Raging Nerdgasm #358 - Custom painted art toys Lamour Supreme and Radioa...

Raging Nerdgasm #364 - Crawdaddy by Daniel Yu

Ultraman's Jamila from Bandai

Jamila originally was a human astronaut who got lost in space while piloting a manned satellite. And believe it or not, Jamila is a woman! Crash landing on a distant alien world without water or air, she somehow not only survived but actually adapted. Pissed off to no end because her superiors hid the accident from the public and counted her as missing in action, Jamila returned to Earth in an invisible spaceship ( just hang with me on this, it's invisible because it's just moving way too fast. I'll avoid making obligatory female driver jokes.) to get her revenge by attacking a peace conference in Tokyo. Ultraman and his crew show up and engage the monster with common weapons (guns, flamethrowers, bombs) but they prove to be useless. I mean the monster looks like a walking herpes scab, I'd shoot some lotion on it.

(for your viewing pleasure)

Ultraman and Jamila do battle in front of the World Peace Conference and it's a fairly decent battle, both opponents are skilled fighters. It wasn't till the end of the episode when Ultraman was able to weaken Jamila enough that he could use his ultimate weapon, the Ultra-Shower (yes, I laughed uncontrollably for 5 minutes after reading that subtitle.). Anyways, Jamila falls to the ground but unlike other monsters that Ultraman fights, the team chooses not to obliterate her but give her a proper funeral and a plaque. A real honor to her memory (happy now, yeesh!).

Jamilla is one strange looking figure, but it captures everything the monster was in the show. Its a giant white monster that's body looks like the bottom of a fat person's cracked callused foot, no neck and low shoulders. Deep sunken eyeballs hiding in the sockets stare out at you glazed over without the hint of a pupil. When it comes to paint, sculpt and scale, Bandai doesn't disappoint. Honestly, Jamilla was the only Ultraman monster that scared me as a child. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because it looks like a circus sideshow freak and that if it had a voice it would probably sound like Billy Bob Thornton from Sling Blade.

Kilazee from Ultraman: Towards the Future by Bandai

(for lack on actual show footage, I must rely on the SNES to give us some visuals)

A monster from Earth's past destined to destroy it, the winged monster Kilazee made his appearance in the final episode of Ultraman: Towards the Future. The final battle in any Ultraman series is usually something to stop and take notice of and this is no exception. This red dragon of death and destruction was nearly impervious to all human weapons, it even sustained a direct hit from a nuclear weapon and did nothing more than shrug it's shoulders and flapped it's wings in response. Looking like the end was certainly near, Ultraman Great took on his final opponent atop of the the great mountains in the secluded outback of Australia. Even though Kilazee seemed indestructible, Ultraman Great triumphed by using his last Great Slicer and Star Beam to kill the beast before picking it up and carrying it into space. Neither was ever seen again.

The Bandai Kilazee figure is leaps and bounds better than the Dreamworks American release. Granted the Bandai figure is smaller and the paint application isn't as good, but the textures and details sculpted into all 7 inches of this figure makes it a feast for your eyes. This version is much more show accurate in detail and fits in with the rest of the Ultraman saga figures from Bandai. The only thing I feel is lacking from the figure is the lack of paint applications. Take into account, the Dreamworks figure has a more colorful paint application but is still far from show accurate. On a personal note, all of the monsters from the Towards the Future line are really hard to find. I've been collecting for years and I'm still 5 characters short of a complete set of this line, Bandai never really went into any great degree of repaints/ re-issues of characters from the Towards the Future line making the figures very collectible and commanding higher prices on a secondary market.

Ultraman's Pestar from Bandai

Pestar has appeared in 2 episodes of the Ultraman saga, this figure represents his debut in Ultraman: the Ultimate Hero or as it's referred to Ultraman Powered. The stories are fairly similar with only a few barely noticeable changes. In Ultraman Powered Pestar is an aquatic monster that's staked out a prime oil tanker shipping route as his home and has become very territorial and hungry for the sweet Texas Tea carried on those vessels. The WINR at first tried to pursue and the monster using a high tech submarine called the "Barricuda" but they didn't take into account how huge Pestar was and after a decent undersea battle, it escapes. The WINR warns the shipping companies of the dangers of that particular route, which is brilliant if they planned on luring the beast out of the ocean for round two.

(do forgive the awful song in the background. Feel free to leave hate messages on that person's youtube page, it's deplorable.)

The very next night Pestar shows up again and goes straight for an oil refinery to satisfy it's thirst for oil, but sure wasn't expecting Ultraman Powered to show up. Caught off guard, Ultraman Powered makes short work out of Pestar by tossing that big boy in the air and firing his Mega Spectrum Ray at the monster. Destroyed in true Ultraman fashion (e.i lots of cheesy sparkles and stock explosion noises) the ocean is safe again.

