I love the look the look the above Blade Runner umbrella from ThinkGeek, it’s just the perfect thing for wandering around late Los Angeles in 2019:
“Early in the 21st Century, the Tyrell Corporation advanced robot evolution into the Nexus phase – a being virtually identical to a human – known as a Replicant. They’re all around you, even now. That guy next to you? He’s a Replicant. How do we know? He’s walking the streets in the rain with no umbrella. That, and he failed the Voight-Kampff. In the pre-apocalyptic future, the air will be so thick, it will be dark in the middle of the day. Coupled with the almost constant rain, you’ll need to find a way to stay dry, and light your way to the noodle shop down the street.”
Voltes V came out in 1977, so these commercials must be from the late 70s. The first few commercials are what you’d expect, but several of the later commercials feature a Japanese kid in the 70s talking to and interacting with Voltes V.
Cotton Monster is the creation of Jennifer Strunge. Her website is filled with an amazing cast of hand made creatures which reminds me of the Muppets with a slight touch of the Groovy Goolies. Her work shows a strong sense of imagination, and a very graphic yet charming use of color and texture. By the way you can adopt (wel purchase) one of the little devils here.
It’s not that often you see many packages decorated with hot pink and featuring pancake flavored anything! That’s why the above Pretz package caught my attention. The artwork on the package features a character design created by Japanese children’s book illustrator Osamu Harada. If you like the look of his work you’ll want to explore this website:
The above poster for promoting the PEZ Spaceman Candy Dispenser was illustrated in 1959 during the height of the space race. I came across the poster at artsnotdead.com so I was inspired to go and do a search to see the actual Astronaut dispenser in action, however sadly the actual item didn’t match the quality of the advertisement. Although on the flip side I discovered that the name PEZ was derived from the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz which the first PEZ flavor.
I fell in love with the little bee illustration above the minute I spotted a package of Glico Pretz Hachimitsu Lemon. But i was blown away when I sampled the wheat treats inside, they tasted rather good (very subtle flavoring). Here’s a close up of the bee for my fellow fanboys who love whimsical illustrations:
For cheap trills I always love picking up little packages in Japanese grocery stores, so the Pokemon cards-n-pubble gum package above caught my eye right away. I was quite impressed with the level of detail in the package, even the package containing the gum was entertaining to look at for me. Of course the gum itself was another story, I think that may have been the worst gum I’ve had in a long time (I guess you can’t have it all).
“As you probably already know the Transformers are coming to wage war across our puny planet. We recommend you choose your alliances now and make sure to hide those extra stashes of energon. And hey it couldn’t hurt to demonstrate your good faith by picking up some Transformers related apparel like these cool animated glowing T-Shirts. Each features the Autobot or Decepticon logo, lights up and animates. We suggest you purchase one of each just in case… you don’t want to be on the wrong side when transforming robots from Cybertron battle.”
Hollwood Zombies is a new card collection from Topps which features well know celebs illustrated as the flesh-eating creatures we know them to be! I think my favorites are Paris Hellton, Leo DeCapitate, and Posh Slice. Hollywood is so much more fun when it’s undead…
I was very impressed with the above package design the minute I spotted it at my local Japanese grocery store, matching the cartoon body to the chocolate face brings the character to life in a wonderful way (or a chocolate death in your mouth). The character featured on the chocolate treat is Anpanman, who I admit that I haven’t heard of before even though I’ve been following anime for too many years. So running to Wikipedia I found this interesting entry for Anpanman:
“Anpanman, written by Takashi Yanase, a Japanese writer of children’s stories, is one of the most popular anime cartoon series in Japan. It is produced by Nippon Television Network Corporation. Each animated cartoon is approximately 24 minutes long split into 2 episodes of approximately 12 minutes each. Yanase has been writing Anpanman since 1968. The television series called Soreike! Anpanman (それいけ！アンパンマン Go! Anpanman?) has been on the air in Japan since 1988. Yanase became inspired by the idea of Anpanman while struggling to survive as a soldier in World War II. He many times became faced with the prospect of starvation which made him dream about eating a bean-jam filled pastry called Anpan.”
Qee (pronounced as the English word “key”) are a collection of designer toys created by Hong Kong-based company Toy2R, and shown above is the Qee 8″ Hell boy figure which I just spotted at Toy News International:
“They began their Qee line with the classic 2.5 inch Hellboy Qee. Next up, the much-coveted large size 8″ Qee. Only 1,500 will be sold worldwide, making this an instant collectible. Hellboy and Qee fans can rejoice and unite in toy heaven!”
