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

I want to show you another Ultraman sofubi set today.
“Ultraman sofubi set” is maybe the wrong description for this set.
More a “Ultraman-esque bootleg hard plastic set”, or just “Ultra Hero Set”.

I’m not sure if this set is worth a Brog…but it’s too late now.
Photo session is finished and if you read this here, it’s online ;-)

Bought this piece around 95′. I’m pretty sure this thing is
made in the early 90ties , because it has “CE” sign on the box.
I got it from a guy who originally bought it in Thailand and
paid only a few bucks for it. The figures looked so weird,
thats why I needed that shit.

Colorful artwork, japanese typo and no sign of the manufacturer.
Smells like a 100% unlicensed bootleg.

“Made in Japan”…hahahha…never!

Aha…good to know.

Epic kaiju artwork! I like the blue beast on the left side…OMG.

I never open this set in all the years.
Ladies and gentlemen, a historic moment!

Enough talking, enjoy the photos of these bizarre looking Ultramen.

Do you have a favorite? I think mine is the Ultraman Leo.

Sorry bothering you with this 90ties trash guys ;-)

No, I don’t collect Ultraman stuff. My only vintage piece is this Popy set.
I also have a few 80ties Bandai Ultraman kaijus. That’s it. I think I’m more
a “Mirrorman guy” ;-)

I “rediscover” this piece last friday and thought it deserves some extra love.

Bought this Popy Ultaman 80 (ウルトラマン80) set more than 20 years ago.
I was a complete newbie at this time and had no clue how many (endless) cool
japanese toys are out there. Finding informations about these toys was pretty
difficult at this time. No ebay, no wikipedia, no TBDX, nothing.

I was into Shogun Warriors, tin robots, Popy Chogokins, Micronauts and many
none japanese toys at this time. I bought most of the stuff on flea markets and from
a toy dealer I knew personally here in germany. This guy was pretty cool. He was
specialized on superhero stuff, but also had cool japanese pieces from time to time.
He was travelling around in italy and got the toys from old toy stores, but also
went to big toy shows in the USA a few times a year. Great times! Buying and
finding toys was a real adventure.

I bought my Mattel Astro Robot Jumbos, lots of Shogun Warriors, tons of Popy
Chogokins etc over the years from him. His name was Peter Bergner, he also
had a store in Cologne. This was the german version of  Kimono my House, only
without the japanese toys ;-)

The guy had a world famous Spiderman collection. He had everything you could imagine,
even a real Spidey costume from one of the 70ties movies.

…ok, back to the Ultraman set.
I remember that Peter bought the sofubi set on a toy show in Florida,
because he thought it could be something for me. I think I paid something
like $50 for it. This was lots of money for me at this time, a poor student.

Enough sentimental nostalgic memories. Here’s the toy…lets go.

It’s a “double blister box” with a pop-up flip side. Pretty cool!

The set comes with 13 figures.

13 figures, 13 faces.

I like the artwork of this box. The sofubis look nice inside the blister
box, but even better when they are in the pop-up “diorama”.
Like a little store display.

The set comes with a little Popy Ultraman 80 catalog

Great set. I’m glad that bought it.
Finally a few foot markings…

My little sunday Mirrorman Brog.

Bought this Bullmark sofubi a few years ago on Y!JP.
Some of you might remember the epic “im_power” auctions.

This Mirrorman is about 24 cm / 9,45″ tall.

I think this guy is a bit rarer than other Mirrorman sofubis,
there are lots of them, because I haven’t seen another specimen
since I bought this one. But who knows…

Sexy feet markings.

Here you could see him with a few brothers.

Nice toy! That’s it. Nothing more to say.

Well. Somebody’s been busy…

From time to time I have to post
a photo of Ark’s masterpiece.

Bullmark/Tobi Kittyfire pencil sharpener sofubi (6,6” / 17cm).

Denjin Zaborger

Ohhhh nooooooo! Not again Mirrorman…

Sorry guys for bothering you with my Mirrorman overkill
in the last few weeks! Feel free to abuse me in the comments.

But I have to post this wonderful pop-up book.

These Banso books are the Mercedes Benz under the pop-up world.
Fantastic artwork, double sided pop-up-action and it even comes in a slipcase.

Ok, lets start with the pop-up show.

Starring: Aian, Maruchi(s), Invera, Dakaron and Kittyfire
Enjoy lots of kaiju battle action!

All’s well that ends well.

Mirrorman kicked many kaiju asses and the world is safe again.

Here’s my saturday DIY BROG.

My DIY story started on a cold dezember day last year.
Just in the second I won that Yonezawa giant size Mirrorman on Yahoo,
I knew that I had a problem. A big problem! Exactly 18″/48,7cm big.

How could I get this Mirrorman into my Detolf glas display?
The figure is 18″ and the maximum height of the display levels
is around 15″…maybe cutting of Mirrorman’s head. Ok, not really
an option!

I’m pretty sure the other bidders on Yahoo hat the same thoughts and
gave up early. Now I had to find a solution for the “problem” ;-)

I started a little resarch in the internet and found a few different
possibilities how to “modify” the good old Detolf. A few modifications
seemed to be too complicated, others didn’t look good, but one idea
was just perfect I thought.

The solution is: U-clamp terminal or wire rope clip

First I measured the diameter of the metal rod that holds the
glass shelfs and ordered 4 wire rope clips (size 4-5mm).

Theoretical these clips could hold the glass shelf alone. You just
lay the glass on the metal bolt/nuts. But this is not really safe and
you could easily destroy the glass. So it’s better to build some kind of
“substructure” for the glass shelf to make everything more solid & safe.

As “substructure” I used s aluminium bar that I had at home.

That’s how it looks at the end. I also put some foam material between
the aluminium bar and the glass shelf. So the glas won’t be scratched.

The “construction” is pretty solid and now you could choose the
postion of the glass shelfs yourself. Yeah! Enough room for Mirrorman.

I think it would look much better when I use aluminium bars that
are a bit more slim & filigree. But it’s ok for now.

Now the tall guys have enough headspace and all in all the
new “glas shelf adjusting system” doesn’t look that bad.

So, all Detolf owners out there, don’t be afraid buying giant sofubis!

Bullmark Gold Satan standard size sofubi
from Mirrorman (ミラーマン)