Baltan Seijin in "Blank Check"

Well spotted. Great eye you had there. I had a very similar experience I posted about not too long ago in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&p=881777#p881777

That is indeed a very odd one. I immediately would have thought it was a Bandai/B-Club repro, but it is a bit early for that. I don't think they made the jumbo until about 2000 or so. And the fact that it does appear to be the large size figure makes it even odder to think about, because, while the standard Bullmark is not too rare to see, the 'giant sized' is much less common. A very odd toy to randomly show up on a set, and if it is vintage, wow, even cooler. I know they had some anniversary reissues of some of the most popular standard sized Bullmark figures in 1991 from Bandai, but my knowledge doesn't include whether they also did the large size figures or not (could be that they did).

Throwing more into the mix, from that still you shared it looks like there might be two other Japanese toys on the shelf below Baltan. The one on the right is definitely a tin wind-up, though I can't identify the figure - colour seems to suggest to me it could be Ambassador Magma,



however since Billiken is till making these toys (and I am no expert) it is very difficult to provide a date for him. The green guy is harder to identify. My mind immediately went to the Bearmodel Gaira, or even the Marusan version maybe, as a result of the green and red mouth, probably, but it could be a lot of different 'humanoids/aliens.' But again, dates don't match at all with the film.



And obviously there is the Mothra in the forefront as well. I don't know the story of the movie, but I assume there was some clear presentation (through the screen I mean) that this guy's office was filled with monster toys for [whatever reason], as it doesn't seem to be just subtly there either.

Anyhow, interesting mystery. Would love to know the story behind these random placements. Somebody behind the scenes had some excellent and quirky taste.

 

Thanks Bryce. That is what I kinda thought; it would definitely make more sense to me to be the reissue version. There isn't any way to know for sure of course - even examining in hand, if the little white sticker has been removed from the bottom of the feet it is difficult to differentiate from an original by eye alone - but logistically, the timeframe of it, and the good looking paint on the Baltan seem to point towards it being a period toy.

 

Just for clarification to the above discussion, I've confirmed that the giant Baltan was reissued as part of the 1991 25th anniversary line. There is more information in this article from Mandarake about the specific release, and you can clearly see the hang tag around his neck, which is another key sign (when present) for this series.

http://www.mandarake.co.jp/information/ ... 8/12cmp13/

 

Ah yes, you can see that now. Makes sense, thanks for the extra grab. Hard to make out. Maybe the Universal Creature tin toy? (also was reissued)



I am certainly no expert on these tinnies, so someone else feel free to chime in if they might know an ID.