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Popy does make the coolest toys…

My friend and fellow collector Trevor Tang put together this AMAZING vid of his robot and hero mask collection. Represent!!

Banpresto’s half ass attempt at designer vinyl? Hell, I don’t know… Picked this up at the Shibuya Mandarake in 2008. I’m just going through a bag of odds and ends from my last couple Japan trips and found it. Busted it out of the packaging and was pleasantly surprised (4″ tall). I kind of digg em’ gundam it…… (silence) What? Did that fall flat? Well, good thing I’m on rotation..

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.

THE BULLMARK “BIG” VINYLS OF WARREN SCHWARTZ

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.

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:

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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

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!!

OK.. This piece is up there with the holy grails of missile vinyls. Gowapper Godamu (ゴワッパー５　ゴーダム) RULES! A direct descendent of the Sanzen missile firing Gakeen vinyl, this is probably one of the most beautiful missile vinyls out there.. Suspiciously, it looks very Bullmark to me, but what do I know?

Aesthetically it’s robust and perfectly configured. You be the judge. Yet another short and sweet review of a piece that is far beyond words. Enter GODAMU:

You can see our “Movie” section for more Godamu love here circa 1976:

Planet Robo Danguard Ace (惑星ロボ ダンガードA(エース) Wakusei Robo Dangādo Ēsu)

I’m going through the sea of crap I have in cases and slowly storing stuff in an effort to make space. Thought I would take a quick minute to bust out a few pics of these guys together. At some point I’ll need to take out my chogokin and popynica and take a massive group shot. Enjoy!

Yet another Mad Baron, and this one’s a tribute to Ganbaron the pilot of one of my all time favorite super robots Daibaron (big baron) . I have to say, this Zollmen guy really gets it as far as I’m concerned. Meka Goji head under his dome, Jumbo Machinder XX arm attachment (another fav of mine), Ultraman building?, missile firing pins sculpted into the arms, homage to Mach / Red Baron and last but not least the quintessential metallic silver katakana waist belt with BOLD lettering. Love it ALL. Took me a bit to warm up to this guys work, but I have to say we have very similar taste. See gallery for more pics.

Ganbaron (小さなスーパーマン ガンバロン ChÄ«sana SÅ«pāman Ganbaron?) was a 1977 Japanese tokusatsu live action television show featuring Japan’s own version of American superhero Superman.