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

TV Magazine December 1975

Poster goodness:

..fucking rule! Garbin and Godsigma compliments of AY. LOVE. RAWK!

Ever feel the need to get organized? Of course you do. Well, I spent the last week or so, a few trivial minutes at a time, organizing my poison. It’s like playing Jenga. Like playing Jenga after drinking absinthe.

One piece at a time. Slowly but surely assembling them into their catacomb like legos.. It kills me to see them slumbering in their boxes, carefully wrapped in cellophane and then shoved away into a case where their aesthetic brilliance lies dormant.. Worthless? HELL NO!!

Box art, to me is an equal part of the DNA. I will let you, the reader be the judge. Tell me this Great Wall Of Popy doesn’t look absolutely gorgeous?!? Either way.. If due to the confines of space, these awesome toys get stacked and shelved, then I say this is the next best thing to actually displaying them.. Right?? Right..

I admit, I’m just trying to convince myself. So? What do you think? Tell me all about it here:

Discuss on BBS

 

Finally!

I have waited 31 years to own this toy.

Mine is missing it’s “MECHGODZILLA” waist sticker and the little yellow sticker for the chest. I’ll have to fix that up.

Love this toy!

The holidays are over and autumn has come. Autumn means: mostly shitty weather in germany.
Time for a new BROG, now 590 pixels wide. Thanks to the new TBDX site design. Great job guys!

Forgive me that I make a monster brog about this banal chogokin.
No Bullmark Robo Kress, no Takemi Pegas…just a “cheap” Popy GA-45 Kagestar.
Kagestar still underrated. But that’s ok for me, not every cool vintage toy has to cost >1K$.
Lets start with the show.

The Popy Kagestar chogokin (aka Za Kage Sutaa or The Shadow Star)
based on the 1976 NET/Toei TV show. Togeter with his female sidekick Belle Star
he kicks massive ass in the TV show.

Here you could see him fresh out-of-the-box. Kagestar comes with a plastic stand,
a mini catalog, plastic gun, projectiles, etc

Now I show you Kagestar’s special action feature.
You could put 2 batteries into the plastic stand and connect Kagestar
via a “power socket” on his back with the stand. Great feature!
Zakuramans blinking action is nothing ;-)

Kagestar has a cover on his chest you could open. When he’s connected to the stand
he starts to blink and you could see Belle Star on his chest monitor.

Every cool superhero has a motorbike.
Certainly Kagestar has one too, PA-65 Kage Roller.

Thats it guys, hope you like it.

cheers

More stuff in the BBS section and foot markings for Matt.

http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?4,203620

Sometimes I do things backwards and make weird decisions.

For most people, a 1st version Shogun Warrior Dragun is one of the first jumbos they buy. I mean, it’s the same as the Popy version at a fraction of the price and not hard to find. So why get the ugly one with the stupid lightning bolts on the legs?

Well, in my case, I happened upon a good deal for an original Popy Dragun and being me, I decided on the spot that when I eventually bought a Shogun Dragun, I wanted the lightning legs one. Sure, it’s stupid and ugly, but I thought it better to get the one the was the most unlike the Popy version, for the sake of variety.

Well, it took a surprisingly long time, but just today I finally got one in the mail. And now I have all 4 of the major known Dragun jumbos.

You are looking at them in chronological order. From left to right, Popy, Mattel, Nacoral and Famosa.

OK, so now let’s play “spot the differences”. Using my own specimens and what has long been on the Wildtoys Shogun Warriors page, here’s a rundown of the makeup of each toy, using the Popy toy as a “base”.

Popy

• Original design
• Includes 3 axes (light blue, yellow, white)

Mattel (1st version)

• Just like Popy (except…)
• Added Star shooter
• Star Shooter has strap

Mattel (2nd version)

• Just like Mattel 1st version (except…)
• Star Shooter has clip
• Axes have spikes removed

Mattel (3rd version)

• Just like Mattel 2nd version (except…)
• Saw Blades removed

Mattel (4th version)

• Just like Mattel 3rd version (except…)
• Lightning bolt stickers on legs
• Great Mazinger upper arms*
• Modified Great Mazinger feet*
• Blue axe darker in color, yellow lighter*

*These are things I just noticed today and haven’t seen documented elsewhere. So this change might have happened earlier. Notice that my Mattel is actually taller than the Popy!