“From the hit TV show South Park, Mezco Toyz continues it’s popular South Park line with Butters evil alter ego, Professor Chaos. The nefarious, yet ineffective, Super Villain responsible for atrocities against mankind such as “Soup Switching & soda can shaking” comes to life in this cartoon accurate action figure. Includes presentation board revealing his evil plot and two evil hamster minions.
Features articulated arms, head and waist. Limited Edition of 2000 pieces, this figure will not be available to retailers. Available this summer to attendees of San Diego Comic Con and Wizard World Chicago.”
The package design above is for Fujiya Chocolate Cookies. I tend to notice that Japanese package design (and perhaps Japanese graphic design in the larger sense) comes in two flavors: ultra minimalist and jam packed to the edges. I think the illustration above is in the jam packed category.
Whenever I spot these goodies in Japanese and Asian grocery stores I always snap them up, however in some cases the contents don’t quite live up to the quality of the packaging. However I do get a kick out of sharing the gift warpping with my friends on the net. By the way to see each illustration at a larger size just click on the image.
Below is the bag for the cookies, and below that is the inside of the box showing all of the characters and creatures featured on the faces of each cookie:
Shown above is Experiment Jack, one of the creatures you’ll find featured in the ‘Nightmare Before Christmas: Series 6 Figures’ set by NECA. Also included in this series is Mr. Hyde, the Corpse Mom and the Corpse Kid, and of course Melting Guy and Spider-Haired Monster. The set is due to be released in September 2007.
Shown above is cool concept model of Kanada’s bike from the famous old school anime film Akira. Sadly it’s just a model so it doesn’t quite work, although I wouldn’t mind having it to show off to my fellow anime fanboys. This amazing bit of work was created by BSU, a custom motorcycle shop in Japan. And of course they’ve been showing it off to to local otaku at local conventions.
“Egads NEC, show some pride… a Hello Kitty LaVie? Say it ain’t so! Your LaVie series of laptops were already totin’ some serious Alice-the-housekeeper frump, and now this? What can we say, that puss dominates Japan like a pink, mouthless Godzilla… really, what could poor NEC do. Available now for ¥199,500 or about $1,645 with plenty of pasted-on Swarovski nuggets destined for the recessed folds at the pit of your man-bag. Sure, you’ll buy it for your daughter but we know who’ll use it… sissy.”
“New from Rocketworld, Nehanda the Pink Elephant. Armed with a RPG and silver capped tusks, this Pink Pachyderm, is ready to defend her Savanna. As always a portion of the sales of these figures goes to aid wildlife groups.”
Jo Kotula (1910-98) was a very talented artist best known for his aviation related artwork, and a favorite of model airplane enthusiasts for his dramatic cover paintings that graced the covers of Model Airplane News. Shown above are illustrations for a series of ads for Vanadium Corp. of America.
The first illustration is from 1958 and shows how “alloys bring the future closer”. The second illustration from 1959 showcases airborne tow trucks. And the last rendering from 1960 shows how to bring the drab swamps of New Jersey into the next century. I love the streamlined look of Kotula’s artwork, it also has a wonderful sense of mid-century optimism that makes me smile.
I think the last time I watched Galaxy Express 999 was when ‘New Wave” was *cough* new! However there must be some old time anime fanboys out there (well at least in Japan) because a new collection of figurines based on the Adieu Galaxy Express movie has been released:
“The ‘Galaxy Express 999 [Good Bye] Collection Figure’ is based on the Japanese manga written and illustrated/drawn by Leiji Matsumoto, as well as various anime films and TV series based on it. s a twleve piece assortment (full color and rare color) of 4-5” scale trading figures and includes three secret items. Each figure comes in a closed box along with a handy ten piece counter display case.
The collection will be available in July with a SRP of $7.60. Organic Hobby is one of the largest Hobby and Toys makers/manufacturers in Japan and is also very popular for its specialty in “Anime & Manga” industry. Organic Hobby, Inc (U.S Office) is introducing these and other unique products based on J-POP culture to U.S. markets and customers. All of our company’s product can be found throughout our official distributors such as AAA Anime, Diamond, Double Dragon, Entertainment Earth, BBCW, Yes Anime, etc…”
The above goodies are available at Think Geek. I’d only suggest wearing the Darth Vader buckle to a sci fi convention, however the Nintento controller buckle would score cool points at any hipster bar.
“Asked to design a fitting repository for a client’s valuable collection of J.R.R. Tolkien manuscripts and artifacts, architect Peter Archer went to the source—the fantasy novels that describe the abodes of the diminutive Hobbits. “I came back my client and said, ‘I’m not going to make this look like Hollywood,’” Archer recalled, choosing to focus instead on a finely-crafted structure embodying a sense of history and tradition.”
