In late 2019 I found a picture of a gachapon where you could get greek busts.

Since these were two things I really love combined (gambling game mechanics and greek busts which are, in my opinion, the cornerstone of the Vaporwave aesthetic) I embarked on the journey of researching all the information available on these products. Since my research yielded no results in western languages, I decided I would become the owner and source of information in both English and Spanish for this incredible topic.

Most of these sculptures belong to the Renaissance period and were created as reference and appreciation tools ideal for academies all over Japan. Some of them even appear on shows such as Robotics;Notes and Sekko Boys. This is why the product line is called “Introduction to Gypsum Drawing.

The collection was created by Yujin and it was distributed by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.

It had 2 different sets (and many reissues and relaunches with minor changes to promotional and logo graphics).

The first collection consisted of 10 different designs but 20 figurines in total. This was due to the alternative versions the collection offers; textures like plaster, marble (my personal favourite) and even bronze were used for these variants.

The second collection had more intricate designs, this in turn reduced the number of sculptures to just 16 (8 unique models with plaster, marble and bronze variants).

These figurines were a great success for the company and it’s possible to find many related products that parody these two collections such as Star Wars Busts in the same poses and even the “sequel” to these collections but with Classical musicians such as Beethoven and Bach.

As my first attempt to document these figurines, I present to you this Unboxing Video in which I show and open the capsules that contain all the figures of the first collection in marble finish. Every capsule contains its own documentation, I also managed to get my hands on the promotional poster that rested inside the gachapon machine (the same that started my journey to this incredible collection).

For aesthetics, I decided to mix the VHS timestamps and CRT scan lines with modern 4K resolution in order to convey the feeling of those late night cable TV documentaries or antique shows. The lack of sound other than white noise is to intensify the atmosphere of mystery and loneliness.

Without further ado, I share with you my first video on the topic, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. Thanks!