TOY HUNTING for the MOST EXCELLENT TOYS in KENTUCKY @ TOY VOMIT

 

BOX FULL OF AMAZING CUSTOM MANDALORIAN ACTION FIGURES FROM HASNOTALENT

 

This is the way.

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THESE 1999 MICROMAN TOY SHOW EXCLUSIVES ARE PIMPS.

 

100% MICRO-PIMPS.

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VINTAGE KENNER ULTRAMAN FIGURES FROM JAPAN?! 1980's POPY WORLD HERO & BANDAI POCKET HERO COLLECTION

May the "shuwatch!" be with you.

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A (QUICK) LOOK @ MY VINTAGE TOY COLLECTION!

Today on my lunch break from work, I ran through my collection room after receiving several requests to show what I had laying around in my collection room. This was spur of the moment, nothing was organized, I could barely see what I was filming, and much of my stuff was very dusty or just passed over in a blurry glimpse... but still worth a view! 

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STAR WARS REPRO - COOL or TERRIBLE?!

This week, I check out some amazing "vintage-style" Star Wars reproductions and custom figures...

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(BROKEN) MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MEMORIES

Our latest KFG video catches me in action of breaking an expensive He-Man figure (on accident), while sharing some of our memories of vintage Masters of the Universe action figures.

Check it out below :(

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DRUNK X-MAS GIFT EXCHANGE : KFG

Sooo I've started up a new YouTube project with friends here in Tokyo called, KENTUCKY FRIED GAIJIN, and it promises to have more regularly updated content, more variety, and better production (sorry about my recent "lazy-as-hell" videos).

We've kicked things off on a brand new channel with our very first video, filmed a day after Xmas, featuring a drunken gift exchange.

Please check it out, and SUBSCRIBE :)

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HE-MAN & THE SATANIC MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

This blog is not about religion or politics, and I do not promote hate - unless it's regarding extremely shitty toys - however this particular post deals with a video containing some rather bogus religious context, and a ton of unintentional humor.

The original video is titled Deception of a Generation and was released by Eagle's Nest Ministries in 1985. Running 93 minutes, it's a lengthy time capsule of misplaced fear and paranoia.

Hosted by California based pastor, Gary Greenwald, and featuring Turmoil in the Toybox author, Phil Phillips, together they discuss the "satanic" influence of popular cartoons and toys from the 1980's. You know, the best ones...

Specifically He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Rather than give my thoughts on the matter, I decided to edit the first segment of the video and cut out all the unnecessary banter, leaving some of the best material, allowing it to speak for itself without becoming redundant. Enjoy :)

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DO BASTARDS DREAM OF DRAGONBALL Z?

In high school I was a huge fan of Dragon Ball Z. It was my first taste of anime and its influence eventually led me to working in Tokyo doing manga illustration as an apprentice for the creator of Fist of the North Star - but that's a story for another post. In this series of articles I want to concentrate on Dragon Ball Z. Specifically the vintage toy line that began in 1991, and eventually the impostors that followed.

Many people from my generation in America were not aware of Dragon Ball Z until the late 90's. It first aired in the USA in September of 1996, but  was canceled after only two seasons. Then in 1998, the reruns began airing regularly on Cartoon Network's Toonami, eventually leading Dragon Ball Z to become the most popular animated television show at the time and launching further English dubbed seasons. 

Still, a lot of casual viewers in America did not realize that the Dragon Ball franchise had been around as far back as 1984 in Japan. Originally published in manga form, Dragon Ball chronicled the life of Goku as he faced a slew of enemies and martial arts adversaries, meeting new friends along the way, and showing him progress from a child into an adult with god-like power. However it wasn't until 1989 that the animated "Dragon Ball Z" began airing on TV in Japan.

With the success of both the manga and animated series, it was only a matter of time before merchandise featuring everyone's favorite Saiyan warriors began to pop up on shelves all around Japan. Being that Dragon Ball Z was more action oriented than its more comedy-centered predecessor, action figures were only natural. 

Thus the Super Battle Collection was born.

Bandai's first Super Battle Collection action figure released in 1991.

We will come back to that in a moment. First, let me catch up on my experiences with DBZ and how I began collecting the action figures that it spawned.

As I mentioned earlier, I was a complete Dragon Ball Z-a-holic in high school (and still am). Back in 1998 I unintentionally caught an episode one afternoon. I had come home from school and was flipping through TV channels. Suddenly I saw two dudes with pointy black hair, flying through the air, beating the living shit out of each other. 

It was fucking awesome. 

The next day at school I approached a friend who I had remembered mentioning the show and asked him to divulge as much information as he could give me. He gave me a brief synopsis and recommended that I go buy the first set of episodes in order to catch up. 

So I did... on glorious VHS.

My life was changed from that point onward. I began to live and breath Dragon Ball Z. 

When Cartoon Network would run out of episodes and start over from the beginning of the series, I would order bootleg VHS tapes from Japan that continued where I had left off. I bought DBZ video game cartridges for Super Nintendo that were never released outside of Japan. My bedroom walls were plastered in DBZ posters and images I had printed from the internet. I swapped my standard polo shirts for ultra-gaudy DBZ t-shirts...

