Daiso's house character Daizo moves into capsule toys and crane-game prizes
Daiso is putting its in-house character Daizo into amusement retail for the first time, with a capsule-toy line and crane-game plush prizes — a new licensing channel for the 100-yen chain's own IP, outside its own stores.
Daiso Industries said its official character Daizo is entering the amusement-goods market for the first time, in two product lines: a capsule-toy set called the Daizo Face Pouch Collection, released in early October, and large plush toys offered as crane-game (UFO-catcher) prizes, following from late October. The company's own release describes the move as Daizo's "first deployment" into amusement merchandise.
Capsule-toy machines and crane games sit outside Daiso's own stores — in game centres, train-station corners and convenience stores — so the move reaches a different footfall than the retailer's shelves do, on the back of a character it already owns rather than a licensed outside IP. It is a small step, with no pricing or licensing partner disclosed yet, but it points to the same pattern playing out across Japan's variety-goods chains: house characters doing double duty as a retail draw and as a separate merchandise line in their own right.