…, who is the fairest one of all?
Hard to say!
Mirrorman (ミラーマン) was the first non Ultra character from Tsuburaya Production.
The TV series runs from December 5, 1971 to November 26, 1972.
When I bought my first Bullmark Mirrorman sofubi and got it from japan
I was instantly bitten by the mirror bug. I have quiet a few now, but there
much more out there…collecting for the next years is assured ;-)
Hmm…the title of this Brog is a bit lewd.
But nothing pornographic here, only a few vinyl figures from
the Akumaizer 3 series.
The 3 horny guys are Mezalord (メザãƒãƒ¼ãƒ‰) sofubis. Mezalord is the
leader of the Akuma Clan. Akuma Clan?
“The Akuma Clan are a race of magical cyborgs who live deep within the earth,
plot to invade the surface world.” (thanks wikipedia)
The green lady with the gigantic ears is Darunia from the Demon Clan.
She’s a friend of Zaitan and a “good gal”.
These guys are marked as Takatoku, but a few of them had been sold on
Bullmark branded carded sets. So again a collaboration between these two
companies, like they did with the Akumaizer MekaMachine, MFVs, etc.
I know that there is another Darunia sofubi version (shitI lost the auction),
but I’m not sure if there’s another variation of Mezalord.
But you never know…the japanese toy universe is (nearly) endless.
…ups, Bullmark did it again. A robot that could transform into a motorbike
is riding a motorbike. Strange, but kinda cool.
Maybe Zaboga ran out of fuel, or he had a well-paid sponsoring contract
with Honda? Who knows. It was pretty trendy to ride a Honda four in
the 70ties and Zaboga was a freakin’ cool guy. But this time he’s not riding
a big 750 four…he’s riding a little Trail ST70 aka Dax. Holy shit!
I have a few “Zaboga bike toys” now, but this one is the coolest.
When it popped up as a direct-buy on ebay, I only needed 4 seconds of thinking
if I “need” it or not. Responsible for my fast decision was the box-art and
the fact that I love bots on bikes.
Lets start with the box.
The box-art is fantastic and also very surreal.
Zaboga crusing around on his little Honda, meets his alter ego,
transformed into a bike. Must be disturbing for him.
Here’s the toy.
The Zaboga figure is vinyl and most parts of the bike are made out
of plastic. The whole toy is really well made, with lots of nice details.
Front wheel fork is solid metal, also the handle bar. It also has a
friction drive action feature.
Here are some more detail shots of the toy.
Click on them to enlarge.
Here you could see Zaboga on his little Honda Trail together with
a few other Bullmark Zaboga bikes.
That was my easter-bike-brog. Hope you liked it.
Now I have to find a Bullmark big sofubi Zaboga in “bikemode”
and the big plastic Honda 750 four with Zaboga…still enough stuff
out there to collect ;-)
More fotos as usual in the BBS.
Brog No.4 in a row. My new personal record ;-)
It’s time for my first serious Rockbat Brog this year.
I bought a very special toy last year, that I want to show you today!
Not only the toy is very special, also the way it was packed when it arrived in germany.
Well protected in finest japanese Tupperware. Nice!
My first thought when I opened the box and looked at the toy.
“Rockbat looked much bigger on the auctions fotos on yahoo!”
Second thought: “Did I really paid so much for THAT! I must be crazy!!”
No, this wasn’t an “under the radar auction”. A few other crazy idiots really wanted this little sucker.
At the end I won it and I better don’t talk about the price.
Mint in bag. No cool artwork, not painted, nothing. That’s how a holy grail should look like.
Attention>Rockbat-NERD-Mode>activated>
This piece really is unique in my eyes. In all the years I collect Rockbat related
toys and scan Yahoo and ebay regular, I never seen this toy before.
>Rockbat-NERD-Mode>deactivated
Most likely this toy isn’t special at all. Maybe it’s such a cheap shit that nobody
wants to list it on yahoo, because it’s impossible to sell it. Who knows…
Again I destroyd the C-10-holiness of a toy. I opened the bag and removed the staples.
Shit…what have I done! Now I have to find another mint specimen in bag.
Rockbat has a Bullmark copyright marking on his forehead and a Cisco marking
on the back of his head. I couldn’t find out anything about Cisco. If anybody has informations
about Cisco, please let me know.
Rockbat is ready for some skydiving!
Here you could see the little blue guy with some sofubi brothers.
That’s it! I think everything is said about this awesome vintage collectible.
If another Rockbat will ever pop up on Yahoo, I’m pretty sure the price will
be astronomical…with the help of this Brog ;-)
Today my little Mr. Kamikaze story.
Not really an exciting story, but a good example how to turn crap into gold.
As usual, the story starts with a Yahoo Japan auction.
Object of desire was a Nakajima sandard size Mr. Kamikaze sofubi from
the Tiger Mask series. The figure looked bad on the auction fotos.
