Ichibanboshi Oddities

There are a handful of undocumented oddities that I have encountered among the collaborative figures produced by RealxHead [リアルヘッド] and Ichibanboshi [一番星]. The above two are examples that I have been lucky enough to add to my collection.   The first figure appears to be the head of the first release 'Kabuki' paint Ryuusei Ninja Ichibanboshi [流星忍者　一番星] placed on an unpainted black vinyl body, and given a black scarf. The first Kabuki Ninja was sold at the Shinto Gangu After-School Club event on June 20, 2009, so I would imagine this figure was distributed around that time. Many Ninjas use black vinyl, so that portion of the figure does not provide any particular insight.   The second figure is the Ryuusei Ninja in unpainted black vinyl with a yellow-orange cat eye. No scarf or eye-patch is included. This one could have been an unpainted test shot for one of the earlier releases of the Ninja, as a couple of them used a black vinyl base and a yellow-orange cat eye.   Other Ichibanboshi oddities that I have seen include:   Ryuusei Ninja in unpainted milky-white vinyl with a yellow-green cat eye (no eye-patch or scarf); Ryuusei Ninja completely painted metallic red with a yellow-orange cat eye and black scarf; Ryuusei Ninja in unpainted black vinyl with a grey cat eye (a fairly unusual eye color) and red scarf; Mikazuki Joe in unpainted black vinyl (probably more of a test shot than a mystery version); Mikazuki Joe in unpainted clear smoke vinyl with gold tinsel inside; Mikazuki Joe completely painted metallic red with a black scarf; and Mikazuki Joe in unpainted milky-white vinyl.   Stranger yet- most of these were still in their original packaging. They were also sold at around the same time, and alongside a large amount of more common Ichibanboshi figures, leading me to believe that someone was cleaning house.   It is still a mystery to me as to why these figures were produced and how they were originally distributed.

Mist-erious Bigaro

It was around 7 years ago that Mutant Bigaro [ミュータント ビガロ] became the first of the original 4 to receive RealxHead's [リアルヘッド] trademark 'Gold Mist' paint treatment.   Owing likely to tight production schedules, the Gold Mist Bigaro was produced on two different colors of base vinyl: translucent slime green and black. The slime green vinyl figures probably used the remaining supply of Bigaros from the slime green set released at the end of 2006 (technically becoming the fourth slime green Bigaro to be produced). I also suspect (but have not confirmed) that the slime green base figures were only sold in Japan at the Super Festival at which the Gold Mist Bigaro was initially sold. Once RxH produced the overseas allotment after the show, there was sufficient lead time to pull the figures in proper black vinyl. The slime green base figures are considered something of a rarity among RxH collectors and have commanded a significant premium in the past.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Unsung Heroes (and Villains)

Most collectors probably consider 2006 to mark the end of ‘classic’ RealxHead releases. These three figures were released very early in 2007, and are typically lumped by collectors with the less sought-after ‘modern’ era RxH (2007-09). However, I posit that they are as deserving of adulation as any figure released prior thereto.

Mutant Head [ミュータントヘッド], catalogue number MH-20, was the first of the three to be released as a phone-order sale in January 2007. Because Mori did not use online sales (which he still does not), collectors actually had to call him on the phone to buy these figures. Super7 was able to purchase a small allotment of this MH for semi-public sale on their online forum.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Pheyaos Man (フェオスマン)

Released in December 2011, this Pheyaos Man [フェオスマン] features a head cast in red glitter vinyl with its face painted a steely metallic blue. It's a really cool effect that suggests a corona of energy surrounding the hero's head, as seen with many fiery superheroes. There were two additional eyes included with this figure (I suppose, in the event you want to swap them out)- one yellow-green cat eye and one standard red eye. A thoughtful addition that I'm sure many collectors will appreciate, but I think the standard yellow eye matches best. The wood-style business card has also been replaced with a white card, which I assume is a running change.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Gatchigon (ガチゴン)

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[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] x Mirock Toy

A highlight of the San Diego Comic Convention in 2010 was the set of bizarrely gnarled and knobbled RxH figures revealed at the Global Figure Symposium booth. They looked more like table legs and Victorian era iron railings than the smooth, organic mutants to which we had become accustomed. Opinions were mixed (I love them) and some continue to hate the figures’ crouched, Gollum-esque stance, which has been compared to copping a poop in the bushes. As would later be related to us, these were not new RxH characters, but rather reinterpretations of Mutant Head, Mutant Evil and Chaosman by artist Kaneko Yohei [金子 ヨヲヘイ]. Kaneko brings a fresh look to soft vinyl toys due to his training in wood-carving and the traditional Buddhist artwork influences that inspire his work. As you may have now guessed, the original sculpts for these figures were created in wood, not clay. Kaneko produces his own line of soft vinyl figures under the company name “Mirock Toy” [ミロクトイ] and continues to work with RxH in developing new collaborative sculpts. Most recently, he created a large vinyl statue called the “Asura Trophy” [アスラトロフィー] and sculpted one version of it with a special RxH head. (Mori then combined the Asura head with the Mutant Head body to create the new Mutant Asura-Man [ミュータント　アスラーマン] figure.) You can read an interview with Kaneko at the sqdblstr blog here to see the unique perspective that he brings to the hobby.

