Puppeteers and street theater performers may rejoice when Sol International ships their line-up of Animal Crossing Hand Puppets in November 2006. Crafted from a mixture of pliable plush material and cloth, the hand puppets are designed to twitch to the movement and rhythm of one's fingers. Pop two Animal Crossing puppets on both hands and spout some rubbish impromptu dialogue for your own private pleasure.
For truly ambitious puppeteers, NCS recommends that you learn a little ventriloquism and practice your ability to make squeaky animal voices. Once your Animal Crossing act is honed like a fine-tuned instrument, open up a show and charge admission. We're so there if you're performing in New York City and comp us. Preorders are scheduled to ship in mid-late November 2006 at Y750 or US$9 per hand puppet from NCS.
Unchi is the Japanese word for "dung" and NCS has chronicled recent unchi toys here and there. Since unchi is so boring and just sort of sits there, Japanese manufacturer Epoch has elected to spice things up. Enter Funchi. That's right, FUNchi with the emphasis on the FUN. Loaded with a spring underneath, NCS imagines Japanese children pushing down on Funchi and releasing so that it springs up like the dickens. Push down three in a row and watch them fly up like an unchi gang. Fun just doesn't get much better than that. Preorders are welcome to ship in mid-late Dec 2006.
The dueling sisters of the PS2 Oanechan games will soon be slashing it up on the new generation proving grounds of the Xbox 360. To coincide with that momentous occasion, Yujin has started preorders for a set of Oanchan Bara gashapon where the heroines of the blood-soaked gaming series are crafted in PVC representations of their bad-ass selves. Joining Aya and Saki in the set are Riho Futaba, Makato Futaba, Reiko, and others for a total of 8 toy figures.
Preorders for complete sets of eight figures are welcome today to ship in mid-late December 2006.
A hundred years ago or thereabouts, NCS stocked four mighty morphing Pokemon plushes that magically transformed from Pokeball to Pokemon. Check them out here, courtesy of the NCS archives. To update the Pokeball-to-Pokemon plushes with new blood, Yujin has started preorders for five new types which ship in November 2006. Each Pokeball measures 60mm or 2.36" in diameter and opens and closes by way of zipper technology. Preorders for complete sets of six plushes are welcome today to ship in November.
Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and the rest of the original Street Fighter gang return this December thanks to the efforts of Bandai. The brawlers aren't being featured in a new game but in a collection of eight toys. Although the Sound Drops look like mere teardrop-shaped pieces of plastic, they contain the voices of legendary fighters. For example, press on the Ryu Sound Drop and the man bellows out, "Shoryuken" as if he was right there in the room and rarin' to go. Preorders are scheduled to ship in mid-late December 2006 and NCS plans on supplying the various drops in a complete set of eight.
Despite being high-tech machinery with onboard armaments, the spidery Tachikoma of Ghost in the Shell are child-like mecha with curious munchkin voices. Therein lies the duality of the machines and the contrast of character. Japanese manufacturer Movic skews towards the munchkin factor with a collection of squat Tachikomas colored in
six standard colors and two secret colors that are randomly packaged in blind boxes. Each Tachikoma measures 7cm tall and roughly 6cm in diameter. Preorders are welcome today to ship in Oct. 2006.
Another member of the animal kingdom finds representation in Sega's Caltoy brand - Whales. Measuring a mighty 43cm (16.92") long and nearly as tall, the whales are round-shaped with a teardrop point that pinches off into the tail. Although real-life whales are more oval in shape than round, the Caltoy whales nonetheless bear a likeness to their real world counterparts. True to standard Caltoy design conventions, each whale possesses beady eyes and sports a lush coat of luxurious fur. Three color variants (Dark Blue / Aqua Blue / Pink) are in stock and shipping to preorders today. New orders are welcome. View larger photos for the Caltoy Whales on the main NCSX website.
Unbeknownst to most mortals, a kiss from a pretty girl has the ability to energize a robot as chronicled in the recent Transformers radio drama. Capitalizing on the popular broadcasts, Takara creates a new toy series called Kissplayers and ties it to the radio play. The first Kissplayers toy is a Convoy featuring Dodge Ram SRT-10 with 500 horses under the hood which morphs from cherry red pickup truck to robot form. In addition to the Convoy, a strawberry blonde named Melissa does the smooching and serves double duty as a de facto Race Queen with sheer underwear and Lolita appeal. Yuki Ohshima of Kaiyodo who's behind the popular K-T line of posable kinetic figures designed and sculpted the Melissa character. A third product inclusion in the package is a drama CD which contains 7 tracks. View larger photos for the Convoy X Melissa toy on the main NCSX website.
Puppeteers and street theater performers may rejoice when Sol International ships their line-up of Animal Crossing Hand Puppets in November 2006. Crafted from a mixture of pliable plush material and cloth, the hand puppets are designed to twitch to the movement and rhythm of one's fingers. Pop two Animal Crossing puppets on both hands and spout some 
