ToyboxDX Brog: Japanese Toy Blog
Brog is Japanese Toy Blog

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February 18, 2011

Old Kit, New Techniques

Filed under: Co. BANDAI,Declarations — Prometheum5 @ 11:32 pm

Let’s start with the most important fact: I LOVE Patlabor. Anyone who knows me knows that I love military mecha that get dirty and shot up and battle damaged and dirty (again). What may come as a surprise is that, among all the real robot series, Patlabor might just be my favorite. The mecha are all much cleaner and better maintained than in something like VOTOMS, but every aspect of Patlabor just speaks to me, from the characters and the writing to the underlying concept of slick police robots beating up other, bad robots.

As with all good robot shows, Bandai has made many, many toys and model kits over the years. What I did not realize until recently was that, alongside the venerable 1/60 scale plamo kits from the 90’s, Bandai made three soft vinyl kits of machines that had limited screen time. As it turns out, these kits are awesome. They fall together, and the result is a posable vinyl figure not unlike the axillary labor sofubis that CMs Corps released alongside their Brave Gokin line. As such, these figures make an excellent addition to the CMs Patlabor lineup.

I have been on something of a vinyl kick for not quite two years now, started in fact by the CMs labor vinyls, then branching out into modern, designer, and vintage kaiju and all sorts of zaniness. I love everything about vinyl, from collecting to painting myself, and have learned all sorts of new things painting kaiju, including airbrushing and using the excellent Monster Kolor paint system developed by Dead Pre$idents. Painting kaiju is fun, but I’ve been itching to start bringing these new tricks back over to ‘real models’.

As it turns out, a vinyl kit of a police mecha is an excellent middle ground to start that transition. I wanted to give the Python a nice metallic automotive finish with gloss white details, not unlike a real motor vehicle. A few airbrushing sections and some masking work later, I think I nailed it. Now, I’m not one to leave a model kit clean looking if I can help it, so I figured I had better muss this mecha up as if it were finishing up a labor crime scuffle, instead of just arriving on the scene.

It almost seemed sacrilegious to mess up that beautiful finish, but the end result is much more complex and full of depth for it. There’s a couple nasty paint dings that are going to earn Gomioka a chewing out and a little dirt and dust, probably from being pushed into a building by the badguy.

More importantly, I thought I had finally added a machine to my Patlabor collection that drifand, Patlabor collector extraordinaire, did not own, but when I looked back through his pics on the forum I realized there was a different Python figure lurking in the background of his display. I have the Saturn labor kit on the way, so I may yet get one ahead of him.

To me, this kit came out as the perfect blend of modern techniques and a slightly less-than-modern rendition of an awesome mecha. Now I just need to get it home and introduce it to the rest of my Patlabor collection. To finish it off, I’ll have to make the riot shield and baton it wields in its animation appearance. A second kit to make Yuuki’s machine is already in the mail.

February 13, 2011

Grip Denjin Zaboga: Mission Sea Shark

Filed under: Co. GRIP,Stephan Halder,Toy Love,Toy News — chogoman @ 4:39 pm

Mission Sea Shark accomplished!
Sounds like a top secret undercover operation. But nothing really secret here.
This is only the attempt to get a smile into this poor Jumbo Grip Denjin Zaboga’s face.

I bought a very nice nice Zaboga few years ago. Nice box, nice condition…everything was nice.
Nice, nice, nice…but wait! Something was missing. Something you don’t see normally.
Something stored in Zaboga’s back. Sea Shark!

Zaboga’s little jet that could fly and also could operate underwater like a submarine.
Sound like a gadget from Q for James Bond.

But it’s “only” a little red plastic jet…you can’t even see it…so…forget it.
I tried to forget this little missing detail. But it didn’t work.

A few days ago one of Zaboga’s brothers arrived in germany with a special gift.

