toyboxdx toy blog brog: is graceful art of daily expressing japanese toy  

Pork buns…

As the tradition goes, every once in a while, various boys and girls from the East coast get together to combine two things… Japanese toys and Dim sum.

Coined Dimsummit, we have made it an unofficial get together in between official toy summits.
This time, we get together at Chau Chow City in Dorchester and commence to eat good food, talk shop and lament over lost auctions.

Toys are brought out and with bellies full, the nerd porn reaches full tilt when Sanjeev pulls out his six inch Gin Gin.

Wait … what?

Straight from the bowels of Brownnoize Productions Teh jerk brings the limited 1 of 10 “antiqued” diecast of Grendizer’s most famed enemy robot. Regans eyes light up and she buys one.

Dave, Mason and Ben all bring various awesomeness to the table and once again… including, Ben’s painted custom Glyos figures, and a gift for your truly from Josh Barton , of his kick ass yokai foot, complete with serene and creepy header card. Dave of course brings a bootleg carnival machinder and I bring him a variant of A King Kong blow molded figure he needs to complete his set.
We all snap photos and weird out the various wait staff in our own special ways. Ed and Ryan, Lisa and Regan all add their own geek cards to the mix, but in the end Dave amazes us by eating a PORK BUN!!! For those who know him well, know Dave is a “picky eater “… the guy downs burgers and Pepsi with abandon, with a occasional pizza for good measure, so this cultural shift was exciting to say the least.

So much so I had to document the event. Enjoy the photos.

Dimsummit photos:

Return of the lost Ark…raiders of the lost Ark…aaaa forget it…I thought
I make another Brog about the european Ark toys. Maybe interesting
for a few Ark-nerds.

I know of 2 different packaging types here in europe.
In germany a company called Bienengräber & Co. from Hamburg distributed the Ark toys.
They printed their own “german boxes” and translated manuals etc.
Bienengräber & Co. was a bit the Marukai Trading Co. of germany. They also sold Bandai toys,
Takara Piocchio Magnemo, Nintendo “game & Watch” and other japanese stuff.
But their biggest hit was Monchhichi…little brown hairy suckers ;-)

left “german” box, right “belgium” box

There are also bilingual (french/dutch) boxes & manuals for the Ark toys.
These boxes are made for belgium. I don’t have a clue if they had been imported to france too.
I could swear that Bienengräber & Co distributed & produced the “belgium” boxes too, because strangely “Metallguss” (diecast) is written in german on them too. But my “theory” isn’t approved.

top “belgium” box, below “german” box

bilingual back of “belgium” box

back of “german” box

Did anyone know if there are italian versions of the box?
I never seen one before.

If you have other “theories” please LMK in the BBS

Toy cleaning day.
Pulled the Ark gang out of the display, because the guys had been a bit dusty.
Good chance to shot some pics.

Really like these guys. Maybe because I had a Red King as a kid in germany.
My Red King was my “Metalguss Weltraumroboter” (cast metal space robot),
because that was written on the german box. Didn’t realize Ark as a brand name as a kid.
Red King had a tough job, he had to fight against hundreds of Airfix mini soldiers all day.

But not Red King killed my Airfix Toy soldiers.
My mon did that with the vacuum cleaner ;-)

BBS

Created in three days with pure unadulterated nerd passion. Thought you guys would get a chuckle.

Ladies and gentlemen…I proudly present another nerd Brog from the Rockbat universe ;-)

Today I focus on Rockbat’s archenemy, GONG.
WAIT…I always thought this  hairy beast is called GONG, because GONG is
written on his chest armor…this would be too easy, I was totally wrong.
My personal japanese to english translating & extra information god, Mr. Matt Alt brought
light into this mystery. Thanks again Matt!

“His name is Doradanuki, or “Stray Tanuki.” A tanuki is a raccoon-dog. It’s a real animal
but also seen as a trickster in Japanese folklore. (The Studio Ghibli movie “Pom Poko” is
all about them). Normally, their secret power is all in their testicles, but Doradanuki
doesn’t seem to have any! ;) ”

So, adieu GONG…hello DORADANUKI!

I only know of these 3 versions of Doradanuki, all made by Bullmark.
The “nearly” standard size version is from the Rockbat 5 figures carded set.
The small sofubi is from the 4 figures carded set and the mini sofubi looks
like he’s from the Rockbat playset.
…wow I created a new sofubi category. The “nearly” standard size sofubi ;-)

The sizes of the Doradanukis are 5,4” (13,7 cm) for the big one,
4,1” (10,5 cm) for the small version and 3,5” (9 cm) for the mini version.

