Yeah shipping definitely hurt a bit on this one. Actual toy cost was reasonable for me. It'd be cool if it meant he's a big one.
I can confirm shipping rates have gone up, at least those offered by Medicom on lottery items. Since late last year up until April I’d been consistently charged 3,580yen per figure with one exception—animation Hedorah was 4,105yen. The last couple I was charged 5,121yen ea. One of those was a variant of another I’d purchased previously with a lower fee applied. Recent postage prices offered by Mandarake, Buyee, and Tenso haven't been as high—all comparable airmail arriving in 2-3 business days. Medicom might be applying insurance to all deliveries now (if they hadn't been already) which could explain the increase.
I was so excited about new colors for this sculpt but the red nose and mouth are just a bad move. Still have hope that a different color scheme be better designed.
I picked up the clear pink drunk boy on a whim. Very hard to show how cool it is in photos. He felt a little naked so I made some clothes for him and am thinking I'll put some tinsel in him too. We'll see how it looks when he's finished. Might just end up having him nekkid and empty again. We'll see.
Honest question here. What are these? My US context immediately sets off the black face alarms in my head. What am I missing?
I’ve been collecting the Glutamine sculpt in its standard and mini incarnations for a decade. And it never crossed my mind until recently that this could be construed as a racist sculpt. Not once. I kinda, sorta see it now, but I have always assumed the hair looks more like hypodermic needles or something. I’m not buying it. This is an original pachi kaiju toy open to a variety of interpretations. I personally love the sculpt, find it quite charming, and don’t see it as being done with any racist intentions, and will continue to collect it. But hey, opinions are like assholes, etc, etc. This is one sculpt of an obscure Japanese toy maker. Someone is always going to be offended by something. So when cancel culture bullshit rears its ugly head in corners as obscure as these with regard to toys that have no clear malicious intent (and ambiguous interpretation at best).....Ima call bullshit.
Definitely just a quirky little creature... no racially insensitive appropriation here. There's also a standard size version. Here's some photos to compare, courtesy of Medicom Toy. After digging these up I'm asking myself why I don't have one in my collection.
Straight out of AA's idiosyncratic mind. But speaking of film... * From Anraku Ansaku's YouTube channel
I think the new guignol Godzilla death agony ver. is looking good. We should probably see a painted sample very soon.
So it seems like we can expect the death agony ver. to be up for lottery next month with the prototype currently undergoing some minor modifications. Next up we have another MireGoji. This one is sporting a beautiful color palette reminiscent of the blue M1 release (see below for reference). Anraku Ansaku MireGoji photo courtesy of sovfi.tokyo. M1-Go MireGoji photo courtesy of Richard Cox on Flickr.
Nice version. Easily my favorite Goji. He looks so mad. Used to love that M1 version but seeing it next to the AA makes it look so derpy. I mean I still love that one but AA really nailed the spirit of 2000 Gogi while still having a toy like quality to it. So here is my clear pink drunk boy with my home made clothes and the iridescent shredded paper filling. I'm happy with the way it turned out even if it is rough as hell haha, wish I had brighter more complementary textiles laying around but had to make do. The filling is what does it for me. Really brightened the pink up.
New modeling guignol Godzilla paint sample photos from AA's blog. This one is looking pretty cute. I think I may favor it over the first model whose physique is a bit more goofy. The textures are definitely more refined on this one, and I think he found a better equilibrium between its proportions. Regardless, I would have liked to see something fresh this time around (preferably another Toho kaiju). I'd love to see his take on Anguirus, Rodan, or even Minilla. Spoiler: More Images
Following up on this remark, the new Godzilla 1971 did indeed turn out a lot better than the painted sample. I'm even enjoying it more than the first colorway. As silly as it looks, I'm digging that lipstick. Spoiler: Painted sample for comparison...
I was planning on sitting out the next lottery but this DesuGoji colorway is just too good to pass up. Image courtesy of sofvi.tokyo.
If anyone is looking for the Anraku Ansaku Gogamezilla, it's up on Amazon for $89 and $2 shipping: https://www.amazon.com/Medicom-Original-Gogamezilla-Sofubi-Figure/dp/B07RL4G6S5/ Funny thing: if you click on the "Medicom Store" link, it takes you to a mask maker that sells on Amazon.
They had the blue/green painted Gogas years ago for around $60 each. I also got the full size Dako from Amazon for under $50 I think. They always have the DC/marvel heroes for prettt cheap