Incomplete, battle damaged…but with sometging very special in his back.
Noooo…the Zabogas won’t do what YOU think…

Sea Shark

Years of scanning Yahoo auctions, nightmares, incomplete-depressions
come to an end, a happy end for 1000 Yen ;-)

Mission accomplished. Zaboga could smile again.

Firts I only wanted  to post a macro picture of Zaboga’s little jet.
But the Brog got out of control…sorry for that.

But it seems that this Brog is now a kind of Jumbo Grip Denjin Zaboga review.
A little bit ;-)

Here are a few more older fotos of Zaboga’s gimicks.
His “Jet Punch” (fist on chain), transformation into the motorcycle Machine Zaboga
and his back which could be opened for the Sea Shark.

more stuff in the BBS.
If you want more infos about the real Denjin Zaboga.
Check out this site.

February 12, 2011

悟空の大冒険 Gokū no Daibōken!

Filed under: Co. YONEZAWA,Erik Sjoen,Josh Fraser,Zenmai — Josh Fraser @ 11:14 pm

A vintage Yonezawa Adventures of the Monkey King vinyl and tin windup. Circa 1967.

The character is that of 悟空 GokÅ«, the Monkey King, based on the legendary Sun Wukong. Created by Tezuka’s studio Mushi Productions, the anime aired on Fuji tv in 1967. Not usually something I would consider collecting, but for some reason really resonated with me as soon as I saw it. I sense my impending doom of additional “cute” windups in my future.

February 11, 2011

Magne Robo Gakeen – マグネロボ・ガ・キーン

Filed under: Co. TAKARA,Daily Money Shots,Erik Sjoen — erik sjoen @ 12:32 pm

1976

February 10, 2011

Groovin’ 2 Mach Baron

Filed under: Co. BANDAI,Co. BULLMARK,Co. POPY,Toy News,Trevor Tang — TT28 @ 3:27 am

This is a video I created showcasing a group of Super Robot Mach Baron illustrations set to the TV show’s opening theme song. Hope you’ll like it.

February 9, 2011

Proud papa 73′

Filed under: Co. YONEZAWA,Daily Money Shots,Josh Fraser,Nekrodave,Toy Love — Josh Fraser @ 2:46 pm

February 8, 2011

Bubble wrap glacier

Filed under: Daily Money Shots,Stephan Halder,Stoopid,Toy News — chogoman @ 5:53 pm

Got my “first-2011-belated-birthday-toy-parcel” today.
I thought I make a foto of the bubble wrap toy mountains before I destroy them.
Looks like toys under ice.

Its always a special moment. The surgically remove of the toys from the wrap.
Finally you see what you won weeks ago in an auction, thousands miles away.
Sometimes you only had crappy little auction pics and a crazy Google translation
of the auction text…and now you hold the toy in your hands…so cool.
Ups, I’m gettin’ emotional…

…ok before I begin to cry, I better end this BROG ;-)

February 7, 2011

An epic adventure of pork buns and box variants.Part 2

Filed under: Josh Fraser,Nekrodave,Regan Miller,Sanjeev,SUMMIT,Toy Love,Warren Schwartz — Josh Fraser @ 9:59 pm

Box variants… at Sifu’s house.

Sanjeev: With my jollyness still filled with dancing cha siu bao and other delights, we left Chau Chow City. It had already been a great day–Dave and I had just spent the previous night crashing at my place, talking about movies, sports, and He-Man. It was a blast to see Ryan and Ed again…not to mention Mason and getting to meet his squeeze, Lisa. Regan and Josh? Good peoples, of course–always a great time. Ben…well, can’t go wrong with the lil squirt… :P

Josh: After everyone parts ways, Dave and Sanjeev hang out with Regan and I. Not much is going on, until Uncle Warren and I talk on the phone and plan an impromptu get together at the God father of Sofubi’s box filled room.
This is a first for both Sanjeev and Dave. I can see the excitement on their faces as I mention the potential plan. It takes little convincing and we head over to Warren’s for an afternoon of toy induced mayhem. And in true fashion turns out to be a memorable evening.
We arrive and jump head first into the deep end. Dave and Sanjeev look from corner to corner, scanning over boxes and bags and handle various loose toys that are scattered about.

