Michael transforms into a Werecat & Zombie right before your very eyes! wow.

…and there you have it folks…28 more seconds wasted on the internet YES!

>If  the gif animations are loading too slowly for your connection, there are smaller video versions at my flickr…HERE<

Click metamorphosing Mike above to see a video about the making of Thriller (linked part features MJ getting the ‘werecat’ makeup).

Click Zombie Mike to learn the Thriller Zombie dance!

Figures by Marusan.

I picked up a Korg Kaossilator Pro yesterday 11/24/10. This is a first try at making a cinematic/Sci-Fi sounding song. My first pitiful attempt… but I’m still learning the new gadget. I like it so far.
Also used an ESX-1 and MS-20 in a couple of spots too.

Vinyl in the vid is a Marmit Baruzasu.

A creature myth not too unlike our ‘Bigfoot’ legend here in the US…many would argue that the Japanese Tsuchinoko is a real snake like creature that some have reported as even having mythical powers. Though, like Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, Nessie, the Yeti, etc…people have also claimed to have witnessed, took images, or actually captured the elusive snake creature…but like all of the other cryptozoologic creatures…science has yet to confirm it’s existence.

The real deal?

One of many variations that have been encountered…

Tsuchinoko (sue-chee-no-ko)…which translates to “Hammer Spawn” are said to be highly venomous, able to jump great distances, and also have the ability to bite onto their own tail and roll around like a wheel. Those who have encountered say they make high pitched squeaking sounds or screeches.

Among the even more strange legends about these funny looking snake monsters:

The ability to talk (though it usually tells lies, which makes sense, ’cause it’s a snake.) and a strange penchant for booze…

Let’s Party first…Ssssss….and then I’ll eat you!

A toy of a lying, drinking, evil mythical snake…had to have one!

M1-Go produced 3 versions of the beasties back in 2008 which they dubbed ‘UMA: Unidentified Mysterious Animal‘. The 8″ long 5″ high snakes came packaged in a box (with great artwork, see below!) which is also kind of unusual for these types of vinyl toys. Also included is a very shiny black presentation platform wrapped in a paper envelope…and as usual the vinyl quality and paint are right on par with M1-Go’s normal super high standards.  I don’t see these Tsuchinoko vinyls come up too often…but I was able to snag one in the last Morphy Auction.

M1-Go’s offerings…

Some pics of the one I received…

Box art front…

Box art back…

Out of the box…he’s not happy about this…

Got to be more careful…ouch!

That’s it for now…but if you do find yourself in the Japanese countryside…watch your step!

Lots & Lots of boxes and LOTS of toys!

I would love to spend a few days digging around in there!

The Mandarake shops have quite a few locations around Japan, but the most well known are the shops located in the Nakano Broadway shopping mall in Shibuya, Tokyo, and the complex in Akihabara. Mandarake allows for a unique shopping experience by having a series of shops in the same location that each cater to different collectors. They sell much more than rare vinyl toys…they sell pretty much every Japanese toy ever made plus tons of manga!

Here’s another video looking around at some other stuffs..

Here’s a look inside the Osaka shops…

Mandarake online shop…HERE!

This Mechagodzilla is actually Tomy’s great little bipedal robot iSobot…with an M1-Go Mechagodzilla vinyl head stuck on. Music by Miyagi (Kyoto Garden).

Thanks to Kirkland for putting it up on TBS!

Now here is a cool video of the real MechaG getting his suit tests…yeah, it’s actually just a guy in a suit. I know…I was a little disappointed too

WHEN: Saturday January 16th 2010 (writing 2010 still makes me feel like I’m writing about the future) @ 6:00pm- 10:ish.

WHERE: Super 7 of course!..1628 Post St. San Francisco

WHAT:  A massive show featuring some of  the most talented airbrushers and painters of Japanese vinyl from all over the U.S.! … last year’s ICFSB show had plenty of other surprises too…and prizes!

