herbiehancock

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 fi...

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 me...

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 vin...

I just wrote abo ut 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!

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 m...