Fanboy.com

Based in Vancouver, Canada Joe Blow Glassworks produces an amazing line of hot glass art objects called Raygunz:

"These are blown and manipulated hot glass objects. A transparent colour is picked up on the pipe, then clear glass is gathered on top. The piece is then blown out and shaped to the desired form. Coloured bits are added. Once the bits are in place, the handle and trigger are applied to the piece, the Raygun is then knocked off the blowpipe into the annealer to cool over a fifteen-hour cycle."

You can see their collection here.

Found via darkroastedblend.com.

Shown above is the Hello Kitty 1seg tuner which features a 2.4" LCD screen. The 1seg standard is a digital TV standard in Japan which is mostly aimed at mobile phones. Unlike regular TV the broadcasts can include text for breaking news and early earthquake warnings. The technology is still a bit flakey as it's hard to use 1seg on a fast moving train, although if you're just watching Kitty TV at home you should be fine.

Found via akihabaranews.com.

Organic Hobby has just released a series of Tezuka vinyl toys: Shown above are Leo (known here as Kimba), Dr. Ochanomizu and Sapphire.

I think the charm of robot tin toys is that they're a reminder that what we think of futurism is in fact the ideas that are most likely to date the fastest. Photographed by Ed who lives in Massachusetts, USA.

You'll have to wait until 2009 to own your very own Hellboy 2: 'Big Baby' Shotgun Life Size Replica which is available from bigbadtoystore.com for a mere $699.99 (what's a recession to a hardcore fanboy anyway?):

"Sideshow is proud to bring you the Big Baby Life-Size Prop Replica from Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The Big Baby Prop Replica features six removable shells and a musical wind-up feature that plays the tune Lullaby and Goodnight, and comes complete with a sturdy display base. The Big Baby Life-Size Prop Replica is the perfect addition to any collection, a reflection if Sideshow's dedication to quality."

And while we're on Hellboy you may get a kick out of this random quote generator that's being used to promote the film:

Shotgun found via nerdapproved.com.

Urban vinyl toys just take chances that you don't see in mainstream playthings: For example the above toy by Tokidoki of The TIGER! is done in this amazing shocking pink which is such a wonderful contrast to the evil heart and cross bones. The above design will be on sale at the San Diego Comic Con from STRANGECo.

Found via toysrevil.blogspot.com.

This Hello Kitty ATM Bank looks way too cute:

"The upcoming Sanrio licensed Hello Kitty ATM Bank features a flip-top lid which pops up to reveal an keypad, a digital readout, and a coin slot which accepts 500-yen coins. Since a 500-yen coin measures 2.65cm or 1.04" in diameter and a USA quarter (0.25 cents) is slightly less than an inch in diameter, the Kitty Bank will store up to 500 quarters. Three styles are on offer for preorder and reservations are welcome today."

...I was going to wish that they made a version just or American currency, but even then it would be a stretch to think that you would use this in the real world (aside from showing it off to fellow kitty fangurls and fanboys).

Poor old rusty Mecha-Godzilla never even had a chance against our cute fuzzy fluffy Japanese bunny friend Fukusuke-pon...

Digital archivist (and artist) Todd Franklin unearthed this amazing Felix the Cat soda bottle cap for Felix Orange Dry. It's funny that we always associate Disney characters with early mass merchandising, but by doing that we over look the other cartoon characters who helped exploit pop culture!

If you're a foodie fanboy who likes fried gyoza then you'll get a kick out of this cell phone strap:

Miniature Mania Gyoza no Shogun

"There's a hole-in-the-wall eatery near our office building that sells four fried dumplings for a dollar. They're greasy, glistening with oil, and piping hot. We know they're not healthy or good for you but a buck doesn't go far anywhere else... except there. Four dumplings is basically a relatively filling lunch for a wretched dollar.

When Bandai started preorders for the Miniature Mania Gyoza no Shogun straps on Tuesday night, we thought of that fried-dumpling-hole-in-the-wall. In Japan, gyoza are fried dumplings and the photo to the left shows six of them on a platter. Instead of wolfing it down however, you're supposed to attach it to your phone. In addition to the gyoza strap, Bandai's Miniature Mania set of food-themed straps include a plate of fried chicken and a beef dish. "

Please Note: As a vegetarian I don't approve of either the fried chicken or beef cell phone straps, and if you do order this item please inform everyone that the gyoza is in fact vegetarian — or faux vegetarian as the case may be...

The Domo-kun Plush Hat is a must for any fashionable anime fanboy (or fangurl).

