ToyboxDX Brog: Japanese Toy Blog » 2010 » March
Brog is Japanese Toy Blog

toyboxdx toy blog brog: is graceful art of daily expressing japanese toy  

March 16, 2010

Gekko Love

Filed under: - The Morphy Auction,Co. BULLMARK,Declarations,Josh Fraser,Toy Love — Josh Fraser @ 12:36 pm

gekko-love

I have a problem. I know it all too well. Luckily I have a supportive network made up of like minded souls, who know how to serve as a catalyst to my foolish brain.

I parted ways with a Gekko Kaman a little over a year ago. I regretted it, even though the condition of the toy and the box especially was not to my usual standard. Purchased at the 2006 Morphey auction, for what I thought at the time was a good deal, I sold it for the same price to finance a purchase, and to remove what was basically the only vintage batt op in my exclusively “walker” collection. Somehow it did not fit into the plan of holding out for the best conditioned toys and boxes I could locate.

When the “bug” gets you, it gets you, and there is not a lot you can do about it. There was a constant knawing feeling at the back of my mind anytime I looked at older photos of my toy case and saw The Gekko happily standing there next to his Osaka reissue brothers. I knew I had to bit the bullet and replace him.

This week I did just that to the detriment of my wallet once again. But it is a stress I don’t believe I will ever regret. The toy is mint and the box, although not “perfect” is good enough for me to not lose sleep over. It is an instance where love of the toy trumps whatever unresolved issues I have for sub par packaging.

Gekko will be home again … for good. ;-)

diagram-gekko

March 14, 2010

A rainy Sunday afternoon

Filed under: Declarations,Josh Fraser,Toy Love,Warren Schwartz — Josh Fraser @ 6:56 pm

Just a few more photos I took when dropping off a talker to Warren today.

It was raining heavily, and has been for the past couple days.

Walking into the toy room, warmed me quickly.

I find A MIMB Takemi Pegas that I sold in the mid 90’s to Day Old Antiques. It is fitting and somehow serendipitous that it resides now in my friend’s cardboard church . I pay my respects and move onto other treasures.

Not expecting to do a photo shoot, I was only was armed with my iphone. Although the quality of photos are low, the toys were certainly not.

As you can see.

Macrobrog: Ark Kong

Filed under: Co. ARK,Co. BULLMARK,Stephan Halder,Stoopid,Toy Love — chogoman @ 1:35 pm

Sunday Macrobrog. Ark Kong

March 12, 2010

Machine Robo Side Lancer

Filed under: Co. BANDAI,Daily Money Shots,Toy Love — thomas @ 2:53 pm

sl1

Some images of the most sought-after Double Machine Robo.
(more…)

March 11, 2010

Incubot Neko Z Pt II

Filed under: Co. INCUBOT,Co. POPY,Erik Sjoen — erik sjoen @ 5:44 pm

img_1548

img_1552

I threw up a quick post quickly last month here about the bad ass Nekosaur Z that Gatchabert did up for me but felt the need to take a group shot. Man, this thing really delivers. I love the old school overspray. Check out the similarities with the Popy mini sofubi Great Mazinger. Big ups to the MAN, Sifu Alen Yen for bringing this bad ass figure into existence and some real big ups to Bert Gatchalian aka Gatachabert for the SICK interpretation ala Go Nagai. His work never ceases to amaze.

Purchase your very own Nekosaur sofubi HERE.

You can also follow the work of Bert Gatchalian HERE.

March 10, 2010

Bullmark: Blazer Zenmai

Filed under: Co. BULLMARK,Stephan Halder,Toy Love,Toy News — chogoman @ 5:33 pm

Being far away of having a focus in collecting japanese toys, my only “kind of focus”
is Rockbat & Blazer. Not a focus, more a obsession I would say.
I even bought some Bullmark Rockbat eraser-figures some weeks ago…please don’t tell my parents ;-)
There are lots of Rockbat toys I don’t have, but this is no problem. I’m always very excited when
I find something “new” on Yahoo, or see things like Uncle Warren’s Bullmark Rockbat Playset. Great!

The Bullmark Blazer Zenmai isn’t such a mysterious super scarce toy,  like the Single MFV Blazer
or the Playset. But he doesn’t pop up too often. I bought MY Blazer in 2 steps.

Step 1 was the Box.
Last year I bought the emty box. Some of you may remember the auctions of this seller on Yahoo around December.
Popy Jumbo machinder villain boxes, Bullmark Zenmai boxes, etc

Step 2 Blazer himself. Luckily a few weeks later a loose Blazer pops up. Perfect timing (karma?)
Super blurry auction fotos, very high starting price…perfect auction, argh.
Whats-a-reasonable-price-question-PM to Mr.Fraser…instant answer (thanks again Josh).
I was the only bidder and won him. Baaaang, fast job ;-)

I was a bit nervous about how the Blazer will look like. Because of the very bad auction fotos,
it was very difficult to judge how the condition will be. The seller didn’t answer my questions.
But no risk no fun … also I had a “good feeling”.

