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

Welcome to the first in what is (hopefully!) a new mini-series of articles and reviews of the various toy stores in the Tokyo area. I’ve been heading over to Japan for years now, but for a variety of reasons I’ve never actually taken any pictures or written many reviews of any of the stores I’ve visited. This isn’t because I was trying to protect my “fishin’ holes” or because I didn’t want to write anything up. It’s because I am a lazy, lazy bastard.

It took the super-secret “X-factor” of Josh Fraser being in Japan for an extended period at the same time I am to get me off my duff and start typing again. I’m here scrimping and saving and building up my little translation company in a cramped room on the outskirts of Tokyo. Josh is here living high off the hog on his company’s expense account in the city’s equivalent of Beverly Hills.

I’m a cheapskate. He’s loaded. And in our spare time, by all that is holy to us (in Josh’s case, C-10 boxes; in mine, cheap-ass robot sofubi) we’ll try to bring you drool-inducing photo exposes of the best Tokyo’s toy stores have to offer. Think of it as a living Datafile of the hard, mean toy-streets in this character-obsessed city. Our mission: to document ever single damned toy store in the Tokyo metropolitan area – or go broke trying. And probably both.

Muchas gracias to Josh B. of CollectionDX for hosting the photos (and Josh’s personal account of the debauchery!) Click on over and take a gander at Josh’s obsessive photo-work for the full expose. And look for more toy store reviews this spring, when I’ll be packing up my stuff and heading over to the Motherland for good!

GANG BANGIN’

10.26.02

Speaking of bangin’, man, my head hurts. I just landed in Tokyo 24 hours ago. (My biggest problem is that I always try to drink my way through jetlag. Or perhaps that’s my greatest strength.)

When you’ve got jetlag, nothing seems real. It’s like you’re offset a few degrees from reality. There’s a sort of quiet nibbling at the edges of your perception. Threatening to send you sprawling to the pavement in a narcoleptic crash if you don’t maintain, as Hunter S. Thompson would say.

I should probably be in bed. It’s 12:45 in the afternoon and I’ve been up for ten hours already. The only thing keeping me on my feet is a steady stream of Pocari Sweat sports drinks, carbohydrate-rich meat buns from the local convenience store, and the burning desire to finally see some goddamned toys.

And to see Josh. Where the hell is that guy? The trick to beating jetlag is to keep moving constantly, and I’ve been standing here at the “Moai” statue behind Shibuya station for a whole five minutes now. Manintan. Wait! There he is, thank god. No time to talk. I grab Josh and lurch for the trains. We’re going to my all-time favorite store in Tokyo: Forest Gang. (Whenever I hear that name, I always get this image of Bambi with a nine millimeter. But the joke’s on English speakers: “gang” means “toy” rather than “Menace II Society” in Japanese.)

The shop’s in Sugamo, about twenty minutes north of Shibuya. It’s not the cheapest place in the world, but then again, neither is the rest of Tokyo. “The Gang” is huge, though, at least on par with most American vintage toy stores I’ve seen. And it has the STUFF, boy. I’m not kidding. It’s so packed full of toys, you simply can’t take it all in on the first pass. (Like CIA analysts poring over satellite imagery, Josh and I later found ourselves enhancing and studying the digital photographs to strategize for follow-up visits.) You’ve got to hand it to Forest Gang for the sheer volume of toys they’ve crammed onto the shelves and hung on the walls. Cases are divided roughly by genre: Takatoku Z-Gokin in one, Popy Chogokin in a host of others, Machinders in the middle, and all sorts of random obscurity stuffed into cases ringing the whole place. Focus is pointless here. It is an impulse-shopper’s wet dream.

Right off the bat, the differences in taste manifest: Josh makes a beeline for the Popy tins at the back of the store; I nearly knock over a stack of enormous Tupperware toy-sarcophagi in a desperate dive for the sleaze-vinyl shelves.

