The Neo Getter 1 Black Version is an Anime-Export Exclusive item - they brought a toy to life that Aoshima never produced. It's a great piece of gokin, and it GLOWS IN THE DARK. Read on, with video.

It's been a few years since the original Shin Seki Gokin Neo Getter (7 years, in fact) and Aoshima is still getting mileage out of the mold. The original Black Neo getter was announced at the 2003 Tokyo Toy Show, but was never produced, much to fan's dismay.

Now Anime-Export has put out an exclusive black version in conjunction with Aoshima/Miracle House. Who are Anime-Export.com you ask? They are a retailer and wholesaler of Japanese goods based out of Japan, with a strong presence in Europe. They have a history of making exclusive versions of Aoshima toys, often times much improved over the original.

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The Black Neo Getter 1 is a fantastic toy with a few small shortcomings.

First - the positive. The paint is stunning - glossy black and gold, there is not a flaw to be had on the finish of this toy. The green insets actually glow in the dark, and they glow pretty bright.

And the metal.. oh the sweet sweet metal. This toy is almost 90% metal.

The box is an all-new exclusive black box, the cardboard is embossed and has the texture of the old Orguss boxes by Takatoku.

The toy features MOST of the accessories included with the original, such as the missile-firing back units, interchangeable hands, and the energy beam. What is NOT included is the chain fist arms, even though the spots are there in the Styrofoam.

Neo Getter also features redesigned elbows that are exclusive to this release. This version now features the elbows that are like those used in their Mazinkaiser release. You first pull the arms down and THEN bend them. They look great, but this is where the big negative comes in.

See, the arms don't like to stay on. The friction between the arm peg and the socket is not enough to support the heavy weight of the arm. I bet you could fix this easily by applying a drop of nail polish on the peg and letting it dry, but still, it is an inconvenience. Perhaps I just got a bum one?

It's also a slight bummer that there are no chain fists, but they have adjusted the price accordingly - its about $30 cheaper than the regular version.

The black Neo Getter is a limited edition item, with only 1500 being made, and is available exclusively at Anime-Export.com

Buy Neo Getter 1 Black at Anime-Export.com

Go, independent toy producers! Better late than never, we bring you a review of Robert DeCastro's flagship offering from Atomic Mushroom Toys: COMBAT-R ZERO!! Click for vinyl super robot goodness!

Y'know what I like? I like independent toy producers who really get it.

As some of you may be aware, there's a huge movement in the independent toy production world known as "urban" or "designer" vinyl. It started in Japan where artists began to make simple rotocast vinyl toys of their own original designs. These weren't "character" toys based on properties existing in some other media like film or comics. These were purely original--albeit, inspired--creations based on the creator's own art and imagination.

Now, there's good and there's bad associated with this rapidly growing designer vinyl world. As the industry grows in popularity (and lucrativeness!), many true fans are starting to feel the sting of "speculation". Because the very nature of these toys makes them limited in number, many "flippers" try to buy up as many pieces as possible upon initial release of a toy...and then immediately turn around and resell them to the real fans at exorbitant mark-ups. As some have said, the aftermarket has become the market...and this is *not* a good thing.

Also, critics of the designer vinyl movement decry the "counter-culturalism" that seems to be rising from the industry. Ironically, as the industry grows and opportunities for independent artists become more accessible, stratification and exclusion seems to be on the rise in collector communities. More and more, aspects of any subculture like style of dress and musical preference are being attached to a hobby that theoretically ought to be just about collecting toys. Now, it's "cool" to be a geek. And the implication, of course, is that if you're not the right flavor of "geek" (i.e., you don't collect the "right" toys, praise the "right" artists, etc.), you're just not cool.

It's important to keep in mind, however, that this is a young industry. Speculation nearly destroyed mainstream comics in the US in the mid-90's...but it survived. There'll never not be comics because there'll simply always be real comic fans. Further, the inflated subculture of vinyl collectors will collapse soon enough. The uniformity therein is simply antithetical to independent art. When the dust settles, just as with the comic industry, the real fans will be left. Those who are truly passionate about toys will continue to thrive.

Ultimately, it's a great thing that independent artists now have the realistic means of getting their designs produced. What we're seeing is just growing pains.

So, getting back to the focus of this review, there are some indy toy designers who really get it. These are typically the people who are fans, first...then toy-makers. Robert DeCastro is one such fan. He grew up with super robot cartoons and daikaiju eiga--and of course, with their associated chogokin and vinyl kaiju toys--so he certainly has the pedigree necessary for designing great Japanese-style robots and vinyl toys!

