Toys and Models What is a Gashapon?

Gashapon
‘ga-sha-pohn’ – phonetic sound heard when the capsule drops down from the machine.

Gashapon are capsuled toys found in Japanese vending machines.
The containers are roughly between 4-6 centimetres. The vending machines are like our bubble gum machines here, but well, cooler. The machines contain already pre-painted figures of mostly anime and manga merchandise, but there are also machines with cars and animals, etc. Some gashapon sets become highly sought after due to what anime or manga they are from, limited numbers, or just because they are so darn cool or cute.


Here are the standard sized capsule (left) and the smaller sized one (right).


The larger capsules contain figures at max 4 inches while the smaller ones would have 2 inch figures. The larger capsule would cost more than the smaller one obviously

When you take your figure out of the capsule, it will look something like this, and gashapon figures generally need to be put together, so they may come in a few to many pieces. Here I am putting together one of my fave gashapon from Chobit series II:



I love Gashapon because most are like mini puzzles, some of the Naruto ones are a bit confusing, but fun too!
Voila!



More to come



My website is having some problems, I hope to have the images up soon ~ Ciel