Kaiju Dragon
Review by JoshB
I don't know what this is, but I had to have it.
I love a good mystery, especially when it comes to toys. If I see something, and I don't know what it is, I am immediately driven to find out all about it. Usually a comprehensive search comes up with SOMETHING. But not in this case.
I picked up this toy during my last trip to tokyo. I got it at this store in Asakusa called Kusou. It was in a bin, near the counter filled with cheap toys in plastic bags. It had a sticker on it - 1,000 yen.
This thing caught my eye because it hits on one of the fetishes - it's a clear plastic toy.
It comes packaged on a crudely stapled blister card. The vacuum formed shell curls at the edges. It begs to be freed from its prison.
The bubble is released, the toy crumbles on the table. The years have taken their toll.
Still, we soldier on. Armed with a tube of super glue, I resurrect the toy.
All I can make out on it is the name Kaiju Dragon, or "Monster Dragon". It looks like something out of Microman or Jeeg, but I have no idea.
There is (or was) articulation at the head, legs and tail. 3 of the limbs are now glued. But it still looks cool, and until I know what this is, or who made it, I'll keep wondering...
Comments
12 comments postedLooks like they took the dog from Henshin Cyborg and modified that.
The Henshin Cyborg one was a Jaguar (and the distant direct ancestor of the MicroChange Jaguar that would become "Ravage" in Transformers) but like Cyborg had a number of costumes, including of other animals such as lions and dogs. One was in fact a Casshern Friender costume, too. I've seen this same knock off in a few other places (Japanese blogs and friends' collections), and I think one is posted in the Micropolis Embassy Yahoo Group's photo archive, too. :D
neat find! im always fascinated with whatever strange old toys you guys pick out of bins in a japanese toy store, its like anthropology/archaeology to me.
im going out on a limb here, but did you know you could have restored this to original function by removing the limbs and coating the ball joints (again, out on a limb) with the superglue, letting them harden and then affixing the limbs back on afterward? it should increase the friction and allow for poseability.
anyway, thanks for cataloging this curiosity!
I've done that on a few toys, but I couldn't on this one. The legs on this didnt have a normal ball and socket - they were fragile clips (much like a cd tray holds a cd) that had crumbled apart. Even repaired, they couldn't withstand the pressure.
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CollectionDX Admin
I've seen very rare Henshin-Cyborg and Microman 'knockoffs' much like this, so I suspect this was part of the same series. Made and sold in Japan, but knockoffs nonetheless.
The first thing I thought when I saw this was that it might be a knock-off Friender (from Casshern) with an antennae and some back ridges added on.
"Let [s]he who is without error ignite the first flame."
My Japanese friend at work and I just looked at it and thought it looks like a Friender knock off as well...Super cool!
Is there any writing on the back of the card? I love the 50 - 60 points of articulation! LOL
Awesome, I'm jealous!
Leonardo Flores
CollectionDX Staff Writer-West Coast Bureau
It looks more like it says there are 50 ~ 60 individual poses you can make... I'm guessing they just added the total number of degrees each joint can move together to come up with that number. (^_^);
"Let [s]he who is without error ignite the first flame."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdXYjR48pO8
Some pics here too: http://visibleinnards.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=222
I think you nailed it - looks like a knock-off of the Henshin Jaguar, with added details.
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CollectionDX Admin
100% it's a Jaguar KO... the added details aren't part of any official jaguar costume though. it's pretty darn cool!
You might wanna see this.