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

Oh yeah, did I mention I’m into real dolls…

Image compliments of Paul Kaiju

I want to show you another Ultraman sofubi set today.
“Ultraman sofubi set” is maybe the wrong description for this set.
More a “Ultraman-esque bootleg hard plastic set”, or just “Ultra Hero Set”.

I’m not sure if this set is worth a Brog…but it’s too late now.
Photo session is finished and if you read this here, it’s online ;-)

Bought this piece around 95′. I’m pretty sure this thing is
made in the early 90ties , because it has “CE” sign on the box.
I got it from a guy who originally bought it in Thailand and
paid only a few bucks for it. The figures looked so weird,
thats why I needed that shit.

Colorful artwork, japanese typo and no sign of the manufacturer.
Smells like a 100% unlicensed bootleg.

“Made in Japan”…hahahha…never!

Aha…good to know.

Epic kaiju artwork! I like the blue beast on the left side…OMG.

I never open this set in all the years.
Ladies and gentlemen, a historic moment!

Enough talking, enjoy the photos of these bizarre looking Ultramen.

Do you have a favorite? I think mine is the Ultraman Leo.

Sorry bothering you with this 90ties trash guys ;-)

No, I don’t collect Ultraman stuff. My only vintage piece is this Popy set.
I also have a few 80ties Bandai Ultraman kaijus. That’s it. I think I’m more
a “Mirrorman guy” ;-)

I “rediscover” this piece last friday and thought it deserves some extra love.

Bought this Popy Ultaman 80 (ウルトラマン80) set more than 20 years ago.
I was a complete newbie at this time and had no clue how many (endless) cool
japanese toys are out there. Finding informations about these toys was pretty
difficult at this time. No ebay, no wikipedia, no TBDX, nothing.

I was into Shogun Warriors, tin robots, Popy Chogokins, Micronauts and many
none japanese toys at this time. I bought most of the stuff on flea markets and from
a toy dealer I knew personally here in germany. This guy was pretty cool. He was
specialized on superhero stuff, but also had cool japanese pieces from time to time.
He was travelling around in italy and got the toys from old toy stores, but also
went to big toy shows in the USA a few times a year. Great times! Buying and
finding toys was a real adventure.

I bought my Mattel Astro Robot Jumbos, lots of Shogun Warriors, tons of Popy
Chogokins etc over the years from him. His name was Peter Bergner, he also
had a store in Cologne. This was the german version of  Kimono my House, only
without the japanese toys ;-)

The guy had a world famous Spiderman collection. He had everything you could imagine,
even a real Spidey costume from one of the 70ties movies.

…ok, back to the Ultraman set.
I remember that Peter bought the sofubi set on a toy show in Florida,
because he thought it could be something for me. I think I paid something
like $50 for it. This was lots of money for me at this time, a poor student.

Enough sentimental nostalgic memories. Here’s the toy…lets go.

It’s a “double blister box” with a pop-up flip side. Pretty cool!

The set comes with 13 figures.

13 figures, 13 faces.

I like the artwork of this box. The sofubis look nice inside the blister
box, but even better when they are in the pop-up “diorama”.
Like a little store display.

The set comes with a little Popy Ultraman 80 catalog

Great set. I’m glad that bought it.
Finally a few foot markings…

Ohhhh nooooooo! Not again Mirrorman…

Sorry guys for bothering you with my Mirrorman overkill
in the last few weeks! Feel free to abuse me in the comments.

But I have to post this wonderful pop-up book.

These Banso books are the Mercedes Benz under the pop-up world.
Fantastic artwork, double sided pop-up-action and it even comes in a slipcase.

Ok, lets start with the pop-up show.

Starring: Aian, Maruchi(s), Invera, Dakaron and Kittyfire
Enjoy lots of kaiju battle action!

All’s well that ends well.

Mirrorman kicked many kaiju asses and the world is safe again.

Today it’s time for a bit Submarine love.

These Bullmark Mirrorman (ミラーマン) Submarine Sets pop up
quiet regular on Y!JP. I always liked the box art, but this set never was
really on top of my “want list”. A few weeks ago I had the chance to win
one for a pretty nice price…I couldn’t say no.

As you could see, the box art is quiet nice. Some cool
Mirrorman-Kaiju-Submarine battle action. The set contains
4 little plastic kaijus (Maruchi, Aian, Dakaron and Invera)
and the Submarine. The sub is surprisingly heavy and is a
tin/plastic combination.

The Sumarine has two action features. A wind-up propellor drive
and a “water ballast tank” that could be filled with water….or sake.

Here you could see the propellor drive in action. It could cut off your fingers easy ;-)
With the crank you boost the propellor.

You could see the filler cap for the “water ballast tank” on the left side.

Here’s a close up of the 4 Kaijus. Too bad that there’s no Mirrorman in the set.
I guess he’s in the Submarine…

But Mirrorman has other opportunities to kick the Kaijus asses!
He don’t really need a Submarine…he has his deadly tricycle!

So, get lost you little plastic suckers…

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“No, I don’t collect kaiju sofubis. Collecting kaijus gonna ruin me.”
Did I say that? Don’t remember. ;-)

Today it’s time for a bit extra love for the King of the Monsters. Godzilla.

A few weeks ago this Bullmark Godzilla showed up on Y!JP.
The auction fotos weren’t the best, but Gojira looked on them like a
vintage Bullmark version. After some research and the “yes, looks vintage”
(thanks Jim & Mike!), I placed my bid…and won it. Weeks later Gojira
arrived in germany with lots of other toys in a big parcel. After an intensive
cleaning, Godzilla really looked nice. I think I mentioned this before:
Dirt conserves condition

Enough talking…enjoy Gojira.

To be honest, this Gojira is looking more like some dinosaur.
But who cares. I love him and always wanted him!

More as usual in the BBS.

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…