With Fujiya it's never about the chocolate itself but the packaging! What i like about this product (click on the image to see it at full size) is that not only do you get the four chocolate pencils but there's also a nice little small button you can wear as a keepsake to show your Peko or Poko loyalty. There are twelve potential button designs that you might get, shown above is Peko-chan enjoying her watermelon while hanging out at the beach with her doggie.

It was a sad time in the kingdom as the Starbucks Empire started it's decline as 600 cafe outposts closed their doors. But in a far corner of the galaxy a new hero arose to take on the ills of the uncaffeinated masses: His name was ThermO, the ice coffee friendly robot!

The clever and creative scientists behind ThermO are lockwasherdesign.com.

I've always loved Tim Burton's design sensibility. So when I found myself exploring one of my favorite toy sites these cute goodies caught my eye:

Tim Burton Toxic Boy PVC Set

"Inspired by "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories" by Tim Burton. The Toxic Boy PVC Set includes three painted 4 inch PVC figures: Roy, the Toxic Boy, Mummy Boy, and Jimmy, the Hideous Penguin Boy."

The Art of Wall-E Because Pixar preproduction artwork is always worth showing off on your coffee table.

Wall-E Robot Tin Lunch Box Case This looks like it would be fun to mod or to bring to work.

Super Technology iDance Wall-E Tech toys date the fastest, but they also best reflect the era that they were produced in — which makes them cool to show off in the years to come.

Wall-E PosterBecause posters are a well know inexpensive interior decoration technique for fanboys.

Wall-E Tattoos Show your co-workers how hardcore you are about Pixar.

Fanboys of live action Japanese TV from the 60s will dig this limited edition Ultraman USB Drive which is produced by buffalo.jp. Each Ultraman will store 2 gigs and only 3,000 of these little guys will be produced,

Found via geekalerts.com and Geeky Gadgets.

The Summer heat got me to thinking of the wonderful tradition of Sno-Cone toys. Shown above is a commercial for the Frosty the Sno-Man Sno-Cone maker which Hasbro first debuted in the 60s. Later in the 70s Kenner introduced their twist which was the IceBird:

So in 1979 Hasbro stuck back at Kenner with the Snoopy Sno-Come Machine (you can buy a reissued version here):

I came across some amazing paintings by Esther Pearl Watson, her style evokes the tradition of American folk art — however the twist is that many of her paintings feature a UFO theme which caught my fanboy eye. Shown above is Rudimentary Design and below is The Future. It turns out that Esther's father was a fanboy hobbyist at heart, which is what inspires her artwork:

"Esther Pearl Watson grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Her family moved often, since her father's hobby of building huge flying saucers out of scrap metal and car engines didn't always sit well with the neighbors."

This is for all of you Lost in Space fanboys who want to pop your Pez in style:

Lost in Space: Giant Pez

"The adventure fourty years in the making is now here at last! The Jupiter 2 finally reaches its original destination, Alpha Centauri...and the space family Robinson will never be the same again! Join the trusty B-9 Robot and the Robinson's as they land, at long last, on the elusive Alpha Centauri. Theirs is a mission of peace, scientific exploration and the survival of the human race! The Lost in Space Giant Pez B-9 Robot is over 12" tall and plays custom authentic B-9 Robot Dialogue and Sound Effects. Includes: three 1.5 volt batteries."

I've got the signal, let's go! The Batman & Robin Bat Coders are authentic walkie talkies, there are two in the set — one for Batman and one for Robin of course. The best unique feature of this toy was the switch for sending either an alarm or danger signal as shown here in a commercial from the late 70s:

9 volt battery not included!

Photo via toysfortheages.

The minute I spotted the above photo I fell in love with the toy! The toy is from the 2004 kids anime series Panda-Z: The Robonimation which is a bit of a parody of giant robot cartoons from the 70s like Mazinger Z. Even though the show is no longer on the air Bandai is still pumping out toys and other goodies based on the series which you can find at the official Panda-Z website. Below is an official shot from their Panda-Z Goods section of their website of the toy that caught my eye:

My parents loved me way too much to give me Tang, so I had to live with the hardship of drinking primitive orange juice every day of my earth bound childhood. The faux sugar fueled orange power was first sold over the counter in 1959 by General Foods. However the drink didn't take off until 1965 when the above ad campaign tied it to the Gemini program which forced astronauts to risk their lives in more than one way.

