Sex and Death in Shizuoka: Profit from Violence

Before we go any deeper into Day One of the 47th annual Shizuoka Hobby Show, pause for a moment to marvel at the official logo. Imagine thousands of business suits trying to have serious conversations about model kits and profit margins with this evocative image everywhere reminding everyone of their cherished youth among the strange white people and bootleg robot kits.

Our arrival at the show coincided with a buzzing overhead by T-4 fighter jets (why they didn't carpet bomb the convention center remains a mystery). Later this weekend, the Self-Defense Forces will roll out the decidedly non-miniature tanks and troops while the local boy scouts toot their bugles in salute. Shizuoka, you really know how to put on a hobby show. As do...

Bandai, the Great! Bandai, the Mighty! Bandai, the giver of the bullet train tickets and keeper of the expense account! All hail, Bandai! Bandai, all hail!

Lots of Gundam porn at the B-Club, 'natch. New recommended servings for the HCM-Pro Mobile Suits include inside of brandy sniffers, ashtrays, and potted plants.

Perhaps you've heard of them! Code Geass kits, Ghost in the Shell stuff, and a Naruto thing.

I guess they really got us senior citizen otaku by the nutsack with all the old-school stuff coming down the pipe soon, like these transforming Mospeada cyclones. Although there was little to no Space Cruiser Yamato stuff (but lots of Yamato battleships), this was balanced out by an absolute lack of moe anything.

Hot Votoms, for you Tim Eldred!

Ol' Steve Harrison called this like a lucky Bingo card...there was indeed Macross everywhere, and it was maybe even the biggest anime property across the board besides Gundam at the show. Here's the re-issued classic Valks from Bandai.

And the new flavour via Macross Frontier.

...and the Macross model kits from Hasegawa, which look good dogfighting the Nazis who remain "number one with a bullet" among the military kits.

There was, like, no tokusatsu action to be found, much to my blustery chagrin! Aside from these Ultra vehicle kits, also at the Hasegawa booth, that was all she wrote.

Then again, who needs giant monsters, or indeed scantily-clad booth bunnies, when you got mad AIR-SOFT GUNS and cosplaying commandos hawking goods for Tokyo Marui!

Such a very sexy booth. I don't work for *this* Marui, but I wouldn't mind at all if I did. As I marveled over the guns, Matt Alt explained to me that there was a war going on in the middle east fought by private military companies using weapons just like this one! Sounds like a great hobby.

We got carried away and tried to shoot each other's eyes out with glow in the dark tracer bbs. I was too jet-lagged to aim straight, and Matt could not keep a straight face as per usual. Still, I think we'd do OK either in the self-defense forces, or in the boy scouts.

Tamiya was running a mean trading post that included a million T-shirts, military hard-tack rations, and other useful items for surviving in Japan's many hot zones. And for navigating the mean streets of the The Shizz, international buyers from Dubai and Laos could choose from either oversized RC German tanks or the Jägermeister mobile!

More modeling fun for the whole goddamn family: building the unmanned Predator drone.

As ever, Aoshima remains the most bizzaro world of all Japanese hobby companies. Their line up for 2008 looks like it would have been massive circa 1985, beginning with these hot Megazone 23 part 2 Garland kits. Dorvak mechs, the Airwolf chopper, the A-Team van, and (not pictured) K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider!

Aoshima PR woman (pointing to tiny Fishing Crazy Sampei model kit): "Anime and manga is really popular in the US, and so is this, right?"

Me (thinking of Denki Watanabe, Ed Chavez, and Erin Finnegan): "...."

Coming soon from the Shizz: The Podcast! The Videos! The Exquisite Model Glue Induced Hangover

Comments

[ed]

Aoshima PR woman (pointing to tiny Fishing Crazy Sampei model kit): "Anime and manga is really popular in the US, and so is this, right?"

Absolutely!! But then again maybe only the voices in my head think Sanpei is popular...

[danno!]

That logo...that's just really creepy.

[chloe]

...which really begs the question, what does NON standard type M4 PMC 3.5mm look like?

[ErinF]

Sampei is super-popular with two people in North America!

Suddenly I want some Army Bread for some reason...?

Watch this become the top google result for my name...

[Steve Harrison]

Well, I believe that 'Standard Type' for the M4 refers to the class of the item itself, i.e. no red dot sight or laser or light or any added metal content, as opposed to 'heavy weight' where there's cast metal instead of polyresin and such like.

God, I am such a gun nerd.

So, Tamiya Army Bread. that's a REAL food product?! The hell? Tamiya goes into the food biz?

Also I was under the impression that Bandai bought up Aoshima some time back. One of those "we don't really talk about it" things.

I wonder if Tokyo Marui still makes their U.N.C.L.E. Special pistol. Man, I'd love an airsoft version of that.

[wildarmsheero]

>>this was balanced out by an absolute lack of moe anything.

Pyohohoho~, just wait until Wonder Fest :3