Balbagon
Review by JoshB
Everyone has that gateway piece.
You know what I am talking about. You like vinyl, but you just can’t get into it, you can’t make that leap into yet ANOTHER genre of collecting. So you resist, and you justify not buying one.
And then you see one in person and all that goes out the window.
Such is the case with the Dream Rocket Balbagon.
The sculpt, the color, the quality of materials – it really got me. It “sold” me on modern kaiju toys.
Balbagon comes from a toy line called Monster File. The characters in this line are original creations by the people at Dream Rocket. In many ways it seems to be the piece that put Dream Rocket on the map, with up to 14 different versions of the toy being produced. You can check out this handy guide for reference.
This thing is just beautiful. Its almost pointless to explain it to you if you are not into this sort of thing, but when all the elements align – sculpt – paint – materials; you get a fantastic piece.
Height is about 8 inches, and Balbagon is cast in blue vinyl with painted details. Articulation is limited to arms and legs.
There is a slightly different version of this colorway that has pupils in the eyes instead of all white. This version is rarer than the one shown here.
Comments
12 comments postedHA! That's funny that this was your gateway drug into designer vinyl...because this was mine!
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Sanjeev
Man, that GID one is NICE. It doesn't even look GID in normal light!
Nice review Josh!
Funny you mention the gateway factor. Though I don't really consider myself an all out vinyl collector, my gateway figure was none other than the CDX Gore Sky Deviler. Since that one, I have bought a decent number of others. lol
So what's the height of this Balbagon thing here? I've found a lot of these vinyls tend to be deceptively small. It looks pretty cool!
This guy's ST, or "standard" scale. That means roughly 8-9" (20-23cm). Many vinyl kaiju from various companies (whether designer stuff like this or character stuff like M1's Toho kaiju pieces) come in this scale. "Midsize" would be around 5-6" and "mini" is 3-4".
"Giant-sized" is impossible to pin-down because I've seen pieces of pretty much any height over 12" (30cm) labeled as "giant"!
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Sanjeev
I would by no means consider this toy to be "designer vinyl", though! This is straight up old school kaiju.
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
Despite the "old school" nature of this toy, it's still a designer piece. Designer vinyl is defined as non-character toys, and while Dream Rocket does produce some kaiju vinyl (character toys) in their Akakage line, their Monster File line is purely non-character. The Monster File kaiju are completely original designs originating in-house.
So, no matter how cool and heavily influenced by classic showa kaiju they seem, they're definitely designer pieces, just like Mark Nagata's Max Toy Co stuff.
Hey, just goes to show ya that not all designer stuff is bad!
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Sanjeev
Anyone wanna buy a GID Balbagon then?
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
I would love one but I only have like 18 bucks right now LOL
Just curious, how much ya want for it?
Well, I was just being facetious. I don't really intend to sell it. Nor do I, or will I, consider it a designer vinyl, despite Sanjeev's definition of what a designer toy is.
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
:P
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Sanjeev
Ohh...haha, wow, stupid mistake on my part. I get it.
GID Balbagon is one of the few vinyl pieces I've seen that I would actually spring for if I had the chance. It looks AWESOME. Most vinyl out there just kind of looks "meh" to me and seems overpriced. I was born and raised on Transformers so I'm used to toys that DO more, rather than just look good.
I like the glow-in-the-dark version of the toy and how I wish there's still stock available for that.
Funny thing though, the "gateway vinyl" for me was the Kyomoto Collection - Ultra Seven piece I got last Sunday.
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"I'm no ordinary ring."