Mothman Vs. Flatwoods
Review by JoshB
You may know Sun Min + David Hovarth as the creators of the Uglydolls. They've met with runaway success, which has been unmatched by other "designer" toy makers. They've also gone beyond the scope of the uglydolls and done kaiju toys, collaborations with designers, and now, even cheap ass toys.
The Mothman Vs. Flatwoods are purposefully cheap. The series is called Super Market Toys, and the idea was to pay tribute to the bags of army men, cowboys and indians and others that were found in the checkout of grocery stores from David's childhood. Typically these toys were cheap, bagged with a header card, and included some kind of simple diorama. Each figure is about 3.5 inches tall.
But of course, this toy has a modern spin. Instead of cowboys, we now have mythical American creatures. The Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster are both rural American legends that have recently attracted the attention of toy makers, both in the US and in Japan.
The Mothman is a creature that first supposedly appeared in 1966 in Charlestown / Point Pleasant, Virginia. It is said to appear right before a serious tragedy, such as the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge in which 47 people died. The creature is often described as "as a winged man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes and large moth-like wings." You may remember the 2002 movie "The Mothman Prophecies", which was loosely based on the events.
The Mothman figure included in this set is a chunk of hard, solid plastic with painted details. The finish is OK, but you can tell that this toy was made to look cheap. There are defects in the cast of the figure, and uneven spray apps on the back.
The Flatwoods monster is based on an extraterrestrial sighting around 1952 in Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia. Supposedly this creature has a relatively human shape with large eyes, a green dress, and an inverse "Ace of Spades" shaped head. According to Wikipedia, this depiction of the Flatwoods monster gained popularity in Japan in the 1970s during the UFO craze, and is one of the very few US-based entities that is regularly depicted as a Kaiju.
The Flatwoods Monster is a bit more detailed than the Mothman, but made out of the same material. The Flatwoods monster, however, is hollow, with an opening at the bottom somewhat like a finger puppet. The molding on this figure is better, but the paint applications are still a bit rough, especially around the eyes.
Also included in the set is a plastic tree, and a plastic fence, for added play value!
Let's be honest here, these are not great toys. But that's the great thing here. They are meant to be cheap, to be affordable, to hearken back to a day when toys were simpler and made for kids. David and Sun are paying tribute here to toys they grew up with, and they did an awesome job, nailing gown the manufacturing style, the packaging, and even the affordable price. This set shouldn't cost you more than $10-11 dollars, and is a great way to add some of that Uglydoll design aesthetic to your collection without paying the high prices.
Check out the awesome disclaimer on the back:
Comments
8 comments postedI'm really starting to hate this ironic-hipster-trendy-art-Starbucks thing going on with toy collecting right now. Let me get this straight: These LOOK like cheap supermarket toys,down to the last shoddy detail,but instead of $1 you get to pay $10 dollars? WTF?
A lot of the full size vinyl is the same way,80 bucks for a dog's chew toy sculpted by a 4 year old,because it looks "retro" to a group of people who don't know a Bullmark from bulls**t.
I'll be glad when the cool kids move on to the next big thing.
You'd be hard pressed to find something like this for a dollar at any supermarket. You'd be hard pressed to find a cheap vinyl at the family dollar for less than four dollars. Few dog chew toys are cheaper than that, either.
Given what these toys are, getting two (and a fence!) for ten dollars seems reasonable enough.
I agree with kidnicky's anti-"ironic-hipster" point (though, you need to cut the profanity, man!).
These guys are trying to be kitschy. That's wack.
The original idea behind designer vinyl (at least the high-quality Japanese kind), was that these were super-high quality toys. The best vinyl possible. Creative sculpts that people dig. Amazing paint apps. Unfortunately, the market blew up but the production runs stayed low (no damn coincidence, of course).
Now, they're trying to drop that quality in order to be "retro"? Wow...someone's sitting back and laughing (no offense, JoshB! ;P ). Sure, they're cheaper, but these seriously are $1 toys. ...I'd rather drop $8 on a Glyos figure that provides genuine play value.
And TimF, you're going to the wrong dollar stores, buddy! I was in one a couple weeks ago in South Boston and I picked up two ~7" knockoff Gundams for Nekrodave for a buck a pop. Still better than these things.
--
Sanjeev
That sounds pretty nice. Maybe it's just that I haven't had much luck.
Still, did those Gundams come with a fence or a dead tree?
What a great little concept, I love the Mothman very funny with is big silly mouth. it would of have better if it was a whole bag of these but its still creative.
Cheers,
Leonardo Flores
CollectionDX Staff Writer-West Coast Bureau
This article is retro now, too, but
either way I wanted to respond.
Because we only made 5000 sets and not one million, as they do
when they made the cow boy / army sets, the per piece price to us
was very high. We probably made 2 bucks on each one and shared
that with our distributor. By choice, we did this for fun.
It's something we would talk about on drives down to Area 51, no foolin.
Sun-Min and I grew up with love of the lore of these creatures.
We are in no way hip or hipsters.
I own a toy company but the business people
still look over my shoulder when looking for someone in charge at trade shows.
I make a terrible cool person.
I've spent more time at Mandarake Nakano and Yodabashi Camera in line for Soul of Chogokin
than I have at any hipster hang out or even semi-marginal cool restaurant combined,
and I only know where some are because they are on my way home from Anime Jungle downtown.
I even ran into Josh by random chance at Tamashii nations in Tokyo.
I should have been at my hipster club! Wait, that is my hipster club.
Look, I knew Tamashii has 2 "i's"
We've created many Kaiju versions of these creatures, all made in Japan,
in the very same factories the original Godzilla and Kaiju monster toys were cast ages ago,
but those retail for $50 to $80 and we really wanted to somehow offer this set under $10 retail.
We still have yet to make back the $ we spent on the full page ads
we did for these in UFO magazine.
Sad to say the Roswell Museum passed on them, but the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant
West Virginia took some and made one a permanent part of the museum!
So we were beyond happy and OK with the loss.
Ok that all said, if you simply don't like them, I hear ya.
No stopping that.
=)
Wow, three years ago I did this?
Never mind the hate, no need to justify, you are all good in my book!
I felt like a jerk not recognizing you when we met in Tokyo!
Good to see you here, can't wait to see what you think of Daltanious!
I've been a reader for years, just realized I should sign up.
Currently grabbing up all the soul of chogokin toys previusly found in the godaikin line,
Can't wait for Daltanious and God Sigma!
Thanks for the hndreds of awesome reviews.