question on an ebay item (korean box)

[langzixinxin]

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Yuusha-Transf...item439e1156b7


Anyone knows which year and which country this item might be made? China? or Japan? or Korea?

[Hursticon]

G'day,

I'm no expert, and certainly can't read foreign scripts that don't use English based characters, but I think it may be from Hong Kong, China.

I am basing this theory on the drawing style of the children on the lower, right hand corner of the picture and the 'SONO KONG' label in that vicinity.

Like I said, I'm no expert but to me, the script doesn't look Japanese.
That being said, if I'm wrong I gladly eat my own hat.

[Sky Shadow]

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Yuusha-Transf...item439e1156b7


Anyone knows which year and which country this item might be made? China? or Japan? or Korea?

It's South Korean. It's a legitimate Brave Death Garry Gun reissue. And a great price.

[Hursticon]

Phew...

No eating of the hat for me, though I was right with the script, I was still way of on the country.

Nice work Sky Shadow.

[GoktimusPrime]

Wow, so Takara still has the Sky Garry mould. I guess it's too obscure for a TF reissue?

But Hursticon, Sonokong is a Korean company that sometimes distributes Takara toys for the Korean market. They distributed Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo there. The name "Sonokong" is the Korean name for the Monkey King from the Chinese story "Journey To The West" (in Japanese his name is Son Gokuu)

[Hursticon]

GoktimusPrime: Really?, so Sonokong is the South Korean name for The Monkey King and Son Gokuu is the Japanese name?.

I actually find this very interesting as I was unaware that the story had travelled so far (South Korea), though I knew that Goku and a lot of other elements of Dragonball/Z were drawn from The Monkey King story but to what extent or whether the story had been translated and told to Japanese children I didn't know.

Also, it does make sense to me that Takara would have a subsidiary distributor in such nations as South Korea, though I was unbeknown-st to Sonokong.

Thank you very much much for clarifying and educating me on this, the collective knowledge of this forum and it's members is very pleasing to me.

langzixinxin: Sorry for essentially high-jacking your thread mate , It definitely wasn't my intention but I've certainly learnt something today.

[liegeprime]

Hursticon: Well they did "journey to the west" so who knows what wild rumors/legends these 4 spread around while on their "journey

[Hursticon]

liegeprime: lol, who indeed knows?, to my knowledge The Monkey King was quite the mischievous bloke.

[GoktimusPrime]

GoktimusPrime: Really?, so Sonokong is the South Korean name for The Monkey King and Son Gokuu is the Japanese name?.

Yup. Works like this:

Japanese...
孫 (そん) = son
悟 (ご) = go
空 (くう) = kuu

Korean...
孫 (손) = son
悟 (오) = o
空 (공) = kong

I actually find this very interesting as I was unaware that the story had travelled so far (South Korea), though I knew that Goku and a lot of other elements of Dragonball/Z were drawn from The Monkey King story but to what extent or whether the story had been translated and told to Japanese children I didn't know.

The story of Journey to the West is very well known across Asia, not just in China. The Japanese and Koreans are quite familiar with this story, just as most Westerners would be familiar with classical Greek epics like the Odyssey.

Even many Australians know of the story, thanks to BBC's version of the Japanese production known as "Monkey."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRIqYC12liM (I love singing the opening and ending themes at Karaoke )

Also, it does make sense to me that Takara would have a subsidiary distributor in such nations as South Korea, though I was unbeknown-st to Sonokong.

Thank you very much much for clarifying and educating me on this, the collective knowledge of this forum and it's members is very pleasing to me.

Getting somewhat back on topic, I don't think Sonokong distributes Transformers in Korea anymore. They used to during Beast Wars and Car Robot, but I'm not sure who's distributing TFs in the Korean market these days. Although the toys distributed by Sonokong were of the same quality as Takara there were some other issues with things like tech spec cards, sticker applications etc. -- but the figures themselves are fine.

[Sky Shadow]

Getting somewhat back on topic, I don't think Sonokong distributes Transformers in Korea anymore. They used to during Beast Wars and Car Robot, but I'm not sure who's distributing TFs in the Korean market these days.

It's now Mocom Toy. Grievous bought one of their Vector Primes last month: http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showth...315#post153315