There’s really not much you can do to pose it, but really that’s not the point of a figure like this. Its meant to look good, and it does that well.

Marmit’s line 15” vinyl super robots is called Fierce Legend of Super Robots (FLOSR for short). The line covers classic robots from the 70s and 80s and includes all your favorites such as Gaiking, Mazinger Z and UFO Robo Grendizer.

These not-quite-jumbos have an imposing presence in any collection, and feature fantastic detail. Each comes in an identical window box.

UFO Robo Grendizer is 15 inches tall and made out of hard vinyl. The figure is solid – you can feel the quality when you pick it up. The familiar design of Grendizer is rendered perfectly in vinyl.

Articulation is limited – head, shoulders, and legs at the hips. There’s really not much you can do to pose it, but really that’s not the point of a figure like this. Its meant to look good, and it does that well.

The Marmit logo and copyright are embossed in the feet. On my specimen, the feet don’t sit exactly level, but this is a common thing with vinyl figures.

Also, Marmit typically runs FLOSR several times, with slight variations in paint, but as far as I can tell, there isn’t any sort of marking on the box to tell which version you are getting. Sanjeev tells me that this may be a second or third version, due to the tone of the red.

These are pretty common figures, but beware of bootlegs. The bootlegs can be spotted due to them being packaged in a blue window box.

So why don't i have more of these? The designs are awesome, and they look killer as a group. Maybe its time to look into the rest of them.

The wise old leader of the yokai!

When I made the decision to buy my 4 yokai monsters, it was based largely on the belief that Kara-Kasa was the coolest and most desirable of the set. I mean, if he wasn't included, I likely wouldn't have bit. But later, I really came to appreciate the appeal of Abura Sumashi ( 油すまし). This character was the wise leader of the yokai in their battle against the evil Daimon in the film "Yokai Dai-Senso" from 1968. If yokai were Jedi, this guy would be Yoda.

Standing 6.5" tall, this toy features just one single point of articulation, with the head being able to turn. That's it. No other action features. But it's the sculpt of that head that is the real appeal. Pointed at the top with outstretched ears on the sides, the head of Abura Sumashi appears made out of stone and had numerous subtle bumps and ridges that are best appreciated in person. The sly, mischievous grin belies the serene look of wisdom set into the large, dark eyes. It's quite unlike any other Japanese toy I have, most of which are either ferocious monsters or inanimate robots.

A long coat made out of straw (or vinyl depicting straw, of course) covers the rest of his body, down to the bare legs. Abura Sumashi wears no shoes. The character is known to carry a staff, but the toy did not come with one. There are indentations in the hands (not holes, mind you, just indentations) but I do not believe that the toy ever came with any accessories, even though the shopkeeper I bought it from pointed there and said, in broken English, "missing part". Regardless, no specimen I've ever seen had anything in the hands so if I am missing a part, I'm certainly not alone in that regard.

Between the stony head and the straw coat, this toy is the most "Earthy" toy I have, which really sets it apart from the rest of my vinyl collection. Although the character is supernatural in essence, it seems far more natural when placed next to space creatures and nuclear mutated giant monsters.

If you are interested in learning more about traditional Yokai monsters, be sure to check out the upcoming book Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide. It's available this month in Japan and later this year in both the US and the UK. The book is written by good friend Matt Alt (of ToyboxDX fame) and his wife Hiroko Yoda, both stars of the "Great Yokai War".

At least it has legs.

Although ugly in it's own right, this representation of Mazinger Z may actually look nicer than the previously discovered toy from Argentina, the Paladin de la Justicia. At least it has legs. And I have pictures to prove it.

The toy is about 15" tall, though maybe just a bit more if you measure all the way to the tip of the horn on the head. That horn is interesting, too. I wonder why it was added?

The body of the toy was cast in blue polyethylene with painted red and silver highlights, but the fists and head were cast in silver, with just the eyes painted red. There is limited articulation as usual. You can rotate the head, arms, fists and I think even the legs. I'm not digging this guy out again to check. No one cares anyway. ;)

I've also seen this toy with a yellow head with black highlights.

