Woohoo!

We just found out our Pixel Map got fancy’d by 1410 users!  That is AWESOME!    Thank you!

So we kinda know that Kong’s got a bad temper, but we had NO IDEA what’d tick him off…

But now we do!  Apparently Kong’s MAD about air pollution, especially 2nd hand smoke… he wants a healthy set of lungs just like you and me!  That’s why he’s flipping over a tobacco house, 1-2-3!

EVIL BAD TOBACCO CANCER OF A HOUSE! Kong roars as he FLIPs IT just like that!

NO MORE SMOKE! KONG NOW HAPPY! KONG SMILES ALL THE TIME NOW!

Well maybe not, he still looks pissed off…

Hahahah, the little sofubi house actually belongs to Gomira of Sin & Wombat from 2006.
While our little sparkie Kong is a TAKARA 1983 vintage Choro Q Series Choro Beast King Kong

Branded on his soles: KING KONG,TM*©1933 UNIV.STUDIOS

TAKARA タカラ JAPAN チョロQシリーズ チョロ獣 (チョロじゅう/Choro juu) キングコング

Kong was released in 1983年1月 Kセット発売 along with 23 other Choro Juu/Choro Beasts.  It’d be quite a feat to track down this entire series after nearly 30yrs!  I’ve got Ultraman & Baltan-Seijin (of course!) and a few others from this series, but that’d be another story from another blog, stay tuned… : )

So my good Kong, do u want a banana?

Just the other day we were meeting up in the city for dinner w/ cuz from NYC.  Having arrived a full hour early, I figured I’d just walk around and check out the nearby stores since it’s not very often that I get to wander around Union Square w/ this much free time.  Not wanting to go off too far and end up being late coming back, I decided just to keep the sightseeing short and only to a few nearby stores.  After the Apple store (why it’s a must!) on 1 Stockton St., I happen upon the Disney store, a place where I don’t usually set foot in but hey… the store is nicely lit and there must be magic inside, right?

And WHAT do you know?  The very first thing (yes I passed and ignored all the princesses and stuff) I saw was an all-too-cute Toy Story Alien Bubble Squirter!  Oh this is cool!  Too bad it doesn’t really make noise like a squeeker would.   But I dig it… I DIG it!  : )

Up on the shelves behind the counter there’s also group of these little alien child hand held juice-cup-thingies. Hmmm, mmm, I’d pick it up on the way out.

Then I was told there’s more Toy Story aliens up stairs, so I went up the long escalator up to 2F.   Not much here though, contrary to my expectation.  I only found an ol’ alien plush which is just ooook, PASS!

And then there was the POP! alien, he’s not bad… not sure if the square-look is right for him.  But the packaging is big and I didn’t want to crush the box inside my backpack… PASS!  For now, anyway.

So I came back downtairs, asked the gal behind the counter to pick a good suckie-alien-cup for me, when another sales gal came up to me and informed me that they had this little Toy Story rocket thingie with alien erasers inside a few months back.  I was like, REALLY?  Was it the BIG one that I got?  But that didn’t have any green alien erasers inside I thought and that was more than several yrs ago…  and she was like no no no, it’s pretty small and it IS erasers inside, and they were alll out.  But just to make sure. she’d go take a look for me in the back…

A few minutes later, the bestest disney store girl came out and handed me this little toy story rocket filled with tiny green alien erasers, exactly as she had decribed!  It was the VERY LAST ONE they had as it had fallen behind some other stock and was left unseen on the floor until now…  now that’s TOTAL FATE for me and this lil’ rocket of aliens!  Talking about destiny!   And to make the pot even sweeter, she even told the sales clerk to mark it down 15% cuz it was a little dirty (nothing a good rub wont clean off).  Oy oy!  Joy joy!

‘

OH THE CLAW! THE CLAW!

