Evangelion figures - all of my nerddom in one single short post

This post has got it all: Japanophilia.  Action figures.  Anime.  It's a microcosm of all that makes me a humongous geek.  Well, most of what makes me a humongous geek.  There's more to it than just that.

If I lived in Japan, my house would be figures and statues from top to bottom.  They're everywhere there - you can't avoid them, and if you're at all inclined, it's just impossible to resist.  My house would look something like this.  Ok, that one's maybe a little creepy, with all the Sailor Moon.  But who am I to talk?  I'm inching up there in quantity and I don't even make much of an effort.

Besides Kit-Kat, the other thing Japan is obsessed with right now is Evangelion.  Actually, this has been going on for 15 years now, and they just keep milking this thing.  The second movie in the "Rebuild of Evangelion" quadrilogy was released on DVD and Blu-Ray just before we arrived, and it was being promoted all over the freakin' place.  That includes convenience store chain Lawson, which had a display at the front of the store where they were selling these little figures from the series for 435 yen - a little under $5.  I bought one.

The interesting thing is they don't tell you which figure is in the box.  It's a surprise.  There were five possibilities: Asuka Langley in her plugsuit, Asuka in a bathing suit, Rei Ayanami in her hospital gown, Shinji in his nerd clothes, and the new chick they created just for the Rebuild movies, whose name is apparently "Mari Illustrious Makinami".

Obviously everybody wants Asuka in the bathing suit.  Which means there are probably about two of them in the country.  Nobody wants Shinji, even though he's the main character.  There are probably about 50 million of those.

Surprise!  I got Mari.

It's pretty amazing the quality you get for five bucks at a convenience store.  She looks really good!  And she even came with a back support and a stand.  I really wanted to go back and buy like five more of these things, but we didn't have time.  Probably just as well - I probably would have gotten two Mari's and three Shinji's.  That's how they get you.

Last time I was there I got a Rei figure from a capsule machine - they were promoting the first movie at that time.  Also very good quality considering it cost 100 yen - about $1.10!

(She's supposed to be leaning up against a wall - there were a bunch of these and some of them fit together to make a little diorama, if you bought the rest.)  Yes, they are standing in front of a bunch of cookbooks in our kitchen.

At Shinjuku MaruiOne, where we visited one of the brands we carry in our store, they had little Evangelion displays on every single floor.  This is a life-size Rei Ayanami - she's about 5'3" tall.  We've got pictures of both of us posing with her too, but they're too embarrassing to post here!

Anyway, next post: a bit about Osaka.  First time there!