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

Excuse me while I pontificate a moment and try not to spill my internal melodrama on you.

There has been a focus for me lately.

After the madhouse that was Morphey’s I began to reevaluate my priorities in terms of what it was that I wanted to collect. What it was that my collection would reflect about me , and how I would feel when I looked at it.

I reached a point where the financial burden of my purchases impacted my day to day, and even the old joke about eating ramen for a few months began to wear thin when in fact I found myself doing exactly that. Heh

So I began to slowly set up in my mind a list of items that did not fit the overall “theme” of my collecting habits, and I had to decide if it is rarity , or if it is the love of the toy that won out. Sometimes it is difficult to separate the two in my mind, because there is a definite thrill in finding that particular toy and getting the support and congrats from your peers. Those of us who say that is “superficial” and not part of the proper process, are either far more mature than I will ever be, or simply kidding themselves. Perhaps A little of both.

So what are you willing to sacrifice for the love? I am finding more and more my affection to be on the simplicity and purity of a standard tin walker. Bullmark, Popy, Angel, Takara…it does not really matter which family it comes from. My shelves are the haven for both the popular kids and the misfits. It is not what you look like, but what your made of little zenmai, that gets my heart pumping.

I watch my friends and peers trip over themselves for the Vinyl food group, and I feel the pull. It is a strong desire to jump on board and get the most badass of MFV or Talker I can find. Why wouldn’t I ? They are beautiful and as close to perfection as one could want.
But my tins look at me like I am going on a weekend getaway with a hot friend. They know I will flirt, but always come home to the older but meaningful relationship. They know they don’t have any real reason to get jealous. They know I will always come home at the end, drunk with the smell of polyethylene and zinc on my collar, but never need beer goggles for the screen printed paper thin steel goodness they truly possess.

So I watch the screen hum, the auctions end, the bid not made. Friends send me auctions and I covet and admire with quiet awe over the intensity in which they sell. I wait and plan more carefully, because my bank account has become more finite. A need of focus, and spending time with the toys that bring me only the purest form of joy and sense of balance and contentment.

Distill, wash repeat.

zen…mai.

Finally here, at long long last… 24″ of soft vinyl goodness. On par with the Popy Jumbo. If you can get one I would highly recommend it. Just check out the pics.. How awesome does this thing look??

With the original Popy Jumbo Machinder Tetusjin 28:

Thanks to Robert Duban I have a new holy grail. Every Xmas morn we adorn our Machine Blaster footie jammies and call each other to report on our respective hauls. Well, next year I’ll not only have my jammies, I’ll have my pistolas in tow. It seems every year I digress a little bit more.. Hmmmm…….

As some of you may know I recently purchased a home of my own after many weeks and months of various headaches. When I first began the hunt for a place to call my own, I was thinking of the kind of home I’d like and what I’d “need” for it. It was this moment when I finally realized the full scope of my obsession and dedication for this hobby. Yes I’d like a garage as I like to work on my car. Yes I’d like a small house that’s cheap and easy to maintain. As for the what I’d “NEED” list? The first item on that list was a second bedroom with enough room for 60 jumbos and several Detolfs…. A true dedicated Toy room. Sick I know, putting that as a need before a kitchen, or working heat or walls without holes in them. I’m sure you can imagine my response when the realtor would mention how a second bedroom would make for “a nice office or extra storage” at showings… Yeah.. an “office”, sure, whatever you say, that’s kinda what I’ll be using the space for… Jump ahead a few months, I got the house and finish moving everything in. Then began the work on the toy room as it were. for starters the pretty princess stickers came off the walls

(obviously this was a kids bedroom at some point)
Next was what color to paint? I asked the guys and decided that throwing up a coat of killer CCP red would accent everything very well. A few hours with a roller and it was up.

So ok, then what? The central part of my collection has been and always will be jumbos. I’d had them setup on wire racks all bunched together but had always dreamed of having them spread out, towering over my head staring down at me from every direction. Off to the hardware store for some shelves and assorted other tools I went. another afternoon of work and the shelves were up.

