Unmasked I can only agree with Ted's reply. The purple skull does look better, such a hard choice now. Even if one is only and exclusive.
GALTANS. And my story. One of the first toys I bought when I started collecting. Definitely within my first 10. It was the KingBee release, I won the lottery (it was easier back then). I was thrilled. I remember it being the first "big" sized toy in my collection; standard sized I would later learn... Beforehand I stuck to minis and fight figs. But for this, I had to make an exception. The process it took to acquire this Galtan was so worthwhile. I came across KingBee's page while surfing other collecting stuff online, totally random. There was some info posted on the front page, and it just so happened a lottery was gonna take place a day or two or few later. But I made a note of that, and marked my calendar. Sent my one single email, and waited. Definitely later freaking out and having the newbie nervous breakdown of thinking if I had filled out my lottery form correctly. I had never done it before, it was my first lottery. Obviously we know what happens. Thank the toy gods no one leaked the lottery info on SB. The next KingBee release, Zudon, some twat newb(?) posted lottery info a day before it took place. It was a reminder to many, that a Zudon lottery was taking place, and also the rule that YOU DO NOT FUCKING POST LOTTERY INFO. Being a newb, I learned that the easy way, by sitting back and seeing how the organism known as Skullbrain exists, watching someone else get reamed. While others were going "Oh yeah!" others were going "Sshhh!!" Looking back, I love being new at collecting. I remember the earlier packages I received in my collecting career were the best, because these toys were so alien to me. I pretty much had no fucking clue what was in the box, I had never held a toy like this before in my life. Prior I was collecting 3 3/4 in. Star Wars, Transformers, and Kubricks. My hunting grounds were Target and TRU, but god damn I am ever glad I ever came across a little website named Mandarake. And Galtan was one of the few neo-kaiju Japanese vinyl that got me hooked. I fucking fell in love with this freak. This mish-mash abomination of a number of different creatures. Galtan has the face of death, the limbs of Ultra monsters, and Exohead is Dr. Frankenstein. And produced by none other than the world-class Zollmen. It has the embodiment of Exohead's humanoid style sculpt. While being a quirky kaiju that represents bootleg. I always thought of Galtan as the pachi kaiju mascot. And it being a bootleg of a pachi kaiju painting, the more bootleg it looks, the better. Which is why the Zollmen version is my favorite interpretation. The design of it is excellent. The proportions are perfect. An ugly, over sized bobbling skull, and stubby little legs, are married with a torso that is just right. The design of the original illustration is so successfully translated into toy form. Although Exhohead's mini is regarded as more accurate, his Zollmen version serves me better as a toy. In reality I feel Galtan was never really popular to begin with, or at least with western collectors. Definitely a niche figure. Aside from six7777, who by the way had a pretty hardcore Galtan collection himself, I'd see a few Galtans strewn around randomly in collection photos. It seemed like a number of people had at least one version, a favorite I hope. But I'd imagine Galtan would have a better Japanese audience. Though for some reason they just all popped through Mandarake and yj, one by one, sometimes in bunches, for an extravagant discount. A great toy that nobody really wanted, for cheap. For being a Zollmen toy, it had very little appeal to collectors. Which is why it was so easy for me to track down so many of them. All of them in fact, well nearly. I'm still missing one, and now these upcoming releases. So three, and I'm praying for a secret version. In my opinion, an underrated toy that flew under the radar for years. And I am through the roof that they're doing another release! It's been too long, to be honest I thought the sculpt way retired, fuck it eh. I don't mean to hype it up, or shoot myself in the foot for future releases, but Galtan was a toy way ahead of it's time and I'm glad he's gaining some popularity. And for this release, it being Medicom, I'm hoping it will be made to order, Zollmen seems to be following that plan as well. I hope you all can appreciate the photo of my collection of Galtans, and hope it can serve as a checklist for those interested, as six7's flickr was mine. Since the beginning, Galtan has been the toy I have been actively hunting for; constantly keeping an eye out. It's been five years and counting to get this far, and it was a long and arduous journey that makes collecting the most fucking fun I've ever had by barely having to do anything. It's brought me into contact with some pretty cool collectors, a very special thanks to bansheebot, six7777, and phatomfauna. Don't know if you'd all care or not, but you've all helped me acquire the trickiest, hard to find, and shit I did not even know existed Galtans. Zapatoloco, I have an illustration of yours of the Galtans on a boat! It is fucking rad! source material (thank you for your pic) And this is the last skull I need to bring apocalypse to the world. Garimpo B version. Please help me attain it.... Funny story about this. I could have had this one by now. Two chances; too slow on Mandarake, and the other slipped out of my fingers. I was at a place, and at this place I was watching an ebay auction on my phone for this very Galtan. Watching the count down because I'm a d-bag sniper. I wait a little too near, fumble because I needed to put in a password again; takes a little longer, loading etc.... Err, incorrect password, I'm fucking up.... and as the seconds come close to the end of the auction for the LAST Galtan I need, one of the single biggest moments of my life occurs, and I have no reason but to put my phone away. Poof. And while we're here, I dream of one day owning an MVH custom Galtan, and any protos/unpainteds (gid, I know it exists). Thank you for letting me share.