So there we have it, my final score of the day~  and yes on that very day, I was happy!  : )

While we were working on the exhibition installation in Taipei, I became somewhat upset at Maibelle this one night for some reason that I no longer recall.  To appease this big child who was pouting while carrying a few gallons of paint inside his backpack (They were heavy! Of course I had to pout!), she decided to give me some coins so I can try out my luck on this gachapon machine inside a FamilyMart that we happened by on the way.

“I want that yellow submarine!” I whined, pointing to the picture of Heart Pirates’ submarine, “but actually, I’d take any of the six ships OTHER than the marine ship, it’s ugly!”  (Yah, you should’ve heard me, i was pathetically childish and bratty!)

So I tried my luck… and the excitement built as I put in more coins (ALL of our coins, evenutally, actually),  wishing for a different ship other than the marine ship…

If I recalled correctly, I managed to get all 5 SD ships that I wanted in this order:

Laboon ラブーン the scarred black whale of West Blue
Whitebeard Pirates’ main flagship Moby Dick
Heart Pirates’ yellow submarine
Straw Hat Pirates’ Going Merry
Straw Hat Pirates’ Thousand Sunny (サウザンドサニー号, Sauzando Sanī-gō)

Do I have enough coins to go on?

OK one last one!  YES!!! I got my Straw Hat Pirates’ Thousand Sunny (サウザンドサニー号, Sauzando Sanī-gō)!!!

And it worked out exactly the way I wanted to!!!

OOOOPS!  I was wrong!  Just checked my gachapon progress pics that I took, the correct order was actually:

Whitebeard Pirates’ main flagship Moby Dick
Straw Hat Pirates’ Going Merry
Laboon ラブーン the scarred black whale of West Blue
Heart Pirates’ yellow submarine
Straw Hat Pirates’ Thousand Sunny (サウザンドサニー号, Sauzando Sanī-gō)

So there we have it, what luck eh? Though on hindsight, perhaps I should’ve gone for another ship (but we were totally out of $ cuz we spent every coin we had on these…) and who knew with my kind of luck that night I might have just gotten a complete set!

Alas~ and here’s your chance to get your very own (and BIGGER) One Piece pirate ships from Tofufu~

Funny how toys just pop up out of the most unlikely(?) places where you least expect to see them.  They saturate and influence your life more than you care to admit; they’re like moisture and rainbow and sand that get into everything while you’re visiting Hawaii… they are like… what the heck am I talking about?

During our recent Lunar New Year trip, we visited dear 6th auntie’s newly remodeled home.  What struck me the most was not how nicely the place was remodeled (it WAS/IS, very nice!), but how in places where one normally see antique ivory carvings and teapots of yesteryears that one’d expect from the parents generation, we saw… TOYS!  Various vinyl and plastic toys of He-Man and his foes, enemies from TMNT (Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles) and dinosaurs galore!

Not to mention a bootleg Godzilla and a bootleg Gigan hanging out in the bathroom among other oddities…
just too too wild~!

Apparently 6th auntie had saved a portion of my cousin Gray’s childhood toys, and decided to put them on display after she remodeled her place.  It gave the place an unique look and feel, and I was instantly at home : )

Not exactly a big He-Man or TMNT fan myself, but at least I can name a few… what about you?  Big thanks to little bro Vin to fill in on the nameless foes!

He-Man and foes (not in any particular order… can you match the names with the fotos?) :

1. Roboto
2. Buzz-Off
3. Clawful
4. Grizzlor
5. Rio Blast
6. He-Man (Prince Adam)
7. Whiplash
8. Leech
9. Dragstor
10. Kobra Khan (w/o the hood)

Sorry some of the fotos are a bit blurry, I kinda took ‘em in a hurry since I’ve got a FAMILY GATHERING to attend to! Will definitely be better next round, I promise!

TMNT (Teenager Mutant Ninja Turtles) foes:

11. Splinter
12. Shredder
13. Rocksteady

14. KingKong
15. Godzilla
16. Gigan

Great News!   Tofufu’s Pixel Map – Colors of the World is proud to be honored in the recent HOW International Design Awards and published in the HOW Magazine’s 2012 Design Award Annual. We are thrilled!  Yay!

