Gashapon (ガシャポン) or sometimes Gachapon (ガチャポン) in Katakana, also referred to as "capsule toy", is a Japanese onomatopoeia, made up of two sounds: "gacha" for the turning of a crank on a toy vending machine, and "pon" or "pong" for the sound of the toy capsule dropping into the receptacle. It is used to describe both the machines themselves, and any toy obtained from them.
Gashapon machines are the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside of Toy Kingdom and Toys R Us. One can also notice "lower-quality" toy dispensers found around malls where you insert a certain amount usually coins, then after turning a knob a toy pops out. Gashapons of Japanese origin are somewhat different and can cost anywhere from 100 - 500 Yen (Equal to PHP50 - PHP150 or US$1–US$5) and are normally a much higher quality product.
Gashapons are often constructed from high-grade PVC plastic, and contain more molding detail and carefully painted features. Yes "individually" painted figures. However, these are not simply toys you can play around with: they are collector's items, with rare ones fetching extremely high prices.
Gashapons are often based on popular character licenses from Japanese manga, video games, anime and popular icons. These highly detailed toys based on popular culture icons have found a large following among adults in Japan, and the trend is filtering to the West with other popular culture influences such as anime and manga. It is not at all uncommon to see sets based on licenses explicitly for adults, with figures of naked or near-naked women.
Collections and Sets
Virtually all gashapon are released in sets - each series will have a number of figures to collect. They are, by nature, a "blind purchase"; people insert coins and hope to get the toy or figure they desire. It may become frustrating, as one risks obtaining the same capsule repeatedly. Then there goes the "concept" of "trading" and/or "selling" what you have as double.
However, locally you may want to purchase a "complete" set from local toy distributors, but they may "not" be in actuality a "complete" or "perfect" set. More below...
Source edited from: Wikipedia
Full Version: Gashapon 101
Tips on Posting 1
1. Most moderators and/or administrators in this community can read Japanese up to a certain level and since Gashapons are of Japanese origin, we will try to give our best in translating and providing appropriate information for each set that may arrive or have been released.
2. Since the Gashapons' popularity and amount or volume of release each month, this thread may in the future be unorganized. So the administrators and/or moderators of this thread will in the future try to control by modifying posts, altering or editing information from time to time.
3. In line with this, we are "telling" everybody to follow this simple rule or format in posting. You are only given 50 characters for the title, and 40 characters for the description so please use it well.
Topic Title: Manufacturer and/or Series and/or Set Title
You can just post the manufacturer, no need to "enclose" it with "[ ]" that just eats up extra 2 characters. Here is a good Topic Title example: "Bandai HG Naruto Collection 2"
Though in the future there may be a chance where the whole information: "Manufacturer-Series-Set Name" can't be squeezed out into 50 characters, so we advise for topic starters to put the "series" in the "Topic Description" instead or the next "input field."
Topic Description: Release Date - Price - (in Yen per piece) - Based set quantity + Alphas/Secrets/Variants
This is a good example: "March 2008 Y200 6" You can however write pieces after the number 6, but then again it eats up space, but no one is stopping you.
1. Most moderators and/or administrators in this community can read Japanese up to a certain level and since Gashapons are of Japanese origin, we will try to give our best in translating and providing appropriate information for each set that may arrive or have been released.
2. Since the Gashapons' popularity and amount or volume of release each month, this thread may in the future be unorganized. So the administrators and/or moderators of this thread will in the future try to control by modifying posts, altering or editing information from time to time.
3. In line with this, we are "telling" everybody to follow this simple rule or format in posting. You are only given 50 characters for the title, and 40 characters for the description so please use it well.
Topic Title: Manufacturer and/or Series and/or Set Title
You can just post the manufacturer, no need to "enclose" it with "[ ]" that just eats up extra 2 characters. Here is a good Topic Title example: "Bandai HG Naruto Collection 2"
Though in the future there may be a chance where the whole information: "Manufacturer-Series-Set Name" can't be squeezed out into 50 characters, so we advise for topic starters to put the "series" in the "Topic Description" instead or the next "input field."
Topic Description: Release Date - Price - (in Yen per piece) - Based set quantity + Alphas/Secrets/Variants
This is a good example: "March 2008 Y200 6" You can however write pieces after the number 6, but then again it eats up space, but no one is stopping you.
Tips on Posting 2
1. Search before you post! Don't feel bad when a moderator and/or administrator warns you of double postings, especially when a thread you created had been deleted because of duplication.
2. If you are unsure of what you are posting in the Gashapon thread, follow the format in Tips on Posting 1, and "write" the "?" character in place of the missing information. This is a good example: "Bandai HGIF Naruto ?" as title and "? Y300 6?" as description. This just means that you are unaware of what Naruto Gashapon set it was from, when it was released, and you're pretty sure it contains 6 pieces.
3. This Gashapon thread is for general discussion of the subject matter. If you have anything "for sale" put it in the Otakai Emporium, and when you are looking for a "specific" piece or "set," you can post your inquiry in your wishlist, at the same time you can attempt to "post" a "standard" Gashapon posting (read Tips on Posting 1) when you are unsure if the set you've been looking for isn't in the Gashapon listing YET.
