Finally! A little section of the 'net devoted to those toys that, for whatever reason, have avoided becoming insanely popular - and in many cases, becoming expensive - among rabid Japanese toy collectors. This isn't to say that these pieces are deserving of this lack of respect, however. In their own ways, these pieces are every bit as interesting as the Tetsujins, the Mazingers, and the Valkyries that get all the attention. It's more due to the fact that these pieces are either: a) from shows or companies that aren't particularly well-known in the 'States, or b) certifiably weird.

Case in point: Tsukuda Hobby's toy and figure line. While Tsukuda Hobby is a fairly well-known name among model builders, many toy collectors seem to overlook the fact that Tsukuda also regularly churns out built-up and fully poseable versions of their own soft-vinyl kits. They also occasionally produce pieces outside of this scope, as with this first piece, which fits squarely into the "certifiably weird" category.

(Click to see larger)

Speaking of Tsukuda Hobby, here's another great underappreciated piece of theirs: the fully assembled and painted GIANT ROBO toy (click to see larger). Although it's all soft vinyl, it's sheer size (over a foot) and overall bulk, combined with it's expertly applied weather-beaten paint job, make it a real eye catcher. This piece is from the updated 1990s animated (OVA) version of the old 1960's Giant Robo (aka "Johnny Socko") live-action TV series. While quite a few toys for the older Giant Robo show have been produced over the years, to my knowledge this is the only toy ever released for the 1990s animated version.

Tsukuda has a bunch of other great toy-like pieces in their lineup as well. I say "toy-like" rather than "toy" as price-wise these are primarily aimed at collectors rather than kids. Their fully painted series of 40cm (about a foot or so) Evangelion robot figures is second to none (although these figures are almost completely static - no joints.) Several toys based on the new Gamera series were released by Tsukuda as well, including "Gamera" himself and a beautifully detailed "Legion" figure.

On a different note, here's a pair of fairly under-appreciated diecasts: Sky Zero and Ground Zero, made by Popy in the mid-1970s. Many would hesitate to call these "under-appreciated," as they are fairly well known cho-go-kin pieces; however, they haven't suffered from the massive price increases (i.e., collector interest) of their brethren cho-go-kin for some reason and can still be gotten relatively cheaply. Perhaps this is due to the fact that "Kyodain," the live-action television series that these characters are based on, was never released in the United States. (For that matter, with the exception of a single piece in the Mattel "Shogun Warriors" lineup, the odd little "Grand Car," none of the associated Kyodain merchandise was ever released here in any form either.) The Green Arrow Graffiti cho-go-kin guidebook says that this show is directly related to the famous Daitetsujin 17 TV series from a conceptual standpoint.

At any rate, from a design point of view, I'd rank these two diecasts at the top of the heap along with the "classics" out there such as Tetsujin and the like. And check this out: each piece sports a spooky photograph of the face of the respective actors from the TV show! I'm not sure whether this is amazing or disturbing (probably both), but I'll let you make up your own mind...

Here's another unappreciated piece: the huge Korean knock-off of Bandai's Deluxe Gundam Mk. II. (You can see it in the middle, with the two Bandai pieces - the tiny "deformed" Mk II and the Deluxe Gundam Mk. II -- on the left and right, respectively.) Apparently, someone in Korea used some sort of method to craft an exact copy of the Bandai toy - they just decided to make it over twice the size in the process! I mean, this thing approaches Jumbo Machinder size! Surprisingly for a Korean knock-off, the plastic used in the piece is of a decent quality, which lends a certain weight to the toy. I picked this one up on a trip to Hong Kong a few years back for a song.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Japanese toy pieces that are unknown, under-appreciated, or uncategorizable; for a country that's only half the size of the United States population-wise, it's amazing as to the sheer volume and range of toy products that were churned out over the last four decades. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring you even more examples of these in the coming months!

-- M.A.