So here's a twist that might surprise you—some of the most popular gachapon toys in Japan feature characters and themes from American pop culture. Your favorite superheroes, movie icons, and cartoon characters are making their way into those little plastic capsules.
Gachapon machines line the streets of Japan, filling up entire storefronts or pop-up shops with rows of these enticing machines. Whether you’re a local or a tourist, there’s a certain thrill to turning the knob and waiting to see what you get. The sheer abundance of the machines and the popularity of them with tourists might be why some of these western IP's have been popping up.
It's no secret that Japan has a huge fondness for American media. Much like the term 'weeaboo' the opposite being a Japanese person who liked western culture is a 'westaboo'. Though both these terms are somewhat derogatory, I'm not sure if Japan has embraced it the same way 'weebs' have. But rom classic cartoons like Looney Tunes to modern blockbusters like Avengers, American IPs have found a special place in Japanese hearts. This love it seems is now being reciprocated in the world of gachapon.
I'll be honest, if it was Batman I might buy them some to put in my machines. My fastest selling toy ever actually was Batman. But its 90% Disney, and the other 10% is everything else. And by everything else I mean its usually Snoopy, Tom and Jerry, Moomin and Curious George. The only newer franchise I'm used to seeing is Paw Patrol. Part of this I'm sure is due to Sanrio recently putting an effort into getting ahold of these older IP's.
On the Disney front, well, its Disney. In the past 10 years in America they're known for eating any franchise they could get ahold of; but did you know they've done it in Japan as well? Its no surprise Disney Saturated as much of the Gacha market as they could with their IP's. Princesses, Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Mickey Mouse, and anything else they've touched can be found in a variety of pocket sized goodies. But besides Disneyland Tokyo they've been working to get their hands on as much of Japan as they could to bring it to America. At one point they were in the market to buy an Idol Group, I wonder how that went - Idols aren't my area of expertise.
I'll be honest, I've seen some really cute, or neat toys come out of these western IP's, I always hesitate to pick them up. I have...I think twice. One was the Batman toys which the entire batch sold in a day. The other was Adventure Time, which I still have and only bother throwing in a machine when my stocks so low I have an empty one with absolutely nothing else to fill it. After all they're Gacha Machines! Its a Japanese Novelty brought to the US, do you really want to see American toys it in? I fear people would assume they're from the US and thus pass on them thinking they could get it at Walmart later. Being that its 90% Disney, maybe they can!
I have seen some Horror ones go by, and if I had a horror show planned I probably would pick some of those up. Strangely, that's another genre that's pretty rare in Gacha form. When you see Horror toys, with the exception of the very rare Silent Hill or Resident Evil toy, they will be western IP. The likes of Chucky, Mike Myers, Jason and Freddy Kruger all feature and somewhat regularly. I find this really odd considering Japan's love of Kayako types. In Fact, Kayako, Toshio, and Sadako even played baseball together!
They've appeared in all kinds of promotional stunts and been the inspiration for countless similar ghosts. Yet I've never seen them on a Gacha Toy. I imagine this has to do with superstitions which means they would sell very poorly in Japan. If you ever want a fun read, look into all the rituals, shrine visits, and blessings that happen around the making of Horror movies and games in Japan. When many of their Oni involve punishments for picking up the wrong item, helping a dying cat, or acknowledging the evils existence, it makes a bit more sense why they wouldn't want a toy of it I guess.
Anyway its late, I'm rambling again, and have half a million e-mails to answer for Anime Marryville tomorrow. So if you're waiting on an email please be patient with me! Time to get to sleep.
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