Design Festa 30, our booth!

Design Festa 30, our booth!
Originally uploaded by Baikin

Yesterday was a lot of fun, it was the first time for Yuriko and our friend and I to do Design Festa and I think we will do the next one too, maybe both days next year. Many people stopped by and liked what we did, Yuriko did some paintings and drawings and made some really cool eyeball hairbands for her project Creepy Crafts she has been wanting to start. With both our work schedules its been hard to get as much done as we wanted too, but we will start now for the next time! I did a few customs but nothing to sell, I will keep most and a few will be gifts for friends, I just wanted to see if people liked what I did and people were happy, this isnt exactly a kaiju event but it was cool when the guys my age were excited and the all the young girls seeing some funny gaijin that like japanese monsters was cool too.

Our friend Takami Tomotoshi shared the booth with us too, he is most known here for being a long time manga artist but probably not known at all in the US. But for this event he did not use his regular name, this time all the things he made were about cats! He loves kittens too so most of our booth was cats and kaiju!!! The collages and shoes he did were awesome! Actually, I ended taking home one of the collages. :) He is a great artist and a super funny guy. I an going to write more about him later, I think people outside Japan would love to see what he has done!

101 Hedo

R0013591
Originally uploaded by Baikin

I am obsessed, I had to go back and take individual pictures of all the Hedorahs at the Beams x M1GO Exhibition, I figured it was a food idea for posterity as yesterday they all went to thier new homes. I Ned to sorry to Stew for not meeting him there too, sorry Stew, I didn't know if I was gonna go back until I was there Sunday. :(. Oh yeah, you won the one I wouldve picked you lucky bastard.

So here are 101 Hedo, it was a 100 customs painted by Yuji Nishimura of M1GO, the 101st is the ring toss prize someone put on the shelf with the customs. I was freaking out trying to figure out why I kept counting 101 and couldn't find the doulbe I thought was there, then I realized there were 26 on one shelf and 25 on the other three. Whew, I was sweating for a minute. Now I just hope I won one.

M1号 Exhibition at Beams Tokyo CultuArt

M1号 Exhibition at Beams Tokyo CultuArt
Originally uploaded by Baikin

That title about sums it up, but it doesnt say how amazing it really was. Just walking in to the show I stopped from a huge shock, all I could think was how nice it all looked and then the hours it must have taken to set up, I hadnt even looked at the toys and I was already thinking "best show ever", and what made it better is that is was for a company I love beyond all others, well except one that starts with a "G". And then I pulled the typical Dumb Dennis, I asked Yuji if they just got there! Of course he and and everyone else had come the day before, I am stoopido. I arrived a little early and talked with him for a bit and then gave my friend a present I had painted, he then shows it to Yuji and Yuji gives me his assessment and thoughts on what I should have done, basically the master was giving a free lesson that was much appreciated! I have been lucky that alot of what I know has come from him and another awesome toy master that lives over here, learning from the best is the best for sure.

But what about the toys??? If you dont know me I can just say this, I was in heaven. If you grew up with Ultraman and Godzilla and you like Bullmark and Marusan and beautifully made and painted toys you can do no better. I am not joking at all, I sometimes think to stop buying anything but M1号, its all I really need. But I digress, the place was packed with toys from the early days of M1号 to the newest. So much great stuff jammed together how I like it, just like my house. I cant really do it justice writing about it, check out my Flickr, even better, go to the show if you can. You will go crazy just staring at all the colors and wonderful designs, old and new.

But what about the Hedorahs? 100 1 offs all done by Yuji, and not one that would be a stinker. His sense of color and application is never below top notch. I am amazed at his ability to make a gorgeous toy everytime he pulls out the airbrush, I cant think of anyone else that has done that. Plus, all 100 are for sale, but by lottery only so everyone has to wait and hope for the best. I wanted to take pictures of all 100 but my arm was getting tired! The contrast of the regimented Hedorah layout and the rest of the place looked great also.

Thanks to M1号 for a great show and a great time and thanks to all the Beams staff for putting this show on and putting up with the crazy white guy.