Dirty, lots of paint rubs and the color of his head and body also looked suspicious.
Here are the original auction fotos.
But even Mr. Kamikaze was looking pretty fucked-up, I thought he has
some “potential”. His face, specially his nose looked pretty good on
the fotos. Often the noses of these sofubis are in bad condition.
Perfect for a restoration project!
Didn’t have a “bid battle” on this guy and won him for a good price.
One week ago he arrived with lots of other stuff rom Japan and I was
a bit shocked when I hold him in my hands for the first time.
I only have this foto of my “first contact” with Mr. Kamikaze.
Something was wrong with him…his entire upper part of the body and both arms
had been repainted with a “flesh-colored” paint. Also his mask been repainted
with white color. Holy crap, this is not the original paint!
At first sight it looked impossible to restore him. Thats the reason why I didn’t took
some detail “before fotos”.
Let’s get rid of the shitty paint, no matter what happens! No risk, no fun.
This was my job for the next few days.
With tons of Q-Tips soaked with brush cleaner, sandpaper, car paint polish/cleaner,
a super sharp scalpel and lots of patience I really got rid of the paint, without destroying
the figure.
Under the lacquer layer the figure was in perfect condition. It seems that the repaint
protected this figure the last few decades.
Tricky was cleaning the head from the white paint (see fotos). I needed a few hours to do that.
Almost like a surgeon I had to rub down the paint without ruining the orginal paintwork.
Disassemble and reassemble the head, body and arms I did with the “hot water method”.
I think this is the best way to get the vinyl flexible. Using a hair dryer is too dangerous.
“Operation” Mr. Kamikaze was a full success. At the end he really looks great.
Now Mr. Kamikaze is ready to rumble again!
Is Mr. Kamikaze ready to kick some asses?
This morning I cracked open my mini Shogun Warriors Grendizer to re-seat the legs, which had come off their groove. I noticed the screw was awfully loose, as if someone had already been inside. What I did not expect to find was a scrap of paper nestled inside.
I carefully unfolded it, wondering what it could be. We’ve all seen the story of the eerie Japanese note inside the vintage sofubi, but this turned out to be far more sinister.
Rather than risk marring the once-pristine paint with a name written in sharpie on the back, the intrepid Bruce Fenton (or, more likely, his parents) endeavored to store a writ of ownership where any sensible person would think to look first. Well Bruce, your note may have been tough to find, but rest easy knowing that your Grendizer is still in good hands.
As usual, I have to start at the beginning…
Most of the heads I roll with sorta know me as the local go-to guy for Godzilla trivia. No, not for any impressive honors or accolades I’ve earned…hell, I’m hardly the foremost expert in tokusatsu (though I certainly like to think I know my shit!). I sure love that scaly bastard and I ain’t shy about it, but I like to think I’m down with ALL daikaiju–the myriad giant monsters that fascinated me every Saturday morning on Creature Double Feature.
But what made CDF an extra-special experience for me was that it was one of the few times during the week my father and I would regularly spend together. He was a bit of a hard scifi nut, so it wasn’t much of a stretch for him to get down with the old-timey American scifi and various tokusatsu featured on the program.
Anyway, there was one particular series of movies that absolutely blew my fucking mind at that tender age–a kaiju offering so unlike the often-campy Godzilla and Gamera flicks I was used to. It started with AIP’s English-dubbed Majin, The Monster of Terror…where I saw a GOD in the form of a giant stone statue come to life after several men drove a giant steel pike into its forehead. This enraged god’s subsequent rampage climaxed with him pulling the pike from his forehead…and impaling the evil warlord with it. Fuck me. I think I was five years old. This was NO Godzilla dancing a jig after beating up an ambulatory pile of shit.
Keep in mind that I was (and am now) an atheist: see, my parents taught me all about Hindu mythology, and while I enjoyed hearing these stories from my people and learning about our customs and traditions, there was no expectation placed on me to believe in these deities. And my family had just moved to the (very Catholic) suburbs of the Bean, so my only experience of “God” was through these people I didn’t really understand yet.
So here was this depiction of god being a vengeful, deathless force of nature and justice…not some amorphous, benevolent dude who made people feel guilty for doing shit. Mind=blown.
Fast forward to last April. Over the past few years, folks like Jim M and Mark K–amorphous benevolent dudes, in their own right–have been shepherding my inexorable slide towards collecting vintage vinyl. I had been no stranger to Daimajin toys, but now it was time to go big or go home. I finally got me an original 1966 Marusan Daimajin figure.
And it is glorious.
The toy finally arrived a couple weeks ago…and with some rather curious timing, my old camera finally died last Friday. What you’re seeing are the very first shots from my brand new camera–and thankfully, the weather yesterday was quite agreeable…divine intervention, hmmm???
Anyway, the toy is stunning. I’m kinda glad I waited until I could fully appreciate the vintage aesthetic before picking this guy up. I know some people like more move-accurate sofubi…or just crazy-mint specimens of vintage pieces. This is neither. And I’m absolutely fine with that.
