Gashapon/Capsule Toys

NY-10-04/NewYork_10_04_073
I would love to get a few of these and put them in some of the local comic book shops. Some of these toys are down right amazing! The first time I saw these was when I was in japan a few years ago. The Gashapon (I think that’s a Japanese onimonipea, they make a distinctive sound when the knob is turned) machines were dotted in various locations, hobby shops, grocery stores, and even an entire store devoted to them. The place was set up like a laundromat, machines on in four rows two high. It was wild. The place must have been some sort of fan hang out, there was a cosplay shop a few floors above it.
I wonder how you go about getting the toys in bulk so you can stock your own machines.
Gashapon/Capsule Toys

Mini Tank Madness!

So cool! These are just one of the coolest things ever. I think the ultimate version would have beefed up suspension so you could move over good sized rocks, stereo cameras and a set of VR glasses (with an adjustable parallax so you could either drive a little tank or a full sized one), a set of IR sensors to detect hits and an visible/IR laser on the main gun (with an program that will simulate the reload cycle and maybe windage). A few of those in your back yard would be quite the evening.
R/C Tanks

Paper Katamari Damacy


If I were to play a game on the PS2 it would be Katamari Damacy. Weird, wacky, totaly different than any other game out there. Plus if you go here you can build a paper version of its main character. How cool is that? (A while ago I reported on the PePaKuRa Designer software used to make some of these)
Lump soul (Oji) papercraft

For more paper projects (build the robot, it looks neat):
Funny character coffee papercraft