Double Feature!

虫ペット | Mushipet

Have you ever seen the above image before? Maybe it's just because of the particlar internet circles I find myself in, but I have come across this image so many times. But what is this? Some sort of bootleg Tamagotchi? Well this is a Mushipet, and it is incredibly difficult to get information about them.

I've been searching for at least an hour just to try to find the name of the company which made these toys. Even dedicated virtual pet websites just refer to them as being made by an "unknown company". I've found images online showing the back of the packaging, and I can't see any copyright symbols or anything. My very poor Japanese literacy doesn't help! There also doesn't appear to be any official websites, official artwork, dates of production, or anything.

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だんごむし　|　Dangomushi

Another banger from Bandai is the Dangomushi series (だんごむし) of Gashapon collectible figures. In Japanese, "dangomushi" normally refers to an isopod - it literally means ball-shaped bug. The figures are mainly styled after isopods and their many species and morphs, but sometimes other insects such as beetles, and even other types of animals like armadillos and tortoises are included in this series.

The main selling point of the Dangomushi series is that they don't actually come in a capsule like other Gashapon, they ARE they capsule. The figures are able to physically be rolled into a ball shape, just like some species of real isopods!

The series was originally conceptualised by Honda Tsuneyuki who wanted to expand upon his previous capsule-less design of Gashapon series and took inspiration from already ball-shaped isopods. The series is incredibly successful, and there are many subsequent series of Dangomushi figures, featuring dozens of colours, morphs, and designs for the bug models.

Dangomushi are highly collectable, and I think that's because they are easy to create new designs for. They're also really fun to handle, I know because I actually own some!

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