The memories of Wonder Eggs in my collection

Heya friends, I hope that you are doing well. Today I wanted to share some gems from my collection of Wonder Eggs merchandise. If you don’t know, from 1992-2000 Namco ran a video game theme park called Wonder Eggs in Futakotamagawa, Setagaya Ward Tokyo. When the park opened it was so successful that Namco added a sister park next door called the Egg Empire. I wrote about it extensively on this blog.

I had a great number of items that I had gathered in a few years of searching. I loved that I had an entire set of the plush Pyrallis figures. There were some larger ones that they sold in the park, however I had never seen them for sale in any of the Japanese auction sites, even when I searched via the history of products that had already sold. Chances are that they would ever pop up were extremely slim. It didn't stop me from checking. 

I had various ephemera from the parks. I had both the Guidebook, as well as the Map of the park. I also had several stickers. Not all of them were featured here. One of the nicest ones I got was from the opening of Virtual Vehicle, which came with a Pyrallis celebrating the first anniversary of the park. 

I managed to get several tickets to the park. These were called Karla Cards. They kept track of the attractions you went on, what scores you achieved on certain attractions, and even if you got a fortune from the Pyrallis statues. In this way visitors to the park would have a memento of their visit. The silver card was actually a telephone card from the park. I hadn't seen any other phone cards pop up in years of searching, so this was a score. I even managed to purchase rare stickers from the park. A couple of the stickers you could not buy, but could only win if you got the top score in their attractions. I was lucky that somebody in Japan was willing to part with them. 

The map of the park was gorgeous. Of course the people that worked on the Namco games had also lent their talents into creating the art for the park, attractions, and costumes for employees. The world building that Namco did at Wonder Eggs was exceptional. It had its own mythology, its own calendar, and even its own language. This was apparent on the “Carnival Coin” which you would use to pay for the games on the classic midway. The town of Laperot village appeared on one side, and the message of play from the Goddess Elds was on the other. Once I learned the history of the village I enjoyed going over the details engraved on the coin.

The other things I managed to get from the park were pins that visitors could buy. I got a classic pin back button featuring the Pyrallis Ilinx. I also got a really nice pin of the Wonder Sun. I found out that they also offered a Wonder Moon pin, which I hope to track down some day.

Some of the items you could buy or win could only be done during seasonal events. Such was the case for a jack-o-lantern pin that I found. This was only available during the fall season at the park when they ran a Wonder Halloween Festival. Interestingly enough the Halloween event at their park existed before the ones offered at Disneyland or Walt Disney World.

Even though the park was in existence for less than a decade it was constantly evolving. Every few years they would change attractions, and even the story carried in the park. In 1999 Namco ended the cycle for Wonder Eggs 2, and they had limited-edition pins available. These pins celebrated the closing of Wonder Eggs 2, and heralded the updated Wonder Eggs 3. If you got one of these pins, and attended Wonder Eggs 3 you would get a one-time free pass to the park, and other perks during your visit. It was a unique concept that I don’t think had been explored at any other park.

A thing that I never thought would turn up at auction was a Wonder Rally Passport. The park was designed with gamers in mind. One of the events they had was called the Wonder Rally. It debuted in 1998. In it kids, and adults were given passports where they were required to complete a certain amount of challenges during their visit. Guests would get stamps, and stickers in the passport to mark how well they did. The goals varied depending on the age, or ability of the player. People that competed the challenges could earn “Master of Play” pins. The lowest level was a bronze pin, followed by a silver and gold pin. The gold pin was actually labeled the “Iron Man of Play.”

There was a fourth exclusive pin that went to the “Superman of Play.” It was difficult to earn in one visit as it required the best scores or outcomes in some of the attractions. The pin was colored green. You could imagine how surprised I was when one popped up on the Japanese auction sites. Sadly the passport from the grand master was not included in the auction. The passport that I secured came from an earlier auction. It was sold by a gamer that would have earned a bronze award. I wasn’t complaining about that because every item I managed to get from the park told a story.

