Mailbox Mayhem

So yesterday was a pretty good mail day... I got two packages; one teensy tiny and the other was HUGE! I love packages!

The huge one was huge mainly because it was so well-packed. ***ATTENTION EBAY SELLERS*** : packing your items properly means putting them in a box that is appropriate for the size of the item and a goodly amount of packing material. Shoving it into a tiny box with nothing to cushion it from being beat to hell and back is NOT appropriate. Thank you.



These fantastic critters were nestled in a bed of protective tissue paper and crumpled newspaper. They arrived in beautiful condition and are in much better shape than any other Power Rangers monsters I have ever bought online. I already had the fish guy (Pirantishead), but this one is in so much better condition... he takes his place in my collection.



Look at this guy! His name is Bones, and he's a doctor not a shuttle pilot, Jim. He's the tallest of all of the Power Rangers aliens mainly because of that rad hat up there.



He's supposed to have a sword and he even has a little hook to hang it on... I guess I need to find him a sword now.



Check out that snazzy cape! Real men wear pink.



You gotta love a dude with a grill like that. I'm so glad to have this sucker in my collection.



This is Squatt. He sucks.



He's short, fat, blue, and ugly. I have nothing good to say about him. He was just in the lot I bought. Ugh.



Now this dude is the whole reason I bought this lot. This is Rhino Blaster. He is a bad dude.



Peep that shnoz, people! He's packing nasal heat!



He's a gorgeous figure only made more handsome by the fact that he's in such great shape. There's barely a scratch on him!



He looks so good with the other kaiju, especially with his arms outstretched like this! I was lucky to snag this lot... even luckier considering I got it for less than a buck!



I have almost all of the big vinyl Power Rangers baddies that I want now... I think the only one I have to look for is King Sphinx. The rest of them just don't do anything for me.

In the small box was something i was looking forward to even more. I got this little dude:



It's a Scar Pheyden mini from Real X Head and Onell Design. I had wanted one of these guys since I first heard about them on Matt Doughty's blog.



He stands about 3.5 inches tall, and I want you to know that that's a full 3.5 inches of pure, unadulterated awesome. Mori Katsura, the guy behind RxH, does an outstanding job interpreting Matt's characters in his own style.



Even though this little guy is squatty and cute, he has a ton of details that beg you to explore the figure with your eyes. The paint job by Goto-san is, as always, excellent. The figure is molded in this glittery, shimmering vinyl that sparkles when the light hits it. It's a neat effect that adds to the total package!



There's just something awesome about a spaceman with a scarf... it just works, darn it!



Everything about these little figures is just right. They're chunky and cute, but they have a presence that makes them a pleasure to look at and a lot of fun to goof around with.



That... and they make great monitor buddies!!!

Pheyaotic!!!

A few days before Christmas I received a package in the mail from my good friend Matt Doughty, the founder and owner of Onell Design. He's one of the most creative people I know, and he freely shares his creativity and creations with his friends and fans. Along with a bunch of stuff that I had missed out on due to other pressing financial obligations, Matt sent me the one toy I had wanted to get this whole year; he sent me Pheyaos. Holy crap. Pheyaos.

Merry Doodlydoodlin Christmas!!!



So... who is Pheyaos? Lemme splain:

I was drooling over this guy waaaaaay back when Matt first posted over on his blog about a collaboration with RealxHead's Mori Katsura. Matt kinda got me into RealxHead when he first posted about a Mini Hone Borg that he had hacked up and added articulation to. You see, RealxHead figures have limited articulation-- they are done in a style that harkens back to the old, rotocast vinyl toys that companies like Bullmark, Marmit, and Bandai made in the 60's and 70's. Those toys emphasized crazy sculpts and paintjobs over articulation. Mori's designs perfectly reflect and add richly to that design aesthetic. I was already nuts about Matt's work on the Glyos toys, and when I saw he was working with Mori to make a hybrid character I just about pooped myself.

Pheyden is Matt's key character in the Glyos universe. Chaos is one of Mori's lead characters in his Mutant Zone line of figures. From what I have gathered, in the story Chaos absorbs part of Pheyden's essence and the resulting creature is called Pheyaos.

So that is who Pheyaos is. Now on to the toy:

Holy Screaming Ninja Turds!!! This is a COOL TOY!!!









He is cast in black vinyl with a white painted base coat, a black paint rub (an artist slaps on a coat of paint and wipes it away so that the paint adheres to the lower areas), and paint sprays of red and gold on the chest. He has the doll eye that is typical of almost all Chaos figures. The red Pheyden eye is hand painted by brush. The paint job is, as usual, outstanding! One of the cool thing about kaiju toys is the fact that they are usually hand painted by a select few artists, so you know you are holding a true piece of art in your hands. Each one is slightly different. I've seen several images of this particular figure and each one looks different. It's the same sculpt and all, but the paint applications give each one a unique look.

The sculpt is outstanding! It's a perfect blend of Matt's Glyos designs mixed in with Mori's. Each side has its own distinct look, but is married together so well that it doesn't look forced. The right side is Pheyden with his armored arms and chest and the skull-like face and helmet. The left side is Chaos with his bubbling skin, horned protuberances, and bizarre probe arm. If you look at the other reviews I've done of RxH toys, you'll see that the figure shares several traits with those figures as well.

