Kaiju Korner

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Wonder Festival 2011 (Winter) / ワンダーフェスティバル 2011［冬］

Wonder Festival is the mother of all Japanese toy shows. With hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of toys across dozens of genres, it's a numbers game that leaves your head spinning and feet aching. An average of 40,000 fans attend the event, vying for mouth watering exclusives from their favorite companies.

Wonder Festival is held at the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, which is to the east of Tokyo.

Wonderfest this way....

This is Kaiju Korner's biggest coverage ever. After the jump, we've got 300 photos for you. Let's go....

New from Shinto Gangu (2.3.2011 - 2.5.2011)

This week saw an absolutely outrageous explosion of sofubi brilliance from Real x Head. And it was across so many characters: Mutant Chaos, Beast Chaos, mini Eel Chaos, Fortune Cat, mini Fortune Cat, ChaoQ, and Chaos Bean. Just the last 3 days alone have been epic.

Today's releases:

More after the jump:

Pachisummit Winter 2011

Pachisummit events are rather legendary. They double as part talk show (featuring cheesy toy knock offs) and part toy release events.

First, a bit about the naming of things. "Pachi" means "fake" in Japanese, and "pachi kaiju" either refers to bootlegs of movie, TV, or print monsters. (The term is also sometimes used, in a derogatory sense, to refer to indy sofubi.)

Pachisummit events typically start with a 1-1.5 hour-long show, during which people order drinks and food (and collect lottery ticks in the process). After the show, there's a lottery draw, and a lucky few get free toys supplied by participating sofubi makers. Finally there's a toy bazaar, where toy makers release short-run figures. Click here for my report of a previous event.

OK, so that's a typical Pachisummit. Today's was basically Part 1 only. Tickets were 1,000 yen.

We knew in advance there wouldn't be toys, and one wondered if that would affect turnout. But as it turned out, the place was absolutely packed with more than 50 people filling every seat in the tiny bar. Looks like people were really into it (especially the opening 20 minutes), which shows the event's draw goes beyond hardcore indy toy collectors.

More after the jump:

Sci-Fi Revoltech figures - kaiju and more!

Though not sofubi, these figures from Sci-Fi Revoltech certainly deserve their own spotlight. The line covers classic kaiju, anime, horror, film, and other characters, and every figure is fantastically detailed.

Here are pics of a store display of the figures in action, including some fantastic diorama building:

More after the jump:

Kaiju Korner at Wonderfestival

Just a quick heads up that Kaiju Korner is planning to cover Wonderfestival this Sunday, focusing on the day's releases from Sunguts, Dream Rockets, Gargamel, Max Toy, M1, Ilanena, and the other sofubi companies in attendance - plus whatever other interesting figures, companies, and personalities are out and about. Expect another picapalooza!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

New from Shinto Gangu (2.2.2011)

First and foremost, congratulations to Mori, Real Head, and Shinto Gangu on the store's third anniversary!! Yesterday was the official date, but today was the first day of the store's new year. May there be many more ahead!!

Here's today's release:

Yet another gorgeous Chaos. This one, which Mori calls "Hedora Chaos," is on a clear purple base.

More after the jump:

Coming up: Coverage of Ilanena's 10th Anniversary Dai Kaiju Card Monsters Custom Show

On 2/8, a new show, curated by Ilanena to mark his 10th anniversary - **Congratulations!!** - will open in Tokyo at the Alternative Cafe in Nakano (nice place, by the way - good beer!)

The show will feature dozens of artists' interpretations of Ilanena's classic Dai Kaiju Card Monsters set. All designs will be by international artists including Paul Kaiju, Mark Nagata, and Kaiju Korner's own Irene Fu! (designer of the KK logo among other beautiful works)

The show will also feature a display of past Dai Kaiju Card Monsters sets. We've had the pleasure of releasing 2 exclusive sets on Kaiju Korner. It will be nice to see them up there with Ilanena's many other gorgeous works!

Kaiju Korner will be at the show to bring you full coverage of the event on opening day. Looks like it's going to be a great show!

Venue: Alternative Cafe (On Waseda Dori - just to the northeast of Nakano Broadway)
Show Dates: February 8-20
Party: February 11, 6:00 PM

Monday, January 31, 2011

Gorgeous Booska + Chamegon set

Spotted in Akihabara:

Sunday, January 30, 2011

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:

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!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

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:

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.