Although I cannot say for sure they were taken from the same master mold, it is certainly possible as the overall size and the tail piece are exactly the same. They also have the same tiny imperfections on the bottom of the feet. The only difference is the vinyl of the flesh bootleg is very thin and just feels so cheap in hand, while the vintage j-tail is thicker, dense vinyl and also has a strong, musty odor. Kaminaga-san and Nishimura-san both mention using the original Marusan master mold to create their modern j-tail reissues in the late 90's and early 2000's that first started out with the original larger j-tail size sculpt with blank feet like this, although both Marusan and M1GO eventually went on to retool their Gojira reissues. Marusan uses a slightly smaller sculpt with different custom engravings, while M1GO used the original large j-tail sculpt with a custom Bullmark engraving.
@deafmetal Mark thank you very much for the comparison photo and for all the information. Seeing these two beautiful Gojis face to face is simply amazing, I loved the photo and the best thing is that it will be here for future reference.
That's a fantastic comparison, thanks Mark. While I cannot ever reasonably expect to find a J-tail (unless I come across another of those crazy Mercari listings!!! *_* ), I do hope to secure one of these boots at some point. They are out there, so there's hope, but they keep slipping away somehow.
Wow thank you @deafmetal really appreciate all the knowledge that is getting shared about these boots.
So looking at my giant goji, I notice that the body and legs are flesh vinyl and the arms are yellow vinyl. Is this is how these flesh boots were used? The vinyls on both the yellow and the flesh where softer than my other giants that I have. Can anybody share any more info thanks in advance.
Flesh color Kittoi Kanegon. It is not an expensive or very rare piece but it is certainly one of the most beautiful and one that I have liked the most so far.
It has the Marusan stamp, sorry I also wanted to upload a photo of the stamp on the foot but it didn't come out very well in the photo. I'll try to upload one later.
Excellent grab, Roger. That is such a great one. Classic toy sculpt and you know how much I love these flesh bootlegs. As far as I am aware, most of these 'kittoi' boots are all based from Marusan molds, as opposed to Bullmark, and all either still carry the mark, or it has been covered up. It's a good way to tell them from several newer reissues which might have been released as flesh blanks, but generally will have Bullmark stamps.
@ultrakaiju Thank you Steve! You are right Steve, most of them have the Marusan stamp, except for the figures that were exclusive to Bullmark, such as all the giants (Godzilla, KG, Baragon and Gomora) and the standard size figures, only Moguera and Mechanic Kong. From the little information I have seen about these pieces, I know that they were made by a group of fans of Kaiju figures in the 80's, but I don't know if it is entirely true or if you have new information that you could share with us. Thank you!
It is interested to note the size difference with some of these flesh vinyl blanks appearing to be slightly larger than their counterparts in the photos.
Scott, may I ask why the bootleg is larger thant the licensed one? If the bootleg one was made basing on the original one, shouldn't it be smaller? So could this prove to some extent that the bootleg one was indeed made by Marusan or someone related to Marusan, though they openly denied the rumor?
It doesn't prove that Marusan made the flesh bootleg. All it proves is that someone used Marusan tooling to make the figure. All of the factories that Marusan, Bullmark, etc. have used to make sofubi over the years have been independent companies. Sometimes those companies were started by Marusan and Bullmark, but they always operated as separate entities. Who knows how much those various molds traveled over the years. I doubt anyone will ever have definitive proof of who created these.
Recently came into possession of a flesh goji. im fairly certain its a kittoi bootleg but i have some questions. Do these also have the same issues as the early marusan with the many airbubbles on the fins, the tail and/or the hands? Additionally, ive read they should feel brittle and thin, if anything mine is slightly on the squishier side. I should mention it has no markings, it has a caramel appearance (elements exposure im sure) but the original flesh color peaks out between the joints. Additionally, its just slightly taller than my other examples, and it does retain that vintage smell. I can provide photos if necessary.
@brobles It sounds like an 80’s kittoi flesh vinyl bootleg from your description. The two examples I have are both thin and squishy vinyl and not hard or brittle. They have air bubbles on the spine and tail like some Marusan gojis. Bubbles on the fists as well would not surprise me. Everything sounds like a match including the slightly taller height due to being from a supposed early or master mold.
i think that I have promised somewhere in here that I would upload those images of my giant king ghidorah and a bullmark vintage, but i glad to confirm that this is also true for others flesh ones are larger than the originals. Let me see If I can write some code to post these images...
