Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Whippin' It Out.

Brace yourselves for some of the worst photos to ever tarnish the front page of this blog. Seriously, I really hate the way these came out and I'm almost ashamed to put them out there.

On the other hand, the lighting of my apartment and these old Japanese cabinets is not exactly conducive to crisp photography, so I have to make do with flash photography via my point-and-shoot.

Uh, ok, so here's the first display cabinet. This one is a large, three-level case with glass doors that open from the center- it looks a bit better closed, but that blocks the view of some of the items in the front. My idea in stocking this cabinet was to have a vintage-style shelf at the bottom, with modern patchi-kaiju at the center and top. Clearly I need more vintage pieces to make this work... ;)

I think this is the middle of the second shelf. I should move the Rotofugi Chaos to the back, since he's sort of hiding the Betadoron behind him.

These Dream Rocket Dogumas are pretty darn difficult to place on my shelves. It's sad, really, because they're among my favorite pieces. I have to plop them on the shelves and build the other toys around them. I think I did a pretty good job in this case, as it maximizes shelf space without hiding too many of the items in back. A little cluster of RealxHead in back with my favorite Chaoses and Mutant Heads. And I just scored my first Mutant Evil, so the family is complete (soon)!

Flock of Baltans on the bottom shelf, right corner. Extra space for the two brown Baltans (painted and unpainted lucky bag version!) that I have coming in from Japan. The lottery painted blue Baltan on the left is probably the hardest one to find, although I don't think it will be too easy to track down the unpainted GID and clear w/ tinsel versions. Astromons shields his face from the toy paparazzo.


My small, but growing, collection of Ark and Orange sofubi. Love these little Butanohana dinos, but I think I bought too many of them... Maybe I'll take some to work.

Top left corner of the cabinet. My favorite RealxHead sculpt front and center- Gatchigon! I just need someone to hook me up with the limited blue version. Pleeeeease?

Other side of the top shelf. How many Dream Rocket toys can I fit on one shelf?? Answer: it is never enough.

I LOVE the Kaiju-Taro exclusive Marnons (I restrained myself and only bought two). The Blueberry version is especially beautiful under a display light- the clear vinyl over aqua paint has a watery, oceanic look. Ah, so beautiful, and yet so ugly. Also digging the new Mohican Hone-borg by RealxHead- I can't wait to see new colorways and arm extension parts.

Here's cabinet number two. The separate compartments in this one make for a much more interesting display, but not a whole lot of display space. Notice a certain beer-swilling rabbit on top...

My big GREEN Blobpus collection. Below, the Nougakis and Doromes have a Thriller-style dance-off. I really did not like the Dorome when it was first shown, but the amazing colors and the fact that it looks like a fish from the top (try it and see!) are winning me over.

Kaji-san is very creative in his material selection, which I think always keeps Blobpus at the top of the game. A couple of years ago, we saw the metallic Blobpus, and more recently he rolled out the special paint type seen on the left, as well as a marbled GID-clear vinyl Blobpus that I've heard is very beautiful.

My small EXOHEAD collection below... the Skull Rex still remains one of the coolest sofubi that I own. Robots, dinosaurs and clear vinyl, oh my! That definitely sounded more manly in my head.

Ah yes, my collection of 14 Dream Rocket Merodome Gatchamon. I think I'm 3 colors short of a full set- unfortunately one is the first painted version, which was limited to 10 pieces. Doh.

Walder toys just freakin' rule- in all of their forms.

Bigger Cronic stuff up top. I like my Mavs. Spider-Mav, Spider-Mav...

And finally on the bottom shelf, I showcase my customs and one-offs. The two little cubes on the left are the hand-cast resin Gelatinous3 from glitchpop- pretty cool and I totally need to do a photo shoot of these. Purple Mutant Chaos from Killer J, and a red/black custom Gatchigon by S7's very own Hiro. And, yes, the prototype flesh Mutant Chaos... ;)


I really enjoy handling and arranging all of the toys that I have collected so far, and almost every one has its own story. It's therapeutic to place all of them in the cabinets- flower arranging for toy nerds?

Oh, and if you're wondering why I cut the photos of the cabinets so close, it's because my house is a total mess. Well, not really, but my furniture is, shall we say, utilitarian. Free couch takers can't be choosers, anyhow.

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