Yeah, that's me. We saved the Bullmark collection when we demolished our house, but left some other things behind, like about 4000 marbles that were between 30 and 60 years old! We thought they were worthless until a friend of ours asked about them. Too late now.
sounds like your the guy who had the hawaii kanagon and sold it to kaju motto in japan . that would mean that you also would have a eleking that had a paint job that i have never seen before . its not in the picture so did you sell it ? that garamon blows my mind !
Yeah, I remember looking at Kaiwi's photo album at the time (maybe 5 years ago if memory serves me right) and being impressed by the hawaii version hedorah and mechagodzilla. I was told that those figures were small potatoes compared to some of the other figures he had like that Eleking, kanegon and some of the other spray variants that no one had ever seen before. I don't mean to steal your thunder, Kaiwi - do you mind telling the story of how you got these things and then how you figured out they were so rare - I'm sure everyone would love to hear about it if you're so inclined. I've never forgotten the story myself - it's the stuff of antique roadshow dreams - discovering a box of stuff that's so rare, its never been seen before. It would make a seriously great article in Super 7.
Here is the Kanegon and some other rare Bullmarks. BTW, I still have the Eleking. I'll post a pic of it later. Kanegon King Bockle Sasahillar Anyone ever see this complete collection of minis?
Everytime I look at these photos I get misty....easily the greatest single families collection that was in hawaii that I have ever heard of. (with the pictures to prove it!)
Here's how it went down, in case anyone's interested: We lived in a 30 year old, plantation-style house. In all that time, it had only been fumigated two or three times, so it was literally held up by termites. When we decided to tear it down to rebuild, we started to go through all the boxes that had been stored in closets for 30+ years. We found a lot of great stuff from our childhood that we thought would be worth something: records, comic books, coins, soda bottles, etc. We also found some things we thought had only sentimental value: toys, including about 4000 marbles and, of course, the Bullmarks. About 50 of them. I had completely forgotten about them. I had always thought they had been given away or thrown away. I didn't even know they were called "Bullmarks" at the time. To me, they were just Godzilla and Ultraman toys. They had been bought at Long's Drugs and a small Japanese import store, called Hakubundo, in the mid-70s when I was just a kid. When a friend's cousin heard we had "Godzilla" toys, he came over to look at them. He told us they were Bullmarks and very valuable. He estimated their worth at about $15,000, which blew us away. The most valuable one, he said, was the pink Hedorah. I just couldn't imagine that toys could be worth so much, so I started to do research on the net. For at least two years, I checked out just about every site I could find. Of course, I also followed auctions on ebay and YJA. Slowly, I began to figure out which of the Bullmarks were relatively common and which ones were rare. Though I didn't know their true worth, I quickly realized that $15,000 wasn't even close and that the pink Hedorah was not the rarest. I then started to sell the Bullmarks to help pay for the costs of rebuilding the house. I've kept most of the rare ones which I still have today. Through all of this, I met several collectors, including Brian Flynn, Mark Nagata, and Shuji Kajimoto. Each of them got something from me, so I try to support them as much as I can in return.
This is the stuff that keeps the dream alive. That somewhere in Hawaii - there's another stash of super-rare paint variants. In a warehouse, storage unit, someone's basement, a yard sale - just waiting to be discovered. Bwwaa ha ha!
kaiwi, if you wish too you might want to start your own thread as your vinyls and story are flat out amazing . out of the 50 vinyls you spoke of , how many do you have left ? when i first heard your story of the incredable bullmark find i thought people were talking about a gal in hawaii called toni as she has 2 of those crazy kanagons . also wondering if you have or have heard of a hawaii version of brocken ? brian is gathering a list of all the hawaii kaiju made . that is an article i will look forward to reading some day .
This whole thread would actually make a really cool column in each issue of the new mook. Brian going around interviewing people about their old school kaiju finds (like old fishing tales). There's some guy online who talks about hunting down hardcore records - like a band called Tapework from Connecticut - he goes to their former home town, looks up records on microfiche, talks to grandparents in nursing homes - just trying to locate one copy of an impossibly rare 45. Super 7 could either publish a "monthly" column about the hunt for kaiju equivilant of Eldorado and/or tales of epic scores from the past. It might only be a single kaiju that was improbably found at a flea market, or in an old warehouse. Super 7 did that interview with Coop that talks about hunting for kaiju in the old days - it's awesome. Even if you didn't live through that, you can still get a vicarious thrill listening (or reading about) to someone else talk about a great score.
Over the years, I have gone from 50 down to six. All of them have found good homes, but there are two I wish I had never parted with: Sasahillar and King Bockle. I never met the Toni you are talking about in person, but she did get her Giro Seijin from me. As for the Hawaii version of Brocken, I have never seen one of those. I've also heard that there is supposed to be a Hawaii version of MechaGodzilla, but I haven't seen one of those either.
What a great thread..like most guys I was into Ultraman/Godzilla in the 70's as a kid. My richer-than-us neighbors all had Shoguns...I had a 6 inch rubber Godzilla knock-off with a horn on his head and a broken leg. Later in life, like 1985, Cherry from the Japanese punk band Zouo came to stay with us. He gave me a Bandai Ultraman 6" as a house gift. That started it for me. Me and two of my friends bought all the Dougram, Godaikin , Robotech stuff we could find. Some stores in Pittsburgh had the Godaikin knock-offs, we scarfed them up. When my punk band would tour we took my best friend along as a roadie. We would go to a Japanese toy store in Philly, on South Street. They had the big Mazinga store display figure. In Austin we stayed with Tim Kerr and were just blown away...didn't make it to Atomic City though, I forget why. Then we made it out to LA and Japan town. Got some cool stuff there. I worked in an indie record/comic store ( Eides in Pittsburgh). We used to order toys from Horizon in LA, thats where I got most of my stuff. I used to ( and still do ) send rare punk records to a record store in Tokyo in exchange for kaiju... Since the mid-90s I've just been buying off and on. I absolutely love the stuff though.
Yeah I worked in the record department from 1984 to 1990....easy job, low pay...there was an Army recruiter right down the street on Penn Ave, so they got me eventually.
Kaiwi's collection was (and is) an amazing thing. I feel very fortunate to have picked up a few of the amazing figures that he had. Granted I still want the six figures he still has, but I need to win the lottery first! As far as Hawaii figures go, every time I think I have a handle on exactly how many have been made, another rumor (that most often gets verified) pops up. Crazy. There are more hawaii variants than I could have ever imagined.
Crap i can't get the video to play. I think i'm in it i was on this trip with Tom. Tom nice to see you've joined. Keith
My early experiences with import toys were all thanks to way cool uncles who would hook it up for Christmas when I was a kid in the 80's. I had an uncle who lived in Austin and every year at X-mas I would get stuff from Atomic City, and then I would go there over the summers and just go bonkers in that store! Tin toys, Kamen Rider, Gundam and various anime stuff. Had another uncle who lived in New York and would send me stuff from Chinatown. Ultraman, and Transformers were the thing. I got a set of the Dinobots that had clear plastic parts, so all the diecast parts really stood out. I have never seen anything like it since. I got a Bandai Ultraseven back then that is still a totally holy grail for me. This year for X-mas my sister gave me a giant 70's Mazinger that we played with as kids that she had gotten from one of the uncles. She had taken it with her when she moved out and had kept in her basement. Seeing a friends collection jogged her memory and she found it for me. Toys are a family affair!
