I hate insects with a passion but my favorite new toy line of the entire show was Hexbug — this is a collection of actual working robots each of which is equipped with a different type of sensor (light, sound, motion, etc.) which effects how it interacts with you. I’ve seen these sorts of creatures before made by robotic fanboys, but this product will bring these sorts of critters more into the mainstream as they very low priced (I was told they were going for about $10 on average – you can buy the entire line of 10 for $100 too). In fact the CEO of the company told me that kids were using these toys as fundraisers for science fairs in order to build their own robotic creations. Here are the Hexbugs in action at the fair:
Wandering about the plushies section at the Toy Fair you wouldn’t expect anime, but much to my pleasant surprise Toy Network LLC has done a deal to bring out a full line adorable Shin-chan characters! And the whole crew is here: Boo, Georgie, Penny, Hima, Shin Chan, Maso, Whitey, Principal Ench, Action Bastard and of course Happiness Bunny. By the way you can buy them in bulk for your local anime convention!
The Bandai booth blew me away! Most of their display was behind closed doors, but guarding those doors were two huge oversized statues of a robot from Power Rangers and Ben 10: Read more…
From a fanboy point of view one of the coolest exhibitors at Toy Fair 2009 was the Attakus Collection booth which was packed with highly detailed collectables that take your breath away. The Star Wars Probe Droid above first caught my eye due to the huge scale (and loving detail), but they also had a an amazing collection of smaller scale figures based on everything from Marvel Comics to AstroBoy: Read more…
Slowly I’m starting to see the first signs of Coraline merchandise appear here and there — although what little I’ve seen so far hasn’t impressed me at all. For a film that looks so rich and has so much promise, most of the toys seem pretty unimaginative. Although perhaps the toy vendors are waiting to see if the film will be a hit. Two of the cooler things that I’ve spotted is the Coraline Lunchbox shown above and the Coraline PVC Set A shown below:
This weekend at New York Comic Con I heard the line “if you add a zombie to anything it will get better!”; And these skateboarding zombies by Tsuchiya Shobu are proof of that concept. These beautiful (but undead) vinyl figures are 8″ to 10″ tall and have a wonderful amount of detail in them: Read more…
The ATMs at the Javits Center charge a whopping $3 fee — however this may not be a bad thing as the New York Comic Con could empty your wallet rather quickly. The showroom floor is so packed with goodies it’s as if the Mall of America were run by fanboys — every inch is crammed with everything from arty urban toys to rare collectables. I’m also always blown away with the wide variety of trinkets, there’s something for everyone from anime hats to punk rock stickers.
I just discovered that in Japan that you can get an illustration made out of the froth that they put into your cafe — shown above is an example from the Ghibli museum cafe which is based on Kiki’s Delivery Service (photographed by Misugi Yasunami). Below is a bunny cup of brew photographed by my Flickr friend Yasuko.
You don’t need money, don’t take fame, don’t need no credit cards to ride this train! But sadly recession struck fanboys like myself who grew up on Back to the Future can only dream about owning a vintage 80s DeLorean — however the next best thing may this official license plate replica being offered by ThinkGeek. Although if you do want to get closer to your childhood dream the next step up would be to go to Universal Studios of Japan where the Back to the Future: The Ride simulator currently resides.
One of the fun things about urban toys is when they give you a fresh take on a familiar character, and that’s the case with these Modern Pets Friend: Mickey and Minnie figurines. In fact looking at these toys I almost wish that Disney would think of doing some feature length animation with a set of reinvented characters done right (of course while trying to avoid over doing it ala Muppet Babies).
