The last talker in my collection, the Kamen Rider 1 review has been delayed since I couldn't find it's box...

Kamen Rider 1 (仮面ライダー 1号) was included in both the vintage and modern run of talking vinyl figures produced by Masudaya. I picked this up in Japan at the same time as Mirrorman, at the Nakano Mandarake. I'd have to say that I like this one better than Kamen Rider V3, maybe because the character of V3 seems a little bit done to death.

Kamen Rider 1 stands 15" tall and is articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck. The sculpt and paint is pretty typical of the series, but the red scarf adds a neat touch. The real downside to this one is the quality of the talking feature. It broke right out of the box the first time I pulled the string. Now it may or may not retract in again, but it usually screeches and doesn't always talk right. Granted, the thing just sits on the shelf and adds to the general mosaic of my toys, but if you're gonna pay money for something, you'd sort of like it to work, even for a little while. Fortunately, I only paid about 3,000yen for it, if I remember correctly.

Nothing really else to add, actually. Other than the scarf and being a different character, this toy is the same as the rest in the series. If you're into hero vinyls, talkers are neat because they are a bit bigger and have a gimmick. Just cross your fingers and hope the gimmick actually works. It's been said that vintage talkers are much more reliable, but of course, they'll tend to be much more expensive, too. I guess as a modern collector you'll have to ask yourself what you want. Something that works but costs a lot, or something that just looks neat and is cheap? At this point in my collecting "career", I gotta go with cheap. ;)

"SEVEN! SEVEN! SEVEN!
SEVEN! SEVEN! SEVEN! ..."

Strangely, Ultra Seven is actually the second Ultraman.

The original line of Masudaya talking vinyls contained at least 4 different Ultraman characters, but when the line was resurrected in the late 1990s, only one, Ultra Seven, saw production. Evidently, Ultra Seven is considered the most popular of the Ultramen (at least, according to Wikipedia), so I suppose it would make sense in that context.

This figure is the tallest of the 6 talkers that I have, punching in at about 15.5" tall. This is just a hair too tall to stand on the shelf with the rest of the gang so I've had to have him standing ever so slightly hunched forward. Now that's the only way he'll stand at all. I supposed a little work with the hair dryer would probably fix that, but until I need to, I'm not gonna bother.

I like having this figure because otherwise I actually have surprisingly few Ultraman toys in my collection. Besides the Jumbo Ultraman Leo and the Ultraman Ace that came with M1's Hipporito-seijin, this is my only Japanese Ultraman toy. (I've also got some of those 20" Ultra bootlegs from Thailand, but those are in storage and never really seen.)

Otherwise, it's not that great a toy. The body is cast in red vinyl with white and silver paint application and the head seems to have been cast in silver with gold, blue and black highlights. The head seems too big to me and the arms too small. The talk box is in the back and you pull the string to make him speak.

Maybe I'm being a little hard on it though. I remember when I bought it, I placed the order almost entirely because I wanted to combine shipping with a few other things that were advertised as in stock, but really weren't. I ended up buying it anyway, but felt sort of annoyed.

I tend to think talkers look better in a group. If you like the Ultra characters or talkers and you see this at a great price, by all means grab it. But in and of itself, it's not too amazing.

Another super robot talker that doesn't quite fill me with joy, I think I just realized that the talker format works better for Tokusatsu heroes.

The Getter 1 talker is really the runt of the lineup, checking it at only 12" tall whereas most others in the series are closer to 15". He'd probably be even smaller if his head wasn't so huge. This guy is super deformed before there was such a thing as super deformed. It's a shame too because the sculpt of the head is good and the sculpt of the body is good but the sizes just don't match up. This could have been a really neat toy if the proportions were not so skewed.

Like most of the toys in this line, it's articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck and you pull a string from the back to make it talk. Even if I understood Japanese, I couldn't tell you what it says because the talk box on mine is broken. This has been a pretty common complaint with the re-issues of these toys. Evidently they are very prone to failure. I bought this one cheaply with full knowledge of it's condition, but I have another that I bought brand new in box that failed to work the very first time I pulled the string. I do not own any vintage talkers, but by all accounts, they were much higher quality.