Here's a pre-space race commercial for Tang starring Bugs Bunny from 1959:

However this cute animated spot from the 70s is the one I grew up with (which came after the space race was over):

We've got everything here: the official uniform, gas pistol, shoulder holster, hat, Hornet face mask, signal watch, string ray, gas mask, phone adapter, shoes and the official ring! So who is Captain Action? He was launched in 1966 by Ideal as competition to G.I. Joe — but unlike poor Joe the Captain had outfits so he could be Superman, Batman, Captain America, Flash Gordon and even the Lone Ranger. The Green Hornet version came out in 1967 and is one of the most in demand by collectors of the ill fated action hero series. Here's a commercial from the original Captain Action sans his Green Hornet or Lone ranger uniform:

Photo via toysfortheages.

When you look at the science fiction from any previous era you get an insight to what they thought was modern and thus futuristic. You also get an insight into how they looked at the future itself: This RCA Victor album cover from 1958 views modernism as a moonscape (this was the dawn of the space age after all) and the dancer shows a certain amount of humor — and with a booming economy there was good reason to be optimistic at the time.

Cover found by Thomas Hughes of the Spinto Band.

Just look at how American Greetings has ruined poor Strawberry Shortcake — don't get me wrong she looked tacky back in the day (she was really a pink rip off of Holly Hobby) but this modern makeover has taken out all of the character out of the character. The modern version misses the point that a shortcake is a cake, and poor Strawberry must be allergic because her cat is out of site:

Beloved Characters as Reimagined for the 21st Century

"Strawberry Shortcake was having an identity crisis. The “it” doll and cartoon star of the 1980s was just not connecting with modern girls. Too candy-obsessed. Too ditzy. Too fond of wearing bloomers. So her owner, American Greetings Properties, worked for a year on what it calls a “fruit-forward” makeover. Strawberry Shortcake, part of a line of scented dolls, now prefers fresh fruit to gumdrops, appears to wear just a dab of lipstick (but no rouge), and spends her time chatting on a cellphone instead of brushing her calico cat, Custard. Her new look was unveiled Tuesday, along with plans for a new line of toys from Hasbro."

And here is a berry blast from the past from 1980:

Shown above is a wonderful photo by Inga P. of Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I love the way Inga set up this photo, and the cute touch of the cat makes the photo. Inga looks after the biggest English speaking Pinky:st community at pinky-street.com and she's based out of Nottingham, UK.

Quick Robin! Stop him with the Batscope! Ah yes the good old days when for a $1.49 you could battle an evil doer with your never-miss powerful Batscope that shoots darts as far as 50 feet. My favorite part of the packaging is the back which features Batman and Robin taking on everyone from the Joker to a cute fuzzy monster:

There's something wonderful about the sense of both scale and chaos in this photograph of the Hakone Toy Museum in Japan.

Photographed by Louise who lives in London and has two cool blogs: Louise makes stuff and hole punch.

As much as I hate Huey Lewis he must have been on to something as it's now over 20 years later and I still can't get the theme song from Back to the Future out of my head. Of course the film was a true classic — in fact I may be wrong but I recall another blogger Twittering how that was his favorite film of all time. And I have to say I count myself as a fanboy of that film, so if you're like me here is a chance to own your very own Flux Capacitor:

Flux Capacitor Replica

"You'll have to pump in your own 1.21 gigawatts (pronounced and written in the script as "jigowatts," which was the accepted pronunciation at the time) to actually travel in time - and that's up to you. Or you can be content to just pop in 3 AA's and use the two knobs to adjust the lights. One adjusts the sequential lights behind the temporal firing pins and the other adjusts the flash unit in the middle where the spark of chrono-spacial displacement occurs. Details down to the warning messages from Doc Brown stuck to the front door will awe anyone who sees it."

I got a real kick out of this graphic poster from a subway in Tokyo I'd love to own a copy! Here's a description of the artwork from the photographer who goes by the name TenguTech:

"It seems that too many Japanese do their makeup in the train. And Tokyo Metro train line want to discourage people from doing it. Must be a way to make use of all time available. "

This is purrfect solution for making Kitty confetti! What makes this item special is the fact that the punched out paper is in the shape of Hello Kitty, which is a very nice touch to what might be just another cute collectable sporting a logo.

Found via kittyhell.com.

It's amazing for me to think that My Neighbor Totoro is now twenty years old! I guess that's a tribute to the staying power and quality of Hayao Miyazaki and the team at Studio Ghibli. So if you'd like to tip your hat to Totoro, here's a cute way of doing it:

Totoro Plush Hat

"This hat features Totoro's face and toothy grin, along with perky ears which contain plastic to keep them upright. This is perfect for convention attendees who don't want to go all-out on a costume or for folks who want a little extra cute for puttering around town."