A preview of my submission:

Last year I had things that smoked and made irritating noises…but I just didn’t have the time this year to make such annoying Objects de‘Art…BUT, I have something too HOT to touch!!!…(well not really…you can touch it all you want)…

I really like how this guy turned out…lots of glitter that you can’t make out in the picture and also his pupil is a tiny flame. I’ll get more pics up on flickr as the show grows nearer but I think it would be much better to come see it in person…

I had such a great time at ICFSB 2009 and hope to see lots of familiar faces this year!…and hopefully KISS to0! lol…

[This post is really pic heavy so sorry if it loads a bit slow…click any image to enlarge]

Mark Nagata…

The dinner at Mark’s was held to welcome Japanese toy makers Yajima-san of Dream Rocket and Ichimiya-san of Sunguts on their first visit to the U.S…and also Matt Walker aka Dead Presidents in from Massachusetts. All gearing up for their upcoming show with Max Toy!…

‘Kaiju Invade San Francisco!’

Ichimiya-san (front) & Yajima-san in Mark’s astounding den of rare toys…

Matt Walker of Dead Presidents!…

Dead President’s also impressed everyone with his pinstriping skill and put on some last minute touches for the following day’s show…

I have a feeling that Matt enjoys what he does!…

All together I probably spent over an hour & half down in the ‘Museum‘ trying to take in all of Mark’s amazing collection…and it is in no way dedicated to just Ultraman…there are vinyls and other rarities from many of the other old Japanese TV shows/movies as well as a world-class collection of rayguns and robots!…

One of the first things I had to seek out was the uber-rare 1966 Bullmark ‘Girls Version’ Red Ultraman…only 4 exist in collector’s hands!!!

An Ultra Ride!…

Props too!…

Some new toys mixed in as well such as Neo-Eyezon!…

Vintage Robots and Trikes!…

Amazing vintage Kikaider collection!…

Protoypes…how awesome is that!…

Wouldn’t be an Ultraman collection without some Beta Capsules…

Some toys I had never seen like the Hyata below…

Ha! Ragon above has the same expression I had the whole time I was looking at this stuff…

More rareness…

Ultramen galore…

An Ultra Door!…

Giant Robos…

…and of course Ultra Bowling…

Lots of Ultra art was spread about the room…

An awesome Herculoids sketch…

Check out this giant Harryhausen Cylops guarding the room…

A dissected Eyezon…

…and Eyezon’s to paint…

Everywhere you look there was more incredible toys to behold…it really felt like being down in some super secret Tokyo toy shop that had all the rarest toys…

Toys in unexpected places…

You could tell that there was actually much more still in boxes…I would love to see what treasures these held too…

Mark asked some of us to sign his famous Mirrorman Statue but I realized I forgot to after I got home…oops …hopefully I’ll get to visit again someday soon!

Mark watching DP pinstriping…

Matt tries to make a Lion Maru face…and nails it…

Ultraman tells Toybot Studio’s Kirkland that Mark’s collection is even bigger than his…

Kaiju Chronicle’s Joe gets a closer look…

Matt holds the Giant Max Toy/Dead President’s Eyezon! This thing is insanely beautiful…

Upstairs there were plenty of shenanigans too…

Harmond loans his son’s laser gun to Yajima-san…

Sunguts isn’t sure what to make of this thing…

Gatchabert chows down at the toy filled table…

Mark’s awesome son Max also helped keep everyone entertained by showing us his own cool toy collection…and his great skill playing Mario…

A good time was definitely had by all! Finally getting to see Mark’s collection in person and having the chance to meet many in the Japanese toy and collecting world as well as other artists and cool creative people…not to mention Mark’s very talented guests of honor made for a night I won’t soon forget!

A huge thanks to Mark Nagata and his wonderful family for the invite and being such gracious hosts!

Don’t forget to see this amazing show at Double Punch in North Beach SF…ends December 30th!

…and remember Xmas shopping is actually very easy!

Just buy everyone kaiju!

Max Toy

Dead Presidents

Sunguts

Dream Rocket

Some incredibly cool box art reproduced for this new version of the Dino Robot!

This is a limited repro ‘green‘ version of the original battery operated Japanese tin Dino Robot produced by SH Horikawa in1968…

11.5″ tall…with all the same specs as the original.

These new, limited production repros are made by Japan’s oldest and only traditional tin toy robot manufacturer… Metal House Robots. Metal House actually began producing toys in 1943, under the name ‘Marumiya‘, as a sub-contractor for many other Japanese robot toy producers…including the aforementioned Horikawa.

Marumiya produced some of the most famous and collectible toy robots from the 1950’s-1980’s…until slow sales finally forced the shut-down of most all of Marumiya’s manufacturing contracts.

