Hagen no Zista? I hardly know you

One of the more pleasant discoveries while I was at Toylanta was that of a small gatcha/gashapon line of figures (and trading cards) by Bandai called Hagen no Zista. I knew nothing of this line before the convention and at the time of this writing still know very little. To be fair, the amount of this type of thing that completely escapes my attention is not uncommon. It's a much bigger thing than a single person can keep up. That being said, this is a cool little series that completely passed me by a few years ago and seems to be over... though I seem to be able to track down some of the stuff still. 

Hagen no Zista is a neat little line of robot mini figures with fun designs in mostly translucent plastic designed by Bandai. There's probably an accompanying fiction, but at this time I haven't learned of it. Knowing these kind of things, it's a typical good vs evil formula. There is some sort of card inside the boxed ones I bought, not sure if that's for a game or just a cool bio card (there seems to be associated trading cards). I generally appreciate when mini figures and keshi come with that sort of thing.

The blind boxed/gathca style figures are seemingly candy toys that regularly came with a chocolate. The ones I got had some apple gum inside that my wife convinced me to try. It was a pretty tasty apple flavored gum that I hope hadn't gone bad. I didn't get sick, so guess not. The Gashapon capsule I got seemed to be the same style of figure as the boxed on, just delivered differently. The figures are pleasant, articulated little robots in colorful translucent plastic. They have that Bandai look, but also look like they should have been from a video game. I could definitely see some of these in a LCD game like Digimon or an RPG.

The line has ended, sadly so because I'd love for these to still be readily available. That's the kicker when you discover something after it's over. There was an apparent successor named Robot Concerto. I can't tell if Robot Concerto is still going, but honestly, Bandai makes so many of this type of thing... there's always something else similar. The boxes for Robot Concerto look like Mobile Suit Gundam Ensemble boxes, so it's possible the team moved onto that. I'm partially stoked about Hagen no Zista as it's something that's clearly my type of thing. But also because, it's neat to discover something at a con. It's been a while since that's happened for me and I'm happy for it.

Hagen no Zista TV Magazine scans

Cheap Super Heroes

I've mentioned before my love for capsule toy machines. Probably one of the reasons I love blind bag toys so much and wish I had access to the gashapon haven that exists in Asian countries. As a kid and even now I can't pass one by without checking out what they have inside. Sometimes it's just those crappy rings (pass) and sometimes it's gold (dammit, I need quarters!). Before I go any further, this is one of those posts where all the images came from screen shooting Google image search results from shady auction sites. Bootleg Voltron figures sold in gumball machines don't exactly always pop up on Amazon, gnaw meen brah?

I didn't know what a keshi or a bootleg was when I was 8. But I did know these neat little rubber monsters and super heroes I'd get from the machines at the grocery store looked like Godzilla and guys from video games. Later in life when learning more about such things... turns out they were from Godzilla type productions and video games originally. Or hey, when my childhood arcade got prize redemption counters. That little bucket of colorful dudes have tiny Masters of the Universe mixed in with the dinosaurs. Luckily those always were the cheapest options, so a few dollars worth of skeeball really paid off. Or man, these little robot model kits in the Kroger machines look like the guys from Robotech. Some reason that one Kroger had those model kits on lock down.

One of the more odd outlets for these toys was party supplies. Thanks to curiosity getting the best of me on a faithful trip to the store, I noticed the party supply section had more than just balloons and birthday candles. Baggies of cheap toys intended for goodie bags usually contain those crappy race cars and planes with the wheels that fall off. Or those stupid little games where you have to make the ball bearings fit into the clowns eyes by rolling them around. But sometimes... dude are those Madballs?

Next thing I knew I had a bag full of tiny rubber Madball rip offs for a dollar. This is still a common occurrence. Next time your around a party supply section or store (the more ratchet the store, the better) check those out. Usually it's just crappy kazoos, but on occasion you'll find M.U.S.C.L.E rip offs or whatever. One time I saw some Street Fighter figures. They were from a gashapon series originally, bootlegged in weird plastic that kinda smelled like fish. That's the gambit you run with el cheapo bootleg toys. They're usually pretty sketchy and might be made in a facility next to bathtub meth. So uh... be careful mang.

