My first foray into collecting one-sixth or 12” figures dated back mid-70s when dad brought home a Takara 12" Henshin Cyborg costume playset. The toy line was probably one of the best playsets in our generation. Both mom and dad have cultural roots with Japan and speak the language, so being heavily exposed to their culture, especially toys and books were unavoidable.  I got into smaller scale classic Microman series soon afterwards for several years, then came the golden age of Japanese scifi modeling which I dove into it at full speed. 12 inch figures seemed rather far away until I bought several Takara-Barbie (Now Takara Jenny line) playsets in Japan while on vacation which led to a brief reconnection back to the genre. The rekindle was rather short when once again I was drawn back to scifi modeling for the next decade until 21st Century toys came into the scene around 97. Yours truly like many other fellow collectors never looked back again. Even though current sets are so well made and robust, 21CT's classic carded sets still have a special place in my life. With the experience in the hobby so far, one of the best part probably is get to hook up with new people, both online and in person. Some become good friends.

 Another incredibly fulfilling experience coming from this hobby is to be able to learn something new practically on an everyday basis; from different techniques developed by fellow hobbyists to some background history on subjects that we barely or never know and so on. Even the subjects are somewhat out of my area of interests, I still enjoy reading the background content in every way. The sensation seems never diminishes, I find myself constantly jotting down notes everyday, and it never stops. Last but not the least; a good pad on the back to fellow hobbyist Kevin who introduced my humble site during its infancy to OSW. Thanks bro!! 

 

Best,

leo (gaiagear on OSW)