I'm sorry but I grew up hating Kiss! They always seemed just a little too manufactured to me, as opposed to say Led Zeppelin which was a "real band". Although decades later I've learned to accepted the campyness of the 70s into my heart, even including * cough * disco. And so it was with this in mind that the Kiss edition of the Bearbricks designer toys caught my eye. It manages to turn the Kiss stage personas of The Demon, Starchild, Space Ace, and The Catman into something iconic and collectable.

Found via toysrevil.blogspot.com.

At this point in time I've seen too many cheesecake anime model kits aimed at fanboys, so it was a nice break for me to see something aimed more at the fangurls for a change. Shown above is Clamp in 3D Land Vol. 7 which features five ever so cute heroes and heroines. For those of you who don't know Clamp too well, they're a collective of manga artists and and many of their projects have become anime (a good example would be Cardcaptor Sakura). The characters shown above are:

- Kamui Shiro (translation: Power of God) from X
- Su from CLOVER
- Nokoru Imonoyama from CLAMP School Detectives
- Hikaru Shidou from Magic Knight Rayearth
- Sakura (Princess of Clow Kingdom) from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle

What I like about this limited edition of House Of Liu Babies (produced for the Taipei Toy Festival 2008) is that they harken back to vintage black-and-white cartoons while retaining a very modern minimal look — yet still keeping that special sense of cute.

Found via toysrevil.

While exploring Books Kinokuniya (a Japanese bookstore here in NYC) I came across an amazing find: An Italian cook book! But what's funny about this book is that while all of the recipes are Italian, that the presentation of the food is very Japanese to say the least. The name of the book is Vegeta VegeITALIA (Japanese title: 野菜がおいしいイタリアン) and the author is Hiroshi Satake — and its available from Amazon Japan. Below are just a few examples of some of the lush photography that the book is packed with:

Standing at 87 inches tall and weighing in at 485 pounds this model of Optimus Prime is for hardcore Transformers fanboys only. Produced by Robot-Models.com this sculpture will set you back a mere $4,838.

Found via GeekAlerts and Nerd Approved.

These Peanuts premiums from the 70s caught my eye in this election season. There's something that's so endearing about the characters that Charles Schultz created so many years ago. At my local subway station stop that I get off at each day (Bowery station on the J line) there's a Peanuts calendar that's on display in the token booth that always brings a smile to my face.

Shown below are more mementos from Snoopy's Presidential bid:

It's Hello Kitty meets Warhammer 40,000! Check out Katherine's Hello Kitty Sisters of Battle...

Shown above is the Special Edition Cellphone Watch (available from chinavasion.com) which reminded me a great deal of the Dick Tracy 2-Way Wrist Radio which was introduced into the comic strip in 1946. Thankfully Hollywood did an action film based on the strip in 1990 which means we won't have to worry about a remake for at least another few years.

As to the watch itself Dick Tracy would be pretty happy as it features both a still and video camera. While this watch feels like a bit of a gimmick keep in mind that if a second generation model started to combine voice recognition technology that this could evolve into a very handy device. I guess I also like the idea that the good old fashioned form factor of a watch won't be replaced by other devices that tell you the time.

Found via geekalerts.com, image found via coolest-gadgets.com.

You're on the launching site! $1.98 is a pretty good price for a rocket, although I think if I was a child of the era I'd be disappointed that the toy featured above isn't a working model rocket. My guess is that the commercial was either made in the late 50s or early 60s at the start of the space race.

Video found via Ira Gallen.

Dark Horse will be publishing a collection of the works of Eric Joyner in early October. Joyner who is an illustrator and a fine artist takes his favorite objects like Japanese tin toys and yummy donuts and places them into whimsical painterly scenes of surrealistic bliss:

Robots and Donuts

"In the years following World War II the major export from Japan wasn’t electronic equipment, but toys, specifically tin toys. Crafted in the shapes of submarines, planes, trains, cars, and horses, one of the most popular motifs was toy robots. Constructed in virtually every shape imaginable from the 1940s throughout the 1960s, they ranged in appearance from horror to science fiction characters. Capturing this period in history became a passion for painter Eric Joyner and in Robots and Donuts he celebrates this forgotten era with images marrying the metal creations with images plucked from his imagination. And, almost always, with donuts."

...and here's a gallery of his work:

Distressed (2007)

Shown above is the Polar White Domo 5.5" Flocked Vinyl Figure which will be available from dark Horse in late October.

As usual I was stumped again this year shopping for a family member who loves dogs, but as I was strolling through Books Kinokuniya which is a Japanese book store here in New York I came across some great goodies for canine fanboys and fangurls of all ages. Shown above is are some playful paper clips which are by Midori who has a wide line of interesting stationery products.