About a year ago, Robert created Atomic Mushroom Toys, a medium through which he could unleash his toy concepts upon the world. His first offering: the super robot, Combat-R Zero!!

There are five colorways of this robot toy, and today, we'll be taking a look at my personal favorite: Plutonium, the GID version of this toy, which is only available if one orders the superset of all five colorways. [Ummm, let's see...I have a degree in Nuclear Engineering, so I know my plutonium...I'm an avid robot and vinyl toy collector...and I'm obsessed with glowie stuff... Robert, did you make this toy just for me!? :P ]

First, so let's look at the packaging. I really like what Robert's done here. It's essentially a one-piece plastic clamshell. For those not planning on saving the packaging, at least there isn't a lot of material to waste here. For collectors planning on keeping the packaging, however, it's great because the clamshell simply folds around the 9-inch figure and snaps shut by means of six...snappy...indentation-things. Remember: nuclear engineer. Anyway, what this means is that you can remove the figure and put it back quickly and easily with no damage whatsoever to the packaging! Nice.

Note the one instruction that comes with the toy: "REMOVE ME FROM THIS PACKAGE, NOW!!"

Okay, here's the first of my few beefs with this toy. Clamshell's killer...but the paper insert seems to detract from the overall presentation of the figure. A lot. I mean, once you get to the figure inside, your heart will soar...but that just makes such a subpar insert is even more of an eyesore. I'm not saying it's terrible, but it really does almost seem like it was designed as an afterthought.

First of all, the colors used on ALL five of the sculpt's colorways are absolutely nothing short of brilliant. You can tell that Robert really took his time formulating what color combinations would work. That's why when I see the garish colors on the insert, I almost cringe. Also, the art just seems unfinished. For example, the "COMBAT-R ZERO" logo is highly rendered and looks smoking...but it seems so out of place set against the basic, oddly-colored, cartoony explosion in the background. I definitely would have preferred more detailed artwork like in the background of Atomic Mushroom Toys' website...with darker, more realistic colors to complement the colors of the toys, themselves.

Anyway, in the end, packaging is just a side dish to the main course. Pop apart those snappy things and get to the toy, damnit!

Did I mention...it glows!?

Combat-R Zero consists of big vinyl robot ass-kickery. Interestingly enough, Robert's own website, Atomic Mushroom Toys, makes no real mention of the story behind the robot. Here's an excerpt from Toysrevil's interview with Robert:

Here it goes...Earth's top minds, having knowledge of an impending full-scale invasion by a powerful alien race, scrambled desperately to create a weapon to combat the alien menace. After careful calculations, the scientist of "Shugato Heavy Industries" came up with a time frame, a window of opportunity, if you will, to create an effective "weapon system" before the aliens' arrival. With existing technology and manufacturing capabilities of the age, it was projected that from a first prototype "Combat Robot", man had approximately five chances to improve on the model into the ultimate fighting machine. So from Combat-R 5, 4, 3--you get the idea--2, and finally Combat-R 1...I know, what about Zero, right? I was actually thinking about doing a webcomic of Combat R ZERO. The story sort of goes like...After producing CR1, Shugato Heavy Industries believed they had the "perfect weapon", but during it's production, the head developer's son, Hiro, was convinced that the design had critical flaws...but the dad was being a jerk and insisted that SHI "knows what it's doing" and that he should "endeavour to be part of the solution". At this time, the bad guys are "at the gates", as it where. A landing force's "champion", a mech/evil robot, was CR1's first enemy, which he dispatches with ease. CR1 basically does this with the first two or three enemy bots, but then the alien bad guys start to see what Hiro saw as the critical flaw in the CR1 design, and exploit it.

CR1 fights the newest bad guy bot and gets in serious trouble. All is not lost though because unbeknownst to both SHI and the "bad guys" (I really should make up a good name for them, LOL), Hiro and his team of rag tag mechanics and "nutty" rogue scientist types were secretly developing a "ZERO" model Combat Robot. CRZ makes a grand and dramatic entrance and saves both CR1 and the day. Now with Combat-R Zero and the support of CR1 and the other prototype models, the alien invaders will indeed have a powerful force for good to recon with....

Sounds good to me! Oh, incidentally, the "bad guys" have been named: the Tyran!

