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

Lately I’ve been on a small Virtual-On run, mostly attempting to get some rare model kits, but also picking up various figures along the way. Here’s one of them:

Ph34r teh gold

This is a Limited Edition Cyber Metal Figure of fembot Fei-Yen, made by SEGA. To explain the title (and the figure’s color): When Fei-Yen gets badly hurt in the games, she turns gold and goes into Hyper Mode.

Fei-Yen chooses you, Pikabox!

Fei-Yen here is made of die-cast metal and PVC and has surprising heft for such a small figure (about 7 cm tall).

Look at my prominently displayed copyright stamp!

She has some articulation, too, and includes her signature pigtails (in-game she’s quite Tsundere), skirt, and sword. So MOE!

(but not as MOE as the other Virtual-On figure I recently got…)

I became intrigued with Big Scale Pla Bases upon seeing the small photo of the Thunderbirds base in the Popy Datafiles. I made it my mission to create my own ‘datafile’ with pics of these things, since there was no other info on them that I could find. I didn’t see any on ebay, but once I discovered YHJ they came rolling in.

My first discovery was a Getter base.

It was loose and cracked, so I naiively thought I could grab it for a couple of hundred. WRONG! Damn thing went for over a grand.

I had seen several Getter G bases after that, mostly loose, and then this showed up.

Saw it within an hour of listing. It was a BIN so I probably paid too much, but no regrets as I have yet to see a better boxed version come up, and is the only four figure toy in my stable.

For just over a year now I’ve been gathering photo’s of these things and discovered big bases from the likes of Bullmark, Takemi, and Takatoku. Some are rarer (and much more expensive) than others, but all are cool looking.

If Pla bases are your thing or want to know what accessories came with them (where possible to this point), come on by to my photo album for more pics. I think I have the Popy ones covered with the exception of Combattra and Raideen Bases.

Oh, and if anyone has other, or more complete pics of these things, please shoot em over, as I’m constantly updating this. Thx.

Big Ass Bases

OK. So I’m at long last following up on my previous post from April. Been there done that. No pics inside. Almost got my ass kicked. Overpriced as hell. No love for me.. Regardless, it’s a cool looking shop with BIG stuff like store displays and the like. They actually have a Diapolon store display in there, but they threatened my life if I took a pic of it.. Ba humbug..

Martial arts has been part of my life for about a decade. I have a sifu whom I owe much to. Someone who has shown me a path to better myself, and how to interact with others.

There is another though, that has simply through his consistent goodness and never ending exuberance, shown me the way.

Boomerang in T minus 10…9…8

“Uncle” Warren, the bright eyed, platnium curl and pepper haired, captain of the perverbial ship of gokin, vinyl, and tin.
The silent, spiritual sentinal who blazed a path from which our toy DNA spirals outward and onward, talks with a quiet and steady cadence.

“Josh, hold up, I have something for you”.

You can’t fake this, buy it, or manufacture it.

Warren Schwartz’s grace is not in how large his collection is, or how long he has been acquiring. Likely more than any of us on both counts anyway.
It is in the kindness of a heart that wishes to not only share his love and knowledge of the Japanese toy foodgroups, and ultimately the care and respect he shows his fellow collector.

Warren runs upstairs and reappears with a Popy box in hand. He seems almost child-like in his excitement. It is a thing I had lusted for when first seeing it not an hour previous. One I know all too well. One up until this point, I never thought I would ever have.

…7…6…5

My first meeting with Warren was the fateful week that Day Old Antiques had closed its doors for the final time.

Like my first meeting with Alen, I was not only impressed by Warren’s nature but the resulting feeling I had known him for years.
Deciding that another meet up should be in the works, we met for sushi and then took a trip to his house to see the famed collection.

It has been written about before, so I certainly will not go into detail, but suffice to say I was speechless at the magnitude and the care in which he quietly stored everything. Row upon row of brown paper bags and boxes, complete with hand written description cards of each one’s content. Each one describing entire runs of toys.

This is Zen. This is what love looks like physically condensed.

…4…3…2

When at Day Old, I had with me one of the many custom containers used for transporting Popy GA 51’s. Shyly I spoke to my new acquaintance about my goofy desire in locating the perfect box one day.

Um, your OCD is showing.

Ironically, up until that point, I only had a Shogun Warrior box, that would be worthy of such a container, as it seemed that in the early days of seeking out these treasures, A Popy version seemed few and far between in any condition above a c8.

Warren hands me the Ark. It is gem mint. It has a sheen and a glow I rarely see on vintage.
I don’t get truly emotional over toys, but this was a moment where choking up a bit did not seem unwarranted.

…1

“I think you should have this. Just when you get a chance, send me your box in the mail.”

I nod.

What do you say in such a moment?

I look up, throat tight, and a sting at the corner of each eye.

Hold steady son.

Warren stands there, his Buddha smile seems to clarify everything for me. A thought begins to crystalize. I have a boomerang in my back pocket and a desire to throw it hard.

My heart is beating fast, and I realize I am in the presence of true benevolence.

