(reprinted from the toy thread)
My long-overdue Daiso wrap up.
To review Daiso is a chain of 100 yen (~$1) shops across Japan which sometimes have a line of robot display bases and other miniatures items in their home decor (not toy) section. I also found the mecha line in a chain of hobby shops called Volks. And yes, everything here was 100 yen.
They also have shops in the US and Hong Kong, maybe more that I just don't know off the top of my head.
Not seen any of this in their US stores or online but who knows.
First off some nice and easy pipes, sold in sets of 3. 2 are attached, the 3rd can be removed (good for painting!). Aobut 2" tall, 3 1/2" long. Nice scatter terrain for any industrial table.
Then some tin shipping containers and a railroad flatbed for them. So 300 yen. The tins open so you can put, I dunno, an objective marker in there.
About 10"x3" tall.
I wasn't too impressed with these girder/gantry sets, but they're not terrible either. And you get 3 girders plus clips for 100 yen, so again, no great loss.
But the real winners are these connectable display bases, roughly 7"x4"x4" and they assemble and connect without glue. The back are not detailed but you can always put two of them back to back.
They stack and connect for more elaborate displays, and the front framework is optional. You could put a whole action figure collection on these for under $10. I got like ten of them.
The cranes on these are also 100 yen, and come with metal chains made of real metal hot from the forge.
The engineering on these (except for the girders) is superb, everything goes together with no glue and comes apart for storage. Great, great buys, I cannot recommend enough.
I mean if you happen to be in Japan.