Like a boss.

Hell, I even used to spend several hours a day, sometimes staying up all night long, drawing a series of full-length fan manga books. I sold copies of each issue for $2 to DBZ fans at my high school and ended up making fair bit of extra cash. I was a fucking pimp.

A few pages from my Dragon Ball AF fan-manga (1999-2000)

I also absolutely loved tracking down the action figures...

BE A COMPLETE LOSER IN HIGH SCHOOL - COLLECT THEM ALL!

From 1999 to 2000, the local Toys R Us in my hometown had a a fairly large assortment of DBZ action figures on their shelves. All of which were released by Irwin Toys, a Canadian toy manufacturer and distributor. Something I noticed about their selection was that there were multiple sculpts of each character, some looking very different from the others. Later I found out that Irwin had simply repackaged Bandai's vintage Super Battle Collection action figure line along with figures from AB Toy's Super Guerriers DBZ action figure line. They were all roughly 5" tall and limited to only a few points of articulation. 

When hunting for these figures, I was always more keen on grabbing the Bandai re-releases, they were more beefy, came with removable armor and had better hair sculpts - Super Saiyan hair is something not to be fucked around with.

Just take a look at a comparison between Bandai's Vegeta and AB Toy's Vegeta...

... would you rather have the one with badass extra pointed hair, intense facial expression and awesome armor... or the one that looks like a stretched out prude in a tank-top?

The vast difference in sculpt and style of the AB Toys figures really turned me off. In fact, I actually thought that they were bootlegs. My brother and I used to refer to them as the "Mexican bootleg" DBZ toys, and for the most part stayed away from them. 

By the time I graduated high school I had amassed a large collection of DBZ action figures, most being Irwin re-releases of Bandai's Super Battle Collection. However, there was a guy with a kiosk at our local mall who was selling the original vintage Japanese Super Battle Collection figures mint in box. Compared to the re-issued, repackaged versions I had been buying at Toys R Us, these original Japanese figures were damned expensive, but of course I had to indulge. 

Irwin's figures came packaged on a generic multicolored blister card, while Bandai's original figures came packaged in an exotic window-box style of packaging with prominent artwork of the character. Bandai's packaging also allowed you to easily remove the figure and be able to put it back without damaging the packaging itself, unlike Irwin's blister cards which basically have to be torn open. Don't get me wrong, I actually love action figures in blister cards, they have a special nostalgic look to them, but when you've got a figure in packaging that can be opened and played with, then later put back into the packaging for display, it's a win-win.

Which do you prefer?

Unfortunately much of my action figure collection, including my Dragon Ball Z figures, were sold in a yard sale while I was away at art college. Then in 2005 I moved to Tokyo and got interested in collecting again. I was surprised to find out that even then, Bandai was still putting out reissues of their Super Battle Collection figure series. They had revamped the packaging and even given the figures more paint detail. 

2003 release of Super Saiyan Goku by Bandai.

I thought they were cool, but I still wanted to track down the original figures in vintage packaging. After several years of toy hunting around Tokyo, I found out that the original Super Battle Collection figures were actually pretty damn hard to find. But I've stayed vigilant and have ended up a finding a few mint in box that I was able to afford. Some of them can get very pricey. The Movie 7 Super Saiyan 3-pack for example, contains a rare version of Future Trunks in Super Saiyan form. Currently it sells anywhere between $600-$900. 

At $600-$800, you'd think their hair was made out of real fucking gold...

Fuck that.

So in those cases, I take the cheap way out...  and buy bootlegs.

Check out the video below to see some of my DBZ bootlegs!!

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*UPDATE*

I recently started up a new private Facebook group called DBZ Vintage Collectors, which is dedicated to DB & DBZ toys and collectibles produced before 1999. In the the group members can buy, sell, trade, or share their vintage DBZ items. If you'd be interested...

- CLICK TO JOIN -

FOR THE LOVE OF MICROMAN

If you are not familiar with either Microman or the Micronauts, you probably didn't grow up in the 70's. I sure didn't. It wasn't until my second time living in Japan, at the age of 31, that I finally caught onto the awesomeness that makes up these micro-sized action figures.

Fortunately for those of you too young to have caught the original wave of these guys, IDW has recently resurrected the Micronauts comic book series and Hasbro is joining in on the fun by releasing a new set of vintage style Micronauts action figures exclusive to this summer's San Diego Comic-Con. However most die-hard MicroFans will tell you that there have been a few minor changes made to these new figures... oh well :)

Back in the mid 70's through the mid 80's Microman and the Micronauts were the shit. For those of you who want a quick overview of the history of Microman and the Micronauts please check out my article from last year, it'll catch you up on all of the basics.