Thank you sifu.

There are few toys in my collection that represent what Alen coined the “Karmic Boomerang” for me as this one. The only other that comes close is the result of the extreme generosity of a certain Uncle Warren, but thats for another blog.

Pan back a decade. The frenzy of competition for the right piece was fierce to put it mildly. The early days of ebay bidding wars was in full effect and even though we complain about prices now, we sometime selectively forget that even common toys by todays standards were perceived as much more “R@RE” than they are today, and bore prices that reflected it.

Tiring of the stress of what should be a fun hobby, I found a website, that mirrored my growing feelings about what the toys and the memories should be about.
How was it through my rush to collect , I sort of forgot a little bit about the funk, and why it was I was searching for these totems.
Perhaps this is the ever present sentiment that goes through its cyclical life span every few years and has become the mantra of the oldskoolers who watch wistfully as a new wave of people rediscover and reacquaint themselves with their childhood friends.

Why do we do it?

I found a kindred spirit when I first contact Alen about selling him my GB24. It was a toy he had expressed an interest in locating, and I felt perhaps it would find a better home with him. I was after all in the beginning stages of my c10 illness, and the toy although mint as one could be, the box had begun to beckon an upgrade. The voices since then have gotten louder, and my threshold for ignoring it, has lessened.
I contacted him and offered the toy at a third less than what I paid, simply because it felt like the right thing to do. The importance of the green, had to take a back seat to the importance of the T28 blue so to speak.

We met for the first time in Porter square mall in Cambridge, which was not far from where he lived at the time. My memory of the specifics fails me, but we met at the benches near the atm, and exchanged our greetings. Sushi followed. I felt comfortable almost immediately, and realized this beautiful toy was going to the best home possible.

From there, the friendship began, and endured. The combined faith in the goodness of our fellow collectors being the cornerstone to what is so utterly fantastic about this niche of nerdiness.
It took me much longer to find the right replacement. Like a number of other pieces in the collection that I sold off in hopes of finding a upgrade, it took years. The better part of nine plus in fact.

I thought it would never happen.

But when I did find it, as luck would have it, it was when money was tight and any hope of scoring it was not likely. Lamenting the loss, I casually mentioned it to my old friend, who without hesitating , graciously spotted me for the purchase.
I was floored and grateful and amazed. Well maybe not amazed as I knew Alen’s character enough to know, he understood it was never about the money. It was about the pursuit and love of the toy , and what they represented. It was about the friendship above all else. About the kids who never met, but the adults who did, and cultivated a place that would serve as a home to others like us. A land of misfit toy collectors.

So it came full circle. A generosity of a decade past came back. The boomerang is alive and well, and for that I am glad. Probably more than I could rightly express.

So what to learn from this? I figure I have rambelled on enough as it is, but here it is in its most distilled form.

Life is short, so love thy chogokin neighbor bitches.

Karmic toy boomerang is go.

Out.

This was my gateway. The handshake, the door that led to an ever winding path to madness.

Walking into Day Old Antiques has its price. The ferryman is unassuming and has a badass collection of punk 7 inch records and a lazy but intense depth of knowledge that would bitchslap any hipster out of his comfort zone and well crafted nonchalance.
He is as crafty boatman. The sarcastic enabler .

You hand him a coin.

Smack dab in the glass floor case sits little Mr “He’s a Samurai” , ready and willing to suck you dry of your college art supply money.

Just one fix. A taste.

You can always stop right?

Black Flag’s Six Pack thumps in the background, but loses the fight and gives in to the Der Ring des Nibelungen you now have created as a soundtrack in your own melting brain … because at this moment, that toy in the case is the one you never got as a kid and always, always wanted.

Always.

(Melodrama is key here.)

Its the first MIB Chogokin you have bought in almost 10 years, and it is the one that opened the crack in the dam. Don’t bother resisting.

Mike hands it to you, and all the years of Friday afternoons on Channel 25 flood back. The soundtrack shifts again. Jim Terry is your daddy.

Everyone in the room knows it son.

You are screwed. Lock, stock and barrel.

And you are OK with that.

No matter how many Popy boxed Ga 51s you see over the years since then, this little Shogun box will always and forever be your favorite friend… the designated driver that took you on your path to oblivion, which only a Robot skull can accomplish.

Booya.

Greetings from Taiwan gang.

This was a parting shot on our way out of Kyoto from the Three Sisters Inn. Some random shop that I would have missed had my companion not pointed it out. It somehow encompassed the trip as a whole. It brings about feelings that represent the best of the hobby, where old and new come together.

That trip though recent, feels a long time ago already. I am glad though for the snapshot to remember it.

Well, summer is upon us again and in my neck of the woods it’s going to be hot hot hot. While getting my ninja on this summer I will surely be cooling down with this official Ninja Tobikage sports fan. Yes, it’s indeed a “sports” fan intended for use in ninjitsu dojos everywhere.

From TBDX

From TBDX

OR:

From TBDX

From TBDX

So, this summer, don’t be caught dead without your Tobikage sports fans.

