Bandai 1995 Gamera Figure Review

Checking in today with more of an abbreviated review than most, however I still think it's a cool figure worth checking out. I wanted to review this guy back during Japanese Monster Week, but time just got away from me. It's the 1995 Bandai Gamera figure! Ohh, exciting!


Gamera
7 Inch Scale
By: Bandai
1995
$15.00-$30.00

I wanted this figure forever but couldn't find a decent price on him. He just doesn't go up for sale much and if he does a lot of times you'll find that he goes for a pretty hefty sum. Still if you're lucky, you can on occasion find him on the cheap. I just love the design of the 1995 Guardian of the Universe Gamera and until the Revoltech Gamera hits, this is the best poseable version of that figure available.

Packaging:
These guys don't come in packages. There should be a tag on him, but yeah I don't have that. Oh noes! That's a big no-no for collectors of these vinyl Bandais in general, but I don't give two craps.

Sculpt:
The sculpt here is pretty good, but this was done in the mid-90's so this is still during Bandai's kind of "whatever" period when it came to Kaiju sculpts. Yeah, on occasion they would really hit a homerun, but a lot of the Bandai Kaiju from this era just aren't that detailed. In the past few years Bandai really stepped it up in terms of sculpting.


The face is key and they captured that very well. One of the things I really liked about the 1995 Gamera is that he had an updated version of the classic Gamera look in terms of his face. As Kaneko's masterpiece trilogy went on Gamera's face especially became more and more monstrous, which was great in context of the story but didn't do much for me in terms of design.


There actually are a few good sculptural elements to this figure, but the paint job is what's lacking the most. A good sculpt can really be accented by a paint job or it can be ruined by one. The paint doesn't effect this guy either way. If this figure was repainted with details and washes, he'd be incredible.


His mouth is painted pure pink and while that's okay, his teeth aren't big enough to really stand out against it. His tusks aren't painted great either. His chest has one of those patented Bandai spray paint jobs of gold that just fails to bring out the necessary details. His shell is a different paint spray, but again it's all pretty "blah" to me. Now to be fair, in Japan this is very much the norm and fits in with the design of these era of figures, but it doesn't really appeal to the "American" in me.


He's a big ol' boy too, coming in at close to 8 inches. While the Bandai scale used to be bigger than the new figures like MechaGodzilla there, he's still too big. He's bulky as well and has a very thick body base. It looks cool for the character, but pretty much puts him out of scale with just about everything... Except I think he'd look great with Bandai USA's 11 Inch Godzilla series.

Articulation:
These Bandai vinyl figures never give you a ton in the way of articulation and Gamera is no exception here. That said, for kids big hard vinyl figures like this are perfect for what they are intended. If I'd had this Gamera when I was 7, he would have kicked all kinds of butt even with his limited articulation.


He has articulated arms, legs and tail. They're all swivel joints. You can't get a great range of motion out of the arms or legs and the figure doesn't look great posed a lot of ways. So you're pretty much stuck with what you get.

Accessories:
His only accessory is pine scent, just like Moss Man. No, I'm kidding. He doesn't come with anything. Although I'm sure if you rubbed him down with Pine Sol he could have a pine scent. I don't recommend it though, I have no idea what the chemical reaction of Pine Sol to a 15 year old vinyl would be like.

Value:
Expect to pay anywhere from $15-$30 for this figure and that's being conservative. I've seen them go for a full Ulysses S. Grant and above. Personally I wouldn't pay more than $25 or so for him. He's not exactly the world's greatest toy. Of course if you're looking for him in less of the "toy" sense and more of the "collectible" sense, you might be willing to pay more. As I said, this guy is getting pretty rare.


Score Recap:
Packaging - N/A
Sculpting - 7
Articulation - 2
Accessories - N/A
Value - 6
Overall - 6 out of 10

For a figure I wanted for a good decade or so, Gamera isn't exactly the best figure out there. I wish I had mad painting skills because I'd probably repaint this beast. With a proper paint job he could easily be a wicked toy. I guess I'm just spoiled with my Chogokin Gamera, because he's awesome even if the design isn't as good. If you're into vintage Kaiju vinyl though, this Gamera is a wee bit above average.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER! If you don't, vinyl Gamera eats an old person. Hey, he's the friend of all children... He never said anything about geriatrics. So save your Grandma and follow my Tweets! Read the rest......

