Heres another shot of the solid larger size bootleg. The normal version is a little bit smaller than the clear. This is my favorite of the smaller size toys, great sculpt.
^^ Wow that solid bootleg version looks even better than the clear one. I agree with you it being the best of the smaller versions of Ninja Arashi. I love my clear boot but the vinyl is so soft it has trouble standing for sure.
I was recently digging through some storage boxes and found this fantastic mini bootleg set I had completely forgotten about. It is bagged just like the Bullmark mini sets w/ tower and even has "mini kaiju series" written on it like the Bullmarks. This has to be one of the most blatant and most beautiful bootleg sets made basically being a mash-up of several Bullmark minis. The original markings on the feet have been obliterated but you can still see that they were there. The tower is an original sculpt but the figures consist of parts of Gokinezura (head and body), Dungar (head and body - I don't have a mini Dungar), Hydora (head and body), Oil Drinker (head), and Gorbagos (body). The heavy-handed silver and metallic sprays are great especially on the backs when compared to the Bullmarks which, a lot of times, do not have any spray on the backs at all. Any information on this set would be greatly appreciated.
ha, that's great. without side-by-side comparisons, the bootlegs could almost pass for honest factory goof ups. what a find!
Hahaha, I love it Mark! Let's pop the heads off, swap 'em around, and call them completely new monsters! You've got to give it to them for having balls to just take the original Bullmark sculpts. I wonder why Gorbagos/Dungar got missed out, and if there was more sets of these. I am kind of inspired to imagine all the Bullmark minis now in such a state. It's really a lovely set though. Great paint application, and I love that it has the tower too. A very cool treasure to dig up, thanks for posting it.
A Slash made "attacking" Godzilla (not pictured here) arrived last week and it rekindled my interest in these bootlegs that I photographed a few months ago but never posted. The green Jirass was an ebay win from 2007 for $10. It isn't mine anymore but the friend I traded it to lent it back just for these pics. The black Jirass I bought here from PaulK last year and I still own it (and now wish I never traded that green!). At first it seemed like the difference was that the black one had a horn and the green one didn't but while taking these pictures I found that the horn had actually been broken off or removed from the green Jirass. They are obviously the same bootleg in different colors. The brown and green attacking Godzilla also belongs to that same friend and is the Mattel Godzilla Gang version that these were all being compared to. Last is a black bootleg of either the Godzilla Gang or Popy version (?) but it actually looks closer to the Jirass sculpt in some ways. That one also belongs to my friend and is in the last two photos with the "gang" Godzilla. Very similar but not quite the same, huh? None of the bootlegs have any makings other than gold "made in Japan" stickers.
Great post, thanks for the info Dave. I didnt know these Jiras boots existed. I like that green one a lot.
Crazy luck. I found this GID Jirass on ebay like I knew he was there and BINed him for $45 plus shipping but didn't notice until I got him home that he has only three toes unlike the black and green ones
Hi, I have a question anyone know why the difference of the headercard in these two Lion Maru bootlegs. Thank you!
The first one says Kaiju Series (and Century's Great Kaiju Series on the top right). The second says Ninja Series (and Lion Maru on the top left). These were two of the larger bootleg series. Another was the New Kaiju Series. Sometimes you'll find the same toy with different headers. There was quite a lot of bagger/header variation in the bootleg world.
Wow, that is a really cool and interesting Raydeen bootleg. Congrats Rei. I really like his 'human'-sized proportions, very unusual for robot figures. Sure, it may not be accurate as such, but it is a great interpretation of the character, and as it fits right in with Star Wars and other such figures, I am 100% sold. Forget Chinese Funko "retro" toys, I want a whole series of vintage robots like this.
Right on, thanks~ I've loved Raideen ever since ye old Shogun Warrior days, so this thing just begged for me to take it home! I love his Mazinga-ish body and "standard" size.
Whoa, those are definitely some interesting ones Charlie. They are not quite SD/cutesy, but not exactly their 'normal' menacing selves either (though Peguila looks plenty demonic). They sure have a lot of character. Icarus especially looks like some kind of bizarre or confused space gnome (maybe he is hunting Ultraman's underpants?). Do you know happen to anything about them at all, such as where they were made or how old they are? I am guessing they are on the smaller size (maybe just bigger than keshis perhaps?), but it is cool they have some nice paint too.
Whoa those are rad. I've never even seen them before. Love the two headed "ghidorah". Are they hollow vinyl or keshi type material?
Thanks guys! So much weird character packed into these small sculpts. I had actually bought these 3 from a sale Andy had a while back. They are keshi/eraser-ish, but a hair bigger and much chunkier than the bullmark erasers. I'll take a comparison shot of the two of them later today, and I'll try to get a clearer picture of the markings they all have on their backs, to see if that sheds anymore light on them. also here's a shot from vintagevinyl with some more variety and the headers (mine all have the same generic header as well):
Just picked up these four little guys (3 inch.) I think they are Pachi bootleg. Very squishy vinyl. Love the sculpts but cain't id them all.