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.
(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.
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.
As seen in Ultraman: Towards the
Future, one night an abandoned carnival was reactivated by
mysterious circumstances (yep, it's already creepy beyond belief).
When the local police arrived to check it out, the legendary monster
Gerukadon affected the officer's minds. Completely overcome by fear,
the officers fled the scene while Gerukadon gained power from the
Gudis device hidden in the abandoned carnival. One thing leads to
another, like in the case of all Ultraman episodes, and the monster
finally arrives to stomp the crap out of buildings and bring about
the appearance of Ultraman. The fight is quick and to the point,
Ultraman blasts Gerukadon with his power beam and the day is saved by
our silver and red friend.
(This show was the reason I became an insomniac at an early age. It wasn't very popular in my market which won it a 5am time slot on Sunday mornings.)
All in all, I'm not a fan of this
episode. The story is weak, it's fairly boring and with this episode
being Gerukadon's only appearance in the Ultraman saga makes him one
of the more forgettable characters. Unfortunate since I rather liked
the monster's design; giant lizard with a beak, four arms and bat
wings. But so was the case with most of the characters from Towards
the Future, great designs and poor stories.
(I am vengeance, I am the night.......I AM BAT-LIZARD)
I'm rather fond of this version of
Gerukadon, I prefer him to the larger American release from
Dreamworks (not the Steven Spielburg special effects company, but a
short lived toy manufacturer). The colors are much more vibrant and
the sculpt is more like the monster from the show. The only
detracting point is the silver accents, I think they could be duller
and do more to compliment the color scheme in my opinion.
Articulation on this particular figure is rather plentiful; at 2 of
the shoulders, hips, waist, neck and mid tail. In the end, he's one
of my favorite one episode wonders.
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.
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.
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.
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.