As I mentioned before, it wasn't up until a few of years ago during my return to life in Tokyo that I actually discovered the phenomenon that was known as Microman. It was essentially the first 3 3/4" action figure ever produced. Not only that, it also had the articulation of a G.I. Joe and came in awesome sci-fi inspired cyborg characters. Too bad I was born right as the US version, the Micronauts, were being phased out of toy stores :( 

Anyway, one day after moving back to Tokyo, I was on a toy hunt, looking for Godzilla sofubi (soft vinyl) and vintage Star Wars toys on the Western side of Tokyo in a town called Kichijoji. I eventually came across a toy shop called TOY CATS SHOWCASE. It was down in the basement level within a cluster of shops so I couldn't really see what was inside without going in to have a look around. The sign outside said "OLD & NEW TOYS", so that was a good sign.

That was the moment that my eyes were opened to Microman in all of it's chrome headed glory.

Earlier this year the owner of TOY CATS, whom is now my good friend, let me borrow an old and somewhat rare CD-R that was absolutely full of vintage Japanese action figure commercials. Specifically it contains TV ads for action figures that were produced by the toy company Takara, whom created Microman. He gave me permission to copy the disc and upload any of it's content to my Youtube channel. Of course I wasted no time going through the entire disc and the first thing I decided to upload was a complete collection of the vintage Microman commercials. Now I would like to share them with you . . . 

. . . so sit back with a hot coffee or cold beer and enjoy these mega awesome TV ads.

MEEE-KUUU-ROOO MAAAAAAAN!!

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THESE BOOTLEGS ARE KILLER...

Peter Goral is the creative genius behind Killer Bootlegs, an independent bootleg toy operation based in Rockford, Illinois.  His 're-imaginings' of classic toy lines often combine various body parts and accessories from a wide variety of vintage action figures, which are molded and then cast in resin. But these aren't just simply cheap rip-offs... they are highly refined pieces of art.

Vividly painted and oozing with nostalgia, the creations of Killer Bootlegs are extremely eye-catching, expertly crafted and ultra wicked.  

Upon discovering some of these gems, I had to find out more about the man behind their conception. Fortunately, I recently had the opportunity to ask Peter of Killer Bootlegs some questions...

What were your favorite toys and cartoons growing up?

My favorite toys as a child were GI Joe and Star Wars action figures. But, I played with anything 3.75" and could be mixed into play with my GI Joe and Star Wars figures. I really liked the odd knockoff figures made by companies Lanard and Remco. But, if I had to pick a favorite, it'd be Storm Shadow V2 (1988).  My favorite cartoons were, GI Joe, Thundercats, He-Man, X-Men, and Scooby Doo.

Which action figure series made the biggest impact on your childhood?

GI Joe: A Real American Hero and Star Wars POTF 2. It's all their fault!

   

When did you you decided to start making your own custom action figures?  

I decided to start making my own figures back in the fall of 2009. At the time, I was working a 1st shift job and my wife worked on 2nd shift. I would get off work and have a ton of time on my hands and be home alone most of the night. At first, they were just one-off kitbashed figures that were held together with Super Sculpy and super glue. I didn't get into the molding and casting aspect for maybe a year or two later.  

Did you find the processes of molding and casting difficult to learn?

I have to admit, it was a lot of trial and error. There really weren't any instructional videos online at the time. I didn't have customer reviews or anyone with past experience to tell me which products worked best for what I was attempting to do. It was difficult, but eventually I got a handle on what needed to be done and figured out what little tricks make the difference in the end. 

What was the first action figure that you created?

The first action figure that I created was called, Shifty Megatron. He was a one-off kitbash made with a vintage Star Wars Ewok lower body and Boba Fett torso, GI Joe Talking Battle Commander Overkill head and I think Jurassic Park Velociraptor arms. I repainted him a few times, before he was eventually mounted on a screen printed cardback, framed, and shipped to Australia where he now resides in a private collection.

Can you describe the process you go through?

I generally start with molding some of the action figure parts that I will use as my base to work off of. I have found that working with a resin casting is much easier than the actual part itself. I sculpt, cut, sand, and glue parts from other, toys, castings, and sometimes really random pieces of plastic together to achieve the desired look and feel of a vintage action figure. I make multiple molds, depending on the size of the run to speed up the casting process. Most times, I'm casting several hundred individual parts, which all need to have the vents/pour spouts trimmed off, be sanded/cleaned/polished, and then ultimately everything is painted. I like to have a blank canvas to start with when it comes to the paint application, so I cast everything in bright white resin. I apply washes, rubs, airbrush parts, and then hand paint all the details.  

Which action figure(s) are you the most proud of making?

I'm proud of everything I have made. But, some of my figures that instantly come to mind are...

Frankenfett

Phantom Starkiller

Draco Knuckleduster

Czarface

Ewoking Dead

and Star Warhol.

What are you cooking up now?

I've got quite a few things left up my sleeve for the second half of 2015. You guys will just have to wait and see.. 

Do you have any tips for aspiring action figure bootleggers and toy creators? 

Focus and have fun. They are only toys...

Make sure to visit Killer Bootlegs' official website for more info!

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