King Kong by Mego

Well, now we have a vintage toy that didn't bother making a fake King Kong... they give us the real thing! Here is a figure from the 1970s: King Kong (キング　コング) by Mego.

Mego is an American toy company established in the 50s, but they really caught on full steam in the 1970s. The company obtained King Kong rights for toys along with the much hyped 1976 King Kong movie remake. Oddly, there was only one figure of King Kong himself actually produced in the U.S. (which came with a big shooting game), and there was also a plush doll. Other items released in the U.S. in this movie marketing campaign were punching bags, models, even a weird straw that had Kong climb a building as you slurped liquid through.

In Japan, however, there were a couple King Kong figures produced for Mego by Bullmark. Gotta love Bullmark! There was a funny wind-up that had long arms stuck up in the air, and the classic waddly feet that you always see on wind-up walkers... and there was this more realistic vinyl figure with a silly little car to hold on to.

I was very fortunate to come across a Mego King Kong page at the Mego Museum website, so thanks to them for the info on Mego's Kong releases!



Header
The main head attached to the top of the bag for this toy, despite being the same on both sides, it really cool. The King Kong illustration is one seen on much of the Mego Kong packaging at the time, but it still looks great, and is cropped well for this card. The sunburst and big red text to the side is kitschy and fun, and the loud colors and rows of stars make it stand out... just as a giant ape would I suppose.

They make up for just having the same front and back to the header card by actually including a background card in the bag along with the toy. I included flat images here of the front and back, but in the package, the bottom folds underneath, making a little platform for the toy to stand on. It's a cool little backdrop with an illustrated city street behind the big ape himself. On the back, there seems to be some King Kong stats and other information.

Very nice overall packaging, especially for a vintage vinyl toy!


Sculpt
For its size (about 6 inches tall or so), this is a nicely detailed figure. The vinyl isn't the greatest quality, but you run into this a lot with older toys. (I was also lucky to find this still sealed in the bag, so the condition is great). The hands and feet in particular are nicely sculpted.

I like the menacing face, but the teeth/fangs are a little crooked as they jut out of the mouth at a weird angle. And the fur is kind, but adds a lot of detail all over.

The arms are articulated at the shoulders which is nice, even though with the arms down the figure appears awkward for some reason. I think the legs are a little long for a gorilla, but they may have been left that way for balance sake. It stands relatively well, although the car in his hand makes him a little top heavy when his arms are raised.

And the car... wow this thing stinks. It looks like a battleship with waron wheels. It totally does not fit the scale or style of this figure, and I have no clue why they even felt it necessary to even include it. If they wanted to include some cheap plastic accessory, they should have chosen a hollow skyscraper roof or something for him to stand on. This crappy car doesn't even stay in Kong's hand all that well.


Paint
Not the greatest paint application on the figure. You can tell this toy was mass produced in a hurry, as the paint appears to have been sprayed on in the general location without much attention to detail. Same story with the brush applied teeth and eyes.

While the colors work well... there is some nice, subtle coloring on the toes... there are places on the chest and under his nose where the paint is uneven. A more deliberate application would have been better here to ensure proper coverage. Also, the brushed paint on the teeth is very sloppy, even extending onto the lips. The pupils are crooked also, we are seeing a Kong lazy eye.


Value
This toy can still be found around for pretty cheap considering the age. I even found one still stapled in the bag for not much at all. I assume these were made in mass quantity to hype the King Kong movie, which leads to the lower price.

Overall
Positives: Cool, medium sized King Kong toy, nice hands, great packaging

Negatives: Shitty car accessory, too-quick paint job

The package may be the saving grace for this toy. While it's pretty cool having an actual Kong as opposed to a bootleg, it doesn't have the same feel and charm as some of the cruder vintage pieces that were also mass produced. Not sure exactly what it is. Regardless, Mego (and Bullmark) still did a good job with these, and I would recommend it to gorilla/King Kong completeists without hesitation.

Betakong by Sunguts

Another gorilla! Yay!!



This little guy's name is Betakong (ベタコング) from the Beta Kaiju Series (ベタ怪獣シリーズ).

