Japanese vending machines to hit the US

[beaker]

As anyone who knows about Japanese consumer culture knows, one of the most interesting aspects of life there is the advent of the vending machine. Oh yeah...folks you havent seen a vending machine til youve been to Japan. You think ciggarettes and Pepsi blue in vending machine stateside is ornate or weird? Try sushi,
goldfish in a gelatin cube, or a purple tentacle. Dont be surprised if Walter Cronkite or Lincoln's top hat pops out of one of those babies.

One of the cooler aspects of the Japanese vending machines is the Gachapon mini toy vending machines that are virtually everywhere there.

Well, now they are finally hitting stateside!

http://www.figures.com/databases/ac...tegory=actionfigures&topic=108&show_article=8


No cool anime robot figurines....though there are however Simpsons and...well Disney ones coming out. It would be interesting for a company to release pvcs to this style of vending machine(though I realize traditional quarter vending machines here have traditionally been the lowest form of
product this side of a $1 store)

 

[Buck-Beaver]

If the Japanese could fit a Honda Suzuki in to a vending machine, they'd use them to do away with car dealerships.

Actually, McDonalds is testing an "automated convience store" which is essentially a huge vending machine (about the size of a mini-school bus) that dispenses drinks, snacks, cleaning supplies - whatever you need.

 

[Luke]

We've had these in the UK for about the last year - you can get little WWF cameras that show a slideshow when you look in, Snow White PVC's, and in the Warner Bros store they have them with all their characters in. The machines look exactly the same.

 

[Drtooth]

I have seen these in movie theaters last time I went. I got a couple Monsters Inc figures, A Stich figure and the Drill truck from Atlantis.

This isn't really new, I saw them last year when I saw Osmosis Jones.

Meanwhile, Nicktoons (excluding Rocko Ren and Stimpy, ARRRGH Real Monsters, and such) toys are in traditional American Gumball Machines. I got quite a few of them.. (mostly WIldthornberries..darn it!)

 

[Luke]

I wouldn't mind the Simspons ones, but i guess you end up getting loads of doubles and things because your dependant on which capsule rolls out. The PVC's i have seen come out of these things have been quite low quality (kinda even lower than He-Man Minis) so i hope they do a good job of the Simpsons.

How much do you guys pay in these things ? I take it you can't put a dollar note in so what do you have to do ?

 

[Drtooth]

Wanna talk about doubles??? I got three of the girl and the wildchild (three each) from the Wild thornberrys and didn't get a SINGLE Hey Arnold figure yet! Luckily, I got two of each at the quarter (rather than the 50cents) machines.

Simpsons ones I haven't seen yet. I only see them at Movie theaters and since I can't afford it right now, I guess those are out of the question!

 

[Luke]

You guys pay a quarter or 50 cents ? Sheesh - we pay £1.00 which is like $1.65. Maybe our stuff is a little higher quality or something, either that or we're being ripped as usual.

 

[Natalie]

Everything in the UK is more expensive, believe me, I've lived in both places, I know. (and is that still how much the pound is worth in dollars?)

 

[Luke]

Sheesh that is a lot more expensive though - thinking about it, it's more $1.54 nowdays.

 

[radionate]

Does anyone have pictures of these toys? The link from Cory just showed the vending machine.

I'd really like to see the cheap little toys they are giving away!