Although it's not the best rendition of the character ever made, it's still a decent pickup for the Getter Robo fan. Unfortunately, Masudaya (nor any other company) ever made talkers of Getter 2 or Getter 3, though.

This might well be my least favorite toy rendition of this character that was produced by a major Japanese toy company.

Make no mistake, from a worldwide standpoint there are some pretty unbelievably horrendous portrayals of Mazinger Z. But within Japan, even the cartoonish looking toys have a charm to them that makes them appeal to the eye. But when I look at this one, I almost feel like someone was making fun of Mazinger Z.

The over-sized cavity in the head looks just too far out of proportion to my tastes, almost like in inverted dunce-cap. And the legs are too skinny where they connect to the pelvis. It looks like he's got a diaper on. Also, the depiction of Koji Kabuto in the cockpit of the Hover Pilder is done by way of a silly looking sticker. The only other toys that I know of that do that are the bootleg Jumbos from Italy and Argentina. Now I admit, I do love those toys for what they are, but it just seems like bad company for a major Japanese toy maker to keep.

With that said, like most toys it looks ok when you add it to a lineup of others from it's series. And I got a good deal on it, so I can't complain too much.

The toy stands about 14.5 inches tall with 5 points of articulation (neck, shoulders, and hips). You pull a string to make it talk, but I have no idea what it says.

The head may look a little over-sized and the arms under-sized, but I think it adds to it's charm.

Mirrorman is one of the toys that was re-released by Masudaya that I really wanted to get. I like all the entries in the line, but getting characters that I didn't already have, or were never released, in Jumbo Machinder form seemed like the way to go. I'm a big fan of variety in my collection. It doesn't matter much to me if I've seen the TV show or anything like that. If it looks cool and I can add it for a decent price, I will. I grabbed this guy at Mandarake Nakano for about 3,500 yen if memory serves me well.

This one is a little bit bigger than the previously reviewed Kamen Rider V3, standing at just under 15" tall. This is actually one of the things that I do NOT like about this line of toys. There is no consistency to their size. I've only got about 6 of these things and they range in size from 12" to over 15". It's not a huge deal, but I prefer a bit of uniformity to the lineup. [Does that go against my previously stated love of variety?!:)]

Mirrorman is just like the others in the series, jointed at the hips, shoulders and neck with a pull-string on the back to make him talk. The head may look a little over-sized and the arms under-sized, but I think it adds to it's childlike charm. It's an innocent looking toy.

Between admiring and collecting, there is always that "gateway" toy. For talkers, this one was mine.

I never meant to start collecting talkers. I really didn't. Sure, I'd seen some pictures and thought they were pretty cool, but actually buying one? Nah. Not me. I had a friend who was buying them all up when the re-issues started coming out a few years back, often paying about $100 a piece. I just didn't think they were THAT cool. But then one day I was shocked to see one sitting in an aisle of a little shop at an Asian market in Quincy, MA. The shop had a couple of little Ultraman trinkets and a Doraemon doll, but it was by no means a toy store. I figured they'd probably be asking a fortune for it. But on a lark, I picked it up to check, fully prepared to let out a snobbish, "I know better than to pay THAT!" sort of laugh. Then I saw the price-tag. $15!! I couldn't believe it. Sure, the cellophane window was missing from the box, but hey, it HAD the box and the toy was mint. I had my first talker.

The original Masudaya talking soft vinyl toys were released in the 1970s, but this is a re-issue that came out in the late 90s. It's stands about 14" tall with 5 points of articulation (hips, shoulders and neck). There is a talk box embedded in the back, from which you pull a string to make it talk. Naturally, it speaks in Japanese. I'm not sure exactly what it says, but I think it's just simple stuff like "I am Kamen Rider V3", etc.. No philosophizing or anything like that.

As I mentioned earlier, the toy comes in a cardboard box with a clear cellophane window. There is also a thin piece of cardboard that wraps around the bottom of the box for some reason. I guess they just needed more room for promotional stuff.

Talkers are cool. I like the size and style of the sculpts. But they are something of a niche within a niche. To date, I still haven't been able to bring myself to buy any vintage ones. With the re-issues being readily available (and having since come down in price since my friend was getting them), it's too easy to just grab the newer ones when you see a good deal.