Sunday, November 21, 2010

Week 1 : Gachapon!

For the First week i shall introduce Gachapon!
Heres how the Gachapon machine looks like in Japan
Gashapon

& How Gachapon machines look like in Singapore's Vivo City


Well not much difference right?


What is Gachapon?
'Gacha' refers to the turning of the machine's knob
& 'pon' is the sound produced when it drops.
Gashapon & Gachapon can be used interchangeably because they are Japanese onomatopoeia
The origin is from Japan(duh) & is the brand Bandai's trademark.
Slowly many companies adopted this way of selling their products.



My recent experience with Gachapon

My friends & I were interested in some keychains & we started trying our luck to get our desired animal.
We couldnt get the Bear nor the Bunny so we kept putting in money & turning the knob.
Before we know it, we spent a total of 16 bucks.
(Yes, gachapons can be really addictive! )

The keychains we were aiming for.
Our loot :o

& after 8 tries or more, we still didnt get the bunny nor the bear ):


&& i spent 4 bucks on these 2 keychains :3

I feel that the companies are really smart because they can really earn alot from gachapon.



Imagine there are 7 figurines that exist in the machine & u only like 1.
You desperately want it (partly because you feel you are lucky)
So u keep feeding the machine money & turn until you get your desired toy.
Most of the time people spend more than once to get 'the one'
So before you know it, u might have spent 10 bucks or so :o


&& gachapons are no longer 1 dollar or 50cents anymore.
They range from 2-4 dollars.


So if you feel lucky, u can pop by your nearest 'ToysRUs' or Mamashop to get your capsules (:




13 comments:

  1. Haha, what a good point. Somehow you get addicted and spent a whole lot of money without even realizing it. But it's fun :D

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  2. -Arini.
    YUP! (:
    But sometimes you dont really know what to do with that much keychains haha :/

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  3. The fake gachopon machines ( those at mamashops) are bad. the merchandise inside usually smells like hard plastic and doesn't look like whats displayed on the machine outside

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  4. -Liquid
    Yea i get you
    Maybe u can try those at ToysRus.
    Quality is not bad & sometimes u can get anime characters out of them (:

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  5. A good intro to Japan's culture. Looking forward to the next few installments.

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  6. -Serenerocksyo
    They come with pokeball/masterball too !
    Awesome :D

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  7. Wow! What an interesting post. All my questions have been answered at last - I really didn't know about Gachapon till I read your post! Thanks! :D

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  8. That's why people get broke playing those things.. but the keychains u and ur friend got were really nice!

    i had a chinese tutor who keeps anime figurines which was really cool.. he has a mini display in his house! u shld have one too!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0VlIjXj9NA
    (Harry Potter's biggest fan! lol! look at his collection!!!!)

    PS: your black hair nicer leh.. no offense

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  9. -Gerwyn
    Thanks alot! (:
    Hope to see ur comment next week

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  10. -Fizah
    Hehe thanks! (:
    Hope i can clear more doubts for u for the next few weeks :D


    -tptkd
    Yupp! They are called nendoroid or some sorts.
    I do have a few, but i cant find my favourite anime ones ):

    Hmm, probably because i did too much of chemical treatment to my hair so it looks more dry with bright colours? Totally no offended , thanks for ur comment (:

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  11. I love the way you hook the reader with photos first before you blog about the "hard" facts about Gachapon. And your experience with this vending tool reminds me of how one behaves in front of another machine which is located in a place that needs a S$100 entry fee :-)

    With the headings, white space around each paragraph and photos, your post is easy to read. The content is interesting too.

    But I am not sure about the photo of the dog as your blog banner - does it have a special meaning?

    Sandra

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  12. -Sandra
    Its actually a Shiba Inu , a pedigree from japan. Erm so its still theres still a subtle link to japan (:
    I know many people would think that it is weird so i actually wrote it at about the blog (:

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