Medicom’s Project Mercury set announcement uses wording for a planned July 2022 release and shipment. That supports the announcement’s schedule. It does not, by itself, document the date every customer received a set.

If you are writing a timeline, a useful entry is “planned release/shipping: July 2022, according to the manufacturer’s announcement.” A later delivery record could add another event. It should not erase the earlier wording or be assumed to apply to every distribution channel.

A month-level statement also stays at month level. Assigning July 1 because your spreadsheet requires a full date manufactures a day the source never supplied. Use a text field or separate year and month columns if your collection software cannot represent that uncertainty.

Separate subject years from product dates

The Godzilla (2016) set announcement illustrates a different problem. Its title includes 2016, while the listed release/shipping schedule is July 2026. The number in the title identifies the Godzilla designation. It is not the toy’s scheduled sale year.

Keep both pieces of information in your record. A field called “version” can preserve Godzilla (2016); a separate schedule field can preserve the announcement timing. Removing the parenthetical year loses identity. Moving it into the release-date column misstates chronology.

This distinction matters when comparing seller descriptions. A seller may shorten the title to “2016 Godzilla BE@RBRICK.” Ask whether 2016 identifies the design reference or the claimed production date, then compare the reply with the exact index record.

An old schedule is still a schedule

Passing a planned month on the calendar does not supply release confirmation. An archive can retain its original announcement long after the expected date. You need additional evidence to describe a confirmed release, such as an appropriately dated official sale notice.

Likewise, a current website copyright year may apply to the site footer. It cannot replace a missing product date. Image filenames and seller upload dates may help you organize research, but they need their own labels; they are not automatic evidence of release timing.

For your own collection, separate the manufacturer’s schedule from the date you purchased the item. A receipt proves an acquisition event. It does not necessarily establish when the release first became available.

When the chronology remains incomplete, preserve the useful part you can support. “July 2022 planned release/shipping” is more informative than a guessed exact day. It also leaves room for a later source to improve the record without forcing you to undo an invented fact.

Use the index’s source links whenever the date affects a comparison. The wording surrounding the number often carries more information than the number alone.

Index status: This index is in beta and may contain errors, missing information, or display issues. We’re continuing to review and improve it.

Browse the gallery’s BE@RBRICK collection for current listing details.