Here are 2 groupshots. The Doradanukis side by side and together
with the rest of the Rockbat gang.

Finally some action fotos.
Doradanuki always trys to kick Rockbat’s Ass…but in the end he always gets the spanking.

As always…more fotos etc in the BBS.

I had seen them so many times before in the old Bullmark Catalogs but never “in the plastic”.

I decided to take the plunge on a BIN “Export version” set from Yeebay which i received this morning.

Even though it’s just one small set ( Set 4 Aerial Airport) , I didn’t get a whole lot done today.

I still have to go into the breakfast hutch where it’s currently located and crank it every so often.

It’s quite fulfilling and I’m not ashamed to admit it!

Had to add some Mini kaiju into the mix as well.

I’m planning on expanding my city eventually and adding a Coffee grinder and a revolving tie rack..

(more…)

What you are looking at is the Albegas Alpha Gyromecha toy by Victora. While the red and blue (Beta and Gamma) can be found every once in a while, this thing never shows up for sale. In fact, every collector I have talked to about it doubted its existence. I’ve seen two Garada K-7 Jumbos come up for sale in the time I have been looking for this piece.

I don’t know if it’s so much R@RE as it is forgotten. Honestly, who else is looking to complete a set of three cheap robots from a forgotten 80s cartoon? While some toys are hard to get because of low production numbers, or high demand, this one I think just got overlooked in the sea of superior products.

Fate would have it that I scored one on YJ for relatively cheap, and here it is. I would have paid 10 times what I paid to get it.

So what is a Gyromecha?

Each toy in the series is modular, and can be re-arranged in all kinds of crazy configurations. Included with the toy are several connecting pegs, a motor, and a rip cord. The motor has a heavy metal wheel in it, and you can mount the various parts onto the wheel and let it rip. When you have all three Gyromecha, you can connect them all into some insane configurations.

That’s fun and all, but the real reason to get all three is to make the combined Albegas robot. You can make any of the combinations by rearranging the parts at will. It looks really great when it’s together.

Make no mistake – it’s a crappy plastic toy. But for those stricken with the unfortunate obsession with this character, it’s a grail.

– Josh B

When a toy is absolutely mint , in sealed box , the question is always the same ..
Shall i open it without losing a part of what i paid for it ?
The answer is not always the same.. a blister should remain close forever..
But a box … why not to open it and enjoy also if for few minutes, the toy inside you was looking for since a lot of time ?
When big scale Omezaki Kichi Build Base arrived to my house was factory sealed by the original tape..

Ok guys let’s come in with me for the very first time !

>

Look at the fantastic enemie’s picture you can shot by firing the missiles of the base.

The art of the bottom box is fantastic !

And here it is the fantastic Omezaki Kichi released after 35 years !

Breaking news from friend and MASTER collector Virginio de Angelis: “The Big Falcon has landed in Italy!!”. The Big Falcon without question is one of the two holy grails in Voltes V collections. The other being the much sought after Popy Voltes V Jumbo Machinder.

Probably the RAREST of all Popy Big Scale bases out there, the Big Falcon houses the one and only DX Popynica Voltes V or otherwise known as “Volt-in-box”.. These shots are just phase 01 of 02. Phase 02 will feature assebly and combined action shots which are coming soon. So, for your drooling pleasure, feast your eyes on some Big Falcon!!

New year, new Brog. I start my 2011-Brog-year with my darling No.1.
Rockbat. The freaky cat.

This time I want show you some detailed views of the Aoshima Rockbat
plastic model kit. I think I’ll never glue this kit together, because I ended
my modelbuilding career with 14.  Better keep it MIB ;-)

There are a few Rockbat & Blazer model kits, to be precise 4.
Two big ones from Aoshima and 2 smaller ones from another brand.

The box is really nice. Rockbat is posing like superman.
OK, the scarf around Rockbat’s neck looks a bit strange. Parlez-vous français?

Inside the box: Construction manual, catalog, “guarantee” note & the plasitc kit packed in 3 bags.

This is the catalog, showing two  other cool kits. Blazer and Curricular Machine.

Here is the construction manual. Looks simple…maybe I try to build the kit.
Or keep it MIB?

A big and a smaller bag for the plastic parts.
In a separate bag you find a few stickers and 2 springs for Rockbat’s rocket-punch.

Now a few action features of this unusual Rockbat.
Adjustable legs, secret chest-cover, special skateboard, axe, firing right fist…

…and instead of left fist. A spring loaded spaceship.

A spring loaded spaceship instead of a left fist!
WTF…I keep it MIB ;-)

Some more box details of the other kits.

More fotos etc in the BBS as usual.

cheers