Japan's Bandai Co., Ltd. Gashapon division will release a new capsule toy collaboration with Japanese artist "Masao Takahata" in late February: the "Masao Takahata Wood Carving Style Figure Collection" (tentative translation, たかはたまさお 木彫り風 FIGURE COLLECTION)! The suggested retail price is 500 JPY per capsule, with a total of five designs to collect.
Masao Takahata is skilled at depicting everyday scenes and animals (especially bears) with simple lines, and has since created numerous three-dimensional wood carved bear (木彫りの熊) artworks. In addition to the rustic lines that echo his painting style, Takahata's strong interest in folk toys is also evident in the wood carved bears he personally sculpts. This collaboration with Bandai for the wood carving style figure collection not only miniaturizes Takahata's past wood carved bears, but also features newly sculpted prototypes. Masao Takahata himself revealed that the reduced size made the production particularly challenging, and the extremely tiny eye details caused him to fail multiple times.
These GASHAPON capsule toys, at approximately 4.5 cm in size, perfectly recreate Masao Takahata's hand-carved style wood bear designs. From their substantial bodies and adorable, bewildered expressions to the texture and color representation that astonishingly mimic real wood carvings (the capsule toys are made of PVC material), everything is impressive. The artist himself also stated that Bandai achieved a quality in the capsule toys that is remarkably close to the original prototypes. There are five styles to collect, and the editor personally most desires the Antarctic bear in its thick, warm clothing and the camera bear – they are simply too cute!
たかはたまさお 木彫り風 FIGURE COLLECTION
Suggested Retail Price: ¥500 / capsule, Product Specifications: Approximately 4.5 cm tall, 5 designs in total
Scheduled for release as capsule toys in late February 2026
Source: BANDAI TOYS - バンダイ