Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 2, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars 
Medicom Toy is one of the cooler Japanese hobby companies which has an beautiful series of super realistically rendered figurines known as Real Action Heroes. This series is based upon well known licensed media properties and in the past they’ve put out figures for everything from Dragonball Z to Indian Jones. And they have just branched into Star Wars — shown above is the Real Action Heroes #494 Star Wars R2-D2 and shown below is the Real Action Heroes #493 Star Wars C-3PO: Read more…
Tags: C-3PO, Japan, R2-D2, Robots, Star Wars
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 1, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
So many times fans only think of manga as being focused on either romance or supernatural martial arts, but that’s not always the case: For example the manga series Worst (ワースト) by Hiroshi Takahashi shows the world of Japanese biker gangs — a genre which is quite under appreciated abroad. This limited edition figurine does a amazing job of capturing all of nice little details of Japanese biker culture which is portrayed in the manga series. Worst is very popular in Japan, in fact you can a wide range of merchandise based on the manga from gang rings to sun glasses. Read more…
Tags: figurine, Japan, manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 30, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Trek 
I am blown away by the quality of this virtual Lego Klingon Bird of Prey by Kevin J. Walter. This virtual model features 274,350 parts, would be 516 centimeters long and was rendered with the help of Eric Albrecht. This staggering project took more than two years to complete: Read more…
Tags: Klingons, Lego
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 29, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
As much as it’s loved by kids everywhere I’ve got to say that Ben 10 has never really won me over, there’s something very generic feeling about the show to me. However recently while wondering around my hood in Brooklyn I came across an amazing set of eight capsule Ben 10 toys that blew me away. I tend not to expect much from American gashapon when put next to what the Japanese produce — however the level of detail on this collection of monsters and robots was quite good: Read more…
Tags: Ben 10, gashapon
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 27, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
With the anime series set to launch in April the folks behind the Nendoroids have decided to introduce a Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter. Sculpted by master craftsman Abe Masato this Nendoroid features extra hair parts based upon the illustrations of HUKE. Here’s a preview of the anime series to give you a taste of the show: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Japan, Nendoroid
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 26, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
If you grew up on Star Blazers, Galaxy Expresss 999 and Captain Harlock you may want to think of sporting the Leiji Matsumoto Romantic Collection Watch on your wrist. I have to say that this beautiful timepiece really captures the look of Matsumoto mecha — it looks like a spare widget from the bridge of the Yamato or the Arcadia. Of course you may need to be a rocket scientist to actually read the watch as it features “quadrants have been demarcated with lines along with more minute lines which delineate the seconds”: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Japan, Leiji Matsumoto
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 24, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Pulp Fiction 
At over $200 this Nightmares of H.P. Lovecraft Dagon Statue is not for the casual fan looking for a bit of Cthulhu decoration for the library. Although looking at statues like this takes away the joy of H.P. Lovecraft for me — you see I was lucky enough to read a dusty old copy of At the Mountains of Madness and what I love about the style of writing is that it’s so packed with detail that your mind paints its own pictures. So seeing a Cthulhu hanging out in your living room takes away a bit of magic from those mountains of madness.
Tags: H. P. Lovecraft
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 23, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
Kikyo was cuter. Much cuter! It’s hard for me to believe it but to many anime fans Inuyasha is thought of as old school anime at this point — the show went on the air almost ten years ago in October of 2000. So for me it was a pleasant surprise to see this wonderful figurine of Kikyo which is produced by the BOME modeling house. From what I can gather from my source article is that this figurine first came out in 2009 as a limited edition but will be re-issued in June. Read more…
Tags: Anime, figurine, Inuyasha, Japan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 20, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections 
Yes technically this is the Hello Kitty Kitchen Spice Rack however judging by the icons kitty has a bit of a sweet tooth as there are clearly symbols for cupcakes, coffee and jam! My guess is that you should put in sprinkles into the cupcake canister, hazelnut into the coffee canister (or maybe sugar?) and I still haven’t figured out why you’d have a strawberry jam icon in a spice rack. All in all there are eight containers — two of which come pre-filled with salt and pepper. Bien manger manquez chat!