Always a fan of experimentation, Mori continued to expand the RxH stable using Mirock’s Chaos head. First, the Chaos head was popped on to a mutant body to create a Mirock-style Chaosman. We’ll call it the Chaosman V2. Chaosman V2 was exclusive to the RxH show at the Kaiju Blue gallery in Shinjuku in October 2010. Like this Bigaro, very limited numbers were sold in blind bags. This is the only version of Chaosman V2 released to date.

The second Chaosman V2 was sold from Shinto Gangu in October 2011. While this one seems to reuse the body from a Nov. 2008 Mutant Head in a rather efficient manner (but what became of the head?), the head has been separately cast in clear blue vinyl and it is given a rather jaunty red scarf. I think the bright blue and red scarf play off each other particularly well here.

Mori scored a solid hit, however, when he merged the Mirock Chaos head with the body of Nextman, creating Chaos Next [カオスネクスト]! Nextman always cut an odd figure next to the other Mutant Zone characters because of its narrow torso and long, lanky arms- almost a step between the 1/8 RxH toys and the original Mutant Zone toys. But these proportions mesh well with the cylindrical Mirock Chaos head, as do the harder edges of the Nextman sculpt. Chaos Next debuted in the first week of December 2010 with a distinctly vintage aesthetic: a green-heavy paint scheme sprayed over beige-flesh color vinyl. This version of Chaos Next (above) was exclusive to a show held at Shinto Gangu (featuring RxH, Cord Viper, Skull Toys and Atom A. Armwrestler) on the day after Christmas. The cold weather and post-holiday timing made this a show for the truly hardcore! I prefer this black version of Chaos Next to the first release because it re-uses the classic paint scheme from MC-03.

Chaos Next was taken one step further in July 2011 when RxH released Fighter Chaos Next [ファイターカオスネクスト]. This character adopts the Mutant Chaos arm and probe in place of Nextman’s arms. There have already been several versions of this popular new character, including a couple in hyper-glitter vinyl and one in MC-03 black. However, the above Fighter Chaos Next (also released in July 2011) instantly grabbed my attention (and pulled out my wallet) with its bright neon colors on glow-in-the-dark vinyl. The lighter paint scheme jumps out from the other recent RxH with darker coloration, much like the MC-07 ‘Jyarinco’ Chaos.

Mirock and RxH's next collaborative figure, Mutant Asura-Man [ミュータント　アスラーマン], is formed by combining one of the three head types of Mirock's Asura Trophy with the RxH Fighter body (i.e., the Mutant Head body). The serene 'normal' head is Asura-Man No. 1; the cyclopean RxH head is Asura-Man No. 2; and the skull head is Asura-Man No. 3. Pretty convenient that the Trophy heads fit on the RxH bodies, no? This Mutant Asura-Man No. 2 was the first such mash-up to be released, sold in August 2011. Unlike later releases, it features an all-new paint scheme that has been likened to the classic Cosmo Knight Alpha exclusive RxH figures. (Several following releases appear to use the bodies from unsold RxH figures with a Mirock head painted up to match.) The head on this figure is not unpainted black vinyl, but is given a faint silver lustre to create a gunmetal finish.

Mirock Toy and RxH is a team-up that caught us completely off-guard, but now seems like an obvious fit. Mirock’s approach with traditional motifs and wood-working techniques ties in to RxH’s combination of Japanese and pop culture in its toys. For both RxH and soft vinyl toy collectors, Mirock’s work carries my highest recommendations.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] In Black

Sometimes less is more. And as any aficionado of JP vinyl will tell you, this is particularly true when it comes to black vinyl. Unpainted black releases have been a long-standing favorite of JP vinyl companies. Oftentimes an unpainted black first release is referred to as the ‘prototype’ version. This is a misnomer as it is really a production piece. (I believe this practice began with Secret Base, who released the first Skull Bee as an unpainted black “Prototype Ver.”) As such, these two are not prototypes in the technical sense; they are very limited unpainted releases that were given out to friends and regular customers at Shinto Gangu (probably around the 4th quarter of 2010).