Dark of The Capsule Machine

Epoch makes some really great capsule/gashapon toys. Their Dareore Dark Side line is particularly neat to me. A line of skeleton robot guys with various series of accessory toys. The machine skull series seen above is really drawn my interest. In the vein of more recent 'head' capsule toys, the head itself is the capsule dispensed from the machine and the various parts are inside the shrink wrapped head. Once assembled, you get one of six (two mystery versions) types of piloted units. I was first made aware of these cool walkers in Microman groups as they're a good fit for your micros. Though the Dareore figures they're intended for are a perfect match.

Cool articulated little robotic skeletons. Man, I dig that chest armor so much. The multiple colors and weapons are wonderful. I love it when sci fi is blended with gothic horror. Love it. Just for good measure, check out the Magic Furniture set. They just need a spooky space castle now. It even has an exclusive body type in that batch.

Damn, that's awesome. I've often wished I had access to gashapon machines like they do in Japan and other countries. Occasionally a random comic shop will have one or two, but the best I can hope for is that the gumball machines in front of the grocery store has something cool in it. I watch a lot of videos of people hitting up the machines and while I'm extremely jealous, I'm also in extreme awe. There's stores full of just the machines and often even with rent-able lockers to display the toys you're willing to trade and lists of what you're looking for. If I had those stores here... man. You could be sure it would be a big topic here on the site. I'd probably make a big deal of it. I'd have at least 3 more followers on Instagram.

M.U.S.C.L.E Manly Men

The Japanese release of M.U.S.C.L.E (not counting Kinnikuman) was pretty focused on the fact that these were MEN. Muscle Men, to be precise.

Super Surprise!

I love mini figures and keshi is my favorite format. From M.U.S.C.L.E to Decoys to other little rubber guys, it's just perfect for a blind bag or vending machine. Super 7 is a great company I've been a fan of sine discovering their magazine in the early 2000's. Clearly on the same wavelength I'm on, the company makes great products that I love. Their various keshi lines are perfect. Great sculpts in a variety of colors and characters. While I'm focusing on Transformers here, their other lines are just as wonderful. Universal Monsters (heart), Masters of the Universe (awesome), The Worst (their own rad creation), and Peanuts (so awesome) are just some of the epic selection they offer. They do keshi right.

The toys are usually available in various multi-packs or in blind boxes under the Keshi Surprise! line. Keshi Suprise! come in great little boxes (I appreciate good looking packaging). Inside the box is a little baggie containing your figure and a cool sticker of the character similar to buying keshi in a Gashapon machine. Super 7 has street cred, that's legit dope. Gashapon machines are not a common thing here in America sadly. Occasionally a specialty shop will have them (I used to clear a local shops machine out until the place eventually closed), but the closest we normally have is gumball style machines which results vary.

While I'm ok ordering from the Super 7 store, boy I'd love to grab a handful of these at Target or Five Below (which depending on your location, has carded M.U.S.C.L.E). Going out and hitting up my favorite blind toy spots is a good time. There's toy hunting and then there's blind toy hunting. Finding them at a store is only half the battle, there's also the gamble of whats inside. If there a code? Hope there's a code, if not I'm just grabbing a ton. Some people tour the world hunting for rare treasure, I scour the suburbs filling my drawstring backpack with little rubber dudes.

M.U.S.C.L.E MAYHEM

It was sometime in college that I learned more about M.U.S.C.L.E figures origins. I had bought quite a ton of the little guys as a kid, which lead me to being interested in other similar figures. Monsters in my Pocket, Transformers Decoys, random little rubber figures in vending machines and ticket redemption booths at the arcade (hey, this one's He-Man!). Turns out they were a type of figure called keshi with roots in Japan (it's by absolute coincidence that so many things I like come from there). M.U.S.C.L.E was based on a series called Kinnikuman but here in America was given a sort of Garbage Pail Kids treatment (larger packs of the toys even came in garbage cans).

Kinnikuman is kinda similar to Dragon Ball in ways (light comparison, don't come at me) while M.U.S.C.L.E just gave the figures a basic story of weirdo creatures (Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere) that just happened to be wrestlers who fought a lot. Even though the early 2000's U.S reintroduction of the series (Ultimate MUSCLE) was a pretty direct adaption of Kinnikuman (boy I bought a ton of those), I'll admit to preferring the M.U.S.C.L.E setting. No real reason I suppose, it's just a fun light setting for these little weird dudes to exist in. Not to mention, whenever I get newer M.U.S.C.L.E figures, it's cool to see Ric Flair to enter the wrestling anarchy.