The sale... FROM HELL.

Happy Halloween to all you folks out in blogger-land. Never really did the trick-or-treating thing as a kid (lived in the boonies and didn't trust our neighbors), but I still have a taste for the holiday nonetheless. These days this taste is indulged primarily through reruns of Roseanne Halloween specials and the opportunity to buy cheap candy from the supermarket. And Halloween blog posts. Still have those.

And I guess I really missed my chance with the Skull Head Butt stuff... that would have been perfect for Halloween. Nonetheless, the second spookiest toy in my menagerie: EXOHEAD's RFSO Galtan!


You should have flipped me when you had the chance!
Back the OLDEN DAYS when there was no Zollmen and EXOHEAD was just EXOHEAD, the mini-size Galtan [ガルタン] sculpt was an object of much desire. I know it is hard to believe now when you can barely get rid of these at retail. A well-known board member on the Skullbrain.org forums managed to broker a deal with EXO allowing a domestic sale of painted glow-in-the-dark (GID) Galtans under the "RFSO" label (hence this being commonly called the RFSO Galtan). I'd tell you what RFSO means, but it contains a dirty word (not the F).

Thirteen pieces were allocated for U.S. sales, with a handful more sold in Japan. Each was packaged in a beautifully airbrushed and tied folding-box (which sadly did not come with mine). An even smaller number of unpainted GID versions were distributed to Real Friends Only.

Of course these sold out in flash and people whined, threads were locked, etc. And then people that did get them started to re-sell. Ha! I bought this one (from the Japan allotment) way after the fact, and let me tell you that it sat untouched for a LONG WHILE.



Asstar.
Galtan is originally a patchi-kaiju design taken from a vintage trading card. It is an amalgamation of Baltan and Antlar, with a big, fat skull head planted on top. This mini figure captures the crude and distorted feel of patchi-kaiju perfectly; although it is only articulated at the waist, there is sort of an implied movement in its posture. The colors on the RFSO version are sprayed over GID vinyl and tastefully restrained, much like M1Go glow vinyls. Burnt, creamy orange and metallic light blue match well with the off-white vinyl, and perhaps unintentionally correspond to the color palette of pd+MM-111 RUSS (the last Man Machine toy from EXO). While I think many were drawn to this piece because of its rarity, it is still a very strong composition in its own right.

Alright, time for a Halloween afternoon nap. More weirdness later.

[Review] K-T x EXOHEAD Galtan

As referenced in the entry below, Kaiju-Taro recently celebrated its first year of operations on July 15th and 16th by releasing a bevy of website exclusive toys. Among these were a pair of EXOHEAD Galtans in bright shiny new colorways. Not surprisingly, these were the first gone, mere hours after the preorders opened, and in seconds on the release night. They also achieved levels of flippage heretofore unseen even in the flippy world of neo-kaiju vinyl (think 6 x retail).

I was originally planning only to pick up the OG colors of the Galtan in clear purple, but on an impulse I bought both colorways (yes, oink oink). Toybot has already put up his own spiffy gallery of the purple version here, so I'll be taking care of its udder bruddah.

You've probably all heard the hype on these toys before, so I'll just add a few of my own comments.

First, I love the packaging. EXO and K-T went above and beyond by packaging the Galtans in color-coordinated baggies, attached to a full backing with a holographic bromide. The holographic card totally rocks that early 90s styling- reminds me of the special inserts in trading card packs!

Second, the entire figure is made of clear green vinyl, with just the faintest of silver spray on some areas. In particular, the vinyl on the head is ridiculously paper thin, and the silver spray is just light enough to make it translucent in the right lighting. The photos don't show this well, but it's amazing.

Of the two colorways, I was less sure about this one, but the vibrant greens and dark reds really make it stand out. I hope EXOHEAD kept some of that clear purple and green vinyl for some future releases, eh?

[Review] Twice As N-Ice

EXOHEAD is one of the fringe entrants in the neo-kaiju game, as cliched as that may sound by now. Much like other smaller artists- Cronic, Skull Toys, etc.- EXOHEAD's offerings revolve around a small universe of designs, which are constantly being modified and improved upon in each iteration. Currently, EXOHEAD's line of toys consists primarily of his "Man Machine" concept, which uses a humanoid base figure, with a meticulously sculpted outer armor. I believe this is essentially a homage to Henshin Cyborg toys, although these figures are produced in a much more manageable 6" scale. Although EXOHEAD currently has only two designs in its stable of armors- and both of them incorporating... questionable... design elements, he is always expanding his repertoire, as any good artist should. The Skull Rex figure reviewed herein was a collaborative design effort between the Skull Toys producer and EXOHEAD. Galtan is a completely new figure, just released by EXOHEAD in the past month- sort of an EXO mini, I suppose. Both have been recently issued in killer new colorways, for which the Wanted thread demands have already begun.