We’re both rewarded. Josh spots a tin Getta Dragon he’s been searching for. “Mr. C-10” frets like a mother hen as he watches a clerk open the box. Fortunately for Josh’s blood pressure, the guy ends up using the flat part of a boxcutter blade (an old trick to prevent creasing the center of the lids when opened.) My epiphany hits in the midst of negotiating a slight “gaijin discount” for Josh (“would you mind giving this poor white boy a break? Thank you.”) I spot the mint-on-card set of Clover Dunbine mini-vinyls I’ve been craving, tacked high towards the ceiling on a rafter beam. As if that weren’t enough, I notice a loose Getta III Jumbo Machinder in one of those Tupperware tombs. I feel The Hunger rising as I watch the owner join the two halves together. And that’s when we spot the Jumbo Daikumaryu. It’s filthy and awaiting apprasial, but we cajole Mr. Forest Gang into let us cuddle it. My cup runneth over. These pieces are way, way rich for either of our blood. But any day where one gets to see an incredibly rare JM or two up close and personal is a good one in my book.

As we leave, Josh $600 poorer but one ultra-mint, C-10 specimen of a tin Getta Dragon richer, we ponder the strange English on the side of the bag Forest Gang gave us. “ELEPHANT FAMILY. Their humming make us happy.” Absolutely damn right. So happy, I’ve totally forgotten I’m fifteen time zones removed from reality.

GO, GO, GODZILLA

Hyped from our visit to Forest Gang, Josh and I decide to jump on the train again and try our luck elsewhere. Our target is a shop that he’s never been to before, and that that I barely remember from a hasty visit four years previous: the unashamedly old-school Godzilla-Ya. We amble along the dank streets and alleys of Koenji under a sky that seems to threaten rain at any minute. We finally locate the store in a warren of fetid tunnels under the tracks of Koenji station, and it’s everything I remember it to be: basically, everything Forest Gang isn’t. It’s tiny. It’s dark. It’s located in a questionable part of town, the walls nearby covered with graffiti and right-wing political posters. Its clerk looks like a Japanese member of the Ramones.

But that being said, it’s been here for longer than nearly any other vintage toy store in Tokyo save for Magic Box, and it happens to be a friendly and welcoming place. Even sort of cozy. Here, there’s so little space, they’ve actually tacked toys to the ceiling to make more display room. Ancient cases that look as though they were salvaged from the owner’s grandmother’s basement house a tightly clustered riot of mini-vinyls, Choro-Q sparking toys, and other unloved specimens. Like a prison for the ne’er-do-wells of the Japanese toy world. I wonder how long they’re in for. Judging from the dust, they could well have been here since day one.

Not much sparks our interest here, but the ol’ karmic boomerang is in full effect. Josh has been freaking out for some reason (something about the fact that I keep accidentally kicking the C-10 box of his Getta Robo tin when he walks in front of me.) I explain the situation to the guy behind the counter, who nods sagely and offers a perfectly sized empty cardboard box for Josh to armor his new acquisition. And we didn’t even BUY anything here! In gratitude, I fork over 1000 yen in bail money to liberate a pitiful rendition of Machine Blaster Sandaio from toy purgatory. Is that a smile of relief I see on its face?

It’s times like this that I almost forget how jaded I’ve become about collecting these days. Hitting the streets again, Josh and I make plans to do it all over again next weekend.

You’ve probably noticed by now that the BBS is back. It’s pretty much the same animal as before, but there are a few new things worth mentioning.


Although you can still post without registering, doing so will cause your ip information to be printed along with your message. Sorry, JOE. Registering will keep this information private. A few of the new features:

• You can now edit your posts after the fact.
  
• The double-post problem should be gone.
  
• Posts are now sorted by reply date.
  
• Lots of other little user-customization features
  

Ever submitted a Rumble and found yourself wondering
several weeks later WTF had happened to it? Or
wondered when the heck the Rumble monkeys were going
to get off their latest crack-break and actually post
something? You’re not alone. If you’ve given up in
frustration and decided to go ahead and post your
quick news tidbit, toy review, or anonymous
sarcasm-laden complaint on the BBS instead, you’re in
pretty good company.