Now, here is a beautiful toy. The paint is pretty damn near flawless--and this is no minor thing. There's a LOT of paint detail with all the stripes and rivets on the design. That's a lot of masking and spraying! Again, as I stated before, the colors on this piece are great. The purple and silver-grey offset the creamy off-white of the vinyl nicely. I assume the "0" on the sides of the head and the "SHUGATO" on the center of the backpack are tampo-printed (or some similar process); they're perfect.

But enough about how this thing looks under normal light...let's fire this sucker up!

Note how the eyes glow a little bit brighter than the rest of the body. Honestly, it beats the crap outta me how it works! Seriously--the vast majority of the glow vinyl I'm used to [and believe me: that majority is vast!] comes from Japan and it's the typical stuff you'd imagine: slightly yellow hue, glossy sheen, very even consistency and glow. This stuff's completely different. As I've heard form other toy makers getting their manufacturing done in China, no one really knows how Chinese glow vinyl works...it's a strange mystery!

I know--I'm probaby getting cancer just by messing with this thing! :P

Robert, himself, isn't too sure how the stuff works. It's almost like the off-white body was molded out of some sort of translucent white vinyl with glow powder infused into it. The body certainly doesn't seem painted. The material, itself, has a very matte finish (unlike glossy Japanese vinyl), and the glow has a sort of grainy quality to it--not that this is a bad thing at all, mind you. It's just different. And besides, the unique look of this toy is pretty amazing: I've simply never seen a seemingly unpainted off-white vinyl...that glows!

The figure has three points of articulation: the waist and both shoulders. One common gripe is that there's no forearm rotation. Robert wanted this, but jointing the arms at the small connection point between the big, bulky forearm and the skinny upper arm would not have worked--the weight of the forearms would've caused he joint to fail over time. Perhaps they could have worked something where the forearms were cut in the middle (along the stripe?)...

Anyway, it's a minor gripe, at best. Rotation in the fists would have made for some very cool punch or flying poses, but one neat thing that makes up for it is the removeable backpack. Why is it removeable? Why not!? Seriously, it'd be hot if Robert designed alternate backpacks for these guys--I'm thinking wings, maybe some kind of underwater submarine-thing, and outerspace booster pack, etc...

Bear Model's Mechagodzilla I lends a hand.

One thing to note about the picture above is that it's pretty obvious that the glow vinyl used in Combat-R Zero unfortunately isn't nearly as powerful as its Japanese equivalent. Bummer. Again, Chinese vinyl...who knows...

I'm quite happy with the overall toy. The figure clearly harkens back to what made classic super robot designs so great--hell, the Tetsujin 28 homage is pretty obvious! Simple geometry. Clean lines. No need for extraneous details just to make it "anime-accurate". Killer stuff!

I didn't bother to do a video teaser review this time around...simply because Toysrevil already did such a nice one!

One of my more recent glowie projects: the mechanized terror weapon, Mogera, from 1957's The Mysterians!

I dunno what it is about mechanized kaiju, but I just have a soft spot for 'em. I guess it's sort of a marrying of two concepts I absolutely loved growing up: giant robots and giant monsters. My favorite all-time kaiju is definitely showa Mechagodzilla...but Mogera from The Mysterians (1957) is definitely up there, too!

In my opinion, this movie is highly underrated. Sure, it's campy goodness with cheesey special effects, but that camp and those effects are done right! Toho created something special with this flick. It's a classic alien-invasion story, where the Earth needs to fight off a dying, but powerful, race called "the Mysterians". Can't get much better than that!

Well, it just so happens that among this race's super-weapons is a giant tunneling mechanized mole called the "Mogera". Now, it's not too clear in the movie how many Mogera's the Mysterians possess, but it's clear that they have at least two--after the first is destroyed, a second is seen burrowing through the ground during the desperate final battle.

The effects involving this kaiju and other battle scenes in the movie are pretty amazing for the time. Many of the scenes take place in broad daylight, as opposed to more common nocturnal fights in contemporary monster films, where shortcomings in special effects are often conveniently obscured by the darkness. Instead, the makers of The Mysterians opted for clear, well-lit, elaborate effects that involved some of the best miniature work Toho has ever produced.

My buddy, John Groff of KaijuZoo, was seven years old and living in Japan as a USAF brat at the time this film came out. He's got some great memories of this film! In fact, it was his own custom glow Parababy Mogera that inspired me to create mine! Anyway, this fun tokusatsu adventure is definitely worth checking out. [Click here for Amazon.com's page for Tokyo Shock's US dvd release of the film.]

