Rare/Bizarre Merchandise

[Kitty Lue]

It always amazes me how you find "Mighty Atom" written in English on fan goods sold in Japan!

English writing might have the same visual appeal, in reverse, that Japanese writing has for some English-speakers. My dad spent a couple years in Japan during the 80's and he told me they seemed to like having bits of English printed on things. A few months ago we got out the old box that had some of his stuff from Japan and we found a journal he received there, which had some random English phrases printed at the tops of the pages. It was entertaining to look at from our perspective.

[DrFrag]

At least it doesn't say Iron Arm Atom.

(鉄 = iron, 腕 = arm, 鉄腕 = mighty)

[Kitty Lue]

Haha true. I heard that one translation accidentally named him "Iron Man Atom".

[Shiyonasan]

Thought this might be interesting to share.

Source: Highsnobiety

click for spoiler

Check out the New BATA x Astro Boy Sneaker Collection

As part of its Spring/Summer 2017 collection, Bata Heritage recently unveiled its latest collaboration with Astro Boy on its original tennis shoe canvas.

The capsule collaboration consists of three designs, each depicting a different stage of Astro Boy’s evolution as a manga character. The “Atom Born” style shows how Astro Boy was created, while the color-blocked “Toe Face” juxtaposes the robot’s wide-open eyes to the rubber toe cap. “Flying City,” the third style, features Astro Boy in action on the side of the shoe.

Astro Boy is a science fiction manga featuring a humanoid robot named Atom, created by Osamu Tezuka in 1952.

Although released in December, the shoes are available in stores worldwide.

[...]

[Juanita]

Ooh I like these a lot! Any idea where to buy them?

[Shiyonasan]

Not exactly sure what's going on with this figure...

http://page14.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/s519816522

click for spoiler





EDIT: Here's a pretty nice-looking Atom figure:

http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u135818329

click for spoiler

[Kitty Lue]

Uran looks like she's performing some kind of weird ritual. Atom didn't suspect her evil plans. :d evil:
I had to come to this page and see that figure again, but at the same time I'm at school so I couldn't leave it up on the screen for too long, I didn't want to have to explain. There is no suitable explanation for that. XD

[Juanita]

Uran looks like she's performing some kind of weird ritual. Atom didn't suspect her evil plans. :d evil:

S A C R I F I C E \(°-°)/

[DrFrag]

I have only the Astro part of that model (someone gave it to me). It looks like he's pulling a rope out of his chest. Now I see the whole thing, I still have no idea what the heck is going on.

[Kitty Lue]

I have only the Astro part of that model (someone gave it to me). It looks like he's pulling a rope out of his chest. Now I see the whole thing, I still have no idea what the heck is going on.

Haha, I like how you have Astro from the model, but he's only got the string attached, so you can't even tell from context that it's supposed to be some sort of cord.
Then again, it would also raise some questions if the string was not attached, because then he'd just have a random hole in his chest and his hands still in that same position.
And then the whole model together gives it some context, but that doesn't help clarify the situation at all.