Syntrend Toy, Video Game, and Hobby Mall in Taipei, Taiwan

Very recently, a new mall, called Syntrend, opened in Taipei. It's right next to Taiwan's most famous computer mall - Guang Hua Market.

Syntrend Mall

The 6th floor of Syntrend Mall is dedicated to toys, video games, model building, and other hobbies. There's a nice variety, including US, Japanese, and other goods.

First up, some location details:

Chinese Address:  台北市中正區市民大道三段2號
English Address: No. 2, Civic Blvd, Section 3, Zhong Zheng District, Taipei
Map: Click here for a Google Map

Here are a bunch of pics of what you might see when shopping there:

 More after the jump:

AMAZING Collection of Asahi Sonorama Ace Puppy Book + Record sets from the 1970s

Recently, a fantastic collection of vintage book + record sets went on sale in Tokyo. These are from the 1970s, and they belong to a series put out by Asahi called the Sonorama Ace Puppy series. I think it's the best series from the decade, given its incredible variety and overall quality.

Sonorama Ace Puppy covers the big guns (Ultraman, Mazinger Z, Godzilla) as well as fairly obscure shows like Diamond Eye (tokusatsu), Jim Button (anime), and Gaijin 20 Looks (some type of TV drama with a masked Westerner dressed like a magician).

I filmed the collection here:

Star Wars x Lotte Bikkuriman Special Edition set with prizes!

Lotte has just released its third wave of Star Wars Bikkuriman stickers. This is labeled the "Special Edition" series. Original trilogy purists can rest easy. There's no Jabba in the hanger deck, CG alien singers, or Greedo shooting first. The set is basically a medley of the six movies that have come out, with a number of interesting monochrome and gold designs added in.

Like the previous Star Wars Bikkuriman sets, there are two packaging variants:

 Closeups:

 More after the jump:

Star Wars in Japan - The Freebies Awaken!

We are in full force Star Wars beast mode right now, and the boom is in full stride. In Japan, one of the traditions of these booms is freebies. This goes back to the first film:

On the left-hand side of the Japanese issue of Star Wars #1, you can see an ad for Morinaga caramel. It's an old company that is still going strong. Back in the day (in 1978), they released a big series of candy premium toys. You'd get one in each box of Star Wars branded caramels.

Back to the present, let's look at some modern giveaways and store promotions for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Furuta

Furuta is another company that has been stashing toys in sweets for a long time.

For these, the toy is literally inside a chocolate egg.

Well, it's inside this inner egg.

 More after the jump: