King Joe was sent by the Pedan aliens
as their main weapon to conquer Earth. Arriving on Earth in the form
of 4 ships, the Pedan's ultimate weapon laid siege to a naval fleet
until they garnered the attention of the Ultraseven crew. By the time
they arrived to provide a counter-attack, King Joe was long gone and
on to it's next target. As the four ships arrived at a U.N. Embassy they combined to reveal King Joe's full form, a giant frickin' robot
with some strange protrusions (ie- giant electrode tits on his head,
a rainbow window chest and what I can only describe as bongos on his
ass and hips.) Even with the countermeasures hidden at the embassy,
King Joe seemed near indestructible.
(pretty decent scenes)
Ultraseven soon showed up to save the
day but couldn't seem to breach King Joe's Pedantic Armor. Soon
after exhausting a good deal of his energy, Ultraseven found himself
pinned to the ground and became the recipient of some absolutely
viscious bitch slaps, courtesy of King Joe. At this point Ultraseven
decides the best thing to do is pass the fuck out and hope this alien
quits pummeling him.
As King Joe turns his back to
Ultraseven, the hero lunges forward and knocks King Joe on his
glorious golden ass. Incapable of getting back up again(most likely
due to his bongo ass), King Joe splits into the four ships and flees
with Ultraseven in pursuit.
It was then revealed that the reason
for King Joe's attack on the Embassy was due to a scientist who had
found a chemical that is highly reactive with Pedantic Armor, which
also explained why the Pedan Aliens have come to Earth as well. King
Joe returns, arriving in Tokyo Bay where it trashes a few oil tankers
till Ultraseven shows back up. King Joe once again totally owns
Ultraseven in a pretty decent fight, even though his weakness is
getting knocked on his ass. But Ultraseven has a WMD full of that
Pedantic reactive chemical which he shoots at King Joe,
short-circuiting and destroying the robot once and for all.
King Joe is in my top 5 favorite
Ultraman bad guys (in no particular order Baltan, King Joe, Dada,
Pestar and Red King). As the Ultraman story evolves, so do his
villains but this version of King Joe is my favorite. No techno
cannon, no monotone paint scheme, just very true to the original
design. Simple and slick looking with the perfect shade of gold on
his suit and a rainbow effect through the “honeycomb” on his
chest. The main thing I like about the figure is it's huge! Over 12
inches tall and with some serious weight to him, I've been impressed
and desired this figure for years and was finally lucky enough to
acquire one through Planet Retro Gallery care of my wife for
Valentines day.
In this series, Zetton was a mecha
created by the Baltans to dispose of Ultraman, once and for all (cue evil Baltan laugh track!). So you have Zetton coming to earth and attacking WINR's base to draw Ultra out for a fight. Soon
after, the military comes to save the day but finds themselves out
gunned by this technical terror. Even Ultraman finds himself Zetton's
bitch in an epic one sided ass kicking contest. It's only after
fooling Zetton into turning his back that Ultraman kills Zetton, but
at the cost of his own life from using up all of his energy. A real
tear jerker, sacrifice yourself to save the world from being under
the domain of blue Egyptian-styled crawdaddies.
(I'm well aware that this isn't the right series, but bask in the joy of the best Japan has to offer. And, in espanol!)
This version of Zetton is perhaps the
most unique design ever done for this character. I mean, the other
characters from Ultraman Powered were drastically overhauled, but
this one really stands out. This version is more robotic than any
previous design and has some really cool looking wings on his back.
With this one having wings possibly suggests that originally Zetton
has wings, hence the wing shells on its back that have never really
been utilized other than adding to the bug aesthetic of the character
overall. I've had the pleasure of owning 2 other Zetton figures but
was never aware of this version before I ran into it at a
collectibles shop. All other Zetton figure I own are roto-molded
vinyl while this one is completely solid and Zetton's wings are
unfurled. The paint job captures it's TV counterpart perfectly; black
offset by steely silver and yield sign yellow makes the figure stand
out from the rest. The only thing someone may complain about is the
range of motion is very limited; swivel joints at the shoulders and
just below the knee. This figure still impresses me to this day and I
highly recommend you find a way to add this piece to your collection.
Baltan has always been a character I considered the quintessential Ultraman villain. Some of the first stills I ever saw in a magazine about Ultraman was him and Baltan locked in an epic battle. Over the years Baltan has showed up in several of the Ultraman TV shows, each time just slightly different than the last. Out of all the variations, this one has always been my favorite. Simple by some folks standards but I feel this version captures the most pure incarnation of the character. It captures the large metallic claws, Egyptian skirt and shrimp-looking face of this iconic character.
(to a fan like me, it doesn't get much better than this)
This arthropod from outer space is actually one of a race of alien being that came to Earth in microscopic form in the early Ultraman series. As time passes, the alien's powers grow and evolve. His abilities range from an assortment of energy beams that shoot out of claws to being able to shed its skin if too badly damaged in battle. Many people refer to them is "space ninjas" due to their ability to use illusion and stealth techniques. Anyone who's watched the show will never forget Baltan's sinister laugh.