This one brought to you by the good folks at Sunguts (サンガッツ). Actually, Sunguts is one person from what I understand, who sculpts a wide variety of characters from Gamera and Godzilla to his beta series like this or manga characters created by Shigeru Mizuki. All in all, they are solid, quirky little sculpts that are pretty distinguishable from other toylines out there. I'll have another Sunguts figure that is sort of gorilla related that I will write about soon... a caveman! Although I believe the caveman is from a Mizuki character.

This toy is what appears to be another take on the classic King Kong bootleg, but I suppose it could be a random gorilla too.

On an aside, I've decided to ditch the number scoring, as it was beginning to feel sort of arbitrary to me. I still want to keep the categories, however.

Header
Not a bad header, but not a fantastic one by any means. It does not seem to relate to the Betakong besides the sticker on the back that gives the name and price. The front looks pretty cool with some illustrated Sunguts characters. The yellow is bright and would stand out well, and the card stock it is printed on it nice and glossy and heavy. The back isn't great from an artistic standpoint, but at least it's informational, right?

Sculpt
Very Sunguts-y sculpt. While I typically like for my toys to be at least somewhat articulate (joints, not speech!), the perma-arms up pose here doesn't bother me all that much. It's a funny pose that I most likely would have him standing in anyway. Even though it is slightly bigger than a standard mini (I'd say this gorilla is in the 4-5 inch tall range), he is jointed like a mini only at the waist.

The facial expression is great, and the teeth are a nice touch. This and the body proportions give the figure a very cartoony feel, which fits in with much of Sunguts figures of the recent past.

I don't really care for the fur texture on the figure. It looks rushed as you can still see the excess material pushed out of the way where the knife or whatever tool just made the lines over and over. it could have benefitted from a little smoothing I think. Maybe if there were more fur marks, this wouldn't seem as glossed over as well.

Paint
The figure is cast in brown vinyl, but it is a nice warm tone, and the paint on the chest and ass are delicately applied, fading out nicely into the brown vinyl. The yellow, while not being realistic when considering the brown is moreso, works well in contrast. The eyes feel a little wonky, but the brush-applied face is a nice contrast to the softer paint on the body.

Overall, a very simple, but very effective paint job.

Value
After shipping from Japan, this figure is not the cheapest, but it isn't ridiculous either. Being a gorilla-head, it was a good buy for me.

Overall
Positives: Fun sculpt; nice, simple paint job

Negatives: Overly simple fur pattern, arms stuck in UP

Solid entry from Sunguts here. It is not a stand-out piece, but it's fun and pissed and fills in that little gap in your gorilla shelf quite nicely.

Happy Tofurkey Day!

We went to the Triangle Vegetarian Society's annual Thanksgiving Day Feast! We ate ourselves sick on vegan cuisine then came home to pass out in front of the fire for awhile. Fun day for all!

Except the poor turkeys....

I swiped this image from RedYoda. You can check out his blog here

http://kaijuart.com/

Happy Thanksgiving (one day late)

Marusan Originals Wishbook

In the spirit of the Sears Christmas Wishbook, I've crafted a crappy little Marusan Originals Wishbook page. So if any of my tens of readers comes across these somewhere, I'd love for you to let me know!


I've fallen in love with these fun, crude sculpts... they remind me so much of the drugstore toys I used to crave as a kid.


No priority here... the numbers and letters are simply for reference. Even if you don't know here to find them, perhaps you can just enjoy the little blurry pics and how many of these there actually are. I swiped the images from the scan of some sort of Japanese catalog.

Marusan Originals

Well, damn.

My New Years resolutions have totally fallen by the wayside. I guess that's how it usually goes.

I didn't realize it had been almost 4 months since my last post! I even have a lot more apes/monkeys to write about!

------------------

Anyway, thought I would at least attempt to start this back up (yet again) with a little update on my latest stuff.

I've been really into these Marusan original sculpts lately. Crude, relatively inexpensive patchi kaiju that are just fun. They remind me the most of those random drug store toys you'd get as a kid and make up the story for. Marusan made many of these in the late 90s, I guess before the "boom" that kaiju/Japanese vinyl toys re-experienced a few years later.

