The discovery of a third version of Akira Toriyama’s Lisa garage kit spurs a bit of discussion on the nature of small hobby shops during the garage kit boom years of the ’80s and ’90s.
Tag: garage kit
Latest Zimmerit ‘Zine Now Available
Hobby Shopping: Japanese Model Shop Ads 1980-89 is now available on our revamped web shop.
A 1985 Otaku Salad: Fruity Five
From the pages of Model Graphix comes Fruity Five, a photo novel and manga series that was half Sentai, half Gerry Anderson show. 9,800 yen garage kits not included.
Gunpla Boom Ephemera: Kunio Okawara’s Gouf Lady
With the gunpla boom riding high and Bandai rolling out its new Mobile Suit Variations series, original Gundam mechanical designer Kunio Okawara tried his hand at sculpting an original garage kit.
Kenichi Sonoda, Lumroid, and Hobby Shop Musasiya
Before he started working for Gainax and ARTMIC, a young Kenichi Sonoda illustrated a series of popular advertisements for a hobby shop in Osaka.
Doujin, Cosplay, Garage Kits and Dinosaurs: A Look at Do-Pe Magazine
There was no shortage of anime magazines in the 1980s, but what about all those other things the maniacs cared about? Cosplay, garage kits, doujin, dinosaurs… Do-Pe covered an eclectic array of otaku interests over its brief three-year run.
The Sony HiTBiT F1 Game Robot: When Gall Force Sold Computers
Sony’s marketing campaigns for their MSX computers involved everyone from Syd Mead to Seiko Matsuda, but their most memorable bit of advertising may have been a print ad featuring a scratch-built powered suit to advertise their HiTBiT HB-F1 MSX2 machine.
Resin Royalty: Kotobukiya’s Original Kit Catalog of 1991
A quick look through a 30-year-old catalog from garage kit manufacturer Kotobukiya.
Bandai’s Brain Bank Media: B-Club
At the tail end of the gunpla boom, Bandai’s enthusiast publishing and garage kit division, B-Club, unleashed a monthly magazine and dozens of garage kits on a modeling community that was growing out of normal plastic model kits.
Fewture’s Full-Size Zeiram Prop Kits
Keita Amemiya’s Zeiram series inspired plenty of garage kits, but none were quite as fascinating as a series of life-sized relicas based on props actually used in the films.