Alen Yen's ToyboxDX

	10.1.00-- 10.12.00


RUMBLE INDEX

10.12.00: Dress Up Toys for Robot Freaks

Remember the Super Robot Wars Hybrid Armor crane game toys? These are little SD pilot figures that wear Super Robot snap-on armor. Anyhow, Part Two has been released. This time, it's Z-Gundam, Combattra, and Dancougar. They are 800 yen individually.

(Oh, and Transformers: Car Robots Brave Maximus and Devil Gigatron are shipping now, if anyone cares)

-- Darren

10.12.00: Danish Kaiju!

This beastie is the Wonderfest glow-in-the-dark version of M-1's Reptilicus figure. 200 of these were made and quickly gobbled up by collectors who were lucky enough to attend the show. Jim Cirronella of Club Daikaiju says that more of the standard Reptilici should be arriving soon to meet the huge demand he's gotten for this figure (and maybe they'll even be available in time for Chiller Theatre). If you have any predisposition to vinyl whatsoever (or if you always had a burning desire for the lyrics to "Tivoli Nights"), definitely get your hands on one of these. Special thanks to Club Tokyo for providing pics and info.

-- Roger

10.10.00: Je- Ge- Zi- JIONG!

Standing -- uh -- squating, actually -- a hair taller than the MSiA Gundam figure, Mobile Suit in Action Jiong is alive and well, and on sale in Japan. Remember, Jiong is missing his legs, and he's STILL taller than Gundam, so we're talking about a pretty THICK little action figure. His arms are bigger than Gundam's legs. Twice the price -- twice the plastic.

Shoulders and elbows are jointed well. Jiong comes with six hands! We have two fists, two flat fingertip beam-firing hands, and two hands with individual articulated fingers!

There's even simulated remote fist-firing fun! A "straight cable" and "curved cable" are included to pose your rocket punch assaults in mid-air. Both cables are made from stiff plastic.

The neck joint is fairly flexible, and the head detaches for that Halloween look. His two big verniers are nicely jointed, and the five supporting medium verniers have some play. It looks as if he was constructed so that add-on legs could be sold in the future.

He's not Big Zam, but he's BIG.

-- Darren

10.9.00: Unifive - The Next Volley

Unifive's Cho Shin Gokin Zenda Lion ships in late November. The all-diecast king of mechanized beasts transforms into his "traveling form", and will ship with a display diorama. Retail will be 6,800 yen.

The also-diecast Cho Shin Gokin Machine Zaborger will ship in late December for 5,800 yen, with included Daimon figure.

Cho Shin Gokin Machine Zubagga, the main ride of Toei action hero Zubat, will ship in late January, also for 5,800 yen. This is the second in the Tokusatsu toy series that includes Zaborger. Again, the toy is all-diecast, and features a figure in the cockpit.

Cho Shin Gokin Gaikottsu also ships in late January. Need I say it again? All diecast. Like Zenda Lion, Gaikottsu includes a display diorama, and will sell for 6,800 yen.

A wealth of Unifive riches to last us thru the year! Whatever may come next?

-- Darren

10.8.00: Plastic is in the Air

Business trips overseas: backaches, buttaches, headaches. Worse, there are never any toys on board, and I'm starting to get embarassed asking the flight attendant about the matter. Anyway, she gave the little kid a plastic jet, and I'm sure my frequent flier status outranks his.

Interestingly, some representatives of the European division of "mega Japanese toy company" overheard my collegue and I discussing the plastics manufacturing industry. Although they knew nothing about super robots, nor the word "chogokin", they had a few interesting things to say.

Did you know that while the Japanese often allow up to six months or more for new product development, two weeks is often the norm for the American division! Also, while merit & quality are often the focus of Japanese products, entirely different factors govern US development.

Sadly, there seems to be a "they've got to buy something" mentality here. It's understood that Christmas & birthdays are the typical reasons for toy buying, and as long as it's got the right TV show label on the package, and sits on the shelf long enough, it will eventually sell. After all, even a small profit is made from bargin bin sales.

Is this a big surprise to Toybox readers? Nah, didn't think so!

