Medicom Toy Corporation
Medicom 12" Limited Edition Akira Action Figures
These 12", super-detailed, super-poseable figure are part of Medicom's New Real Action Heroes line. But unfortunatly they were only available for one day only (due to licensing restrictions) at the Wonderfest toy show in Tokyo on 20/08/2000. Only so many of the figures were made, and people had to 'draw lots' for the opportunity to purchase the figures.
This limited edition set comprises of three figures; Kaneda, and Neo-Tokyo Army OTU (A) & KOU (B).
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Shotaro Kaneda Cro Magnon: No.3 Real Action Heros: No. 110 Height: 300mm |
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Neo Tokyo Army OTU (A) Cro Magnon: No.4 Real Action Heros: No. 111 Height: 300mm |
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Neo Tokyo Army KOU (B) Cro Magnon: No.5 Real Action Heros: No. 112 Height: 300mm |
The Mother of All Exclusives!
I don't know how to really start off, but this collection of figures is nuts! There is not much in the collectible figure market that I value as being truly EXCLUSIVE, sure there are the general releases, then you have the elite, then what comes next? This set is truly the Michael Jordan of the 12" world.
Every year Japan puts on some of the greatest toy shows and conventions for the millions of collectors worldwide. One of these is called the "Wonder Festival" which is held in August and took place this year at the Tokyo Big Site. On one particular day of the show, August 20, 2000, they offered three very "limited production" figures available in a lottery type scenario for the first 900 attendees. The figures were produced by Medicom Toy, a very popular toy house (manufacturer) in Japan. Medicom was authorized by Go Nagai (Dynamic Productions), licensee of the AKIRA properties to develop the three figures for this particular day and this day ONLY!
Just How Rare are These Guys?
Approximately 50,000 people attended the festival and only the first 900 attendees (lined up for hours) were given the opportunity to purchase one of the exclusives.
The three exclusives were Shotaro Kaneda (300 produced), Neo Tokyo Army OTU (A) and KOU (B) (150 each produced). The way in which the lottery system worked was the first 900 attendees were given a ticket. The first 300 called were given the opportunity to purchase the Shotaro Kaneda for 150,000 yen. Out of the remaining 600 another 150 were drawn for the Neo Tokyo Army OTU (A) for 12,000 yen. Out of the remaining 450 another 150 were drawn for the Neo Tokyo Army KOU (B) (12,000 yen as well). Finally the remaining ticket holders (300) were left with nothing. So even if you were 1 of 900 there was a chance that you would leave empty handed. Now that's exclusive especially for us in the U.S. who had basically no chance. For those in the states, we had to fend for ourselves, left with Ebay and Japan Auction Yahoo.
So What Do You Get?
Each figure comes in an identical box that is black with 1/3 of the top striped in red where it reads AKIRA. The boxes as with most Medicom figures are very modest to the gems they contain. This is usually the case with most Japanese collectibles, because the emphasis of "unopened" or "mint in box" is not such a big deal as it is here in the U.S. For Japanese collectors collectibles are meant to be displayed and showcased rather than stowed away. If you are familar with Medicom, the boxes these figures come in are very close in proportion to the Real Action Heroes boxes but are a little thicker on the sides.
The boxes come shrink wrapped with two protective measures, one looks (on top) like this and the other is a sticker that contains information about the figure. Both these measures are on the actual shrink wrap in an effort to avoid tampering. I have very good pics of the Kaneda and Neo Tokyo Army KOU (B) boxes below.
Each figure is a typical 300mm (12") Medicom figure sporting the new Cro-Magnon style body, part of the Real Action Heroes Series.
This article was taken from www.artdoesart.com.
It remains their copyrighted proporty.
Kubrick - Kaneda & Future Bike
Kaneda & Bike kubrick set. This is an unofficial product from japan. You can buy it from www.maybang.com for about $12.
It looks like a hybrid of McFarlane's Bike and a lego Kaneda. I am not sure about the size, but I believe it is smaller than the Mcfarlane bike. More info coming when I have mine.