[One-Shot] Chibulls and Bits.

I'm hitting a point where I have more toys coming in than I have time to write comprehensive pictorial reviews of each one. So rather than let these little gems languish unseen in my old display cabinet, I'm starting the first of (I hope) many quick posts called "One-shots."

1. Secret Base Carnival Victory paint Skull Bee (Cocobat Joe homage).


I think I have maybe 6 Secret Base toys, but there is only one that I would never trade away. The first Carnival Victory paint Skull Bee was among the earliest SB toys released, and painted in a fairly complex scheme to match the Medicom Cocobat Joe figure. Incidentally- or maybe intentionally- this scheme also looks somewhat like the original Kamen Rider uniforms. The Cocobat Bee is a beautiful piece with rich, dark sprays. If only all SB toys could be like this, eh?

2. Cool Zone Kid Octopus.


Kid Octopus is the second character in the "Cool Zone" series of toys produced by Ichibanboshi, released at the 2007 Summer Wonderfestival. The vinyl is a bit harder than I'd typically prefer, but the sculpt has a great simplistic retro feel, and the tentacles even have sucker detail.

3. Bwana Spoons x Gargamel Killers.


"Sleeping Killer" is the first collaborative figure conceived by artist Bwana Spoons and sculpted and produced by Gargamel. It's a bit bigger than the typical Japanese mini-figure, and has been released in several colorways- including an extremely limited set of 7 Killers cast in colored GID vinyl that was sold at 2007 SDCC. In this photo, we have the original Pacific Northwest Tiger Salamander Killer, Milk Chocolate Killer (handpainted by Bwana!), and the unpainted clear Pink Killer from the "Killer Dragons from the West" show at Gargamel's Thrash-Out store. To be honest, the first Killer (Tiger Salamander) is still my favorite of all of the releases.

4. M1Go Chibull Seijin (GID).


I fell in love with Chibull Seijin after seeing it featured in David Horvath's Super7 artwork. And it glows in the dark. No more words. Look at the picture.

5. Charactics King Walder Mini-Figure set.


Charactics released a full-color set of the King Walder characters at a Wonderfestival over a year ago, and it has been nearly impossible to find (along with those elusive clear glittery Invader minis). However, they did us all a favor (well, all except those owners of the original sets) by releasing another full color set of the King Walder minis at the 2007 Summer Wonderfestival. But this time, they cast them in clear vinyl and stuffed them with little organ inserts. Joy! Thank goodness Charactics waited to do this until I was finally around to buy them.