Goka jyu-pun senso

Ok. Wonderfest. Happened last month in Tokyo. Can’t be bothered to do a double check. Comiket for garage kit fiends, papercraft ghoulies, and people looking to dump unsold Gundam and Star Wars figures. Held at Tokyo Big Sight twice a year. Went with Matt Alt (who was worshipped as a living god by one of the dealers who recognized him). Met up with toy designer Ken there. Took some pictures because I thought you might wanna see them.

It took a while to find the bad ass kaiju kits, but here was the opening salvo: Godzilla fighting over the last beer for all the marbles with Biollante.

Two Akiba-kids snap pics of Wonderfest’s exclusive figure. And unless you’d do the same thing, you probably shouldn’t call yourself an otaku.

Is this better than a real live woman or having an actual maid pick up after you? Several thousand people at Wonderfest sure seemed to think so.

Killing machines make for the perfect antidote to that Moe-kei stuff. Here’s a big Studio Nue designed Powered Suit that looks like it’s being piloted by Hugo, the Man of a Thousand Faces.

A distinct lack of spaceships at the show made me get a stiffy over these fine garage kits of the Gamilus fleet.

The question of the age: “Coffee, tea, or Machine Krieger papercraft?”

Proof that some Japanese people actually *did* see Godzilla: Final Wars after all.

Your friends are going to want to know, where did you get your Original Image Godzilla Heads?

This original Yamato kit was about the size of a suicide submarine. It was also the raddest thing I saw at all of Wonderfest.

Savor the sexy details...

"Mommy! Mommy! Two Gabara and an Angilas from those unpredictable nutjobs at M-1!"

Asphyxiation was a genuine concern at Wonderfest.

Multiply this scene by a million, and that’s what the majority of Wonderfest was like. Note grown man with elderly black woman glasses losing his mind in the background…

Remote control robot walks and moves around thanks to superior technology. If this guy could make them bigger, then Japan would rule the world...

...if only the  otaku weren't helping the nation totally lose the plot. Bless them.

Come to think of it, it would probably be cheaper to simply buy these things than take their real-life counterparts out to dinner and a movie.

Disembodied heads were a big theme at the show. This one was life-sized and looked like something you’d find in Miyazaki’s refrigerator.

Cause for celebration. A Sonny “The Street Fighter” Chiba garage kit. The pose is dead on, even if the face looks like Dennis Leary…

Ok, honorable Kojiro Abe-samma. We can all hear you breathing. Anyway, here are some weird, creepy dollies of Rei for you.

Maybe this is why Land of the Dead was so short. This George Romero action figure is only 12” tall.

Holy shit! A Doller. A grown man dressed up as a female anime character! Apologies for this picture being blurry. Seeing this thing was giving me a seizure.

First came origami. Then came papercraft. The eternal drama of folding shit and getting little cuts on your hands reaches its apex with Legendary God Giant Ideon.

Sweet ass redesign of robo-hero Denjin Zaboga. Bonus point for Mori Yuki in “nurse pachira” mode and Kei Yuki from Captain Harlock.

If you’re going to be sick and get off on dolls and shit, go all the way. The guy who was selling these looked remarkably like your dad.

Holy Shit! Another doller! And taking pictures of little Moe model kits while I took pictures of him/her! The mind reels.

Chief attraction at the ‘Unknown Axis Museum.’ Nazi UFOs you know, like the ones they used to take Hitler to South America with…

Remember, in the game of life, Nazis are the bad guys. Only slightly less so in Japan…

A little kid walked by and crapped in his pants when he saw this. His name was Patrick.

This guy had dedicated his life to making garage kits of American Z-movie monsters like Zontar, Ro-Man, Teenage Werewolf. I think that's how you get a US visa these days.

It took a long time for the ancient race memory of being a homicidal lunatic with a sword to come back to Japan, but the light sabers seemed to help.

Comments

[dave merrill]

HOLY GOD A ROBOT MONSTER GARAGE KIT.

Praise Japanese technology!!

[Jae Rune]

*shudder* And people wonder why I refuse to brand myself an otaku or even a japanophile...

[Joseph Luster]

I can't believe you didn't say hi to Abe while he flipped out over those kits.

[Carl Horn]

I not only *am* an otaku, but an otaku who not ten seconds ago took a long huff of Kazuo Koike's right uncleaned golf cleat. They're Tiger Woods from Nike. Voices command me to string them on and stomp some random motherfucker to death, but fortunately his size is only 10 1/2.

Oh, yeah, the 10,000 yen maid is from KORE GA WATASHI NO GOSHUJIN-SAMA. Gainax's greatest work ever. It makes ROYAL SPACE FORCE look like a trifling pile of shit.

[Steve Harrison]

Holy mother of God, looking at those pics, I don't know if I should be happy or wanting to rip my eyeballs out...

So I'll settle for a comment or two.

The Gamilas fleet kits make me happy like a little girl, because they show *love*..insane otaku love. Oh, not so much the ships themselves, but those beautiful bases...see, they're the image of the Desslar Communicator at the Gamilas Pluto Base, and any moment I expect the eyes to light up and the deathmask face to talk..

The Giant Yamato...it's nifty, it's huge, but I am f'ing sick to death of the Playstation Rework design.

That Yuki in her nurses uniform is hot..but man, does it ever look like that guy in the background is giving her the most massive anal fisting ever...

The Dosxkas dollies...THEIR KNEES! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEIR KNEES?!

I love that 1/6th scale Powered Suit. My GI Joes are in a funk that they don't have that.

So...lemme sum it up...maids...boobies....Rei Moe....and a smattering of really cool shit.

I wanna go. Where do I apply for a transfer from G.O.D. to counter-ESPY? I need to hook up with the Liberty Planet folk...

[danno]

Way, way too many dollers...

[Carl Horn]

Otakuisme is full of things that would be considered, in any other context, performance art. In another context, a doller at Wonderfest would be someone trying to make a commentary upon normal-appearing people's obsession with collecting dolls, toys, and models. Like St. Francis putting the coins into the miser's hand. But I don't think that is the intention and attendees should be reassured that they're not really trying to make fun of you, or make you look at yourself.

[Kojiro Abe]

Why are Japanese dealers rooms so much more awesome than the crappy ones we have here in America? If only the dealer's room at Anime Boston would sell swastikas.

And Rei is so 2002-04 with me. I gave up lusting over jailbait when I, err, turned 18 myself.

[Patrick3]

I didn't take pics of the crappy shit. There was a mile long cake walk of the same unsold Spawn, Star Wars, and Gundam figures you can find at Crap Con USA. The shit to hit ratio was generally pretty high, especially if you hold everything in contempt after 1985 or so, like me.

[markgreyam]

hahaha the 'no photos' sign on the second to last pic is a nice touch.

[Pygar]

Love the G v Biollante diorama at the top.

Are the Romero and DAWN OF THE DEAD action figures kits, or a new line?

Were there many dollers there? They'd be great in a horror movie...

[Patrick3]

Pygar,

I'm pretty sure the Romero figures were custom jobs only sold at the show. Otherwise, there would be pics of them all over the place in the toy mags.

[Yann]

Hi Folks,
Yann I Hello, I am french and it is now more than 20 years that I am looking for rare toys on the "dawn of the dead" george romero.
These pictures made me one mad, I should know or come to these photos and or is what I can buy these items.
It's very important to me.
Thanks to anyone who can help me!
YANN
FRANCE
G.yann303 @ caramail.com