(Patrick's big brother heard you talkin' shit. Oh, you're awfully quiet now.)

Some of the main differences between the first introduction to Pestar and the Ultraman Powered version is the whole body has been redesigned. The edges of the body are covered in suckers and Pestar's head looks even more menacing, like a bat mixed with the Predator. Also the end fight is slightly better, as in the fight lasts a whole 90 seconds longer and Pestar actually gets a few good hits in.

(here at Raging Nerdgasm, we like big butts and we cannot lie.)

Pestar, to me at least, turned out really cool in figure form. Leaps and bounds better than the Marusan edition, Bandai really did an amazing job capturing how cool the character's design is. He's a big, bulky bastard and while he may not offer any articulation whatsoever, he makes up for it with sheer attention to detail and texturing. The paint job is spot on, even the light metallic flake on Pestar's backside does a great job at highlighting his bumpy exterior. Displaying a figure as wide as Pestar is becomes the only peeve, just because there isn't much room left on a shelf when he takes up residence. Originally, the figure was more expensive that other basic Ultraman figures upon it's initial release in Japan which has translated to an often higher price on the secondary market.

(I'm gonna eat your face!)

Bootleg Larva Mothra by unknown maker

Mothra has been one of Godzilla's most prolific “friend-emies” over the last 4 decades. Appearing in over 15 movies, we've been bombarded with several incarnations of Mothra over the years. We've had Mothra in her egg, larva stage, cocooned and the ever important final stage (hint, it looks like a moth). Always by her side are the twin tiny high priestesses, called the shōbijin (or small beauties), that translate and interpret the monster's every thought. When Mothra appears it's usually to be the savior of Earth; often doing battle with Godzilla, Battra, King Ghidorah, Death Ghidorah, Gigan, Dagahra, Monster X and the Sea Monster.

(who is Mothra? Why are we playing such suspenseful music? You'll have to watch this 3 minute trailer to find out!)

(sing little ladies, sing!)

This piece was acquired through Planet Retro Gallery out of St Pete, Florida. I was nothing but impressed with the selection and prices at the store, as well as the owner's knowledge. He admitted it was a bootleg he picked up in Chinatown in the late 90's and had sold all but this one and couldn't guarantee that it worked or not. I love a restoration challenge, and even if it never works it's still a heck of a shelf piece for a portion of the price of the original. You just rarely get that sort of honesty from a collectibles shop. It's a factor that keeps me coming back for his monthly sales.

(adult toy or sofubi?)

(ribbed for your pleasure)

The rubber used for the skin of Larva Mothra is very similar to the original release from Bandai, the only different thing is the color. The bootleg is a very light green with white slopped across to bring out the texture while the original is a light bronze with silver and black accents along the body. After some slight tinkering and cleaning, I was able to restore the mechanical crawling function. From a restoration point of view, the components I worked on were of a lower quality than I would expect to be in the Bandai version. With two AA batteries, the bug “crawls” along with the aide of a wheel underneath while rearing his head back and lighting up it's red eyes. A real achievement for my collection and my restoration skills.

(lookin' up Mothra's skirt)

Ultraman's Satan Beetle from Bandai

Satan Beetle is the monster "pet" of Alien Clean, who was sent to our planet seeking vengeance on Earth for the missile testing that decimated her home world. Satan Beetle's task was to wipe out humanity and all the pollution they had caused to presumably allow Alien Clean to colonize Earth. Upon it's arrival to Earth, Satan Beetle doesn't waste any time and proceeds to destroy everything in it's path. Soon enough, Ultraman Leo decides to battle the gigantic insectoid kaiju in order to save humanity once again. To be honest, it's a fairly quick fight where Ultraman Leo stomps the crap out of Satan Beetle and even tears one of it's wings off with a lazer finger blast. The brutal fight ends with a mighty Leo Kick and Satan Beetle sparks up like a firecracker and explodes in true Japanese TV fashion.

(dig that crazy 70's synth beat)

The figure is fairly basic, it looks like a friggin' bug covered in horns. The paint scheme is dull but so was the character design in the show. Basic sofubi articulation at the shoulders, neck and hips; really nothing exciting here. Overall, Satan Beetle isn't one of my favorite characters from the Ultraman Saga and I've yet to find any hardcore fans of him either. I think it's just the overbearing tones of the character's model, a creation sent to Earth to destroy us for being dirty and inadvertently destroying a planet that 99.999% of us didn't know was even out there. Even the episode, with the exception of Ultraman beating the everloving shit out of the monster, feels like a 30 minute Greenpeace commercial.