It wasn’t until that moment that I really felt that I had a toy room, but when I looked up and imagined those monoliths of polyethylene staring down I started to feel it… suffice it to say I got impatient and just went ahead and threw them up. to say it was awe inspiring was an understatement.

I ended up waiting a few days before I progressed due to work and other obligations. Finally, I just couldn’t hold back any longer, I had to finish what was started. I worked a near solid 2 days barely sleeping, opening boxes, checking for parts, pairing pieces up and getting things set just as I’d like them. it was a challenge, deciding what goes where and how. I took inspiration from collections I’d seen before, the majority was put into Detolf cases (god bless Ikea and their Dec. 29th sale),
some was hung from the jumbo shelf or tacked onto the wall

and unfortunately some had to be set on the floor due to lack of shelf space. Though I did finally find a use for this big piece of glass I had lying around and the boxes from my Fewture jumbos:

It’s kinda weird having the toy room I’d dreamed about finally here, I walked into the room several times after I finished putting the final touches on it, just to look around, a goofy grim on my face the whole time I’m sure. Finally I can say that, when it comes to my collection, everything has a place and everything is in that place, happily displayed, out of direct sunlight, spread out and under glass. I’ll leave you all with these shots showcasing the room from every angle. thanks for checking it out guys. And thanks again for all the advice and guidance over these past few months everyone!

I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s cold outside these days. Neko feels it as well. Brrrrrrrrrrrr……

I decided to document this and make it my first BROG post! Hello all!

Happy New year and it’s moving time!

Strumming through your piles and packing it all away bit by ever loving bit.

It’s our curse and we love it. Right?

Just watch “Hoarders” on A&E and it will make you feel somewhat better aside from the regular twitch of anxiety and embarrassment.

Then there’s a moment you run into something you haven’t powered up in a few years and you poosh da button, and it doesn’t work and you feel perturbed .

You are under a spell…

You knew at one time “it did”, and after Waffle Wednesday and a whole pot of coffee I’m on it. I miss that grating voice very little. But the button,  alas it is… brokedid.

First you survey the best entry, what’s installed over what, the order that makes these things. “Thank god there isn’t stickers applied over that seam!”

Have at it doctor Paul, just keep track of your screws if you love your toy!

Seems like the motor inside the “Squawk box” gets a little stiff after a rubber band that cranks the little record has been bending it’s shank for 30 years.

The rubber band is in pretty good shape! Have to be really careful not to get any lube on it.

Easing up the pressure, and a little WD-40 has it rolling in no time! YAY! I have 3 little records to play!

Ah I love reassembly. The delicate balancing act that it is!

Machinder freaks should get a kick out of those sand bottle capped legs!

Screws into plastic strip ever so easily. Don’t powerhouse it on the reinstall.

And he’s all good!

Click below to hear him talk via Youtube before he gets packed away for another 10 years!

Robocon Repaired!

Thanks for reading! I feel ever so much better!

“So, this is what you’ve been up to??”

Sifu Mike Parisi dropped by the TBDX west coast headquarters tonight with wonderful new years gifts in tow.

Aside from his lovely family, who are above and beyond a gift within themselves, Sifu Parisi brought some big ass guns along with him to our underground secret lair. He surprisingly laid the grand-daddy of inflatables on us, and “we” just don’t what the hell to say.. Only pictures can speak the greatness of his contribution to the vintage Japanese toy inflatable lineage.

Sorry Sanjeev. Not trying to steal your thunder here, but.. Ladies and gents, I give you “Astronave”!!” 38 inches wide..

OK.. Well as you can tell, I have an incredible love of inflatable Japanese robot character toys.. Not like you couldn’t clearly see from my “stash” (pictured above)… Yeah.. I need help. So what?!

Anyway, the “Astronave” is an actual licensed product, as we come to find. Toei Animation Dynamic Production made this behemoth a reality back in 1978.

Ah… To be a child in Rome swimming in a pool the summer of 78 right? Right??? OK, nevermind..

Thanks MP!!!

Sjoen

uups

Happy New Year everybody!