Glenn Manders is an artist from Brisbane, Australia and is the creator of the Top 5 Toys blog. He produced his first vinyl toy, the Cheestroyer, with Double Haunt and Unbox Industries in 2013. You can see some of his artwork at Bad Teeth Comics.
"These are some of my favourite toys that I have stumbled upon in 2015. Some of them are grails that I have been hunting down for years and some of them are toys that I only discovered recently. They are all older releases so I feel extra lucky being able to grab them. It's always a matter of luck when you miss the initial release of any toy - you just have to hope that one pops up through a secondhand sale somewhere."
5) Garamon by Butanohana
"Garamon is one of those classic characters that deserves a spot in every sofubi collection. The only problem for me was deciding on which toy producer's version to purchase.. You can't go wrong with classic sculpts by Bullmark/M1, especially M1's giant Garamon with doll eyes. Although it's a fraction of the size of the M1, the Butanohana version of Garamon has always stayed in my mind. However, there has always been a problem with acquiring any Butanohana figure though - they are virtually impossible to purchase outside of Japan! Luckily this little guy popped up for a reasonable price on the secondhand market so I snapped it up within a heartbeat with no regrets at all. The crude yet detailed sculpt is full of charm and character with the OG colourway sprayed on top gives this figure a permanent spot on my always changing shelves."
4) Vinydum by Ilu Ilu
"What needs to be said about Vinydum?? Just look at this thing, packed full of texture and colour it is truly a weird/crazy toy! Produced by Ilu Ilu, you know that you are getting some of the finest quality toys in the scene. He may not make the largest toys but he puts just as much detail, time and effort into these little guys as others would put into a 10 inch monster figure. Also Ilu Ilu packaging is rivalled by no one. Most producers are happy to bag n tag their figures - which is totally fine and is beautifully done by many toymakers, creating memorable a hand-drawn or painted artwork for their header cards. However Ilu Ilu takes things to the next level with his custom-made packaging for his figures. Mostly utilizing boxes with display windows for a lot of his releases, Vinydum gets extra special treatment with these custom made "handbag" packaging."
3) Matango (Hawaii Version) by M1Go
"Like many M1 sculpts - this Matango figure has a timeless quality to it. Even though it was first produced in the late 90s, it would be easy to assume this figure was produced in the 50s. This particular version incorporates one of my favourite paint schemes - the "Hawaiian" paint application which was first used in the 70s on the Hawaiian Bullmark Hedorah release. I get the same feeling of nostalgia looking at this figure as I do when I look at some of the artwork in classic Little Golden Books or while watching early Disney animated features - it's almost a perfect toy!"
"This Hawaiian version is fairly uncommon to see for sale these days so I had to think quick when I stumbled across one listed online. I may have overlooked the description at the time because even thought the toy was still sealed in it's bag with header card it arrived in less than perfect condition. After opening the bag I noticed that the figure looked like it had dense spiderwebs in most of it's crevices and the colours were dull. After a few seconds I realized that not only was the character of Matango a fungus monster - my Matango vinyl toy was covered in some type of mould! I quickly hit the Skullbrain forums and did some research about the problem, which turned out to be fairly common with older toys that have been kept in storage. A quick and easy fix was to give the vinyl a bath in detergent and then scrub the harder to reach areas with a q-tip. After drying off, the toy was like brand new!"
2) Standing Hedorah by Hukkokudo (IKB Reissue)
"My first experience with any of the IKB Hedorah figures were through the Gargamel versions of these toys. Very similar to the IKB originals, the Gargamel versions are based on the same three "brothers" but are more cartoonish/smooth sculpts and to be honest were more appealing to me when I first started collecting sofubi. Like many vinyl toy collectors, I started out with western vinyl companies like StrangeCo in the early 2000s so a company like Gargamel was a good introduction to Japanese vinyl for me. A couple of years ago I wouldn't have bought a toy like this, but my tastes are moving more towards crude sculpts like this. The details on this toy can be overwhelming, but they aren't without purpose - for example the head has some of the deepest eye sockets I have ever seen on a toy which gives the silver disc eyes even more contrast in those deep black pits. The IKB sculpts were originally produced in the 70s and are just as good, if not better than any Bemon/Nag toy out on the shelves today."
1) Zanika by B-Club (Bullmark Reissue)
"This is probably my favourite Bullmark sculpt - the perfect example of how the company took kaiju designs from Godzilla/Ultraman/etc and sculpted cheap looking toys suitable for children. The costume worn in the Ultraman tv series was pretty horrific but Bullmark did a great job turning Zanika into a friendly, cute looking monster for children to play with. The bug eyes, simple sprays and expressive pincers make Zanika a total winner for me - so much so that I tracked down and bought both versions to display."