Sanjeev:Now, I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with the Sifu several times before–and it’s all true: he’s a fantastic guy!–but I’d never actually had a chance to visit his home. So now an opportunity to do so? You kidding me!?

Sanjeev: It’s kinda funny…Warren is such an open and warm person, you almost get the feeling you’ve known him all your life. And with Regan and Josh’s awesome brog posts chronicling their epic visits, it even feels like you’ve been there! Almost. Well, we rolled up to his pad that afternoon and I was beaming.
Warren welcomed us in with his usual sincere open-heartedness and as his wife baked cookies (which we never actually got a chance to try! :P ), he led us upstairs to the toy lair. I was honestly expecting a bit more of a mess, but the place was surprisingly organized. Sure, there were loose treasures laying about, waiting for greedy hands, but the overall feeling I got was that of reverence. Like, these were things to be enjoyed, but also that they told a decades-old story about how a generation played. It was beautiful.

Josh;Needless to say, Warren shows us vintage gold, and we work our way into the side room where he has two boxes sitting next to one another. These are not just any boxes… these are boxes that barely anyone on the planet has one of, let alone two.

Spoken about before and documented a few times, the coveted Bullmark Red Baron missile firing vinyl.

Warren had bought the second box not long ago and had wondered which one to keep. Knowing that I was an obsessive idiot…er.. I mean interested in box condition, he asked me to advise which of the two to hold onto.

It took me 5 seconds to reach my decision.

“You keep both”
“Really”

Yeah. Here is why.

As it turns out,( and is obviously evident to those who have looked at the photo above), Warren had in my humble opinion inadvertently stumbled on one of the greatest packaging finds of recent memory.

Both boxes were variants, and not simply a matter of a different pantone being used on a logo… these were visibly different from afar.
The box Warren won with the original auction (with toy) was on the windowsill on the left. The main logo on the top of the box was about twice the size, and although somewhat faded compared to its counterpart, it was evident that the second box with the smaller logo was in fact earlier! Not only that, the secondary logo on the left of the Red Baron head was simply a cut out piece of paper placed by the hands of some long forgotten but careful worker.

As with some Gaiking boxes in my collection of GA51’s I have seen variants of all sorts. Printing is expensive, and though we all look at them with awe now, vintage toy boxes started their lives out simply as a way to get the contents from point A to point B. So printing new screens for a new run or redoing a whole box was sometimes out of the question. Often they simply cut out a new logo and pasted over an existing out of date or incorrect image. This was well before digital printing, and looking at the old skool fix, warmly reminded me of my own early years as a graphic artist at my first job in the early 90’s. These boxes were a beautiful reminder of a point in time when mistakes were not so easily fixed by the click of a mouse.

In addition there were less important variants on the secondary logos on the sides of the box, really showing the evolution. In fact, for a moment I even daydreamed that the second box Warren won, might potentially be the early proto or proof copy for this very toy. How could one in their right mind, a man who searches the globe for one character above all others part these two boxes again, when they so effortlessly tell a history together, thirty years after their creation.

After coming down from that high, Warren takes Regan over to the Astro Mu corner and she finally gets her first vintage Capsule Robo vinyl. Warren had an extra apparently! The girl is simply besides herself with happiness and we all are basking in the good natured mood that hums about the room.

Sifu then rushes off to find something none of us have seen, to complete the circle. The Astro Mu playset.
A hush hits the room and a billowing of old vinyl meets our collective nostrils. I have flashbacks of my early childhood Sesame Street place mats in upstate New York in 76′, as Warren with a grin, pulls out the printed vinyl sheet complete with Atromu battle scenes printed ever so innocently on the intense blue of the background.

