Thanks. I searched around the Mononofu website (same one?) and couldn't find date info. That was where the magazine ad was posted as well. I'll just post the link for convenience: http://mononofu.hp.infoseek.co.jp/laboratory/ark/tv_kaiju.html This old post has more discussion on our end: http://www.skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=15375. Ark was founded in 1978, and said magazine ad was run at the end of the year. Kind of funny because the ad shows Ark and Orange's entire lineup of toys- including the new molds that were not Bullmark repaints, and including the new dinosaur vinyls- meaning that they all 'existed' in 1978. However, all articles linked in the above thread (and anecdoctal evidence) suggest that the toys were produced and sold closer to the 1980s, and possibly at staggered times. So the only thing that does not fit is the magazine article- and I say that is funny, because it is the only historical documentation in this whole mystery. Maybe the author of that website got his dates wrong? That seems unlikely. If anyone can weigh in, I'd love to hear more thoughts.
So, this may have been answered elsewhere already, but I ran this old thread by Matt Alt, who had this to say:
I haven't looked for one, maybe doing some searches using the katakana might yield something. There are a few threads on this BBS about those companies, too.
@Roger- thanks for the follow-up and translation of the interview. I don't think we ever found a solid answer to those questions (until now). @fosa comun- I'm not aware of any website listing all of the Ark/Orange figures. Unfortunately, a website with an excellent archive of this information closed down several years ago. I can dig up a text list of the figures from my files, but do not have photos for everything.
Thanks, it’s been hard to find images! I just was able to get some ark/ orange and they are amazing! However, I had been reluctant to get some, because could not get a lot of info on them. @akum6n
Burning vintage question: I am aware of the Tsuburaya and Toho giant size vinyls that Bullmark made, but did they make any other giant-size toys for other series? I know about the giant Garuban from Captain Ultra. Are there any others?
there's the 5 tiger mask figures: tiger mask, golden mask, lion man, red death mask and rulers of tigers cave and 5 kamen rider villians: chameleon man, cobra man, dokudarian, and those other two who's name I cant remember
Charlie, I think Roger was asking what other giant size bullmark made of other properties other than tsubu/toho (maybe im wrong)? Those you mentioned are Nakajima, and Bandai respectively. I cant think of any...they had the Lion Maru license also but didnt do any giant size for those,
Bullmark made giant Maguma Taishi, Giant Robot and T28 vinyls. Don't think there was a giant Captain Ultra.
Trying to sort these "second editions" out: Ark put out Magma Taishi figures, Enterprise did Mirrorman figures. What other series got second runs and who sold them?
Does anyone have any web sites that show all of the sofubi from Magma Taishi, Mirrorman, Zone Fighter, Spectreman, etc.? I would love to find a resource that's as good as http://www.ultrakaijyu.com/ for the Ultraman figures.
I was wondering if someone could tell me if there's a difference between the Marusan and Bullmark versions of this standard King Joe. As there is no company information on the feet, I wasn't sure how to tell which one I have! Thanks in advance. Pardon the grubbiness of the toy - I cleaned it up but forgot to take an "after" shot!
Very nice figure Robert, even with the broken antenna, which is fairly common on these toys. I have not had the chance to examine one of these up close, let alone do the detailed comparison between the Marusan and Bullmark versions, to see if there are any subtle differences between the releases. But these unstamped figures are typically referred to as 'transition period', i.e. toys that were pulled from the molds after Marusan went under, but before Bullmark retooled the original molds to reflect their new 'stamp.' There are not a huge number, but several of the characters (like KJ) can be found from this stage in production. Hope this answers a little of your question. Thanks for sharing this guy here.
Thanks for the info! That makes sense re. the mold re-tooling. I'll have to see if there are any paint differences or something else that would indicate that this one is Bullmark vs. Marusan. That or I'll chop off a piece and carbon date it! ; )
Looks as if the Marusan King Joe has the "San" logo on the feet: Some more shots here: http://bakadesubakadesu.com/2017/06/02/怪獣ガラモン、キングジョー/
This is the way I always understood it to be also. The copyright only is the bullmark or "transitional" release. You can even see where the SAN stamp was covered up on the mold. I dont think one with the bullmark stamp exists as ive never seen one (could be wrong). I have the same transitional one. Mine has a repaired antenna. These rarely show up with intact original antennas. they are crazy money usually when they do. Nice score!
You might want to share it here, too: http://skullbrain.org/bb/index.php?threads/to-clean-or-not-to-clean.11574/