For the RxH collectors with an elephant memory (or, I suppose, the Mook near at hand), this is the second unpainted black Mutant Head [ミュータントヘッド] to see public release. The first was MH-L02, an unpainted version of the legendary Thrash-Out MH. (Yes, it is the ugly R word- reissue. There may now be more than 10 unpainted black MHs in circulation. The horror.) For Mutant Evil [ミュータントイビル], however, this is the first unpainted black version to be (un)officially released. I know there is at least one collector out there that is very happy to see this out there. He probably already has one. I cannot deny the simple beauty of glossy, unpainted black vinyl. These are among the most photogenic toys that I own, and it is hard not to make them look absolutely amazing. Elegant. They are definitely elegant toys.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Day Lights Bigaro

This Bigaro [ミュータントビガロ] features a counterpart paint scheme to the ‘Night Lights’ Chaos seen in my last article. Instead of black vinyl, multi-color paints are sprayed over a white vinyl base in what I’ve termed the ‘Day Lights’ paint scheme. While I initially thought that the two paint applications were very similar, after seeing them side by side, there is much greater paint coverage on this figure and even a few splashes of gold paint. You can hardly see any of the white vinyl, except on the tips of the fingers and toes.

Bigaro was sold in very limited numbers (along with 11 other available figures) at RxH’s “Shinjuku Battle Royale” event, held at the Marui One / Kaiju Blue exhibition space in October 2010 (see coverage here from Kadomiumtank’s blog:　リアルヘッド真宿バトルロイヤル). I believe sales were conducted by giving attendees lottery tickets, by which they could win the ability to buy the blind-bagged figures. Not surprisingly, it is quite difficult to track down any of these releases. Like the previous Chaos, there is a generous helping of clear coat on this figure. I think the ‘Day Lights’ paint scheme works perfectly with Bigaro’s sculpt by taking advantage of the large, flat areas on the outer shell piece.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Night Lights Fighter Chaos

This Fighter Chaos [ファイターカオス] features a paint scheme by RealxHead used for several micro-run releases. It’s quite popular among collectors due to the eye-catching appearance of the multi-color paint on black vinyl. For lack of a better term, I call it the ‘night lights’ paint because it captures the look of out-of-focus city lights seen at night. Most of the ‘night lights’ RxH have been very limited event exclusives sold at the several RxH shows held at Kaiju Blue (back when the shop/gallery had a physical location). Mutant Evil and Mutant Doku-Rocks have been released in this scheme. I don’t think this Fighter Chaos was sold at Kaiju Blue; in fact, I’m not even sure of the release date as this is the only one of this figure that I have seen. One interesting note about this figure is that it features an extra-heavy coat of clear coat, which gives it a glossy, polished look in comparison to other RxH.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Hyper Glitter Chaos Man X

RxH fans have finally caught a lucky break in the last few months- a handful of U.S. stores have begun to carry new RxH releases after a long hiatus in availability. Rotofugi is one such store, and it was from there that I picked up this 1/8 RxH Chaos Man X [カオスマンX]. (Most people call these “adult RxH”, but whenever I hear that, I feel like I need to start putting little black bars over my photos.) Perhaps aptly named, Chaos Man X is something of an enigma. This is the fourth original head sculpt for the 1/8 Chaos Man body with a much more distinct ‘metal hero’ vibe than the other Chaos Men. Who is he/it? Who are any of them for that matter- No.2 looks like a bug for cripes sake. I like to imagine that X is a future evolution of Chaos Man 1 that travels back through time to change history. (My toys demand context.)

This Chaos Man X also features a really neat vinyl technique that Mori rolled out just recently. New hyper glitter vinyl! This may appear to be clear red vinyl, but it is really clear vinyl crammed with metallic red glitter. Crazy! Earlier ‘hyper glitter’ vinyls used rainbow glitter with different colors of clear vinyl to create this effect; the use of a single color of glitter here (rather than colored vinyl) is remarkably different and visually stunning. For some reason, the look of this vinyl reminds me of the ‘computing’ effect from 80s cartoons that would use flashing squares of lights to show intense processing action. You know what I mean. Love the streamlined Chaos Man X head, the slick hyper glitter vinyl and the metallic silver, red and blue that harkens back to robotic heroes of the 70s. This one definitely hits the mark on all fronts.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Chaos Trooper (Again)

The unpainted beige vinyl version of the Chaos Trooper shown above was displayed at Superfestival 56 in April 2011 and sold via Shinto Gangu at the end of that month. Onell also received an allocation of the initial release Trooper, which they sold via their webstore at the end of May 2011.

