Perfect for soft vinyl or Ultra monsters fans

It started on a very rainy day.

That day, a friend of mine called me and said that he had some toys at very low price that he want to sell. When office hours ended, I stormed through the rain (literally) to meet my friend and his toys. Turns out they were soft vinyl Ultra Monsters. When he told me that they’re only 50 cents a piece, I snagged a whole lot of them. Now, I’m going to review my favorite of the bunch. Everybody’s favorite Spaceman, Baltan Seijin.

They Toy is bagged with a header card. The header itself had a lot of pictures of Ultraman foes. Nothing really special. It’s just meant to be opened I guess.

They toy itself is made of soft vinyl. Almost like today’s soft vinyl figures, only it’s a bit softer, probably due to the age of the toy. But after all these years, it pretty much stands the test of time.

The sculpt is very crisp, considering its age (although it is 1995 release, its based on the 1983 molding). His face is perfectly sculpted right to the, eh, limbs in his face. Anyhow, it’s Baltan we all love to see. The paint itself is probably the best bits. It’s very clean with very little paint slop, and on some parts it’s being weathered. Very-very cool. I forgot if it is show accurate, but I think it is.

The toy is 6 inches tall. Considering the material it is very light.

It has limited poseability. Only his hands, wrists and waist moves, so it’s just your basic soft vinyl figure. But, soft vinyl is not famous for their range of movement, right? Limited as it is, Baltan still can do the standard action pose.

I’ve got nothing to say anymore. This is good quality, cheap toy but it is getting hard to find in these days. Baltan Seijin is perfect for soft vinyl or Ultra monster fans.

Ultraman King (ウルトラマンキング) is – big surprise here – king of the Ultramen.

Ultraman King (ウルトラマンキング) is – big surprise here – king of the Ultramen. He comes from the series Ultraman Leo, making his first appearance in episode 26.

From Wikipedia:

He is considered to be and respected as the "God" or Elder of all Ultra heroes. Despite the name, he is not the king of the Land of Light. He is supposedly all powerful and undefeatable, but lives on his own on the King Planet. Before Leo encountered him, no Ultran had ever seen him in the flesh.

His age was reviewed to be 300,000 years in the 2003 movie New Century Ultraman Legend 2003 - King's Jubilee (新世紀ウルトラマン伝説 2003 - King's Jubilee Shinseiki Urutoraman Densetsu), but the chronological order of this work is unclear. In manga, particularly Ultraman: Super Fighter Legend, he has been depicted as a legend who has defeated many monsters on his own.

Ultraman King is part of the Ultraman Hero Series. Released in 2000, Ultraman King is made of soft vinyl and only has 3 points of articulation (waist, arms).

I picked up King Joe at the last East Coast Summit from my pal and fellow contributor Roger. I was jonesin’ for gokin and he had my fix.

I picked up King Joe at the last East Coast Summit from my pal and fellow contributor Roger. I was jonesin’ for gokin and he had my fix.

For those who have not read the previous three King Joe reviews, let me recap. King Joe is an evil robot from space, and an enemy of Ultra Seven. Ultra Seven, of course, is one of the Ultraman shows, airing in 1967.

This toy was released by Popy in 1978 as part of the Chogokin line of toys. Each chogokin had a number designation – King Joe is GA-94.

King Joe separates into four separate parts. The legs are sturdy and largely made out of diecast metal.

The abdomen is a small plastic part. Included are attachable antennae for when the abdomen ship is not attached.

The upper body is also largely metal. It clicks into the abdomen and features cool holographic stickers on the chest.

The head and shoulders attach to the top of the chest via a clip. The whole top assembly is plastic. Each arm features a firing fist which can be replaced with one of the included yellow missiles.

I love the funky inaccurate toys like this, with giant name stickers on the waist. It reminds us that these were toys and were primarily designed for fun, not collecting.

