Posted by marc January 21, 2016
#TBT | Steel Fairies by Kaijin and Wonderwall

Back in 2008, Japanese character designer Kaijin combined mod fashion, streamlined automotive engineering, and a healthy dose of Mega Man to create his Steel Fairies series. The designs' exaggeratedly long legs and retrofuturistic fashion style were a direct continuation of Kaijin's previous toys, Steiny and Super Jepel, both released in 2007. Standing 6.5 inches tall, about 10 different Steel Fairies were released using two different head sculpts. The red and clear versions were open releases, while others were limited to as few as 60 pieces each. The glossy, candy-colored finishes and chibi-style bodies make the Steel Fairies characters look like they came from some '80s or '90s sci-fi anime that never happened. Turning up the articulated arms reveals car taillights rather than fists. Or are those Mega Man style blasters? Like most of Kaijin's toys, the Steel Fairies series was brought to life by Japanese toy production company, Wonderwall.

Shortly after the release of Steel Fairies, Kaijin designed Fulcraim, a similar but more aggressive character. The Space Racers series returned to a cuter, colorful aesthetic in 2010 and 2011. Kaijin is still designing toys to this day, creating original work - including resin garage kits - and lending his chibi style to licensed properties like Cyborg 009. The Steel Fairies series is pretty hard to come by these days. After 20 minutes of searching I've found a single piece, located in Japan, for about $70 before shipping. But keep an eye out and you might get lucky!

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