We try to have fun running ToyboxDX. But after a
while, maintaining things like the Rumble on ToyboxDX
can get to be a bit a of chore. It requires plenty of
hands-on time and effort from the TBDX Rumble Crew in
order to keep it running — filled with content to
keep the monolithic machine that is ToyboxDX stoked
and running.

But no longer!

As of today, ToyboxDX is proud to present the first release of the Rumblizer!

The Rumblizer is code-maestro Inwards’ custom solution
that allows even the most HTML challenged to post
content to the TBDX system in close to real-time.
Theoretically, it’s even easier than posting on the
BBS, as it stores, resizes and integrates graphics
automatically. And with relatively newer browsers, it
also allows the creation of nifty documents without
typing a single line of code.

Of course we can’t make any absolute guarantees about
response time, but the system is designed to let us
turn submissions around in less than 24 hours.

So let’s give Inwards a hand! And when you’re done,
bring on those great reviews, those wild toy rants,
that latest gokin alert; the machine is hungry…

We began the 2001 Toy of the Year wrap-up with the words “2001 has been a truly incredible year for Japanese toys” and it looks like we didn’t lose any of that momentum going into 2002. The 2002 TOTY ballot featured more toys than any prior year, and arguably the most diverse contestants thus far. The main difference between 2002 and years past is that there was really no single item that stood head and shoulders above the rest in terms of quality and innovation. Rather, there were numerous solid efforts from the Bandais, Yamatos and Miracle Houses of the world, which made it a guessing game up right until the last minute the polls closed.

So, without further ado, we give you the…

	Candidate	Percent
	Yamato 1/48 VF-1A Hikaru-Type Valkyrie	17.7%
	Miricle House Shin Seki Gokin Mazinkaiser	15.0%
	Bandai GX-10 Boss Borot	12.2%
	Bandai Gouraijin DX	7.5%
	Bandai Movie Monsters Series Titanosaurus	7.1%
	1/4 Mascot Robot Haro (original green)	6.4%
	DX MSiA Sazabi	6.0%
	Uni 5 VariDorin	5.8%
	G X – 0 7OVA Mazinger Z	5.2%
	Zoids Gojulas GIGA	4.7%
	Metal Grade RX-78 Gundam	4.3%
	HY2M RX-78 Gundam	4.1%
	Soul Of Chogokin GX-01R OAV Mazinger Z	2.6%
	Deluxe MSiA Burning Gundam	1.3%

2002 Toy of The Year: Yamato 1/48 VF-1A Hikaru-Type Valkyrie
2002 may well be remembered as the year of the Valkyrie, seeing 7 new toys from Bandai and 5 from Yamato. Although the Bandai re-issues made some small evolutionary improvements in the tried-and-true Takatoku design, it took Yamato’s new totally-over-top 1/48 scale VF-1A valkyrie to grab folks’ attention. Featuring a crazy transformation that manages to stay faithful to the anime and yet requires no disassembly or extra parts, as well as an insane level of detail, and (finally) a solid ratcheted toy-like feel to it, the 1/48 does not fail to impress.

Special thanks to the readers at Macrossworld for ensuring that this toy received the attention that it deserved.

Second Place: Miracle House Shin Seki Gokin Mazinkaiser
Only narrowly edged out of first place by 2.7%, the Miracle House Shin Seki Gokin Mazinkaiser proves once again that the majority of ToyboxDX readers subsist on a diet of mostly zinc. Virtually solid metal save for his head, hands and his enormous wings, this bad boy very nearly took the vote due to his sheer weight and shelf presence alone.

Third Place: Bandai GX-10 Boss Borot
2002 gave us six SOC releases from Bandai, which was an unprecedented release schedule in this much-beloved retro toy line. Oddly enough, the one release that grabbed SOC fans this year was certainly the goofiest and unrespected toy in the line thus far; Boss Borot. Love him or hate him, big Boss only finished 2.8% behind Mazinkaiser and largely split the gokin vote, giving the almost completely plastic Yamato 1/48 the opening it needed to take the TOTY crown. It’s also worth pointing out that Hobby Project’s Boss Borot took the first ever ToyboxDX TOTY prize.