EXOHEAD Type-E Bolan is one of a set of the first two Skull Rexes released in November of last year. The first Rex (Type-S Marc) was created in a magnificent Walder color scheme, with a clear purple body and orange inner mechanics. (We'll see more of him soon... ) Type-E Bolan was taken in a completely different- and beautiful- direction, with an inner figure made of milky translucent vinyl with metallic blue spray, and an outer armor in glassy, clear vinyl. I remember when pics of these first surfaced online, and I couldn't decide which of the two to buy. As it went, a set was offered on skullbrain, and I just couldn't help myself. In hindsight, I'm glad I bit, because besides being highly sought after, the OG Skull Rex set is probably my single favorite vinyl purchase. These are toys that will have to be pried out of my filthy, sweaty hands, if I should ever be forced to sell my toy collection. As a note, I will also be clutching my Victory Saber between my thighs at the time. Take them if you dare.

Skull Toys and I have sort of a love-apathy relationship going. I love their collaborative works with such companies as EXOHEAD and Blobpus- Skull Rex and Docross, respectively. On the other hand, I've only picked up one of their regular or mini figures, and I'm actively contemplating its sale or trade. I do have a hard time letting go of my toys, though. I think what really grabs me about Skull Rex is the design of its helmet, which is supposed to be a Tyrannosaurus skull- but even better: its helmet opens up to reveal an inner skull head, accented with clear orange spray. Given that the vinyl is clear, you can see the inner skull when the jaw is closed, which causes it to look like an internal glow or some shiz. All I knows is that it's damn beautiful. Overall the Skull Rex armor is just an inspired, fluid design that combines everything that is good about vinyl kaiju and HC styling into a bad-ass robot with dinosaur armor.

Galtan is a totally different story. When I first heard about this release, I was left with no clear feeling of desire- a little disappointed, in fact, that EXOHEAD wouldn't be focusing on his Man Machine lineup. Galtan is based on Patchi Kaiju card artwork, and is essentially Baltan's body slapped together with a skull head and some other design elements that I do not immediately recognize. So it's a wonky little figure with a skull head and crabby claws. I figured I could learn to love it- and hell, it's EXOHEAD, and he don't make bad toys. So when a preorder was put out for the OG Galtan, I snapped it up. Ok, cool.

So when Galtan arrived, there was already a good bit of hype on it already, because the San Fran crew had already bought theirs and were in the process of showing it off on the boards. Damn townies. I, however, had to wait the week that it takes to get to our little constellation of rocks in the Pacific Ocean. Galtan gets here, and it's a nice little toy. The sculpt, as with anything EXO is top-notch, and the vinyl smells great (like Gargamel, EXO vinyl has that smell that I like to keep in little boxes for rainy days). The vinyl is also not totally clear- sort of a snowy, icy look to it.

But then I stuck it under my mega photo lights, and charged up the glow and let 'er go. Hoooooly shit. I don't know how much time I spent photographing it that night, but I just couldn't get enough. The color of the glow is an eerie electric blue, that reminds me of those fish that live deep, deep in the ocean, and use bioluminescence to attract prey. Yeah, I was into deep sea fish as a kid. The name of the colorway is X-RAY GID, which I suppose refers to the fact that the clear vinyl combined with GID, causes it to look like an x-ray image. Either way, just check out these pics:

Oh, and none of the photographs used blacklight or sunlight to achieve the level of glow. It was straight-up incandescent.

This last one was taken on a white background, which had the effect of enhancing the glow illumination.

So what's up next for EXOHEAD? Well, Skull Rex was just released in a Type-S2 version, with GID outer armor and tinsel stuffed into the inner figure. Galtan came out today as a Garimpo.jp limited full-color version, and another version will be released on June 6th by S7 as a special "RFSO" GID colorway. I'm thrilled that the man responsible for EXOHEAD is getting some time in the sun, which is completely deserved given the quality of his toys and innovative concepts (clear GID??? Come onnnnn!). The only downside is that there are the inevitable bandwagoneers who raise the level of competition for releases that are already very limited. It's ok though, I like the hunt.

It Was Really Cheap, Part II.

Inspired by a post at the skullbrain forums, I thought I'd share my typical weekend. Well, typical toy-buying weekend, anyway. Usually I either sit in front of the computer all weekend, or go into the office.

Of course, for this sort of entertainment, there's only one place to go in Honolulu for a fix: Kaimuki. Kaimuki has the best toy and comic shops on the island, in my opinion, all within walking distance of one another.

First stop on my list is Gecko Books. Gecko books is, hands down, the best comic shop on the island, possibly, in the state. They have all the new releases of comics and magazines, and a good selection of figures as well. They were also late in opening this morning.

