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LOS ANGELES, CA- One of Anime Expo’s greatest strengths is its ability to make fictional worlds feel tangible. Beyond the screens, manga pages, and game consoles, the convention floor transforms into a sprawling marketplace where beloved characters become figures, apparel, collectibles, and keepsakes. Shopping here isn’t simply about buying merchandise. It’s about participating in fandom itself, whether that means chasing the thrill of a capsule toy, hunting down an exclusive giveaway, or discovering an unexpected collaboration that somehow makes perfect sense once you’re standing in front of it.
Across the convention floor, collecting took on different forms. Some experiences relied on chance. Others transformed merchandise into spectacle. But in each case, the appeal went beyond simply acquiring another object to bring home.
GASHAPON: The Thrill of the Capsule Drop
Bandai’s GASHAPON brand expanded the collector’s instinct into hundreds of colorful capsule toys. Occupying a large section of the West Hall, with a secondary activation at the TOHO animation booth in the South Hall, the display demonstrated why capsule collecting has become so appealing.
Part of GASHAPON’s charm is that it is fun for people of all ages. At Anime Expo, you could see whole families enjoying the booth together, united by the simple, universal excitement of turning the heavy plastic dial, waiting for that deeply satisfying cranking sound, and not knowing exactly what was going to drop. Offering a dizzying variety of properties from anime, manga, and gaming, the “collect them all” mentality was in full effect.
The booth also encouraged a sense of community, as attendees exchanged duplicate toys on the show floor while trying to complete their collections. It proved that the true joy of GASHAPON isn’t just the toy itself, but the shared experience surrounding the pull.
A single GASHAPON machine is a harmless diversion. Several massive, towering walls of them become a sustained argument against financial restraint. The danger lies in the pricing; each capsule is inexpensive enough to make twisting the dial just one more time appear medically reasonable.
If GASHAPON celebrated the thrill of inexpensive collectibles, another activation demonstrated that merchandise could be just as much about spectacle as ownership.
DAN DA DAN × UNDONE: An F1 Show Car in the Convention Center
The DAN DA DAN collaboration among Atlassian Williams Racing, MBS, and UNDONE brought a different kind of spectacle to the show floor. The booth wasn’t selling merchandise directly, but it made an immediate visual impression with a full-size, one-off Williams F1 show car carrying a neon-accented DAN DA DAN livery.
The activation served as a preview of UNDONE’s Sector Zero platform, an exclusive membership program aimed at collectors. Rather than operating a conventional retail counter, the team used the show car to promote limited-edition releases produced in small batches. Issue 01 is now open, and attendees were encouraged to register online for advance public access to the upcoming collection. The announced products include a 4.9 mm Swiss-made watch and limited “Turbo Box” sets containing items such as a shirt, tote bag, and towel. Promotional pins and other small items depicting Okarun, Momo, and Turbo Granny in a racing-inspired style were distributed separately at the convention.
A Formula 1 show car surrounded by anime fans might have looked like several marketing departments had lost a bet, but the concept fit comfortably within a convention ecosystem where characters now move freely across motorsport, fashion, music, and design.
Although the show car was the centerpiece of the activation, some attendees were fortunate enough to secure the promotional pins distributed onsite. Not to brag, but I managed to snag a Turbo Granny pin, giving my convention run double the turbo just as my feet began to give out after a ten-hour day.
Whether it was the random surprise inside a GASHAPON capsule or a Turbo Granny pin picked up beside a Formula 1 show car, Anime Expo repeatedly demonstrated that merchandise is about far more than objects. Collecting becomes another way of experiencing the convention itself, complete with anticipation, discovery, community, and occasionally questionable financial judgment.
Eventually, the figures go onto shelves, the pins onto bags, and the capsule toys onto desks. What remains attached to them is the memory of where they came from. In a place where digital worlds constantly spill into reality, those souvenirs become lasting reminders that, for a few days each summer, those fictional worlds felt remarkably real.
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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT MORE COVERAGE AT ANIME EXPO 2026
Beyond the Booth: Collecting Comes to Life at Anime Expo 2026