Now, this particular toy started out as Marmit's unpainted glow Parababy Mogera that I picked up from Y!J for short money. Precious few vinyls exist of the final film version of this kaiju. The classic Bullmark sculpt of this character actually depicts the early concept/prototype version that was obviously modified quite a bit by the time the movie was filmed. Finally, earlier this year, Marusan released a standard-sized film version Mogera (including a glow version that you know I picked up!)...but for the longest time, the only non-deformed, standard-ish sized, glow-in-the-dark game in town for movie Mogera was this Parababy.

And I was not to be denied.

This was actually a really fun project for me! Obviously, my love for the subject is pretty clear. The smaller size of the figure (6" or so) made for simpler masking and quick spray sessions. My primary tools included my precious Parafilm M for precision masking, and glow hand- and spraypaints from Ready Set Glo.

I kinda dig the results! Essentially, I wanted to recreate the movie colors of the kaiju as closely as I could with the glow spraypaints--which was NOT easy! The upper portions of the limbs and the back carapace had a greenish hue in the movie, so I obviously hit them with green. The feet, hands, and head were primarily gold/bronze, so I used yellow. The antenna, main body, and circular saw blade on the back were silver....so I gave them a quick, uni-directional spray of blue up from the bottom. The last paint application was aqua hand-paint used on the eyes, surrounded by black acrylic paint (to simulate the look of the kaiju when firing its eye-beams in the movie). Finally, I sealed everything up with Minwax Polycrylic semi-gloss spray.

Believe me when I tell you this: the figure glows bright as hell! And this is coming from a guy who owns well over a hundred glowies. It's pretty crazy--glow paint on glow vinyl is just deadly. The glow paint, itself, adds to the glow of the vinyl...and actually enhances it. Not only does this figure now glow much brighter than a regular glowie, but it actually glows much longer! Unfortunately, it's tough to capture the color difference among the different paints while glowing due to camera limitations, but they really do appear very distinct. The yellow and green paints glow different shades of green, but the blue glows a very vivid medium blue...and obviously, the aqua eyes look absolutely electric!

I actually had to tone down my exposure time for the glow shots! Normally, I use a 15-second exposure time for glowies...I tried that with this figure and the shots ended up looking like a ridiculous, bright-green blob. Cutting down the exposure time to 5 seconds did the trick!

Well, that's pretty much it for this figure. I finally got my movie-style glowie Mogera and all is right with the world! The Mysterians, The Mysterians, The Mysterians!!

Complementing the Purple Guts Edition of Eyezon, comes Mark Nagata's glowie version of the potato-kaiju!

More giant mutant potato action!

How awesome is this!?

After reading Josh's review of the translucent purple "guts" edition of Eyezon, I knew I had to throw down and rep for the glowies! And here it is!

Mark Nagata, owner of Max Toy Company and all-around helluva guy, is putting out some gorgeous original and exclusive/collaborative vinyls. Eyezon is an all-new evil kaiju creation based on the "Captain Maxx" universe, a home-grown cast of characters centered around the hero, Captain Maxx, a tokusatsu-style protagonist inspired by Mark's son, Max!

So is this an "urban" or "designer" vinyl? It is a non-character toy--an original creation, not based on any pre-existing media. Well, I'm not one for splitting hairs. It's pretty clear where the inspiration for this toy comes from. If you check Mark's collecting habits, you can tell that Eyezon, Captain Maxx, and the rest of the gang actually do have a pretty impressive pedigree.

In this reviewer's mind, it doesn't matter that this is an all-new toy envisioned in a contemporary artist's mind, as opposed to a representation of some long-standing character that has existed in numerous forms in numerous media for decades. This is pure toy, folks. Its roots--the very soul of such urban/designer vinyl kaiju--lie in Japan, as Mark tells us. They're sculpted with a sincere reverence to the Japanese kaiju character toys of yesteryear. This sincerity shows in Mark's work.

My very first commission with John Groff of KaijuZoo...and also one of my very first glowies. ...The start of a great friendship and a near-obsessive collection focus!

One obsession of mine that's no secret is my insatiable lust for glowies. The problem with many vintage-style (usually kaiju) glowies, though, is that their paint schemes are...well...either too dull for my tastes or the paint obscures too much of the glow power of the vinyl. I'm no stranger to customizing toys myself, but back in '05, I stumbled across a website advertising expertly-done custom/restoration work for vinyl kaiju figures at reasonable prices. I contacted the owner of the business, John Groff, and a great friendship was born...