I won a great lot for cheap on Yahoo Japan recently, so eventually I'll be writing about them I'm sure. I haven't bought much at all lately, and these could probably be the last again for awhile. (Don't worry... I still have a lot to write about... and PAINT!!! ugh... that's another story completely)

You'll notice the Giant Gorilla in there from a previous entry of mine (I only had a tiny version of that brown color, however.) There's a couple robots, what looks to be a Gamera rip-off, even a clear Ultraman rip-off! I lucked out finding all these together. There are many more I may have to track down, but I am excited about building a completely patchi kaiju bookshelf.

MechaGonira by Amapro

MechaGonira (メカゴニラ) by Amapro (アマプロ) is just a little different than the other gorilla toys I have written about so far. What we have here is essentially a mashup of King Kong and a lesser known monster named Garuban.

This toy is actually based on a diecast toy from the 1970s. You can see the toy here to the right. I'm not entirely sure what company produced this toy... or what the toy is even called, but it shares a body with the diecast Garuban figure made by the same company. Since the head is attached only via magnet, I guess it was very easy to somply sculpt a new plastic head for the existing metallic bodies.

Fast forward to today, and you have Amapro creating a vinyl toy paying homage to this obscure little toy here.

Header //2 out of 5//:
I like the fact that this header is bigger than would normally be on this size figure. I also like the artwork found on the front... the style is immediately recognizable.

But the header is a generic header for Amapro apparently, and the name of the figure within seems to be simply stamped in the upper right corner. The back is just plastered with information and a cheesy spacescape.

Sculpt //3 out of 5//:
For me this is the strongest element of this toy. While it is lacking articulation, which is pretty significant (only the arms move... not even the head turns!), it is an interesting sculpt and a great homage to the obscure toy.

The textures all come together well here, with the chunky garbage limbs and torso meeting the smooth metal-like surfaces of the chest and shoulders, to the organic face and nicely molded hair. The sculptor elected to go with a simple star on his chest as opposed to a door like on the diecast. I'm not sure I like the star all that much because it seems out of place to me.

The horn on the forehead as well as the tusks protruding from his mouth are a nice touch I think. And the bejeweled eyes are just great, as they were on the old toy.

The vinyl isn't the best quality, but it is nice and solid. The figure is also well balanced, which is good since you cannot position the legs at all.

Paint //4 out of 5//:
Nice, classic kaiju style giving highlight where needed and not going overboard. There are quite a few colors here surprisingly with the darker blue laid over the lighter blue vinyl, as well as the nice gold and silver metallics as the main highlight, and even some darker, sludgier silver on the knees and elbows.

Value //?? out of 5//:
I cannot remember what I paid for this as it has been quite some time! I don't really see them pop up all that often, which either says it's a nice, solid release, or that no one cares to see them. I'd think if it ever showed up, you could find it for retail or so.

Overall //3.5 out of 5//:
Positives: Nice paint, interesting character, cool homage to an obscure Japanese toy.

Negatives: No articulation except for shoulders, vinyl isn't nice and smooth

I've decided to get rid of the Coolness category because it sounds lame. I can just talk about it here!

This toy isn't the greatest, but it's quirky and cool nonetheless. I like the paint, and gorillas and junk monsters are always OK in my book. You won't regret picking this one up if you like what it looks like here.

Giant Gorilla by Marusan

As promised, here I bring you these fugly guys: Giant Gorilla (ジャイアントゴリラ) by Marusan (マルサン). These are virtually the same across all colorways, so I will write about them all at once. Come to think of it, that is probably a better idea than how I have been doing it if i plan to show off the same sculpt in different colors right around the same time.

I had a quote in the Buta No Hana Gorilla article explaining Toho's hesitancy in allowing companies to make toys called King Kong, and instead the vinyl toys manufacturers made giant gorillas to avoid any potential legal problems with Universal.

I found some Marusan history in the Super7 Mook (a great resource for these as well as Secret Base and Real Head toys by the way) that was released late last year.

Marusan was in the midst of a kaiju boom in the mid-1960s thanks to many movies and the Ultra-Q show on television, and Marusan moved from tin and plastic toys to the cheaply and quickly produced vinyl toys. The company produced vinyl toys from 1966 to 1969, but eventually closed and were bought out by three former employees who went on to form Bullmark.

The Giant Gorilla was made in 1967, originally in a dark blue color and perhaps others that I do not know about. All of my Giant Gorillas are reproductions that Marusan produced from the original molds in the 1990s. There is a large brown one out there that I have yet to come across, but I have a spare blue one so maybe I'll just get to painting!