The Soul of Chogokin King Joe (超合金魂 キングジョー) is the 37th release in the SOC line and it comes today courtesy of betaToys.com

The Soul of Chogokin King Joe (超合金魂 キングジョー) is the 37th release in the SOC line and it comes today courtesy of betaToys.com

Jump to Video Review

King Joe was released May 26 2007, and retailed for ￥8,190. He was one of the classic villains from the tv show Ultraseven (ウルトラセブン), which aired from 1967 - 1968. King Joe first appears in the episode "The Ultra-Garrison Goes West part 1" which aired originally on 1/7/68.

King Joe also appeared in the 1999 OVT Ultra Seven Series, using the same character designs with modern special effects.

If you are an Ultraseven or Tokuatsu fan, this chogokin King Joe is a must buy. Fans who are not familiar with the series may regard King Joe as an oddity or a curiosity, but I urge you to check it out. King Joe is a fun toy.

The toy consists of 4 separate parts that combine to form the mighty robot. Each part has a flying mode in addition to being a component of the combined King Joe. Prior to this review, I didn't know that King Joe could come apart!

You can display King Joe in either Robot mode or as the individual parts. Each individual part is supported by a clear stand, which can be stored in the base when not in use.

The leg section of King Joe has the most complicated transformation of the set, and features the most metal. It is almost all diecast. Transformation is simple; just open the leg panels at the rear, rotate the legs, and close. The antenna get turned around and placed in the body. Each antenna is actually held in place by a spring, to prevent breaking. Included is an alternate set of antenna, but I don't know what their purpose is. They seem essentially the same.

The next part is the lower torso of King Joe. In flight mode, you just pull out two antenna from the top. Thats it. No metal in this one.

The upper chest of King Joe also has a lot of metal. small wings at the top and bottom fold out in flight mode.

The head unit is surprisingly light. It features an interesting method to switch from regular antenna to king Joe's antenna. Check out the video to see this in motion, but it just shows that Bandai still has surprises in store for us. The top section also features the only "cheat" on the whole toy. While most of the toy is a "perfect" transformation (meaning no parts left over), Bandai relies on a combined hand unit to tie the flight mode together. When combining, this unit is swapped out for normal, articulated hands.

In Robot mode, King Joe stands about 7 inches tall. Combination is achieved by magnetic connection points and one snap joint. It looks great, but the magnets are not very strong. If you try to pick King Joe up by the head, the head will come off. The body is just too heavy to support the weight.

The toy technically has 13 points of articulation, but movement is limited by the design. The arms and waist move fine, but the leg motion is limited especially at the hips. I don't have a huge problem with this though, as King Joe is not a dynamic character. In the show he moves rather slowly, and any quick motions are achieved by separating and flying around.

The display base features stands to support King Joe in robot or flight mode. There is also a spring loaded trap door in the base that houses a miniature Pedan Seijin spaceship.

While not a traditional super robot, King Joe is a worthy release. Even if you are not a huge Ultraman / Tokuatsu fan, this a toy that is fun to fiddle with and transform.You can get King Joe at betaToys.com.

King Joe is one of the Ultraman Sofubi to end up sold in the US as part of Godzilla’s Gang. These toys were individually bagged and came with a header card that listed all of the figures in the line. At the time, these sold for about 99 cents each!

Back in the late 70s, American toy maker Mattel struck a deal with Japanese toy maker Popy. Mattel got the rights to sell a bunch of Popy  Chogokin and Jumbo Machinder figures under the Shogun Warriors line. In addition to the toys that became the Shogun Warriors, Mattel also had the Godzilla license.

Mattel once again looked to Popy for toys to add to their new line of Godzilla toys. This line would be known as Godzilla’s Gang. These toys were taken from Popy’s series of standard soft vinyl (or Sofubi) figures. Of course, Godzilla was included in the line, but in an odd move, the rest of the series consisted of Ultraman villains! These figures were made by Popy in Taiwan, not Japan.

