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

Alen accidently [and stupidly – Ed.] wiped out the original thread that this appeared in. But, I thought it might make a good Rumble so here it is…

Often referred to as the most common “Gateway” toy into Japanese Toy collecting, the Bandai Ultra-Kaiju are a lot of things, but respected is not often one of them.

I, however, love the things. They are like crack to me. Easily gotten, cheap, and so much fun to handle. Plus they look colorful and great on any shelf. Especially with many of their fellow brethren on hand.

They also tend to come in 2 varieties…The Funk and The Legends.

This is most evident in my recent twin purchase of King Joe and Tyrant.

King Joe is of course the Legend…

Remembered as the powerful robot adversary from one of the rare 2-part episodes of Ultra 7, this character has captured the hearts of kaiju fans for many years. He first appeared in America by way of Popy and Mattel when he was brought over from Japan as part of Godzilla’s Gang in the 1970’s.

He has been made in Toyform in japan in every style and design imaginable. Of course he was famouse for having 2 versions in the Arklon line of diecast (once again appearing on American shores). He was one of the very few Kaiju to get the Chogokin popy treatment and he will be returning as a modern Soul of Chogokin figure in April.

But, what is his appeal?

I think its the fact that he is a Kaiju designed to look like a giant, toy, robot myself. He looks like a 50’s and 60’s tin wind-up or battery powered robot come to life and grown to giant size.

He was also a combining robot, which was a rarity to be sure in live action televison of the 1960’s. Though he didn’t really split into anything very recognizable, he did split.

The Bandai vinyl is molded in nice metallic gold and painted in silver, black, and has a cool metalic rainbow thing going on in his chest area. :D

He is a nice break from the usual organic Ultrakaiju.

Now here we have Tyrant…The Funkmeister!

One of the evil Yapool’s army of Cyborg Kaiju from Ultraman Ace, Tyrant is molded in green, sprayed in silver, and has the most lethal set of appendages I’ve ever seen on ANY Kaiju. His right hand is an axe, his left hand is a spiked mace. Plus he has horns and spikes everywhere.

Much like Gigan of the Godzilla series, this Kaiju was nothing created by nature. Every part of this cool design gives the impression that this is a conquering war-machine designed to kill and only kill. Add to that the Chrysler symbol that was festooned upon the belly of all the Yapool kaiju and the copious silver paint and Tyrant delivers the FUNK!

Also adding to the FUNK is the villainous Giant Yapool…

A regular thorn in the side of Ultraman Ace through the entire run of his series.

This version of Yapool is acually the most recent one that appeared in the series Ultraman Moebius.

Here is a video tribute to the Evil King Kaiju known as Yapool…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oq4dQcyZv8

This is my absolute favorite kind of the Kaiju, the REAL HEAD TRIPPERS. It was with great satisfaction that I opened him out of the mailer package and my roomate proclaimed…

“What head-tripping Shroom-Head designed that thing?!?”

This is how I guage when I have a real winner. :D

The only complaint I have is that I wanted him to come with his groovie septor like he is carrying around in those clips from Ultraman Ace.

The advantages of Bandai’s Ultra Kaiju are many. Besides the great price, the sheer variety of sculpts and attention to detail is unsurpassed in any other toyline. There are Kaiju designs in this line that have never and probably will NEVER see the light of day in any other form. Also there is something to be said about one of the longest running figure lines in the world.

These are a lot of fun and look great on display, I recomend the whole line.

— Ray

[Talk about it in the BBS…]

You know you have problems right”?

I look quietly at my slender Gaiking only glass toy display case with my peripheral vision, smile, and begin to understand why this phrase is so commonly shared among my exes. But…but, I have not really looked for another GA-51 seriously in almost 2 years.

I thought I had the “habit” under control.

Section 1 go.

I justified the longing for these toys through a personal story relating to how my mom bought me a Nessar from the Children’s Hospital gift shop when I was extremely ill in 1979. The toy was unboxed, and obviously a second-hand item from Mr. Big’s Toyland, which only added to the magic it had over me. I later became a huge fan of Fridays on Channel 56, as many of the Boston locals would well understand. Force Five, was a godsend for us East Coasters.

Eventually, I gathered enough money to buy my first Space Dragon Ga-52 at age 9, years later, during the golden era of Mr. Big’s. Waltham seemed so far away. Sadly, hours later, Little space dragon was crushed under foot, the victim of a grandparent, who while not wearing their glasses, caused its early demise. This solidified my desire to find the toy again one day AND keep it safe.

Section 2 go.