His site, KaijuZoo Toys, offered something great for folks either lacking the gumption to take on customizing their own stuff or just not wanting to deal with the hassel of paint supplies, the mess, etc... Now, people can just relax and focus on the color scheme of whatever vinyl figure--glow or not--they want painted. John even offers services to remove old or damaged paint jobs prior to restoration or custom work. Whatever you want, just ask him! Jonee's a bit of a jack-of-all trades when it comes to customizing, and he'll work with you to create a masterpiece!

It's really a great service if you think about it. For example, lots of vinyl kaiju manufacturers these days release unpainted lucky bag versions or other exclusives of their figures--in glow or varying colors of opaque or translucent vinyl. The thing is that most folks may have no desire whatsoever to paint their own figures. I mean, I don't even own an airbrush--let alone have the space to set one up properly! This is where Jonee comes in! Besides being a great guy to chat about daikaiju eiga with, he'll work directly with you via phone or e-mail, and take as long as needed to come up with the perfect paint scheme for your figure. He's an experienced kaiju toy nut, himself, making his feedback in this process invaluable. He's a real fan, a true artist, and it clearly shows in his work.

So as a client, I get to sit back and let my imagination take off. This figure is actually my very first KaijuZoo custom! Sorry it's taken so long to review it properly! ;) It started its life as an unpainted glow M1 Manda figure from Atragon, Destroy All Monsters, and the opening moments of Final Wars. Jonee's transformation of this toy still has me speechless!

This guy's so good, I've gotten into the habit of doing Yahoo!Japan searches for unpainted (glow) vinyls for anything that catches my eye as something that Jonee can transform into a one-of-a-kind work of art.

Now, I've always loved Manda...something about a majestic undersea serpent had me pretty much hooked when I was little. M1's gorgeous sculpt of this monster certainly helped, too! This KaijuZoo custom would actually end up being my 3rd or 4th glowie ever. Ah...the good old days...when my vinyl kaiju could fit on one shelf...or could be counted using just your fingers! (I think at the time of writing of this review, I have somewhere around 120 glowies!)

Anyway, the paint scheme Jonee and I came up with mirrored a previous one he had painted for another client, only this time, he used translucent paints and left more glow vinyl exposed. I was definitely clear about that part: the finished product had to SHINE!! And, oh my head, did Jonee deliver!

Just check out the glow effect on the teeth and eyes--that's all Jonee's handiwork! He came up with this method of hand painting those details to make for an incredible glow effect.

Not much more to say about this piece, really. The pictures speak rather clearly for themselves. Again, this was my first KaijuZoo custom ever. Since then, Jonee's painted three others for me, including this Marmit glow Getter 1--yes, he can do robots, too! Next up? I'm just waiting patiently in queue for him to do a fifth custom for me! Stay tuned!

...Balboobo...Balboa...Bubba-Gump...

Aww, c'mon--it's Mark Nagata's collaboration with Dream Rocket: Balbagon!

Balba-who???

Balbagon, that's who!

Mark Nagata, owner of Max Toy Company--and all-around helluva guy--has put out some gorgeous vinyls thus far in the young life of his son-inspired company. Some are all-new creations based on his killer "Captain Maxx" character. Some are collaborations with other companies to make Max Toy Co-exclusive variants of existing figures. Balbagon is among the latter. This glowie Balbagon represents a partnership between Max Toy Co and Dream Rocket, a vinyl kaiju company known for ferocious sculpts of non-character toy monsters (original non-media-based characters). The color scheme Mark came up with here is puuurrrre LOVE!

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Now, I'm no urban vinyl/designer toy aficionado...but I ain't stupid. I know slammin' kaiju when I see 'em! This is slammin' kaiju. And that's all I need to know...

...oh, and the fact that it glows in the dark sure doesn't hurt! ;)

And it doesn't matter that this is an all-new toy envisioned in some contemporary artist's mind, as opposed to a representation of some long-standing character that has existed in numerous forms in numerous media for decades. This is pure toy, folks. The roots--the very soul of these urban/designer vinyl kaiju--lie in Japan, as Mark tells us. They're sculpted with a sincere reverence to the Japanese kaiju character toys of yesteryear. This sincerity shows.

They stand of the shoulders of giants (giant kaiju, that is). Word is bond.

