Japanese capsule toys from a Tokyo studio
Kitan Club has designed capsule toys in Tokyo since 2006. The work starts with a coin machine in mind: a figure has to fold into a 70 millimetre capsule, survive the drop into the tray and still make someone laugh at arm's length. That limit is why our sculpts are small, dense and slightly absurd.
The same figures now travel in blind boxes. The box replaces the plastic capsule, the printed line-up replaces the paper insert on the machine, and the surprise stays exactly where it was. Collectors outside Japan get the same series the station corridors get, in the same proportions.
Blind box figures and how a line-up is built
A Kitan Club line-up is usually four to six designs, sometimes eight. Each design is a variation on one joke: a cat in a shark hood, a frog under a different mushroom, a hamster in a different egg. Some series add a secret design, and when they do, it is printed on the box as a silhouette.
Because every design is packed in equal numbers, a single blind box gives each figure the same chance. That is also why buying alone takes a while: with five designs, the last one is the slow one. Trading duplicates with friends, or buying a complete boxed set, gets there faster.
Cup-rim figures, Putitto and the guest shelf
Our most copied idea is the figure that hangs on the rim of a glass. Fuchiko started it, Putitto carried it into licensed characters, and today Kirby, Osomatsu-san and PUNK DRUNKERS all sit on cups. A hook moulded into the figure grips thin rims; thick stoneware is where they wobble.
Guest series are made with studios and artists who borrow our machines for a run. They follow the same rules as our own work: one figure per box, the line-up printed outside, sculpted to capsule size. When a guest run sells through, it rarely comes back, so the shelf changes more than the others.