Decorative animal toys with massive chins now a thing in Japan for some reason

スクリーンショット 2015-12-29 9.36.02

Toy manufacturer Takara Tomy A.R.T.S continues its line of bizarre “gacha” capsule toys with cute (?) animals that have developed enormous underbites.

Takara Tomy A.R.T.S – the weird, twitchy cousin to beloved toy manufacturer Takara Tomy that everyone kind of secretly hopes can’t make it to family Christmas – recently unveiled their new line of gacha capsule toys.

While you might think the new capsule toys, which are almost invariably aimed at kids, might depict popular superhero or anime characters, A.R.T.S decided that would be too predictable, and instead released these animal toys with comically huge chins that look equally likely to give kids nightmares as to capture their childlike wonder and imagination.

スクリーンショット 2015-12-29 9.34.49

スクリーンショット 2015-12-29 9.34.43

These are the animals of the “Shakureru Planet” lineup, and, holding to gacha tradition, cost just a couple of coins; each Shakureru Planet toy goes for just 200 yen.

Not content to release these new toys into the market and hope for the lol random instinct of kids and teenagers to compel them to purchase, Takara Tomy A.R.T.S has gone whole hog, giving the lineup a fictional backstory:

Shakureru Planet

All the animals that live there have jutting chins.

They’ve all evolved that way to avoid danger and extinction.

スクリーンショット 2015-12-29 9.34.34

スクリーンショット 2015-12-29 9.34.25

スクリーンショット 2015-12-29 9.34.17

On a cultural note, for what it’s worth, shakureru is a slang term in Japan to describe a person with an underbite or a jutting chin, and, given the way its often used in comedy, anime and manga, the term could easily be taken to have a derisive meaning.

In other words, you shouldn’t utter the term in the presence of Shakureru Lion.

スクリーンショット 2015-12-29 9.34.03