I had luck. Under a coat of dirt was a real nice Blazer. Sometimes dirt
could preserve the condition of a toy…like a bog body ;-)

Great little toy. I also love the box-art.
A very nice addition to my Blazer family and I believe not the last tin walker I would like to have.
I feel the Zenmai love!

More fotos in the BBS.
If you want to see the Bullmark Rockbat eraser-figures, tell me ;-)

Daiku Maryu v.s Sea Monster

Filed under: Daily Money Shots,Declarations,Josh Fraser,Stoopid — Josh Fraser @ 2:16 pm

Sea Monster vs Daiku Maryu

The new reference for scale in future auctions will be 10 lb lobsters.

March 8, 2010

Two Amigos: Bullmark’s “BIG” vinyls

Filed under: Co. BULLMARK,Erik Sjoen,Warren Schwartz — erik sjoen @ 3:16 pm

THE BULLMARK “BIG” VINYLS OF WARREN SCHWARTZ

photo

It’s been an incredible year or so in the land of vintage Japanese toy collecting.. It seems new discoveries and purchases are happening every week as opposed to only several per year in our little circle. Wether it’s the economy or just dumb luck, we have seen some very rare pieces come up for sale over the course of the last two years. From vinyl to diecast, and from jumbos to tin, just about everything once totally coveted is popping up on the regular for all to have a crack at.

Uncle Warren Schwartz, aka as the Jock Ewing (of Dallas fame) of our little clan, has been lucky enough to score several of these rarities as of late, and he is no way hesitant to share the love with us here at TBDX.com. So, here’s a quick blurp and some really great pics of two of the greatest vivntage Bullmark vinyls ever created! Enter.. BULLMARK’s BIG vinyls.

Per Warren (with a little backstory about his vs. mine):

“The BIG Blazer landed on my house a few years ago. I thought this was probably unique which is to say, no “series”. I became aware of a large Zaboga which has been listed on eBay by a guy from Hawaii off and on for a long time. Then you scored the Big Zaboga (under the radar) a couple of months ago. Since then I’d been searching for why the belt had “buttons” on either side at the waist, but the guy from Hawaii said he knew nothing of any missing parts to the one he had on auction. Both this one and yours was listed on eBay, but I’d never seen one on Yahool. This one appeared in November 2009, with a box, holsters, and missile firing mechanisms attached to the waist.

It turns out that it was another “BIG” in the “series”, if there is a series. No missiles though.

When it arrived, the mechanism turned out to be the same one for the Blazer (duh) in a different vinyl housing. Since the Blazer had the missiles I tried them out in the Zaboga, and of course they fit like a glass slipper, ref Cinderella. The missiles were big-sized like the vinyls, and I’ll send you a picture of the standard rubber-tipped Bullmark yellow missiles for comparison, but more interesting is that the missiles have an internal spring for firing instead of the spring being attached to the firing trigger. This is cool.

box1

So for the record here are the TWO AMIGOS side by side. For some reason the Blazers are not exactly abundant, but you can find them. And I have no idea why the Zabogas are hard to find, why they are usually missing the holsters, guns and missiles, and why we haven’t run into any other boxes except for this one with water damage. Mysteries are good, and usually someone knows the answers.”

Well, there you have it. WAIT….. Hold the presses. We think there might be a Mach Baron. You heard me… If so, we’re no doubt looking at another $5K toy. Below is the picutre featured on the Blazer box:

big-mb<

A quick side note, I know Bullmark made "Big" kaiju aka Kanegons, Baltan, Pegassa and Garamon. I don't think these were sold under the same moniker but I'm not 100% on that. Feel free to hit me up with info. Thanks! ES esjoen@toyboxdx.com

The power of the Schwartz II

Filed under: Declarations,Josh Fraser,Regan Miller,Toy Love,Warren Schwartz — Josh Fraser @ 12:01 am

Impressions of the master caretaker via the heated brains of Josh and Regan:

Josh: It has become a pilgrimage. A place you think about when you leave, and A place you look forward to visiting again, because you NEVER get to see all that it has to offer.

Warren Schwartz is the personification of the Karmic toy boomerang. The robot toy original who with a genuine smile, finds himself to be the caretaker of one of the most comprehensive collections in North America. It has been so since 1986, where Warren went on his first trip to the motherland and began what would become a collection only the most obsessed of us could fathom, let alone attempt.