In 1989 Marumiya Co. reorganized and opened up shop as Metal House. To this day Metal House continues producing quality traditional tin toys of their own design as well as some of the best known Horikawa designs.

Dinos in disguise!…[click to enlarge pics]

Roaring sound and light in mouth [see video below]…

This guy is fun to play with!!

I shot a short video of his antics…plus I have a camera that will shoot in slow-motion…I thought it would be fun to catch the opening and closing of his robot head at 300fps! The slow-motion segment is about halfway thru the video. No sound available at that speed so I added a soundtrack ;)…

Stolen pic (???) of an original vintage boxed version…one of these went up for bid at the recent Morphy Auction!…

The Metal House limited smoking version Dino Robot is next on my robot want-list!…

Smoking’s not cool…unless it’s by Dinos!

I picked up this Metal House design too…Dino Robot III (limited to only 100 made)…

Hey, that Dino head sure looks familiar…

Another video, but no slo-mo this time,  just hardcore robot walking action!…

Since X-Mas is coming soon…I thought I’d also mention a couple of affordable and cool robot-themed gift ideas!..

More robot perfection from Metal House…THE SANTA ROBOT!

Ho Ho Ho!…destroy…kill…destroy…

Available for $75 HERE!

Chop Shop is still offering their uber-sweet weRobot T-shirts for good boys and girls…but now the robot eyes glow in the dark too!!!

$20.00 [click designs below to go to the CS store]

How many robots can you name???

…I actually named all but 3 off the top of my head…is that normal?

*…or anywhere else for that matter… if you can make it!

[Click to enlarge fliers]

KAIJU INVADE SAN FRANCISCO!!!

The opening reception is Saturday December 12th 7:00 PM at the Double Punch Store & Gallery in North Beach SF.

BUT...get there an hour early @ 6:00 PM and Matt Walker will also be giving one of Dead President’s famous pinstriping demos!!!

Four of America & Japan’s best kaiju artists & toy designers…

•Mark Nagata of Max Toy & Matt Walker of Dead Presidents!

Plus…

On their first visit to the U.S….

•Ichimiya-san of Sunguts & Yajima-san of Dream Rocket will also be attending the opening!

One figure I’m personally hoping to see is Dream Rocket’s new Zabami…

I know Mark & Matt will bring some serious heat to this show…Matt has already let me know that there will be at least one show exclusive as well as some rare one-off customs…DP customs from: Max Toy, Onell Design, and RxH …plus a few more surprises!

Mark’s still very busy working on toys for the show as this post goes out…so we’ll be hearing more on what to expect from Max Toy soon…

Just to give you a little taste of the talent…I snagged one of DP’s INCREDIBLE exclusives just a couple of days ago:

The Yamomark x Dead Presidents Cranberry Land Mushroom Soup Man (phew…that’s a long name!)…

…this guy is in serious need of a facial…

It’s difficult to capture all of the subtle nuances of Matt’s paint work on this figure! DP uses his own formula of paints and top coats that are extremely vibrant and durable. For this custom, Matt also added a ton of diamond ice pearl flakes to the paint to give it an incredible sparkle in person. MSM Cranberry Land was limited to just 10 pieces and I feel pretty lucky to have one in my collection!

I want some more!

Hope to see you at the show and I’ll update when I get more info on what’s going to be available!

‘Monsters with Soft Brains and Vinyl Skulls’ (I love that!) is the title of this unusual web exhibition of Japanese monster toy photography. PlasticXO solely created the website design and did an extraordinary job in creating a unique presentation for our uncommon and Monstrous images!

Each photographer involved displays a very distinct approach of breathing life into what is essentially a static object….though these aren’t your ordinary static objects to be sure…these are monster toys!…and they have LOADS of personality for us to work with!

I’m sure I speak for the other guys too when I say how much I enjoy shooting these crazy and rare Japanese vinyls and creating images that are hopefully really interesting and fun to view!

Click here to take a visit to the gallery!!!

[Or click any image below to head over…]

PlasticXO…

Winu…

REdYOdA…

Thanks again Olivier!!!

[Oh, and on different side note… I added a video link on the sidebar to my youtube channel. It has most of the past video’s I’ve posted here on the blog for your time wasting enjoyment.]