At the end of 2025 a couple of items popped up that I hadn't seen before. The first were a couple of mini pins featuring the Pyrallis. These were fairly tiny, a little smaller than a nickel in size. The characters were Alea which represented chance, and Ilinx which represented dizziness. I was now wondering if I'd ever see the other two mini pins.

I didn't see or collect anything for a long time after my mini pins, however in the middle of 2026 a pinback button that I had never seen before popped up. Thankfully it was very inexpensive, however shipping from Japan was absurd. But it was a small price to pay to add some more rare items to my growing collection. 

A few months later something else turned up. I had seen pictures of the keychain from the park, but had never seen one turn up for sale. I think this one sold for less than $5. It was much shinier than the picture below shows. It's brilliant, almost like polished silver. Thankfully whoever owned this took good care of it, and I was grateful for that. Since I was going to pay a ridiculous amount for shipping then I also got a bunch of manga for my kid, and a few rare Oswald items as well. Thankfully the online seller bundles everything for one price. Then I get it a couple days later. I would expect nothing less than shipping that costs four times more than the products. Even then it was less expensive than getting the same things through eBay. If they even turn up.  

Many months later two more keychains turned up. One was a similar shiny silver color, and the other was a metal, and acrylic Pyrallis keychain. This one had Ilinx, which was a pink Pyrallis that represented the vertigo element of play. Essentially the reason for this kind of play was to experience the physical sensation of an activity, like spinning or jumping. Roller coaster fans could be considered the type of people that identified with this mythological Pyrallis character.

As cute as these finds were there was something even more surprising on a Japanese auction site. When wonder Eggs closed in 2000 Namco offered a token that was a thank you to visitors. In all the years of doing research I had never seen it mentioned in any Japanese blog or news article. On the face was a flying egg logo, with tiny impressions of the various attractions. It had the word FINAL at the bottom. On the other side of the token was a thank you message from Namco. I was lucky that it didn’t cost a lot as the seller offered it for a buy it now price, rather than try to auction it off.

There were a few gems from the park that hoped might turn up. Even if they didn’t I was super happy with every piece that I managed to win. I was sharing the memories of visitors to the actual parks. I was keeping it alive for people that never got a chance to experience it. Were there any theme parks past or present that you collected items from? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Turning fan art into physical art, how I spent the spring of 2025

Hello friends. I hope that you are doing well. What have you been up to since my last new update? I was sorely in need of a break this spring, and summer. Work, and family issues had taken a lot out of me in 2024, and the first part of 2025. I needed to step away from blogging in order to recharge my physical, creative, and mental batteries. The break allowed me to explore my art, which I haven’t really gotten into since the start of the pandemic many years ago. Back then I did illustrations in the style of Steve Nazar (RIP), and drew almost 100 different BMX bikes. Just to get my creative spirit back.

I picked up my sketchbook in the spring, just as I was wrapping up my blog run. I had been getting back into comic books. I wanted to see if I could do an illustration of one of my little brother’s favorite characters. Psylocke from the X-Men. Not just any version of the character, but her pink costume look from her time with the British group Excalibur. Her name is Betsy Braddock, and she is the sister of Captain Britain in case you didn’t know. Current fans may not be aware of her earlier look. Most people today know she wears a sexy ninja costume. Yet she originally looked much different. She was a a white woman that wore a soft flowing pink costume. The character had strong psychic powers, which were often presented as pink butterflies in the comic book panels. The psychic blades that she stabs heads with didn’t come until much later. This was when her mind switched bodies with a brain-dead Japanese assassin.