HOW Magazine, one of the main design publications of the United States (since 1985), has selected our Pixel Map – Colors of the World as as one of award-winning designs in the most recent HOW International Design Awards. This highly selective and well-regarded competition sponsored by HOW magazine, now in its 19th year, recognizes outstanding creative work produced by individuals and creative agencies from around the world.

HOW International Design Awards is a global creative competition; each year, winners represent countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America. Design Army, Hybrid Design, Target Corp., Methodologie, Leo Burnett, Hornall Anderson and Little & Company were among the winners.

A team of design-industry veterans judged nearly 1,000 entries in 15 categories and selected winning projects that demonstrated an ideal mix of concept, strategy and execution. Judges awarded Pixel Map – Colors of the World merit in the Miscellaneous category.

All winning projects will be prominently featured in the March 2012 issue of HOW magazine.  Pick up the HOW Magazine’s 2012 Design Award Annual to check it out! Our winning entry is on page 107 : )

Our Pixel Map – Colors of the World bamboo wall art is now available on our Tofufu website for various sizes.  You can also find other Pixel Map series such as Africa, Americas, Eurasia, Oceania on our site. Looking for a minimal, yet colorful piece to lighten up your place?   Let Tofufu’s Pixel Map take you to a wonderful trip from sea to shiny sea. :)

So it’s been two winters since I last set my bootprints on any Asian soil.  Being all ‘yang’ (as in yin and yang/hot and cold) et all, Asian summers are simply way too hot and humid for me; a winter trip is the only way I’d cross the Pacific out of my own freewill.  Anyhooo, it was mostly work doing exhibition installations during this round, so I didn’t get much of a chance to quench my geeky toy thirst but hey… a toy geek never knows what he/she may run into, especially in an unfamiliar town.

During the long thr before work, we were walking on the streets of Linkou when we came across this small mom and pop shop that I’ve visited two years ago.  They’ve got a bunch of bootlegs, or rather, unauthorized electric lanterns all strung up high on several rows of strings, just in time for the upcoming lantern festival for the 15th of January of Lunar New Year.

Having already bought a small Patrick lantern (starfish dude from SpongeBob) and a tiny dragon lantern from a local mart earlier and not finding anything else of interest, I didn’t think i’d find anything new though I figured I’d give it a lookie anyway.

AND what do you know!?  Lo and behold we’ve found myself a Kamen Rider lantern… sitting on a GIANT LOTUS! There was another KR in a fighting pose and a cape, tho I’m not sure if I’ve picked him up on a previous trip (let me check… yep! Got him two winters ago~). Since we were in a hurry at that time, plus I didn’t have any space left in my backpack; as much as I wanted it, we decided it’d be best for us to come back and pick it up later.  Besides, it was kind of pricey comparing to the Patrick and dragon we got earlier.

Another week or so went by, we’ve gone down south to visit my parents; we were running errands in Shalu, the town I grew up in though no longer recognize, when it suddenly occured to me that I still have yet to pick up my laterns, so I decided to ask around to see if there’s any place selling them around here.

I asked a few folks at the post office, no go; finally a person told me to goto this local bookstore so I trotted down to this tiny bookstore that I used to visit when I was a kid… but BOOKSTORES only got BOOKS, sheeesh!

Although the good shopkeep told me to check out the vegetible market nearby, they ‘should’ have some, it’s lantern season anyway, he said.

I drove through the narrow street of the local farmer’s market, good thing it was during the off hours so parking was easy.

When I spotted MY lanterns from afar, this time displayed on two rotating racks of flashy ultra-vivid colors outside this ‘bedding marriage life house shop’ that sells clothings and blankets, I jumped out of my car right away.

Same price BUT, they’ve got TWO different versions of bootleg Kamen Rider on giant spinning lotus!   Now aint that something?   I also got me a larger electric lantern of Patrick on skateboard, playing to an ever-so-annoying loud renedition of kids singing ‘twinkle-twinkle-little star’… UH!

