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March 31, 2011

Make Mine Missile

Filed under: Toy News — matt @ 12:12 am

Glow MechaGodzilla

Japan is just starting to climb back on its feet after the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (as it’s officially being called now). For long weeks toys have been the last thing on anyone’s mind. But as we work to get much-needed supplies to those up north, dodging the occasional rolling blackout, and keeping an eagle eye on the damaged reactors simmering just a few hundred kilometers away, people in Tokyo are getting back to their normal lives.

My normal life involves toys. And I think it’s telling that even in the midst of the chaos that followed the disaster, these toys showed up on my doorstep. Literally 24 hours after a magnitude 9 tremor rocked Japan’s eastern seaboard, when the nation had ground to a virtual standstill, the Japanese post office still managed to deliver the frickin’ mail. It still amazes me.

I didn’t have a spare thought for, or even a chance to so much as open the package, for two weeks. And I’m glad I waited. Because these aren’t just some of the most beautiful toys Japan has ever produced — they virtually demand attention. Normally I am not a big fan of reproductions of vintage toys. It’s not that I don’t understand why people buy them, but rather simply don’t have an interest myself. I prefer knowing that a toy has a certain history to it. What was happening in the world when this first went on sale? How many hands has it passed through to get to mine? How rare that it’s survived the decades in such good shape…

Most reissues, being simple copies of what came before, by their very nature lack this “weight of history.” But Bullmark is the founding father of Japan’s character toy scene, and Saburo Ishizuki — the same gentleman who managed sales for the company back in the Sixties and Seventies — is running its latest incarnation today. His mere presence gives these reissues the weight they wouldn’t have had, coming from anyone else.

These particular replicas of Bullmark’s old 1974 missile firing Mechagodzilla toy were sold exclusively via mail order earlier this year. (how’s that for burying the lede, five paragraphs in.) They’re color variations of the first missile firing Mechagodzilla reissue that was offered as a separate mail-away premium included with the Bullmark History Box Set, released last year. Physically, the design of these latest reissues is the same as the previous one: only the chest missiles actually fire, with the elbow and knee launchers disabled. (Actually, they’re not even there; the missiles simply slot into the holes where they would be.)

The great thing about these latest two re-issues, the thing that sets them apart from the previous one, is that they aren’t slavish duplicates; they add new value to the concept. Like the earlier reissue, the head is molded separately, capable of rotating — something the original 1974 model wasn’t capable of doing. But the real eyeball grabbers are the all-new color patterns, totally unlike anything seen before. One is in “box colors,” painted with metallic green highlights instead of gold to match the toy as it appeared in photos on the old package. The one that really gets me, though, is the second version. Molded entirely in glowing vinyl, it doesn’t look like any missile-firing toy produced in the Seventies or anytime else, for that matter. The thing looks positively radioactive in the dark, which is appropriate both for the character and the strange times Tokyo finds itself in.

The bad news is, you can’t order these anymore. The only way to get them was by placing an order on the Bullmark web site earlier this year. But there is a better than even chance that we’ll be seeing either more, or more variations, soon. Which is good news for anyone who wants to get their hands on a little “new old history.”

March 30, 2011

Do androids dream of electric shelves?

Filed under: Co. POPY,Daily Money Shots,Josh Fraser — Josh Fraser @ 5:37 pm

March 29, 2011

The ultimate Mekanda toy Mekamax pla DX !!!

Filed under: Toy News — Virginio de Angelis @ 2:03 pm


The first time I saw it was in 2007 in Hong Kong ..
I was not shure what it was and my budget was all gone ..
I left it there…
After several months i decided to give the picture of the toy to a frind of mine who translated the Kanjii and
the translation was MEKAMAX .
I left on the shelf of that shop one the rarest mekanda toy i’ve ever seen in my life.
Not expensive .. but rarer than a Mekanda DX ..
It was incredible that after 3 years that toy was still hidden in that little store .. but a friend of mine find it again when he went to HK for a toy hunt .. and I ordered him to buy it at any cost!!
That bad ass was waiting for me and this time i did not let it go.
Here is the Mekanda Max pla DX with all it’s features !

The toy appears amazing and on the box you can see the various features it is able to do .

The front part can be detatched

The spinning colored wheels can be loaded by rotating the small blue wheel

The other missiles can be fired by pulling the trigger here

Guys …It is a friction toy like the Sanzen DX Gakeen .. look !!!!!!!!
There are two wheels that can be used to push the Mekamax on the floor and let it go!

This complete my mekanda collection and i’d like to share to you all!

NEKO vs. VEGAS!!

Filed under: Alen Yen,Co. INCUBOT,Daily Money Shots,Erik Sjoen — erik sjoen @ 11:15 am

March 28, 2011

JUMBO Kotetsushin Jeeg 鋼鉄神ジーグ

Filed under: Co. TAKARA,Daily Money Shots,Erik Sjoen — erik sjoen @ 5:46 pm

Takara – 1975

Shelf appeal

Filed under: Co. ANGEL,Co. BULLMARK,Daily Money Shots,Josh Fraser,Zenmai — Josh Fraser @ 11:46 am

March 27, 2011

Bullmark: MFV Blazer “red version”

Filed under: Co. BULLMARK,Stephan Halder,Toy Love,Toy News — chogoman @ 6:52 pm

Thanks Erik!

I have to start again with this one again: Bullmark: Blazer friction cycle
Mike’s  rusty and heavy yellowed Blazer bike did something in my brain.
I had seen the Blazer & Rockbat Meka Machine and a few sofubis before,
but was more into Super R0bots etc. Coincidence or destiny. Some weeks later
one of these Blazer Bikes showed up on Yahoo…I bought it…later I bought the
Meka Machine…ST sofubi…and a few years later I had a whole glass display full
of Blazers and Rockbats. I still love these guys and I’m really excited when
something “new” pops up. This happens a few week ago on ebay. A MFV Blazer.
The auction foto was pretty shitty, but something caught my attention.
Blazer’s blue legs looked a bit brighter, but what was really fascinating for me:
“He has red missile launchers, holy shit” (Nerd mode activated) “How cool is that!”
I always asked myself why the hell Blazer had yellow missile launchers.

Ok, in the end the color variation of the legs etc is not so exciting, but the red hand attachments
really upgrade this Blazer.

…and now I have mention our glorious chairman Erik again. I know that this one was yours and I have
no words how much I appreciated that you leave this one to me. Thanks bro, you are so cool!

March 26, 2011

Kure kure..

Filed under: Daily Money Shots,Erik Sjoen — erik sjoen @ 11:27 am

KureKureTakora – クレクレタコラ

March 25, 2011

The Tokusatsu Mach Baron Machinder

Filed under: Co. POPY,Trevor Tang — TT28 @ 2:49 am


Photos of my custom Mach Baron Machinder.
(more…)

March 22, 2011

Big, brown, and luscious

Filed under: Sanjeev,Toy Love — Sanjeev @ 6:57 pm

…like me.

Got this guy in a huge cross-planetary trade with a friend of mine. Some twenty inches of Tetsujin decadence. Wearing red pumps. Courtesy of M1. Dig it.

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