King Joe (キングジョー) is one of the Ultraman Sofubi to end up sold in the US as part of Godzilla’s Gang. These toys were individually bagged and came with a header card that listed all of the figures in the line. At the time, these sold for about 99 cents each!

The figure itself is nice. King Joe is molded out of a purple-brown vinyl and is highlighted with sprays of silver, blue and light purple. The figure is articulated at the waist and arms.

One thing to note is that this figure is often found with its antenna broken.

Yup, the brotha's at it again...another custom glowie!

Hey, all! Sanjeev here, back again with another custom glowie by yours truly! Some of you may remember my first custom glowie, the Marmit Vinyl Paradise Garamon/Garadama piggy bank that I finished in glow spraypaint a while back. Well, when the opportunity to pick up a cheap M1 Giant Sized Garamon in unpainted glow vinyl came up, I hopped right on it knowing it would look great along with the Marmit!

Now, I got the inspiration for this figure from Nekrodave, who picked up the blue spray version of this figure some time ago. And y'know something? He was damn right: this is one creepy figure. The babydoll eyes are just weird! I LOVE IT!!

So, just as before, I grabbed my trusty glow spraypaints from ReadySetGlo and my Parafilm-M (for masking), and went to town!

The results are pretty killer, if I do say so myself! ;)

My creativity was a tad hampered by my previous efforts since I wanted this figure to match the piggy bank in terms of color scheme. If I hadn't painted up the Marmit previously, I would have tried a more daring color scheme (maybe blue or pink and yellow). As it is, however, I still dig it. It came out well, I think, and any experience with these tricksy paints is valuable (you may recall, my only other endeavor with glow spraypaint was Daimajin). The stuff's real tough to work with...

So, sticking with the red color scheme begun with the piggy bank, I tried something I learned with Daimajin: I sprayed down from above with red spraypaint after spraying up from below with purple (this sorta complements the red I used on Garamon and the purple I used on Garadama for the piggy bank).

The overall effect is pretty cool! If you notice, I also masked off the middle of his chest with torn masking tape to make an interesting pattern. Over the gap, I blended in orange glow spraypaint, again to match the piggy bank.

As you can tell, I touched up his nostrils with black acrylic--he kinda didn't look right at this scale without it. And finally, I masked around the face, hands, and feet, and sprayed his lips, toes, and tops of his hands orange.

One of the last steps, of course, was sealing the paint job. As before, I used Minwax Polycrylic: three quick coats and some light brushing to remove excess dust, and I was pretty much done. The only thing I had to be careful about was the eyes. I had to cover just around the eyes with a good seal to protect the mechanisms from getting gummed up with the varnish. Worked out great, see!?

Aiight, aiight...I know what you're saying: enough yappin', let's get to the glowie shots!

Done:

Not a bad effect at all, huh? When fully charged, the red glow color glows just as long and intensely as the bare glow vinyl. The orange and purple, however, last a little bit longer. The effect over time is pretty cool: the green glow vinyl and the red dim a bit after a while, but the orange stays a bit brighter...and the purple undertones on the down-facing surfaces glow a bit brighter blue.

My spray coats were a bit thicker than I would've liked, but it creates a stronger, more contrasting look under normal light. Even a little too thick, the glow effect of the paint matches well against his face and other exposed bits.

Finally, I'll leave you with a group shot! From left to right, we have the Popy/B-Club reissue of the original Bullmark mold, the giant M1, and the Marmit piggy bank:

I never had any desire for the removable mask style of hero vinyls. But you know how it is, once you get one....

This is one of those toys that makes me really glad I don't actually live in Japan. I picked this up at one of the consignment shops at Nakana Broadway for about 2,000 yen. If I had treasures like this at prices like that available to me everyday, I'd be completely destitute in a matter of days. It's particularly frustrating since until buying this, I never had any desire for the removable mask style of hero vinyls. But you know how it is, once you get one......

