Beware the Frankenbunny!

Teresa is one of the best creature makers I’ve ever met! One of her latest creations is Frankenbunny (seen above). What I love about Therea’s work is that the dolls always have this great expression on their faces, they’re also always very well dressed – it makes you want to hang out with them! Check out her Flickr account and fun website:

Sewingstars.com

Wonder Festival 2007

There’s a great photo gallery at An Eternal Thought in the Mind of Godzilla covering Wonder Festival 2007, which is the biggest figure and model convention in Japan. The convention is filled with all sorts of fanboy goodies like giant Godzilla models and creepy life sized anime figurines. Seen above are models from the classic anime series Space Cruiser Yamato, shown are the Comet Empire and a Dark Star Nebula warcraft.

Cartoon Renaissance Mashups

At worth1000.com there are the results for a Photoshop competition to kitbash cartoon characters with classic Renaissance paintings.

Roman Album: Neither Roman, Nor an Album

Above: On the left a pin up poster from the “Be Forever Yamato” Roman Album from the 80s, on the right the cover from the “Samurai Champloo” Roman Album from 2006.

I ordered it as Christmas gift for myself, but it only showed up in my mailbox today well over a month after other people had opened their goodies. I freely admit that it was a bit of a guilty pleasure, and despite my being a creative professional whose work does touch upon animation there was in fact no “real reason” that I needed the object in question. But upon opening the box my heart felt inspired again, and I remember why I had gotten into it all.

The little treasure I’m talking about is a Samurai Champloo Roman Album. Now of course most anime fans have heard of Samurai Champloo (although at this point they’re all mostly watching Bleach) but only a small handful of the Japanimation faithful know what a Roman Album is, or why they’re so special.

To start with a “Roman Album” is neither Italian nor a music album. To be honest I have no idea how they got their name, but Roman Albums date back to the 70s in Japan when anime was going through it’s first major boom. Along with this boom came a glut of merchandise for Japanese otaku to buy, everything from model kits of your favorite robot to the first generation of magazines that only covered anime.

It was during this era that the Roman Album was born. To start with a Roman Album is a softcover letter sized paperback book of about 100 pages. Unlike a magazine, a single Roman Album is done on only one specific television series or movie. The first few pages of a Roman Album were always packed with dozens upon dozens of shots of almost every major scene from the anime production being covered.

Read more…

Anime in a Box

I just discovered this cute hobby kit from japan called the Hakoanime (Box Anime). The Hakoanime allows you to draw four frames of animation onto special paper, and then uses four LED lights to display your mini-epic on a mini-movie screen. The kits will go for about $17 each and are sold through elekit.co.jp.

Found via Trends in Japan.

Eric’s Vintage Television Sets

When a technology is new there’s always a bit of glamour associated with it, and that sparkle is also represented in the look of the industial design. The first generation of television sets feature some amazing design work, from a glance you can can almost taste the excitement that people were experiencing for ‘radio with pictures’. This website features some great restoration work on TV sets from the golden age of television:

Eric’s Vintage Television Sets

“I started this page several years ago so I could share some pictures of my collection of 1950’s portable TV sets. Since then I have accumulated many more sets including quite a few sets from the late 1940’s, some Electrostatic sets and also a 1958 RCA COLOR set. My interests include any set built between 1946 and 1959 with my main focus on the smaller table-top sets… ”

Found via Linkfilter.net.

Tranformers Attack Toy Fair

If you’ve never gone to it the Toy Fair is always tons of fun for anyone is a kid at heart, not only can you see the latest and greatest but you can walk for what seems like miles and see nothing but new toys that you’ve never seen before. This year one of the hot franchises is the new Transformers film, and of course you can’t have a film like that without having a ton of new toys come out:

Toy Fair – Transformers Movie Product Officially Revealed

“New York’s annual American International Toy Fair this week is truly “More than Meets the Eye” with the first official look at some of the exciting products based on the live-action Tranformers feature film in theaters July 4, 2007.”