Oh, and last but not least you’ll need a summer carnival mask, right?

From TBDX

I’ll surely be getting “ninjy” with my very own super shinny Tobikage carnival mask.. That’s just how I roll. Like a retarded fucking man-child..

Pla DX God Mars sucks. See…

From TBDX

Searching for a perfect Arcadia (posted on behalf of SteveH)

So, thanks to a friend I got ahold of the Blue Arcadia from the TV series Space Pirate Captain Harlock, made by Taito as a game center prize. It’s pretty cool and I like it.

……….

Ohhh, you think that’s all I’m going to say? Oh no, because I must write more. It;s expected of me.

If you think Capt. Harlock and the Arcadia (and sadly that’s not too many of you) you’re likely thinking of the ‘Green’ Arcadia, or Ol’ Skullnose, because that’s the one seen in most of the Harlock anime that’s made it over to American shores. Maybe you caught the Viz release of the Galaxy Express 999 movies, or the more recent Geneon release of the ‘Outside Legend’ OAV series, or *shudder* Harlock Saga from CPM (and if this DVD is your ONLY exposure to Capt. Harlock, well, I apologize.). But there is another Arcadia, the Real one in many fan’s eyes, the Arcadia as seen in 1978’s Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

1978 was a watershed year, with Star Wars erupting like a volcano and making everyone scramble to find something, ANYTHING to cash in on ‘space opera’. In Japan that burning need was answered by Space Battleship Yamato, reborn from it’s failure to capture mainstream hearts and minds back in ’74. Toei rose to the challenge and quickly whipped out Dangard A (robot in space), Starzinger (Journey to the West in space), Captain Future (um, a guy in space), Galaxy Express 999 (a train in space) and Space Pirate Captain Harlock (he’s a pirate. in space.) (note that 4 of those 5 shows were done by Leiji Matsumoto, while Captain Future only LOOKED like his stuff, kinda.)…the airwaves were thick with the sounds of SPAAACCE!

But the toy and model kit makers were also in transition. Yamato showed that realistic models of the ships from the show could be big sellers (for which Bandai should be more grateful), and the old style ‘play model’ build-your-own-toy was no longer the way to go. Realism was now a selling point.

Pity nobody told the two main sponsors of Capt. Harlock, Takara and Takatoku Toys. There’s no real clear defining of the role of those two companies, if pressed I’d say that Takatoku was doing mainly die-cast while Takara did mostly plastic items, and geared to the younger side of the age range. Takara also did plastic kits, hoping to cash in on the Yamato boom at the time.

It all never really went much of anywhere, because for all the hard work Studio Nue put into designing the Arcadia, it almost seems like nobody at Takara or Takatoku bothered to do more than glance at the establishment sheets!

Look at this thing! It’s the first Arcadia I bought, thru a friend, way back in 1982. Oh, it’s got a lovely funk to it, it’s chunky and heavy as all hell being I think 98% zinc. But it’s sooooo off model! And at that, it’s the BEST of the lot, looks-wise! This is all we had and we LIKED it!

Well, these things and over in Italy a company called ‘Atlantic’ whipped out some soft not-vinyl not-styrene soft squishy snap-kit tied to the Europe ‘Albator’ localization, but I’ve NEVER seen a pic of it, am not sure if it actually exists, and even if it does it’s probably horrible.

Forward to the late ’90s, and there’s some tiny interest in Captain Harlock again, with Jesnet releasing a polystone display model (under Matsumoto’s retcon idea of calling it ‘Deathshadow II) while Bandai’s game arm Banpresto whipped out a pair of deformed Arcadias, the Blue and Green, with wind-up motors for bathtub fun.

Later in the 2ks Aoshima cashed in by making a die-cast and ABS version of the Bandai 1/1000 scale Green Arcadia model kit, re-popped it under the ‘Outside Legend’ OAV branding, and then….decided to make the Blue Arcadia! I was STOKED! But I feared they would take the easy way and just use the Green Arcadia as a base, which they proceeded to do. And it’s not so good, to my eyes.

And then, in 2007, something odd and wonderful happened. arcade game manufacturer Taito decided to whip out some Space Pirate Captain Harlock toys as prizes for their game centers. Having had success with Galaxy Express 999 and Yamato items, it seemed a natural, and boy oh boy they pretty much hit it out of the park!

It’s almost 16 inches long, it’s made from styrene plastic and some PVC so if you want to take it apart and repaint it or modify it you CAN, but more than anything else, it’s got the look. Oh, I can nitpick, the body is a bit to ‘square’ and they used one of the more ‘off model’ establishment drawings for proportions and placements, but overall I give it a solid 95%, and it’s CHEAP, even now you can score it on Yahoo Japan auctions for under 3000 Yen on a regular basis.

Since I know Takara won’t suddenly decide to whip out a new model kit that’s more accurate, and Bandai won’t touch it at all, I’m content to finally have found the Arcadia of my youth….

(Steve-O also wanted to mention that Funimation has all of Space Pirate Captain Harlock subtitled and available for streaming and everyone needs to go there and WATCH IT.)