Back onto my two ever-so-lovely Kamen Rider bootleg electric lanterns:

Apparently the original mold for this unauthorized fine product was made a decade ago, as the Kamen Rider portrayed (in all the wrong day-glo colors of course) is the 30th Anniversary Kamen Rider: Kamen Raidā AgitΩ / 仮面ライダーアギト (2001~2002).  All the marks on the helmet and face are accurate, just the colors are way off (AgitΩ is mostly black and gold), but that’s why this is FUN! : )

The KR lantern comes with a wire string attached to a pink heart speaker where the ultra-loud-n-annoying-as-heck sounds comes from, and a neon orange handle bar that holds 3 AA batteries inside for power.  When the button is switched, the lantern powers up in dazzling flashy lights and the two lotus at the bottom rotates and spins, with SOUND that KILLS… seriously, it’s soooooo annoying!

DIMENSION: The entire electric lantern stands at 7.5″ tall, while the SD Kamen Rider is 4.25″, and the duo-layered lotus is 5.25″ wide in diameter.

BATTERY REQUIRED: AA x3.  But seriously, it’s much better if you don’t turn it on.

For comparison, here’s a 9-10″ tall bootleg KR Agito lantern our fellow toy guru Stephen Singer picked up from NYC Chinatown some years back ———————————————>

Singer muses, “I believe it’s supposed to be KR Agito, although being an unlicensed figure it’s hard to tell. I photoshopped out a wire at the top of his head; he can’t stand very well without it. His eyes light up while a shrill blaring version of ‘Marry Had a Little Lamb” issues forth. I have Ultraman riding a Day-glo lion too. Good stuff.”

Guess another blog showcasing off our OTHER bootleggie lanterns is in order… until next time~

Meanwhile, check out the fantastically wacky world of bootleg, you will not disappointed:  The Complete Guide To Fake Toys – THE BEST bootleg toys book EVER!!

It’s an awesome book about bootlegs from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan & Korea and THE guide to all those crazy unauthorized kuso booties one could ever wish for. Seriously, it’s a must have book for all ‘serious’ toy collectors. it’s a riot to see all the variations bootleggers come up with, rock on!

So there we have it.  I’ll probably never turn these lanterns on again, ever.  But they sure display nicely among other things.  Happy lunar new years lantern day (and beyond)!

After launching Tofufu.com, we knew it was time to think about the design for our business card. : )

Since Tofufu is an online art and toy studio, we wanted a playful and inviting business card that people can be amused, feel excited upon acceptance, and keep on their desktops instead of forever sleeping in the business card organizers, never to see the daylight again.

Most business cards are often filed away and forgotten because there is no strong connection or association between the brands and the business cards for people to recognize and remember. To solve this recognition problem creatively and cost-effectively, with tons of fun added, we decided to design the ‘reaction & experience’ we want people to have when/after they receive the Tofufu business card as our first approach.

Despite how tech-savvy people are with social networks these days, business cards are still an important way for people to introducing themselves and staying connected.   We spent a couple days analyzing the relationship between people and the business cards they receive, while brainstormed ideas for ours at the same time.

We knew that a strong impression is essential to business cards, and it’s not that difficult to impress people upon first sight. However, how does one grab and retain people’s attention so they will further associate one’s business card with one’s brand? Or how to motivate people to keep your card – and even show it around for you?  This time we wanted to get rid of the old-fashioned way and try something different:

We designed a playful pop-up business card that can be folded and converted into a miniature toy shelf, featuring three Tofufu-exclusive toy characters.  Therefore, our business card becomes our micro portfolio too!  : )

We believe that business cards can become great interactive elements as long as they are designed for the right purpose – to enhance the connection between the brand and the cards, not just design a pop-up business card that pops up.

Therefore, for our business card, we created a playful and hand-on experience that people learn what we do in Tofufu by turning our business card into a miniature toy shelf and micro-portfolio. It is very simple to do so: just follow the lines and gently fold the card step by step.