Hello Kitty Keyboard Cleaner

Because Kitty likes to clean keyboards (meow, meow!):

Hello Kitty USB-powered keyboard cleaner sweeps and creeps

“The Hello Kitty USB-powered keyboard cleaner gets all the juice it needs from one of your lonely USB ports, and features two separate cleaning heads to get all the nitty gritty out from between your QWERTY keys. Furthermore, the cleaning utensil resides nicely on the back (photo after the jump) of an included Hello Kitty figurine when it’s not surveying the deep, dark crevice between the left and right bracket keys, but we highly doubt the bristles are machine washable. Per usual, we’ve no idea how much toy sellers plan on charging for this somewhat useful (but entirely de trop) keyboard sweeper, but we’re confident that the hardcore fans out there will find a way as they always do.”

Tamed Reservoir Dogs?

I was just reading at ToyNews International that NECA toys has a released a new box set of Reservoir Dogs figurines, and of course being a Tarantino fan the story caught my fanboy eye right away! However went I went to take a look at the photo of the dogs (Mr. Brown, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange and Mr. White! ) I found myself being a bit let down. They seem to look so lifeless, yes they used the iconic poses from the opening titles of the film but alas the dogs seemed be stiff looking.

But then I realized why: Reservoir Dogs isn’t a comic book film with characters decked out in a caped costume, it’s classic film noir and more about what the characters do than how they look. If you think back to the film you think of the ear cutting scene or someone being thrown in the trunk of a car – or even character actors like Chris Penn as ‘Nice Guy Eddie’ or my favorite scene stealer Lawrence Tierney as Joe.

So I think NECA would have ben better off recreating scenes from the film even if they were a bit more silly looking. To me it’s about how the toy captures the spirit of a film, a classic example would be the Corgi car based on the James Bond film that had an ejector seat. The toy allows a child (or someone who is a child at heart) to relive what they enjoyed about the film.

But of course if your a true collector fanboy you have to own it because you are also a compleatest at heart (compleatest: the fanboy version of obsessive compulsive disorder) so if you must own everything Reservoir Dogs you can order the mini-statues from CornerStoreComics.com.

Build Your Own Giant Gundam

This is an amazing page that shows two kids in Japan building a giant Gundam toy:

ne.jp/asahi/robot/kingkizer/rx78.html

The funny thing is that in all of the coverage of the new giant Gundam robot I just assumed that you purchased it pre-assembled. But I guess half of the fun of owning a giant robot is knowing that you built it yourself!

Mickey Mouse Memory Stick

Steamboat Willy has gone streampunk! Disney has licensed several of their characters for use as USB Flash Memory Drives. Buffalo Technology will put these devices on sale next month, but only as a limited edition. They also have Winnie the Pooh too!

Found via CartoonBew and Engadget.

Underdog Action Figures

There’s no need to fear, Underdog action figures are here! BigBadToyStore.com has a new line of figures based upon the classic Underdog show created by Mezco. Included are classic characters Polly Purebread, Underdog, Simon Barsinister and of course Riff Raff.

Found via Toy News International.

Diskette Enterprise

This is a very cute video from a Star Trek fanboy in France who turns a computer diskette into a mini-model of the Starship Enterprise:

Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Figurines

NECA is introducing a new series of Pee-Wee Herman figures. Included are figurines based on Cowboy Curtis, Ms Yvonne and of course Pee-Wee Herman. You can pre-order these figures now at BigBadToyStore.com.

Found via Toy News International.

Readymechs: Free Oragami-like Toys

Readymechs are flatpack toys for you to print and build. They are designed to fit on an 8.5″x11″ page and printed with any printer. You ’ll need double-sided tape, thick matte paper, and 10-15 minutes for build time. And they’re 100% free:

Readymech.com

Hello Kitty iPod Docking Station

It’s just what every Hello Kitty fan wants, the KT4560 Hello Kitty Stereo Clock Radio (seen above) also allows kitty fans to dock their pink iPods! It also easy to take that additional cat nap with that ultra big snooze button that’s easy to press with the most sleepy of paws.

Kitty device located via Engadget.