Nacoral

• Just like Mattel 4th version
• Black arms and cape
• Includes only 1 axe (yellow) and 6 stars (3 green, 3 yellow)
• Stripe stickers on legs
• New waist sticker
• Pelvis stickers removed
• Hard plastic head
• Black wheels instead of red

Famosa

• Just like Nacoral
• Waist sticker inverted
• Great Mazinger lower legs

And naturally, they all have different boxes. So I’m unclear on that. Since I only own one Shogun Dragun, I am relying on John’s site for that information. And while his site says the Shoguns came with either 6 or 10 stars, the one I got today actually had 12 (4 each of blue, red and yellow). So I’m not sure what the deal is there.

And finally, on every single Dragun I have, the wheels attach differently. I don’t even know where to begin on that. And I’m sure I’m still forgetting things. But I’m sick of typing. Being an obsessive nerd is draining. Don’t try this at home!

So what do you do?? You need that Jumbo fix and NOTHING is coming up. Week after week, month after month, the same freakin’ two pages on Yahoo Japan auctions everyday sporting overpriced pedestrian Jumbo Machinders.. They just don’t move do they? Well, these days, between the lunatic sellers and the abominable $>Y exchange rate, I for one certainly don’t have a $1K+ to throw around anymore. Sound familiar?

So… What DO you do? Make the best of what else is available. Take the beat down, weather damaged, chew toys and do some Dr. Frankenstein. Resurrect them I say!

Thankfully, Dr. Frankenstein lives a mere ten city blocks from my front door. So, with a fistless, lifeless Jumbo Red Baron in tow, I went to see the man himself, Robin Kwok, the visionary proprietor of one of San Francisco’s last great Japanese toy/hobby shops Heroes Club.

I walk in with a bubble wrapped sarcophagus and set it ever so gently on the counter. Robin looks at me suspiciously.. We sit silent for a few long minutes while Robin curiously inspects the vintage relic with the type of intensity only a mad scientist could muster. Suddenly, breaking the deafening silence, he declares “No problem!” and it’s on! Within seconds the belt is off, the buckle removed, and a laundry list of supplies and tasks to be accomplished begin to manifest. I totally feel alive. This, I figure, is FUN!!

Robin has done several incredible projects for me in the past, but my faith was completely renewed when upon stopping by the shop a few weeks before he showed me the incredible work he did restoring a polyethylene jumbo sized Kikaida with side machine. One of the rarest vintage Japanese toys out there by the way. His work was absolutely amazing! He really, brought it back from the dead. And now, my very own Red Baron was in his very capable hands to experiment with. Now it was time to hurry up and wait..

Within a matter of a few short days the call was made and I was en route, gushing with excitement that the work was so quickly completed. Dr. Kwok had taken this landfill cast away and turned it into a beautiful looking piece of art. And I thought his work on the Kikaider was something.. A true resurrection. The pictures really speak for themselves:

In the spirit of Mike’s recent “Rokuron Q Mike” post, I would like to say that this was also a very exciting experience and it’s made me really long for the next one.. I know that there are those out there that don’t think vintage toy restoration will lead to anything but the evil that evil people do, and they are entitled to their opinions about it. I’m as concerned as anyone about people getting suckered on rare pieces that have been restored. Hey, it could be me right? But, I am also looking for a way to acquire and enjoy the pieces that are either out of my price range or just plain out of stock..

For my buck though, I look forward to partnering with Robin on many other projects like this one. As a matter of fact, in the coming months keep your eyes peeled for a new section devoted specifically to projects like this one. You guys ain’t seen nothing yet, as they say in the BTO song.

As the amount of pictures for this project were just overwhelming, Robin took the liberty of uploading a Youtube video documenting the entire process from start to finish. Enjoy!!

