I'm totally new to Billiken Shokai stuff so, for me, this thread has been pretty eye-opening. Thanks guys! Could anybody give me some more info on this weird little stingray guy? Like what his name is and the best way to track one down?
Re: Finally! I've been looking for info on these sets for quite a while. I've seen the top Kaibutsu-kun set on sale a couple of times but never went for it (typical doubts that I finish up regretting), thanks for bringing this thread back to life!
Time to add to the Billiken-Shokai thread that Ricky started! I've always been a Kaibutsu-kun fan and had the BxH toys, pined over the early Yonezawa figures that were always too expensive, and never quite bit the bullet on Popy versions because I thought the paint execution on most was terribly sloppy. Then I recently came across this fantastic and huge Kaibutsu-kun, finger puppet, figure released in 2003, which I've never seen before! The paint application is beautiful, especially the black line work around his eyes which is amazingly clean and crisp. Even the finger puppets are executed beautifully. I especially love that Billiken made the hand with the puppets, able to rotate. The figure came in a great box with a catalog that shows a ton of Billiken Shokai products like tin toys, model kits and of children's books which I didn't realize Billiken published. I still have my giant Billiken Astroboy from 1997, comparing the two, the quality is still stellar. For scale; fist pumping with standard size Denjin Zaboga
what a wonderful find! the finger puppets alone are worth the ticket. i don't know much about billiken, but is this japanese vinyl? or chinese?
Woah ! Thanks for sharing this. Beautiful sigh ! The finger puppets are really great, the Ape is nice too : )
Yeah, I thought because of it size, it might be made in China like some of the large Godzillas Marusan made but...
One of the best toys ever made. I didnt even know about this until a few years when I saw it at a toy show super cheap, but the guy in front of me nabbed it! So I continued to look for it, finally a few years ago I found one again and got it for my wife, she was stoked!
I've been in love with this finger puppet figure for quite some time. Still not in my collection, but thanks for sharing these shots Ralph. I can share this one of the other two sets.
@ Axolotl; Yeah I was pretty ecstatic when I came across the giant Kaibutsu Kun! And I''m jealous of those two sets you have! ; ) Great pic btw.
That's a sweet find, Ralph. I'm not a Kaibutsu-kun fan, but I can imagine how killer that set must be for ya. And, hey...at some point, if you wanted to post some scans from that catalog, I'm sure the rest of us unwashed masses would love to see what we're missing!
Thanks to @Mark K I have gotten a taste of the hand puppets that Billiken put out a while back: How many characters did Billiken make? So far I have seen: Gomess Littra Goro Ultraman Bemular Baltan Neronga Spell-Seijin Are there any others?
Antlar Ultraseven Cool seijin (see avatar) Ragon and Eleking show up occasionally and go for $$ I've never seen an alien spell, but there is an Alien Pitt that comes with a finger puppet Like everything else, prices have gone way up. Used to find these for $20-$25. No longer.
Oh right, I meant Cool-seijin but I typed The Forbidden Alien's name. Figures there would be an Ultraseven too.