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EDIT 3/22/09: The title of this post is now ironic, because it rained really hard last night.
I was recently hooked up with some very cool CLEAR vinyls by a couple of great people...
Balbagon [バルバゴン] by Dream Rocket [ドリームロケット]! Yajima-san must like green, because there has been an abundance of clear neon green releases as of late. And that's ok with me, because I love green!
This Balbagon was released at Hobby Complex 06 in December 2008. An awesome painted version (also in clear green) was also sold at that show, and featured a new paint wash technique that really brings out the texture on this sculpt. These two toys, plus a new GID base yellow Balbagon, were sold (and sold out) on Dream Rocket's website tonight. I missed the yellow one!
And in the other corner, there is Bengal [ベンガル] by Nakayoshi [なかよし]! It seems as though Nakayoshi has been experimenting with clear vinyl because this the first clear piece that I have seen from them.
Bengal is Nakayoshi's latest original kaiju, and has been sold in elusively small quantities at various Japan toy shows. This clear version was given away as a lottery prize at a Patchi-Summit in November 2008. How did I get it? Hmmmm.. ;)
This guy is a lot smaller than I thought he would be (some of the Ultra kaiju previously sold by Nakayoshi are enormous). But that is not necessarily a bad thing.
Nakayoshi's clear vinyl is very thick and pliable- about the closest to Gargamel vinyl that I have seen yet. It also brings out some of the more interesting textures in the sculpt... check it out- just like the Hexalite inserts in Reeboks!
Keep your eyes on the bottom right menu. I am working on the next installment of the Dream Rocket database, featuring Gumoz. This is my favorite Dream Rocket kaiju, so I'll be sure to do my best.
As a firm believer in Toy Karma, I also feel that there are some collecting events that are fated to happen.
An expert on Hawaii supernatural lore once wrote of the concept of inexplicable causality that leads certain people to places and events that when viewed in hindsight, are part of a clearly intended chain of seeming coincidences. The implication is that we can be guided by otherworldly forces to an inevitable result. I guess if you are cynical, this can be explained away by our tendency to find patterns in otherwise unrelated events. Sort of like seeing shapes in clouds. If you aren't cynical, hoo boy, chicken skin...
I think if you have been seriously collecting THINGS for a reasonable length of time, you've probably experienced this. You find one random toy and decide to learn more, only to find that you owned its companion piece as a child.
When I was in Shibuya Mandarake last fall, I found this unpainted Astromons toy sitting humbly in the back of a display case. I knew that this version was produced by Nakayoshi in collaboration with Dream Rocket and Shono Kikaku, so I picked it up. The one thing that bugged me was that it was ORANGE. As far as I knew, there had only been releases on purple base vinyl.
In April of this year, an auction materialized on Yahoo Japan for a painted version of the orange Astromons- still in the original bag, no less! Let's just say it wasn't cheap. My speculation is that this orange version was sold at around the same time as the pink "Hawaiian" Red Jack (also by Nakayoshi), as the seller had both toys up for auction. That Red Jack is estimated to have been produced in less than 10 pieces total, so I would figure this one to be similarly low production. However, while I have seen at least 3 Red Jacks sell, I've never seen another orange Astromons.
It's kind of a weird feeling when I display these two pieces side by side- knowing that this is probably the only time that they have been united since they were in the maker's studio. It is memorable events like these that make the hobby a worthwhile pursuit for me.