Below is an amazing little gift book that I discovered which was packed with dog photos and Japanese brush typography. The name of the book is いぬだもの (単行本) which translates to "Dog's Book" and is available at Amazon Japan. There's also a second book in the series which is titled いぬだもの 2 (2) (単行本) which translates to "Dog to be 2" and can also be found at Amazon Japan:

The Outer Space Men (Colorforms - Late 1960s)

Major Matt Mason: Mattel's Man in Space: Space Crawler (Mattel - Late 1960s)

Lost In Space Robot (Remco 1966)

See the entire collection here, collection curated by Frederick Barr.

Space:1999 (Thermos 1975)

I have to admit that I had my doubts about Disney-Pixar's upcoming movie WALL-E, although slowly my mind is being changed on the subject. For starters a friend who saw a few clips at the recent New York Comic Con told me that he was blown away with the quality of the work that he viewed. And today I could sense the buzz building up as I spotted a poster for the film on a bus shelter here in NYC.

Shown above is the Ultimate WALL-E which will sell for $190 this summer. This interactive robot comes with a remote controller and sensors that'll allow him to respond to his environment in numerous ways, including obstacle, sound, and touch detection. This fanboy thinks that this looks like a fun toy and makes me look forward to finding out more about the film.

Found via gearlog.

Meow! Japanese horror punk rock band Balzac has adopted Hello Kitty into their act. Shown above is the result of this collaboration which includes a line of t-shirts to show off your claws of cuteness.

Found via Hello Kitty Hell.

The photos shown above are of various Japanese toys:
• Lunch Time photo by katsuboy
• Baby and Box photo by gwennan
• Shokupankun Arrives! photo by rilakkumaworld

Check out these cool official Indiana Jones desktop icons designed by Anthony Piraino.

What's funny about this Western Electric ad from 1968 is that it reminds me a great deal of the webcams of today. I suspect as the technology for those webcams becomes cheaper we'll see those as stand alone objects disappear over time, but that signature lens will continue to be found everywhere from cell phones to TV sets.

Found via Pink Ponk.

Yeah you aint goin' to mess with us! I got my friend here in the MS-09R Rick Dom which features a large clip-fed beam cannon (often referred to as a "Beam Bazooka")...

Fukusuke-pon 福助ぽん is a cute rabbit from Japan whose adventures can be followed on Flickr.

Shown above is the Robot XL500 designed by LockWasher Design. What's great about this design is that it's sleek and futuristic, yet when you look closer you see the everyday objects that make up the details to this delicious droid.

I first discovered Golgo 13 as an anime series in the 80s, but the concept dates back to a manga written and illustrated by Takao Saito in 1969. The series revolves around the adventures of Duke Togo a professional assassin, and a new animated version of the show is now running on TV Tokyo in Japan. To celebrate the series Nescafe is introducing a line of canned coffees to celebrate the stark looking sniper which is shown above (click on the image to view it at full size).

Because girls just want to have fun! I realize that Barbie is more of a fangurl icon than fanboy material, but I was quite impressed with the above musical example of how Mattel popularized the well known fashion doll with legions of young fans back in 1961. Also as an animation fan I got a real kick out of the charming reto animated graphics used in the commercial. Here's the actual record:

Shown below is another good example of Mattel reaching out to fangurls with an official fan club that even featured its own magazine:

From the rocket fields of the academy! I wonder when the Sci Fi channel will do a remake of Tom Corbett: Space Cadet? Shown above is the cover for a 1951 record which features Mitchell Miller who would go onto fame in his own right with his Sing-Along with Mitch records in the 60s. As for Tom Corbett the TV series ran from 1950 until 1955 and inspired additional books, comics, a radio show and other goodies. I love the level of detail in the back cover of the record which shows you a typical space academy classroom:

I'm sorry I just couldn't help myself! These two little plushies were just too cute to blog about. Anyway I'll try not to let this happen again in the future...

Found via Sarah from Atlanta, GA!

This set of vinyl Indiana Jones statues sort of reminds me of the Muppet Babies, but in a good way:

Indiana Jones Sofubi by PansonWorks

"When the new Indiana Jones movie bows on May 22, Indy isn't a young man anymore. He's an old guy. So what's a toy producer to do? Make an old man toy or hearken back to an earlier time? The choice is obvious in Pansonworks' upcoming Indiana Jones sofubi (soft vinyl) toy which features a fresh-faced adventurer and his wizened dad. Indy's also sporting about a day's worth of stubble on his chin."

Emotes are a line of designer toys and graphic novels — I got a kick out of running into their oversized mascot (shown above) who's a bit more lovable than the rad looking charter designs shown below: