[Denjin & Inspire] Soft Vinyl Underground.

Gundam vinyls not made by Bandai or Banpresto? Yup.

Although relatively unknown and exceedingly difficult to find, there are a few soft vinyl toys of Gundam design produced by small 'underground' companies, much in the way of neo-kaiju and fight figure vinyls. Both of these are licensed articles (as evidenced by the silver sticker on the header), probably produced and sold under a one-day license at a hobby show, such as C3xHobby or Wonderfestival.

The round, green item on the left is none other than that stumpy Hygogg-child, AMX-109 Kapool (Turn A version)... ready for some amphibious bathtub combat. Produced by Inspire a few years ago, the header orders you to, "Ofuro de Asobou! [Play with it in your bathtub!]" I've seen an unpainted aqua version of the Kapool, as well as a transformed Mermaid Gundam- perhaps there are others in this series... This must be one of the first produced, as the header is just plain paper with b/w text where the others were more elaborate and in color.

On the right, we have a rather large-ish sofubi of MS-05B Zaku I. This one was produced in 2002 by a mysterious company named Denjin and/or "D". There's almost no information about this company on the web. They have been steadily producing these each year at C3, and the lineup includes the Zaku II, Dom, Zugok, Gelgoog, Gelgoog Cannon, GM and Gundam (and all the distinctive color combinations that they entail). These are standard size vinyls, and stand about 9-10" tall.

[RxH] The Real Face of New Head.

On my recent trip to Japan, I was fortunate to have the time to visit Shintou Gangu [真頭玩具] in Aoto, Katsushika-ku. For the uninitiated, Shintou Gangu is the storefront for Katsura Mori's line of vinyl toys, Real x Head [リアルヘッド]. The shop opened its doors in early 2008, and serves as both a release location for new RxH and a veritable museum of past releases.



Owing perhaps to Katsura-san's daytime obligations, Shintou Gangu is open only from 6-9 pm on most weeknights (weekend hours may vary). It's about an hour roundtrip from central Tokyo, assuming that you do not get lost along the way. Aoto is a train stop on the Keisei local line; you will most likely transfer to Keisei from the JR system at Nippori station. Take the exit to your left when leaving the station and turn left at that exit, follow the tracks until you see a 7-11 down the street to your left. If you follow that street, you will eventually come to Shintou Gangu. Although undoubtedly quieter at night, the Aoto area is an area that would be aptly described with words like "charming" and "quaint"- it has the feeling of Tokyo, circa 20 years ago. I think we passed the local mom-and-pop butcher shop along the way to the store.



Shintou Gangu is not a large location, but it is spacious enough to be a welcome change from the claustrophobic shopping experiences of Nakano and Akihabara. There were two other guys (men in their 30s- OTAKU!) in the store when I arrived. We all did a dance around each other to check out the various things in the cases. You know the browsing dance if you have gone toy shopping in a Mandarake. To the left are the 'vintage' cases, with primarily old releases and prototypes. To the right are the items for sale and recently sold. For some unexplained reason, there is a small sink in the corner. It, too, is covered in toys.

The case of new stuff (mini case to the left as well). To my sadness, the mini Thunder Ragoon was already gone. But I did buy the slime green Hone Borg [モヒカン・ホネボーグ１号], which I really really wanted. Getto!











This neat clear, glittery Ghost Sider [ゴーストサイダー] was in the corner of a case. Ghost Sider is a collaboration between RxH and a friend. I wonder if this will pave the way for glittery RxH...



I should have paid more attention to the 'vintage' case, but I did see this new gold Bigaroid [モビル獣ビガロイド]. Tanomu, Katsura-san!



Still can't remember this lil' guy's name, but he sure is creepy. Maybe he'll be in the other corner when you turn the lights on in the morning.



And, yes... he did take the time to snap a photo with a fan. Someone call Kumon- their sign escaped again!



Shinto Gangu is a toy store, but there is so much more to that place than just things for sale. Perhaps it is the heady bouquet of vinyl fumes in the little glass box, but you leave with the distinct impression that this is a place where one man is making his dreams come true. There is no fashion tie-in or fine art aspiration in RxH. I think it was the Ninja Turtle and Star Wars toys piled on top of a case that really brought this home. These are simply toys- sure you might not give them to your kids at 3800 yen a pop, but there is no ultra-pricey, handpainted artsy stuff being handed down at Shintou Gangu. Nope. Just toys.



