Wait, was the personal attack against me for the comment I made?! I was just pointing out how many one offs have been poppin’ up when the pre - orders could’ve been fulfilled instead!
No no no... I had a very unreasonable comment about Sato and the company he keeps. It was truly vile and disgusting and I can never forgive myself for saying such a thing. I think I triggered myself and then I pooped my pants. I forgot that there are board members here who seem to be 'protected' by the mod family. It really was my mistake and I have seen the error of my ways. I just hope that Jesus can forgive me.
It’s been a damn good chunk of time since I brought anything of substance to this thread, and this one is special; my Target Earth grail. The Gate Guard Karakk from 2008!!! As highlighted back on page 31, this terrifying timber is loosely modeled after the Baranga/Tobanga/tree monster from the 1957 Dan Milner film FROM HELL IT CAME. Awful movie, but charming, with a pretty cool premise and a GREAT monster for its time. I love what Sato - San did with this toy. The sculpt is so loosely based there’s no way in hell I’d ever have caught the reference without this thread telling me so, he did such a fantastic job of making it his own. It looks much more alien in the face; extraterrestrial. But I do get the bark - like textures of an old, smooth tree throughout all but the head. Though I suppose that can be seen as a tree top bush. From photos alone I always assumed this was painted on a black base vinyl. Finally getting this in hand I’ve come to find it’s actually on a forest green(intentional?) base, with black, brown, blue and magenta sprays, and golden painted eyes. There is sparse, open breaths of the green vinyl though, which gives a little bit of a tree leaf impression. A very stumpy torso with long legs and very reaching arms makes me think of Tolkien’s ents. I’m way, way happy and giddy to finally have this one on the shelves with my modest TE collective. I have no idea how many(or how little, rather) were produced, but I can’t imagine many. It’s such a bummer to see only the one version to exist ‘cause this is a pretty goddamn awesome toy. But, hey, if another version is never released again I can finally gaze upon and smile at this one. Spoiler
Just a heads-up, there's another batch of TE guys on Mandarake. I don't know most of the sculpts well at all, but there seem to be a good number of test paints including some beautiful (and now departed) Gamerudon.
That black gamerudon with the silver tongue is still one of my all time favorites te sculpts. It rarely comes up.
The big man has landed! Gnarly, pitted and wild, I think everything that needs to be said about this sculpt has already been written by more knowledgable folks. One thing I'll draw attention to is the paint--is this a test shot or lesser-known older run? The red and blue paint I know of is a direct homage to Gamegon, but I haven't seen a red base with purple highlights and silver eyes before.
@zindabad I know that there are variants of the red base/blue paint with both gold and silver eyes/teeth, but I’ve yet to see any with purple anything at all! Given the volume of test paints that have been landing at Manda’ from TE, Hukkokudo, Sofvi Life and even Marmit, I’d say the chances you got one are good!
There are a LOT of paint variations of the gamerudon. Some on unique never released vinyl base which I dun understand why there wasn’t general releases and some are paint variations like this red with purple spray. These were given or sold to close associates in those days so very nice catch! Congrats! I would love to hunt down that black with silver spray one day.
@maxaltoman Interesting information, thanks. So some of these are not actually paint samples, but more like friends-only releases?
Actually not really releases. Gensho paints a lot of different variations with differences in eye or tongue or feet or belly or back. A bit like what Anraku did as well for the early gogas. Then instead of discarding them or repainting over these, he sometimes give or mostly sell them out. Many are technically “one off”.
An early birthday present to myself, I finally got my hands on a *still* bagged and headered Kudoro(translated from くドロ on the header) Pollution Monster! This rotund smoggy is a fun one. First thing my eyes were drawn to is the melonpan - like textures on the belly. The goofy, yet malicious likeness of the toy’s face when compared to the art is spot on. Signature TE simple sprays provide for a less - is - more approach once more against the lumpy, bumpy texture of the body. I admittedly know little to nothing about the artwork this toy is directly based off of, but I very much appreciate how well it’s representative of said artwork, much like Bagun before it and Smoga and Gyao alongside. Spoiler
I think the name is "Hedoro" (sort of a rotation of the 'ku' hiragana character makes it into a katakana 'he'). From what I remember, the character is based off of an old patchi model kit artwork, which is replicated on the card included with the figure.
@akum6n I can always count on you to come through with a plethora of knowledge and correction! Thank you for both! Do you know if there are any existing images of the original model kit itself?
Man, beautiful photos of this awesome guy! This figure seems hard to come by these days. One of my favorites in my collection, I'm happy to see you found one!
No photos of the contents, but this page has several of the pachi cards and model kit boxes: http://maruwoo.web.fc2.com/pachi_4.htm The model kits were by Arii.
YES!!! I've seen these at mandarake. I think I have a few saved in my flickr/instagram. Very cool stuff.
@grosspustule I’ve only been collecting TE since 2014, and this one’s always been scarce! I’m really glad I picked it up, especially at the price I was able to. Thank you for the kind words! @akum6n This is a great page and an awesome resource! I’ll be lookin’ through this a lot more thoroughly in a bit! Thank you again!!!
No problem man, they are such rad photos showing the cool texture on him. I only have a few Target Earth myself -- I have a red Cannibal Yummiela and that Pollution Kaiju Hedoro. I want that Hackberry monster someday.... I wish I grabbed that hot-pink one from Manda a while back... that one was great!
@grosspustule I’ve got a healthy amount of Target Earth, but there’s an even healthier amount I’m hunting, the Hackberry and Yummiela bein’ a couple! Three more Golem, the Fishmen trio, Gaichan, Grotesque Monster, Cosmic Fishman and Craterman; GAH, so many!!! Hopefully you’re able to continue filling the gaps. Everything comes back up eventually!
Those Fishman toys are great, I forgot about those! I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a Blood Freak as well... I'm a big fan of old horror films and creatures, so Target Earth really hits me on all those angles. I completely forgot, I have a red Dump Golem up on a shelf too... how could I forgot that one? haha