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

I am not delusional.

I know full well that there are maybe just a handful of people who like this stuff. And for those of us that do, information can be a bit scarce at times. And what we know is often limited, inaccurate or incomplete. I’ve tried to do my best to bring some of it to light over at CDX, but I feel I’ve only scratched the surface.

One thing I do know is that while the toys themselves may not be the greatest things out there, some of the box art is pretty neat. I’ve been buying these for years, but only recently decided to look at all the boxes together.

Eagle eyes will see parts of Great Mazinger, Combattler, Atoranger, Robo Kress, Daikengo and others mashed into nearly unrecognizable forms, while other images are much more obvious in their inspirations. Some of these (Gundam, Pegas) are even licensed toys. Two unique ones from the lot include the “Super Robot” as it’s the only one produced in Argentina and “Robot di Pace” which seems to take no inspiration from any other robot that I know.

Meow.

“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.

This is what happens when the Chairman can’t make his own board meeting…

Live from the East Coast Summit 2009.

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…

The Grip Jumbo G5.

The sentence itself makes me smile.

Alen is right. This toy is perfection. From the classically painted artwork to the understated details and lack of any superfluous decoration… It has been written about far better and more thoroughly than I am able, so I will simply say, there are few times Popy got it wrong. This is one of those times for me.

If you are going to buy a Gatcha Phoenix, this is the only one you need consider. When given the choice buy the Bently, not the Chystler 300 .

Stolen from this crappy site that just LOVES to steal our shit without giving credit.. Just returning the favor. Vaffanculo!

My first, and still my favorite Popy Zenmai. If you have been thinking of getting your feet wet in the hellish world that is tin walkers, here is a good place to start. You won’t be disappointed.

I purchased my first Popy tin from Mike Z. He always knew before I did what drug I would pick next. But like any good dealer, they don’t let you know you are hooked until you arrive at the conclusion first.

Getta G was what I grew up with, but something about Getta 1 seduced my Western centric mind. Maybe the realization that my favorite Go Nagai creation, was not in fact the original incarnation. Like a child realizing later in life, they were not the first person to have awareness, I was stunned and excited by the simplicity and comparatively frugal horned ancestor to my childhood hero…the idea he was the first born and still relatively alien to me. Maybe even the idea that G1 and I were the same age… both constructed and introduced in 1974, appealed to my budding narcissistic tendencies. Mazinga was too old, Getta G too young. This porridge was just right

So began my subsequent pursuit of the perfect totem representation of this icon.

It started and ended with this toy. In my opinion, A sublime construct of color , balance and composition. A walking bit of Pop(y) art distilled and hidden for decades until Mike takes him out of the glass case and stuck a new thorn in my heart.

Wait for it.
Here it comes…

Obsessive desire to collect them all.

(Cue a decade long case of financial ruin and late night post auction stress disorder)

*twitch twitch*

Made by Bullmark, this Ultraman Leo trike has a disarming and disturbing power of cute that would easily bitchslap Hello Kitty off her pedestal.