Now just sit back, relax, and enjoy the pics!

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:

Interesting character and kit design, but not a great toy.

I'm not a particularly skilled model builder nor even a huge fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I picked up this kit a few months back in a lot of toys that I bought from a friend. It's an interesting piece both in terms of the character itself and the method of construction of the kit. Unlike your typical model kits, this one has a regular skeleton, but a rubber outer covering over it. Then additional peices are added to the outside for more detail.

When I got the kit, the skeleton had already been assembled (my friend started the project, but never finished). But it appeared to be fairly simple to put together. Then you connect the face, ribcage and the core (the red piece in the stomach). This is done by pushing some tabs through the front of the suit and then attaching them to another piece on the interior. The problems begin with actually getting the skeleton inside the suit. Have you ever seen one of those cartoons (like Itchy and Scratchy) where one character reaches down anothers throat and pulls out his skeleton? Well, imagine then trying to put the skeleton back in the same fashion. Not an easy task. The opening in the suit is rather small. Once constructed, it is obscured by a 1" x 1.5" covering.

Once you've gotten the skeleton in, you push the arms and legs to the outer openings and then attach the claws and feet. But be careful, the feet are thin and the connector on the left leg of mine broke and broke easily. I've never been so shocked to have a toy break on me. I wasn't applying hardly any pressure at all.

The shoulder parts connect pretty easily onto a ball joint protruding from the skeleton and allow for a small degree of movement, but they also pop off very easily. The other boney pieces on the front just pop into the suit but the pieces on the legs need to be glued to a base on the outside of the legs. Finally, a plate goes inside the back covering and the final outside piece connected to that.

Normally, I wouldn't bother painting any of my kits, but since this one has simple one-piece parts that don't require much talent to paint, and since I had a tube of white glow in the dark paint lying around unused, I figured it would look cool if I slapped it all on this thing. Though the claws are supposed to be black in the anime, I thought it would look better if they also glowed.

In addition to looking cool glowing, the glow paint also gives the parts you paint a very bony, organic look. It wouldn't look good in the light on a more typical robot kit, but on this one, I really like it.

Sachiel also comes with little unpainted figures of Hikari Horaki and Kensuke Aida. I'll not be painting those, for lack of the ability to do so. The kit is interesting, but it's design (big body and small thin legs) makes it very top heavy and prone to falling over. Furthermore, while movement is possible, maintaining a pose really isn't. The rubber suit will always pull at the limbs and force them back to their original position. It likes to bend forward at the waist. And honestly, it's not as fun to put this together as a Gundam kit. So unless you are just a huge Evangelion fan, you can probably do without this one.

KaijuZoo's take on the iconic Super Robot!

One obsession of mine that's no secret is my insatiable lust for glowies. The problem with many vintage-style (usually kaiju) glowies, though, is that their paint schemes are...well...boring. I'm no stranger to customizing toys myself, but some time ago, I stumbled across a website advertising expertly-done custom/restoration work for vinyl kaiju figures at very reasonable prices. I contacted the owner of the business, John Groff, and a great friendship was born...

His site, KaijuZoo Toys, offered something great for folks like me: not wanting to deal with the hassel of paint supplies, the mess, worrying about wrecking your vinyl(!), etc., clients are able to relax and focus on the paint/color scheme of whatever vinyl figure--glow or not--they want painted. John even offers services to remove old/damaged paint jobs prior to restoration or custom work.

It's really a very cool service if you think about it. Many vinyl kaiju manufacturers these days release unpainted exclusives of their molds...in glow or varying colors of opaque or translucent vinyl. The thing is that most folks may have no desire whatsoever to paint their own figures. I don't own an airbrush, for example--let alone the space to set one up properly! This is where Jonee comes in! Besides being a great guy to chat about Godzilla and other monsters with, he'll work directly with you via phone or e-mail, and take as long as needed to come up with the perfect paint scheme for your figure. He's an experienced kaiju toy collector, himself, making his feedback in this process invaluable. He's a real fan, a true artist, and it clearly shows in his work.

So as a client, I get to sit back, relax, and let my imagination take off. This figure is actually my fourth KaijuZoo custom...and we're even in the process right now of discussing a fifth! I even do searches now for unpainted (glow) vinyls for anything that catches my eye as something that Jonee can transform into a masterpiece.

And that's what led me to this figure. I'd been a pretty big fan of Marmit's Fierce Legend of Super Robots soft vinyl figure line for some time, and I'd already picked up a few over the years.

