Toy OTD: Ghibli Vinyl Totoro Bank: The Cat Bus

Studio Ghibli merchandise is always charming and well-made - I'd buy it even if I'd never heard of the films. Of course, having such strong sources to work from is a plus!

The cat bus character is pretty stylized to begin with, but it's been simplified a little further in the sculpt. It looks great! Some of the paint passes are a little ragged (by Japanese painting standards, anyway), but it doesn't detract from the overall appeal of the piece.

There's no real features to speak of - just the coin slot and the plug underneath - but it's worth mentioning again that there's nothing unnecessary added to the figure, either. No logos, slogans or branding, no clumped-on characters or landscaping. The design is very stable by nature, so there's no balance issues.

The sole weakness of this item is that it's made of vinyl - a material that isn't particularly good for banks. While I haven't tried filling this one in particular, I've had some trouble with sagging in other vinyl banks, once they're sufficiently filled with coins. If you're aiming for a display piece, (which is what most collectors do anyway) then that's not a problem.

The biggest problem is finding merchandise like this on the secondary market, once it's sold out. I missed out on some Princess Mononoke nodders, and they still haven't turned up! I can't find this anywhere online, so it's going to take some serious digging at toy shows, and on eBay. Japanese toy hunting services are another option - pricey, but effective. Good luck!