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

“Dude, you like Jeeg and will be kicking yourself if you don’t pick this up”

And that’s how Josh Fraser made me buy my first Onda piece at the East Coast Chogokin Summit 2009. I was buying a pair of higher-end items from the indomitable Alen Yen, and noticed this figure in his pile. I proceeded to agonize over it for a while before Fraser pushed me over the edge. The funk of this toy is undeniable, and the cheapness is something to be relished. For being a toy made mostly of die-cast, it is unfathomably light. The torso and legs are a single two-part die-cast molding, and feel like the legs would snap if I dropped the toy. The plastic bits barely fit together and have massive sharp sprue nubs where they were seemingly gnawed off the mold sprues, and the head is soft rubber. Combine all this with some of the eye-endageringly strongest launcher arms I’ve ever seen, and you’ve got a recipe for funky success. The box is in stellar condition (I also like how the figure on the box features about twice as many paint applications as the actual item), and the news of my acquisition seemed to stir even the Chairman himself, who’d likely dismissed me as a vinyl loving poser by this point. Suffice to say, I’m glad I picked this awful toy up, and it will always have a place on my shelf.

Brother Mark is a solid dude.  Brother Mark knows of Takara Sci-Fi land, and he knows it well.  Listen well when he speaks and gaze in wonder when he presents.  Mark “machinesoldier” attended the 2009 East Coast Chogokin Summit with a box full of vintage Takara love for me to “test drive” before heading off to Yahoo Japan like a drunken blind idiot.  Unfortunately, hosting a 28 person cookout/swap meet left little one-on-one time so we weren’t able to go through the box like we wanted.

HOWEVER!!!

Mark, being the solid dude that he is, left the box at my house and let me have at it letting me ship them back to him.  So what did I do for hours yesterday?  You bet yout bippy I sat in the living room, Vintage Microman and Dicalone commercial DVD on loop, pouring over all of these toys and taking crappy photographs.  With the coffee table as my operating table I surgically cut through to the core of Takara Sci-Fi Land love, and learned a thing or two in the process.  I have solidified my desire for a few pieces I wanted (hello Death King).  I was even swayed by a few that I though were cool, but didn’t neccesarilly need to own, or plain just didn’t like. By the ned of the night there was nothing in the box that I didn’t want to have in my display cases.  Thanks again Mark.

Pics will be added to the discussion thread on the BBS.
-Mason

Noooooooo, this is not a double-post.  ;-)

Ok, it’s the same Bullmark Blazer friction cycle Mike showed us
in this BROG ( http://toyboxdx.dsri.xyz/brog/?p=1614 ), but I MUST
make this BROG now! Because this toy is so cool.
Beside my vintage japanese robot mania I have a heart for vintage
motorcycles, specially 70ties japanese (who wonders) bikes.
Kawasakis Z, Honda Fours…from time to time a italian beauty…

This Blazer on a Honda CB 750 four is the ultimate “robot-on-bike-toy”
for me. The combination of my favorite robot and vintage Honda heavy metal rocks.

Today finally the summer cames back to germany, after a few rainy weeks.
Time to make some fotos outside…

Broooooaaaaar…high speed Blazer on the Highway to Hell.

It was time to put my Blazer costume on and have a little race against the
little Bullmark cycle. Unfortunately I have to take my CB 500 four. Don’t know
if I have a chance against Blazers’ 750.   ;-)

I won!

Let’s get serious again. The Blazer friction cycle comes in a lovely box with great
Blazer-on-bike pictures. A typicall Bullmark box…did they ever made crappy boxes?!

Here are some shots of the toy. I have seen a few similar Bullmark-Honda-cycles toys with
Ultraman or a Policeman on it.

Some detail shots. There is a “sparkling” mechanism inside the motor.
Looks cool when the the bike is driving and the motor is sparkling.

Another strange action feature is the rocket launcher in
Blazers’ transparent rubber head.

This BROG is for you, Mike.
Thanks man, showing me this great toy!
I’m a lucky bastard, because I found my Blazer cycle only a few months later,
after I had seen it here . It was love on the first sight.
A few more pictures etc in the BBS section: http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?4,200706

Sorry…but I’m a liar. This was a double-post.

So today I got in the mail the last yahoo japan package I’ll ever get at my current residence before I move out next month. Luckily the contents of said box were awesome enough to live up to such a milestone. Props go to JoshF for posting pics of his own cel and giving me the inspiration to go after this thing…

Since Mason is on a little Diaclone trip, I figured I would bait him with my all-time favourite Diaclone toy: Waruderos.