This gorilla rides the border between official Toho monsters that Marusan released and their completely original offerings that came later on. Masusan not only released these, but other of their original sculpts in the 90s.

Header //3 out of 5//:

While the painted header is really cool, Marusan really just offers up what seems to be a generic header with the name of the toy inside printed in the top right corner on the front. On the front you get to see a Thor type character giving a swift flying chop to an evil chicken, then some generic monsters swooping in to fight or fornicate on the back.

The header is larger than most I have seen... similar width but about twice as deep.

If the header had more to do with the toy inside, I would like it a lot better. The imagery is very cool.

Sculpt //3 out of 5//:
Despite my simian bias, I will be the first to admit that this is a pretty crude sculpt.

The mouth is not quite a mad roar and not quite a smile. The facial expression does not say angry as I expect a giant gorilla to be. He just looks kind of bored or possibly like he is singing off key....

...about gorilla stuff...

I like the bulky look of the hands and feet, but the arms in particular feel crooked in a way. The hands come off the forearms less like a menacing fist and more like he is saying YAAAAY while shaking his fists in excitement.

It seems perhaps that the sculptor was going for some semblance of realism with the sculpt as evidenced by the legs. Gorillas have very small hind legs compared to their arms, and walk using not only their feet but their knuckles. The legs here seem so be aiming for that shortness with a giant ass (common theme with gorilla toys?). Since the gorilla is standing on two feet as opposed to two feet and two knuckles, it makes the legs a little crooked and awkward.

All of this said, the sculpt is very endearing to me. This toy was not made for geeky collectors like me, but rather for kids to buy en masse and tear up in their sand boxes and bathtubs. And for this, it is great! It is stylized enough to be fun and original and not just a gorilla statue, and the small details like the tiny teeth, fur, toenails, nipples etc. bring it all together.

It is very solid and well balanced. The arms are positioned perfectly to lay a big punch on an invading Godzilla... the mouth is open for roars and bites. These apes would make great playthings.

Paint //3 out of 5//:
Average all around. These gorillas were originally mass produced, so simple, direct paint jobs were going to work best. Lots of paint would just get chipped off on the playground anyway. These reproductions are made to just reflect the paint jobs of the originals.

The blue gorilla is obviously cast in blue vinyl, and from what I can tell is the closest to the original color (which was a darker blue). There is yellow on the chest for contrast, and red eyes and tongue.

The gold might be my favorite with the silver spray on his chest and red eyes and tongue here too.

And the pink has a very similar color scheme to my pink Buta No Hana gorilla with yellow on the chest as well and gold eyes! The yellow on the chest here is a little oversprayed onto the armpit, which is always a little disappointing.

All of them have the same silver teeth.

Coolness //4 out of 5//:
I like that they are awkward and ugly... and knowing the history of these adds to the coolness for me. I can totally geek out and talk about it with someone who might ask.

Value //5 out of 5//:
These do not seem all that popular or hard to find (except maybe the brown one floating around. You should be able to find these for 10-15 dollars each which is a fantastic price for such a solid piece. I have never seen a vintage one, but be prepared to pay much much more for one of those.

Overall //3.75 out of 5//:
Positives: Bulky, fun to play with, history, can find them on the cheap

Negatives: Awkward gorilla shapes, generic paint jobs, take up a lot of space

These are great to have for the history behind them, or if you want them to punch the shit out of your other monsters. If you like the look and can find it for cheap, it's definitely worth the pick up. But otherwise, you won't miss it much in your collection.

Gorilla by Buta No Hana

I just wrote about Gorilla (ゴリラ) by Buta No Hana (ぶたのはな), and here is his blue brother in arms.

Like the pink gorilla, the blue gorilla is a great, playful sculpt with a wild paint job.

Header //4.5 out of 5//:

Sculpt //5 out of 5//:

Paint //4.5 put of 5//:
Technically I think the paint is on par with the pink gorilla, but I just don't like the color choices as much. Light blue vinyl with dark blue and green spray. I think the green is a little too conrasty with the blues to be as effective. It works on his face fine, but his legs look a little off because of it.

