Careful what you wish for …, Now did anyone watch those movies “20th century boys “ …………?
¿Spoiler removed!
Pretty good films. Recommend.
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There’s still time to delete this, though not time for me to unsee it
update - thanks!
Darth Vader is Luke’s father
If anyone is heading to Japan and has their impulse control managable to the point where they can safely play gashapon machines, Roland has some fun miniatures coming up:
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Trying to determine who I need to contact at Mitsuwa to request this for the gashapon section.
Oh man. I got a Korg keytar twice when I was trying to get an MS-20.
I’ll be on the lookout for these too!
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I would like to believe you now have two actual full-sized keytars. 
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Some shops will sell full sets for a small extra , though you could end up saving as you won’t have duplicates and spend hours hoping to get each one … 20 yrs ago I used to sell them on eBay ( sets of capsule toys ) … mostly ones from artists and video games
As usual I’m sure someone will have them on eBay
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I used to collect some of the car capsule toys, although that was a number of years ago.
It’s less fun than playing by luck of the draw but you’re almost better off buying from a reseller if your aim is to get specific models or whole sets.
We had some pretty decent import capsule machines at this one spot locally, but you’d always end up with like 4 double-decker London buses and 3 minivans (minimum) before you got the 300zx.
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Habikoro Toy Radio Kaikan sells a vast array of individual gachapon prizes. Prices seem to be roughly the probability adjusted cost of the particular item possibly with a price bump for more popular items.
They had all the Korg stuff and the various camera sets too.
Located in the Radio Kaikan building in Akiba. Extremely easy to get to if you are in Tokyo near a major train station.
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i often went to PORD , mandarake, … many stores in nakano broadway … many toy/anime/figure stores squeezed into the many floors of each building will sell them . I sold qee/dunny/capsule toys/pete fowler monsterism for a while, … and yes - based on the ratio . But its a mixed bag sales wise… the rare ones fetch a good amount but i’m not sure it eventually covers the many many many boxes of opened low ratio figures that dont sell for years… even if discounted. … many would only sell to people who wanted to make their own designs. (this is for qee / dunny / whatever ‘platorm’ figure is around atm) .
i got out of it when the base wholesale trade price was more than i was willing to pay for the actual retail as a ‘punter’ …the idea of spending close to £10 for an unknown figure …most likely one I didnt want… was too much to stomach, it felt like a scam…Sony had some interesting artists involved in their capsule sets… i’ve no idea whats going on any more.
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My usual gachapon strategy is:
- Get some cash to pay for cabs and cash-only restaurants/stands
- Scan the gacha machines I pass to see if any have stuff I’m interested in (most don’t)
- When I have too much change to carry easily, turn the gacha knob a few times
An important rule is to not obtain more gacha prizes than I can use. If I end up with more toys than I can reasonably send to friends, then it’s game over.
I didn’t end up buying anything from Habikoro Toy Radio Kaikan because there were so many other interesting things in the building. I left Japan without a tiny MS-20, but with a few keytars, the microsynth and two of the big keyboards. However, I did manage to pick up a gunpla habit and I’m not going to talk about how many unassembled gunpla kits are currently stacked behind me, nor how many I expect in the mail. 
my first visit to tokyo was when the ps2 launched… my mistake was promising to bring a work colleague a gundam back with me…
we managed to fill the suitcases but mine was mostly filled with that gundam… i didn’t realise the size of the box… … lesson learned… focus on what i want.
the time after than i kept the space for myself… managed to bring back about 10 gameboy advances and sold them on with a small profit to people at work… had to queue up many times (theyd only let us buy one at a time)…
i wasnt buying synths at the time… … i’m sure i visited a big synth shop like 5G but it was in akihabara … i never found it after that… i think the building was replaced with the station expansion… it could well have been 5g before harajuku… or just a store very similar… this is 25/26 ish years ago. (i just checked , it was while i was working on croc2 which got released in 1999)
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Hey Friends.
Im headed to Tokyo and Sotonbori in November. What are the best CD music stores to buy from ?
I need to get the Avex collections and Namie Amuro collections now that they aren’t on Spotify. What are your recommendations for CD stores ?
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Tower records and Disk Union in Shibuya are some good spots.
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About the same distance from Shibuya.
Also one in Omotesando across the street from the mirror building if you’re familiar with the area:
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Ometosando - expensive stores … eg that mirror building
Kaws used to have a showroom down there … I bought a few tees and toys … I was feeling wealthy that day .
Bape had two stores nearby too … no idea if they’re still there , I’m sure details on their website . I stopped buying bape many years ago .
Xlarge, bounty hunter and some good 2nd hand stores are/are in nearby harajuku / cat street area
There were some music stores near shibuya crossing … one had synths / grooveboxes etc … was near some big Yamaha ‘proper’ music stores with pianos and stuff