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)

Ultraman Powered's Zetton from Bandai

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.

Super Sized Death Squad Commander from Gentle Giant

I have been on the fence about the new large scale Kenner Star Wars figures from Gentle Giant. Mostly because of the hefty price tag that accompanies them. At near $80 a figure, who can afford to buy the whole set or bleed it out at one figure a month? Granted, they are a nice and showy piece of Star Wars memorabilia but I wouldn't pay more than $50 a figure. Then comes the daunting task of finding prime display space for the figures or storing them to avoid damage. Needless to say, I had avoided even getting into the collection until I found out about the website THWIPSTER.COM

(selling the hype, one crummy cardboard display at a time)

THWIPSTER.COM is a discount website that has a constantly revolving supply of discounted toys, comics and other related merchandise. The prices are incredible and shipping is cheap, if you don't shop them you should really start. I noticed one day I had missed out on getting a great price on the Obi Wan Kenobi from this set, by the time I had moved money around from one account to another it had sold out and never got restocked. But, since they got in one at an amazing price I figured only a matter of time before another one would grace their page. Two days later they'd restocked, but with the Death Squad Commander. While this isn't exactly my idea of how I wanted to test drive this line, it was an inexpensive venture that I knew I'd be able to get more that my money back if I decided it wasn't my thing.

(the fake excitement is just as grating now as it was 30 years ago)

Cheap shipping equals weeks of waiting for your product. While I don't mind, part of me wanted to know if I made the right decision. When it finally got to my door and I opened the box, I was immediately hooked. The figure is on a very well done oversized reproduction card with resealable bubble. The outer bubble is made of a sturdy plastic and the card itself is printed on a semi-gloss heavy card stock. Inside the bubble, the figure is snugly encased in it's own custom tray and secured with twist ties. While in the package, the figure can be either stood up on a shelf or hung on the wall from the already punched pegholes.

Once out of the package, the first thing noticed is the figure is completely hollow. This is why I don't think the figures are worth much more than $50 a piece. Overall, the quality of the figure is top notch. Really well painted, no flaws I noticed on mine at least. Tight joints that will hold their pose while displayed on a shelf or lightly played with. The only complaint I had was the gun; to me it just looked too chunky, like they got the scale wrong but I could be mistaken. While holding it, you forget you've got a 12 inch figure. The size is very pleasing, I mean the commander's helmet is almost the size of an infant's cereal bowl.

(give 'ems a kiss love)

Final opinion on the line, get the characters you like and don't buy the whole set unless you get a good deal. Shop websites for daily deals like THWIPSTER.COM and TOY SALE BOAT on facebook.

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.

Sharkticon warrior by Hasbro/Takara

(I think the movie starts in 3 days)

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.

Powered Aboras from Ultraman by Bandai

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.