-- Darren

10.8.00: Marmit Mini Mania

Three new blister-packed Marmit Mini Gokins are out. We have Getta 2, in normal and "prototype" color schemes, and a gold version Getta 1. "Diecast! Heavy Weight!" proclaim the packaging. Each are each about nine centimeters tall, and sell for 2600 yen.

-- Darren

10.7.00: Oooooh... Sparkly!

Not only has Miracle House taken a bold new step by introducing glow-in-the-dark parts to a gokin toy, but it also laughs in the face of repaint convention by eschewing the usual matte black paint. Instead, the Shin Seiki Gokin Devil-Wing Shin Getta One sports a nifty, near-metallic super-gloss finish. Pretty!

-- Yappy & Darren

10.6.00: Garada Paradigm Shift

What with all the speculation and argument surrounding the publication of photos of the Popy Garada K7 toy in "Gangu Jinsei" magazine, we decided to turn to the source for a bit more information. We asked toy-scholar Koji Igarashi, author of the "Green Arrow Graffiti" Chogokin encyclopedia and director for "Gangu Jinsei," to give us a bit more background about the situation. What's come to light is that the Japanese have had a different opinion on the rarity of the toy. Here's what Igarashi had to say.

"The Garada K7 featured in Gangu Jinsei is real as far as I can tell. As a prototype was already produced, the one featured on the Kikaiju packaging (the shot that was used as a reference for the UniFive Garada), I think the chance of this Garada K7 being a prototype as well is very low. Popy would not have taken the trouble to make multiple prototypes of a supporting character such as Garada. Furthermore, the body has a launching gimmick, and the name and copyright information are printed on it as well. When considered from these points, it is my judgement that [the Garada featured in Gangu Jinsei] was a production model.

It's difficult to find Garada, but that doesn't mean it never turns up at all. I think that the frequency of sightings is the same as that of the "Gren Ghost" Kikaiju. And I've seen them many times at antique toy shops. The horns are ALWAYS broken, though.

Perhaps because there were a lot of complaints about the horns being breakable when the toy was originally sold, Popy decided to quickly end production. Because the Gren Ghost, which came out at the same time, is also difficult to find, there's also the possibility that the chest missile-launcher had problems as well."

Update 10.7.00: Added an image for all you horny bastards...

-- Matt

10.6.00: The Shame, the Shame...

Go ahead. Click on that thumbnail. Pretty demonic looking biomechanical kaiju, ain't it? What if I told you it's actually a gattai of two different beasties: a green, winged Kamen Rider look-a-like, and a blue horned Gojira-esque monster? Pretty keen, huh? What if I told you this was a Digimon toy?

Shocked? Feeling a little betrayed? Well, I gotta say, Bandai's putting some of it's best designers and engineers to work on this line. The show does actually feature giant monsters tearing up the skyline of Tokyo, so it's closer to classic kaiju fun than Pokemon. Really. Not that I've watched it or anything. Anyways, Paildromon (the fusion of Stingmon and XVmon) should be out in Japan at the end of this month for Y4800. Of course, there'll be a lower-priced domestic release within the next few months. Not that I really care. Honestly. Um...

-- Yappy

10.5.00: Ooga-Kuuga

Bandai releases more toys in its moderately successful Kamen Rider Kuuga line-up. Due in late October is the Hakaider-ish Ultimate Form Kuuga. Like the other "chogokin" Kuuga figures, this one will sport diecast armor on a mostly plastic body. It comes with three "ultimate" weapons and a figurine of Kuuga's rival, Go-Gadol-Ba.

Currently available are three new vinyl villains: Me-Giiga-Gi, Me-Bazis-Ba, and evil Kamen Rider Go-Badah-Ba.

-- Yappy

10.3.00: A Robot, and the Horse He Rode in on

The latest offering from Unifive's Cho Shin Gokin (Super True Gokin) line would make any Japanese toy enthusiast take notice. Daikyojin, from the Time Bokan series "Yattodetaman", may not be the best known or best loved super robot in Japanese fandom, but I humbly predict his stock is going up as a result of this toy ... MORE!

-- Darren & Yappy

10.3.00: Mirror, Mirror, on the 'Net ...