At first I had my doubts — but the one thing that won me over to the up and coming Star Trek film is the trailer — to be blunt it kicks ass! So as a fanboy who’s been following the show forever when I read that there was a comic book attached to the film (Star Trek Countdown) I was psyched. But then I glanced at the cover and I was in shock: The illustration looks like a bad tracing from a photo featuring some of the worst Photoshop coloring work I’ve ever seen in my life. I realize the cover is trying to match the posters for the film, but couldn’t they have put more than just ten minutes worth of work into it?Read more…
I love the clever industrial design of this Mickey Mouse Desk Light which is from Japan. The top light enclosure with the ears is a bit of an obvious concept although what I think makes the design so great is the added touch of making the base of the lamp have the buttons from Mickey’s pants. Read more…
The year is 1983 and as an art school student me and my buds are convinced that the era we were in was a low point for animation — except for Anime! Even though a generation has grown up loving He-Man we tested the dude, because his D&D routine wasn’t half as cool as Star Blazers or Mobile Suit Gundam. Looking back I still stand by my thesis of the lack of quality in Filmation productions, but now I can see how a generation of kids could look fondly back on this stuff. Read more…
The joy of New York City is that for a fanboy there are all sorts of unofficial landmarks that become special to you over the years — and as this is a city of change the heartbreak of this is that you realize that nothing can last forever. And over the years I’ve watched some of my favorite landmarks vanish like CBGBs where I spent my New Year’s Eve in 2000. Well sadly it looks like Love Saves the Day will be joining the ranks of lost fanboy destinations as they will be closing their doors in mid-January. Read more…
To decorate your home in a fanboy style you just never want to settle for just average! One thing that I do every year to start things off properly is to order a calendar from Japan: The first cool thing is that you notice is that Japanese calendars tend to be oversized, in fact they’re more like posters with the dates thrown below. The other thing you notice is that the artwork and approach is just more creative — you tend not to see the same old image that’s associated with your favorite thing. But best of all you can find interesting off beat subject matter that you won’t find anywhere else, shown above is a good example from the Hibari Misora 2009 Calendar. So this year to share the love I’ve picked out my top nine crazy cool Japanese calendars that are worth checking out: Read more…
Going through my Flickr stream I came across an image titled Name That Anime Slot Machine so of course I knew I had an interesting challenge ahead of me! The slot machine was spotted in an Ohio antique mall —the only real clue I had was that it was based on a baseball manga or anime series. Now while there are tons of baseball manga (and all sorts of sports manga in Japan) I realized that it had to be from a show popular enough to merit an anime series. Read more…
What do you want for Christmas? The Ronco Pottery Wheel of course! The Ronco commercials hit their hight in the 70s and was often parodied in Saturday Night Live sketches during that era.
Relive the golden age of Cold War sci fi films: If you’re a fanboy like me you know that any high budget remake will never quite match the glory of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Well now you can relive this 1951 classic with your very own Gort Wind-Up Robot which can be used to terrorize your friends and family.
What happens when a top flight international team of biochemists and rocket scientists get together? The answer is Space Beer! The brew was created with barley grown on the International Space Station: Read more…
I’ve always found the Blythe dolls to have a sort of morose quality to them with their sad looking eyes, but in the above animated video from Japan feels otherworldly with the wonderfully detailed cow and kimono outfits.
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us: I’m a vegetarian but I 100% approve of the Origami Hamburger Set shown above. I love the amount of detail that’s been put into this product from the folded faux cheese to the ice in the non-existent soda.
These Little Star Wars Costumes come in three sizes: Newborn, Infant and Toddler! The costumes are 100% kid safe, in fact the Darth Vader outfit features a detachable velcro cape and a “helmet” headpiece made from fleece. Although I sort of have mixed feelings about indoctrinating such young padawans into the ways of the force without proper training.
The famous rocketship of Coney Island is looking for a new home as the long time amusement park Astroland will be forced to close down on January 31st. As a fanboy this breaks my heart as the spacecraft captures the excitement held by America for the high frontier at the dawn of the space race in the early 60s. To me this rocket belongs in the Smithsonian or the Seattle Science Fiction Museum, although I’d love to see it stay here in old New York: Read more…
shown below:
