The other day, checking out the Gashapon at my local mall, looking for either cheap toys for my daughter or fun oddities (or even possibly Minifigures from old series – remember, this is how I got the Statue of Liberty), I stumbled upon some Lego Knock Offs!

I thought this was pretty surprising as usually Gashapon sell toys from big brands and franchises (Tomy, Bandai and such). The picture on the machine didn’t look too enticing, but at a 100 Yen cost (less than a dollar / euro), who was I to not give it a try?

After opening the capsule, this is the package that I found:

In case you’re wondering on the top left (the brand?) it says “Waku Waku Blocks” (which could be translated as “Exciting Blocks”), and next to that, it says “Mascot Collection”.

Here is what it looks like after opening the package:

It’s a pretty strange product that I had in my hands then. As if it was a Lego minifigure from a parallel universe or something…

The pro: I got lucky to get this Army guy. Lego doesn’t really produce this kind of minifigure. It could prove useful if one day I want a military dictator for cartoon or something.

The cons: the quality is really sub par compared to Lego, especially as far as the finishing and the details are concerned.

In any case, I’ll keep it as an interesting oddity in my collection.

I’m tempted to get a second one, but I don’t know. Looking at the list, the two soldiers are pretty much the only two interesting ones, aren’t they?