1509783_10203224142345055_2287719991700859815_n by malinablue, on Flickr Taily-Po! A wonderfully strange and scary critter from an Appalachian folktale. And you can get the regular release right now on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IDA ... UTF8&psc=1
Monster Zero minus Monster Zero Marmit マーミット 怪獣大戦争 "Invasion of Astro-Monster" "Monster Zero" Toho mini ビニパラベビー Parababy "A-Cycle Light Ray" X星人 Xiliens "X Planet People" 大戦争ゴジ DaisensoGoji ゴジ ラドン Rodan Radon pteranodon
I love the Godzilla figures and monsters that this company makes. I just have to try and get one at a reasonable price.
Man Medicom is making everybody's grail dreams come true lately!! http://sofvi.tokyo/marmit-alien-series/
These are pretty hard to find anywhere these days.. Plus if you do spot one the price is crazy, so I'm all for Medicom doing affordable reprints!
Seconded. This news made my day. I'm curious at whether these ALIEN re-releases might have been sparked by the huge success of S7 & SB's sofubi Xenomorphs. I can certainly see Medicom jumping at the chance. Money driven or not, Medicom is making some Remarkable production /distribution choices at the moment. As long as the quality remains, we should all be thankful.
Its very possible but i really think there has ALWAYS been a love of the Alien movies in general. I mean we see some awesome figures from NECA as well as various 1/6th figures, replicas, comic books etc. And with a new movie remake of Alien 3 i would hope it picks up even more.
I guess I can see how some people might be t'd off by this, but I think it is really all for the good. I have no problem with companies doing additional releases of figures, as long as they are different. After all, I would say over half the SB 'market' is collectors who like a particular sculpt or line, and build up whole shelves of one type of figure. And taking that a step further, while I collect multiple toy sculpts, so many of them (e.g. M1, B-Club, Marusan, etc.) are ALL rehashes of vintage vinyl molds. Especially since this Alien line is not all that old, relatively, and given the scarcity and price skyrocketing as has been pointed out, I don't see why anyone should really take an issue. The people who want the 'original' will always have the first release to chase after, meanwhile there are some affordable alternatives to folks who can't chase the first set. To each their own. It is not unlike the offering for AA figures after years of people complaining and begging for an open release. If you just want a toy for the scarcity, there are other versions you can feel proud about owning. If you want a toy for having a cool toy, it's nice to have that option. I am sure Medicom will do the release justice. And hopefully it will be offered to international buyers as well.
But are they different? Here are the originals: http://www.marmit.co.jp/tuhan2009/aln-019a.html http://www.marmit.co.jp/tuhan2008/aln-016a.html http://www.marmit.co.jp/tuhan2008/aln-017a.html http://www.marmit.co.jp/tuhan2009/aln-018a.html Seems pretty close to me... I think it's a poor idea to reissue/repro relatively new toys. The originals haven't been made unavailable by deterioration or destruction, as is the case with repros of vintage toys. They have just settled in the collections of collectors, who will probably not be thrilled with these re-releases. However, if the reissues/repros have readily apparent differences from the originals, I think they are less problematic. I can't see any on the Medicom versions of these. Without apparent differences, it makes it a lot harder for collectors to hunt down the originals, since loose versions are always suspect.
Oh, well, just to be clear, I 100% agree that there has to be differences between the releases. What the differences are exactly on these reissues, I cannot say. My initial impression was that those were just test shots they were using for samples, but yeah, even if the colours are only slightly different, if that, I think I would be wary. I kind of thought (and still think they might) prefer to do a full on different paint styling - that would be my preference. Maybe something a bit darker or more 'film' stylistic in paint scheme, still keeping it toyish though (not too realistic for my own personal tastes). Of course, I would never want to see anything repro'd exactly, even for vintage stuff this [can] causes issues, so typically any 'new' version of an old sculpt will have a completely different paint pattern or have some stamping on it to signify it is new (though there are a few exceptions). With these it could even be something as simple as modifying the mold with the date stamp on the bottom of the figures. A straight off copy, with nothing to discern them from the older Marmit ones, I am not cool with. But, like I said, it remains to be seen how Medicom is going to handle this. For now, I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
It would be so wrong to re-release the exact same versions of these and other older toys. Hopefully Medicom won't start doing this and there will be some differences somewhere? I'm sure last week's YJA seller had some inside information on these new releases and sold up quick. Whoever paid 128,000yen before fees for the 4 crew members, is going to be mighty pissed off, if they look identical
...at least more people will be able to match them up with the Super 7 versions. They do look damn nice together! More photos over in The family thread
But thats the gamble you make when buying toys sometimes. I mean if people are going to get upset than oh well thats there problem for paying to much for the toys. If your going to make authentic replicas of figures down to the last detail you want to make sure it looks as accurate as possible. Without rapidly changing the chemistry. Thats the whole point of anything replicated really. You want to stay as true to the original as possible.
