Kaiju are Tooooo Scary!

At least that is what Marusan thought when they first started making sofubi kaiju. When first planning they imagined the monsters would be too frightening if realistic so they decided to make them more charming, and what better influence that a chubby little cherub faced doll, Kewpie! I hope that doesn't ruin the whole monster thing for you now, it actually makes me love kiaju toys even more. Maybe thats why when I started collecting it was the Bandai figures with thier attention to detail that got me started, I didnt see alot of the Marusan and Bullmark toys around in the early '80s and when I did they were already beyone my bugdet, so I ended up with a huge shelf full of Bandai figures. But that changed not long after I found a bunch of Bullmarks tucked away in a botton shelf at a certain store in Emeryville, now if you came to my house you would be hard pressed to find a Bandai figure unless its one of the re-issue Bullmarks they have been releasing for a while now, actually I found a clear Bandai Mechagodzilla in a box yesterday I totally forgot about.

So next time you see a Kewpie give it some love, its party responsible for the vinyl madness you enjoy today.

WF Winter 2010

It was an M1号 bonanza! I dont usually use that word much but for this I had to make an exception.

Started out by getting up and 3:30 Sunday morning and waking up Scott who stayed at our place, he wasnt sure about having a pass and I knew I didnt so we figured lets tough it out and be first in line. Funny thing is that we almost weren't first in line, the train station was farther than I thought and I had the great idea to walk so we were not going to make the first train. Luckily a cab came outta nowhere and picked us up, and it turned out the drivers favorite monster is King Ghidorah, I figured we were in luck even more as our cabbie was a monster lover too. So, we made it with 3 minutes to spare and rode the 4 stops to Makuhari for WF. When the doors openend it was like that scence from Trading Places with the toilet stall doors flying open when the bells ring at the stock exchange, guys running to trade but in this case running to get hentai figures! And 2 gaijin walking to get sofubi.

Next was the 2 kilometer walk to sit in line, I thought we were way back but Scott could see the guy with a little red light leading us to where we would spend the next 5 hours waiting and as it turned out he was only about 100 feet up, whew. Not much happened after that other than us freezing and me wanting to pee but giving up until I was gonna pop so just stood there hoping I wouldnt but finally getting there and being oh sooo happy. Later Scott did get a pass he wasnt sure about so he was able to go in, but I saw where he would be when the event opened and told him I bet I get there before you (the M1 table) and sure enough, I had gone through the line before he even showed up! I think he had to pick up some stuff for someone else first though so that slowed him down.

Ok, to make this story a little shorter I will cut to the chase, Scott got some killer Yutari figure and I bought a ton of M1 and won 2 Giant Garamon so it was a great day to saty the least. The End.

Actually I had the Garamon in the middle already.

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!