Thrash Out 5th Anniversary Customs

Thrash Out 5th Anniversary Customs
Originally uploaded by Baikin

I made it to Thrash Out yesterday for the event which was great as usual. The only bummer for me was that I didnt know there would be customs and didnt budget for it. Naoya came out with the lottery bags for getting the ticket number for your place in line. I only took the regular release ticket at first but then a guy I know said you should grab a custom ticket just in case, so I did and got numer 10, he had a no chance number so I gave it to him. He was happy and so I was I, I knew whatever he got it was going to a good home. Later when I saw him he had bought the one I would have chosen, the orange standard Zag. So it worked out in the end, I got to hang out with friends and did get some nice toys too. The regular big Zag release is awesome in the Hawaii Kanegon colors.

Late as always!

todays toil results
Originally uploaded by Baikin

Yes, as many of you know I am always late for one reason or another. I can just never seem to do things ahead of time and here is me at my finest once again. So I finished these today for the Toy Karma II event at Rotofugi in Chicago, if you are going and can manage to find mine in the myriad of artists entires please enjoy the fruits of my sweat, and thats not a joke, summers here with no AC are brutal!

Grandpa loves Starbucks even if you don't.

Grandpa loves Starbucks even if you don't.
Originally uploaded by Baikin

What is thing you ask? I don't know either. I do know it's pretty awesomely nasty though! But I don't even know his name. :(

M1GO Gorosaurus?

Thats what I though at first and ran off at the mouth then Yuji told me its the T-Rex from "The Last Dinosaur", known as "ポーラーボーラ" (Polar Borer) in Japan, released in 1977 as all things a television movie in the US and in the theaters in Japan, weird. I guess the studio thought it was just too cheesy to risk a theatrical release. Yuji asked if I remembered the movie and I didnt, not until I came home that is and checked YouTube, how did I forget. The main guy that wants to kill the T-Rex is a classic 70's bad movie actor named Richard Boone, he was in tons of crappy movies I watched as a kid. And the part where the borer is tossed into the bone pile is pretty awesome. But I digress, M1GO is releasing 2 colorways of the usual M1GO amazing quality vinyl of a standard size T-Rex figure in the next couple months, included will be a signed 8 x 10 glossy of "Hazel" , great name choice for a Japanese cavewoman, I am not sure about her real name, I need to go watch the movie again.

Hazel, yeah for cavewomen costumes!























Here is the Japanese poster for the movie, the DVD version anyway, its the same as the original but with the DVD logo, classic monster movie awesomeness.

























And if you are really adventerous here is a link to YouTube so you can see the amazing special effects and men in suits for yourself.



And a sidenote, this was co-produced by the people who made the "Animagic" classics, "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" , "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and others, Rankin and Bass, they even made "Thundercats" which I was stoked on in high school!

So, you should buy this if you are a freak who likes really bad dinosuar movies and then can't remember them, they will probably be pretty killer toys like they always are from M1GO.

Daiogusokumushi!!! Say it!!!!!

Daiogusokumushi is the new mini figure from YAMOMARK. There was a couple colorways released last Sunday at Wonder Fest, one in black and one in pink, I bought the pink one as I usually go for the cute colors first, especially when I spent all my money at the M1GO booth already. If you don't know what a Daiogusokumushi is dont worry,
I didn't either until a wierd coincidence, a couple weeks before I saw this toy was being made I saw a picture of one on the news here, its pretty crazy and looks like an ancient huge undersea potato bug, which is nice as I like potato bugs too but these live on the botton of the ocean instead of your yard. They are known in english as deep sea Giant isopods, here is some info, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod.



Also, available were Zariking minis in the same colors and the Nasura mini, which is a japanese eggplant which is actually the same as the eggplant in the US but they pick it while its still small and has taste, unlike the purple shoe leather egg vegetable we get back home. Uhg. The watermelon looking Nasura was killer, but I was on a budget, that and my better half woulda killed me. Oh yeah, a standard Kinoko Jiru Otoko was avialable too, I like that the name translates to Mushroom Juice Man.

