Bandai's Gashapons @ Anime Festival Asia 2012
[Oh man, I would've tried the "Tiger & Bunny" ones, if I hadn't gotten hooked past the weekend lol]
"Gashapons" are essentially paralleled to "blind boxed" toys, in Japanese toyworld lingo (also known as "Capsule Toys") with items available via a twist of the knob in a machine that you feed with coins, and as infectious it it may look - having a deceptively lower starting price for a pull (SG$2-3 per, minimum) for a "keychain strap"-sized figurine … and I am always looking out for Max Toy Co's Eyezon, or TOUMA's and even PansonWorks' designs! … Instead, I took snaps of some which caught my attention at the recent Anime Festival Asia!
'Gashapon (ガシャポン) is a Bandai brand trademark widely used throughout the world for their capsule toys. It is also referred to as gachapon (ガチャポン)." Both gashapon and gachapon are Japanese onomatopoeia, made up of two sounds: "gasha" or "gacha" for the turning of a crank on a toy vending machine, and "pon" for the sound of the toy capsule dropping into the receptacle. It is used to describe both the machines themselves, and any toy obtained from them. Gashapon machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside of grocery stores and other retailers in other countries.' [Wiki]
