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50 Years Of Tokyo Marui Part 6: 20 Years Of The AEG & Going Strong

OptimusPrime

2011 marked the 20th year of the AEG, Tokyo Marui teamed up with the popular Japanese airsoft blog Hyperdouraku, Phantom, and Agito Indoor Survival Game field to produce a promotional video of the Tokyo Marui SCAR-L with the new generation Recoil Shock Engine to commemorate this event. To cap this year, they won the Best Airsoft Manufacturer at the 1st Airsoft Players' Choice Awards. It was also in this year that they unveiled the SCAR-H and the Steyr HC AEG version.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui SCAR-H New Generation AEG)

(Photo: Tokyo Marui Steyr HC AEG)

Tokyo Marui announced in 2012 the MP7A1 Gas Blowback SMG and signified a departure by the company in producing mainly gas blowback airsoft pistols. Many have been wondering why the company, which has a very mature and popular gas blowback technology, has not produced any gas blowback rifle. The first M4 gas blowback rifle that became a standard is the Western Arms M4 CQB-R Gas Blowback Rifle that was released in 2008 and its technology was eventually adapted by King Arms, G&P, AGM, and Jing Gong.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui MP7A1 Gas Blowback Compact Machine Gun)

Tokyo Marui explained that they produced GBB MP7A1 before a GBB assault rifle will be made --- they move in phases to develop a blowback engine and to accumulate know-how. A Tokyo Marui development engineer explains further:

“To enlarge a gas blowback engine is not easy. It is different from enlarging an AEG gun. Generating strong kick-back whilst shooting at a long distance you just need to increase the gas consumption. However, to stabilize round cycle, you must decrease gas consumption. It is difficult to decide the balance. Enormous accumulated know-how from gas blow back hand guns are not very useful for big-sized GBB guns such as the MP7A1.

Also, once the kick-back became stronger, there is need to enhance durability of various parts. For gas blowbacks, the feature such as operation and motion are more realistic than AEG guns. In order to achieve realistic motion, various parts are needed. There will be more broken parts with an increase in moving parts; the mechanism becomes complicated and internal space will be compressed. The parts need to be thicker and as it was hard to install parts to disperse the impact in a limited space, we struggled to develop GBB MP7A1.

Making the GBB MP7A1 after GBB handgun, we learned the tendency of encountering trouble when making bigger-sized GBB guns. Thanks to this experience, now we can anticipate the problems in developing and designing, this is an advantage."

The HK416D AEG with Recoil Shock Engine first appeared in the radar of many airsoft players when it was announced during the 52nd All Japan Model Show in October 2012. It can also be fitted with the HK M320A1 Airsoft Grenade Launcher that can also be used as a standalone launcher that was released in the following year. It's easy to load BBs into the Marui 40mm gas grenade shell for the M320A1 which is inexpensive and light weight. It is also safer to use as compared to other makes where the gas is injected in the grip and not the cartridge to avoid misfires.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui HK416D New Generation AEG)

(Photo: Tokyo Marui M320A1 Grenade Launcher)

Tokyo Marui makes products that are easy and safe to handle during airsoft survival games. Especially in cases that even if the safety feature in their product makes it more unrealistic as compared to the real steel design, they will proceed to install that safety feature. An example is the M1911A1 GBB when de-cocking the hammer, it is stopped at just half cock.

Tokyo Marui always thinks about player safety in the product development to dispel perceptions against airsoft. Those who don’t know airsoft might feel airsoft to be scary and dangerous, because an airsoft gun looks like a real gun and one can be shot with it even if it is toy. It is for these people that  Tokyo Marui  has made it an effort to make them understand that airsoft is a safe toy to handle, being the number 1 airsoft maker.

The first in the Tokyo Marui Gas Shotgun Series got unveiled during the 52nd Shizuoka Hobby Show in May 2013 with the M870 Tactical Gas-powered shotgun. This was the first shotgun released in a while ever since their air shotgun series was released.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui M870 Tactical Gas Shotgun)

Also unveiled was the new VSR-10 Pro Hunter G-Spec that comes with the "Gun Sound" and "Real Shock System". It has a shot detection system which generates a gun sound when the rifle is fired which is then heard by the shooter with the earphone provided in the package. The "Real Shock" gives a recoil that is produced by a heavy weight piston when it is fired.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui VSR-10 Pro Hunter G-Spec With Gun Sound)

The Gun Sound effect was also a suggestion of a new playing style in common with new generation AEGs. Currently the gun sound attracts attention the same way as the Nintendo Family Computer and the smart phone. With the gun and sound, this prototype was already made just before they released the M92F GBB model. The prototype was installed with a small speaker on gun and when fired, the sound was transmitted via FM radio frequency. Marui thought it was too early to sell this yet, and thus, this prototype did not see the light until they started developing gun sound products.