Tags: Hello Kitty, Japan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 19, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
Domokun has many adventures — and for this set of goodies he’s joined the cast of the Japanese costume drama show Ryomaden. The story is based upon the life of Sakamoto Ryōma (坂本 龍馬) who lived in the 19th Century and played a key role in keeping Japan united while allowing for the creation of a modern government which will allow it to avoid be colonized by foreign powers. Ryōma was very much in love with technology, so I think he’d love the idea of westerners learning about his life story via the internet (although I’m not sure how he’d feel about Domo). Read more…
Tags: Domo, Japan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 16, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
I was brought up with the belief that coffee isn’t for kids — of course as an adult I see that this was a clever plot to keep more of the good stuff for the grownups who are so addicted to it. So I was a bit surprised to see a line of coffee beverages from Japan designed just for kids! On March 22nd in Japan Pokka will be introducing Café-au-lait Flavor Kizzukafe which features characters from the anime series Penguin Problems: Read more…
Tags: Anime, coffee, Japan, manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 15, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
As of today the latest Uniqlo anime themed t-shirts are hitting the street — this latest batch includes shirts based on old school favorites Galaxy Express 999, Saint Seiya, Dr. Slump, Dragonball and Devilman. In April a new set of shirts will be released which will be based on Cobra, One Piece and Mazinger Z. Here are the Devilman shirts: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Devilman, Dr. Slump, Dragonball, Galaxy Express 999, Leiji Matsumoto, Saint Seiya, t-shirt
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 13, 2010 in
Cinema,
Fandom,
Hobbies and Collections 
For his day gig Tommy Williamson professional artist working in the motion picture industry, but for fun he likes to play with Legos: His latest creation is this wonderful Alice in Wonderland tribute. What’s brilliant about his sculpture is how few bricks that he used to capture the likeness of the Mad Hatter and Alice: Read more…
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Lego
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 11, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars 
For decades fanboy wine connoisseurs have debated if Star Wars works best while enjoying the red or white wine — but alas the idea of opening up multiple bottles to see what goes best with each film could be quite wasteful. So coolstoppers.com have solved this issue by creating a series of Star Wars wine stoppers: So you can have the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Han Solo and a Stormtrooper guarding your vino. Read more…
Tags: Han Solo, Obiwan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Stormtroopers
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 10, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Tech 
In the real world there are working dogs who have been bred to perform a specific task — and Dodobongo is not based on any of those canines! The entire “purpose” of USB Dodobongo is to entertain geeks. By plugging Dodobongo port (because geeks have so many free ports) your reward is to watch him bark, run or move his head. Sadly this cute critter is designed for the Japanese market, so I’m not 100% sure that all of his tricks will work for you: Read more…
Tags: Japan, USB device
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 8, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
If you’re a fan of horror manga you’re going to like this: Shown above is a GeGeGe no Kitaro collectable which is from a larger line of monster balls. The first set of these goodies will go on sale in Japan on May 6th and there are plans to create 120 for the full series. Below are the first eight which will be released: Kitaro, Nezumi Otoko, Neko Musume, Nurikabe, Medama-oyaji, Ittan Momen, Konaki Jijii, and Sunakake Babaa: Read more…
Tags: GeGeGe no Kitaro, Japan, manga, monsters
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
Natsume's Book of Friends
Ah yes we’ve seen it all before — the parade of countless sexy figurines from Japan
aimed at fanboys who seem intent on scaring away any potential girlfriends. Well now figurine maker Alter in Japan is trying something new for a change: A new series of figurines for fangurls! The first in this series will be the character Takashi Natsume (夏目 貴志) and his mysterious feline spirit Nyanko-sensei (ニャンコ先生) from the manga series
Natsume’s Book of Friends (夏目友人帳). In the manga Takashi has the ability to see spirits and spends his time working with them. A translation is available for the series from Viz and last year and
an anime series was produced based on the title. As for our figurine, he’ll be out in October and available for ¥7140.
Read more…
Tags: shōjo manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars,
Tech 
In Star Wars the All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) is an instrument of evil — however this clever variation is a techies best friend for hiding unsightly power strips. The AT-AT Cable Tidy is a do-it-yourself kit that you assemble yourself and the final model has adjustable legs which you you can pose: Read more…
Tags: AT-AT
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 4, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars 
As a Star Wars fanboy I’m quite impressed with the level of detail in this Kubrick Star Wars DX Series 1 which is based on Return of the Jedi. Featured in the set are Luke Skywalker as a Jedi Knight, C-3PO & Salacious B. Crumb, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Amanaman the bounty hunter, Bib Fortuna and extra parts to build a Jabba the Hutt! These goodies will be shipping around the end of June however pre-orders are already being accepted. Read more…
Tags: C-3PO, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Return of the Jedi, Urban Toys
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 3, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
Least we think that only fanboys grow up to yearn for their youth behold the collection of chopsticks aimed at fangurls who grew up in the 80s with the countless magical girl anime series of that era! Shown above are the chopsticks which are based on Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel (魔法の天使クリィミーマミ) which aired in 1983 — here’s an illustration from that show which features a ten year old girl who thanks to magic can transform into a sixteen year old girl: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Japan, magical girl
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 26, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars 
Apparently the dark side isn’t just evil — but evil to your credit card: This amazing Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer Framed SpecPlate will set you a mere $1,994.99! Of course only 25 will be produced of this goodie which emulates the dedication plate that would be attached to the bulkhead of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Of course Acme Archives who makes this collectable didn’t skimp on the quality as this keepsake measures 43 by 24-inches and is made out of aluminum. Although the thing that surprises me is that I wouldn’t have expected the Empire to be so sentimental…
Tags: spaceships, Star Wars
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 25, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
Back in the day one of the best tools for teaching the principals of animation was to give a child a Super 8mm camera and let them shoot stop motion animation frame-by-frame using their collection of toys as models in motion. Later some video cameras would be able to do the same trick, however it was never quite as cool. So I’m glad to see a digital twist of this old idea with The Anime Studio which actually looks like a miniature version of an giant old school animation stand: Read more…
Tags: Oxberry Camera, Stop Motion Animation
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 24, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
I’m always amazed at the amazing variety of anime merchandise: Back in the day you were lucky to find your favorite toy robot hidden away in Chinatown, but now there’s every type of anime themed goodie that you can imagine thanks to the net. And this One Piece Jolly Roger Towel is proof of this concept — as you can now go to the beach and proudly proclaim your Luffy allegiance amongst dunes, surfers and sunscreen. Read more…
Tags: Anime, One Piece
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 23, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
I’ll be honest to me Holo always looked more like a fox than a wolf, however that said I’m sure the hardcore Wolf and Spice fans out there would disagree with me. However there’s no question to me that this canis character is quite catchy so I was quite taken with the Toys Works Collection 2.5 Wolf and Spice II (トイズワークスコレクション にいてんご 狼と香辛料 II) which was issued to celebrate the second season of the series. The collection features multiple Holos with a Lawrence and a Fermi Amati figurine thrown in as well: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Spice and Wolf, Vinyl Toys
