Kaiju Toys

Kaiju toys, which I recently discovered, are Scary Cute designer toys - Japanese pop culture. Manufactured by companies such as Bandai and Toho, these collectible vinyl figurines are based on characters from the Japanese monster movies whose heyday was the late ’50s and ’60s. As well, they draw on Japanese ghost stories and folktales.

Now, a feverish, mostly adult U.S. fandom is paying astronomical prices for these toys, bidding them into the stratosphere on eBay or buying them from retailers such as Toy Tokyo and Giant Robot.