I got myself a Japanese candy toy:
It’s a term I’ve heard thrown around a lot over the years, but until now I’ve never looked into what it means.
About Japanese Candy Toys (aka Shokugan)
It’s not a perfect comparison, but the general concept of Shokugan/Candy Toys is that they’re essentially the Japanese equivalent to a Kinder Joy egg. The main difference between them is in where the focus lies.
With Kinder Joy, the marketing focuses as much or more on the candy as it does on the toy surprise.
Whereas with Shokugan it seems the toy is the main focus, and the candy is an afterthought. Now I haven’t actually seen the kinds of candy they come with, since it’s never included when Shokugan are imported to the States. What I’ve heard is that it’s usually a piece of soda flavored gum, or something equivalent.
That’s … not exactly enticing, but that rasies a question: if the candy is an afterthought, why even include it in the first place? Why make it a candy toy instead of just a toy toy.
According to my research, it’s all a giant tax loophole. By including even just a single piece of cheap candy in the box, Shokugan gets to be classified as food items, which apparently means they’re taxed at a lower rate. It also creates the justification for stocking the toys near the front end of stores, near the registers, alongside all of the actual candy. This, of course, makes them visible to children who might be shopping with their parents. It’s all part of the plan …
Also, because the toy is the primary focus for Shokogan, they’re of a much higher quality than what you might get in a Kinder Egg, or even a Happy Meal. Case in point: they’re so nice, they sell them on Premium Bandai!
Collectible
Additional research reveals that some companies, including Bandai, try to make Candy Toys as collectible series of limited edition trinkets to encourage you to buy more. That makes sense, as Kinder does the same thing.Bitlot
Today’s particular Candy Toy is a Bitlot. As far as I can tell Bandai has only made these Bitlots out of Gundam characters, and they’re essentially slightly nicer versions of a Lego minifigure.
I got the Real Type Colors Gundam of course, and it’s surprisingly nice.
It’s sort of the inverse of that Freedom Gundam Gashopon toy I got a while back. That thing had tons of surface detail but bad coloring, while this has very little surface detail and excellent coloring. Personally, for something this small and inexpensive, I much prefer the latter approach.
I don’t have anything else to say. These things are super cute, and if I see them again I might pick up another.