Ben 10 Humungousaur Figure Review

I am not a customizer, let's make that perfectly clear before we being. I can barely draw a straight line, much less sculpey and repaint an action figure. That doesn't mean I don't think like a customizer. In fact that might be the only way I think, constantly seeing one figure's potential to be another. As I often have said, if I had half the talent for the ideas I have, I would be one cool dude. Which brings me to today's review.

A few years ago I thought it would be cool if I could get some Frog Monsters to fight my Hellboy action figures. I'm in love with the idea of army builders and a bunch of killer frog dudes has always intrigued me, (Thanks Hell Comes to Frogtown!) so I started looking for a figure that fit the look. Interestingly almost instantly I decided that the easiest and best figure available that could work was Humungousaur from Ben 10. This was, I'm guessing at least two years ago. So, finally after two years (if not longer) I decide to pull the trigger. Why?


Ben 10
Humungousaur
4 Inch Scale
By: Bandai
2010
$5.89

Well two reasons actually. First, I went to Target with the mission to buy something and this was all they had. Secondly, the Humungousaur looked cooler now than ever (more on that in a bit) and that's how we get here today. So what's all this got to do with Hellboy? Well, like I said, Humungousaur works as a stand-in to me for the infamous Hellboy frogs. Sure he's got a tail and they don't (but it's removeable) and yes, he's technically a dinosaur, not a frog. Petty details. Us guys with low level or no level customizing ability have to take what we can get.

As for Ben 10, I know little about the show. When I say I know little, I mean I know nothing. I surmised by reading the included trading card that Ben 10 changes forms by plugging something into his watch. Honestly, before I read that I had no idea that Ben was the one actually changing into monsters. Although I don't follow Ben 10 and I don't think it has much collector "appeal" at all, there's no denying that at least a few of the monsters are pretty cool looking.

Packaging:
If you've been in the toy aisles in the past year or more, you've seen Ben 10 stuff. He's got a wide range of figures and quite honestly he commands a sizeable chunk of the toy aisle. Some places he has more room than Transformers. Obviously Ben 10 is pretty big. Since he's Bandai and not part of one of the big two toy company's products, I like to think of Ben 10 as sort of the modern version of TMNT (in toy terms) by being a bit of an outsider but still doing quite well.


The packages are green and blue with the greens going from dark to bright almost yellow in the center. It's a decent bit of color candy for the eye, but the text and logos leave a lot to be desired. For starters, the words "Ben 10 Alien Force" are pretty small and shoved off to the side. The other real problem is that the card is chocked full of logos and words, it's almost like a NASCAR driver's outfit with all the patches.


There's also all this foreign text. This is similar to the other Bandai figures I reviewed the other day Bandai Kamen Rider Blank & CAMO but it seems even more apparent to me on this Ben 10 card. There are a couple of sections where there aren't even English words, just huge blocks of French... FRENCH?!

Is France really a big toy market? I guess French kids need toys too. There's a joke about frogs in there somewhere. Anyway it's pretty strange to me. The multilingual cards are ugly and no doubt confusing to kids.

The back of the package also doesn't tell you anything about any of the figures or the story of Ben 10. Especially since this is a kid's line, I think it should offer a little text about the character and the story of Ben 10. I know I learned all I needed to know about GI Joe and the aforementioned TMNT off the back of the package, long before I had watched the TV show or read the comics.

Sculpt:
Humungousaur has had a couple of figures. I believe when I first thought of using him as a frog a couple years ago, he didn't even have a 4 inch figure. There was a larger 10-12 inch figure of Humungousaur, That Looks Like Crap which I passed on. There have also been a few others, like one that you can see through parts of his chest.


This version of Humungousaur however is all new. I know that and say that with confidence because I've kept my eye on Humungousaur for a while. There was a version nearly identical to this released several years back and has been a mainstay on the shelf for some time, but this is an updated sculpt and paint job. What's different? Well it's mostly paint, but he also has a new face.


I watched this review on YouTube the other day, DJ Matth3w Review (If you leave him a comment, tell him Infinite Hollywood sent ya!) and if you notice the head is removable there. It also doesn't have the snarling teeth.


I didn't realize that the head sculpt was different at first, but I did notice the updated paint job. To me this really helped seal the deal because the added shading really brought out the "frog" in this Humungousaur figure. At least to me it did. Once I got it out of the package, I realized it also brought out the "dinosaur" in him as well.


The new deco is pretty cool and the shading which I originally thought was your standard paint shading wash, is actually some sort of laser dot design. It's like someone used a laser printer to put tons of little dots on him to create shading. It definitely makes him look cool. I don't know if this was done via a tampo process or a spray paint that seperated or what, but the overall effect is nice.