Yamomark has been releasing a series of minis that are reminicent of the old Kamen Rider kaijin mini figures from the 70's, all of them well worth picking up as once you hold them they are irresistable! They have done a bunch of Silver Kamen enemies too which are awesome. And the price and size makes them even more easy to take home, if you can find them though which is the problem as most sell out pretty fast at the events when released. Actually I was lucky, my wife was walking by the booth and saw it and called me to say it was there and I freaked and she bought it for me so I could add more toxic material to the collection.

If you dont know Yamomark here is a link to thier blog, http://yamomark.blog19.fc2.com/ , its in Japanese but there are plenty of pictures to give you a taste of whats out there to track down! Especially any version of Yamo-Bazooka.

Wonder Fest Haul!

todays haul revised
Originally uploaded by Baikin

OK, I made out like a bandit for a scary cheap price today. Most of this is stuff I won playing ring toss and getting winning tickets.

This is the first Wonder Fest in a year so it was great to have this event again, its heavy on the naked girl models but there is sofubi to be found too. The best was M1 had the ring toss which they didnt do for a long time and I actually won a clear Jet Jaguar so that was a great surprise. The Garamon was a ticket winner and the giant Booske a friend won and then gave it to as he doesnt collect Booska! Thanks Furuya!

Tons of other great stuff too today, like the GID Ushi Oni from Sun Guts, huge and killer. Too much too see and I can see from the KT picts that I missed US Toys and some others. The place is huge and I always seem to talk more than look when I go but that is fine with me, its like a reunion every time I go and great to see friends and talk shit.

The one thing that I had never seen before was the seperation of all the porn kits and naked girl stuff, they actually had an 18 and over section this time. Of course I went and got a suprise, the World KIller series! Mass murderer and serial killer resin kits, check out my Flickr if you need to see these.

It was a great day, too freakin hot but all the great toys and friends more than made up for that!

VELOCITRON ART at "a massing of grim reapers"

VELOCITRON ART at "a massing of grim reapers"
Originally uploaded by Baikin

Weeeeeee!!!!! Yeah, thats sounds dumb but I am dumb so it fits. Also it usually means a good time is being had and a good WAS had last night at " A Massing of Grim Reapers" show at Monstock Cafe. Lots of great customs and great talk was had a done by everyone there. It was a small event but I think there would have been many more people if everyone was not at SDCC this weekend.

Ricky did a bunch of customs for the show and the army of Betchigons looked great. I love the destroyed Gundam playmodels he slaughtered for the custom Larvagons he did for the show. Look closely at the art he did and you can see where the leftovers went.

I am bummed that I forgot to get a picture of the keychain and hair barret he made with the head part of Larvigon though, these were my favorites of the show! I guess I was too excited and spaced it. My wife got a barret so I can still get a picture of that for you all.

The Sunguts guy was there too and he surprised Isao-san and one other with an awesome gift, the Ushi-Oni GID figure that is being released tomorrow at WF! My wife is gonna be first in line for this thing! Just about everyone crapped when theyt saw it, its huge, GID and looks freaky! All pluses for making a toy you need to have.

Everything was priced well so people should be able to take some home after the lottery with no problem, I think it was because the gallery isnt taking %50 like usual. So enter those lotteries! If you can after the SDCC wallet drain anyway. All in all it was a fun time and again, I thank Ricky so much for inviting be to be part of it, a rad time was surely had.

Oh yes, click the picture to go to my flickr and see the outta focus and dark pictures I took.

a late massing of grim reapers

a massing of grim reapers
Originally uploaded by Baikin

I am finally finished. Been working everyday since these arrived and too pooped to paint when I get home in the evenings. I am so late I will be delivering these in person tomorrow at the gallery opening while it is in progress. But it sounds like I wont be the only one late so everyone will have to come back later to see all the submissions anyway. I am just glad they are done and I am happy with the way they came out!

A Massing of Grim Reapers show at Monstock!!

Thanks Ricky (VELOCITRON) for inviting me to be a part of "A Massing of Grim Reapers show at Monstock!!" next week. It was a great surprise to get the PM from you and I am stoked to paint some Larvagons and a Betchigon!

Here is the box I got from Ricky last night, now I gotta think of something different than what I usually do so these will look like they should, grotesque and beautiful.

For more info Ricky posted on SB today with a list of those submitting for the show and dates.