...And then I saw it: an unpainted Getter 1, the lead robot in Go Nagai's classic, Getter Robo...in glow in the dark vinyl! It didn't take much deliberation to plunk down the cash for it! :P

Didn't take long for Jonee and I to work out the color scheme for this guy, either. Because of my love for vintage robot toys and the considerable size of this figure (15 inches!), we decided on something reminiscent of the 24-inch Getter 1 Jumbo Machinder: pretty much anime-accurate colors except the white parts in the show would be painted light blue.

The results were striking.

The figure now has a translucent, metallic paint application that really needs to be seen in person to appreciate fully! When looking closely at it, the color density seems to shift subtly as you tilt the figure. Very cool!

And the glow really just jumps out of it! The real triumph of this project--something Jonee does amazingly well when it comes to glowies--is the fantastic balance struck between how the figure looks under normal light and in the dark. Whereas many glowies tend to be a little lackluster under normal light in order to maximize the glow effect, this figure identifies itself boldly with its high-contrast metallic red sheen. The characteristic gold of his trunks and green on the chest panels just pop, too, completing the overall look.

Not much articulation in these guys...but just enough to add a little heroism!

So Jonee's first non-kaiju glowie (unless you count Jet Jaguar, Moguera, and Mechagodzilla!) is clearly a resounding success. ...And now, of course, the good part: the glow pics!

Ah, makes ya wanna hear that theme song again, huh!? ;)

Consider yourselves lucky: I was gonna make some awful crack about the figure "glowing with 'Getter Sen'", but the non-geek side of me won out!

My very first glowie...the start of a wonderful obsession.

Folks, this movie is BAD. I mean, it's awful!! It stinks out loud...and I love every damn minute of it!!

"Reptilicus" is another Sid Pink classic cheesefest featuring his studio, Cinemagic--this time, shot entirely in Denmark. Danish actors, horrific English voice-overs, the whole nine! ...All the way down to a little musical interlude touting the lovely sites and night life of Tivoli, Copenhagen...almost randomly inserted, while the threat of apocalyptic monster rampages looms over Europe!! Way to go, Denmark Bureau of Tourism!! Now THAT'S product placement!

Anyhow, I've always had a soft spot for this movie. I mean, it's just SO bad. He's like a rejected concept b-movie monster. Ya gotta have a soft spot for him. From a film perspective, the special effects sure are...special...all right. *AHEM*

Yeah, this movie really needs to be seen to be believed! So, CLEARLY, I desperately needed some sort of toy-rendition of this monster...like Tom Cruise desperately needing a grip on reality! So, anyway, before the glowie obession began--even before I ever got any sort of vinyl kaiju--I hunted this Wonderfest 2000 (annual Japanese toy show) exclusive down [and be sure to check out ClubTokyo.org for more info on other variants]. After all, given the choice, why wouldn't I go with the glow in the dark one!?

Was I pleased with my purchase? ...Do The Simpsons need new writers!? (ouch!)

M1 and Club Daikaiju did a fantastic job on this figure. The sculpt is outstanding! The head really captures the terrific visage of the prehistoric, unkillable beastie!

(I think I dated that once...)

The figure's stance is worthy of note, too. Toho's popular supporting-kaiju, Manda, is a long, serpentine monster as well, and in his(her?) M1 rendition, the creature simply sits flat on its belly in a winding, wavy posture. On the other hand, with Reptilicus, the sculptors decided to try something new: they posed him rearing up defiantly...as he is often seen in the film. His wings are swept back and sort of blend the vertical part of his trunk with the rest of his body still flat on the ground:

Even with the smart design of the wings to distribute his weight more evenly, he's still a bit top-heavy with that melon of his. In order to pull off a figure a little more resistant to shelf-diving, the makers actually filled the tip of his tail with pachinko balls to weigh it down! If you hold him up to a light source, you can see the shadow they create in his tail:

Another interesting note is that the figure did not come bagged; instead, it came with a very nice tag attached with a silver elastic cord. The outside features some great artwork (movie poster art?), and the inside features some cool info about the movie, as well as lyrics to the aforementioned musical interlude, "Tivoli-Night". ...Oof...now, there's a tune you don't want stuck in your head...

And, now, we finally come to the glow! Again, he wasn't purchased *because* he glowed in the dark...but he certainly helped kick-start my obsession! The start of something beautiful...

check out the glow-drool!