Do you know why there is a size difference of the M92F GBB right and left grips? This was made for the purpose of adding a small speaker anytime in it,  so initially they made a slightly different-sized grip.

Later in the year, the HK416D was followed up with a new version in the form of the HK416D DEVGRU Custom, a more SpecOps looking New Generation AEG. This comes with a suppressor and a crane stock as compared to the first HK416D NEG. They also added another "gun sound system" AEG with the Gun Sound M4A1 Carbine.

(Photo: Tokyo Hobby Show Winter 2013)

(Photo: Tokyo Marui HK416D DEVGRU Custom New Generation AEG)

In the same year, the company also introduced a new series during the Victory Show. This is an affordable line-up called the "Light Pro" Series that can be used by players below 18 years of age. These are 1:1 scale AEGs but are powered with 5 Double A batteries. It has a dual-firing system that apart from battery power, the shooter can use the single shot spring power with the charging handle when they run out batteries.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui Light Pro Series)

At the 53rd Shizuoka Hobby Show in May 2014, the company finally announced that they are developing their first M4 Gas Blowback Carbine. They call it the M4A1 MWS  or Modular Weapon System and this is compatible with lots of external parts of the M4 New Generation AEG such as the stock.  They also announced the HK417D First Variant New Generation AEG. The latter got released in December 2014 with the MWS delayed in its release as the engineering team for the product continued work on improving performance and durability. With a ZET System for durability and improved performance, they released the M4A1 MWS GBB in late 2015.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui M4A1 MWS Gas Blowback Rifle)

(Photo: Tokyo Marui HK417 New Generation AEG)

2014 also saw the company holding their first Tokyo Marui Festival that was held in Akihabara, the Otaku centre of the world. This is the "customer appreciation" version of the company and for those who want try airsoft for the first time. All the models in production of the company can be checked out under one roof and showcased why the company is on top of the airsoft world.

In 2015, they gave us surprise again at 54th Shizuoka Hobby Show. They announced the world's first Electric Shotgun called the AA-12 AES. It was said that it was impossible to produce this shotgun for the airsoft market; however, they were able to design one that can make 10 shots per second with 3 barrels making it a 30-round shot cycle. The hop-up installed on each barrel can be adjusted separately which is a surprise too. The motor power-operated drum magazine is produced as an optional accessory.

The development of the AA-12 AES proves that only Marui can produce breakthroughs for new airsoft models.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui AA-12 AES 54th Shizuoka Hobby Show)

 

(Photo: Tokyo Marui AA-12 AES)

As the company celebrates 50 this year, Tokyo Marui continues the tradition of product excellence and innovation. It also reflects the flexibility of the company to adopt to changing times and tastes of their customers. Amongst the companies in Japan that brought us airsoft, Tokyo Marui is the company that  stands tall.

For those who don’t know much about Marui, many of the model guns that are used in TV dramas and movies are made by Marui. In Hollywood movies, Marui guns are used such as in Bio Hazard/Resident Evil. Their guns are so well-made that it’s hard to find the differences from the real gun. Japanese police also purchase Marui guns for training or parades. When they don’t need to use real guns, they use Marui airsoft guns instead.

(Photo: Tokyo Marui 50th Year Annivesary Celebration)

Many of you would wonder how the company determines the next products they are going to produce. Whilst products are discussed between employees, it's really about having their ears on the ground, listening and observing. They will consider the guns that have high exposure in movies and television shows and at the same time listen intently to customer feedback. They do have a knack in selecting winning products and even they deliver even more beyond expectations through their constant innovation.

In the airsoft market, their products have set the standard, and competitors will grudgingly give them that. As one airsofter posted in Reddit's /r/airsoft pretty much sums up the influence of Tokyo Marui, why their products cost more, and why they perform better than most of the competition:

If you use a battery-powered gun (that's not a Systema) today, it will owe the vast majority of its design to TM. The various gearbox versions (v.1-7) were specified by TM. TM's pioneering designs, thanks to relentless copying and cloning, fundamentally underpin virtually every AEG on the market today, a large percentage of the GBB pistols and an even larger percentage of the bolt-action springers thanks to the VSR-10 platform.

TM are also one of the few companies that continue to innovate in airsoft. The M870 Tactical is the first realistically skirmishable gas shotgun platform. The Recoil Shock platform was the first and remains the most successful implementation of 'recoil' in AEGs.

Unlike virtually every other major airsoft manufacturer, TM actually has to design all its products, whereas other manufacturers just have to wait until TM's stuff comes out and then clone it. R&D is expensive and amortizing that over the cost of the guns means they are also more expensive. TM's stuff is also (again, unlike the vast majority of airsoft manufacturers' guns) made in Japan - not Taiwan or China - where labour costs are high but materials quality and quality control are also high. As a result, TM's stuff is usually exceptionally long-lived and performs exceptionally well. [sic]

We're looking forward to what the company will offer in the next 50 years. We're pretty much sure that there's more where their products come from.

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