Butanohana at Thrashout

Butanohana at Thrashout
Originally uploaded by Baikin

Best show this year and probably all year. So many great toys too see and wish I had bought over the years but I was buying too many other things. Yuriko told me the first time we saw Butanohana that I should buy thier stuff but the price put me off, later I gave in but a little too late.

A lot of old stock toys were available which was great plus the 3 exclusives for the show. The Thrashman was unpainted clear so I passed only to regret it later when I asked about a painted version, oooops, this clear might be the only one ever produced. :( But I am happy to get the Nise Ultraman and the Red King, they are great looking toys too. I wish there had been some artwork for sale but nothing, other than toys there were only postcards and mini books. I had no idea that Butanohana was a childrens book illustrator in his real job. It explains alot about his style thats for sure.

It was the usual suspects that showed up too, everyone you would expect from the board that lives over here so alot of hanging out and bullshitting was accomplished to say the least. All in all it was a nice day, but too freakin hot like it always is for a summer in Koenji!!!

And now I know what happened to Kaz from Kaiju Taro, he is training to be a monk in Aomori!!!

Wonderfestival.............

is gonna be lonely this year. Seems like everyone I asked will be at SDCC or just won't go so they don't have to compete with all the people selling underage girl naked resin kits with giant tentacle weeners. Actually I think they are hiding that stuff a little now, the last couple times it wasnt so in your face.

Back on topic, loneliness and nerd utopia, I think its not going to be so sofubi friendly this year but thats ok, I can save all my money for the M1 ring toss, at least I hope they have it this time, the last few times I saw them they were tossless. :(

Better than toys!

Haha, I love my cats. I know your not supposed to love some family more than others but whoever made that rule doesn't live with these two. Actually the little one is kinda a bitch but whatever, she can jump super high and it makes me laugh so she can be a shithead all she wants. I have another cat too around here somewhere but the little one hates him so he won't be in the same picture with her very often, I told you she is a bitch.

Matango Keychains for friends.

I have a bunch of these still and when I feel nice I paint some to give away along with other blanks I have. These two came out really nice, the picture stinks but they are a root beer brown with orange creamscicle colors and gold, I spelled that wrong didn't I. I think I will do some more in these colors later for myself as I feel jealous that someone else has them and I don't cause I am a dick.

Shinto Gang After School Club

Not really, more about Skull Toys and his Taro Okamoto tribute. Of course with my memory I forget the name of the ST version, I think from reading the card in picture its Dokunroll #3, all I know for sure is there are 3 types right now and the "Tower of the Sun" version is my favorite by far. I just wish I had picked one up but its getting hard to keep buying so many different toys I like so recently I have been buying very little. Maybe I will break down and get this after all, the wife likes it too.

Here is the toy:


The back:


The real Tower of the Sun in Osaka:


At one time you could go inside the tower but its been blocked up for a long time and I think filled with cement or something. Anyway, what a waste as it is such a beautiful thing to see in person.

Hmmmmm, what's in here?

A box! Lets open it.
Originally uploaded by Baikin

Click on the box to find out!

globby i painted in my "yard".

globby i painted in my "yard".
Originally uploaded by Baikin

I was gonna submit this to the S7 custom show but ran out of time, I spilled thinner on him the morning I was gonna send him out! But I fixed him yesterday and took him around our yard, its not really a yard, more of a bunch of weeds and random flowers but it has a few stray cats too so its pretty awesome.

Super Fest 49 Report! Kinda.

InvasioN!
Originally uploaded by Baikin

So everyone at Super Fest took pictures of toys and put them on thier blogs so if you want to read about the toys you probably already did somewhere else. Not that we wont talk about toy shows here its just that something else exciting was going on too, freaky bug molting!!! I told you this was not going to be the "typical" toy blog.

Me and the other half of Shirahama were walking up to the show when she saw something red on a cherry tree, we stopped to look and got a pants filling suprise! Tons of freaky bugs crawling all over the tree!!! Of course Yuriko says gross and I say cool so no surpirse there, typical boy and girl responses, we really are kids inside still. Anyway, I had to stop and take pictures and all the people walking by kept stopping to see why some white guy was taking close-up pictures of a tree and they all said the same thing, GROSS!!!!! There were little one, big ones, black ones and red ones, dry ones and wet ones, shiny ones and dull ones, it really was cool to see and I am sure something that doent get seen often. They were all over the place! Now I just wish I knew what kind of bug they were, no one that I asked knew or had ever seen them before.