Across Waialae Avenue is the infamous Toys N Joys store, which sadly, is THE place to go in Honolulu for anime games, CDs and toys. They also have a healthy selection of Airsoft pellet guns and faux-katanas for the armchair warrior in us all. I call TNJ infamous because it's well-known in Hawaii for having all of the latest goodies (at healthy markup a lot of the time) and well-known on the Internet for having sketchy online orders. I'm serious. Type in "Toys N Joys" on any Transformers forum and see what you find. I speak not from experience, but only from what I've heard.

Anyhow, overpriced though some of its new stuff may be, TNJ recently remodeled their Kaimuki store into a monster anime outlet. This is exciting to me only because it means that they periodically go into their back rooms and dredge up dead stock, often at ridiculously outdated prices. On this particular day, I find old Dinozone figures from Bandai's late-90s CGI-animated series. Normally, I would pass these by... buuuut, now they're marked down to $10 each! Wheeee! I picked up a ShadowTyranno, one of the "Deatheater" villain characters (yes, you heard that right, J.K. Rowling).



He makes a nice companion piece to my EXOHEAD Marc.


So after spending a half-hour grubbing through the boxes in TNJ, I figure Geckos must be open by now. I head back across the street and, sure enough, it is. I say hi to the owner- very cool guy, who will always help you find the issue that you're looking for- and go through the back shelves. Nothing that I'm looking for today, so I head back out.

Up Waialae from Geckos is Collector Maniacs. This store exists somewhere between Gecko Books and TNJ- they sell some anime stuff and some comic stuff. Good place to get single DC Direct figures, if you don't feel like buying the whole set. Otherwise, I often skip this one.

If you go back to the cross street that intersects Waialae, and head up the hill, you'll eventually reach a little shopping plaza. Here you'll find a little urban vinyl store and the awesome Mechahawaii.

The urban vinyl store doesn't open until 12 p.m. on weekends, so straight to Mechahawaii it is. This is probably the best Japanese toy shop in Honolulu. Sean, the owner, has killer hookups in Japan, so he always has the latest releases in trading figures, model kits, and toys. This is one of the few places that you can buy trading figures straight out of the case- just like in Japan! The owner's also a really nice guy and has a wide breadth of Japanese toy-expertise, which makes him great to 'talk shop' with. If you're looking for anything that he doesn't carry, chances are that he can special order it.

Today was a particularly bad day at Mechahawaii- and by bad, I mean good for him, bad for my wallet. The new S.O.G. Gundam gashapon had arrived, along with Koto's Blue Knight 2 trading figures and various other mecha trading figure sets that I've been jonesing for. To make it worse, he also opens up a bunch of the blind boxes, so you can actually go through his display case and buy the figures that you're looking for. I take a slow look through all of the new inventory, as some random girl gushes about Bleach and Naruto to Sean. I'm not sure what it is, but something inside me withers and dies every time I hear those people talk. Yes, those people. Anyway, crazy anime-girl finally leaves and I can purchase my S.O.G. figures. Have a quick chat with Sean about Henshin Cyborg stuff, and then it's time to go.


I'm not even sure why I took this picture.

Ad Hawk II

XMAS CRONIC


No, it's not what happens when the holly falls into your stash and you accidentally smoke it.

This was the second-to-last figure in Kaiju-Taro's sleepless week of Christmas exclusives, and is made by the artist/company, Cronic. K-T even went the extra mile to put out this green colorway of the figure as a super-secret release; as you might expect, it sold out instantly.

T-REXESES


These babies are a collaborative effort of EXOHEAD and Skull Toys, and were released last November. After hearing the reports of the small production run, I thought I was SOL. But never fear, supplier extraordinaire hooked me up with a pair of these at a great price!

I love the packaging so much that I display them in the box!

SUNDAY WITH THE BOYS

A cool fellow Skullbrainer sold me the set of Takara's Walder Alien team recently. I really just wanted Dokuro King to go with my Skull-Rexes, but I couldn't say no to the trio at the price I was given. Thanks man! (you know who you are!)

DOGUMA THE STRIKEBACK!

Hot from the tables of the World Hobby Festival in December, K-T sent me this oh-so-cool new release from Dream Rocket's Akakage Kaiju line. Doguma Gyakushu ver. (literally means Counterattack ver.) is made with a chewy center of GID vinyl, wrapped in a hard candy shell of clear pink vinyl. And it couldn't be sweeter.

Oh, and it glows like you wouldn't believe. Pics when I get a black light.

TOY PR0N

If you were wondering what the grids were in my last photo, this is the answer. It's my attempt at amateur photography. I tried to use the cheapest equipment and things from around the house. I just need the dropsheet to clip to the wire frame in the back.

Thank you, Fisher Hawaii, for being the last company on the island to carry those little modular wire cubes.