Granted, when he arrived, he was kinda grimy. No, I don’t mean he was about to steal forty bucks outta my wallet and sneak out a window–I mean, he had been well-loved over the decades and had picked up his fair share of dirt. Oh, and curiously, his legs were reversed (I’ve seen this before on other vintage specimens–funny how so few people thought to correct the awkward stance). I just disassembled the figure and took my time with some warm, soapy water and a soft-bristle toothbrush. A labor of love, no doubt.
The toy stands 9″ tall and is obviously made of blue vinyl with sparing silver and metallic green sprays. The paint rubs are numerous…but they don’t bother me in the slightest. It’s an old toy. It was played with by some child and appreciated enough to have been kept carefully in such nice shape for all these years. That weight of history is a big part of what makes vintage vinyl so special to me.
There are no cracks or other structural flaws with the vinyl. What’s interesting is that the sword hilt made of the same vinyl as the rest of the figure; on the hidden side is a simple plug that fits into a hole on the figure’s belt. The scabbard, however, is made of a very soft rubber. It’s simply glued on at the guard. I’m pretty sure that in the myriad reissues from M1 and Marusan, the whole sword is a single piece of vinyl.
Not too much more to say about this toy, so I’ll just leave you with a few more shots…
Hope you enjoyed the read and pics!
Lurchi the fire salamander and his buddy Unkerich the yellow-bellied toad meet Mirrorman.
The 2 troublemakers are made by the Salamnder AG in germany.
There are 4 more figures that belong to the Lurchi toyline.
These early 70ties big sofubis are germany’s answer to Bullmark.
German Kaijus in leather shoes ;-)
Lurchi and his friends started their lives in 1937. They are comicfigures used by
the shoe manufacturer Salamander AG for promotion. They are very famous
in germany…like Godzilla in Japan…
Today I have a before/after Brog for you.
A few weeks ago a found a Takatoku Gariba C, or is it Garibr C (?),
on Yahoo. Usually these non Bullmark bikes, even loose specimen have
lots of fans out there…so they go for more Yen I want to pay for one.
Apropos “non Bullmark”. Akumaizer 3 toys are licensed by Takatoku,
but Bullmark produced many (most) of the Akumaizer sofubis, MFV’s,
plastic toys and even the Zabitan Zenmai. Many of the toys are “double branded”
with Takatoku & Bullmark logos. What a great toy manufacturer cooperation.
But I was pretty sure that THIS one, even with box, won’t go for a fortune.
and I was right…
When Evil on his bike arrived in germany, he looked like on the auction fotos.
It seems that he had a bad accident at some point in the last 35 years…
yepp, riding a motobike is dangerous.
I wasn’t sure what really was wrong with Evil when I “analyzed” the auction fotos,
because the quality of the pics wasn’t good (as usual) and the item description wasn’t very
informative too. What I know was that his head was pretty deformed (melted?),
he had many discolorations on his body, the box was “repaired” with some kind of tape, etc.
Could be a nice restoration object, or a few thousand Yen burned for junk…but no risk, no fun ;-)
The first thing I noticed when hold the toy in my hands was that the “discolorations ”
on Evil’s body is only dirt…nice mixture of 30 years old dust and nicotine.
But his bend back head looks really evil…haha, funny wordplay.
Ok, sorry…shitty joke ;-)
When the vinyl is dryed up, it could break, when I try bending the head back into position.
I decided to use the “hot water” method. I think this is the best method to bring vinyl
back into “form”. Better than using a hairdryer.
I restored quiet a few vintage vinyls that way…works pretty well.
I pour only a bit hot (nearly boiling) water on Evil and…
…“PLOEEP” (this was the sound),
Evil’s head was back into position.
Wow, a 5 second restoration. I was amazed!
Getting rid of the tape and cleaning the box, without destroying the artwork, took hours.
Here is the result. A pretty nice looking toy & box. i thing the only thing that is missing
is Evil’s scarf. But I’m not 100% sure if he came with one.
Nice colorful box. The plastic window is a bit battle damaged over the years.
But I won’t replace it, I want to keep it original.
Now Evil is ready to race again with his friction drive bike!
So, this was my little Akumaizer motorcycle story for today.
I have a few more to tell ;-)
More fotos etc in the BBS.
When I saw this bootleg vintage Mach Baron mini sofubi on YJA, I simply could not resist. The sculpt is heinous, and this thing oozes sleaze and funk. It stands around 5″ tall, with just a couple of paint apps. The colors are a bit more faded in person. The figure is pretty lightweight, but still made from thicker vinyl than some real vintage figures I have (I’m looking at you, toys by Onda!).
The whole thing is asymmetrical and off-kilter and looks like it was mastered in Play-dough, and I love it. I’ll take some comparison pics with my legit Bullmark mini MB when I go home, but this guy has way more funk, and a little bit more soul.
