“Starting with TMNT, Ghostbusters, Transformers and Star Wars as a child, I moved into vintage MOTU bootlegs and knockoffs, Remco, and other weirdo obscure American stuff as I aged into an adult collector. I received my first piece of Japanese vinyl in 2007, and knew from that moment it would become my primary focus as a collector, the acme of toys as art in my opinion. I have also always loved things that glow in the dark, with vivid memories of sitting in a dark closet with a flashlight, “charging up” cheapo GID toys and my GID sticker collection which was pasted on the back of my closet door. Considering GID vinyl is a relatively standard base on which a large portion of Japanese sculpts are released, it was only natural I would end up exclusively collecting GID Japanese vinyl figures.”
5) Sleeping Godzilla by Marmit / Sofvi Life
"This was one of my first big wants when I started collecting kaiju specifically. Obviously the “King of the Monsters” needed to be represented, and while there are hundreds of different Goji figures of all shapes and sizes, I’ve never seen another in such a cute pose, so it was a must have. He also functions to me like one of those motivational “Hang in There” posters of the cat, I look at him and it reminds me to stay cool."
4) Hayabusa by Butanohana
"Hayabusa (the kanji on the figure’s chest) translates to “Falcon”, and was the name of a model of vacuum cleaner by company National in Japan, because obviously a person wants all the qualities of a bird of prey in their vacuum. The character is taken from a 70’s commercial produced by Tsuburaya, where a housewife is transformed by her son into an Ultraman like warrior with wings and a vacuum arm who battles a dust kaiju, which is basically the coolest esoteric backstory for a toy ever. Maker Butanohana has a great style all it’s own, but has only done a small handful of GID figures making this mom warrior even more special."
3) Hedoran by Gargamel
"In 1971 company IKB released three differently posed Hedorah figures, which may or may not have been licensed. Flash forward 30 something years later, modern company Gargamel released their own interpretations of these sculpts which were very similar, but smoothed and refined compared to the very rough textures of the originals. They also renamed their versions Hedoran to avoid any licensing issues, and referred to the different sculpts as being brothers, this being the “Second Son”. While earlier versions referenced the colors of the IKB releases, this version from 2006 is an original color release, double poured vinyl, clear green over GID. Green is absolutely my favorite color and there is something very special about this particular shade. Even 9 years later, despite a huge volume of output, I still consider this to be among Gargamel’s very best releases."
2) Ecchi by Emupaiya
"This bazaar figure was one of the first to draw me to Japanese vinyl, the first time I saw a picture I was confused and delighted and knew I had to acquire one. I have always loved character design and never had seen anything quite like this strange beast. It turned out the character was from a deck of promotional playing cards from the ‘70s made by the Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise company of all things, with each card featuring an original kaiju design in the vein of popular monsters of the time."
1) Giant Garamon by M1GO
"It’s a 15” tall, glow in the dark Garamon, hand painted by Yuji Nishimura of M1GO himself. Nothing more need be said."
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