There was no gamble IMO as I don't buy to flip shit. It was just RFSO and supporting what I think were cool figures and paid near retail (9,500Yen) when a lot of the scene seemed to ignore them. Still just seems like a money grab due to after markets. If they're noticeable different from 2009, k. If they're near exact dups (like what RxH did at one point) not okay in my book. I just don't understand Marmit's logic. Next we'll have Medicom reissued Vader Anraku for fucks sake...
I don't understand why it isn't okay? I mean, if they reproduced something and it was significantly cheaper, than yes I'd understand the complaints but I honestly don't get why anyone is upset over a reissue(or rerelease). At the end of the day they are toys, and any of their perceived rarity, value, etc. can, and probably will, eventually be diminished. We say we collect toys because we like them, but I haven't heard an argument for why this reissue is bad. I just hear, bad move, or this is wrong but without any reasoning. I don't mean this as any type of argument, but more as a question. I do agree that a different version would be better(2 toys are better than 1) but I also see a lot of people out there wanting these, and not being able to find them. It can be perceived as a grab for money by medicom, but I could easily spin any popular toy into that.
To my eyes, this is a new version, color-wise. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Marmit released two versions previously: black with very dark brown sprays, and a glitter version (see smo9monster's awesome shots just posted The Family Thread). I'd say this current one is the most directly evocative of Giger's art, with the way the silver sprays have been applied. EDIT: I see now that the real issue for some may lie in the paint apps for the crew... guess my post here was blinkered by my interest in only the Alien figure itself...
The bottom line to me is that most of these toys are expressly or implicitly marketed to collectors as LIMITED EDITION BUY NOW. If a company reissues the toy without significant changes, it betrays the reliance of the collectors in that original message.
If this were to happen id honestly be perfectly fine with it. More figures and more mainstream means other collectors and children will be able to experience the toys and what they are about first hand. As long as the quality of the figures is not diminished in doing so. And if i liked what the company made enough it really wouldn't sway my own personal opinion on buying the figures ether.
That's a valid point. While I don't think buying a toy because it's limited is the right reason to do so in our community (and the main gripe assumed about people only after the current hyped top contenders), if that was Marmit's pitch, of course the honorable thing to do would be to stick to that original marketing promise and make these obviously different in some fashion. ^ If anything, I get the record for longest sentence. Now whether Marmit or Medicom cares, I don't know. So much of what Medicom releases is based on the toy's success somewhere else first anyway (Especially the toys they sell that we're into). Sometimes in forms of Medicom exclusive color variants, but they Certainly have their share of true reproductions too (mostly of vintage figures though). And after the Reaction ALIEN line, the Mini Xenomorphs of S7 x SB, and the giant Mega Sofubi Advance Big Chap, etc. have all done SO well, this was a smart move for Medicom. Whatever versions end up being released, they're sure to sell out. Marmit is the one with the real power on what gets made here, so maybe they will honor that original claim. Do we know for certain now that those images aren't placeholders? If I was them, I hope I'd honor what I put out there, but as someone who has been wanting this Alien figure for a long time and now has the chance to not only get 1, but also at a reasonable price, I'm fine with however they're released.
Great figures and happy to see them released again, but hope the paint is altered on the suits like it is on the Alien. Moebius's concept art for Nostromo crew's space suits was awesome. One thing that creeps me out watching the film is the suits seem very clumsy, restrictive and claustrophobic. I'd imagine trying to do anything meticulous in them and it would be impossible.
Supposedly direct from Marmit: The brown spray of the Alien will be changed to silver. The colorways of the four spacemen will be virtually identical.
