December 1999 | Ramble Index | October 1999

11/18/99: I Magnifici 4 Difensori Del Mondo! Matt Alt and Sean Bonner can bite me for peer-pressuring me with their incessant prattle. I'm now in an engorged state of Jumbomachinder lust, and I'm broke. I'm not sure at what point these wheeled, unweildy, 24" missile-firing shampoo bottles actually became a priority, but let's just say I'm redesigning my shelf, and that I'm running out of room. Latest acquisition? The bizarre licensed Mattel Astro Robot! It's a hodge-podge cludging of Machine Blaster II's pointed-nosed noggin, Grandizer's um, "breast", and Raydeen's sexy gams. And did I mention it's green? Here's a few pics to steam up Bonner. More pics on this shortly.... Pugno Spara Razzi!

Matt Alt on Endless Gobs of Bandai Check dis: Uni-Five says they're going to do Mazinger Z as their next 'Desktop Display Model.' This is a cool but kinda pricey series of statues that feature photoetched copper 'mechanical parts' embedded within their transparent resin bodies. The price will probably be in the 12,000 yen range. And just when you thought you'd seen enough Ultraman, check out the latest edition to the lineup: here's 'Ultraman Naisu.' Ultraman Nice? Ultraman Nights? Ultraman Nythe? Who the hell knows, but this incarnation looks like a twisted reincarnation of Captain Picard. Pictured is Bandai's 600-yen 'toy crack' version. Suck 'em down while you can. Bandai's also dumping a bunch of new vehicles into the Popinika series, which they keep alive in name only just to torture old chogokin fanatics with. Metal content? Don't make me laugh. (Actually, I have no idea. They LOOK plasticy, though.) Coming up in November: The Guts-Wing 1, Guts-Wing 2 (pictured), and the Atreides Battle-Carrier. Finally, this is the newest addition to Bandai's 'Chogokin Nano' series -- the High Mobility Type Zaku II. Look for it in late November. Great as it is that Bandai's releasing tons o' diecast robots, I just can't get excited over tiny unpainted figurines. But this is probably why Bandai refers to them as "built up models" instead of toys. 1,980 yen ($19) -- Matt

Jumboland's Sean Bonner on the M1 Titanosaurus "alen, picked up the M1 Titanosaurous (with the mini mecha godzilla) today and was just so blown away that I had to send over these shots. As you know from Roger's sniveling posts on the BBS i've recently been overwhelmed with the world of vinyl and been forced to embrace it, and M1 has been tops on my list. I've been hearing about this thing for weeks and finally got my hands on one today thanks to the kind folk at House Of Monsters, and it's just amazing. "The sculpt is just perfect, and the paint job is by far the coolest on my shelf at the moment. No less than 6 different color airbrush sprays plus hand done painting on the eyes and teeth. and the vinyl is as thick as it gets! I'm in awe of it. And the mini Mecha godzilla that comes with it not to shabby either... i'm impressed. Thanks a ton M1 and keep it up...." -- Sean Bonner

December 1999 | Ramble Index | October 1999