Generation Mech » Media

Shizuoka: World’s Biggest Toy Haven in Japan?

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:36:12 +0000

Thanks to the recent opening of Gundam statute in Shizuoka, thousands of hobbyists fans were gathered in heart of the city to experience the great galore of plastic model kits and toys. Said to be (unofficial) new home of world’s largest hobby confab in Japan. The unveiling of the statute along with its giant production plant that makes these plastic toys gave the staff of Shizuoka Hobby Museum to praise about. So says this source.

The Shizuoka Hobby Museum was set up as part of the hobby fair to showcase the half-century history of plastic model kit production in Japan.

Its exhibits are presented in 23 segments, covering various production periods. Each one shows the plastic models that best represent the period.

Among the rarer items are a replica of a 1958 model of the U.S. submarine Nautilus, the first injection-molded plastic kit produced in Japan, and a model of the I-series submarine, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

The exhibit showcases a number of other items coveted by plastic model enthusiasts, such as the Tetsujin 28-go robot, considered a trailblazer for the numerous character models that followed, and a 1:12 scale Honda Formula One racing car, which was highly praised for its detailed perfection.

Other booths are dedicated to proud originals offered by local manufacturers.

Tamiya Inc., headquartered in Shizuoka, has put on display the Gun Blaster, which is 32 times larger than its popular Mini4WD radio-controlled car kits.

Aoshima Bunka Kyozai Co., also based in Shizuoka, is featuring its Lamborghini Countach model. The Italian sports car once fueled a wave of supercar popularity.

Hasegawa Corp., based in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, brought out the big guns with its 1:350 scale model of the Japanese battleship Nagato.

Other exhibits include the Honda Super Cub and the Subaru 360, produced by die-cast model car maker MMP Co. (EBBRO), headquartered in Shizuoka, and a replica of the five-story pagoda of the Horyuji temple produced by Woody JOE Co., a wood model maker based in Shizuoka.

Here again, the most eye-catching attractions are related to Gundam.

Using a model of a Core Fighter plane, Bandai Co., the maker of Gunpla plastic models, has reproduced the scene in the final episode of the popular “Mobile Suit Gundam” anime series where Amuro Ray, the central character, makes his escape from the falling space fortress A Baoa Qu.

The Core Fighter, as well as the giant Gundam statue that stands guard in front of Higashi-Shizuoka Station, has become a must-see for Gundam fans.

The statue, which now holds a “beam saber” in its right hand, is the full 18 meters in height as written in the series. It was built to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Bandai’s Gunpla plastic model series.

Over six weeks last summer, the behemoth attracted 4.15 million visitors to its display in Tokyo’s Odaiba district, and it wasn’t even holding the beam saber.

Moving the statue to Shizuoka, where Bandai’s factory for the Gunpla series is located, was considered a “homecoming” for Gundam.

Source: Asahi.com

The Shizuaka hobby fair will run till March next year. Admission is free, but not for the museum. It’s 600 yen for junior high school student and 200 for elementary school student.

All images are owned and copyrighted by the individual.

Shizuoka Gundam

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:12:53 +0000

With the recent opening of the Gundam statue in Shizuoka, back in July, I’m catching up on this to see how things went with this display.

Looking at the amazing video footage of its opening over the summer, it appears everything looks so awe-inspiring and enriching to watch.

You can see several people in the streets come and go, taking long and short glimpses of the statue, leaving them in complete awe. Boy I would do anything to have this experience to see how 1/1 scale Gundam figure really stands out in large crowd of several thousands. That would certainly make my mecha fun day! ^^

Source: CNNGO, All images are owned and copyrighted by the original owner

Gundam Statue in Japan – Ready for Round 2?

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:07:15 +0000

Hang on a sec. Had they not already done this in Odaiba back in September last year?

It sure wasn’t that long ago when it was constructed as part of the Namco Bandai’s 30th commemoration of the Gundam franchise. And they had to take it off after a couple months of display.