Eight years ago Alen Yen and Matt Alt took the trip and expressed their views on the power of the Schwartz. They had to create a viewer advisory label for their Rumble due to the player hating of those early days. Luckily as time progressed, so hopefully did the level of courtesy among the community, and so this sequel is uncut and uncensored for your pleasure. Hell the coverage is even coed this time around.

Regan (pronounced like the former president or the space gun) and I drive over to Warren’s to meet for lunch. Although she has met him at Dim sum, It is her first time seeing his collection. She seems excited, and I can tell, not just because she is doing her Tyrannosaurus imitation ( a bottle of wine later and you will witness it too) … I also remember the first time I went up those stairs to the attic filled with the familiar smell of old cardboard and styrofoam awaiting.

Regan: I don’t have a Tyrannosaurus impression. I just have very short arms…jerk. I was, however, very excited to get to know Warren and see the infamous collection. It’s immediately obvious that the adoration and reverence paid to both is well fitting.

Josh: We are greeted with the tell tale boxes and bags filled to the brim with diecast tin and vinyl. The sun is out, and the room is filled with an almost cliche like movie light . The dust in the room is dancing on the rays and I get one of those fuzzy feelings you get when your a kid on the first day of summer vacation.

Regan: At this point I believe Josh was getting a little misty-eyed and I began to feel the sanctity of the place myself. Boxes line both sides of the room, the contents of each meticulously cataloged and labeled. Kaiju and robots are peeking out from every shelf. There’s a jumbo Bandai Godzilla and Bullmark Battenger next to a vase with a hand-painted pastoral scene. It’s organized chaos and it’s beautiful. Even the enthusiastic poodle waits respectfully for us in the hallway

Josh: “Uncle”, with a playful smirk, starts taking out missile firing things and talker things and combining things and walking things. The aging paper fills our waiting noses, and like anyone who has opened a jumbo machinder after years in storage… it is the smell of memories and fall leaves. Warren’s attic is the real life representation of the wardrobe out of C.S Lewis’s own crazed imagination. Except in this story, there is a robot instead of a faun to greet us.
Like a surreal toy alchemist, he graciously takes out an array of rarities including some major vinyl grails of various sorts. Not least of which was the his complete boxed Astro Mu collection, a remarkable Groizer X talker, a wonderful Rockbat sofubi boxset ( although the box was a c-1 and looked as if it would infect the handler with anthrax ), as well as a complete mint in box “BIG” Zaboga Missile firing vinyl, ( which by looking at the box we realized there may in fact be a Mach Baron version as well ) a lust inducing 18 to 20 inch Red baron vinyl ( of which there are only two recorded) and the very coveted Red baron Missile firing vinyl, with a never before seen box. The last item we both held with great care, as the box by itself was worth more than a mimb GA50.

Regan: In one of the more surreal moments of my life, which seem to have come in greater frequency since spending time with Mr. Fraser, I am tasked with outfitting an Astro Mu 5 figure . In my entire fashion career, he was the most difficult creature I have ever had to dress, second only to an angry Siamese I stuffed into a Frankenstein costume.

Oh god, the Missile Firing Red Baron…I don’t think I breathed while we had it out of the box. I had flashbacks to being an altar girl in a Catholic church when I was a kid – just a blur of ‘don’tdropitdon’tdropitdon’tdropit.’

Josh: A sobering thought for sure. But regardless or rarity, cost or any other factor that would make the average collector hesitate to let a friend, let alone a relative stranger handle and play with these gems. Uncle has his priorities straight, and the friendship outweighs the funk any day of the week.

Regan is grinning, as she and a Diapolon store display make friends, while Warren like a good-natured curator looks for another grail to offer.

Regan: It’s true. If I were 12, I would give Diapolon half of a necklace that said ‘Friends 4-ever’.

Josh: Today has been one to remember, and neither one of us will forget. Thanks, as always Sifu.

Regan: Though I am slightly less schmoopy than my associate, I must agree completely. It is an honor to know Warren and witness the labor of love that is his collection. It was a good day.

March 6, 2010

GO BIG!! Popy Kamen Rider Super 1 “BIG” vinyl

Filed under: Co. POPY,Erik Sjoen — erik sjoen @ 9:41 pm

img_1695

Standing at a foot tall and sporting a scarf, this is probably my favorite in Popy’s “BIG” line of vinyls circa 1981. Of the four Popy “BIG” vinyls, that I know of at least, I own only three. KR Super 1, Tetsujin 28 and Tigermask, Golion being the odd man out due to it’s supremely bad ass ability to combine.. Either way, neither of other two I own step to Kamen Rider SUPAHHH 1. Nothing spectacular aside from the removable vinyl fists and window box (common among all “BIG” vinyls), similar to his chogokin counterpart.

Not really that exciting of a toy. Honestly I just wanted an excuse to see how many times I could write “BIG” in quotations. Whoo hoo!!

« Previous PageNext Page » Site Map
footer