Result of Recent Japan toy hunt

[theshape]

Thought i would post this to share my recent experience of toy hunting in Japan:

I Arrived in Akihabara on Tuesday about 4 pm, dumped our gear then headed out. First store I saw a vintage TF in was one on the main strip (not sure of its name, but I think it may be Liberty store 7). Only vintage TF they had was a boxed Road Casear set, not in very good condition for about $300 – passed on this as I already have it.



Checked out some other toy shops, one was golden age toys, which was closed on Tuesdays, would have to go later. Finally saw Mandarake Akihabara.



Huge store, really cool. Checked out each floor but the toys are on level 7 and 8. Found the TFs on level 8 – nice selection of g1 and g2 stuff. A boxedC-305 Ranger caught my eye, price was ok so grabbed that. Also Saw 2 diaclones, a red sunstreaker for ~ $300 and Black Van for ~$100. Behind them I saw a Japanese Dino Rider for fairly cheap so I grabbed that too.







What i got:




Next day I hit Shibuya, Cool place, must visit. It took me ages to find Mandarake (its downstairs). Pretty cool shop, not as many cool TFs as Akihabara. Saw a G2 Roadblock so I grabbed him. They had 2 boxed Japanese Scorponoks, one was about $1000, with a really nice box. They had some other cool toys there, notably a Boxed castle grey Skull from MOTU and some other 90s stuff.








Checked out Golden Age toys. Nice store, but very cramped, not the best place to have a good browse as the owner tends to keep an eye on you in case you steal something. Saw a Metrotitan, but I got one recently, so passed on that. He had 2 diaclone cars (omnibots) which were cool to see. He also had a boxed Mego batman tucked in a corner somewhere.

Day 3 was Nakano. Mandarake there is a short walk from the station. Unusual place, as unlike Shibuya, it was full of pensioners. It was the right place though. Down the stairs I saw the TF wall. It was magnificent. Right away I saw 2 boxed Dinoking figures (one of my grails), so I decided on those 2 first. I had my eye on an original Twincast and Soundblaster too. I decided to grab the Twincast and the dinoking pair. Went and had lunch and couldn’t stop thinking about soundblaster (I hardly ever see originals for sale) , so my wife convinced me to grab it and I did! Other Toys of note were a Diaclone Inferno for around $600 (!) and a diaclone hoist.









My haul:


Day 4 was Disney Land

Day 5 Went back to Mandarake in Akihabara and got a G2 Dreadwing which caught my eye last time




Day 6 Met up with Linja who happened to be working in Japan. Really nice guy, showed him some stores. Went back to liberty and something caught my eye – Microman Walther P38 (it was dated the day after I visited the first time). Price was really good, it was unused, all paperwork and unapplied stickers – Must buy. (they had 2 boxed tapes, Frenzy and Laserbeak which were really expensive)



Day 7 back to Aki Mandarake for one last look, Decided to get the g2 optimus to go with my dreadwing. Was convinced by the old “it would cost me XX to ship this…might as well”




Managed to get bubble wrap and wrap all the toys, took half in suitcase and half in hand luggage. Got Megatron through with the old “ship him in bot mode” trick, but I did sweat a little going through customs
Home now… got to find room for these damn toys….and pay some bills
Big thanks to Heroics Blog and Kurdt the Goats map for all the locations


Tip 1: I Stayed at a hotel called the Washington in Akihabara. Cost me $100 per night, small room but it’s a 2 min walk from the train station. They didn’t even want a bond for the room which is nice and had free wired net (5 mb/sec)
Tip2: if your wife/GF is looking for a good place to shop, my wife found Abab in ueno (15-20 min walk from Akihabra Mandarake on the main street, Chuo Dori) really good (nice/affordable ) You can leave her there whilst you browse the toy stores

Some pics of a toy section in department store

[5FDP]

Awesome haul theshape. You sure you're not heroic_decepticon posting under a different handle

[Megatron]

Some really awesome finds there!

[Bidoofdude]

I slammed my face against the laptop screen trying to see what every TF in that window was. I SOOO want to go now.

[liegeprime]

That G2 Meanstreak reaaaally caught my eye!! Looks like you had a great time theshape! 5FDP we're sure it's him and not HD cos he passed on the boxed Road ceasar set - as per his post "he already has it".... that line of thinking is not at all like HDs though they follow the same high standards with regards with condition

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Come to think of it, a sticky thread dedicated to members' hauls from Japan trips might be worthwhile.

Things like Goki's posted hauls and my own on-the-ground finds should probably be kept to standard acquisition threads, but it might be nice to have a dedicated thread for members who come here for holidays and to pick up rare-for-gaijin TFs.
I recommend that the first post in the topic have a link to heroic_decepticon's excellent Toy shop maps.

[Skullcruncher]

Nice shape - I think I posted several boxes back when I was there as we only had room in hand luggage for a couple of triple changers.

Was the purpose of the trip TF Hunting or did you get to see some sights as well?

[theshape]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Im not as fussy as HD with condition (no one can compete with him! ).

Was the purpose of the trip TF Hunting or did you get to see some sights as well?

It was more of a "why not" impulse move, the main reason was for toys, saw a few other things as well. Worth going for sure (my wife liked it a lot more than she thought she would)

[BigTransformerTrev]

Always wanted to visit Japan properly. Have been twice and both were stop-overs to and from Europe so did not get to explore. Now I REALLY want to go even more than before! Congrats on the success of your hunting Shape!

[Shirokaze]

Really nice Haul man! And nice work getting all those sneaky in-store pictures. I'm usually too scared of being told off by staff