Clockwork Machina!

Japan 2008: Super Festival 48

While in Japan, I got a chance to check out another event, Super Festival 48. This event mainly focused on toys and figures, which is another hobby of mine. I first heard about this on Toybot Studios blog and decided it would be cool to check out before returning back to the States. SF48 had all types of toys ranging from American to Japanese kaiju to nostalgic items. Here are a couple of pictures I took at the event:

Some of the booths were selling garage kits.

Others were displaying their skills. Caught this pretty cool plug unit from Eva.

The model was so detailed that you could clearly see the pilots.

Here’s a shot of the attendees buying toys. Seems like there’s a small market for American toys. The booth in the picture were selling Transformer Animated figures.

Popsoda’s Many Many Many Mey Dynamite Custom Show.

Overall, I enjoyed my first figure event. It was the complete opposite compared to comiket, small, low key and less crowded. Hopefully, my next trip will allow me to go to another figure event like WF…if it comes back. You can check out the rest of the images at the bottom gallery. Enjoy!

Ishimori ProXPanson Works

Sweet! Ishimori Pro and Panson Works are collaborating on some blind box figures of their popular superheroes. These figures are a lot smaller then the previously posted Luffy figure standing at only 50mm. There’s a couple that I want looking at the roster line up like Kamen Rider RX, Kikaider, and Cyborg 009. The roster has 24 in all to collect and a secret figure. If any you out there are interested in buying Panson Work figures your best bet is on eBay or Hobby Search, as they are a bit hard to find here in the States. This particular line is already out and should be at stores soon.

Panson Works Luffy Vinyl Figure

Junpei bought this for me as a birthday present while we were at Frank&Sons this weekend. It’s a 40th anniversery Panson Works Luffy vinyl figure. Luffy is one of my favorite characters in manga and this iteration of figure combine both the graphical feel of vinyl toys that I like and anime. I’ve been looking into getting some more of these Panson Work figures, but it’s been kind of difficult as most of these are prizes for UFO catchers. I could order them online, but it seems they only sell in bulk.

Update: If you are interested in buying this lovely figure you can purchase him at Animeraro. They also have the rest of the Jump figures as well.

Vinyl Toy Network Spring 2008

Vinyl Toy Network is having their Spring event this Sunday, May 4th from 10am to 5:30pm. It’s all happening at the Pasadena Convention Center, where it’ll be filled with vendors and artist selling vinyl toys. There will also be exclusives available for purchase from the many outlets attending. Some of the special guest artist that are going to show are Amanda Visell, Sket One, Miss Mindy, Cameron Tiede and John K (wondering if thats R&S’s John K?). The event will also be holding two panels “Turning 2D into 3D: My Character has an Ass?” and “Why Vinyl Toys Art and Not Just Toys”.

Seems like cool event and definitely worth checking out. Expect a event review from CM!.

image via: VinylPulse

Monster Hunter 2ndGxTouma

I found this while reading the One up blog. Capcom and vinyl toy artist Touma is teaming up to make these cool Monster Hunter 2nd G cat figures (I think the name is Airu?). From what I saw of the trailer, these characters can now assist you in combat when hunting for monsters and do other variation of things. The figures stand about 3.5 inches tall and are expected to come out sometime around May. You can also preorder them at Hobby Search, since these maybe hard to find.

CM! in Nakano: ONE UP Store

The other day, I was able to meet up with a friend in Nakano where he accompanied to the famous vinyl toy store One Up. I was really looking forward to this, since One Up had vinyl toys which are hard to find in the states. The first impression of the store was the size. Its very small, but the display cases are lined up and compacted with some awesome toys. Everything that is displayed at the website was displayed in the cases. This made it easy to choose which toys I wanted and left me running for the ATM.

Ultraman X Touma Gashapon

Touma is designing gashapon toys for the Ultraman series. The sculpts are looking pretty cool given each character has some sort Touma emphasized design. These line of toys are set to come out in March’08 and One Up is taking preorders costing 4,200円 for the entire set.

Talking about One Up, I got a chance to visit the store yesterday and will write a report on it soon with my visit to Nakano.

Bearbrick: Eva and…Berserk?

There’s been some preview images floating around on the net showing the new bearbrick series. I’m usually not a fan of the series but there are two designs that just might make me want to get them. The first one is called SF which is obviously EVA-001 and in the second picture is what I assume to Guts from Berserk? What do you think?

You can see the rest of the series at ToyBeast.

Touma@Mixi-Bang! 11/10/2007

If you’re tired of the Murakami@the MOCA or constantly watching Sasahara and uke Madarame man-handle each other from this week’s episode of Genshiken. Then head over to Mixi-bang! where fame vinyl figure artist Touma, is having a figure release event this weekend. He’ll be introducing some limited and rare figures for attendees. VinylPulse released some images of the available figures for this Saturday. I’m tempted to get the Skuttle X figure…

Glow in the Dark Fang Wolf and Bonga Konga:

Skuttle X:

Papitz:

Tim Tsui Da Minci Gallery@Mixi-Bang

If you happen to be in the Pasadena area, the vinyl store mixi-bang! is currently exhibiting Tim Tsui’s new Da Minci’s figures. These new ape figures are a collaboration between Tim Tsui x GreyOne x Soulassasin. Tim Tsui, is a considered to be one of the most popular artists in the world of urban vinyl. The sculpts are solid and visually appeasing unlike many on the market right now. The luring factor of the gallery was the custom “Hero” Da Minci’s. Crafted by Tim himself, these figures included Japanese and American pop culture heroes. I got a chance to slip out of work to take a look at the gallery and snap some pictures (excuse the reflections in the case). Enjoy!