And now they’re doing it again for the second time? Well. I’ve no problem with that if you ask me being a mecha fan…

But I just wish they should make things transparent with these. I mean I don’t see how taking it apart and then putting on it again would make any sense when comes to making a strong attraction for overseas tourists to see what Japan’s pop culture lifestyle is got to offer. Especially when it’s already that good to appeal with IN THE FIRST PLACE!

I mean it just doesn’tt seem to add up! >.< And now we have one here constructed in the Shizuoka city, home of 710,000 Japanese citizens, 5th largest city in Japan.

Here’s the conceptual art of the proposed statue design over in Shizuoka city.

Proposed Conceptual Art Design of RX 78 Gundam Statue

As compared to this one at the Namco Bandai’s actual model at their headquarters, with the up-close shot of the light-saber burning through the blue brick.

RX Gundam 78 statue model in Namco Bandai's headquarters on display

I supposed no human casualty is part of the plan too?

Image sourced from Ngee Khiong

Since the project’s completed few weeks back at beginning of this month. Said to have more lighting and special effects during its opening. So this is all part of the hopes of translating more visitors coming into the city, both local and abroad (last year 4 million people came to visit before it got dismantled back in October 2009). And the only the key thing missing from the statue is the completion of the light saber upgrade.

Thanks for Ngee Khiong’s sources, it said to be opened to the public from 24th July 2010 till 10th January 2011, located at East Shizuoka Square.

Source: Ngee Kiong, Escapist.com, Geek.com, Bionicbong.com, Endgadget.com, All images are copyrighted and belong to the rightful sources.

Chinese Transformers raised in Chinese University

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:30:57 +0000

A couple of university students from a local Chinese university went all this trouble to make their own life-sized Transformers as part of the graduation project, as far as what I heard. It’s a very interesting project for them to get into. And it’s a 4500 USD project too. That’s a great prize tag they put aside for this project’s funding.

Boy! They sure come out bigger than life, after looking at these amazing photos of 9-m tall monstrosity!

Such amazing detail of the character design based on one of the Chinese famous legends of “Romance of the Three Kingdom”. For those who are not familiar with the Chinese folklore legend, there’s this famous general from a Shu Army whose name is Guan Yu during Chinese ancient times. He’s one of the most powerful generals serving in the Shu army and many legendary tales have been fortold amongst the Chinese for many, many generations. Chinese have profound religious beliefs tied with him and you can find a lot of statues of him around China and other Chinese communities around the world. That’s probably why the Chinese students picked him as the favourite character.

If you ever played one of Koei’s infamous action game series Dynasty Warriors and you used this character. (see below)

This is him and that’s why the transformer’s color resembles a lot as the picture above, along with the halberd weapon.

And here’s the footage of the CGI animation of its transformation as well.

Pretty neat huh? ^^

Source: Kotaku, Gadgetsin, ClonedChina, All images and copyrighted by the source owner

Anybody up for Evangelion burgers?

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:32:09 +0000

If you ever feel like grabbing a quick bite in town, be sure to give this place a stop if you are around in Tokyo.

A fast food chain company called Lotteria are selling a combo meal box using all of your favourite Neon Evangelion characters as the main theme. As depicted on this billboard ad above

This new lunchbox set Lotteria has in store is called ‘Eva Burger and Chicken Box’, which you will have french fries, a burger, fried chicken and a soft drink of your choice. Price is around 980 ¥.

Hmm… Yum. Yum. ^^

Would love to give this one a nice try. But bear in mind, this offer is not going to be around for long as the offer ends on 31st May 2010. So you have 30 or so days to give this a go for your usual lunch breaks.

I want to say my big thanks to Ngee Khiong, our Gundam blogger extraordinaire for this wonderful post.

Source: NgeeKhiong

Here’s a freaky thought

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:08:46 +0000

Tetsujin 28 Go with Shotaro Haneda

Just ran into this website search on Tetsujin 28.

Apparently, there’s been a growing concerns on many Japanese websites that are advertising or selling child pornography DVD material. Particularly with young high school boys as the ‘popular’ theme. And they’ve been circulating aound the schools to teachers or sick pedophiles.