Thanks for the story and the pics. Always great to read how someone put some much dedication into a toy. Congrats for the collection. I like Galtan too, but I try to avoid collecting multiples, so I stick perfectly satisfied with my Kaizine version, which happens to be one of my favourites. This new version looks really nice with a smaller skull. Not too sure I'm interested in the Baltan head though. Hope it will be made available to overseas.
Yea for sure! I know people are into completing Boogies, fight figures, Zags, etc.... I guess my thing was Galtans. And S7 Zombies And I love the new Baltan gimmick, pretty cool melding the bootleg with licensed kaiju it was made off of. And judging from how it goes over his gills, the Baltan head is HUGE.
Im really bummed about this too. I had seen their previous blog post on that and the fact that it was in English gave me some hope. ;___;
Spectacular collection! And thanks for sharing your story. Hope you find the Galtans you need to complete your obsession.
I'm excited that they are shipping the second series of mini zombies in October. This time I ordered more.
Ted Koppel, thanks for sharing your story. Still working on trying to get my first Zollmen Galtan. These new ones look good, but maybe a little too happy? I like the older ones with their more sinister smile. But here's hoping this is the beginning of a whole new series of Galtans.
Size comparison. All 3 of them have this blue cardboard glued to the bottom. If you peel it off it's just a empty hole to show it's hollow.
I got mine this morning! Been silently staring at them all day savoring a moment to open them. This has been a dream of mine for years and as I will never own originals- I'd like to thank whoever the silent Zollmen partner is for suggesting these. It's surreal....even the original packaging was included, which you know I'm going to display no matter what!
I think the blue cardboard is intended to reproduce the look of the metal plate in the base of the original figures. Nice touch, and Zollmen/Medicom did a fantastic job with these.
How did I forget about these?! : P Chris, the packaging looks amazing! Without a doubt worthy of displaying.
Awesome release, definitely one of my favorite of the year. Can't wait to receive mine, these packaging shots have made me even more excited as I wasn't expecting Zollmen to go all the way and reproduce the original artwork.
^ I was going to ask the same thing. I can't wait to get these, hopefully they just show up at my door, or work. The packaging is amazing, I'm sure it is even better in person.
No shipping notification... Finally opened them and could not resist this quick shot: Zollmen x Medicom Yonezawa Nodder Reissue Set (with minis for comparison) by Beautification Syndrome, on Flickr
No shipping notification was sent out by Medicom for me either. They looked awesome the way they are packed. But who could resist opening them? Great photo Chris.
Thanks Linda & Anthony, yeah these new reissues have upped the creep factor in the eyes by 10 fold. I love how even the boxes are numbered according to monster. So Medicom calls them Fuu (wood head), Gargon (lizard) and Cobblar (wart head) but when Zollmen first did the Monster Parade versions I thought they were called Gikkola (wood head), Booba (lizard), and Marigon (wart head). Anyone know the real names? I'm betting on Daniel.
Amazing Chris! I've never been able to score a set of the Mini's. Time to try harder to track some down to go with the big guys I think.
I doubt they'd all be called "Daniel," Chris. That would be weird. Also, I wish I had ordered a set. Frown.
