My favorite Ultraman (design-wise) by far is Ultraman Leo. I just recently acquired a large vintage Popy Leo. I understand from the seller that its part of a line called Kingsaurus released in the 1980s ( http://www.ultramantoys.com/1980/ ). Although the site seems to insinuate that these were released in the late 1980s, Popy went out of business circa 1983. This toy definitely has the Popy logo on its rear.

I'd love to snag one of the vintage Bullmark Leos (and there are a few up on YJ), but the price seems kind of high for these. There is also a nice MFV of him. Again, typically pricey for me. I seem to recall Takatoku also making a large vinyl of him, but maybe my memory is off (maybe Jonathan can chime it - I was discussing this with him in the recent past). One day hopefully I can track these down.

I agree with you Kingboy, Leo is one of my favorite Ultra designs.(Along with Ace)

That big Popy one is pretty cool Miles. I think Takatoku made three sizes of Leo, a mini, a mid and a large one. Here is the large, he tends to be a little cheaper then the bullmark one. Really nice figure.

I don't know how this would be related to the King Zaurus line to be honest, but I am not saying it is impossible. That was the the first line Popy did, I think in an attempt to garner a space in the market for mid-size figures (as opposed to the the fare being released by Bullmark earlier). They are of a much smaller scale, usually 5-6", along the lines of the Bandai figures which replaced them. They originally came out in the 70s, but were around into the 80s in the North American market as the Godzilla's Gang line (limited to only a few figures). I think any matching Popy hero figures would be of the same scale as standard Popy ones. I have seen some packaged examples of this to verify, though not a Leo. Here are a couple reissued guys, to to give you some idea:



Oops, found the Leo (and one more for good measure )



Whatever he is, your large Popy example is stellar, and one I would sure be proud to own. Great find, was he from YJA?

Thanks, guys, for the photos. I did not want to dig through discs, USB drives, and such to find my photos, if I even had them! Now i really want to expand my Leo collection even more!!




Thanks! Actually, just on ebay. But I suspect he came via Japan, not the US, based on marker writing on his rear.

Love the design too! His chest emblem always reminded me of the fancy H on the hot water spigot in your bath tub.

The head sculpt on the giant-size Popy and on the King Zaurus/Godzilla Gang one is absolutely killer.