No matter what the latest toy sensation in Japan is, it always involves robots. But now geeks are putting aside traditional mold-injected plastic figurines in favor of Kami-robo (paper robots), which players assemble themselves. If they look like a kid's art project, that's because they are. Tomohiro Yasui started crafting them in 1982, at age 11, because he couldn't bear the thought of playing with his precious store-bought bots – what if the paint chipped or an arm fell off?! So he used cardboard, scissors, wire, tape, and markers to construct his own durable automatons. Yasui, now a designer, went on to build hundreds of handmade creations, including Bird Man (bottom), the trio shown below, a ring for them to battle in, and even a bar where they can unwind. He never intended them to be more than a personal hobby: "I didn't show off my robots," he says. "I didn't want to trouble people with my private obsession." But word got out, and in 2005 the Tokyo company Butterfly Stroke released replicas of two of the papercraft killing machines for $9. They've also been featured in a museum exhibit and spun off as plastic toys and a card game; there's even talk of casting the fighters in plays and movies. Here's a peek at Bird Man's profile.
HEIGHT:
6 Inches
DEBUT MATCH:
1995
CLAIM TO FAME:
Introduced mexi-style moves to bot wrestling
– Lisa Katayama
Bird Man
King Kong Moai
Suzanne
Octopus Tiger
PLAY
>
Cardboard Boxers