Oh yeah, the next tree had a cool snail crawling on it too.

US Toys Kodomo no Jidaikan minis!

I am soooooo happy today, I picked these up at a shop that was a total surprise. I almost didnt go as they never have anything but luck be with me this time!

Fungolas attack!

Attack of the poopbeast! My better half did this sketch the other day, we have been tossing the idea around for a while and its changed a few times, this one is the best so far. It even has a nice japanese toilet logo.

More Super Fest 49

I didnt put everything up last time so here is some more stuff to spend your money on in a couple weeks:

MARMIT GID Zagora, Bagun, Death Quid and Doguu. Not sure about prices but the Quid probably about 4000 yen and the others about 6000 yen?



MARUSAN standard size Dan Moroboshi from Ultra Seven, 6000 yen:



ILANENA Dai Kaiju Card Monsters mini set, 4500 yen:



M1号 1/2 scale Ultra Seven bust, in gold or bronze, limited to 25 each, 10500 yen each:





YAMANAYA crazy colors Crazygon and Ultra Seven. Seven is 6300 yen, Crazygon 5775 yen and huge!:





Last but not least, SUN GUTS! Akuma Kun plus GID omake for 3800 yen and Glam Hair Uraname is 3000 yen.


OOOPS! Forgot this, CREATIVE DESIGN 8 inch Godzilla, 4620 yen:


Last time there was a promotion with guests from the Ultra series that would give autographs, the catch was you had to buy items from certain specified dealers to be able to get in the line for them. I didnt buy the t-shirt so I was outta luck, looks like the same deal this time around also. I am not that interested in any of the guests this time so for sure I wont be in line, that way I can save money for toys!

New blog, new things.

I had a brain storm, well, a brain trickle more like. I have been thinking for a while to put everything one place so here it is, a combo of my cat blog and other things be I find interesting and spend all my time and money on like some of you reading this do too.

First up, Super Fest 49! Coming up in a couple weeks on April 26 during Golden Week, ok not really Golden Week but the week before, a smorgasboard of vinyl and just all around sofubi confectionary. Here's a not so little menu of what will be available if you want an empty wallet:

Super Festival's own Fewture Models:

Super DX King Scale Umezz comic version Baltan Seijin! This is a jumbo size toy for sure, it dwarfs the original standard that came out a couple years back. 16 inches of crabbiness for only 12000 yen. Limited to 100 pcs.









More Fewture Models Umezz series, Eleking with Pito Seijin. Eleking is 10 tall with mini Pito Seijin holding and even more mini Eleking, pretty darn cute. Set is 7800 yen.







Last but probably my favorite just for obscurity's sake , The Human Vapor (Gasu Ningen Dai Ichigou). If you haven't seen the film it was made by TOHO and released in the 60's along with other great TOHO SF horror films like Matango and The H-Man. It's been a while since I have seen it myself and with seeing this statue I gotta go rent it, even better I should buy it and so should you. Anyway, its 5000 yen and I hope at least 8 inches tall, no size info given but it would be great to have even it's 2 inches.



Here's the poster too, the Japanese one anyway! Which are always better to tell the truth.





Here is some GIGA BRAIN toys to admire, and the King Goji looks like a Hand Paint so these might be pretty limited. Available will also be a gorgeous Gigan and Monster X from the last Godzilla movie, 5250 yen each:









SUN GUTS will have some of thier wonderful toys too:

Glam Hair Uraname 3000 yen.


Hand Paint Akuma-kun with GID omake figure, 3800 yen.




US TOYS with all the mini awesomeness you could always want, plus a few Gojira-Ya kittens too:

3 styles of mini Ultra Seven, 2100 each.


Mini Eleking long tail version, LTD to 50 pcs, 2500 yen.


Ultra Seven Pocket Kaiju Set, LTD to 50 sets, 5775 yen.


Kitties!!!!!!!!!! Naked, 3500 yen each. Not naked, 5980 each.