Not long ago, I commented that I'll occasionally publish a review for no other reason than to show the world "this exists". This has been one of those times.

My first exposure to Japanese Yokai came not from the original trilogy of Daiei movies released in the late 1960s or even from the recent Takashi Miike film "The Great Yokai War". Nope, sandwiched in between those more famous offerings was "Sakuya: Slayer Of Demons". I thought that the movie was fun, but the strange monsters within it really stole the show. They were quite unlike any others I'd seen elsewhere. At the time, I had no idea how famous they really were. Nor was I aware of any toys based on them. A chance discovery at a famous Japanese toy store would change that.

It was December 2006 and I was in Godzilla-ya, hunting for Jumbos as usual. No luck on that front so naturally I focused on plan B...scoring some vinyls. Now, usually I just get contemporary vinyls. Vintage is great, but too expensive. However, something caught my eye in one of the cases. Isn't that..? It is! It's that crazy umbrella monster from that movie!

At the time, I had no idea what the actual name of the character was and of course, the toys were new to me as well. But since these guys are so bizarre, it was easy to tell that there were 3 more toys with him that were all from the same line. I had my friend ask the shopkeeper if he would give me a discount if I bought all four and he agreed.

Even with a 15,000 yen discount, I had just dropped 70,000 yen on 4 toys I knew nothing about from a genre I didn't really collect. Later, it occurred to me just how dumb and out of character that was and for awhile, I really agonized over whether or not I truly wanted these things. But when I finally returned home and put them on my own vinyl shelf...oh man, I was hooked. They really stood out and added a flavor to my collection that I didn't realize it was missing. A year later, the fifth and final piece in the set would be obtained.

Kara-kasa ( からかさ) was released in 1968 by Nitto, thus making it my oldest Japanese character toy. It stands 8" tall and is articulated at the shoulders. The single leg also turns but doesn't move smoothly and there's really no reason to do it anyway. Of course, with just the one leg, and a Tengu-Geta sandal on the foot, this toy is nearly impossible to stand up on it's own. Of course, when it was originally released, the toy had an elastic through the head that could make it "bounce". You could have easily used that to hang it, but most specimens today are missing that.

If you are interested in learning more about traditional Yokai monsters, be sure to check out the upcoming book Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide. It's available this summer in Japan and later this year in both the US and the UK. The book is written by good friend Matt Alt (of ToyboxDX fame) and his wife Hiroko Yoda, both stars of the aforementioned "Great Yokai War".

Another Telco Halloween decoration, the Wolf Man is the closest thing in my collection to a Muppet!

Even though it's a far cry from looking anything like he does in the movie, I really like the look of this figure. Although the sculpt of the face is somewhat simple, it does have an elegance and personality to it that is appealing to me. I love that they added so much hair to this thing. It's got a really wild look on the one hand, but it also sort of reminds me of a Muppet, too!

Although some might consider it excessive, the hair protruding from his sleeves and pant legs is another nice touch. But honestly, it sort of makes me wish I had a nice, creepy looking scarecrow one. Telco did release a scarecrow in one of their earlier batches of Motionettes, but it's more cute looking than scary.

This Wolf Man figure has much more poseability in the arms than the Creature did. You can actually bend the arms to whatever pose you want basically, as beyond the vinyl hands the arms are just a flexible wire armature.

You know what else is great about this one? That bright yellow shirt! It's a welcome change in a genre dominated by gloomy blacks and greys. It's the closest thing to sunshine that the Wolf Man will ever get anyway...

You get the same features here as on the other Motionettes...light up eyes, moving arms/head and sound effects. The sound is much more appropriate to the character this time around, too. 17" tall to the top of the head, it actually looks more like 18" with all that hair standing up. The Wolf Man was included in both series' of 17" licensed Universal Monster Motionettes, but I don't think there's any significant difference between the two. My favorite part of this thing? I got it for a measly $5 on Ebay! When the last time you bought a Japanese robot for $5?* ;)

This re-release is is still a Friend Shop Limited edition, but this time includes different faces

When the original Kuro was released, it was a relatively quiet affair. It was a Revoltech Friend Shop Exclusive, and not many retailers carried it.

