One thing many people don’t know about me is that I collect these small little mini box figurines called danboards, or danbo in Japanese. They are cute little box characters from an anime called Yotsuba&! , but most of you might know them from artistic pictures like the one below that surface the internet in places like reddit, tumblr, ect.
What most people don’t know is that the company behind danboard, revoltech , does partnerships with companies where they will sell a branded danbo for a short period of time, making many of them rare and hard to find. There isn’t a huge market behind them, but there are some that can go for as much as 400 US dollars. The good thing is that there are only a couple that go for that price and the majority of them are cheap new, falling between 10-15 dollars.
However ones that stop getting printed or ones that do a limited run can be very pricy as well, so I always make sure to buy new ones when they come out. They only release a few new ones a year in their mini series which is the series I buy, so if I purchase them new I don’t have to worry about paying high premiums. There aren’t hundreds of them like other toy collectibles so it is actually possible to buy them all. Not to mention if you don’t want to buy authentic ones, there are Chinese knockoffs for a fraction of the price. So if you just want something cool for your desk at work, that is possible too.Below is a picture of my collection from a few months ago, but I have added about 4 more since then.
The two I just ordered today are really cool in my opinion. They are modeled after the zero Japanese World War II plane and have spinning propellers at the top. I got two of them, one in each of the colors they have available, but there was also a limited edition one that was only in a Japan comic convention that has an amazing silver finish. Maybe one day Ill be able to buy one of those, but I bet you they are bringing a hefty premium.
This is the first time I actually have collected anything in my life and I am really enjoying it. I don’t expect to spend a fortune on these little figurines, but they are definitely a talking piece in my room. I don’t watch the anime, but I think theyre cute and the branding deals with certain companies makes them interesting. If you are interested in seeing more, you can google them, theres probably around 20-30 I don’t have at the moment.