I had fun with the piece, and wanted to try another illustration based on a real person next. This was around the time that the San Diego Comic Con was happening. My family used to attend the event, but it had been years since we had been able to go. This didn’t mean I wasn’t eager to see the updates from the various websites. Joan Xiao is one of the actors I follow on Instagram. I first saw her in the Flash television series as the Rainbow Raider 2.0, and thought she did a great job with the character. She announced that she would be voicing Iron Fist in a Marvel animation. I thought it was wonderful news. I’m always happy to see minority actors get both live action, and voice-over roles. I had no idea what her costume would look like in the Wakanda cartoon, so I created an illustration of a more casual comic book design. I think the drawing came out well.

As the months went on I wanted to take my art to another level. Instead of making illustrations I wanted something tangible. Something physical, something other than a print that I could hold. I got the idea while playing through Sonic Dream Team. The game was one of my favorite Sonic titles in years. It introduced a new version of Dr. Eggman, and a standout hero called Ariem. It made me sad that we would most likely never see action figures based on these great characters.

I’m sure that you’ve read comics, watched movies, or played video games where you wished there were toys, statues, soft goods, and other collectables that you could pick up. I was surprised that to this day publishers never realized there was a fan base that would pay for merchandise of any rare title. Like many of you I always loved toys. In fact as a kid I wanted to be a toy designer. Fast forward a few decades, and I became an illustrator, and educator that still loved collecting. I didn’t know how to model in 3D, and I didn’t own a 3D printer so I knew that I couldn’t design or print my own toys. That didn’t stop me from coming up with the next best thing.

I shopped around to the various printing companies online, watched videos, and read up on how to produce acrylic charms, and standees. I decided to make an acrylic standee for Ariem that would be in scale with my Sonic figure collection. I created a front, and back, as well as a reversible base. I figured as long as I was going through the steps I might as well revisit the illustrations that I made for Metal NiGHTS. So I created fronts, and backs for Metal NiGHTS, Metal Reala, Metal Jackle, Metal Wizeman, and even Nightmare Eggman. I made sure to carefully measure to heights, and proportions of my Sonic 2.5 inch figures. This way when I got the standees made they would be able to fit side-by-side with my collection.

It took me a few weeks to finalize the designs, and a few months to get the order back from China. Needless to say I was very happy with the way they turned out. The colors were really vibrant, and they gave me a sense as to how Sonic Dream Team, and Sonic Superstar toys would have looked if they were real. As I was working on the art, and waiting on the delivery after uploading them to the printer I kept an eye on some overseas auction sites. As you may know I am a fan of Wonder Eggs. This was the first video game theme park created by Namco. Ephemera from the park which ran from 1992-1999 was rare, but does pop up from time to time. It took me years to get a few items from the park, but almost overnight a bunch of rare items turned up in the spring, and early summer of 2025. Thankfully they weren’t pricey. As a theme park fan several of these could be considered “Holy Grail” items. There were a few Wonder Eggs items left to get, but as far as my collection went I was extremely happy with what I had.

I had a lot of fun putting together art for standees. It made me think of what else I could do. I’m going to talk about that in the next blog. I hope to see you back for that. So how did you spend your spring, and summer of 2025? Did you get into any art projects? Tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 11…

Outside of Disney, and video game posters the largest amount of prints in my collection are from comic books. One of my favorite things from collecting comics are the occasional giveaway from a comic book store. For example a diploma from the Charles Xavier institute, or a detention notice for Impulse (a descendant from the Flash), announcing the launch of his comic book series in 1995.

Sometimes my brothers and I would score a poster for a hot cartoon. In the early '90s nothing was hotter than the Batman Animated Series. This long skinny poster belongs to my older brother, but I'm holding onto it for him.

Today I’m going to highlight Bart Sears. He is one of my all-time favorite artists. He drew mainly on Justice League Europe, and DC comics back in the ‘90s. His sense of anatomy was unparalleled among his contemporaries. He studied male, and female bodybuilders extensively so he could draw strong characters much more realistically than anybody else. One of his standout books was Eclipso. Writer Keith Giffen, and Ian Flemming took a minor character, and turned him into a villain with the potential to destroy the entire DC universe. It was great storytelling, with amazing art to carry the plot. I was happy when I got a chance to have Mr. Sears autograph my Eclipso poster.

