Forget cosplay Barbies, sashimi stuffies, and RC toilets—all I want for my birthday is a fighting bug!
No surprise, not every Japanese mom is keen to have her son* keep a giant live kabutomushi beetle as a pet (WHAT IF IT GETS OUT)
And moms can only persuade their kids that a folded paper insect is just as fun for so long…
But fear not! When the absence of wiggling antennae and creepy-crawly legs that actually move begins to pale, the Japanese toy industry steps up with fighting beetle toys sure to satisfy every son’s burning desire for a pet that can battle it out with his friends’ pet (and whose mothers also do not allow enormous bugs in their houses).
This set offers realistic kabutomushi with wings, bodies and legs that wiggle (so they can still scare the pants off an unsuspecting little sister)…
while this one features all three of the most popular varieties of kabutomushi in fashionable colors that definitely improve on the original black and brown.
They do require you act out the battles yourself, though, so this set is the gold standard in WWF for arthropods. Literally. These premium toy bugs come in silver and gold…
with their very own plastic log and spring-loading launcher so fate can have a hand in which bug comes out on top.
And once plain old plastic beetles have lost their shine, Bug Knight to the rescue! Kabutomushi that transform into fearsome fighting robots will definitely be on my birthday wish list for next year!
*Not to be sexist, but it’s a fact that the children clamoring for a non-cuddly, six-legged pet known for its willingness to fight other non-cuddly six-legged pets overwhelmingly tend to be male.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Only In Japan 
Yeah, the live ones probably need more care than the average kid is able to provide. Sign me up for one of those robot beetles! I do have a hand puppet shaped like a metallic scarab beetle, which is pretty awesome. – Lizzie Crow