Real x Head toys at Tokyu Hands

Indie toy makers are becoming very crafty at getting their figures into big box stores. Some months back, I reported on stumbling on toys from Gargamel and other makers at Kinokuniya, a fairly mainstream toy company with a multi-level complex in Akihabara. After that I came across a sizeable stash of indie toys in Ueno at Yamashiroya, a venerable staple of the mainstream toy scene.

Then yesterday, Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro started selling Real Head toys. (The gargantuan shop's new toy corner also has figures from Medicom and other outlets, which I'll get to down the line when I do a write up on the store.)

The Real Head offerings are not comprehensive - just some minis and regular sized Fortune Cats are represented - but the display is prominent and eye catching, and it's almost certain to turn more people onto the line. The question being, how will those people go from impulse buyer to interested collector, since there's no DM, literature, brochure, or other information posted to teach consumers about the line.

Anyway, marketing has always been a weak point of a lot of indie outfits, and it's likely there are restrictions placed by Tokyu Hands. But this would be the perfect case where going back to using header cards could yield massive dividends in educating consumers about the brand.

Here are more pics of the display:

More after the jump:

Nice Tanukis

Interested passerby. Iconic Japanese memes like Fortune Cats and tanukis are real draws and help bridge the gap (which we're all familiar with) that prevents so many people from getting into indie toys..