So I also bought one of these yellow-capped Mutant Heads [ミュータントヘッド]. These seem to be the ugly ducklings of recent releases, which may or may not be telling, now that the frenzy has died down. To be honest, I did not care for the recent RxH toys that used paint masking (as opposed to freehand sprays). I think you need to mentally remove them from the realm of 'traditional' new vinyl (oxymoron not intended) to enjoy what is going on here. Think of the toys that debuted in the late 80s and early 90s with outlandish colors and themes. Most times you will find these with the familiar price-slashed Kaybees tags still stuck to the cardback- evidence that they were ignored by all of us kids back then. But that has made them interesting collector's pieces, for better or worse.



Every great toy line goes through a period of renewal and transition. Transformers had neon-hued European exclusives and Gen 2, before finding a new footing in Armada. Likewise, Ninja Turtles had a few lesser known Metal and Super Turtle lines before it was reinvented in the early 2000s. Assuming that this is all still around 20, 30 years down the road, I think these releases will occupy a special place in collections because of their current unpopularity. But that is the cynical adult collector in me speaking. You should just enjoy the toys.

[Amapro] New Wave Vinyl Begins.

Way, way before new wave J-vinyl was given its own showcase in Mandarake, there was a quirky toy company called Amapro [アマプロ] and its original tokusatsu hero, Armor Jack [アーマージャック]. This hero's debut came in a 1996 2 minute 40 second promotional film, in which Armor Jack (imagine a blend of Godman and Megaloman) is pitted against (and kills) two monsters. Although there was concern over the viability of the Armor Jack concept, Core Magazine picked up on the two-sworded hero and sponsored production of VCD episodes. From 1997 through 2001, 13 episodes were released in total.



Showing perhaps incredible foresight, Amapro released a set of bagged vinyl figures in connection with the short movies. Armor Jack and his opponents, Rarigonika [ラリゴニカ] and Naruton [凶悪怪獣ナルトン], were featured in the lineup. Each came bagged with a cardboard backing and attached bromide (4 types in total). A Medicom RAH-style Armor Jack toy would eventually be released as well. I would guess that these first figures were released in the late 90s or early 2000s at latest- probably making them contemporaries of the legendary Fink Shit fight figure. Unfortunately, they have become quite difficult to find, and it was only through a stroke of luck that I found these for sale.

This video, found on Youtube from user 3bainoakaihito, is probably some or all of the original 2' 40" footage from Armor Jack's debut. Totsugeki! Armor Jack!

[DAGURA!] The Returner.

So I find myself again in the heart of the bustling metropolitan machine that is Tokyo. It always strikes me as amazing- even as a return visitor many times over- that there can be such a volume of people and machines and buildings folded into such a compact area. But the result is not squalor, as surely as would happen if a similar situation were to be found in the U.S. Instead, the feeling is as though each person, delivery truck, apartment building and street lamp is part of an intricate construction, like the circuit board of an immense electronic device. I guess we are the particles of dust on the circuit board.

Some observations on the way here.

- Early airport shuttles are the worst. My driver arrived 20 mins. late yesterday morning (5 a.m.) while it was raining. What blew me away is that he actually complained that I was not out there 10 minutes ago, because he was "just up the street and calling my phone." Ok. One, I most certainly was out there waiting for his tardy self 10 minutes ago- as I had been for the 15 minutes before that. I'm sorry if I can't stand in the rain waiting for you. Two, it was raining. Does he expect me to walk up and down the street searching for the van? I think the way it works is that YOU find ME, my friend. I regret paying tip in advance.

- Next time I'm going to go through customs with a shirt that says "ME AMERICAN." They keep trying to get me to go through the domestic arrivals line.

- Why do Japanese office buildings have gigantic, non-reflective windows? I feel like I'm looking into an ant colony when we pass them on the freeway. Strangely, the residential buildings generally have very tiny windows in comparison.

- As one sign read: "Family Mart / TOBACCO AND LIQUOR." Come on kids- Daddy's gonna git loaded!



I have a direct line of sight to Mt. Fuji. Fantastic.

More later.

Rainy day and day.

I'm probably breaking any attempt at a New Year's resolution by posting on my blog about toys at 3 a.m. in the morning, but what the hell. I guess if you subscribe to the notion that your actions on New Year's Day will be repeated throughout the year, I couldn't be doing anything else at the moment.

My trip home to Hawaii was kicked off by a 12-hour blackout in Honolulu on the day after Christmas. Our dinner consisted of Corn Nuts, cookies and soda pop. Ironically, we were headed toward a fairly nice restaurant in town when the lights went out. I took the photo below in the morning from our hotel balcony in Waikiki. As my brother put it, it's just like "I Am Legend"... but with people. Indeed.



The rest of the trip was rainy, but familiar. Hilo is one of those places that you don't miss until you visit it again.

Happy New Year, everyone.