(man, that's a creepy laugh for a space bug)
Here we have Baltan by Bandai from the 1983 release. Just like all Bandai releases, quality and accuracy of the sculpt outweighs paint applications. The figure is molded in a light blue plastic which sort of matches the character's suit in the show. Other than the claws being molded in a sparkly gray, the only other traces of color on the figure is a light dusting of metalic gold on the upper torso and head. There is an accent of orange on the eye cavities and what looks like maybe some silver paint underneath it to bring out a general “glow” about them.
The one aspect I like about my personal figure is the scribble on his back. A series of Japanese characters “branded” on his backside, more than likely a name. I think it makes it totally awesome because this really belonged to some child who probably liked this toy as much or more than I do to personalize it. It has a real history behind it that may never be unlocked, but some things are meant to be a mystery.
My first introduction to the
Sharkticons was in the Transformers movie. The character was utilized
afterwards in the cartoon series, but their performance was most
memorable in the movie. Used as the personal army to the Quintessons,
the Sharkticons sole purpose was to catch intruders and either bring
them to so-called “justice” by their masters or render the
intruders to a scrap pile of leftover parts. When their Quintesson
masters delivered sentence (and it always ended poorly), the accused
was dropped into a watery pit full of these living garbage disposals
where their fate was ultimately to become a mere snack.
(innocent?)
The character is one of my top 5
favorites in the Transformers legend and it's gotten very little love
since the 80's. The design is really unique and hasn't been
replicated in years, rows of chrome teeth and eerie neon green eyes
are the main highlights on the figure. In primary mode he looks the
most show accurate. The large head that starts to tapper off as you
get closer to the tail, frail looking front arms offset by the larger
hind legs and the tail tipped with a spiked ball makes the character
look like more of a hybrid between a tadpole and a piranna. In robot
mode the design is kind of lacking. The best thing I can say about
it's robot mode is the head is amazingly accurate and well detailed.
The real overall detraction for me is the legs. I'm not sure if they
are to long but they are deffinately too close together, causing the
figure to be top heavy and suffering several face plants off my
shelves, risking damaging or breaking the toy.
Being a Transformer of the 80's, the
construction of the Sharkticon is sturdy but if you apply too much
pressure to the joints you'll run a risk of snapping the plastic
components. Newer Transformer toys are equipt with pressure sensitive
ball joints that purposely snap out of place when too much pressure
is applied. You simply snap the limb back in and continue playing, just that simple.
Many a Transformer of the 80's suffered battle wounds that had to be
super glued into place, ultimately ruining the play value and
eventually ending up in the garbage. But, such was the fate of many
toys and thus bringing about the sometimes unholy cost of purchasing
some of these toys from our childhood.
Ultraman has had such a colorful array
of evil monsters to battle over the years. Some of them range from
the totally believable to the extremely bizarre and everywhere in
between. Over the years his villains have gone through amazing
overhauls where their physical appearance and abilities have been
augmented with technology and magical powers. As the Ultraman saga
has evolved over the last several decades, so has he and his
opponents. Aboras is one of those many characters
(a shot of the original costume. Lots of reused elements)
(not only a battle of the behemoths, but in a stadium no less)
Often being mistaken for a blue
Godzilla-like creature by those not aware of it, this creature has
been around since some of the most early incarnations of the saga. In
the Ultraman Powered story, Aboras is one of two ancient devil beasts
(or kaiju) sealed away in a magical sarcophagus' long ago in an
attempt to save the world from their terror. His arch-nemesis is
Banila, a red bipedal monster with almost matched skills. When both
tombs were “accidentally” unearthed, both of these titans decided
to battle it out until only one was left standing. In the first
incarnation, Aboras won and was destroyed shortly after by Ultraman.
The second time around Aboras seemed to be victorious but Banila
reformed and both were destroyed by Ultraman and the WINR by using a
combination of high frequency sound to stun them and a Mega Spectrum
Ray to vaporize them.
(new and improved)
Aboras' reintroduction into the
Ultraman saga was met with a complete upgrade. Because of budget
constraints, Aboras was an altered Red King costume painted blue and
a new head. The Powered version has a really cool tyrannosaurus rex
look with a tadpole-like tail while keeping the more elongated arms
and horn on his head. The figure captures every aspect of the
redesign, especially capturing every single bumpy scale along the
body. It's a really substantial toy and feels really good in your
hand. He's not really oversized to any degree, just big considering
the fact he's a friggin' mutant T-Rex. The figure fits in well with
the rest of the series and (from what I can tell) is in scale.