Waruderos is one of the enemy mechs from Diaclone, and has a great vintage robot look to him. The head and indeed the entire robot is very reminiscent of old diecast wind-up toy robots, with the big globular eyes, horns, blocky proportions, claws (sadly missing on mine), and uni-leg:

(more…)

I love Tekkaman: The Space Knight (宇宙の騎士テッカマン UchÅ« no Kishi Tekkaman). 1975 was a good year, for humans as well as for toys. I’ve aged a bit I guess.. Roughly 10lbs a year, thanks to Budweiser and a rigorous 12 hr a day schedule of surfing Yahoo Japan auctions. This lil’ guy on the other hand hasn’t aged a day. Just look at him:

Tricycles are typically not a part of my day to day toy diet, but this one for some reason tickled my fancy. I loved it. I needed it.. Little did I know this particular trike would turn out to be a bit of a mystery..

The following debauchery ensued:

Friday night 8pm. On the road feverishly texting back and forth with Brian Flynn about just who the hell made this little bastard. I’ve just got to know. Sideswiping cars while throwing beer cans out the window, my wife SCREAMS “Don’t text and drive!!”. Yeah, yeah..

“No markings, nothing on the box, nada.. It’s definitely NOT the Nakajima version, which has a solid colored plastic trike. This one sports a clear trike, gears exposed and all.” I tap out over the course of two city blocks.

“Listen, Sjoen, I’m breast feeding my kid right now.. I told you I can’t be your plus one tonight. Call Hiro.” BF texts.

“WTF!! I’m asking about the trike not the show.. Forget it.. Later.”

You would think the MASTER collector of the bastards of Japanese toys would know. I mean c’mon, let’s face it, tricycle toys are the red headed step children of not only vinyl but tin collecting as well, and Brian knows more about them than anyone else on God’s green.

“Sorry man, I was a little busy BREAST FEEDING my kid!! Seriously!? Anyway, let’s go with Aoshin. I’ll check tonight and get back to you when I have time. Fucking freak… Please don’t ever text message or call me again. EVER!!..” he types with clear hesitation in his taps. Right? Right.

We both scratch our heads (cyber like) and loosely decide on Aoshin. But, it just doesn’t feel right to me somehow..

Back at the pad later that evening the late night emails are sent to my man on the inside, prof. Robert Duban.

Come Saturday morning 6am, the Moscow to Washington “red telephone” rings. Wait, I mean LA to San Francisco “pink telephone” beeps of the hook.. It’s Prof. RD. He reports that he feverishly spent the last 6 hours scouring the un-datafiles and the internets for proof of this elusive Tekkaman’s lineage. When suddenly the line goes silent.. “Clickity clack click clack..” Moments pass and I finally hear him mutter “check messages stat comrade!”. And voila!

Mystery solved.. Or is it?

Believe it or not, later that morning there were several attempts made on my life and currently the tricycle in question is no longer in my possession. Upon arriving home that fateful morning I discovered that the vault I had entrusted the safety of this rarity to had been professionally compromised and the tricycle liberated.

The mystery continues..

I have a heart for underdogs.
Here is a little foto review of the 1977 Sakura Zakuraman.

Let’s see what you get for ca. 50 bucks.

You get a nearly complete diecast robot, a battery and a wonderful box.

The box art is absolute fantastic. Finest vintage japanese graphic design.
I think, it could compete against every Popy box.

Zakuraman has a special action feature. You could put a battery in
“backpack” and his head starts blinking. I think there are no too much
vintage diecast robots with “electrical” features. Nakajimas Groizer X
has a comparable gimmick.

OK. Lights out.
..doesn’t he look cool?!

Another “action feature” is his secret chest cover.
One of the biggest secrets of mankind…why does he have this hidden compartment?

Some detail shots. Z like Zakuraman.

Remember. You could get your own Zakuraman for around $50.
A absolute bargain for such a great toy. Don’t wait too long!
After this review his price will go up  ;-)

More fotos and infos in the BBS section.

http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?4,200225

Why didn’t I bought these Grips earlier?!
These little guys kick ass!

Shooting fists, rocket Launchers, heavy diecast…
and you even could combine Legger, Trang and Header to a Diapolon!

They are so cool…I’m getting  more and more ecstatic ;-)
The best thing is that you don’t have to pay $1k for them!
Compared to the big brothers from Bullmark, they are a class for themselves.

Detail “foto-review” here:

http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?4,200155

…for me!
I don’t know if this is something for the TBDX BROG?
Well if not…delete it.

I got my first parcel full of robots from Japan.
Ok, it’s not my first parcel with robots from Japan,
but  the first parcel with robots I won on Yahoo Japan.

Yes, I was a Yahoo Japan virgin till today. But now I’m a real man!

Its a bit like x-mas today.

Do you rememer your “first” time getting a parcel from japan?

Sorry that I spam you with that shit.
But it’s so cool getting a big parcel full of robots  ;-)

more: http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?4,199909