The Tamiya Corporation logo, which should represent plastic models...

Enough with the damn Tamiya shirts, already!

November 2014

Before moving to Japan, I had a whim that it must be exciting to either move to Shizuoka City or at least a nearby town. Shizuoka Prefecture is famous for not only Mt. Fuji and tea, but also plastic models. To a nerd such as myself, that is an awesome thing! Shizuoka City is home to Tamiya, Bandai, Aoshima, and Platz; nearby Yaizu is home to Hasegawa; and sweet Aviation is in the next town past there, in Fujieda. Nearly two years ago, we moved to Fuji, which is right next to Shizuoka. So basically, I live in the plastic model capitol of the world, Shizuoka Prefecture! Since moving to Shizuoka-ken, I can visit the Shizuoka Hobby Show in May each year, and there are plenty of great plastic model shops to be found in this area.

Either by car or by train, Tamiya's various buildings can be seen around Shizuoka City. It's exciting for any plamo lover, since Tamiya is world-reknown for its quality of models, paints, tools, and other supplies. At the Shizuoka Hobby Square, I've bought both a Tamiya T-shirt to wear during warm months and a Tamiya sweatshirt to wear during the winter. I wear them with pride as the Tamiya logo is a symbol of Shizuoka, plastic models, and just being a nerd in general.

Well, it turns out that not everybody who sees the twin blue and red stars of the Tamiya logo immediately thinks of the company Tamiya. At schools in 2012 when I would wear my Tamiya shirt, I heard whisperings of the phrase "Golden Bomber." Kids would ask me, "Greg-sensei, do you like Golden Bomber?" I thought they were referring to some sort of a model of a bomber airplane that was painted gold or something. I had no idea what they were talking about. It turns out that they were talking about some singing group. So after a very long time, I decided to do a bit of searching to figure out what this was all about. It turns out that Golden Bomber is some visual-kei boy band. Oh brother. So then I did an image search for "Golden Bomber +Tamiya" and this is what I found:

Oh good grief. If this guy is a transvestite, then I have certainly seen more convincing ones. This just makes me cringe.

This guy obviously suffers heavily from gender identity disorder. I may be going out on a limb, but I think it is apparent that this guy quite probably is not a plamo hobby enthusiast. In fact, it is quite apparent that this guy focuses far more energy on trying to look like a girl than even I focus on building plastic models---and I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to plastic models even practically dedicating the majority of the content of my YouTube channel to the hobby. But this guy.... Oh, barf. It's like he's trying to look more like a girl than an actual girl does.

So, pop quiz time!

1. Which do you think he is more likely to be knowledgeable about?

  1. Tamiya's various paint brushes.
  2. Tamiya's weathering applicators.
  3. Women's makeup applicators.

2. Which do you think he can answer your questions about with more authority?

  1. Which airbrush to suit your modeling needs.
  2. Where to find aftermarket parts for Tamiya tank kits.
  3. How to look more like a girl than an actual girl does.

3. What do you think he knows more about?

  1. The differences between Tamiya's enamel, acrylic and lacquer paints.
  2. The differences between applying Tamiya's course, fine, and finish polishing compounds.
  3. The differences between Shiseido, Max Factor, and Maybeline.

4. What do you think he can discuss with you at length?

  1. How to smooth down a paint application once it dries.
  2. How to remove the silvering effect from waterslide decals.
  3. How his butt looks when wearing different styles of pants.

5. Which do you think he finds more disheartening?

  1. Waterslide decals ripping upon application.
  2. Orange peel effect from not properly applying paint with an airbrush.
  3. A hemhorroid flare-up before a hot date.

6. What does he use Tamiya's cotton swabs for?

  1. Removing excess.
  2. Cleaning his airbrush.
  3. Weightlifting.

7. What does he use Tamiya's Weathering Master applicators for?

  1. Creating rust on models.
  2. Creating soot and oil streaks.
  3. Mascara.

I'm obviously not a fan of Golden Bomber and I couldn't care less about their crappy music, nor do I know this guy. However, I can assume that for all of the above questions, the answer is c.

Look, David Bowie used to wear makeup, but he's always unquestionably been a total badass. But this squirrelly-girly little puke is certainly not a badass. What kills me is that Tamiya seems excited that this pansy is wearing their T-shirts. I find this perplexing because although it does promote some sort of brand recognition, what is the use of having some girly-boy who obviously has nothing to do with their products (other than wearing their shirts) being associated with their company? In fact, I've encountered plenty of kids who don't even know what Tamiya is, other than "it's that T-shirt that the man-girl from Golden Bomber wears." The twin stars is the logo for a plastic model company, not the personal logo for a gender-confused poseur who makes dumb music. When I wear my Tamiya shirts with pride, I want the mark to be associated with the fact that I'm a hobby enthusiast and a nerd, not that I am some sort of fan of this obnoxious, overly-feminine ninny.

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mail: greg -atsign- stevethefish -dot- net