[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.

[Secret Base / シークレットベース] Pump It Up

Secret Base [シークレットベース] fight figures- love them or hate them- embody the essence of Japan's new soft vinyl toys. While simply constructed with minimal articulation, SB toys combine high-quality soft vinyl with multiple layers of nostalgia, toy history and pop culture to create a truly enjoyable product. Their universal themes (Halloween, music, sports, Henshin Cyborg, Astro-Mu 5) make the toys accessible to nearly all adult collectors. I still don't really get the whole fighting thing, but it's ok. SB's Pumpkin Brain was the first JP vinyl toy that really caught my attention when I began collecting in 2006. As an aficionado of Halloween TV specials and consumer products since my formative years, the idea of limited-run Halloween boutique toys made in Japan proved irresistible to my toy collector instincts. I can only assume that owner of SB shares my affection for the holiday.

The above two Pumpkins are the original releases from Halloween 2003; the orange was available at Secret Base's shop and the GID at TWIM's shop. Both were sold as unassembled figures in the plastic pumpkin container. (New collectors take note- the bubble wrap in the pumpkin is part of the original packaging; don't throw it away!) These are among the older SB toys, predating the popularization of Japanese vinyl, causing them to be highly coveted, top shelf material a few years back.

And I guess patience paid off, as I was able to purchase these recently for around original retail. Not U.S. retail. JAPAN retail. Crazy rolling googly eyes. The GID Pumpkin had been on my list of wants since I first began my collection, but as mentioned above, it was virtually unavailable at the time. I think this ranks among the best toys produced by SB; the clear head piece over a GID vinyl body is a nod to its SB predecessors and Henshin Cyborg lineage. The eyes and foot-wraps have just the right amount of subtle overspray from the airbrush. A surprise to me, the head piece is made of extremely rubbery vinyl, much like the old outer brains for the Skull Brain. Newer Pumpkins feature vinyl of the same consistency as the rest of the body (as do modern Skull Brains). That is not to say that the orange Pumpkin is at all unremarkable by comparison. This is a solid classic SB release. Just the right amount of overspray is present here as well, which contrasts nicely with the clean lines of the trunks and chest. But key to the orange Pumpkin is its amazing clean, glossy orange vinyl. I truly believe that the uncompromising quality of their vinyl material is what sets apart companies like Bounty Hunter, Secret Base and Gargamel from their compatriots. It's like cooking with good ingredients.

I also picked up this black Pumpkin Brain, which was sold two years after the above pair, as part of Super7's first Halloween collaboration with SB in 2005. Interestingly, the S7 black Pumpkin is a color-swap of the orange Pumpkin. There is a second black Pumpkin as well (a SB Fan Club release in 2005) which has black trunks and gloves instead of orange.

While it may be true that the numbers of fight figure collectors are dwindling down to a dedicated handful, the Pumpkin Brain- and really any of Secret Base's lineup from the past 9 years- is definitely worth a purchase if you have an interest in JP vinyl.

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- Credit and thanks to Super 7-The Book, vol. 5, issue 1 (2007) for release dates and information.

[Microman / ミクロマン] Amazon Acroyear

While this definitely deserves a thorough photo shoot, I am too jazzed about finding one of these to finagle with things like f-stops and QUALITY at the moment. Micro-nuts will immediately recognize this jungle-dwelling duo as the blue Amazon Acroyear set from the 1979 lineup of Rescue Microman. (For those wondering, the popular Kamen Rider Amazon series was long gone by then, having aired nearly 4-5 years prior.) While I am not much of a Microman guy (only a few boxes of those), the Amazon Acroyear has pretty much everything you could want in a toy. Mechanical parts and chrome. Yep. Clear bits? Yes, and AMAZING head sculpt that makes me want to roll it on the table for a saving throw. There's even a little vinyl monster henchman in the set to satisfy the sofvi heads.

In the box... and all the parts on the table. When you find one, be certain that the little plug bit is in the box. It is very easy to miss and without it, the back fan will not attach to the Acroyear figure. Unfortunately, whether or not the plug is in the box is not visible from the outside (but if the seller shows the figure with the back fan attached, you're good).

Great manga-style box art.

One side of the box has the name and catalogue no. of each Amazon Acroyear and its henchman monster: A371 Blue Amazon President [ブルーアマゾン総統] - Mushikeller [ムシケラー] A372 Red Amazon President [レッドアマゾン総統] - Tokageras [トカゲラス] A373 Green Amazon President [グリーンアマゾン総統] - Urokoman [ウロコマン] Of interest is the President ('Soutou') designation- Amazon shares body parts with its forerunner, the President Acroyear. I don't know what the official relation is between the two.

Another side of the box has a neat cutaway drawing of Amazon with some specs: Head --> Crystal Head [クリスタルヘッド] Spear --> Mad Spear [マッドスピア] Left chest --> Amazon Kaiser [アマゾンカイザー] (I will never understand the Japanese fascination with this word.) Chest --> Some sort of condenser device (Shukoushi souchi)? [集光子装置] (Someone help me with the proper terminology.) Back fan --> Cutter Wing [カッターウイング] Crotch --> Deathmad Transmitter [デスマッド発信器] Hand --> Punch Booster [パンチ倍力装置] I didn't get any of the paperwork with this one.

Oh yeah, onoya!

