Gorgeous Booska + Chamegon set

Spotted in Akihabara:

Rebel Inks spotted at Secret Base

Some snaps from the Base:

More after the jump:

Medicom 1/6 Valentine's Day figures

Spotted at the 1/6 Medicom flagship store:

 More after the jump:

New Real Head character: Tanuki

Mori hand painted this sample Tanuki.

This is Real Head's take on Tanuki, a famous mythical character from Japan. Along with Peko-chan (little girl mascot for candy company) and Sato-chan (orange elephant mascot for pharmacy), Tanuki is one of the most ubiquitous images in Japan.

You'll see statues of the folklore character in front of many restaurants. You can also read about a Tanuki in the famous children's story Bunbuku Chagama, which is one of the first stories I read. (You can pick up a copy for aronnd 200 yen in front of most bookshops. It's great reading practice and written at a 5 year-old's reading level, with very little kanji.)

Anyway, back on track. RxH's Tanuki is a one-piece mini - about 2.5 inches tall. Mori said we might see the first release version within a month or two. It will be interesting to see if RxH carries on with more mini folklore characters like Kappa, Oni, or Kitsune. Good times ahead!

New from Shinto Gangu (1.29.2011)

 New releases:

Beautiful Chaos released today. The figure is on a clear purple body with a complex design and nice color balance. The paint app pretty much has it all: matte and metallic paints, solid sprays and fine mists, and gorgeous color transitions and oversprays. It all works together really well, and you can almost read a "Chaos Mook" in the figure, with design elements from 2005-11, across the history of the figure.

This shot shows off the clear body.

New Mini Cats

 More after the jump:

Visit to Cosmo Knight Alpha (aka The Bemon Shop)

Cosmo Knight Alpha is something of a venerable old school toy shop. It's small, packed to the rafters with toys, and known as the "place to get Bemon figures."

CKA is located in Ekoda, a sleepy place on the Seibu Ikebukuro line (3 stops from Ikebukuro). The shop mostly sells vintage kaiju and indy sofubi. It's also the place where, in the past anyway, you could roll up with a tiny shot at getting a Bemon. Well, that's not so easy anymore. There's no telling when new figures will drop (it's not even clear that they're being sold through the shop anymore).

Some are sold via "official" auctions on Yahoo Japan, such as a recent Two Head that went for a fortune a few days ago.

The moral of the story is go there to check out previous releases, but don't expect to find any for sale. That being said, there's tons of other sofubi to choose from. Plus, the display case is awesome.

For display only.

 More after the jump:

New from Uamou (1.29.2011)

 New releases:

These are doubled poured GID vinyl.

 More after the jump:

Max Toys figures spotted at One Up (Nakano Broadway)

 Nice selection of minis and larger figs:

More after the jump:

Upcoming Max Toy releases at Wonderfes!

Winter Wonderfestival (Feb 6) is just around the corner! News from companies is pouring in, and the range of offerings keeps growing! Here are the planned Max Toy WF releases:

Super limited Rumble Monster paint apps!

Matching Max Toy minis!

Interesting out of the box Argus design by Mark Nagata!

I have a few Max Toy T's. Always very good quality!

The Max Toy booth number is number 3-04-08. Check em out!

New from Shinto Gangu (1.27.2011)

 Today's releases:

One of the best Chaos Nexts yet. Gorgeous black, white, and pink spray on pink base + multi-colored head spray.

Delicious trio of beans!

Awesome vintage kaiju trio

Spotted the other day....

Love this Buruda!

Upcoming sofubi from RESTORE!

Abe from RESTORE sent us this illustration of one of his characters that he hopes to turn into a sofubi figure. If all goes as planned, the strings of paper hanging from his horn will be made of paper!

Coming up from US Toys!

Our friends at US Toys sent us these pics of upcoming minis. They'll be released at the 2011 Winter Wonderfestival on Feb 6.

Red King - 2100 yen. (height: 85 mm)

Bemura - 2100 yen. (height: 85 mm)

US Toys' booth at WF will be 2-18-16. Check em out!

Land of the Gigantor Playmobil Toys!

I guess a lot of Japanese collectors are really into Playmobil! Which is cool since it looks like a great line. Here's another shop set up, at Nakano Broadway:

 More pics after the jump:

Triple Rainbow...

Spotted some really cool Rainbow toys at Mandarake. I love the integration of the abstract and the more "standard" forms/bodies!

Mandarake Playmobil Display

The various Mandarake shops sometimes put up really cool displays in their front windows. Sometimes the toys have price tags, so I guess they're for sale. Other times it's just a bunch of toys up on display. Of course, over the years sofubi collectors have drooled over the Not For Sale indy sofubi displays at the Shibuya and Nakano branches.

Here's the newest window display, which I thought was pretty cool: Playmobil.

More after the jump.

New from Shinto Gangu (1.22.2011)

 Today's release:

 More store shots:

justice is blind!

yesterday's mini fortune cat

New from Shinto Gangu (1.19.2011)

 New releases:

More after the jump:

New from Shinto Gangu (1.15.11)

 New releases:

GID Callgrim. (May have been released yesterday.)

More after the jump.

New from Shinto Gangu (1.13.2011)

 New releases:

This Beast Chaos is double poured vinyl. The second layer is GID.

These mini Fortune cats are also doubled poured, with a layer of GID vinyl.

More after the jump.

HG at Nakano Broadway

File this one under J-pop culture.

I've learned you never know who you're going to see in Nakano Broadway. This afternoon I met Hard Gay standing in front of a shop across from Bow Wow. He had a TV crew with him, so I think they're puting together a piece.

I asked him, "Anata wa Hado Gay desuka?"
He answered, in English, "You know?"

LOL, then I snapped a couple of shots. I think the film crew took some footage of me talking to him, so it might wind up on a TV show. :p

The dude is tall!

BTW, I wasn't sure it was him until I saw the "HG" on his cap. ;-)

Uamou x Callgrim x Glyos

The other day, I paid a visit to Uamou (Ayako Tagaki) at her studio. She showed me some customs sent to her by the forces behind Glyos and Callgrim and was kind enough to let me snap some shots.

Lots of closeups after the jump.

More info about Ilu Ilu

Ilu Ilu has created a lot of buzz in the sofubi world since his debut appearance at yesterday's Superfestival 55.

Altered Man

The figures are about 5" tall. The arms, legs,and head are articulated. Altered Man comes with additional inserts you can pop in and out by separating the figure at the waist. The inserts are reversible, so you get a total of four different chest designs. The figure also comes with a clear, removable helmet.

The subtle detailing on the figures is impressive. (For example, Altered Man is wearing tennis shoes!) The mini figures are meticulously sculpted.

Neo Gorilla

Ilu Ilu is a one-man operation. The figures were sculpted and painted by one guy - 扳口明宏 (Akihiro Sakaguchi)- who lives in Kobe. He also designed the packaging, which is impressive, especially for Neo Gorilla and the 8 mini figure set.

I was told Sakaguchi-san works as a professional packaging designer. This is the kind of creative synergy I love. We're lucky that his knowledge of software, materials, and production methods is being put to great use with his new sofubi line!

8 figure mini set.

Here are the original prices of the figures:

Altered Man: 4900 yen
Neo Gorilla: 5900 yen
Aban (mini figures): 800 yen
Set of 8 minis with backing display: 6400 yen

I asked when his next show would be, but he wasn't sure. Hopefully soon!