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

Nearly 11 inches vintage vinyl !

Zabogaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Gobots gab? Goodness gracious.

I’m a big junkie for Mach Baron like some of my friends here. Come on, who doesn’t love a giant red robot that’s so beautifully designed he turns heads? I think the figures from Bullmark are just wonderful sculpts of art. With that said, I do have a pet peeve about them. So many were poorly painted. Mach looks like he has a bad spray on tan. Come on…where’s the respect?

I looked at my 10.5″ Bullmark sofubi one afternoon and thought, “I wonder if I could repaint him to show off his TRUE colors?” After researching and looking at many photos of Mach Baron, I narrowed down some colors and came up with a game plan. I started by using a thinner to remove as much of the excess blue silver color on his shins as possible and other colors incorrectly sprayed onto him. After that, it was time to mask off his belt, hands, and eyes. Then I applied two coats of bright red spray paint. When it dried, off came the masking tape and then the fine work of painting the white, silver and gold yellow. After about 3 hours invested in this makeover, I surprised myself with the results. He looks 100x better!!

Since it worked so well on the sofubi, I decided to give my MFV Mach Baron a facelift too.

And finally, here is the family portrait.

The Skull Star from the Tiger Mask Series

Josh: Mason, Regan and I decide to get brunch, and then head back and open some packages that arrived earlier in the day from Japan.

You all know the feeling. It is that birthday or holiday come early half giddiness..

Two boxes sit on my bed. One slightly larger than the other. Kanji scrawled and exploding on the surface.

I realize one of them holds a number of items Regan purchased on Yahoo Japan in the past couple months. I sense her excitement . I first open the larger box and find waiting a Banso G5, A vinyl Bullmark reissue of a Ultra 7 Batt op, and a GA 51 first version that I bought on a whim.

Mason looks on with interest at the later, and it occurs to me he only lacks a first version of the GA51 in his Gaiking collection.

Handing the GA51 to Mason, I tell him to complete his set. He happily obliges me and takes the toy.

Regan is chomping at the bit and I hand the knife to her and let the madness ensue…

But I will let her (and the photos) tell you about that.

Regan: The first box I unwrapped was the die-cast Takatoku Umi-Bozu. Oh god, I love this dude. I love his Kewpie-doll arms, his blonde coiffure and his crazed (extendable!) stare. I love his seemingly dubious red…friend….thing and his completely inexplicable marble…projectile….thing. This toy is like the embodiment of my early 20s – I have no idea what’s going on but I know that it’s AWESOME. Next up were the Irutan pieces: the standard-sized Bullmark vinyl, Grip die-cast and plastic necklace of completely unknown origin. All I really want to say about these toys is that I have never seen anyone so thrilled to be a cowboy dolphin. I’m never going to let him watch The Cove. Next was, well, I have no idea what this toy is. Josh maintains that it looks like a Kure Kure Takora reject. I really just love the irony of a wind-up octopus dressed like a sushi chef. Did I mention he has feet? ‘Cause he does. Lastly was the orgy of Rockbat: the Blazer motorcycle vinyl, the 2 Rockbat mini vinyls and, of course, the disco version. These toys are amazing – particularly the sparkly charm of the latter. I can feel you rolling your eyes right now but you know what? I am still a girl and I will make squeaky noises at Rockbat all I want.

Josh: After the girl plays with her prizes I manage to find a few more gems hidden among the others myself. I unwrap a underrated Yonezawa Red baron wind up, a few Gaiking puzzles and a Godzilla v.s Megalon soundtrack 7 inch.

Mason leads us to the kitchen and opens up Gaiking. Putting him together, he flys him around and we all sit back in our chairs drunk with nostalgia and happiness. Watching the moments of relived childhood wash over others is a gift in itself. We as a community need that. It is what keeps the toy boomerang alive and well.

Today was a reminder for me, why this hobby keeps us coming back.

He is waiting.
The back room kept company. It is filled with heat and overhead lights. Tinnitus soundtrack. Ringing cut back by the staccato of the auctioneer outside. Ultraman is in the building.

Your mind is racing. Only a few more. Looking around. They end before you can think clearly. Animalistic response takes over where forethought was the driver not seconds before.

Can you afford it? Probably not. None of us are doing this for sanity. The inner voice is telling you to pull the trigger, press the gas pedal and meet your instant gratification with arms wide open.

The hammer falls, the book sweaty and the page gloss smells so much stronger.

“Sold”

And this was only one of many more to come.

The back room waits, the air conditioning thunders, and the cardboard permeates.

Ultraman is in the building tonight.

OK, another quick one. Spent some time this weekend going through some of my super robot sofubi. Trying to create a “list” of what’s out there. Talk about an exercise in futility….

Wall O’ Sofubi: Just a quick couple shots of one of my wall shelves with carded standard sized Popy, Clover and Takatoku sofubi.

Bag O’ Sofubi: This is one of four big ziploc freezer bags packed full of bagged mini sofubi. These things look like couch pillows..

Also, behold the GREATEST packaging for a mini sofubi ever. If you feel you have found or have one that is better, please share but as far as I’m concerned this Baxinger is the best I’ve ever seen:

AND, last but not least, the GREATEST carded double set of super robot minis ever:

I’m coming to find that creating any sort of definitive list of super robot sofubi might just be impossible, but something is better than nothing I suppose. It boggles my mind how folks that catalog Kaiju have the patience to do so. There truly is NO end… NO END.. Stay tuned.

I’ve had very little time recently to spend on the site, and have been feeling guilty about not sharing content with you guys. I mean WHO ISN’T busy as hell these days? So, I give you this half ass attempt at content ;). I uploaded these pics a month ago in hopes of writing a review, but alas that’s not going to happen anytime soon. So, boys and girls, I present you with the “DX Daily Money Shot”!!

Just a quick rundown. 1982 made in Japan by Clover. Very simple transformation. The robot itself breaks down into two separate vehicles, the Bungle Skipper (top) and Bungle Rover (bottom). As a kid I totally loved this transformation. I wasn’t lucky enough to be rollin’ the Clover as I was more of a Royal Condor type guy.. Did you any of you guys get that??? Har har..

Please visit HERE for more information on Clover and other toys in this great line over in our Datafiles, authored by our very own Lennon/McCartney writing team aka Alt/Duban.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer! Enjoy!

E

December 13th of 1998 was a Sunday. It was the first official Chogokin Summit . It has been almost a dozen or so years since then, and the tradition continues. We are a little older, perhaps a little more grey, but the core essence is the same. Bring together our robo families from near and far for some good food, good company and good toys.

After the BBQ, many of us headed inside for Force Five and an impromptu call from the Chairman.

A night time trip to the local diner, and dim sum the following morning during Chinatown’s Moon Festival made a fitting end to the 48 hours of Chogo madness.

Enjoy the photos. And hopefully those of you who could not make it this year, will be here for the next.