If you’re in or around San Francisco, please come by and support Heroes and our other local toy shops. They are few and far between these days. Thanks! E

HeroesClub / The Art Of Toys
840 Clement Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
USA

Store Hours:
10:00am to 6:00pm Pacific Standard Time (Mon to Sat)
10:00am to 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time (Sun)
Closed on Tuesday!!

Telephone 1(415)387-4552

Hello Guys, it’s time for my first “BROG”, so bear with me.

As some of you may or may not know, I’ve done quite a bit of Machinder restoration. I’ve also been playing with molding and all that for quite some time now as well. Since then I’ve always had in mind that I need to do some replica and push this a bit further.

2 Years ago I heard about a new technique for creating industrial prototypes (Stereolythography), and that this technique was usable for doing characters affordably. The technique consists of UV lazers tracing hundreds of layers in a liquid epoxy resin and the liquid solidifies where the lazers are tracing. Everything is computer generated and it uses 3d files. I know I don’t have Tom’s skills for sculping but I’m really familiar with 3d modeling and it seemed like something really
interesting to try one day.

Out of all the Jumbo Machinder Vilains, there are three that I’m just a big fan. Doublas M2, Garada K7 and Rokuron Q9. I was lucky enough to be able to grab the first one from a YJ auction. The second one I had to fight a bit to get. The Garada is one of Tom’s replicas and I’m realist when it comes to the fact that I’ll probably never own a real one, which is the case also for the Q9. You all know that this one is rare but it’s also very damn expensive. I had the opportunity to hold a real one in my hands not so long ago and from that point on I decided that I needed to make a replica myself.

The first step was the 3D model. With the help of an amazing 3d modeler, I was able to have a 3D file looking really good. I cleaned it up and adjusted it to match the real thing as much as possible.

I then searched to find a good company to build it in Stereolythography. Budgets where really high, like almost twice my budget. Then I came accross a Belgium Company called Materialise who turned out to be the European leader in this field. I received very good feedback from them, and they where ready to drop the price a lot to help me with building this project. They were really amazing and helpful.

The second step was the casting of the replica. The result and material where perfect.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go for the full finish look (cash is not falling from the sky at the moment..), so I had to do all the cleaning of the pieces and sanding to make everything smooth and perfect looking.

I received all the casted pieces a week before I was going on holiday, so I took them all with me to spend my holidays next to the swimming pool,under an umbrella, with my sand paper, cleaning a part each day. All the little rivets needed to be done after as it would have made the 3D file very heavy and it was easier to do them
after. Thanks to Dave, Tom and a lot of pictures from theirs, that became easy to do.
So, after a week under the sun, everything was clean and all the rivets where done.

Now, the third step was the painting. This step was really difficult as it’s almost impossible to know what’s the right color of each part based on pictures. I’ve collected a lot of pictures of several different specimens, and they all look different, depending on your camera setting and lights conditions, sometimes the heads look blue/green, sometimes
blue. So after collecting more pictures and with the help of Dave who took some extra pics for me, I had a better idea what color it should be. I decided to do it with spray paint, but here also, it’s impossible to know exactly what color will come out of the spray, internet references are not the same color as what’s on the spray itself and the color that comes out is always different. So , I did some quick tests and it turned out that most of them where ok. Ready for painting! This toke me more time than I was expecting. But finally with a lot of patience, masking tape, and good weather conditions, the paint job was finish.

One piece was missing and I decided that I will build it by hand, the connection between the two necks. So after assembling all the pieces together, I built this little piece like the little cherry you put on top of the cake.

At the end I’m really happy with the result and the experience was fascinating. It really gave me tons of ideas for the future. The company who did the casting have other techniques to duplicate a model after with a run like 25 pieces. I’ve ask for a quote to do like 25 Rokuron and it seems that it will cost something like 850 Euros for an
unpainted specimen and if I do 25 of them, less is of course more expensive and you have to add the time and material for the painting and assembly.

There’s also the copyright issue. For one single piece for personnal use, there’s no problem, but if I start selling copies I guess there could be an issue.. So I was thinking that maybe I can design my own Machinder and Vilains in the pure style of the old guys we all love. I can maybe get the price to drop down because the design will be more simple . But, it
will turn around 850 Euros for a finished specimen of a personnal desing. What to you guys think of this? Are you going to be interested in sometthing like this? At that price??

