Got this guy and a bunch of other minis and this was the only one I couldn't recognize. Also, I saw on the foot it has both the bullmark logo and M1 - I'm guessing Bullmark was the original sculpt, M1 repro? Thanks
Remember that "Seijin" isn't actually part of the name; it's rather an identifier, and should be translated as "Alien" (the kanji literally means "star man" or man from another star).
Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe that alot of these older Bullmark style minis made by m1号 have Bullmark stamps on the feet but were actually original sculpts by m1 and never actually produced by Bullmark back in the day.
Yikes. I always assumed that they had just purchased the old molds. Why would they put the Bullmark stamp on a non-Bullmark sculpt?
I don't know if you're joking or not, but I swear I'm the same way! LOL Good to know this guys name now, too. Sanjeev gave me one of these last year and I don't think I ever knew what he was called.
@August- Just to clarify, you're saying that it should be "Alien Shadow," not "Shadow Seijin," right?
I have zero recollection of this, but I hope you liked it! Anyway, I always type it as ___-seijin or ___-ningen...like a typical Japanese honorific (___-san or ___-kun).
Well, that doesn't help out the Japanese-language impaired. By the way, these were creations of M-Ichigo through their association with the renewed Bullmark.
Perhaps they are molds of figures that were never produced? I know there are several standards were never produced that Bandai eventually made from the original molds.
It depends. Some were prototyped and never made and others were just never made, and M-Ichigo created approximations, but wanted them to fit in the Bullmark line. Nishimura's deal with these were, "Figures that they should have made, but didn't", such as their standard-size Mechagodzilla 2 and Titanosaurus.
Well thats M1-go in a nutshell isn't it? Would still like to know why some M-1 minis like Shadow Seijin & Dada have Bullmark stamps on the feet. Baikin??
It's not just minis. The afore mentioned Titanosaurus standard sculpt has a Bullmark stamp also, but is an M1 original. My understanding was that Yuji had permission from the original Bullmark owner to do this.
I think August already answered this above. First and foremost Yuji is a long time fan of the genre and toys. Most everything they do is adhering to the original bullmark/marusan way of making toys. Even when they do new box artwork they try to find the original artist or someone to do it in the same style. They have several lines of toys that are continuations of items that Bullmark never produced. He likes to fill in the holes. The standard jet jaguar is a perfect example of this since Bullmark only did a medium and giant sized. Or the giant and small Namegons which Marusan only produced a standard size. The connections go on and on. Most of the toys are painted in a style also similar to the original Bullmarks with similar colors and spray patterns. M1 also like to produce figures with existing bullmark molds that never made it to production in the 70's(I believe some are sold under b-club/popy). One of the greatest things about M1 toys is all the passion and history that go into them.
Yes, thanks. I also met Yuji for the first time in 1990 at Wonderfest in Tokyo -- his reason for doing new Bullmarks is the same that many people got into the Garage Kit movement for in the first place -- it create figures/toys that were never made back in the day. In other words, fulfilling a childhood desire for these missing links. It's not an uncommon desire, which also prompted Tsuyoshi Nonaka in creating Bandai's Soul of Chogokin line, etc.
I love this guy! How tall is he? The light blue w/ gold version made me think of an action figure I had when I was a young boy. I believe he was a diver or something...