This character is Hayata (ハヤタ隊) from the classic show "Ultraman" (1966-1967, 39 episodes). The essence of Ultraman was merged with Hayata and is released to fight evil whenever it threatens. Though Hayata and Ultraman are two different beings, Hayata is kind of like Clark Kent in a way.

This vinyl was released by M1-go in 2001 and while it's somewhat plain, it has an undeniable charm. It's simple colors, unthreatening stance and clean cut looks harken back to a more innocent age. Most toys these days, good guys and bad, look like they wanna rip your face off. Hayata looks like he'd offer to carry your groceries home. But he is in the business of fighting monsters so he does carry a weapon, a small pistol on his waist. But he doesn't actually use it since it is molded in place.

As I mentioned before, Hayata has a removable helmet. It seems made out of a very flexible rubber and has a slit running up the back to allow it to be more easily put on and taken off.

This vinyl figure stands just a hair shy of 10" tall and is articulated at the neck, shoulders and hips. The vinyl feels solid and the paint job is sparkling. Hayata came sold in a bag with a header card and also features an M1 card fastened to his left wrist via an elastic. I don't foresee at time in the near future when I'll be going out of my way to collect this kind of toy. But this one looks really nice and should I stumble across any more at a reasonable price, you can bet I'll not hesitate to expand my collection!

I bought this for my kids, but they really didn’t care for it. They mostly played with the Ultraman monsters I brought back instead.

Ultraman Leo (ウルトラマン レオ) was the seventh show in the Ultraman series of programs from Tsuburaya Productions. It lasted a total of 51 episodes from April 12, 1974 to March 28, 1975.

The figure is part of Bandai’s Ultraman Hero Series, a line of affordable vinyl representations of Ultra-Heroes spanning the entire run of the series. This figure was purchased at the Toys R Us in Ikebukuro in March of 2006. I bought this for my kids, but they really didn’t care for it. They mostly played with the Ultraman monsters I brought back instead.

Boring in and of itself, but even bland can add variety to another-wise colorful kaiju shelf!

When JoshB and I hit Tokyo back in February of last year, we couldn't have gone about things more differently. Each day we would head out to a different toy shop or three and each day he would return with a pile of new goodies, while I barely bought anything at all. But on the last day of the trip, after having failed to find a nice enough jumbo to entice me to buy, we hit Nakano Broadway for one last spree. It was here that I did the vast majority of my shopping for the trip. The Nakano Broadway mall is famous for having so many stores and consignment shops, but the one thing I found out was that the main Mandarake store there carried a bunch of VERY cheap vinyls. Fortunately I'm not too discriminating when it comes to vinyl kaiju so I basically just starting grabbing whatever was cheap and looked halfway decent. I scored this M1 Keronia-Seijin(ケロニア星人) for about 1,000 yen.

I'd always seen these peach vinyls on eBay and the like, but always thought they were too boring to bother with. But they actually don't look half bad mixed in with many other more colorful kaiju. And this one in particular is probably my favorite of the three that I bought. Something about the goofy smile on his face makes me laugh. And besides, who can resist such a well dressed kaiju?

Keronia-Seijin techincally has five points of articulation (hips, shoulders and neck), but the legs can barely move at all. It is approximately 9.5" tall and was a lucky bag exclusive.

Should you run out and buy this guy? Probably not. Should you buy it if you are in Japan and see it for about 1,000 yen? Of course!

Bootleg Ultra Kaiju from Return of Ultraman

This is a bootleg of the Ultra Kaiju Bemustar (or Bamstar) made by Bandai.

Bemustar comes from the series “Return of Ultraman”, also known as Ultraman Jack.

The toy is a bootleg of #38 in the Ultra Kaiju series of Soft Vinyl figures. While the original is cast in a black vinyl, this one is cast in a light purple vinyl.

Quality is generally poor and the figure has no identifying marks.