Humungousaur has a pretty neat shape overall, with long arms, short little legs, a curved neck and a thick torso. That's one of the reasons it resembled an animated version of the frog monster to me, as it had the little legs and big long arms. Since I keep bringing up this damned Frog monster, here's a really cheap Photoshop of what I think he looks like with minimal customization.


Perfect? Absolutely not. Probably as close as we're ever going to get to having an animated version of the Hellboy frogs? Definitely.


The sculpting is overall, decent but nothing too fancy. I am impressed that Bandai did sculpt in some little details here and there and I think it's cool that they have continually updated Humungousaur with better paint and sculpts, but he's still a Bandai figure. American Bandai figures typically have metal screws and joints visible and that's definitely the case here. That will immediately disqualify a lot of collectors, but chances are kids don't care.

Articulation:
Although the articulation is minimum, I think it's adequate. He has simple cut shoulders, cut legs and hinge elbows. The hinge elbows are definitely important.


I think had Bandai given him ball jointed shoulders and a ball jointed neck, this could be a serious five star kids toy. As is, it's pretty decent. There's really nothing that could be added to the figure by giving him ball joints or hinges at the knees and legs because the figure's legs are so small to begin with.

Accessories:
In terms of actual accessories, this guy comes with nothing. His package does include a Humungousaur clear piece which I believe plugs into the Ben 10 watch thingy. That's smart cross advertising by Bandai and I'm sure this thing looks pretty cool all glowed up.


The other "accessory" is a trading card. I don't believe Ben 10 has a battle card element, so I'm guessing this is just like a file card kind of deal. It's pretty decent, telling some details about him. Take back what I said about the package not including details about Humungousaur himself, though they should still tell the story a bit.



Value:
I picked this guy up for $5.89 exactly. I think that's a decent value for kids. Certainly a GI Joe is a much better value and they can be had for around the same price at most places, but this figure definitely is one of the better values for kid's toys out there today. Bandai has kept their prices relatively low, which is smart because the Kamen Rider figures were way overpriced, whereas Ben 10 seems palpable for allowances and Mom & Pop impulse buys.


Score Recap:
Packaging - 4
Sculpting - 6
Articulation - 6
Accessories - Watch Plug-in, Trading Card
Value - 7
Overall - 6 out of 10


So a 6 out of 10 is about as average as you can get, but that doesn't mean this is a crappy toy. I think it's a good version for kids and for a guy like me, this makes a cheap do-it-yourself frog base at a reasonable price. If you're thinking of picking one of these up for yourself or a younger friend, I'd say go with this latest version with the new face and better paint aps.


COWABUNGA! Okay does Ben 10 say "Cowabunga"? Probably not. I'm getting too old. What could Ben 10 probably say? Something current. Something kids like... Ah, got it...

BY THE POWER OF MYSPACE I AM BEN 10! RAWRRR!

Read the rest......

Bandai Kamen Rider - CAMO and Blank Knight Reviews

You know what I'm a sucker for? Cheap discount toys. Earlier this week I nearly purchased my first Glyos system figures, but ultimately I decided the price was too much for me. Still, I liked the idea of some cool little figures that are almost blank slates to do with as I pleased. Just a day later I stumbled into a clearance section at the local store and found these Kamen Rider toys.


I'm well aware of what Kamen Rider is, although I don't know a ton of it's backstory. I do know that Kamen Rider is a Japanese phenom in the same vein as Ultraman and Power Rangers where there's a deep history and constantly changing shows. I even had a few of Bandai's Masked Rider figures during the first attempt to import this show to the US, and I must say those figures were pretty cool. Fast forward a decade and here's these new toys from a new show. I was able to pick up almost every figure in the series for about $15, so if you're even remotely interested in these guys come with me the next few days as we explore this world together for the first time.

Packaging:
When these figures first came out I must say that I did check them out at a Toys R Us. I wasn't impressed. The packages are those typical Bandai style toy packages, where they're just intriguing enough to look at but not enough to really draw you in. It's also one of those multi-language cards that I must confess, I generally hate.


The front has the name of the show displayed but it's a bit hard to see it all because of the way the bubble overlaps the letters. Below they have the character's name, but no specific card art. Interestingly on the inner paper it does have a character specific sign (think Power Rangers Morpher) but that's it. Because this is a multilingual card, it features the characters name three times in each language... That's fine for the Blank Knight as his name apparently translates, but Kamen Rider Camo? His name apparently can't be translated so it just says, Kamen Rider Camo, Camo Kamen Rider and Camo Kamen Rider. This is all very confusing to me even now, I can't imagine what the hell I would think is going on if I was a kid. Can you imagine if a GI Joe figure would have had his name on the package three different ways?


