Medicom Toy

Medicom Toy is a Japanese company responsible for the Bearbrick mania. Over the course of more than 20 years, the Medicom Toy company has created the most desirable and collectible toys out there. Their main and most important product is of course the Bearbrick figure, which ironically is no longer a toy, it is much more. The Bearbrick figure is somewhere at the intersection between toy, art, and fashion. Medicom Toys was founded in 1996 by Tatsuhiko Akashi, who left his job at a computer manufacturing company, after wandering into a toy store called ZAAP! and realizing that a life without toys was no life at all. The company has launched a handful of different toys over the years. They have been working with some of the most important artists in the world of street and urban art, creating art memorabilia. One interesting thing about Medicom Toy is how Tatsuhiko Akashi found a way to build hype and mystery by selling “blind box” toys, packaged such that customers couldn’t see what they were buying until they paid and opened up their purchases. Over the years, Medicom has shown the ability to do to its toys whatever a designer desires, creating some unique and extraordinary art toys.