Medicom Toy Immortalizes Japanese Basketball Legend Yuta Tabuse With a Special BE@RBRICK

Medicom Toy has immortalized Japanese basketball legend Yuta Tabuse on a 400% and 100% set of BE@RBRICKs. The first Japanese player to take the court in an NBA game, Tabsue has been playing professionally since 2002, and, at 40 years old, is still the starting point guard for Utsunomiya Brex, a Tochigi Prefecture-based organization where he’s played for the past 12 years.

Tabuse’s 400% and 100% BE@RBRICKs see him dressed his #0 black and gold Brex home uniform, with logo-less black “shoes” on his feet. His long, curly black hair reaches up onto his BE@RBIRCK’s clear ears and also runs down the sides of his face, framing his eyes and nose, while his signature goatee completes his figure’s look.

Die-hard basketball fans may recall the madness that ensued when Tabuse took the court for four games as a member of the 2004-05 Phoenix Suns, backing up Basketball Hall of Famer Steve Nash. Though he only averaged 1.8 points, 1 rebound and 0.8 assists in 4.3 minutes over those four games, Tabuse was a sensation six years before Jeremy Lin‘s “Linsanity” run with the New York Knicks. He set a record for daily views on an NBA.com player page — doubling Kobe Bryant and LeBron James‘ marks from the previous year — and at one point even had the third-best-selling jersey in the league. In his 12 years with Brex, Tabuse has won two Japanese league championships and one Finals MVP.

Tabuse is also the first Japanese basketball player to receive his own BE@RBRICK, joining luminaries like Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, Scottie Pippen and Larry Bird.

The Medicom Toy Yuta Tabuse BE@RBRICK 400% and 100% set is available now at atmos, and retails for a tax-included ¥14,300 JPY (approximately $130 USD)

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