What’s really freakish about this discovery made by the policemen is that during their crackdown on this case, they found several websites that has related keyword search phrases that start with Shotaro, as our main protagonist character in Tetsujin 28. Here’s the excerpt of the online article below.

Police authorities have detected many Internet sites that specialize in pornographic images of boys, according to the National Police Agency. These sites will be closely monitored.

‘Shotakon’ sites

Sites such as Kobayashi’s are dubbed “shotakon” sites. Shotakon–a portmanteau of the words “Shotaro” and “complex”–is a sexual attraction to young boys.

Shotaro refers to Shotaro Kaneda, the main character in the comic “Tetsujin 28-go” (Gigantor in English), who remote-controls a giant robot. The boy, who always wears shorts in the comic, is a prime example of characters that adults attracted to young boys find appealing. A search for shotakon written in katakana characters got 1.18 million hits on the Yahoo search engine, while shotakon in English got 1.49 million hits.

Well, will I be damned! Didn’t know they’ll treat Shotaro’s shorts in that form.

So beware guys! If you ever run into finding stuff online about Tetsujin 28, like I do, do keep a lookout for these dodgy buggers!! There’s a 1.18 million reasons you’ll get caught, even if it’s not intentional. Best to avoid or escape yourself from getting into those traps in the first place!

Source: Yomiuri

Gurren Lagann’s Kamina in LA anime convention

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:45:20 +0000

Gurren Lagann’s Kamina set for the LA anime convention this coming July as announced by Aniplex the voice cast person himself Katsuyuki Konishi (see picture inset above).

He’ll also be there to be judge panellist for Kamina cosplay contest as well.

I’m sure they will be plenty of Kamina wannabes out there who’ll love to give this a major thrill!

Just like this one down below.

Not bad at all. Great effort for the Spanish dude’s flawless Japanese dialogues!

Totally rock! ^^

Are some of you guys keen to see some great cosplays in your neighbourhood as well? Or are you planning to do some cosplays yourselves?

Source: Animenewsnetwork.com

Evangelion for GT300 racing

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:32:48 +0000

How’s this for a sports sponsorship idea?

Evangelion makers are looking forward to co-sponsor one of the hottest car racing sports on the planet. It is Super GT300-class grand touring championship series around the moutanous areas of Mt Fuji, Japan.

And they will place a Eva Racing Logo on the entire body of aToyota Corolla vehicle.

Check this out to read on!

Source: ANN.com

Evangelion 2.22??

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:06:44 +0000

Well this is a first! I was just wondering what’s this all about after Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance went live almost a year ago.

And now I heard that its official DVD/Blueray discs have extended and uncut editions of the second Evangelion film (hence titled Evangelion 2.22!), which is about to be released on 26th May 2010, for Japan. While in Germany, it’s expected to be released by July.

Interesting to note there isn’t gonna be any US release anytime soon… So if you travelling anywhere in Japan or Germany around those months, do getyourself a nice copy in one of their DVD stores. Or go to their Amazon Japan or Amazon Germany online to order one!^^

Source: ANN.com, AsianBlueRayGuide.com

Care for a quick Gundam coffee?

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:59:59 +0000

If you ever drop by to stop for a coffee in a city during your lunch breaks, and the city you’re living happens to be Tokyo, do give this Gundam Cafe for a quick stop!

The store just recently opened up a week ago and it’s located down in Akihabara (see picture above).

It looks like just any cafe shop you normally see within the shopping areas of CBD. With a bit of ‘Gundam’ feel of course!

Everything from Gundam ensignias, military-style tapestry and all wall layouts seem to be moulded out of Gundam Unicorn’s armor? Hmm maybe it’s Gundam Unicorn in disguise as our favourite coffee place?!? Lol. Perhaps ^^.

Anywho, if you’re wanting to find its exact location, here’s their official web page and there’s a little map you can on the first page screen. Their opening hours are from 8:30 to 5:00 Mons-Fris. Apparently they do bar nights too until before midnight.

So definitely worth to check out.

Source: Animenewsnetwork, BanzaiEffect, Gundam Cafe