Remember, I know next to NOTHING about this show. Although I did watch about 15 seconds of it one Saturday morning. I quickly changed the channel because the characters kept shoving playing cards into their belts in order to do "moves"... It was like Sentai Magic The Gathering or something. Anyway, here's the "plot" of the show from the back of the package:

On the other side of every mirror on Earth lies the parallel dimension of Ventara - a world destroyed by the evil General Xaviax. The Kamen Riders are warriors from Ventara who were all but wiped out when Xaviax stole their Advent Decks, which power their abilities.

They had me right up until the part it became about stealing playing cards. Why must everything be some kind of trading card battle game? Do kids even play trading card battle games anymore? Bring back Pogs!

As for their bios, Camo apparently is some guy named Grant who is offered a chance by General Xaviax an opportunity to be the "toughest man in two worlds". I guess that means he's a bad guy. The "Blank Knight" is a temporary, generic form that Kit takes on before he contacts the dragon. I guess this is like his regular powered up form, before he gets REALLY powered up. Generic forms? What a crazy concept.

Sculpt:
Both figures have similar sculpts but they do have some pretty key differences. I remember when I first saw these at TRU, I assumed they would be rather cheap once I got them out of the package. I was surprised that there was a bit more detail than I thought.


The Blank Knight has little grooves on his mask, that's not just paint it's actually sculpted detail. Right off I also noticed that these figures have hexagon holes all over them, similar to Batman: Brave & The Bold. That was a little bit of a disappointment, I must say, although there aren't near as many holes as the Mattel figures and these fit in a little better with the "robot super suit" design than say Aquaman with a hole in his arm does.


That's not to say they get a total pass for the holes in their arms. I still generally think it's stupid. Best I can tell, some of the deluxe sets come with stuff that connects to those holes, but there are only three deluxe sets and only two include stuff to pop in those holes so it's a cop out at best. Stop putting holes all over toys, it's not cool.


The CAMO figure is definitely much cooler. He's a bright almost neon green, but you can tell right away that he's a lizard based figure. I assume he's supposed to be like a chameleon, although it doesn't express that he has any special chameleon powers. He has similar legs to the Blank Knight, but one leg has some extra sculpting on it, while his shoulder pads and head are massively different.


One of his hands are sculpted open and at first I thought that was strange, but as it turns out that's for his weapon. He's a pretty neat looking figure, although with both of these figures the paint and detail work is pretty average mass market stuff. Don't confuse this for better products out there, but it's not terrible either.

Articulation:
When I first saw these guys, I assumed they only had simple cuts at the arms and legs. I immediately dismissed them. The larger figures, which I believe are about 6 inches, don't even appear to have ANY articulation in the legs. They looked like crap. These smaller ones upon closer examination have a surprising amount of articulation, though still not enough to write home about.


For starters the neck is cut, although it very well may be a ball joint. There seems to be some extra motion in there, so I think it may be a tiny ball joint of sorts. Basically you get about as much movement as you do out of a Mattel ball joint neck, which is a tad more than a cut, but not much.


The rest of the articulation breaks down as cut shoulders, true swivel hinge legs, knee hinges and swivel wrist. It's certainly not a ton of articulation, but it's a lot more than I expected it to have. The swivel hinge legs add a lot of pose ability. A cut waist and some hinged elbows and this guy would be worth bragging about. As is, he's not terrible, but not perfect either.

Accessories:
Both figures come with one weapon and a playing card. I really hate that playing cards are considered accessories these days, but it is what it is. I guess it makes more sense here since that's how these guys get their powers, but I still think it's lame.


Camo has a pretty cool accessory, it's a Mortal Kombat Scorpion inspired throwing spear, except it's not a spear at all. Instead it's a little round ball thing that looks like a chameleon's tail coiled up. It's a pretty neat accessory and the way it plugs onto his open hand makes it look like he's throwing it a bit like a yo-yo!


The Blank Knight gets a sword, which is definitely more generic but hey that's what this guy is all about: Being generic.


Both the throwing coil and the sword feature some sculpting on them, which is nice, but neither have any paint to speak of. It's a shame there wasn't a little more effort here or at least a couple more weapons, but whatever.