Also, by showing three of the most identifiable Tofufu toy projects on the folded shelf, people can also associate the business card graphics to Tofufu’s brand image right away. Thus we not only enhance the connection between the business cards and our brand, we also bring back some fun childhood memories for our customers!

And that’s exactly what we do in our art and toy studio every day,

“Tofufu, not only for the kids in you!”
“Tofufu = Toys + Fun + Fun!”

Continuing with what we started last week, here’s yet another vintage white porcelain rice bowl of Tokusatsu [wiki definition: Tokusatsu (特撮) is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects (tokusatsu literally translates as "special filming" in Japanese).]

Can u say… AWESOMENESS!!!?

YEP!  It’s  ミラーマン or Mirrorman, the Japanese Tokusatsu show that aired on Fuji TV in 1971-2.  スライサー・H！(Slicer · H! !)

Again it’s the same size as the Ultra Kaiju bowl at 11cm diameter (4.33″), and bears the same identical mark on the bottom of the bowl.  We have yet to figure out exactly which maker/workshop the mark belongs to, tho we’re sure that such marks are only seen on fine china and glass products from this era (1970′s~80′s).  *Update: Actually, thanks to our Japanese friend, we believe the mark belongs to the Japanese porcelain maker 金正陶器 / Kanesho Touki co.,ltd. in 岐阜県多治見市 Tajimi-shi, Gifu-ken ~ :)

Rotate the bowl 180° and we get… Mirrorman vs Kittyfire!!!  二次元人と宇宙妖怪との格闘.
It just doesn’t get better than this!

Not trying to be greedy or anything, but now let’s hope I’m able to come across porcelain bowls from Ultra Leo, Kamen Rider Amazon and perhaps ThunderMask… then I’d be in Tokusatsu porcelain heaven! : )

__

fotos by メトロン星人の部屋 / Metoron-Seijin’s Room

Time for Some Chirashi Sushi Rice, Anyone?

OK, perhaps not, cuz the bowl is… EMPTY!  But ain’t this just an awesome vintage kaiju bowl that would’ve been perfect for any rice…  or noodle?

Released back in the days when USD was still the king currency (or so we thought) by far, an educated guess puts its manufactured time around late 70′s to early 80′s… perhaps?  This beautiful beautiful kaiju bowl is made of fine white porcelain bone china with seven ultra kaijus printed on it, simply, simply elegant~   Measuring at 11cm diameter (4.33″), the printed Japanese text on the bowl reads ウルトラマン怪獣 ©円谷プロ/ Ultraman Kaiju ©TSUBURAYA PRO., while the two silver stickers read ウルトラマン シリーズ V ©円谷プロ/Ultraman Series V, ©TSUBURAYA PRO. and 完全研磨/polishing complete 機にキズをつけません/not scratched by machine(?), or according to a Japanese friend, ”The bowl has been polished so firmly and does not scratch the desk.”.  NICE!  I’d so hate it if my rice bowl scratches up my desk!!! : )

However it was made, we totally dig this bowl!  Kinda small for a full meal tho, as u can see how it fits into the palm of my hand, but who cares?  It’s a lovely bowl!  Now, just how many classic Ultra kaijus can you name here?

Answers below : )

*UPDATE: thanx to our Japanese friend, we believe the mark belongs to the Japanese porcelain maker 金正陶器 / Kanesho Touki co.,ltd. in 岐阜県多治見市 Tajimi-shi, Gifu-ken ~ :)

Here’s the individual kaiju shots, let’s hear some kaiju names, shall we?

ANSWERS, DO NOT READ AHEAD: Baltan-Seijin, Red King,  TEROCHIRAS (not Litta, nope nope~), King Joe, Sadora, Jirass and SEEGULA from the 1979 anime series “THE ULTRAMAN,” who looks a little like Black King with a ton of extra horns.   A special thnx to our kaiju guru Alex Wald for the mystery kaiju answer!