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

Nestled in a sleepy little town roughly 50 km outside of Tokyo, lies a Japanese toy collectors paradise known only as Kaikodo. As far as I know, or have seen, it is without question the largest independent vintage toystore in all of Japan. Located in the Saitama prefecture, Kaikodo is about a 10 min walk from the Okegawa station, but it’s the hour journey outside of Tokyo that apparently scares people..

According to Yutaka Ishida, the proprietor of Kaikodo, he doesn’t see many westerners AT ALL.. This seems absolutely amazing to me. For all the guys/gals that take the big trip over to Tokyo for vintage toy shopping, one would think that Kaikodo would be flushed with new white round faces weekly at the least. But alas, it is not.. And, up until now, Kaikodo was the secret place that I bragged to all my pals about. “It’s the biggest fucking vintage shop you’ve ever seen!!!”, I would say, gloating. Well, just like numbers, the pics don’t lie. And NOW, it’s “our” secret people.

Stay tuned, because I will not only show you what you’re in for, but I will also show and tell you how to get there. Getting back is all you..

Enjoy:

So, what did you think? Incredible right? Right.. Believe it or not, it’s actually a bit smaller than the last time I was here.

Upon arriving to Kaikodo, Ishida-san laid the keys to the compound on Alt and we literally had free run of the place.. Strolling through the barrage of cases with the keys, filling my personal bin with new found treasures was beyond any other toy buying experience I could, or would ever be able to express..

Personally, I’ve been friends with Ishida-san going on 8 years. Matt, on the other hand road tripped with him up and down the east coast in the pre 2000’s, which totally predates my affiliation. Another noteworthy mention is that Ishida-san contributed to more than one of the early datafiles and is without question part of the ToyboxDX.com family.

If you’re planning a trip over to Japan, for whatever reason, and are a vintage toy collector; Kaikodo should be a top priority. Granted, it’s a bit out of the way, but I guarantee you will not see another “venue” close to this size aside from the 7th and 8th floors of the “Mandarake Complex” in Akihabara in all of Japan. Nuff said..

You want to go? OK, I think this is the easiest way. From the JR Yamanote line; go to Ueno station and get on the JR Takasaki line. Go past Akabane and Omiya station up to Okegawa station (about 45min- hour). Get off at Okegawa and take the east exit. Exit to the right and follow the directions listed below. Kampai!

-Sjoen

You can reach Ishida-san via email HERE

Visit Kaikodo online HERE.

Mechander Robot (合身戦隊メカンダーロボ Gasshin Sentai Mekandaa Robo) aired in 1977. I was only two years old.

I seem to vaguely remember one of my older cousins throwing a Daipolon Legger at me somewhere around 1979, and by 1981, I had inherited all of their Shogun Warrior and Bullmark cast offs (Thanks Marukai!). By this time they were utterly destroyed and bashed to hell, and I guess in some way I grew to really resent them. Thanks to years of very expensive therapy and Yahoo Japan auctions, I can safely say I’m over it.

There is no way I would have ever imagined that thirty years later I would be scouring the world to get my hands on the same clunky toys I detested as a child.

Come 1981 I would see stacks of Bullmark Zinclon boxes on clearance at Mikado here in San Francisco’s Japan Town and scoff. I won’t even mention the bargain bins at TG&Y.. Anyway, Mikado had WAY better stuff by then in my six year old mind. There was Tryder G7, the guy with the big burning bird on his back. There were SUPER cool Microman box sets whose robots combined to form a big robot then transformed into a space ship. There was Gundam combination sets that looked like suitcases!! They even had a ruger pistol that “transformed” into a rifle and then into a robot. Needless to say, the clunky metal Diapolons and Mekanda Robos of yesteryear were not looking to good compared to these shiny, flashy new playthings.

Once again, who knew that a lifetime later I would pay the equivalent of a mortgage payment for a holy grail like the Technical Gashin Mekanda Robo when at one time in my life I looked at it with such distain when in the presence of, well, transformers. This keeps me awake at night.. Well, not really.

Fast forward to 2001. Alt and Duban publish the Raging Bullmark Datafile. Bullmark was on my radar, but after an evening of perusing all the memories rushed back in. I zeroed in on Mekanda. Young Mekanda. It was my first Bullmark purchase and was the gateway drug I needed to get hardcore about Zinclon. It was my first and still is my favorite of all the Bullmark diecasts.

The piece itself is amazingly colorful. Maybe that’s why I dig it so much, it’s LOUD. It’s also very slick and is somewhat devoid of what Alt calls the “working-class charm” that most of the Zinclon pieces have. I’m a huge fan of the polished, pristine look of the Popy Chogokin, so it figures Young Mekanda floats my boat.

The box, on the other hand, has the typical Bullmark charm and actually reminds me quite a bit of the Mekanda spinner vinyl box. Once again, very loud (love the nuts Mekanda logo) and busy. The box art is a huge part of the allure for me, and the window boxes kick it up a notch allowing one to enjoy the toy and the art at the same time.

As far as gimmicks, there are diecast metal levers on the sides of Young’s arms that are dangerously spring loaded. When retracted and released they spin the spiked shields around like a record baby. It comes along with the quintessential Bullmark spinners. Simply wind the dial on his back, load his chest and fire away. Flying spinners yeah! OK, focus.

As far as size, you can see by the comparison below, it measures up nicely with the TG Mekanda.

