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Furuta

Real world article
(written from a production point of view)
Furuta logo

The Furuta Confectionery Co., Ltd. is a candy manufacturer and industrial supply company that is based in Osaka, Japan and was founded in 1952.

The company produced two licensed Star Trek gashapon candy-toy lines between 2003 and 2006. F-Toys, another gashapon manufacturer, was founded by Toyohiko Furuta in 2001, following his retirement from this company.

Star Trek releases

Star Trek Federation Ships & Alien Ships Collection

Furuta Star Trek Starship 2

In 2003, Furuta produced its first small-scale injection-molded plastic models of Star Trek starships and space stations as Volume One of the Star Trek Federation Ships & Alien Ships Collection. Volumes Two and Three followed in 2004 and 2005, respecively.

Notably, aside from producing many commonly manufactured Star Trek starships, Furuta also produced ships that had been rarely touched upon by other licensed companies before. These included a Species 8472 bio-ship and a Prometheus-, Olympic-, and Nova-class vessel.

The models were pre-painted, well detailed for their size, and were "snap-fit" models that required no glue for assembly. Each item included a display stand. All of the standard items were sold in "blind boxes" that did not disclose their specific contents on their exteriors. The first two volumes included a collectible trading card with each model.

Furuta's starships were generally larger than its contemporary competitor Romando which released a Star Trek gashapon product line at about the same time. Konami and F-Toys also produced Star Trek gashapon series in later years.

Item Scale Note
Star Trek Federation Ships and Alien Ships Collection – Volume 1, 2003

Blind box Volume 1
Deep Space Nine 1:15700
Galor-Class Warship 1:4000
Klingon Bird-of-Prey 1:1325
Species 8472 Bio-Ship 1:437
USS Defiant NX-74205 1:1250
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A 1:2400
USS Equinox NCC-72381 1:1625
USS Reliant NCC-1864 1:2125
USS Stargazer NCC-2893 1:2800
Klingon Attack Cruiser 1:4200
Romulan Warbird n/a "Secret item"
Star Trek Federation Ships & Alien Ships Collection – Volume 2, 2004

Blind box Volume 2
Ferengi Marauder 1:4425
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship 1:1250
USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (TOS) 1:2175
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B 1:3200
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C 1:4875
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D 1:6300
Future USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D 1:6300
USS Farragut NCC-60597 1:5775
USS Prometheus NCC-59650 1:2975
USS Voyager NCC-74656 1:2700
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E 1:5125 "Secret item"
Star Trek Federation Ships & Alien Ships Collection – Volume 3α, 2005

Blind box Volume 3α
Shuttlecraft Galileo NCC-1701/7 n/a
Phoenix 1:263
USS Excelsior NCC-2000 n/a
USS Grissom NCC-638 1:2000
Spock n/a
Star Trek Federation Ships & Alien Ships Collection – Volume 3β, 2005

Blind box Volume 3β
Borg Cube n/a
Kazon Raider 1:2105
USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (refit) n/a
USS Pasteur NCC-58925 n/a
USS Rio Grande NCC-72452 1:306
Borg Cube & Sphere n/a "Special item"; red LED-illuminated cube; delayed addition after Vol.3 was already released, as is evidenced by the earlier style stand
Scale info courtesy of Starshipmodeler

Star Trek Pins Collection

Furuta released the Star Trek Pins Collection in 2006 as a gashapon line of enamel pins, featuring twenty unique insignia from the Star Trek franchise. Each insignia pin was packed inside of a "blind box" and came with a display stand.

  1. TOS USS Enterprise Command division
  2. TOS USS Enterprise Sciences division
  3. TOS USS Enterprise Operations division
  4. Films II – VI*
  5. DS9 and VOY
  6. TNG Future
  7. TNG
  8. Cadet†
  9. Mirror Universe Starfleet
  10. Bajoran Militia
  11. Borg Collective
  12. Cardassian Union
  13. Vulcan IDIC
  14. Starfleet Medical
  15. Romulan Star Empire
  16. United Federation of Planets
  17. Maquis
  18. Ferengi Alliance
  19. Klingon Empire
  20. TMP (revised patch)‡
* with officer's patch
† also used for TMP Rear Admiral and Films II – VI enlisted and non-commissioned officers
‡ this color was used for the Command and Operations divisions

Background information

Gashapon

Bandai is the company that trademarked the term "gashapon" for the combination of candy with a toy model, together in a single package. The name is derived from the sound of the cranking of the dispensing mechanism ("gasha") added to the noise that the box makes when it falls out of the vending machine ("pon").

The term "gashapon" has become very common in Japan as a generic term for all manufacturers of these "candy-toys" and has also come to be identified with "blind box" trading figures, product lines of small-scale toys, figurines or models that are sold in identical sealed boxes. Commonly, many gashapon boxes must be purchased to complete a toy series, as collectors will inadvertently purchase many duplicate items.

Gashapon are now commonplace in Japan and many candy companies include toys with their products as enticers, often packaged in such a way that they can be dispensed from vending machines. In the case of some companies, the candy is included so that their toys can be sold on supermarket shelves as food items.

Furuta USS Enterprise carriers

Rarer "secret" or "chase" items are often included in a series to boost sales and are produced in smaller quantities than the regular items in the series. This method of collector-focused marketing has a strong resemblance to trading cards sales methods. Typically, a gashapon line is a single and unrepeated release which can cause the more sought-after releases to become highly valued collector's items.

Warship Collection 1

In 2003, Furuta released the Warship Collection 1 gashapon line of contemporary warships which included the USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Enterprise (CVN-65) aircraft carriers.

See also

External link