Shock and awe ensues and so an idea dawns on us all to reenact the scene on the cover of the box as best we are able in the time we have left. Warren is game, and I jump at the opportunity to embarrass myself further on the internet (complete with epic black socks) with him.

Ta da’…

As always, an afternoon we won’t forget.

Sanjeev:The Red Baron box discovery and the Astro Mu playmat were, of course, little slices of magic. Heh…and I admittedly had butterflies in my stomach when Warren asked to see Gin Gin! But really, unsurprisingly to me, the best part of the trip was the man, himself. Warren simply exudes joy and passion for these silly things! He really gets what it’s all about. Even surrounded by his own cherished collection, he never once hesitated to let us pick something up and try it out. Hell, he didn’t bat an eyelash when Josh came up with the idea to recreate the scene on the cover of the Astro Mu playset!

I gotta say, it was a most pleasant way to cap off the Dim Summit and I’ll always take a piece of that experience with me.

An epic adventure of pork buns and box variants. Part 1

Filed under: Josh Fraser,Regan Miller,SUMMIT,Toy Love,Toy News,Warren Schwartz — Josh Fraser @ 6:10 pm

Pork buns…

As the tradition goes, every once in a while, various boys and girls from the East coast get together to combine two things… Japanese toys and Dim sum.

Coined Dimsummit, we have made it an unofficial get together in between official toy summits.
This time, we get together at Chau Chow City in Dorchester and commence to eat good food, talk shop and lament over lost auctions.

Toys are brought out and with bellies full, the nerd porn reaches full tilt when Sanjeev pulls out his six inch Gin Gin.

Wait … what?

Straight from the bowels of Brownnoize Productions Teh jerk brings the limited 1 of 10 “antiqued” diecast of Grendizer’s most famed enemy robot. Regans eyes light up and she buys one.

Dave, Mason and Ben all bring various awesomeness to the table and once again… including, Ben’s painted custom Glyos figures, and a gift for your truly from Josh Barton , of his kick ass yokai foot, complete with serene and creepy header card. Dave of course brings a bootleg carnival machinder and I bring him a variant of A King Kong blow molded figure he needs to complete his set.
We all snap photos and weird out the various wait staff in our own special ways. Ed and Ryan, Lisa and Regan all add their own geek cards to the mix, but in the end Dave amazes us by eating a PORK BUN!!! For those who know him well, know Dave is a “picky eater “… the guy downs burgers and Pepsi with abandon, with a occasional pizza for good measure, so this cultural shift was exciting to say the least.

So much so I had to document the event. Enjoy the photos.

Dimsummit photos:

Ark aka Metallguss Weltraumroboter II

Filed under: Co. ARK,Stephan Halder,Toy Love,Toy News — chogoman @ 9:58 am

Return of the lost Ark…raiders of the lost Ark…aaaa forget it…I thought
I make another Brog about the european Ark toys. Maybe interesting
for a few Ark-nerds.

I know of 2 different packaging types here in europe.
In germany a company called Bienengräber & Co. from Hamburg distributed the Ark toys.
They printed their own “german boxes” and translated manuals etc.
Bienengräber & Co. was a bit the Marukai Trading Co. of germany. They also sold Bandai toys,
Takara Piocchio Magnemo, Nintendo “game & Watch” and other japanese stuff.
But their biggest hit was Monchhichi…little brown hairy suckers ;-)

left “german” box, right “belgium” box

There are also bilingual (french/dutch) boxes & manuals for the Ark toys.
These boxes are made for belgium. I don’t have a clue if they had been imported to france too.
I could swear that Bienengräber & Co distributed & produced the “belgium” boxes too, because strangely “Metallguss” (diecast) is written in german on them too. But my “theory” isn’t approved.

top “belgium” box, below “german” box

bilingual back of “belgium” box

back of “german” box

Did anyone know if there are italian versions of the box?
I never seen one before.

If you have other “theories” please LMK in the BBS

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