Wowsie! So if it was pulled in vinyl maybe it was a test shot? If I only owned one toy this would be the one for me!
Wonder Festival August 2008. Preview of the club version on the double horn open mouth cyclops. Photo by Kaiju Taro.
Yeah I remember that, I also remember when the open mouth reversed horn was coming out we got all excited hoping the club was included- alas not http://skullbrain.org/bb/index.php?threads/pilot-ace-beagle-cyclops-question.30467/
My trio next to laserdiscs... Don't have a player – just a big fan of the artwork and movies! Pilot Ace Cyclops by fun9us, on Flickr
Well bowl me over @smo9monster, talk about a lineup! I can't believe you have all three of those fantastic cyclopian beasts. They are all stunners, but I do love the yellow one especially. Perfectly framed up against the laserdiscs, that is a wonderful shot Ian. I do still have a LD player, though it is about as large and unwieldy as a small car, but at one time was really into chasing some of my favourites in the format, for the art, like you said, which is totally and utterly lost in the film industry today it seems, but also for the (at the time) best quality you could get. It all stemmed from my deep desire to have the original un-modified in any way Star Wars trilogy in incredible picture and sound (and these are still well sought after); but since Harmy's 'despecialisation' project came along, they aren't as necessary anymore other than for collecting pieces. But anyway, getting back to it, lovely toys and fantastic accompanying poster art.
Is anybody familiar with the Pilot Ace "One Hundred Eyes" figure? Just trying to figure out if it's really a pilot ace. Thanks for any input.
Oh cool. I have seen the blue. Wasn't aware of the green, so much appreciated info. I am glad to know that its actually Pilot Ace. I really just love this piece. Do the green ones eyes glow also?
Thanks @ultrakaiju happy to have them all together! Still need to get hold of the Despecialised SW trilogy...
Mine doesn't, but i was told that there is a version of the green one with glowing eyes. I'm not sure if that is true. To be honest, it would be a phosphorescent paint on the eyes so the glow would not be all that strong anyway . . .
I used to have the blue version, and I regret giving it up years ago. Not all of the eyes glowed, but only one did. It was subtle but very cool.
Oh man. That's still cool. That blue one in definitely a grail for me. I have just always loved that piece so much but can never get my hands on it. One day........
Resurrecting one of *the* best sculpted iterations of the Harryahusen Cyclops. I wish the new Medicom versions were a bit more easily obtainable!
My second Pilot Ace. Paid too much, but I'm a sucker for coin banks. A proper mascot coin bank too! I'm a bit stumped trying to translate the back. Google gave me a series of strange results when I pasted in the text multiple times, you can see in the last image. Pilot Ace N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n??? I have the monster from the header in the first post of this thread too...
I'm not sure why they did that, but the back says "Ace Chokin" (i.e., Ace Bank) with the characters in reverse order. Maybe it's a nod to something on a vintage toy.
I want to contribute, because I feel like PilotAce made some INCREDIBLE toys, and wish I had more. But, I only have 1 PilotAce (sorta). The Medicom reissue of their Ymir ('20 Million Miles to Earth' is my favorite Harryhausen film, personally). Spoiler: side I recently saw an auction for the original PilotAce version sell for the same price I bought this for in Japan, and seriously regret not trying to bid on it. Would have needed to sell this one if I had won. I do like this color on mine a lot though. The blue eyes feel very alien and unexpected. One other piece they've done, that I think deserves more attention is their Godzilla based on the '54 Maquette. Easily my second favorite Godzilla soft vinyl (after ToyGraph's 54 version). At a glance, it's easy to confuse with M1's take on the same maquette, at least when just seeing photos. But, seeing a side-by-side, it really makes the differences clear. I appreciate that Pilot Ace steered more into the horror.
I think I see what you mean about the horror vibe. The hands and feet are more tendon-y. And the mouth is definitely more savage. The little figure with the text hilariously looks like a monster cock and balls. Can't unsee it now.
