Our natural instinct is to open up our Gashapon capsules ASAP, but it’s not so simple here.
gashapon
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We sent a reporter to go gamble for a genuine gachapon gem.
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Because who knows how many little kids and giant otaku have put their hands on that machine since the last time it was cleaned?
The beloved capsule toy machines are catching up to the times by losing the coin element of the transaction.
Welcome to Volume No. 35,000,000 of More Sailor Moon Stuff You Didn’t Know You Needed Until Now!
Better move the compacts, communicators, and charms aside to make some room for yet another Sailor Moon item nobody needs, but we all want!
What’s brown, lumpy, and can now be purchased via capsule toy machines in Japan? If you guessed “a turd,” then you have a gross mind, but are also entirely correct!
A rubber suit monster, surreal humor, and a heaping helping of sexual subtext that has nothing to do with the product itself? This might be the alpha and the omega of Japanese commercials.
Last week Bandai hinted that they would be announcing something big in their line of Gashapon capsule toy machines. Thinking I’ve seen it all in the capsule toy world I didn’t give it much attention. I figured it was probably just another series of sushi-cat hybrids or sausages shaped like giant isopods, same old same old.
It would seem I was wrong. Actually, Bandai did have something big up their sleeve and will be soon offering their line of capsule toys for random purchase from anywhere you happen to be holding your smartphone. That’s because next month they’ll be doing test runs on the sophisticatedly named Net de Capsule: remote operated Gashapon machines accessible over the internet.
Yes, we love our gashapon toys here in Japan. They’re inexpensive, readily available, and we can’t seem to get enough of them… especially if they’re cute, sparkly miniature Sailor Moon transformation toys!
That’s right — back by popular demand, toy manufacturer (and apparently all-round good guys) Bandai will be re-releasing the “Sailor Moon Transformation Compact Mirror” and the “Sailor Moon Stick and Rod” series of miniature toys, and with the intricate details and bright colors that are sure to capture fans’ hearts, they’re every bit as magically charming as they were before!
It’s no secret that here at RocketNews24 we are pretty big fans of vending machine toys. One the few capsule toys that’s broken out of the vending machine is Cup no Fuchiko. The adorable, demure little plastic lady who sits on the edge of your cup took Japan by storm two years ago, and can now be found in department and gift stores across the country.
You might be forgiven for thinking that this new little-girl version, named Cup no Kado no Gurimi-chan, was an official product from the makers of Fuchiko. Until you notice their tagline: “Don’t sue us!!”…
Yep, Gurimi-chan is pretty weird, in all kinds of ways.
One of the most symbolic foods of the Japanese winter season is the grilled mochi rice cake. You set up a charcoal grill and put a few slabs of pounded white mochi on it. After a while, the mochi will soften, blow up, and eventually become a warm, golden brown gooey delight that is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside like a kind of savory marshmallow.
But what happens when you combine cute fluffy animals with these grilled mochi? Well, toy maker Bandai has the answer for us in this series of adorable mochi anime capsule toys!
Hanko are little name stamps used in Japan in place of a signature when receiving a parcel, authorising a document or filling in just about any kind of form. Being official identity markers, most hanko stamps are pretty boring – just your last name written in kanji.
These new Hanko-san (Mr. Hanko) stamps are designed to be used together with your existing hanko, allowing you to turn your seal into a little message that will bring a bit of spark to the drudgery of your working day. And they’re coming soon to a gashapon machine near you!
We all love a good gashapon capsule toy. But whether it’s One Piece characters or doggy bread, getting more than one of the same toy is usually a disappointment. No wonder some collectors skip the vending machine step altogether and buy completed sets second-hand. Duplicates are no fun.
There’s one Japanese toy company that flips that idea on its head, however. Unlike conventional capsule toys, Epoch’s scale models actually look better the more identical items you have! And these miniatures of seemingly mundane items such as school desks, shopping trolleys and folding chairs have proved a runaway hit.
So when our reporter Mr. Sato heard about the latest capsule item from Epoch, he immediately grabbed a bunch of hundred-yen coins and headed out to start collecting…miniature cinema chairs! Here’s what he found.
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