Gashapon

, also called , are a variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys popular in Japan and elsewhere. "Gashapon" is onomatopoeic from the two sounds "gasha" (or "gacha") for the hand-cranking action of a toy-vending machine, and "pon" for the toy capsule landing in the collection tray. "Gashapon" is used for both the machines themselves and the toys obtained from them. Popular "gashapon" manufacturers include Tomy, which uses the shortened term for their capsule machines, and Kaiyodo. In the United States, "Gashapon" is a registered trademark of the Bandai Company, and "gashapon" are referred to as blind box sets due to packaging requirements by retailers prior to official distribution of the actual gashapon machines. The "gashapon" model has been adapted digitally into numerous "gacha" video games such as mobile phone games and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs).
Description.
"Gashapon" machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside grocery stores and other retailers in other countries. While American coin-operated vending toys are usually cheap, low-quality products sold for a few quarters ( or less), Japanese "gashapon" can cost anywhere from () and are normally a much higher-quality product. They are often constructed from high-grade PVC plastic, and contain more molding detail and intricately painted features. Many "gashapon" are considered collector's items, with rare ones fetching extremely high prices in secondhand markets.
"Gashapon" toys are often licensed from popular characters in Japanese manga, video games or anime, or from the American entertainment industry. These highly detailed toys have found a large following among all generations in Japan, and the trend is filtering to the world, especially among adult collectors. It is not uncommon for sets marketed specifically for adults to feature risqué female figurines.
Virtually all "gashapon" are released in sets—each series will have a number of figures to collect. They are, by nature, a "blind purchase"; people insert coins and hope to get the toy or figure they desire. Such an amusement element may become frustrating, as one risks obtaining the same item repeatedly.
Enthusiastic collectors will buy sets from "gashapon" stores in places such as Tokyo's Akihabara or Osaka's Nipponbashi (Den-Den Town). Depending on the store, the sets are usually cheaper than buying them randomly out of a machine.
Types.
Blind-boxes.
In recent years, the term "gashapon" has also come to refer to blind-box trading figures, which are essentially the same product sold randomly out of sealed packages instead of a machine.
Bottle cap figures.
Another variety of "gashapon" is bottle cap figures. These small figures are mounted atop a plastic bottle cap, as might be found on a twenty-ounce soda bottle. They are sold both in machine capsules and blind boxes. The caps are not functional as they lack screw threads to secure them to the mouth of the bottle.
Video games.
Mini games.
"Gashapon" machines and their random payouts have inspired trinket-collection mini-games in many video games, most notably the "Legend of Zelda" series' similarly named "Gasha Trees" in ' and ', and, to a much higher extent, the random figurine payout in "". "Gashapon" have also appeared in some "Mario" games such as "Mario Party 5" and well as "Super Smash Bros. Melee" where the player inserts a desired amount of coins and gets a trophy of a Nintendo-related nature in return. In both "The Minish Cap" and "Super Smash Bros. Melee", the more the player spends in one go, the higher the chance of getting a new item in return. The bonus stage in "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" is also "gashapon"-inspired. Yoshi's Crafted World also uses a "gashapon" machine for receiving costumes. Gudetama mobile game app "Gudetama Tap" features a variety of "eggarapons" that dispense prizes for use in the larger game.
"Gacha"-expanded games.
The "gashapon" concept is taken to the next level in "SD Gundam Gashapon Wars", a game based on the "SD Gundam" television series, in which a gamer can activate extra characters from the game by buying certain series of SD Gundam "gashapon" toys in real life, namely "SD Full Color STAGE:61", then use the password bundled with the toy to unlock the corresponding character in the video game. This is the same marketing tactic used by Kinder Surprise for the online surprises, except there is no online access involved
"Gacha" mechanic (Gacha games).
Many free-to-play MMOs and mobile games have mechanics inspired by "gashapon", with randomly generated items of varying market values being acquired via microtransactions.
"Gashapon"-style item distribution has been adopted by many massively multiplayer online games, particularly those using the free-to-play model as a form of premium transaction made with real money, often granting access to items exclusive to that system. Examples are:
"Gacha" games.
Games—often freemium—largely based on a "gacha" mechanism of monetization are referred to as "gacha" games. The "gacha" game model arose in the early 2010s, faring particularly well in Japan. Players may be given free or discounted "gacha", but have to pay to get more. The games may feature different tiers of "gacha" pulls, which give different sets of rewards. Examples of "gacha" games are "", "Fire Emblem Heroes", "Puzzle & Dragons", and "Dragon Collection". The mechanism has come under scrutiny for its similarity to gambling, and some countries require drop rates to be made public, or have banned certain practices (e.g., complete gacha).