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

At a party thrown by mecha-maniac blogger Yaco last night, the T-Rex folks were kind enough to show us the intricately sculpted 1/60 Zentraedi figures that they will be selling at next month’s WonderFest. Designed to be in scale with Yamato’s similarly-scaled toys (and sculpted by the same guy who designed Yamato’s revised 1/60 YF-21, Ghost Booster, and Moto Slave toys), they are cast in resin (colored as-is, as seen in the photos above). They’ll be going for 5,000 yen a piece.

Good luck getting your hands on one: their one-day license limits them to selling just twenty units. “They’ll disappear during the ‘dealer dash,'” lamented Yaco as we drunkenly attempted to fit the prototype into a Matchbox Officer’s Battle Pod he had inexplicably lugged to Kabukicho for the occasion. Meanwhile, his incredible, totally customized vintage Gakken Legioss toy wowed us with an impromptu airshow over the table. Unfortunately, this one of a kind artpiece isn’t for sale.

I felt I needed to add another post…there were 666 posts today in the Brog. I knew Erik’s collection was evil…
Anyway on to 667.

Last time I posted about the cost of focus. Sometimes good toys go to better homes for the right reason, and I can’t think of a better place or home for it to go to.
But I would be foolish to say like those that went before him, this won’t hurt a little. ;-)

So like any end of a good relationship, I hope to keep some photos and remember it fondly.

A great standard sized Bullmark Kaiju originally from Ultra Seven. Measuring in at 9.75 inches. The spray on this one in particular is awesome. Love the metallic blue/green mixed with red. Beautiful. Enjoy.

I received my first Arklon toy in the mail last night, and have been completely enamored with it since then. I won’t bore you with the same diatribe you’ve all heard about how the mechanical rendition of a classic monster in a toy that is 85% die-cast is fantastic. Something that occurred to me almost immediately was just how similar the Glyos toy concept is to the classic Arklon. Both come completely apart, and both are awesome for it.

2010 starts good!
Here’s the first toy I got this year. Ok I bought a few more, but these are all still in Japan and wait to be
packed and send to me. As always…it’s a never-ending story, all the time new stuff pops up on Yahoo.
But this Bullmark Missile Firing Zaboga found his way to germany. I won him on ebay and he came
from australia. First time I got a robot from down under.
The ebay item description said: “Mint condition includes the 2 rockets which were originally taped on the
inner tray  and the catalog…”
The description was mistaken. The condition is mint and he came with his 4 orginal rockets.
I love such mistakes ;-)

Box design is…well, you see it. Great!
I think I’ve been the first person who opened up the box. Found the “missing” 2 rockets
behind the little “pamphlet” inside the box. Yeah!

Zaboga has the same size as the Rockbat MFV’s, he’s about 9” (24cm) high.

You could store his rockets in 2 movable yellow holsters.
Remove his hands and Zaboga is ready to fire.

Here are some detail shots.

This is the little “pamphlet” that was inside the box. I add a few scans in the BBS section.

I wish that I bought him for this price ;-)

Hope you like it.
More pictures, scans etc in the BBS section.

Zabogaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

You know what Thursday is!? It’s ASTRO MU FIVE DAY!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!