Searching the Japanese auctions isn't all about crafting the perfect search string and learning translations for your favorite toy brands and characters. Sometimes it's about typing in "kaiju" and rifling through the piles of B-Club reissues, bootleggy candy cards and eraser figures. Sometimes it's about having a few hours to blow on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

I almost passed over this vinyl when it blew by me on the auction lists (5,284 auctions don't exactly read themselves to you). The bag was so dirty, and at first glance I figured it was some cheap plastic/rubber knick-knack that you strapped to the top of an underwater motor for some o-furo fun. I was wrong about the plastic and rubber part. You know that feeling you get when you open up a trunk that you bought from the flea market and find the liner stuffed with $100s? Yeah, me neither. But I'm pretty sure it would be similar. So blah blah blah, I won the auction (surprising number of bids), paid the ludicrous EMS fees and had my musty knick-knack shipped to me in the Rolls Royce of international shipping options. I had to crop this photo to edit out all of the boxes and toy crap in the background. My house is like one of those scenes from Hoarders... 'cept my stuff is awesome. To find something this obscure and preserved in-bag, well, I felt a twinge of guilt opening it up (imagine the folks who open up Egyptian tombs must have similar sentiments). But the world must know. This is the logo for the production company: onoya. Not a name familiar to most vinyl toy collectors. I suspect that onoya was either a very small company that disappeared years ago, or a spin-off from another (possibly, better-known) company. I don't think a Japanese toy of the Loch Ness Monster (which, by the way, is what this toy represents) would be complete without a map explaining the location of the lake. The former U.S.S.R. is simply marked "Soviet." America (both North and South) is absent entirely. I love the quasi-scientific nature of the backer card in the bag; as with so many Japanese toys of yesteryear, there was just so much effort and detail put into every aspect of the product. The text on the header reads "Ness-ko Kaiju" [ネス湖怪獣], or Loch Ness Kaiju. There is even furigana above the katakana... maybe so the kiddies could read it? A little blurb below says, "Is it really there? It's said that there are people who have seen it... Realistic and cool floating action!" The little red and white doodad in the bag is a Mabuchi underwater motor that could be plugged into the vinyl toy, giving it a means of locomotion in the water. Mabuchi Motor is still around, incidentally, and I've seen this type of motor on a number of modern hobby products. Ok, enough with the foreplay... on to the main event! Out of the bag for the first time in 30 years!!!

I'm going to come out and say that the sculptor took a lot of creative liberties with the Loch Ness Monster. The back fin, maybe. But I don't think I've ever seen a representation of the creature with a nose horn. Most depictions go for a giant sea serpent, a plesiosaur or some kind of sauropod. This is definitely more interesting than the traditional stuff, so I say that I like it.

As I mentioned, this was not a cheap blow-mold or rubber toy- full vinyl with airbrushed paint. The style of the sculpt reminds me a lot of my Marushin dino, particularly the texture and head and eye design. It's also a huge treat to see the vintage metallic paint in pristine condition- often the metallics will oxidize due to exposure to sunlight, air, etc. leading to a drastically changed matte appearance on many vintage vinyls. The arrangement of metallic red and blue over green vinyl is a bit like some of the Hawaii-export Bullmarks (Ikarus Seijin)... although perhaps a bit unfitting for a creature from the depths of the chilly Scottish Loch.

Finally, turning the toy over, the company logo is printed on the belly of the toy, along with a tab to hold the motor (placed appropriately where most dinosaurs are depicted to have their genital flaps). And why is the logo on the belly, and not the foot? Well, each foot has a little hole melted into it. Serving as a kind of rudimentary ballast mechanism, the holes would allow the water to enter the toy and partially submerge it. Otherwise, it would probably just turn on its side and float. And so, for the sole purpose of your few minutes of amusement, I have defrocked a rare vintage toy. Happy Thanksgiving.

[Cronic / クロニック] Black Parade Maverasu

Black Parade! Those words will play at the heartstrings of any Cronic collector. What is Black Parade? Black Parade was a series of four shows showcasing Cronic's work that began in October 2007 and ended at the close of 2008. The first show was held at Super7, and the remaining three at One-Up in Nakano Broadway. Each show featured a large number of one-off customs from Cronic　[クロニック], with original artwork also present in the first show. Black Parade was a display of Cronic's talent in peak form; sadly, it would also effectively be his last hurrah before disappearing into the woods with his airbrush, paint and a large assortment of 1/12 scale fantasy weapons.

This Maverasu is from the 2nd Black Parade show (the first Japan show)- you can see it front and center in the display case in many photos of the event. The little slip of paper beneath the toy is sort of a certificate of authenticity included with all items sold at the Japan shows (One-Up also marked each certificate with a special rubber stamp).

Besides being my absolute favorite Cronic character, this Maverasu combines two great themes of Cronic toys: stuff inside and clear color fades. When you get down to it, no one really can blend colors quite like Cronic. Particularly on clear vinyl. His sense of color arrangement is unmatched in the sense that he can bring together dissimilar colors to create a surprising and balanced arrangement. The metallic lavender over clear aqua on this Maverasu is a perfect example of this. The beads are also glow-in-the-dark. ...kind of. The red seems rich and decadent against the pastels elsewhere on the toy. After putting my Cronic collection on indefinite hiatus these past two years, I am thrilled to start it up again with this fantastic piece of soft vinyl history.

Check out more Black Parade coverage here: Black Parade @ Super7 (via Toybot Studios) Black Parade 1 @ One-Up (via Kaiju Korner) Black Parade 1 @ One-Up (via kadomiumtank) Black Parade 2 @ One-Up (via kadomiumtank) Black Parade 3 @ One-Up (via kadomiumtank)