Similar to the superstar artists that left Marvel to start up Image comics Sears eventually launched his own comic book company as well. Ominous Press has been around for over 25 years. At the San Diego Comic Con I picked up this print celebrating the company. It’s one of my favorite indy studio prints.

Were there any comic book artists that you admired? Did you collect any prints, books, or posters from them? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Boundin' Buddies, a plush set from a personal hero - A 1UP classic from December 3, 2012

 

Heya friends, did you have a good weekend? It went well over here. We had a break in the rain long enough to visit some friends over at Downtown Disney. We ate some sandwiches at the Earl of Sandwich and I must admit they were pretty good. Our good friend Roger was in town to watch the Candelight Processional with his family. He brought presents for us and I was surprised by the gift he gave me. I'm a fan of animation, as many of you may know. I have my own list of favorite artists and directors. One of the best is also one of the most under-appreciated in our time. Most from my generation know people like Bruce Timm, John Krickfalusi, Tim Burton and John Lasseter by name but how many know the name Bud Luckey?

Mr. Luckey is a story man, artist and voice actor at Pixar. Audiences might recognize his voice as Rick Dicker from the Incredibles or Chuckles the Clown from Toy Story 3. He's been in the business for a long time, well before Pixar was even founded, and has always been a great storyteller. My brothers and I loved his cartoons before we ever learned his name. Bud wrote and animated several classics on Sesame Street including the Ladybug's Picnic and the Alligator King.

There was more to his songs than learning about counting. There was always and underlying morality to his best work. My favorite cartoon of his was "That's about the size." In not only taught me about scale, perspective and the cosmos but also that in time the kids listening to the song would also grow up. It wasn't just about the act of physically maturing and becoming bigger, but also the potential for all people to grow into that struck a chord with me.

Our friend Roger remembered how fondly I spoke about Bud and how much he influenced me growing up. Roger got a chance to visit the Pixar studio store and picked up something special for me.

Bud had directed the Pixar animated short Boundin' a few years ago. The story was a good morality piece on change, acceptance and recognizing real troubles. To celebrate the release the store had commissioned a plush set of the figures.

The Boundin' Buddies set was amazing. The figures were pretty large to begin with and modeled very closely to the film characters. The box itself was made up from the storyboard art from the film as well.

I am grateful to Roger for the gift and grateful to Mr. Luckey for sharing his gift with the world.

Do you have any favorite Bud Luckey cartoons? I'd like to hear about them in the comments section.

As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Disney, the Italian Legacy, part 3 - A 1UP classic from July 12, 2011

In the previous blogs I had mentioned how some issues of Topolino came with gadgets, or toys for subscribers. Subscribers had to assemble the larger toys. The scale and attention to detail in some of the gadgets were amazing For example a catamaran for Paperino was about 8-inches long, actually floated and had a tiny electric motor to propel it forward. It had sails, a tiny canvas net and figure of Paperino could be removed. The on / off switch for the motor was activated by the steering wheel of the ship.

Topolino gadgets included firetrucks, snowmobiles, space ships, motorcycles, castles, dragons, pirate ships and even buildings. Each set was finely produced and was layered with detail and hidden surprises. Even the car gadgets were anything but typical.

The Phantom Blot was the major villain for Mickey Mouse in both US and Italian comics. He often was seen driving around in a mysterious black convertible with a dark blot over the license plate. The car (the Blackmobile or Blotmobile depending on the writer) that could be assembled with the issues of Topolino was a work of art.

The top of the car could be removed as well as the Phantom Blot figure that came with it. The gear shifter on the car triggered wings on the underside of the car to pop out. A button behind each tail fin of the car shot out red plastic taillight missiles. A button behind the driver dropped plastic oil slick cutouts from the trunk.