Tsubaraya Communications is re-releasing a huge run of old Bullmark Mirrorman vinyls! Who's Mirrorman? An obscure Ultraman-style live-action hero from the Seventies, that's who. Tsubaraya's hit on an interesting sales gimmick: these are going to be sold as "circulating limited-edition pieces," meaning that they're only going to be available at special events and periodically via the 'Net. The first run hit the public in a one-day-only sale on September 3rd; the next release date still hasn't been confirmed.

Included in the re-release are three sizes of Mirrorman himself, robot-bird "Inbera," the flaming-hot "Kittyfire," spacy "King Wanda," satanic "Gold Satan," and also "Sufenodon," "Taigan," "Dakuron," "Big Eye," and "Maruchi," who I don't have cute quips for.

-- Matt

10.3.00: Yippie Yamato

Remember Yamato's Triple Cast Yamato DX? (The names are a coincidence.) Yamato (the company) will sell an Andromeda DX, also from their Leiji Matsumoto Museum Series in late November. The Yamato DX will be re-released, as well.

The DX Triple Casts' lack of gimmicks almost warrants the "statue" category, but their diecast weight and detail makes them appealing to the chogokin lover. "Triple Cast", in this case, is a recipe for resin, diecast, and iron flake. Yummy!

-- Darren

10.3.00: Hot Sellers!

News agency Gantsu today reported the top-ranked, hot-selling toys in the past few months. The Bandai TimeRanger line of toys made it during April and May for total sales receipts. In July, the DX TimeShadow did well for number of units sold, and the MG Sazabi ranked for sales receipts. In August and September, Kamen Rider Kuuga vinyls scored well in units sold.

The real story here might be Tomy's Zoids toys. They consistently performed well in all categories the entire time. Go Zoids!

-- Darren

10.2.00: Gangu Jinsei: Garada Revealed

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Yep, five of 'em. But hey, Gangu Jinsei ("Toy Life") deserves it. I'm not normally one to obsess over toy-related books and magazines, but this is a special case. Not only does it contain the most comprehensive photo-essay on the Jumbo Machinder series I've ever seen, it's got ten juicy pages of pictures 'n prose detailing the history of the Diaclone series, a run-down of every Mirrorman vinyl ever made, and a full-color photographic field guide to the enemy robots from the first thirty episodes of "Red Baron." Pinch me, I'm dreaming! ... MORE!

-- Matt

10.2.00: Big Bad Zam

Bandai announces MSIA Big Zam to ship at the end of October for 5,800 yen (about USD 53). As expected, Big Zam will be in-scale with the other MSIA figures. Gimmicks: Uh, he's really, really big? Bandai, of course, will need to sell a "MAIA G-Armor" for Big Zam to fire his toe through.

-- Darren

10.1.00: Uh, Mattel-Gokin?

Bandai's partnership with Mattel is turning interesting. Presenting four new "minika" toys produced by Mattel for Bandai: the GUTS Machine Sherlock, New Cyclone, Hurricane, and TriChaser 2000. They are available now for 600 yen each. Ultra Hot Wheels, anyone? Actually, these are being called "Character Wheels", and there will be more of them. Hey, it's diecast!

Update 10.1.00: Forgot one -- the Pointer

-- Darren

10.1.00: Dunbine in Action

Japanese toy fan Katchy bring us great pictures of the new Aura Battler in Action Dunbine. Demonstrated are the AuraSword, AuraShot, flip-open cockpit, wings and backpack. He looks like a really fun and highly detailed little action figure.

-- Darren

10.1.00: V-Rex in the House

He's big. He's plastic. He's tacky. But it's all good. The latest mech from TimeRanger, V-Rex, comes to us as a remote-controlled DX toy that might just be a barrel full of fun. Wearing your big, tacky control bracelet on your wrist, you can command V-Rex to move, turn, or auto-transform into a big-assed mecha-dinosaur.

You may also remote-command his weapons, such as his launching fist and launching Revolver Missile. He can seat the DX TimeRobo (sold separately) on his back for the ride.

-- Darren

Previous | RUMBLE INDEX | Next