So as much as “I” think this toy rules, it’s not without it’s flaws. Leave it to Minister Alt and I to come up with a couple:

First and foremost, the legs do not bend!! You can see from the pics that they look jointed. Well trust me, they are not so don’t try to bend em because you will break them.

Second, the shields will easily separate from the forearms. You’ll think to yourself “cool! I’ll just throw them back in, no harm no foul”. Not so fast. They actually separated from the little gear within. So, what you have to do is carefully undo the screw on the forearm (it separates very easily). Then, you will see a tiny plastic white gear floating around inside. Simply put the shield shaft into the gear and it will fit snug. Screw the arm back together with the shield attached and your good to go.

In closing, I love me some Young Mekanda. Regardless of its minimal flaws, I could not recommend it enough. BID IT NOW!!

As an added bonus I’ve added a this block of Bullmark Mekanda commercials that will be part of the upcoming TBDX video channel “Gangu Cinema”. It features the Mid sized and Technical Gashin Mekandas but alas Young was absent that day. Kampai!!

-Sjoen

Go Nagai circa 1974

From TBDX

From TBDX

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

“I feel like Thor entering Valhalla.”
-Erik Sjoen

Not since a visit to the legendary Warren Schwartz‘s house in 2000 (a visit so breathtaking that the mere secondhand mention of it on this site provoked emotion intense enough to shatter the minds of several readers, necessitating a hastily contrived warning label be applied to the report lest its savage contents cause further casualties) have I been so overwhelmed by a collection and its owners hospitality.

Kazunori Saito, author of three seminal books about Japanese toys that blew our collective mind when they were first released in the late Nineties, lives in a suburb of Tokyo. His neighbors are undoubtedly totally unaware of the treasure trove that slumbers within its walls. In fact, few visitors to his home even realize it. His collection is shoehorned into a single tiny room off the main hallway, inside every wall floor to ceiling adorned with vinyls, boxes, showcases, and more boxes. It feels like just about every Bullmark kaiju vinyl in the world is here. Ditto for the Jumbo Machinders. And weirder, rarer stuff. Then there are those glass cases stuffed full of Popy and Takatoku diecasts…

I would call it a secret crypt or catacomb if not for the miniature table and four chairs in the middle of the room, inviting visitors to sit, stare, and partake. Surrounded by some of the world’s rarest soft vinyls, Jumbo Machinders, and diecast toys, the effect is akin to that of the Mad Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland. Or perhaps a few hours spent in the kitchen of hashish brownie pioneer Alice B. Toklas.

But you don’t need mind-altering drugs to achieve enlightenment in Saito’s lair. Fueled by nothing more than diet coke, cookies, and the oh-so-sweet musk of slowly decaying cardboard and three decade old vinyl, we spent hours talking about where he’d found this treasure or that (inevitably, he’d picked it up years and years ago, when prices were only mind-boggling instead of outright insane). He opened his heart and home, offering to take any piece, no matter how rare, out of the display for us to fondle and drool over. The coup de grace: an audience with that King of Machinders, the Jumbo Daikumaryu.

After an extended session assembling it on his kitchen table, the only place in the house with space enough to accomodate the space dragon, Erik Sjoen, Jim Maitland, and I bid our farewells and stumbled out into the afternoon sun, stunned once again by the potent brew of hospitality and polyethylene. Who needs the Photonic Energy Research Institute when you’ve got a toy institute like this?

Click here for the full gallery of photos!

Found in Osaka. Only $800? if I remember correctly. To bad shipping would be over $1K, otherwise I would have bought it.. Seems like most of these I see come up on YJP auctions seem to stay under $1K (Changeman, Maskman etc.).

From TBDX

From TBDX

The fucking streets of Kichijōji rocked hard tonight. Heavy weights rockin’ the Iseya izakaya and faux piss alley were in full effect. If you didn’t know any better, Koji was taking Maz out for a drunken spin around the neighborhood. That’s how hard well roll. The best part about it is we don’t even have to try. LOUD drunk white assholes are known to do this, and in our case do it incredibly well. Anyway….

After an unsuccessful trip to “Cosmo Knight Alpha” in Ekoda, and 4 train transfers later, the call was made and the plan was put into play. Alt sent out an underwater sonic transmission that brought he, Maitland and myself into contact with the James Bond 007 of Japanese robot collecting (otherwise known as “cohiba” or “slimemolds”) in my favorite low brow, punk rock neighborhood in Tokyo.. Kichijoji! A place where you can smoke hooka on the street with Devilman and drink from deaths flask with wealthy old men perversely pretending to be homeless.. It just so happens Alt actually lives here, so that explains alot.

So, here we find our hero getting blasted… This is what the famous author ofSuper #1 Robot, Hello Please! and Yokai Attack! (found here: Alt’s scribe) does all day while he takes your hard earned otaku cash..

Look at me manhandle this little bitch..

His majesties trademark.. The expensive and infectious Cohiba Cuban cigar. This speaks volumes.

So, as we come to the end of this post you might be thinking to yourself, where the hell is the “toy” content? Well, sonny, the shit that crossed the lips tonight of your aforementioned otaku heroes will be talked about for years to come, believe me. Unfortunately we’re just in the process of carving the stone tablets, so hold your horses.

Stay tuned for more info on this pivotal meeting of the minds, I mean “rinds” soon..

To make it legit, I share with you the RAREST sofubi super robot find of all time. Compliments of Masa Yoda, I give you 7 inch Poseidon, patchi super robot sofubi, unknown year…

Sjoen