(toy porn, because you deserve it)

IT CAME FROM THE FLEA MARKET- EPISODE 2- THE PHANTOM FLYING TURTLE

Gamera 9 inch figure by Rocketpro of America

  I'm a huge Japanese vinyl collector and I've always been of a mindset that the bigger and more detailed pieces are the ones most worth collecting. Don't get me wrong, I have a vast amount of 6 inch scale sofubi but the ones 9 inches and taller are really eye catching. It's a pretty easy task, over the years I've upgraded my largest Godzilla 3 times and my largest Ultraman twice. But, I came to a stalemate when I started pursuing a larger and nicely detailed Gamera......until one day at the flea market.

I had run into several issues while trying to locate a decent Gamera. Most I have from Bandai are poorly sculpted and just never did the character justice. Over the years Gamera has had some image overhauls and every figure to represent those falls short of impressing me. And it's not limited to scale, I've had 6 inch to 12 inch scale figures and models of Gamera in my hands and each one was insufficient for my collection. I searched for over a year before I lucked into a version of everyone's favorite flying turtle I hadn't seen before.

While visiting my friends at Weekend Warriors Comics at the Oldsmar Flea Market I had stumbled upon this gorgeous piece. Released by X-Plus/Rocketpro in the late 90's, Gamera stands 9 inches tall from top of the head to bottom of the foot and is incredibly well detailed. Rocketpro is the American branch of X-PLUS of Japan, known for making really nice and well detailed heavy gauge vinyl figures. The figure originally belonged to one of the co-owners and had been in his collection since he'd bought it out of a Diamond Distributors ad, unfortunately it had been banished to storage due to lack of display space until he felt like parting with it on this fateful day. After purchasing it for a more than fair price, I happily dusted it off and proudly displayed in a place of honor. This version is the best I've seen and I encourage fans to buy one for their own collection.

Baltan figure from Ultraman by Bandai

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.

Ultraman monster Gan-Q by Bandai

Sofubi- the mostly Japanese style of vinyl action figures.

I have been a sofubi collector since the early 1990's when Ultraman and Power Rangers came to American TV. I collected it before I knew it was called sofubi. For my 9^th birthday I got all the the Ultraman figures based on the US TV show along with the Super Nintendo game. This was my entry into Kaiju culture, and I wanted more. A year later, my mom found out she had a friend who went to Japan and became a female professional wrestler but came back to the US when her career was put on hold while she raised a family. When she returned to the states, she brought suitcases upon suitcases full of just about anything you can think of from Japan to sell at my Aunt's collectible shop. From what she brought back in her suitcases, I went home with gashapon toys to 15 inch tall figures of Godzilla, Ultraman and so much more. This was a little slice of heaven until the hunger grew again.

Until I got established on eBay in the late 90's, I just didn't feel comfortable buying from Japan. Plus, I didn't have a credit or debit card which was the payment of choice when doing overseas purchases. Every year, I added a couple of pieces to my collection. Whether buying from eBay or going to Mega Con, Dragon Con or Metro Con; I was getting an education in Kaiju and sofubi.

1/ They retire pieces then reissue them in alternate colors. A reissue could be a funky, psycadelic color or just something as simple as trading dark grey highlights for light grey highlights.

2/Bootlegs are plentiful, so be wary of claims to be an “original”. Look for trademarks and maker's marks on the figure. Check the composition of the figure, if it's too stiff it will be (more than likely) a bootleg.

3/Retired pieces go for a small fortune, bring extra cash if you plan on buying something special. While a current character will cost you $10 to $15, a retired piece could go for 3 times the original price or more.

My sofubi collection is very important to me, it's a type of collection that very few people attempt. I think they are very unique and represent a world that most toy collectors don't even know about. Through attaining what I think is a very healthy representation of sofubi, I've made friends with collectors and sellers a whole 7,000+ miles away. One of the more interesting pieces I've bought in the last 3 years was Gan-Q, a monster from the Ultraman TV series. Gan Q is an inter-dimensional joking monster that first premiered in Ultraman Gaia episode 5 in 1998. It later appeared in episode 30 of the same series and in episodes 5 and 6 of Ultra Galaxy Monster Battle (revived by a medieval wizard and no I’m not making this up) . In both shows he can launch replicas of his own eyes and can fire energy balls from them and the eyes on his body.

Gan-Q is your average 5-7 inch vinyl Ultraman figure. Jointed at the shoulder and waist, the figure is more for standing there and looking good than dynamic action poses. The figure looks just like the character from the show; which is a characteristic I like about sofubi toys; they don't get cheap on the sculpted details. The only downside is the figure could benefit from some extra paint applications, a few of Gan-Q's eyes aren't painted in on his backside but this is to be expected. The rear half or quarter of most sofubi figures are void of any decoration other than what was sculpted.