There are a ton of movie tie-ins here in Japan for the new Star Wars film. American collectors usually have access to big things: action figures and toys, for example. But in a nation where space is seriously limited, collectors turn to smaller things.
[Okay, so the anime figurine business is pretty big here. And there are some giant stuffed toys to be won from the UFO catcher games. But for the everyday collector or just casual fan, things need to be small.]
You can find some interesting Star Wars things everywhere you look. Many are functional, like pencil cases, bags, smart phone accessories, clothing, and stuffed toys (they can be pillows too, right?). And there are plenty of plush toys that can be attached to bags. For true collectors, there are the Bikkuriman stickers, and what you see above.
Furuta is a chocolate company that frequently issues series of tiny figurines sold inside chocolate eggs. They are called, unsurprisingly, "Choco Eggs". I decided to go after a set of these little figures full-out, and found a good deal on two boxes of 10 eggs each. That's 20 total figures, plus a few more I had bought before this.
Inside the box is exactly what you'd expect: a foil-wrapped chocolate in the shape and about the same size as a large egg.
Break open the chocolate and there's a small plastic capsule inside. The chocolate egg itself is white on the inside, but I don't know if it's "white chocolate" or just white milk chocolate. It doesn't taste like white chocolate. Anyway..
Opening the plastic capsule gives you an unassembled figurine plus a small checklist.
The figure above is Boba Fett!
Can you guess who this is? You can see part of the checklist here, though it's all in Japanese.
Han Solo!
And here's Luke!
And a Storm Trooper!
There are a total of 14 figures in the series, which appears to be the norm for Furuta's Choco Eggs. One figure is a secret, which is also rare.
I now have the full set, though I was one figure short with the two boxes. Darth Maul was picked up off of Yahoo Auctions. So yes, I did get one of the secret figurines.
The Millennium Falcon is the secret figure, which you see in the front.
I love these figurines. They're tiny but detailed enough to be interesting. And they aren't too hard to find!
Most Choco Egg series lately have been Disney figures - soon after Star Wars sold out, the sixth Disney figure set was released. I found a bunch of figures at a thrift shop a couple weeks ago but I still haven't looked at them to see exactly what I have... and I have to find a list to see everything that's available.
FYI, individual eggs cost about 180 yen each with tax. I don't know of any current series being sold in stores, because the Disney eggs sold out very fast. But when they're on sale, you can find them at snack shops, convenience stores, and supermarkets.
I wonder why some are full body figures and some, like Solo, are cut off at the waist? If they'd have had these in America when I was younger, I'd have gone through more eggs than the easter bunny!
ReplyDeleteSuper cool (and btw, these are technically Disney figures too.)
ReplyDeleteThose are pretty cool. I couldn't collect them, though, because the difference in scale hurts my head. I wish they would have stuck with either full figures or busts rather than mixing the two.
ReplyDeleteI posted a box break of Bikkuriman stickers on my blog over the weekend. Pretty exciting stuff.
I was thinking the same thing about the sizing, do full figure or bust but not both.
DeleteThese are really cool. I'd be all over them if I found these at my local Japanese grocery store.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why there isn't a consistent scale set up. I do know there is a size limitation so the Millennium Falcon couldn't possibly be any bigger - I was amazed that it fit in the tiny egg as it did.
ReplyDeleteRaz: I saw the Bikkuriman stickers! I'm really considering getting some for myself.