I collected robots off and on for years, throughout middle-school, Junior High, and High school (being lucky enough to see the closing day sales of Mr. Big’s Toyland is still a memory I throw into the mix, to the sighs of envious friends) while going through various stages of interests, and eventually sold off 3 full collections. Until everything changed the day I found the little Gem GA-51 Shogun Warriors 2-in-1 in a small store in Porter square in 1997. The year I graduated college and returned to Boston from Rhode Island.

The year of Day Old Antiques appeared within walking distance of my usual haunts…and an ATM.

Section 3 GO.

Now, a decade or so later, with a marriage, a new job, and a new location on the other side of the planet I’m left thousands of miles away from my familiar air-tight glass shelved microcosm that sits stoic, stored away from dust and light, filled with the little (or rather expansive) obsession of my childhood. Gaiking was, and still remains, the caretaker of my pathetic otaku soul.

While doing research for a new season of design projects, I let my team take the day off to have a day to themselves. Even stuck safely away from the vintage stores in Kowloon, in a souless and stale aired mall at Harbor City, I find myself “researching” among the Japanese pop music section in HMV, looking at the Animex 1200 anime soundtracks, and humming the opening theme song ever so quietly so as to not draw too much attention .

I am sitting here listening to Track Six as I write this, imagining it is Meiko Kaji singing, microphone in one hand, a Bazolar in the other, cradled with the tenderness only a katana wielding 70’s pop idol could.

“You know you have problems right”?

Yes. Yes I know.

— Josh

!@(images/2007/03/daireikai.jpg:L100 thickbox:gal1 “Dear Motherfuckers!”)

Dear Motherfuckers,

“Give me your tired, your poor, your socially marginal…this is the study of Japan through their [sic] toy-leavings.”

-My Own Bad-Ass Self, October 1998

A tall order, to be sure. Not to mention grammatically questionable. Did we succeed? Before I answer that, let me say it’s hard to believe it’s been close to TEN YEARS since we began our clandestine campaign to take over the world’s governments and corporations, establish our own kingdom “upriver” on the Mekong, and generally run this website into the ground. I’m proud to announce that we’ve been one-third successful. A decade ago, I wouldn’t have known an Ark diecast if it bit me on the ass. Now we’re all card-carrying guys who knows too much about Japanese toys. And you know what? That and 350 yen gets us a tall teriyaki latte at Starbucks Japan.

People (well, BBS readers) often ask what ToyboxDX is about. Usually I’m too busy — frolicking naked through my room full of three dozen cardboard boxes stuffed with “deadstock,” C-10 Godaikin T-28s that I could sell for $50 a piece and still make a huge profit, but keep mint and unopened and unsold just to torture my fellow collectors — to reach the keyboard to articulate an answer. But you’re lucky today: I’m in a good mood today. And thanks to having moved into a matchbox-sized Tokyo apartment, most of my collection is in storage in a nitrogen-filled vault three hundred miles beneath the Earth’s crust. (It’s humiliatingly true. My current abode lacks the space to display anything but a desperate handful of woefully undeserving modern diecasts. Some “Minister of Information!”)

Anyway. So people always ask me what ToyboxDX is all about. You ready?

Boredom. Pure and simple. Surprised? Don’t be. Hell, an unsatisfying job with appallingly tedious working conditions is almost a prerequisite for contributing to the site. Just look at yourselves! (And for their troubles, regular contributors get what? An unsatisfying site with appallingly tedious working conditions. So it goes. Hey, at least we get to argue about robots instead of spreadsheets or paychecks or who gets the last donut or whatever the hell the salarymen and women of the cubicle world are arguing about these days.)

What, you don’t believe me? Consider this “factoid,” Spanky: there isn’t a single giant robot pilot among the leadership or readership of the site. Not a one. You know why? I’ll tell you. Those guys aren’t bored! They’re all off galavanting around in their goddamned giant robots! They don’t need to sit here talking about their collections because they’ve got Pilders of their own with which to pick up chicks.

!@(images/2007/03/brau.jpg:L100 thickbox:gal1 “Beeru!”)
For the rest of us, there’s ToyboxDX. I don’t claim to know exactly where we’re headed this time around, exactly, but I do know one thing: ToyboxDX is, at its very core, a not-so- exquisitely designed time-waster. We must use it for its Go(d) Nagai-given reason: to goof off on company time and to while away the hours we should be spending going out and meeting other members of the human race. Think of it as our own personal “Fight Club,” minus the good-looking guys, blood, and any sort of redeeming quality for spending our time here.

I realize I still haven’t answered the question as to if we were successful. Whatever. The offer still stands: even if they’re tired, poor, or (perhaps especially) socially marginal, they’re still welcome.

Love,

The Minister of Information