What is Classification?TutorialPrevNextPrevNext

*Brought to you by your fellow VIBs.

The amount of merchandise cataloged in MFC may look like a hodgepodge with no clear boundaries set by production, but they can be classified into three parts: Type, Product Line, Series. An entry should have a Type, Product Line, and Series when applicably possible.

Merchandise can be filtered through the three classifications in descending order:

Type: The type of the item in question; the descriptor or genre of the item. The term may be used by the company in its product listing.

How to generally identify if the term is a Type?
-See if the term is a general word that can be found in a Japanese or English dictionary. (ex. book, shikishi, ukiyo-e)


Product Line: A trademarked name used by a company/manufacturer that includes an all-encompassing group of items. Usually comes with a logo or some sort of visual graphic, and can have sub-Product Lines.
It falls into one of two categories:

• An umbrella classification encompassing merchandise released over time.
  
• A one-time promotion of different Types of goods with one release date that are not restricted to a location. (ex. events & special sale goods with the words Pop-up Shop, Campaign, or a store's name)

Merchandise with a Product Line, if they have their own specified Numbering system from the Manufacturer, have their unique ID on the Numbering Field (#ID). Not only would the Search function find them easier, it is also aesthetically pleasing to distinguish themselves from volume numbers in Media.

Applies to:

• Ichiban Kuji (the label itself)
  
• Character/Card Sleeve Collections
  
• Anniversaries
  
• Birthday Sets
  
• Franchise x Franchise/Brand collab. (ex. Evangelion x Sanrio)
  
• Imprints (trade name for publishing a line of Media works) (ex. Jump Comics, MF Bunko J, Hobby Japan Mook)

How to generally identify if the term is a Product Line?
-Look for the copyright or trademark symbol supertext on the logo or visual graphic.
-Look for distinct art style or theme found across the merchandise (ex. Nendoroid, Chibi Kyun-chara, Ani-Art)
-Ask yourself: do the merchandise under its name have different release dates?


Series: The part of the larger Product Line and is used to distinguish the individual sets of goods. (If multiple sets are released, the Series name would sometimes have a numbering in them for instance.)

When multiple goods are linked under a Series classification, a drop-down button "Apply releases to whole set" will appear. It will synchronize the release information of linked entries with that of the entry being edited. However use it at your own discretion. Do not use if each entry has its own barcode.

How to generally identify if the term is a Series?
-Product line + Type + numbering (Volume/Edition/Issue/Part/***-hen) in its name
-Merchandise released on the same date
-Blind box purchase
-Box JAN code <--> Same individual JAN code

Applies to:

• Prize goods (have no JAN codes) (ex. hanged-up Nesoberi)
  
• Ichiban Kuji + (Insert franchise here)

In Related Items, hierarchy of Type > Product Line > Series is listed as Sub/Sup-series, with added Info in each entry.
Numbered Series, and sub-Types and sub-Product Lines, are connected with Other.

----------FAQs----------
What Type classification should I set if the item page description is insufficient?
Only add the Type classification if that's what's being marketed. Any descriptors you see can be used as tags like the different types of strap, ball chain, etc. for example.
Otherwise, people would start to overclassify items not as advertised or redundant terms, like using acrylic stand, acrylic stand figure etc etc when it's only one of those.

Series goods released in different dates have different themes but are named exactly the same (Ex. [Shin] Tennis no Oujisama Stick Poster). How should I name the Series classifications to differentiate them?

For each classification entry, put the same name and add the theme descriptor after it. For example,
Tennis no Oujisama Stick Poster Kaizoku (テニスの王子様 スティックポスター 海賊)
Tennis no Oujisama Stick Poster Shifuku (テニスの王子様 スティックポスター 私服)

A term has a series-like title with goods released simultaneously. but the entries have different JAN codes. What should I do?
These situations show up rarely, but in that case: treat the term as a Series compartmentalize the title into their respective sections, and put what remains in the Version field.

"A Product Line sounds familiar with a Type (deka acrylic keychain vs. big acrylic keychain)."
That is a tangle. For MODs, we won't do overly big merges on Product Lines and Types if that is just what an item is advertised as. This topic relates to redundancy and the tag system, but the latter will be touched upon for another time.