Once upon a time when I was a wee little nerd nugget, I never owned a collector's case for any of my action figure lines. I was too cheap to spend allowance money, chore money or waste space on Christmas list to ask for one. I always thought they were awesome, but I had more pressing matters like getting that new Batmobile....because last years model didn't match the new movie version. I kept them in shoe boxes, tupperware or (my favorite) a tacklebox I got from my dad one year when he noticed I was having issues storing my figures. I put stickers on the outside of it and painted the whole thing black, but it wasn't the same.
Honestly I was a young adult before I owned a collector case from any line. At a convention I bought a beat up C3PO case in a junk bin for $5. After the first one I was hooked. I loved the fact I could store figures in their own separate cubby and all the artwork and detail. Soon after C3PO I had the Darth Vader case, then the lazer rifle, the bandoleer strap and then I set my sights on getting the ones from all the other line of toys I owned.
I give you the top 5 action figure cases of all time, in no particular order.
Battle Bones
(epic box art)
(shockingly, one that's still in one piece)
Battle Bones goes down as my most favorite case I wish I still had. Bought at a collectibles store in the late 90's for what back then seemed like a small fortune ($20) considering most of my He-Man collection came out of .50 cent bins at the flea market and clearance racks at Lionel Playworld. For the longest time it sat on a very prestigious spot atop the highest shelf in my room until one day I decided to bring it down for a closer inspection. As I brought it down from Mt Olympus, the whole body snapped in half. I think it was the first time I swore aloud in my mother's house while she was home.
(the kid in the commercial does Skeletor's voice pretty well)
It was this great bone color which made it seem like it was more than a figure carrier but some sort of museum piece. Battle Bones had places among the ribs to snap figures into place (12) and the mouth of the mighty beast opened so you could place all of your figure accessories there for safe keeping. The whole thing was topped off with a handle so a child could triumphantly tote along his small army of Masters of the Universe figures. Needless to say it was only plastic and I have older toy collector friends who had the pleasure of owning one shortly after it was made and they said it was the most brittle thing they'd even seen made for a toy line.
Star Wars Lazer Rifle case
Now this was an amazing figure case. It was both a role play toy and a place to stash your figures in between play. Kenner had a way of making some really nice cases that were just as much fun to display on their own as they were useful in cleaning up and storing my collection. The figural bust cases of Darth and C-3PO were just as much fun to hang up as decoration like the vinyl cases were There was such amazing artwork on each case that I couldn't just stow them away under my bed. On a side note, there was always talk of a third case (Storm Trooper or Snow Trooper) but I cannot find the artwork I once saw to confirm or deny it's existence, even in prototype form.
(most of the vinyl cases had two releases, one with movie clips and one like this with mostly artist drawings)
(loved the JCP catalog)
The rifle case was sturdy like the Darth and C-3PO cases and big enough that a child could have used it to pretend they were fighting the Empire along side the other rebel troopers. It held over a dozen figures with the basic cubby system and black plastic bar across the middle from the previous cases listed. Also it had a storage compartment to place any weapons you were afraid of loosing. The rifle had a scope on the top of it that actually had a cross hairs in it and it doubled as a handle to carry the case.
Super Powers Comic Book case
(if you didn't know Superman's origin by this point, you should probably stick with the Star Wars figures)
(if you look closely you can see Batman's parents die everytime you play with your toys)
The Super Powers case was misleading at first glance. Just about every figure line in the 80's and early 90's had its own vinyl carrying cases but this was more than that. The outside of the case looked like a book and looked totally wicked awesome on a shelf with the spine reading "VOL 1". Inside the case was rigid plastic and nothing like the competition's cases where they gave you flimsy plastic trays to fit your figures into. On the inside front and back flaps were single column origin stories of your favorite DC Super Heroes. The case fit about 10 figures and had two storage drawers for accessories.
GI JOE APC
(box art)
GI JOE gave kids of the 1980's an army they could easily store under their bed. Now, you could just buy a basic vinyl case from Hasbro or you could buy the APC. The APC was a troop transport vehicle that doubled as a carrying case. This six wheeled behemoth could carry up to 20 Joes under it's camouflage canopy to raid the Terrordrome or you could secure the figures in their restraints and pull out the handle (concealed as the back bumper) and carry the troops into battle next door.
M.U.S.C.L.E. Battlin' Belt
(M.U.S.C.L.E. men garbage can grab bag)
(there ain't enough room for the two of us)
When Mattel brought the Kinnikuman line to America and renamed it M.U.S.C.L.E., the only thing they kept about the line of these kinkeshi figurines was that they were wrestlers. Mattel decided that the original figure case, a Ramen Man figurine with a huge "Mardi Gras" head, was just a little impractical and wouldn't have the selling power on American shelves. So Mattel created a wearable championship title belt complete with compartments for you figures (only 10 out of the over 200 figures) and a ring (albeit very small) in the center of the belt. Also the belt was the M.U.S.C.L.E. championship belt, which means to wear it you had to have defeated humanoid walruses, giants hands and living buildings.
