Annals of Amapro

Contributing:

(& yes, I know they're still in bags. Sue me.)

@ Sanjeev, afaik ALL Amapro's sculpts are 'original' kaiju.
These are, after all, the guy's who coined the term "Pachikaiju".

Some of them are reworkings of other sculpts (vis a vis "Gamera-with-a-Barugon-head").
The Penagallans were inspired by a series of Thai horror movies,
but still bastardised Barbie dolls.
Yet others, like Armor Jack and Naruton, are completely original.
(Well, almost ... I guess Naruton was originally something with it's head cut off.)
They even made their own home movies to accompany such characters back in the day.
(I could be wrong, but I think it was Amapro who made the Heater movie too?)

I should GTFO & let Grumbletoy Chris chime in.
He has LINKS, I believe?

the gold fightus is one of my favourite amapro offerings...

does anybody know if it references any past characters or is it an amapro original??

How about Chris doing a Grumble Toy exclusive of the rooster kaiju? The version with wings. I vote for that!

As far as I can tell, both of these guys are pachi summit releases. Here's the best desription I've found.

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 2F005.html

Gotcha...thanks for the info, fellas. I originally picked up that Kingrampas thinking it was Zigra! So maybe that was kinda the intent!

Incidentally, I think Amapro has collaborated with Marusan a few times--I have their King Shisa ("Caesar"), and it's pretty awesome. Maybe my favorite rendition of the character: very abstract and unique.

I have to say I am really enjoying this thread. I had no idea that Amapro released so many great designs. Some of these I have seen and own myself, but all of the figures at the start and middle of this thread are just great! Thanks for posting and please carry on

...
The rooster head one was also released without the wings.

This guy?

I am hoping this guys wasn't just a test paint, or at least if it was it is going to spur a coming release. Really great figure. I totally second the motion for a GT collab for the bird/roosters, my personal fav is the guy with wings and arms.

Oh, and I do believe that there was a connection between Marusan and Amapro (I am sure there is another thread here that covers it); you can see some of the same sculpting across parts of various figures, the octopus I understand for example.

Grumble just posted pre-orders for a handful of these

Oh, I don't know how I missed popping into this thread for a while.
Amapro has collaborated with Marusan in the past. They did some licensed figures with them. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there are some licensed Amapro only sculpts as well.
It's interesting, some of his Toho sculpts must have been 1 time licenses as he has photos of the molds being destroyed with cement.





So some are licensed, some are from patchi cards, some are originals, some are originals but from his Armor Jack films, and 1 is a skull slapped on a licensed figure to make it original! Awesome! ha ha

I would say he is one of the longest running Patchi Kaiju companies out there if not the longest. His films are from 1996 or earlier, and his first toys are from '96/'97.

One of my personal favorites of the licensed Amapro that I have is this guy:

the gold fightus is one of my favourite amapro offerings...

does anybody know if it references any past characters or is it an amapro original??

Patchi Card!

blakewest, do you happen to know if Kingrampus (or any of these other critters!) are from a particular show? I have the leg-less glow version of him and I've always wondered where he was from.

I couldn't find any stills, but I'm quite sure Kingrampus shows up in one of Amapro's original puppet films. I think... I'll have to check at home.

*edit*
Found the box art!

^^ I saw that video for sale at Mandarake, but the description made it seem like a video slide show of toys and illos. Is it some type of live action film?

It's interesting, some of his Toho sculpts must have been 1 time licenses as he has photos of the molds being destroyed with cement.

my first thought of seeing these pics
"quick take those damn pics so we can flip these molds over and spray them out before anything hardens"

...Amapro's original puppet films.

Oh man...I gotta see this!

And that box art is positively luscious!

^^ I saw that video for sale at Mandarake, but the description made it seem like a video slide show of toys and illos. Is it some type of live action film?

I don't know for this specific VHS. I've got a VCD that has the live action shows there is a short clip with puppet versions of those guys in it.

That is such an awesome VHS box. Where might I get my hands on one of these VCDs?

Thanks for hooking us up with some more amazing Amapros Chris. I missed out yet again, but I have all my digits crossed for some more versions of those crazy birds and roosters. I would love to seem some darker paint/vinyl combinations too.

I was a a little slow on these too, managed to score the green spray bird but now i've gotta find the blue one to match.

The little guy did'nt really appeal to me until i saw him in piggy back mode!!

Picture jacked from Kadtank blog

Just got this guy on Lulubell. I don't know if he's a newer sculpt (I think so) but I couldn't pass him up. Really great.

Pretty sure I've seen some iteration of the Franjyu Dodoro somewhere earlier this year...

Also picked one up, I really like the crudeness and texture of the sculpt..

That Dodoro was a door giveaway at the last Pachisummit. You probably saw it on the kaiju korner coverage of pachisummit.

ah that's right! thanks

Nice!! put my order in too, i've really wanted one of these guys there's a really nice green version out there too

I've really been enjoying the recent Amapro. I hope Lulubell carries more in the future.

The little lipstick lips are hilarious. The guy has almost no face at all, but great character all the same.

Anyone know the name of the character all the way on the right?