If you were looking for one you now have a second chance with the re-release of the Revoltech Kuro (Alternate Face Version)

Kuro means "Black" in Japanese.

As if you couldn't guess already, Kuro comes from Sony’s Japanese PS3 game, Doko Demo Issyo (どこでもいっしょ). Kuro is a simple cat, with no accessories except for a stand.

This is not a straight reissue. Like the Toro reissue, Kuro comes with 4 completely new facial expressions. It is otherwise almost the same toy as the Toro. The shape of the body and head is the same, the only difference being the color and the tail.

Do you like Kuro? if so, You can get yours at HobbyLink Japan.

You can get yours at HobbyLink Japan

Today’s I am reviewing Dragon Shiryu from the Saint Cloth Myth line. Saint Cloth Myth is Bandai’s premium line of collectible figures based on the Manga and animated series called Saint Seiya.

This figure came courtesy from Angolz.com who have been nice enough to provide us with all of our Saint Cloth Myth figures for review.

If you are just joining us and want to know all about what is going on with Saint Seiya I suggest heading over to wikipedia and checking things out.

Now on to the actual toy - Bandai has consistently banged out some quality collectibles with the Saint Cloth Myth line the figures are always well produced and loaded with ton’s of accessories. Figures are made of plastic, stand about 6 inches tall and feature lot’s of poseability. The armor the figures wear are always made of a high amount of die-cast metal and honestly I am running out of nice things to say about this line.

This time around I am reviewing Dragon Shiryu, one of our main heroes and a Silver Saint of Athena. Shiryu is the oldest and wisest of our band of heroes. Shiryu wears the Dragon Cloth (armor for those not in the know.)

From Wikipedia:
“The Dragon Cloth represents the constellation Draco, which is associated to Ladon, the hundred eyed dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, in Greek mythology.”

“The Bronze Cloth of Dragon is legendary for its large shield on the left arm guard. Its reputation is unmatched by any other cloth among Athena's saints, and only very few have ever shattered it. The Dragon Cloth itself is noted for its ultimate durability, as it had spent the last 200 years bathed under the mineral-rich waterfall of the Rozan mountains, which made it harder than diamonds.”

This is Dragon Shiryu as his Cloth appears later in the series and Hades OVA’s. The armor is almost all die-cast metal with only the waist skirt and head piece being made of plastic. Paint detail is nice with no chipping or flaking.

The figure itself is made of plastic with over 40 points of articulation with the feet being made of die-cast metal. Included in the package is an alternate head which sports Shiryu with his eyes closed (Shiryu goes blind in the later part of the series and tends to have his eyes closed.)

Lastly the armor pieces do assemble into a statue when our heroes aren’t wearing them. In the series the armor shrinks a bit to make the statues small, because these are made from the armor the figure wears the statue stand about as tall as the figure.

As you can see from the pictures, Dragon Shiryu looks good and as always Bandai has made a fantastic collectible. Fans of the series should run, not walk to add Shiryu to their collection and if you don’t watch or read the series it may still be a sharp enough design to pick up. The Saint Cloth Myth line always delivers a quality product and it is well worth finding a design you like and giving one a try.

I have included a video review below and as always you can get your Saint Cloth Myth figures at Angolz.com.

How does one go about building a nice toy collection?

Hard work? Spending foolishly? Building a network of friends in the hobby?

All those things help...but I'm a big fan of good old fashioned dumb luck!

I picked up this King Kong toy at a little used goods store one day while I was just killing time. The place carried all sorts of stuff from old records to board games, vhs tapes to signs and even old barbershop chairs. It's one of those places where you just never know what you're gonna find. And in this case, I didn't even know what I had found.