The cards do look pretty neat, but I still have no clue what the hell I would do with them. Anyone want to play some Kamen Rider battle cards?

Additional Notes:
I love that I find neat stuff when buying clearance toys. It's one of my big vices. I never would have picked these up if they hadn't been on clearance. I don't know if they're cooler than Glyos or not, but they'll tide me over for now.



Value:
This is where these guys take a HUGE hit. These originally retailed for $7.99! These figures are only 3 inches tall! That puts these guys in direct competition with GI Joe. Sorry, but GI Joe rapes these figures. I guess they're more comparable to DCIH, but even so it's just not a good value. I can't recommend them at that price. I picked them up at $1.99 a piece, which I'm content with. Still not the greatest value in the world, mind you.


Score Recap:
Packaging - 5
Sculpting - 7
Articulation - 6
Accessories - Sword, Throwing Coil, Lame Ass Cards
Value - 3
Overall - 5 out of 10


These guys get a pretty low rating based on their price. Given that I got them on clearance, my official score would be closer to a 6 out of 10. They're average little guys and if you're looking for some crap to mess around with on your desk and can get them for about $2 you could probably do a lot worse, but Bandai should be ashamed for charging $8 a pop for these. That's a big chunk of a kid's allowance for not a lot of play value. Read the rest......

Spotlight On: Bandai Vinyl Godzilla & Gamera

All this week we've been looking at Kaiju or Japanese Giant Monsters and that continues here tonight with a special look at a handful of my favorite Bandai vinyl figures. Some from Bandai's American branch, Bandai Creation and some from Bandai Japan. We've got some heavy hitters here, so let's dive right in!


We begin with the original himself, Godzilla 1954! This sculpt has been released both in Japan as well as through Bandai Creation although it's slightly different. I didn't pick up the Bandai Creation version (though now I wish I had) because I have this version from Japan. It's basically the same mold, although it's been upscaled a bit and slightly changed around. His arms for example seem leaner on the Creation version.


The tag is pretty spiffy and I must confess this figure looks incredibly on model. Godzilla looked pretty different in his first appearance, most notably he had ears! This Bandai figure reflects all the subtle details that were on this specific version. I'm sure Raymond Burr would be proud.


The paint work is decent but I'm not a big fan of the white wash on the chest and knees. What's up with giving Godzilla a big patch of paint on his chest? Maybe the Imperial Godzilla wasn't so off model after all?


The paint work is a little sloppy on the nails and fins, which seems to be a trend with Bandai. They sort of spray paint the figures and it gives an often uneven look to them. People rag on Bandai Creations, but they tend to paint their figures better than most. Godzilla has articulation in the arms, legs and tail.


Next up we have Gamera from the 1999 film, Gamera III: Incomplete Struggle or Revenge of Iris depending on what version you're watching. Personally this was probably my least favorite Gamera design, despite being probably the best Gamera movie. In this film Gamera has fully evolved or mutated to the point where he looks like a big nasty snapping turtle.


This is one of the easier Bandai vinyls to get from Japan, but it's a great sculpt. There are a plethora of versions of this figure, mostly repaints or ones molded in different colors. If you look around you can find some really pretty cool versions out there. For my money this was the best version because it was the most normal.


Despite being one of the most normal versions of Gamera from Gamera III, his shell is still painted in an odd metallic green. It's bright and kind of annoying. His chest is painted in a metallic gold as well, but that actually works better than the shell. It's a shame the paint isn't better because the figure is very impressive.


Gamera moves at the head somewhat, legs, arms and tail. It's nothing fancy and the arms are in a position that you don't have a great range of poses, but with Gamera's design they always seem to struggle to make him poseable. This is still a good figure if you're into Bandai vinyl.


Finally we have Godzilla 68. This Godzilla is based off of his 1968 appearance and for many this is the definitive 60's Godzilla. Some prefer the Japanese version of this figure, but I'm actually more fond of the Bandai Creation take on it.


The colors on both the Japanese and American version are identical, with a slightly too dark skin tone and pink inside the mouth. Some collectors don't like that, but it is what it is. If I was a talented painter, I'd put a real light dry brush of green over his whole body and I think that would make him pop. The only area I prefer the Japanese version is the eyes. Bandai Creation had some slop with the eyes.


All in all I find this Godzilla encompasses a lot of the 60's look without being an identical model to 68. I enjoy that element but your mileage may vary. Regardless, this is a great Godzilla figure and can still be found at most local TRUs. He moves at the legs, arms and tail. Read the rest......