Fourth Place: Bandai Gouraijin DX
How did a diecast transforming set of beetles with rubber tires and treads end up so far down on this list with only 7.5% of the vote? Probably because sentai is an acquired taste and has the additional baggage on this side of the Atlantic of being seen as Power Rangers fodder. Hopefully Bandai America will bring Gouraijin over here with minor changes so that more fans can get the chance to experience this big, black bad boy.

Sixth Place: 1/4 Mascot Robot Haro (original green)
Another wacky toy from this year’s ballot, Haro was certainly a very much under-represented Gundam character until very recently. Unfortunately, this little guy practically demanded a working knowledge of Japanese to get much enjoyment out of him, which rather severely restricted his popularity among collectors. Haro certainly seems to be a big hit in Japan, however, with multi-colored versions recently hitting the shelves.

Seventh Place: DX MSiA Sazabi
Bandai’s 12″ version of Char’s Sazabi certainly made a lot of waves when it arrived earlier in the year, and for good reason; it was the first villain in the DX line, potentially opening the door for all kinds of antagonist-goodness down the road. Featuring better proportions than the Master Grade kit (well, except for those hands) and a good share of ABS and loads of weapons and gimmicks, all for about $30, this thing was snapped up by collectors the second it hit the shelves.

Eighth Place: Uni 5 VariDorin
One of the crazy vehicles from the much-beloved Go-Rangers series, the Uni 5 Varidorin put up a showing similar to last year’s GodPhoenix. Huge, and mostly diecast, with 4 independently motorized props and loads of gimmicks, the wacky design (and the fall-off-if-you-look-at-them-funny cannons) was perhaps a little too retro for many modern collectors.


Ninth Place: GX-07 OVA Mazinger Z
A solid, black, glossy super poseable entry in the SOC line. Sadly, for many collectors it was “just another @#$%^* Mazinger” and promptly shoved to the back of the toy shelf by most. There’s probably some poetic justice about Boss Borot out-shining Mazinger in there somewhere…

Tenth Place: Zoids Gojulas GIGA
At a whopping 41cm in length, Gojulas is one of the largest and most impressive Zoids ever released. Weighing in at 10th place, however, shows that Zoids that don’t have quite the traction in the community as other toy lines.

Eleventh Place: Metal Grade RX-78 Gundam Released at a wallet-busting 38,000 yen price point, this sucker definitely wasn’t for everyone. Certainly there’s lots to love about a 1/100 scale 100% solid diecast metal RX-78. Bandai unquestionably lost a lot of potential buyers at that pricepoint, and probably several more over their decision to release it as a bare metal kit, but you have to hand it to them for the balls that it took to bring this thing to market. Of course, even the Metal Grade wasn’t quite as crazy as…

Twelfth Place: HY2M RX-78 Gundam
A 75cm (29 1/2″) RX-78. Released at 78,000 yen, plus an additional 12,000 – 15,000 yen just for shipping, the H2YM certainly separates the men from the boys (or the wallet from the otaku…) Only the Japanese could release a piece like this in the middle of a recession and still manage to have them sell out in no time…

Thirteenth Place: Soul Of Chogokin GX-01R OAV Mazinger Z
Released to a resounding “eh”, although the execution of the GX-01R is virtually flawless, it’s “yet another @#$%^* Mazinger” in the SOC line. Although impossible to disparage the toy on its own merits, SOC completists everywhere now quake in fear of a possible GX-01R2…

Fourteenth Place: Deluxe MSiA Burning Gundam
2002 was the year that many Toyboxers started referring to MSiA as “rubber Gundams”, which pretty much sums up many older collector’s feelings for the line. Certainly the winner when it comes to price and breadth, 3″ PVC toys still fall into the “toy crack” category and have yet to make any serious inroads when it comes to Toy of The Year…