Coolness //5 out of 5//:

Value //2 out of 5//:

Overall //4.5 out of 5//:
Positives: Great paint and color, personality, unique sculpt for a gorilla

Negatives: Pricey for its size, color not as nice as the pink gorilla

Still most definitely a worthwhile purchase if you can find it!

Gorilla by Buta No Hana

It seems I have stumbled into Gorilla Month here on my blog. So let's keep the trend alive with this little beauty: Gorilla (ゴリラ) by Buta No Hana (ぶたのはな)

Buta No Hana makes mainly mini sized monsters and dinosaurs. Many of the monsters made are Ultraman villains and even a few Ultramen. The other series released are these quirky little dinosaurs (and some elusive cavemen) that are like those vinyl toys you may have bought in the drug store or the back aisles of Roses or KMart as a kid. Obviously the Buta No Hana dinos are better quality... and they are significantly smaller.

I suppose this figure is Buta No Hana's take on King Kong. Or It may just be a large ape, as it is marketed with their dinosaurs as opposed to their monsters. Whatever it is, it's crude in an endearing way, it's playful... it's fun as Buta No Hana's toys always seem to be.

Turtletooth on skullbrain has this to say about the figure:

"When Toho came out with their Godzilla vs. King Kong movie in '62 they didn't have a liscence to use the King Kong character from Universal.

Because of that there is always an issue with Toho not wanting to license anything associated with their Kong for fear of stirring up the Universal legal department. As a result most toys related to the Toho Kong are sold as "giant ape" toys. The first was the Marusan giant ape, the Bandai kong is also a generic "ape" figure, and more recently the mysterious company called APES released accurate representations of both the '62 and '67 Toho Kongs. Apparently the legal hubub is so great that a fake company was necessary to avoid the license issues.

It's interesting that Buta No Hana actually had a license from Toho to make vinyls of the characters from the '62 film. They made a '62 King Goji and even an Oodako (giant octopus) under that Toho license but opted to give their ape figure a generic name."

That answers the question of where this little guy comes from it seems!

It also answers the question of what toy I will write about next! (ahem Marusan giant ape ahem)

The Buta No Hana toys all have a retro feel to their styling as well as a lot of personality. You can almost see the sculptors personality in the sculpts themselves. They remain toys that have a definite sense of humor despite being based on giant monsters that step on buildings and eat people.

Header //4.5 out of 5//:
These headers rock. Little illustrations and colorful type really compliment the style of these toys well. I'm not entirely sure what it says (the first little bit is Buta No Hana), but I have been told that all the headers for the dinosaur toys are the same. The only thing I would like to see different is having the header change for each toy it is for. I want a Kong specific header!

Sculpt //5 out of 5//:
Normally I would deduct for having little or no articulation, but with minis, usually all you get is a waist joint and the arms in a constant state of updom. I discussed it already, but these and other Buta No Hana toys have great personality and a sense of humor about themselves. Kong's oversized mouth, nipples, and giant bare ass are funny little elements to a normally mean and violent character. The arms being UP is not a problem and actually works well in this case... as it is an APE!

Despite its simplicity, there is some nice detail in the sculpt. The teeth are great, and the lines around the mouth really add to the facial expression. I really like the shape of the hands and feet as they almost have the appearance of being chiseled.

Technically, the quality of the vinyl doesn't feel as nice as say an M1Go sculpt, but it is still nice and heavy. The figure is well balanced... no shelf divers here.

Paint //5 put of 5//:
No problems here. The colors work well on a pretty over the top colored gorilla. The vinyl is hot pink and there is actually a pretty complex color application here with a lot of orange, some yellow, and even silver teeth and golden eyes.

I wouldn't have thought that orange would work well over pink, but obviously it does. To be as bright as it is, the figure isn't garish. It's quite impressive.

The bright colors on a gorilla greatly add to the playfulness of the sculpt I think.

Coolness //5 out of 5//:
Funny little gorilla with a big ass.

Value //2 out of 5//:
If you can actually find this one, it's probably going to cost you about 3 times retail. If you can ever find one at retail, or near there, however, jump on it if you like it because these things are worth holding on to.

Overall //4.5 out of 5//:
Positives: Great paint and color, personality, unique sculpt for a gorilla

Negatives: Pricey for its size

Said it already, but pick this guy up if you are a fan and can find one. They are standout pieces in an ape collection and will make all your gorilla collecting friends drool!