Furuta The Furuta Confectionery Co . , Ltd . is a candy manufacturer and industrial supply company which is based in Osaka , Japan and was founded in 1952 . The company produced two licensed " Star Trek " candy - toy lines between 2003 and 2006 . F - Toys , another gashapon manufacturer , was founded by Toyohiko Furuta in 2001 , following his retirement from the company . " Star Trek " releases . " Star Trek Federation Ships & Alien Ships Collection " . In 2003 , Furuta produced its first small - scale injection - molded plastic models of " Star Trek " starship s and space station s as Volume One of the " Star Trek Federation Ships & Alien Ships Collection " . Volumes Two and Three followed in 2004 and 2006 , respecively . All of the standard items were sold in " blind boxes " that did not disclose their specific contents on their exteriors , as seen above . The first two volumes included a collectible trading card with each model . Notably , aside from producing many commonly manufactured " Star Trek " starships , Furuta also produced ships that had been rarely touched upon by other licensed companies before . These included a Species 8472 bio - ship and a " Prometheus - " , " Olympic - " , and vessel . The models were pre - painted , well detailed for their size , and were " snap - fit " models that required no glue for assembly . Each item included a display stand . Furuta ' s starships were generally larger than its contemporary competitor Romando which released a " Star Trek " gashapon product line at about the same time . Konami and F - Toys also produced " Star Trek " gashapon series in later years . " Star Trek Pins Collection " . Furuta released the " Star Trek Pins Collection " in 2006 as a gashapon line of enamel pins , featuring twenty unique insignia from the " Star Trek " franchise . Each insignia pin was packed inside of a " blind box " and came with a display stand . Background . Gashapon . Bandai is the company that trademarked the term " gashapon " for the combination of candy with a toy model , together in a single package . The name is derived from the sound of the cranking of the dispensing mechanism ( " gasha " ) added to the noise that the box makes when it falls out of the vending machine ( " pon " ) . The term " gashapon " has become very common in Japan as a generic term for all manufacturers of these " candy - toys " and has also come to be identified with " blind box " trading figures , product lines of small - scale toys , figurines or models that are sold in identical sealed boxes . Commonly , many gashapon boxes must be purchased to complete a toy series , as collectors will inadvertently purchase many duplicate items . Gashapon are now commonplace in Japan and many candy companies include toys with their products as enticers , often packaged in such a way that they can be dispensed from vending machines . In the case of some companies , the candy is included so that their toys can be sold on supermarket shelves as food items . Rarer " secret " or " chase " items are often included in a series to boost sales and are produced in smaller quantities than the regular items in the series . This method of collector - focused marketing has a strong resemblance to trading cards sales methods . Typically , a gashapon line is a single and unrepeated release which can cause the more sought - after releases to become highly valued collector ' s items . Warship Collection 1 . In 2003 , Furuta released the " Warship Collection 1 " gashapon line of contemporary warships which included the and aircraft carriers .