How to fit "Mazinger Z" into a sphere? The endless challenge of Bandai's "Capsule Restyling! Hobby Industry Inside Vol. 57

Bandai's Vendor Division, which has been making hit capsule toy capsules such as "Zaku Head" and "Dango Bug," will release a 20 cm tall bust model of "Mazinger Z" called "INTEGRATE MODEL MAZINGER Z" will be released in late May.
What is surprising is the unorthodox size of the figure. It is unbelievable that such a large bust could be made into a capsule sphere. How in the world did they make it?　We interviewed Mr. Tsuneyuki Eida of Bandai's Vendor Business Department's Planning and Development Team to find out.

Why has "capsule restoids" become so popular?

─ Over the past few years, I have noticed an increase in the number of capsule toy sales areas in commercial facilities. What is the reason for this?

Eida: I have been involved with capsule toys for about 18 years, and I think that the capsule toy market is now at a turning point. In the past, products priced at 200 yen were the mainstream, and when the price went up to 300 yen, that alone caused sales to drop. Also, many of the customers were people who liked capsule toys. Now, however, even light users who are not particularly familiar with characters or anime visit the capsule toy section, find an interesting product, and pass it around. New customers will also continue to spin capsule toys that cost 500 yen each, as long as the quality of the toys is commensurate with the price. Thanks to this, the capsule toy market is expanding rapidly. It has become important in our work to surprise newcomers with what kind of impact we can have on them, rather than simply selling capsules of characters that are selling well.

──Did such a trend lead to large-scale products using the capsule itself?

Honoda Yes, the first "capsule toy" product was the Capsule Character Doraemon (2015). Capsule toys are manufactured in China, but due to rising labor costs, the size of the products were getting smaller, and the parts that could be colored were decreasing. In the midst of this trend, we wondered if we could somehow come up with a product that would surprise people with a different perspective.
Capsule toys cost a certain amount of money for the capsule itself, which is a cushioning material. We realized that the cost of capsules, which are thrown away as soon as they are bought, is a considerable waste. Capchara Doraemon" was born from the idea of making the capsule part of the product, and when the body inside the head is combined, the capsule is about 9 cm in size. Since the size of the previous 200-yen Gashapon was about 5 cm, the capsule toy was impactful enough in terms of size to create a boom in capsule restoins. Capchara Doraemon and Capchara Heroine Doll, released in 2015, sold well to children and women, so we released Mobile Suit Gundam EXCEEDED MODEL ZAKU HEAD in 2017 as a capsule rest toy for men. This Zaku Head was very well received by the high target audience we were aiming for. Then, as the ultimate capsule rest toy, we launched the Dangomushi in 2018. Dangomushi became a huge hit with 2.6 million units, and we assorted "Mamaru Kogane" and "Daigokusokutomushi" as part of the series. So if you want to buy a Dangomushi, you get another round bug (laughs). (Laughs.) This is a fun way of taking advantage of the randomness of Gashapon.


──The tortoises (four kinds, including the Indian tortoise and the Greek tortoise), whose shells are directly encapsulated, are another series of living creatures following the DANGOMUSUMU. I was surprised that the arms and legs came out just like real turtles.

Honoda: Yes, it is not enough to simply make a model of a tortoise and have it stick in the customer's mind. I seriously thought about how to make them think "I want it," and studied the skeleton and the way its joints move. The "turtle" will be available at the end of 2019. In this way, capsule restoys have been widely accepted by children, women, the high target group, and even the general public who have never turned a Gashapon before. So this year, we want to appeal to the untapped senior demographic. To this end, we have developed "INTEGRATE MODEL MAZINGER Z" as a capsule rest toy that is even larger and more surprising than before.