Robot Claw

I love ‘box toys’. I love them to death.

These are toys, often ‘action figures’, sold in sealed boxes so one doesn’t know what they are buying. Each series usually has a half-dozen or more different toys in it, and half the fun of buying them is wondering which one will be in your box. In Japan, KLS and I buy vast amounts of these. For particularly good series we’ll buy several, to increase our chances of getting ones we like.

When they first appeared they were relatively inexpensive (one or two hundred Yen), so the lower cost offset the fact you were taking quite a gamble. These days they have become much higher quality, and are priced higher to match. So some of them cost more than actually buying packaged action figures (where you can see what you are getting). Even so, the allure remains, especially if the sculpts are excellent (which they usually are).

A couple of weeks ago I bought a single box from the Ultimate Monsters Godzilla series. There are six possible figures inside, and I pulled ‘version 2’ of Godzilla 2004. It was immediately obvious that this was no standard boxed figure, but in actuality a scaled down PVC model kit:

< Unassembled

Twenty five pieces in total (I left out one sheet of spines in the image)! The body and limbs are painted PVC, and the spikes are molded rubberized plastic. Each spike was different, and coded to fit into one of the 18 slots on his back:

The attention to detail was amazing given how small the kit is, and everything fitted together perfectly. Here’s a shot of the finished beast, who stands less than 10 cm tall:

< Godzilla!

Even though the support is shown in that picture, he doesn’t need it to stand.

All in all this is one of the most impressive box toys I have ever seen/assembled. And it’s not even a video game character or cute girl! I’ll have to pay more attention to the monster boxes from now on!

Whilst in Australia I picked up a copy of the Korean 2003 TV drama called Winter Sonata. Back when we were in Japan in 2004 it was all the rage among the housewives, and we’d been curious about it since. Florence, who had seen it, highly recommended it so it was a no brainer to get the entire 20 episode series for $15 at one of the chinatown shops in Sydney.

Shortly after returning we started watching. Ten days later we had finished it.

It was magnificent.

Winter Sonata is a love story between Yujin Jung and Kang Joon Sang, who meet during high school only to be forced apart. Years later they reunite, only Joon Sang has lost his memory and is going under a different name. Drama, pathos and near ceaseless heartbreak follow.

As KLS so skillfully put it “The show uses every last cliche ever used in a soap opera, but does it so well.” She’s right, this is edge-of-your-seat material that pulls the heartstrings in every one of its 20 episodes. There is no ‘filler’ and it never gets boring – no matter how unbelievable things sometimes may get, it’s difficult to stop watching.

The shot above is our lovers at age 18, and below at age 28

The story is complemented by great scenery (including many scenes shot at a beautiful ski resort in the Korean mountains) and a wonderful soundtrack. One song in particular (‘My Memory’, by a singer named Ryu) is used at least once every episode as a sort of queue for the viewer: here’s where you start to cry 🙂

The actor who plays Jong Sang is named Bae Yong Joon and went on to become a bit of an international superstar after the show. His character is extremely likeable (even I fell for him…) and it’s probably impossible for female viewers not to swoon during his most romantic moments. KLS certainly did 🙂

< Bae Yong Joon His fame grew to such levels that merchandise of him exists (dolls, sheets, socks). But the best I've seen makes me wish that even once during our three Japan trips KLS & I thought to set foot into a Pizza-La restaurant:

Yes, that’s a Bae Yong Joon fridge magnet 🙂