After several years, I finally located an Ocha Skull Bee with the original packaging, being in this case, a laminated tag and chain. From what I know, there was no other packaging for the Ocha Bee, much like the Night Skull Bee.

Unfortunately, this example was severely yellowed. It's most noticeable side-by-side with one in better condition. Not a terrible problem, since the discoloration is uniform and simply makes it look like 'ocha' in its second or third brew... ;P

congratulations. i don't think i have ever seen one with the tag. it took me 6-7 years to find one of these and they seem to come in both "spatter" and "spin" versions which you appear to now have both! awesome bee(s)!

Thanks. I didn't think too much about the splatter patterns until I photographed them side-by-side; interesting.

Thought I would post a shot of the back of the tag as well:



From the early days!

i didn't know either until a certain scary brit told me

I'm trying to figure out which are the first editions of the figures.

Correct me if I am mistaken, but I think that in the tag above we see the original Bee and Brain (though clear red and clear black versions were released ahead for promotional purposes).

Is the black Mantis the first edition as well?

They were the first painted versions. All were released as solid black 'Prototypes' (as the Mantis pictured) beforehand.

No idea about the clear black and red versions you're talking about. I believe Cure did a Bee in both those colors but it was sometime later.

Thanks for the quick reply, Andy.

I got the info here:
http://web.archive.org/web/200503170403 ... 30501.html


It says that clear red one appeared in the Oline magazine, but that upon visiting the SB store, the clear black was on display.
The prototype was released on May 18, 2003. The purple one was released on June 21.

The 000 Prototype is an opaque black vinyl figure with a clear grey brain (pictured in the page you found). It was the first Skull Brain available to the public. According to the Mook there were 1 or 2 editions before the 000 release but those were for employees and close friends.

What's a mook?

^ A mook is supposedly an intermediate form between a book and a magazine (I think it's of Japanese coinage). As to what mook he's referring to I have no idea.

It was an old joke . . . the fabled S7 mook #2 has been in production since the dawn of time!

^ Hmmm... Never heard of it. I'm just gonna stay out of this thread to avoid future embarrassments.

Well, I appreciate the mook lesson. Been wondering what that was. 7 years in Japan and never heard this before.

I just looked it up:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A0% ... A%E7%89%88)

Spork is still my favorite.

The actual name of the Super7 mook is: International Toy Pirates. Its a great resource for all things RealxHead and Secret Base prior to 2007.

Er, according to the cover of my mook, the title is "Super7 The Book", Vol. 5, Issue 1.

The cover of my book says the same thing, but the slip cover the book came in just says International Toy Pirates so Amazon listed it as such.

That's not what you said in your post, but ok.

The Mook replaced the magazines. International Toy Pirates is the tag line. D is right. Move on.

I stumbled across this thread today while looking for pics of Base

http://www.skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=10674&highlight=secreters

i didn't want to re-post Carl's fucking amazing photos of skull brains (scroll to the bottom of that thread) in this thread without permission, but click and enjoy...or perhaps click and suffer

Nice pics. Oh, I got a brain:



And some other SB stuff:

Great to see you got the Brain! I was lucky enough to find mine still sealed. I couldn't bare to open it up, so it's displayed as such.

Thanks. I know of a sealed one, but would have probably open it just to touch the head.

I'm interested in how these are made, so the first thing I do with new toys is take them apart and get an idea of the production process.

The only thing I keep sealed is this one. I like the header and know they are super rare:

Which back print is it? The ones with the megaphone are the rare ones. Open that shit up.

No megaphone. Dark-ism back print.

i believe that's the midrange version. "darkism tour" was most common i think...?