4. With regards to topic titles, please avoid ambiguous and/or vague titles such as the ones written below (T stands for Topic Title, and D for description) after the three tildes is my comment btw...
a. T: "This is a really sexy gashapon set!" D: "I got it on my Birthday" ~~~WHAT THE F!!!???
b. T: "Bandai Naruto Gashapon" D: "? ? ?" ~~~you're in the GASHAPON section, no need to specify the WORD GASHAPON!!! Say!
c. T: "Female Figures" D:"Cute and Sexy" ~~~ :3
1. Search before you post! Don't feel bad when a moderator and/or administrator warns you of double postings, especially when a thread you created had been deleted because of duplication.
2. If you are unsure of what you are posting in the Gashapon thread, follow the format in Tips on Posting 1, and "write" the "?" character in place of the missing information. This is a good example: "Bandai HGIF Naruto ?" as title and "? Y300 6?" as description. This just means that you are unaware of what Naruto Gashapon set it was from, when it was released, and you're pretty sure it contains 6 pieces.
3. This Gashapon thread is for general discussion of the subject matter. If you have anything "for sale" put it in the Otakai Emporium, and when you are looking for a "specific" piece or "set," you can post your inquiry in your wishlist, at the same time you can attempt to "post" a "standard" Gashapon posting (read Tips on Posting 1) when you are unsure if the set you've been looking for isn't in the Gashapon listing YET.
4. With regards to topic titles, please avoid ambiguous and/or vague titles such as the ones written below (T stands for Topic Title, and D for description) after the three tildes is my comment btw...
a. T: "This is a really sexy gashapon set!" D: "I got it on my Birthday" ~~~WHAT THE F!!!???
b. T: "Bandai Naruto Gashapon" D: "? ? ?" ~~~you're in the GASHAPON section, no need to specify the WORD GASHAPON!!! Say!
c. T: "Female Figures" D:"Cute and Sexy" ~~~ :3
Gashapon Dictionary
1. Normal or ノーマ - the pieces of the Gashapon set which are printed on promotional materials, Gashapon cards and/or catalogs.
2. Variant ヴァルイアント－ a piece which is different in some way from the Normal, usually in terms of colour scheme (e.g. 2 pieces from the same set but with different shirt color.... See Alpha.
3. α / Alpha / アルファ - Term used by Yujin. It is basically the same as "variant". However, I propose to define "alpha" as: a variant which is not merely a simple recolour, but has a completely different pose or different/additional parts. See Variant.(Yujin uses this term...)
4. Secret シクレット(Shikuretto) - term describing a piece whose identity is not revealed in promotional material (gacha card/sheet) or packaging info. Sometimes only the "shape" or silhouette of the secret may be exposed on promotional materials.
The existence of a secret is usually indicated, but in some rare cases, it isn't. Manufacturers usually indicate a secret among the "Number of Types". Eg. 10 Types + 1 Secret. A secret is often a chase, but not always so.
5. Chase - refers to a piece which is very rare relative to the other pieces. It is not necessarily a secret. Any piece can turn out to be a chase, though it's usually a variant, alpha or secret. The term "chase" derives from the action required to obtain one. For example in a Gashapon machine containing "50" gashapon capsules, the chase usually is the piece with the lowest ratio: e.g. 3/50 for that particular assortment.
Modified Source:
Katoots
1. Normal or ノーマ - the pieces of the Gashapon set which are printed on promotional materials, Gashapon cards and/or catalogs.
2. Variant ヴァルイアント－ a piece which is different in some way from the Normal, usually in terms of colour scheme (e.g. 2 pieces from the same set but with different shirt color.... See Alpha.
3. α / Alpha / アルファ - Term used by Yujin. It is basically the same as "variant". However, I propose to define "alpha" as: a variant which is not merely a simple recolour, but has a completely different pose or different/additional parts. See Variant.(Yujin uses this term...)
4. Secret シクレット(Shikuretto) - term describing a piece whose identity is not revealed in promotional material (gacha card/sheet) or packaging info. Sometimes only the "shape" or silhouette of the secret may be exposed on promotional materials.
The existence of a secret is usually indicated, but in some rare cases, it isn't. Manufacturers usually indicate a secret among the "Number of Types". Eg. 10 Types + 1 Secret. A secret is often a chase, but not always so.
5. Chase - refers to a piece which is very rare relative to the other pieces. It is not necessarily a secret. Any piece can turn out to be a chase, though it's usually a variant, alpha or secret. The term "chase" derives from the action required to obtain one. For example in a Gashapon machine containing "50" gashapon capsules, the chase usually is the piece with the lowest ratio: e.g. 3/50 for that particular assortment.
Modified Source:
Katoots
Companies/Makers/Manufacturer Listing
1. Bandai
2. Yujin
3. System Service
4. Millenium
5. Epoch
To be updated soon!
1. Bandai
2. Yujin
3. System Service
4. Millenium
5. Epoch
To be updated soon!