its a very close call for me but right now at this moment, Shigenobu Ohashi of Butanohana is my favourite sculptor with Kiyoka Ikeda coming in second.
I always love any sculpt by Nari-san, and you can't deny the twisted genius of Shigeru's work either.
Also agree on Jun/Exohead. Nothing beats the Man Machine sculpts. And the mini Galtan is terrific. And even though it's the same sculptor Exohead > Zollmen!
well its a tough thing, cus some people don;t understand (or don't care to understand) and def don't consider toys (i am generalizing every single scene into one term right now) as art. But that's why i got into the Industry, cus of the art side, the creative process. Toy sculpting has come a long long way (McFarlane Toys basically turning every single head and his thought that just because it ends up as product doesn't mean you can put art into it) I've been lucky enough to work with most of the big names in the Collectibles market. The thing about the kaiju stuff is someone knowing the subtleties to shapes, someone who can bring that out. Its essentially easy to just fill up a surface with BS textures to hide imperfections in overall structure, with alot of the kaiju stuff you can't do that...and even the textures are subtle! for example i love RxH's texture work on the Chaos.....i love how Gargamel laid the fur in on the Deathra... i mean just look at the Gargamel fight figures, those sunken in eye sockets...there is a lot of implied detail in alot of the kaiju scene...it is very very artistically appealing Some guys can't do that simplicity, you need to have solid foundations to be able to abstract something and make it believable....and that is what the kaiju market is...it is all very very believable I am actually talking ot one of my main guys now, cus i want him to do a kaiju piece for me... my tendency is to bring a lil more detail to the scene, but i want him to give me a traditional kind of vibe...something old school....so we will see how that goes
no sweat...its cool havin this type of convo the intensity and dedication of the supporters is what makes the scene strive. i mean meeting the RxH, S7 and Gargamel guys at SDCC is intense. I couldnt even stop the frenzy of purchases (if only i had more time out of the booth i am sure i would have ended up bankrupt!)
More questions for you then. Is it on the Big Dogs radar? In a few years are you going to be able to walk into Toy's R Us and be able to pick of the McFarlane kaiju line made in high quality vinyl with air brush sprays, (I'm not talking Bandai, I know some guys here like it, but it's too realistic for me, I mean more artistic designs) Will Hasbro hire Mori to design a line of toys. I'm an adult collector, 99% sofubi and know nothing about mass produced toys. So excuse me if it seems stupid to you, because it wouldn't be possible without a Saturday morning tv show selling to a million kids, and then it would just be Pokemon.
Well, personally i think we are already there...and have been there! Shogun Warriors is a perfect example of mass market Also the love for Godzilla...you can still hit TRU and find Godzilla toys. Buddy of mine at work, his son of 6 yrs old dressed up as Biolante last year for Halloween..the kid is nuts for all things Godzilla and Ultraman...i mean that kind of legacy is long lasting.... Thinking of the vinyl scene (and i know you guys won't like it, but for this convo i will lump kaiju with all the other popular vinyls), it is MASS...i mean [expletive deleted] and munny and that nonsense is insanely popular.... From Mezco to Neca to Funko to DC Direct to Hasbro to Mattel.....all of them want to have a "vinyl program" many years and years behind the trend just due to the nature of how a large company works as far as a big company doing kaiju mass...idk..... years ago there was a boom in the Collectible market...companies like Art Asylum, Palisades and Mezco popped up....TRu carried all of their initial offerings...only cus it was fresh and McFarlane had just popped up...... noone wants to take a risk on something new nothing.,...it is either based on a License or nothing the presence at SDCC can be seen as a win....there were a bunch of booths that had the new kaiju...and a lot of vendors selling Shoguns and Godzilla and stuff.....
I would say Bemon (both Kougai and two headed), Zollmen (Bobongo, Pepora and Maza) and Anraku (Godga).
Gaira, Sanda, Peter, Matango, T-28 stuff, Woo, Frankenstein, Gorgo, Gorgos, Greenmons, some of the Godzilla sculpts...I'm no vintage expert but I believe all of these are original + some I'm sure I'm missing. Oh honorable mention: new sculpts- Target Earth. Vintage styling on new figures always gets me.
In no particular order: Kiyoka Ikeda/Gargamel, Cosmo Liquid, Paul Kaiju, LASH, Velocitron, Anraku, BEMON, and Shigeru. There are plenty of other sculptors I admire though!
i like anything with vintage soul, that could mean so many. if I knew their names, I would say anyone from Marusan or Bullmark. Especially the later Leo Kaiju vinyls, like Gurio sejin. Just amazing. This slightly smaller scale is what I base my standard size on. i term it "Death of Bullmark" size. So, my original heroes pretty much remain nameless. Unless it's Jun of Exohead. Now... probably would have never started sculpting again if it wasn't for him. So crazy. Free spirit and a collector with a sick SENSE OF HUMOR. I would say Gargamel crew too, they sculpted Partyball and I got to see and touch the original sculpt while I was in Japan for my Birthday and it was utterly flawless by size, proportion, and surface. SO damn tight. really inspired me.
I'd keep it to neo-kaiju or patchi kaiju so will exclude, M1Go, Marmit, Butanohana, US Toys etc which have been at it for a long time. 1) Anraku Ansaku for sheer originality, creativity, detail and texture. Nothing before him, nothing after him, so far. 2) Zollmen- for the eclectic mix of characters, crazy patchi creation, quite the mad genius.
Since many of you have mentioned my choices more than once I would just like to add one more to this stellar list. For me that would have to be Chris from Grumble Toy. Never forced, his toys seem as if they could have been plucked from any era of kaiju.
Thanks Lixx!! It's good to have fellow nerds like M1 that had some favorite characters as a kid and dreamed with toys of them and as a grown-up made his dreams come true... I really love most of the ones he sculpted.
My votes are for Marmit and M1Go they're the Diamond Head and Man-0-War of the NWOJV (New Wave of Japanese Vinyl).
Great for Marmit and horrible for M1GO Death to false errr...vinyl - damn, KOXIX already used that. I saw Daimondhead do a great set in 1981 at the local uni, complete with teh local n'er-do-wells in attendance. Sean was such a rockstar! No acnee and stubble for this guy. Good headbangin times.
who sculpts for Super7? the zombie fight figs, especially the hooded zombie, are some of my favorite toys in my collection
