Ippei Kuri Artwork and New Book

For more than half a century, through manga, anime TV shows, and movies, Ippei Kuri (九里 一平) has worked as a character creator, artist, animator, director, and producer. Through Tatsunoko Pro, which he cofounded with his brothers in 1962, Kuri-san has been part of the creation and production of many famous stories, including Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Casshan, Hutch the Honeybee, Robotech, and a long list of others. IMDB lists his impressive achievements.

On the fourth floor of Nakano Broadway, there's a nice homage to the master's work, as part of a rollout of his new book.

Digital prints:

 More after the jump:

Godzilla vs. Evangelion Dried Ramen Snacks

As a tie-in promotion with the Shin Godzilla movie, the makers of "Baby Star" dried ramen have released a really cool two pack featuring Japan's most famous kaiju vs. one of its most famous anime mecha characters.

More after the jump:

Huge Assortment of Japanese Tin Toys

I spotted this massive assortment of tin toys in Tokyo. They're modern versions by companies like Billiken. Here's a video, followed by some still photos.

Excellent Hedorah Sofubi Exhibit

I recently saw an excellent exhibit of Hedorah sofubi figures. Here are pics:

 More after the jump:

SDCC 2016: Interview with Super7's Brian Flynn

Super7's owner Brian Flynn talks about Masters of the Universe toys and animation, Alien, The Worst, sofubi toys, and more.

SDCC 2016: Interview with Dweores creator John Ottinger

Dweores was one of the more interesting indie toy booths at SDCC 2016. I spent a few minutes talking with Dweores founder John Ottinger about his toys, books, and plans for the future.

SDCC 2016: Indie Toys

Welcome to Kaiju Korner's indie toy report for SDCC 2016!

At the show, there were dozens of indie toy vendors. In addition to larger booths like Tokidoki, Bait, Super7, and Funko, a number of perennials returned, including DKE, Kidrobot, October Toys, Rotofugi, and others. Plus there were a number of relatively new companies on the scene, like Dweores and Hyperactive Monkey.

Here's a look at their booths and toy releases, alphabetically as always:

Bait

Bait, with a consistently well stocked booth with lots of exclusives from different toy makers, seems to have a loyal fan base.

 170 pics after the jump:

SDCC 2016: The Man in the High Castle Museum

The Man in the High Castle is an Amazon TV show based on the Philip K. Dick novel. It's something of a "What If" concept: What if Japan and Germany had won World War II, colonized the USA, and divided the country into two halves: one for Germany and the other for Japan.

At SDCC this year, Amazon put together an excellent display of props from the show, in a building across from the convention center. Here's a look inside, starting with the Japan side of occupied America:

Original outfit from the show

The screen looped one of the mysterious films central to the plot.

 More after the jump:

SDCC 2016: Skeletor's Lair by Super7

During SDCC, Super7 once again turned their San Diego shop into Skeletor's Lair - a place to check out and buy new He Man goods. To gain entrance, you picked up a token from the Super7 booth inside the convention center.

On preview night, in the parking lot across from the shop, Super7 premiered a new He Man cartoon: The Curse of the Three Terrors. The cartoon, the first new He Man animation in some 30 years, was created and produced by Super7.

An interesting note about the cartoon: some of the backgrounds were originals from the 1980s Funmation series. Super7 once again proved their toy sleuthing prowess, tracking the backgrounds down in private collections.

 Josh Herbolsheimer, who works at Super7 and designs toys, voiced Beastman.

 This Terror has a resemblance to Josh's Earth Wolf.

 Now let's take a look inside the store:

Very big crowd on hand for the opening. (The line to get in snaked around the corner.)

 More after the jump:

SDCC 2016: Varner Studios - Toy Sculpts and Prototypes

Varner Studios' booth is another of my favorite stops at SDCC. Using digital sculpting software, they're responsible for making toys for some of the world's biggest properties, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, My Little Pony, Star Trek, and many more.

They always bring multiple shelves full of prototypes, some of which are arranged to show what's involved with bringing a toy to life from the sculpting to the packaging stages.

Here's a look at their cases:

 More after the jump:

SDCC 2016: DC Costumes

Supergirl costume from the new TV show

We kick off our SDCC 2016 coverage with a look at the DC booth. It's become one of my favorite booths at the show, with lots of giveaways (posters, comics, buttons, etc.), signings (Jim Lee and Grant Morrison are regulars, and the cast of Suicide Squad made an appearance this year), as well as excellent displays of costumes worn in DC TV shows and movies from the past 40 years.

Here's a look at the outfits on display this year:

Also from TV: Arrow

 More after the jump:

One Piece "Kuji" lottery toy sales

From time to time I like to cover the interesting "kuji" lottery sales at convenience stores. They're sort of "flash sales," since they tend to only last a couple of weeks. The latest kuji sale is for One Piece items.

Purchasing ticket

The way they work is you pick up a ticket from the display. Then you take it to a register, pay 650 yen, and choose a card from a box.

Display stand

The card has a letter on it. telling you which toy or other item you get. A is the best toy, and then B, C, etc. until H or I.

The top prizes are One Piece statues. These can be pretty expensive, so "winning" one for 650 yen is a good deal.

 More after the jump:

Toys & Life in Residential Japan: Potted Plants Filled with Toys

Toys and characters are a big part of life in Japan. It's much more common to see an Ultraman or Kamen Rider promotional tie in than, say, something from the latest movie. So you see posters, signs, and all sorts of other things related to Japan's character kings like Mario, Doraemon, Godzilla, Pikachu - the list goes on and on...

People in Japan like putting little statuettes (toys, animal sculptures, etc.) in front of their houses. Sometimes you'll even see them cemented onto walls and fences. Recently, I came across a home that tops them all. In front, there were dozens of little toys stuffed into planters, like a mini display being shared with everyone passing by.

Here's a video I shot:

ThreeZero Toy Show at Pixiv Zingaro Gallery in Tokyo, Japan

ThreeZero Mazinger Z

The Pixiv Zingaro Gallery has an ongoing exhibition of ThreeZero toys.

The Pixiv Zingaro gallery is inside the Nakano Broadway mall.

The super-detailed figures from the standout Hong Kong company are based on a variety of licensed characters from anime, video games, and elsewhere.

Getter 1 from Getter Robo

Iron King from Zoids

A lot of figures are for sale, including 4 figures which are exclusive to the show.

T-45 Power Armor from Fallout 4

All of the figures have an amazing sense of realism and detail.

Full Metal Ghost Captain Form

Here's a video I shot of the show: