The Wonderful World of Gashapon

You won't believe what people hang from their phones. Upon my last visit to Montreal I brought most of my friends the phone accessories pictured on the left. They're bizarre, noticeable, and some of them borderline wrong, and a good example of things commonly disregarded as run-of-the-mill only in Japan. I wonder how many of my friends hang theirs from their phone.
 Vending machine toys like these are kind of gratuitous bait for people with collection fetishes. Want to see what other varieties exist?

Well that's too bad, because I can't fucking show them all to you.
 Welcome to the world of gashapon. Whereas in America vending machine toys are real pieces of crap, in Japan they're quite a bit more charming, and higher in quality.

Really? Mushrooms?

That doesn't make them any less bizarre, but I guess that also adds to their charm. On top of the one's not pictured here, there are also different varieties such as a sea slugs collection, an embarrassed salary-man collection, as well as most popular anime characters.
 They're a bit of a trend here, as most of them, like the ones I brought home, can be attached to phones, making for a cheap accessory (gashapon toys price anywhere between 100¥ to 600¥.) For instance, Ken has a frog one, and Kazue has a plush triceratops. I had an astronaut at one point in time.
  Oh hey, if you're one of my Canadian readers, why don't you leave a comment saying which you like, and I might get you it.