By my count, this is the 16th release of the Chaos Trooper. Using a subtle grey vinyl base with embedded micro-glitter, this color scheme is evocative of classic sci-fi and aliens. Suprisingly, this release appears to have been painted entirely with wipe and wash techniques- no airbrush! The restrained black wash does wonders to bring out the hard technical lines of the body design. This Trooper was initially a micro release from Shinto Gangu (or RealxHeads) in June 2011, with a few brought to SDCC the following month. As always, these Chaos have been entered into the official rolls at the Mutant Chaos database: http://robotxmonster.blogspot.com/2009/10/realxhead-chaos-family.html

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] Chaos Trooper

Future mutants from another universe! Since the tear in the space-time fabric caused by Pheyden’s exploration into the Mutant Zone, Phase-powered Chaos hybrids have streamed into the Glyos universe and back into the Mutant Zone. Are these peaceful brothers of Mutant Chaos or are they evil hybrid clones? And more importantly, who is behind the Chaos invasion??? The second crossover figure collaboration between RealxHead and Onell Design recently marched into the Mutant Zone- the Chaos Trooper [カオストルーパー]! Originally conceived as a Glyos-scale toy with custom urethane accessories, the Chaos Trooper has come full circle to be realized as a full-size RxH vinyl figure.

As fans of both Glyos and RxH will vividly recall, the Chaos Trooper originated in Glyos Custom Corps. 3.0 which merged RxH’s Mutant Chaos with Glyos-scale bodies. New Glyos-compatible parts were sculpted with the assistance of Lamour Supreme and resulted in two primary build types: the Chaos Soldier and Chaos Trooper. The Trooper features both a Chaos head and swivel-jointed probe arm on a Glyos body; the Soldier utilizes only the head.

The full-size Chaos Trooper recently debuted at Superfestival 56 in April of this year (2011) as a limited sale of unpainted beige-flesh vinyl versions (although this version would also see a release through Onell’s webstore in May 2011). This is the second version of the figure released, and the first painted version. Although it has only been around for a little more than a month, there are now at least 14 officially released versions of this figure!

The proportions of full-size RxH bodies are a perfect fit for the up-sized Trooper. While the details of the original Glyos figure are recognizable, they are also streamlined, which reminds me of adaptations made in the animation model for older cartoons. This toy uses nearly 100% new parts, which is very surprising given the cost of developing new molds. I believe even the head is a slightly resculpt from the original Chaos Man. Chaos Trooper introduces so many possibilities with a new probe arm part and a nearly full set of Glyos-style armor- I can’t wait to see what those mad scientists at Onell Design and RxH come up with next! Check out other Chaos variations at the Robot Loves Monster! database: http://robotxmonster.blogspot.com/2009/10/realxhead-chaos-family.html

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] October 2010 Mutant Head

Latest addition to the Mutant Head database:

Shinto Gangu micro store release, Oct. 2010 In mid-October 2010, Mori released the spiritual counterpart to the fabled ME-L03 Mutant Evil. Being an in-store micro release, it was perhaps, only a little easier to acquire than said Evil. I didn't think much when I saw the first photo of this MH, as the photo was poorly lit on a dark background. Clear purple with minimalist paint applications. Ho hum. But a later, better photograph later revealed it to be an instant stunner. The metallic paint is sprayed over a cream-colored base color, which gives it additional definition against the clear purple vinyl. Spray is a little rougher than I care for, but a minor issue on a superb version. As we close out the first year of micro-run store exclusive RxH, it is good to see a few of these gems make themselves available to foreign collectors.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] MH-L01

Check out the latest addition to the Mutant Head database (which, by the way, has been newly formatted!):

MH-L01, Feb. 2005 Getting closer to the beginning (MH-01), this is a pretty good consolation prize. This Mutant Head was the very first 'limited' RxH toy to be produced. It was sold in July 2004 at a store called "Toybox Hoop," which has likely since gone out of business (no web address to be easily-found, at least). Mutant Heads are peculiar in that there are a very large number of limited MH releases in comparison to the other figures. Many of them are very similar in appearance, and nearly all are virtually impossible to track down (in fact, this one was not even available to be photographed in the Super7 Mook!). I suspect that Mori was simply experimenting with various color arrangements on airbrushed toys (the Oni-Heads were primarily paint-masked, with the exception of one) without really intending to make a limited offering. MH-L01 is simply a painted version of the unpainted MH-01- and the paint style is nearly identical to the blue MH-06. It's very cool as a historic piece, but I'm not sure if I would buy it as a normal release.

[RealxHead / リアルヘッド] RHND

It is more than a little ironic that Mori Katsura's first toy- the Oni Head- is probably the least discussed RxH character. I was recently reminded of this fact by onwi of Skullbrain BBS, who took the time to craft this incredibly polished interview of Mr. Mori at his Aoto shop:

http://www.sqdblstr.com/interview/rxhinterview

By some divine coincidence, the no.1 OH came up for sale on a Japanese website at around the same time. This must have been fate. So I can now say that I own the very first RxH production toy.

The first thing that struck me upon receiving OH was that it looks just like the Hone-Borg. Well, not exactly. But the slimmer body type and Noh-mask facial features are clearly shared. And the two figures definitely have a historical connection being respectively the first RxH toy and first Shinto Gangu release (well, one of them). Could it be.... HENSHIN??