Alas, here is the Rokuron Q9 with my other Jumbo Machinders.

Here’s a credit list of all the people who helped me in creating this replica. I want to thank them a lot:

Nekrodave, Tom Franck and Erik Sjoen for their help and pictures.
Kazunori Saito for letting me play with his Q9.
Vincent Boutry for the 3D modeling.
Materialze for the sculpt.
Erik Sjoen for helping me put this Brog together.
And my girlfriend for her patience and understanding.

And thanks to all of you for your motivation even if I don’t get the time to contribute that often.

Cheers from Belgium!

Mike

PS: Wow that was long.. Sounds like I’ve won the NY Marathon or something like that hahahahaha…..yeah but I’m so happy that it’s finally finished.

Sometimes the sequel is a disappointment. In this particular case it is not.

For those of you who know me. You know I sort of like Ga51’s. If there is a minty fresh one anywhere for sale, bets are I know about it. It is like some sickness I still haven’t figured out yet, but at this late stage of the game, I am not sure it makes any difference why anyway.

But through the years I have had one particular version of this toy craftily elude me better than the rest. It is one not one many even register on the radar. Not as groundbreaking as the first version ( small shoulder, dark blue legs) , or as coveted or shockingly beautiful as the third version yellow belly. Nor as iconic as the final two versions that we know as the standard Popy and Shogun Warrior Gaiking.

Go leaf through your copy of Green Arrow Grafitti and you get the gist of it.

http://www.toyboxdx.com/infolibrary/pubs/garrow13/index.php

Version two is in fact the hardest of the five* variations to locate for some reason. (Technically there are more, but this is based on smaller differences of construction and manufacture changes, not official versions per se.)
I have only seen two boxed in the past. One at Mandarake in 2003 in a beater box with some play wear for more than I wanted to pay and another in the very pages of our own data files, where the seed of my quest was planted. Thanks To Alt and Duban I became obsessed with locating this plain jane but uncommon variant. Even sending out pathetic pleas to dealers and collectors alike to see a MIB one could be had for the right price.

It became over time, a long standing joke in my head. Much like the Ultraman Leo zenmai, I resigned myself to the notion that this was something I might never conquer.

I even assist Mason in finding a loose one online and once I see it at his house realize my desire to find one is growing exponentially.

Then a month and a half ago I see that one shows up on Yahoo Japan. I contact the seller and ask if the belt sticker is intact and if there are any broken parts. The inner red plastic insert is notoriously fragile on the earlier versions and I speculate it is broken. My concerns are validated by a surprised seller who informs me he is going to take the auction down and re list it with the revised description, making note of the inner broken part. Obviously I figure it is not the end of the world and assume I will possibly win it for a lower price and simply switch out the part with another Ga51 later.

The seller never re lists it.

Again I am at the mercy of my running joke.

Fortunately for me another one serendipitously pops up from another seller a week later, and is apparently in a much better box and appears to be minty fresh. I sweat it out for 7 days and then complete the circle with a win early in the morning. I am happy my alarm went off in time.

Waiting for it, I assume it will get lost in the mail, or someone will steal it off my porch before I get home for work. Neither happens and I come home to the tell tale Tokyobuyers package.

Now I sit here and write about it in the past tense. I am strangely both relieved and saddened. Happy to find it, but now left with the feeling one gets after locating that elusive piece. Conquests are double edged swords, and there is much to be said about the journey being more fun than the destination.

Regardless here she is in all her glory.

So what makes this one different? Well there is not a whole hell of a lot, but then again the devil is in the details.

First off, this is the first one to have the white painted grill. The first version tended to be silver. Only the yellow belly shares this variation with this version.

Secondly it is the first one to use the same pale blue in the legs as in the shoulders. As noted before the first version has the dark blue coloration.

Really nothing to write home about, but in my world, it is a beautiful transitional piece between the major jump between the first and third version. A shy and quiet mutant who has savagely haunted my completist mind for a better part of a decade.

One I am really happy to finally call my own.