This is the first RxH figure I own that has the doll eye. That thing follows you as you move around. The pupil is distorted through the plastic of the lens and gives the impression of movement as you turn the figure. It's really kinda creepy.

This is a RealxHead mini figure with articulated arms... that's never been done before as far as I know. I know a lot of RxH fans are probably happy to see that (I know I am!).

He stands a hair under 4 inches tall from the bottom of his feet to the tip of his biggest horn. He's taller and bulkier than the Glyos figures, but he fits right in with them. You can tell he was made to fit in with either line, but I display him with my RealxHead stuff. He just looks right with them.


Winner of the award for Ugliest Family Of The Year!

Crazy stuff. These guys aren't available from Onell just yet, but Matt will be releasing them VERY soon, so keep an eye on his blog for updates. I cannot possibly recommend this figure enough if you like Glyos, RealxHead, or just creepy looking monster guys in general.

Thanks, Matt! You're the best, man!

Real Vinyl

I have a problem. I have pledged that I won't spend over 20 bucks on any single toy purchase. This has limited me quite a bit in my collecting, but it has also allowed me to find some great deals specifically because I was trying to come in under my self-imposed limit.

I've recently gotten into collecting designer vinyl/ art toys-- specifically kaiju. Kaiju is a Japanese word that means "mysterious beast." Basically it's almost any kind of monster toy either made by the Japanese or made in the style of the Japanese. Kaiju toys are notoriously expensive, in part due to the high quality of the materials used and partly due to the fact that much of the production is a very hands-on process for the artists who make them. For whatever reason, the smaller figures tend to start off in the 40 dollar range.

When I first saw toys made by artist Mori Katsura of RealXHead, I fell in LOVE. These things are freakin' AWESOME! He's been making them for just a few years, and the runs on these guys are extremely low. The figures are hand painted by kaiju vinyl legend Goto-san. He's been working in the industry since the monster boom of the late 60's. So each piece of RealXHead vinyl has been painted by an artist who was into vinyl before I was in the world. I have a LOT of respect for that kind of track record!

RealXHead pieces are works of art, and they are priced accordingly. The smaller figures which stand at 3 inches tall run around $40. The bigger 6-7 inch figures go for $60-$70. WAAAAAAAY out of my comfort zone.

But then came Black Friday. Thursday night my friend Spencer and I sat up talking on the phone until 3 am when Super7, a pretty cool and pretty expensive designer toy store, was having its Black Friday sale. They had advertized discounts up to 75% off of retail prices. I saw a few RealXHead pieces on the sale page, so I knew it was then or never for trying these guys out.

I snagged the large-scale figure Vader Grow (I have seen the same figure called "Vader Glow" and "Beider Grow" on different sites, but I'll stick with Vader Grow). His retail price, as marked on the package, was $65. I managed to get him for $19.50. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Yeah!

Amazingly, when I got home from town today the package was waiting for me. Super7 is fast like a ninja on acid!!! That's one notch in their column!

Well? What do I think of the figure now that it's in my hands? Read on:


Who wouldn't love a grin like that?


Vader Grow comes bagged with a header card just like many traditional kaiju toys are packaged. I wish I could read Japanese. As far as I know that title says, "HA! I ATE YOUR BABY!"

I actually think it says "I'M AWESOME!"

Notice the $65.00 sticker there? Yeah... I didn't pay that. :)



This sucker is HUGE. I mean H-U-G-E, huge. He stands 7 inches tall at the tippy top of his lil' horn there. He's only articulated at the neck and shoulders, but that's to be expected-- traditionally kaiju toys are more about the sculpt and the paint job than the articulation. Even with only 3 points of articulation he's expressive as heck! Look at the head tilt there on that guy! He's got attitude!



I hope my pics do the amazing paint job here service... I can't begin to describe the depth that the different layers of paint give this guy. He has a great sculpt, but the paint just kills me! It's a black vinyl figure who was painted green and then wiped partially clean leaving green details in the crevices. Then there are airbrush sprays of metallic blue, gold, silver, green, and red. On top of that there are red details in the eyes added by brush. It all adds up to one impressive looking evil little guy!




Look at those crazy details. He looks like some kind of Japanese demon who has been taken over by an alien disease or something. I love how he looks like two totally different characters from different side views. He's SUPER sturdy, and the vinyl is very high quality stuff-- this isn't floppy soft vinyl like dog chew toys. It's rigid enough to hold a great shape and details, but soft enough to bend a bit with stress.



Here he is with some other vinyl toys and a Glyos figure so you can see the size difference. He's just a massive guy, and he's about as wide as he is tall!

The Armodoc from Onell Design looks perfect next to this guy! I've seen that the figures' arms and heads are interchangeable with the Armodoc, but I haven't tried it yet. I think I'll leave that for another day!



So this is a pretty kick-butt figure, and I'm officially in love with the designs from RealXHead. I'll still keep my spending under 20 bucks, but that doesn't mean I have to go without cool stuff like Vader Grow here-- I just have to look hard for sales and auctions!

The best part? The sale is still going on! You can snag several of the mini figures for 12 bucks each and some of the large-sized figures are still under 20 bucks each! Head on over to the sales page and check it out!