Vintage Kaiju Figures Thread

[4Tankzilla]

Do you guys have any vintage figures to talk/share about? Well this would be the place! Vintage figures could range from Marusan, Bullmark, Popy, Yamakatsu, Bandai, and so on!

So recently, just to start off this topic, my friend helped me purchase a vintage figure that I've been eyeballing on ever since I was in 5th grade! (I'm 16 years old, but I always liked the look of the vintage figures)




According to my knowledge, and information from certain people, this would be considered a bootleg. The figure hasn't arrived yet, but I will make a short video about it.

[Planetxman]

That is a Popy bootleg. Slightly larger than the real thing with no feet marking. Pretty cool though.

[4Tankzilla]

Indeed, there's also one made out of black vinyl. I want to own the bootleg Jirass someday, or even the real one.

[Planetxman]

Nitto Gyaos

Marusan Garamon

[4Tankzilla]

How old are we going to say counts for vintage?

I guess from the late 1960's - mid 1990's.

I've seen that Eleking before, I should've bought it. I want to own all of the Ultra monsters in the Godzilla's Gang line.

[Planetxman]

Vintage predates Bandai. Pre 80's are considered Vintage. Popy toys from the 70's are included.

[Planetxman]

I know some consider the earliest Bandai output vintage as well. It's all kind of unclear. :]

SOME people can consider all they want. Just like with Comic Books having Golden Age, Silver Age, etc., Godzilla Vintage Toys also have a specific classification.

[Orgasmatron]

yeah, whatever planetxman says

: p

[Planetxman]

Can you cite a source to prove your assertion is correct? I'll gladly concede if you can prove it.

Otherwise I have to ask: will '80s Bandais ever become vintage? Or will it forever be only '70s toys? Will they become antique but not vintage?

Most books that I have collected through the year seperate the time lines. MOST Vintage collectors consider anything pre Bandai to be Vintage.

[Planetxman]

But you see my point, no? I can see separating them into eras as far as looking at the history, but "vintage" refers to age in most uses.

So unless there's some reason to exclude Bandai from the Vintage Clubhouse, at some point they'd be considered vintage, too.

I consider The Bandai line to be Modern. Even though some of the early Bandai sculpts were not all that accurate, they certainly were more accurate than the Marusans, Bullmarks, Nittos and Popys.
Like I said, I have a book collection. A very large one. All the books I have seperate the toy lines in time periods. I would not put a '62 Bandai Godzilla from 1983 in the same category as a Marusan Godzilla from 1966.

[Planetxman]

When was the book written?

And it's interesting, because you *would* put a '79 Popy Godzilla in the same category with that Marusan Godzilla. What's the determining factor that keeps the '83 Godzilla out but the '79 one in? Will that stay the same no matter how many years pass?

BOOKS not book. Go back and just look at The Godzilla Toy Museum for one. Yuiji Nishumura also put out some books that has rarity guides. ALL the books I have seperate Vintage from the Bandai line.
A very recent book from 2008 I own is called "The Beautiful Book Of Monsters" and focuses on VINTAGE. Not a Bandai in sight.

I've been collecting for about 20 years now and it is a well known fact that I am one of the top Vintage Collectors in The States. Many of my friends surpass that and I bet if we polled all the major collectors stateside they would mostly agree that Vintage predates Bandai.

[Planetxman]

C'mon you know I also collect Bandai too.

[BandaiBandit]

Maybe vintage collectors want to keep their particular niche of the hobby more elite by excluding Bandais, which are more commonly-collected?

Unless you can explain the criterion by which you exclude Bandais, it seems like an artificial determination.

Hold your horses guys! Considering vinyl kaijus!
Vintage vinyl is considered pre-1980's by all vintage books and vinyl collectors around the world!
The reason is a simple one!
Bandai is considered the first company to do realistic sculps of Godzilla (Ultraman/Ultra monsters as well),
next to Popy which was a branch from Bandai!
So, its a well known fact that pre-1980's vinyl toys are considered vintage by collectors!
This does not take away from early Bandais at all.
Early Bandai are very nice toys, I've owned countless of them but they are considered the next generation of vinyl.
We now have tons of newer generations of companies & figures and each has their own niche!
Japanese vinyl toy history is based around this, its common knowledge!

[BandaiBandit]

[citation needed]

But why would moving to slightly more realistic sculpts = not vintage anymore? Obviously Bandai marked an important development in Godzilla vinyls, but why can't Bandai ever become vintage as well? None of my questions have been answered: Will Bandai ever be vintage? Or will it go straight to antique? Does "vintage" mean ONLY '60s and '70s forever? In the year 2050, will '83 Bandais STILL not count as vintage?

Books are based on this, thats just the plain facts!
I'm not out prove something that already common knowledge.
Myself & Sean Linkenback have lectured together at shows about vintage toys,
and we both have published articles about Japanese vinyl toys.
Bandai is the next step in vinyl toys, it changed everything in the vinyl world!
Bandai is considered accurate sculpting, and the old way from the 1960's-1970's were outdated.
Bandai=next generation!
Just ask Yuji Nishimura of M1, he has wrote lots of books on this!
Some of us here know Yuji, and he has stated the same thing!
Bandai broke the mold as they say when it comes to vinyl toys!

[Planetxman]

We are giving you facts. You are giving us opinion.
You have one Vintage toys which you spent 5 bucks on. We have been dealing with toys for 20 some odd years.
Through the course of many years I have met other collectors from all over The US and some in Japan. In all those years, in all those books, no one in the collecting community has ever lumped in Bandai with Vintage Toys like Marusan and Bullmark.
It has nothing to do technically with age. It is a classification. The older collectors used to refer to it as The Kaiju Boom. The 60's and 70's.

[Planetxman]

I think technically speaking and historically what we always considered Vintage are two different things. I just posted this question in the Japanese Vintage Vinyl group and a number of people agreed that anything PRE 1983 is what we consider Vintage.
But as mentioned, the early Bandais are now 30 years old. So maybe at some point there will be a classification like in Comics to differentiate The Kaiju Boom Vintage from everything else.

[4Tankzilla]

So what would the Yamakatsu line be classified as?

[Planetxman]

So what would the Yamakatsu line be classified as?

NOT Vintage.

[Planetxman]

Bandais were always considered modern Godzilla toys. Now as time is going by and some of them are now around 30 years old, technically speaking, they would be considered Vintage.
However we both know that when one is speaking in terms of Godzilla collectibles, Vintage refers to 60's and 70's vinyls. Not from 1983.
I would not put a '62 Bandai Original in the same category as a Bullmark or even a Popy. But one could say that the 4 year difference between The Popy and Bandai line is splitting hairs.

You also realize that ALL Japanese collectible books seperate the toy lines.

[SUPERTOHOREMIX]

Does this classify as Vintage?

For some reason, I am really liking it more & more every time I see it.