[Animation by Elegab]

Got my own new Dokuro Tarou Puppet Seijin in the mail from Japan yesterday…

I grabbed some quick shots today…[click any to enlarge]…

He added a faux zipper back…man in suit???…

Nari-san (Elegab) has allowed for many different puppets with interchangable characters from previous releases…very cool!

I picked up the green spray version of the 9.5″ Puppet Seijin (and he comes bagged with 4 puppets!). The toy was also available with a blue spray for the initial release. Both are on pink vinyl…+1

A really fantastic toy from one of the best new toy designers in Japan.  2009 has been an incredible and breakthrough year for Dokuro Tarou designs: Full size releases of Missileas, Shuttlegon, the Monster Patrol Car, and now Puppet Seijin. It looks as if Elegab is just getting going too…try to keep up with his blog and  take a little time to search thru the Dokuro Tarou site to see what else he has in store! I have a feeling Dokuro Tarou’s not anywhere near finished taking the kaiju market by storm!

If you didn’t grab the initial release of PS…I”m sure other colorways aren’t far behind…

And now…

I had the honor of attending a very rare  puppet show featuring Puppet Seijin…

I was lucky to get out alive…

White Sands Missile Range

That’s me standing by a huge Redstone Rocket at the White Sands Missile Range.

Originally called White Sands Proving Grounds, White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is actually the largest military installation in the U.S. (3200 sq. miles).  WSMR’s remote base of operation is located in the southern NM plains, 27 miles north of Las Cruces. I have seen this Army base off in the distance many times over the years, but was finally able to make a trip over after hearing that they had a museum open to the public…

The Army base out in the middle of nowhere…

Right before the turn off to the base…

What I didn’t realize was the sheer amount of incredible scientific historic achievements that have been made out in this remote area. WSMR is steeped in history and is the birthplace of America’s rocket, missile, nuclear, and space programs. Werner Von Braun tested America’s first rockets out here! I’ve been a NASA & space exploration history buff for a long time…so this kind of stuff fascinates me!

After passing through a polite, yet very thorough security screening…we were able to drive a short ways to the museum only…

[Click to Enlarge]

Inside the museum I was greeted by…wtf…Darth Vader???

Apparently Ben Burtt came out to WSMR to record a bunch of sound effects for a little movie called…Star Wars.

Burtt gave the military base a Vader helmet from the SW production as a thank you gift.

…Sweet Star Wars history bonus: +1

I found it very interesting that the Japanese conduct a lot of testing at the range. Here are two Daruma dolls that some had brought for good luck on their project. When you receive a Daruma…only one eye is colored in. After your wish or desire is fulfilled…the other eye is then filled in. I guess they got their wish…

One Japanese team even gave a suit of awesome Samurai armor as a gift!…

The space shuttle Columbia landed at WSMR after a mission…I though this was funny…

Ok…to diffuse the bomb…all you have to do is disconnect the blue wire from the yellow wire…

Von Braun’s V-2 Rocket…

Some crazy tech experiments going on out here!…

There was a TON of cool and fascinating stuff inside this museum… from the local Native American history, the first atomic tests, the Space shuttle Columbia’s landing at the base, the space program achievements, and quite a bit about rocket tech and history. I learned a lot and would visit again in a second. This is a toy site though so I’ll move on a bit…

Outside the museum…a lot missiles and rockets…

The Patriot Missile Launcher…

Some pretty Sci-Fi looking stuff out here…

…And of course this little tourist had to get in a couple of shots…

Thanks for looking…and now we return to our regular scheduled programing…;)

[Click any image to enlarge]

White Sands Monument is a surreal & beautiful place…with miles upon miles of pure white gypsum sand dunes…great for some otherworldly toy pics! (this is a Japanese toy website after all…)

Captain Ultra…

Quicksand!…

Garamon’s Homeworld?

This place can alter your perception…

Garamon takes a spirit walk…

Minya scales some sandy peaks…

An alien invader?

Stranded on another planet…

Minya really feels the heat!…

Really had a great time here…visitors can rent plastic sleds and slide down the massive white dunes! I did actually have kind of a hard time shooting pics here because it is sooo incredibly bright…I could barely see my camera viewfinder! Hope you like the pics though!

One of the stranger places to have a picnic…

More pics coming up in Part 3….including this place…