I wasn't previously keen about these toys, however, after a recent trip to a local shop which had a nice collection on display, I was intrigued by their hyperrealism and their highly accurate representation of the original suits. The toys definitely have an essence about them that makes me wonder what it would have been like had they been able to fit Harryhausen's methods into their time and budget prior to settling on suit acting-some look as though they came right off the set of a Dynamation production. Anyway, I've been able to find some talk here regarding these toys, but not sure if there's enough interest for this thread to exist or if talk of the line is suitable to standalone within this forum apart from passing in conversation between threads (if not, let it come to be buried). At the very least, I would love to ask a couple of questions and hope someone might be able to fill me in. My questions are in relation or counter to the information provided by the following database: http://www.kaijuaddicts.com/ Figures are 'soft vinyl' I recently purchased a Diamond reissue of the Toho 30cm Series Mechagodzilla (1974). The product material is marked as PVC on the box-this corresponds to the material label for the models I've referenced online, both originals and reissues. Is there a vast difference in the chemical compound between this material and that used to produce the sofubi revered by the community? X-Plus is a Japanese company that produces soft vinyl figures A stamp at the bottom of the model reads "Made in China." A similar label is found on the front of the box, attributing rights to PLEX, a division of Bandai. The back of the box declares PLEX as the sales agency while Manufacturing is accredited to X-Plus co., ltd. in Osaka. So where exactly are these toys manufactured?
Xplus makes all their stuff in China however they use a really good pvc factory. It is not the hand cast process used in Japan by the sofubi masters. I have some xplus kinnukiman figs and theyre are definitely the same stuff you find in most chinese factories but the quality and attention to detail is excellent.
Yup, nearly all of X-Plus releases are made in China. The only Made in Japan ones that I know of is from their 12" action figure release. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=25049&p=343435&hilit=keronia#p343435 The only other one from this line that I've seen is Alien Shadow.
RIC is the actual toy division for X-Plus. X-Plus has been actually around since 1984. They are known as eXpress Plus for clothing. RIC wasn't started until 1998 when they got in to the toy business. Plex Inc started in 1984 and is a manufacturing division plant for Bandai. Popy was absorb in to Plex in 1984. Bandai brought Popy back in 2002 to 2004 until Bandai Namco reorganized and merge Popy back in to Plex as the surviving manufacturing plant. X-Plus uses Plex to manufacture. Plex is in China. CCP also uses Plex. X-Plus didn't start using Plex until early 2000s. Prior to that X-Plus had their stuff manufacture in Japan and Korea. Most likey X-Plus made the move to Plex once they started doing collabration projects with Bandai for their B-Club line and Popy Bandai Museum figures.
Very interesting! I believe I had seen pictures of that Keronia Seijin previously and assumed it was part of Medicom's RAH line. I looked over that Alien Shadow in my recent queries-loving that alternate costume: Thanks for the info chimply/abe, that pretty much clears things up for me. Regardless of where they're manufactured, the quality definitely seems to be up there. There's a few figures off the top of my head I'd consider adding to the collection, but before I play favorites, I know I've probably failed to see a good portion of what's been produced. Kaiju Addicts is proving to be a clean database with some useful information, however, they only track releases as far back as 2010 and haven't begun to document any of the Ultra Series models. I'll be doing some research. I'll see what I can compile in my off time and I'll report back here.
For anyone who might be interested, I found X-Plus distributor Ric-Toy has a complete database of every release thus far sorted by film/television series, with year of release, height measurements, and other misc. details. http://www.ric-toy.ne.jp/museum.html