I was carrying around a couple other toys that I needed to get rid of (a Tauntaun for a 12" Luke Skywalker and the Yamato Ideon toy that became obsolete with the release of the Soul Of Chogokin) so I decided to see if there was something there I could trade them for. I found two King Kong items that I had no prior knowledge of, this toy and also an old Jim Beam decanter that was released to promote the 1976 remake. Even though it wasn't the original, I really sort of liked the look of the decanter. I asked the proprietor what it would take to get both items. He said he'd take my two toys in trade, plus $25 cash. Unfortunately, I only had $18 with me.

I decided that I'd just take the decanter and leave this toy behind. I mean, there were no markings on this thing so I just assumed that it was some silly bootleg giant gorilla and nothing that special. I told the guy I'd take just the decanter, but he said I could take both if I promised to bring back the extra $7 next time I was in the area. So I left with both.

I snapped the above photo to show some monster friends what I'd bought and wouldn't you know it, it turns out that the decanter, while nice, was a pretty common item, but this toy was in fact quite hard to come by! I would have assumed just the opposite. Both of my friends who've been collecting monster items far, far longer than I have congratulated me on my find and not too subtly suggested it would look nicer in their collections!

What I learned about it though is that it was in fact not a bootleg, but was made by a company called Imperial. Apparently they made a smaller, more common King Kong but that this size (about 13.5" tall) is much harder to come across. Evidently, it was packaged with a tag around the neck with the name and manufacturer on it.

The toys is a simple one, with just a few points of articulation at the hips, shoulders and neck. It's cast entirely in dark brown vinyl, with red and white painted highlights. There is also green on the fingernails of mine, but the only other picture I've seen of one doesn't have that. Perhaps someone gave him a manicure at some point.

I didn't care too much for this toy at first, but it's since grown on me quite a bit. But is that because it's a nice toy, or just because I found out that it's hard to come by? A little of both maybe...but either way, I'm glad to have stumbled on it!

Another cheap, ugly knockoff that me and like 3 other people care about...

Unfortunately, no official full sized Jumbo Machinders were made of the Machine Blaster robots (Robo Kress, Blue Caesar, Sandaio and Boss Palder). Mattel Italy released their "Astro Robot" Jumbos that were based on the characters, but those toys used primarily parts from existing Jumbos with new heads and weapons. Takemi did make a line of 16" toys called "Big Robo", though. These were repeatedly copied and released in Italy and both the originals and the subsequent knockoffs have become commonly known as "Junior Machinders". All sorts of robots combinations were made, many of which used the body of the Takemi Robo Kress. The arms in particular are often used on various Junior Machinders, such as Dangard Ace and Pegas, to name just two. There is at least one toy that is nearly identical to the Takemi version and then there is this.

This toy uses the same mold as the Takemi toy, but is greatly simplified. As you can see, it's cast entirely in cheap, squishy blue polyethylene with just some stickers slapped onto it for "detail", if you can call it that. All firing fists and missiles have been removed.

Robo Kress stands 14" tall and is articulated at only the shoulders. It came packaged in a clear plastic bag, but with no header card. It was just tied off with a twisty tie. There are no manufacturer markings on it, but it does share some stickers (the "UFO" and black dots) with a very cheap and VERY ugly Combattler toy that I have. That toy did come with a header card and appears to have been made by a company called "Galba", so I think it's a good bet that this one was, too.

Ok. You may be thinking that this toy, and by extension this review, is not worthy of attention. But just be glad I didn't show you the Combattler! UGH....

Cute little bounty hunters - Does it get any better?

As has been shown previously, I have an unnatural love of 4-LOM. That insectoid bounty hunter who gets only .002 second of screen time but has lasted a lifetime in my heart. You can take your C-3P0, your EV-9D9 - Give me 4-LOM.

This little bugger came out as part of Medicom's Star Wars Series 1 Kubrick Line.

4-LOM even comes with a cute little blaster rifle.

Not too much else to say about this guy - what an adorable robotic death messenger!