ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

I’m filing this under “Plastic” just because that’s where the other Be@rbricks go, but this particular figure belongs in a category all its own: Stainless Steel.

In collaboration with high-end Japanese kitchen manufacturer Toyo Kitchen, Medicom Toy has created a 13.5 kg (30 pound) solid stainless steel Be@rbrick, which will be one of the highlights at the Medicom Toy Exhibition ‘08, June 21st in Tokyo. The Be@rbrick took a month and a half to complete and required the efforts of artists, welders, sheet metal workers and polishers.

According to the (spotty) translation in this interview from Openers Web Magazine with Medicom Toys CEO Takao Watanabe, the price of the Stainless Steel Be@rbrick will be about 10,000 Yen. I’m guessing that’s gotta be a typo or lost in translation or missing a zero because the layered wood Karimoku Be@rbrick is around 60,000 Yen. Plans for laser etching and future high-end Be@rbricks are in the works.