Yamato Toys' Box in a Box Marvel series
by Jager

Straight from Japan come the Box in a Box toys! Box in a box? you say. "What’s that all about?" Well I'm here to tell you all about it and the little old school toys that come inside. They aren't too detailed and don't have much articulation, but Freebento.com promises they're fun and you know, I agree!

Box In Box, how could this be?
What we have here is your basic blind packaging kicked up a notch. Instead of opening your box and finding a foil bag to cut open to release your unknown-until-then toy, you get another box! This box isn't blind packaged though. But I think a blind box inside a blind box inside a blind box inside a blind box and so on until you found a tiny toy inside would be a very funny thing for a company to do. Anyway, Yamato's inside box is a window display box that reminds me of the Mego toys of our childhood (or at least mine...I'm sorta old). The outside box is totally covered in comic art and pictures of the toys you may or may not get. There are six in the series: Captain America, Iron Man, Dr. Doom, Thing, Silver Surfer and Spider-Man (what, no Wolverine?). Seen here are Iron Man, Dr. Doom, and Silver Surfer.

Enough about the boxes already!
As stated earlier, the toys are pretty simple. But to me they harken back to a simpler time when toys didn't need 25 points of articulation and 17 different colorways to make us happy. These really do remind me of Mego toys, but without the size, clothes, and articulation. But the molds really look the same; especially Iron Man's face. They each come with a display stand and have five points of articulation (head, arms, and waist). Also, Silver Surfer comes with a boss surf board. Too bad it doesn't have pegs for his feet to snap onto. The favorite of the line for me has to be Dr. Doom. Not only does he have the most interesting sculpt (of the three here), but he is one of the best villains in the Marvel Universe. I was definitely stoked to see him when I opened the box...er boxes.

The bottom box... I mean line
Sure these aren't the most impressive toys you'll see this year. But Yamato Toys' Box in a Box series are some great desktop toys. They stand steady, are recognizable characters, and have enough articulation for some nice poses, but not enough to distract you from your work. Plus, the price is right and it’s always fun to open up blind boxed toys to see what you got. If that's not enough, they are imported from Japan. Trust me, you tell the girl at the copy machine that the toys on your desk are imported from Japan and she's putty in your hands.

Shoot over to Freebento.com to get your hands on these fun little toys. They also have LOTS of other Japanese imports and some Designer Toys too!

Swing over to our Import toy page with all our reviews on imported toys in one handy place. While you're at it, you should see our Deskmates page with some tips on how to spruce up that cubicle.

Article ©2006 MillionairePlayboy.com. All characters are property their original owners.