These gadgets were unavailable in toy stores, they could only be gotten through subscriptions to Topolino magazine. They helped build fans of the Disney name but also helped build a collectable market. One of the other publishers aware of this trend was De Agostini, also based in Italy. De Agostini held several publishing licenses in Italy, including those for Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball. They released DVD sets and collectable plastic figures for many of their licenses.

For Disney fans De Agostini released the Disney Parade series. These were hard plastic figures based on characters featured in film and comic books. Figures that would be considered rare in the USA appeared in the lineup, such as a young Scrooge McDuck in his Klondike outfit, or Jose Carioca from Brazil.

The detail in each sculpt was amazing. The coloring and poses were spot on, as if the heroes and villains were taken right from the pages of the comics.

Look at how Magica DeSpell was ready to cast a hex on Scrooge or the flirty look from Brigitta MacBridge. Of course Scrooge seemed fixated on his true love. These figures were not available in stores or online. Collectors had to go to De Agostini kiosks in local malls to collect the figures, two of which were released every week over the course of several months. Imagine how patient fans were that collected a complete set of the 60 figures! Goofy or Pippo as he was known in Italy was given a werewolf alter-ego in the X Mickey comic series. De Agostini was catering the collection to Disney fans that were familiar with storylines featured within the pages of Topolino magazine and the offshoot publications. The white-furred Pipwolf was given the colors and proportions based on the comic but was still kept in scale with the icon that inspired him

The figures were about 4.5 inches on average and each one released was to scale with the rest of the series. Taller characters like Goofy or Mortimer Mouse were pushing 7 inches while shorter characters like Louie or Paperotto (young Donald) were just over 3 inches.

The Disney Parade figures were not all heroes however. Even villains like Rockerduck and the mad scientist Emil Eagle were presented in the set.

Legendary Disney animator Marc Davis would teach his students that a great character designs did not feature characters with blank stares, instead the artist would make it clear that they were living, thinking figures. In the case of the De Agostini sculpts audiences could clearly see that the characters were thinking. The frustration that Rockerduck held while he was chewing on his hat, or that Emil was in the middle of hatching a diabolical plan were apparent.

The female leads were not ignored in the collection either. Emily Quackfaster, the secretary for Scrooge and Daisy Duck also made for very interesting figures and poses.

Not many Disney fans in the US were familiar with Donald Duck’s neighbor Mr. Jones. Unless audiences had kept pace with the comics they would have missed out on some of Carl Barks most hilarious short stories. Donald and Neighbor Jones had been the worst of neighbors for almost 70 years, always trying to put the other person in their place. The two characters turned out to be evenly matched despite their size difference.

De Agostini allowed the long running feud to finally be recreated in 3D. The figure of Jones was practically daring Donald to take his best shot. Of course one of the Donald figures created by De Agostini was posed ready for a fight as well.

Even after Carl Barks retired the talented Don Rosa kept the two battling in comics. Don ensured that new generations of Disney comic fans would never forget the bitter rivalry. Neighbor Jones did not come up as often in the pages of Topolino but De Agostini knew that collectors throughout Europe would be happy to see and pick up the figure.

It seemed that almost every character that had appeared in a Disney animated short or on the comic book pages got the Disney Parade treatment. Moby Duck and Fethry Duck made for two very whimsical figures and fit very well with the rest of the collection.

The Disney Parade set was so popular among collectors that De Agostini decided to follow up with a sort of deluxe edition of their figures. The newer ones would be in a larger scale, ceramic and painted with greater detail and fidelity.

The new edition of figures was dubbed the Disney Collection and the sizes now averaged around 6 inches. To distinguish them from the Disney Parade series the new figures were much heavier and placed on larger silver stands. These figures were also made with a smaller run, making them more collectable.

Not all of the characters featured in the Disney Parade made it into the Disney Collection. Those figures that did were given new poses and additional material. Some figures created for the Collection were not featured in the Parade series. The next blog will highlight my favorite figure and try to explain why these collectables were important to the community. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!