Inventor of Instant Noodles Passes Away

It’s a sad for fanboys the world over, Momofuku Ando the inventor of instant noodles has died in Japan. But on the positive side he often ate his noodles and lived to the age of 96, although I don’t think that still qualifies ramen as “health food”:

Inventor of instant noodles dies

“Mr Ando was born in Taiwan in 1910 and moved to Japan in 1933, founding Nissin Food Products Co after World War II to provide cheap food for the masses. His most famous product, Cup Noodle, was released in 1971.

Mr Ando said the inspiration for his product came when he saw people lining up to buy bowls of hot ramen noodle soup at a black market stall during the food shortages after World War II. He developed his first instant noodles, Chicken Ramen, in 1958.”

In honor of Momofuku Ando here’s a fun blog on instant noodles to check out…

Is that Hattori Hanzo steel?

So you’ve watch the movie and now you need to own the actual sword, what do you do? Well True Swords carries quite a few sword replicas for die hard fanboys. I was quite impressed with their selection, which includes swords from Kill Bill, Final Fantasy, and even an X-Men Wolverine claw. Anime fans will also enjoy the Bleach, Naruto, and Rurouni Kenshin swords.

That’s One Mean Ass Looking Robot…

The above images are from a Japanese article on new limited edition Black Getter ‘alloy model’ from Bandai. Black Getter is a robot that appears in the Shin Getter (真ゲッターロボ) robot OAV. Also if you want to see an amazing job that somebody did with a mere plastic Black Getter model, check out this amazing page.

Fantastic Plastic

Fantastic Plastic is a virtual museum and store that’s focused on scale models of everything from bizarre WWII-era project planes to the latest sci-fi spacecraft. Sadly I lack the spare real estate in my life to collct all of these goodies, but it’s always enjoyable to window shop for spacecraft and the like:

Fantastic Plastic

Below: You know you want one! Model kits of a RM-1 Lunar Recon Vehicle (1955) and a Space Taxi (1959).

Brickshelf

Brickshelf is an amazing photo gallery website for Lego fans. You can waste quite a few hours seeing the many hours that Legoholics have put into a wide range of projects:

www.brickshelf.com

Below: Marvel Lego characters.

Sake Going Out of Style?

Sadly it looks like sake is going down in popularity in the land of the rising sun:

Sake fights for its place as Japan’s national drink

“It has a history of over 2,000 years and is as much a part of Japan as sumo wrestling and sushi. But sake, traditional rice wine, is losing popularity at home as more and more people opt for wine, beer, and cocktails. “This is the national alcohol of Japan, but Japanese people won’t drink it,” said Yuzo Kuji, whose family brewery is located deep in the heart of a prime sake-brewing region centred around Morioka, some 462 km north-east of Tokyo.

Sake’s share of Japan’s alcohol market is dropping by nearly 10% a year as drinks like cocktails gain. Now a new generation of sake brewers and sellers is pushing premium brews and innovative campaigns that include marketing to young people and shipping more of the beverage overseas, where consumption is rising. Ironically, the main thrust of the campaigns to reinvigorate sake in its homeland is to show Japanese consumers the popularity of their national drink in places like the US, whose trends young Japanese often seek to emulate.”

…well on the upside at least sake is becoming more popular here in the States and I see it around more often now than I did a few years ago, and in fact there is even sake being produced in California!

The Ultimate Star Blazers Model

If you grew up with Star Blazers (Space Cruiser Yamato) you’re going to want to own one of these:

1/350 Space Battleship Yamato

“There have been many, many Space Battleship Yamato models – Yamato is, after all, a seminal anime series – but Bandai is really pulling out all the stops for this Yamato extravaganza! This giant 1/350 scale model kit (766mm in length – that’s just over 2 1/2 feet long!) helps you relive the experience of watching Yamato, with all of its drama, romance and adventure.”

The model itself is amazing, everything works! The wave motion gun lights up and you can even launch a Black Tiger spacefighter from a hidden bay, just check out the video:

Hello Kitty goes Platinum

For just $164,000 you can be the envy of all of your friends by wearing this platinum Hello Kitty pendant:

And yes this isn’t a photoshop hoax, the above item can be found at this Sanrio page here…

story found via kilian-nakamura.com.