Yonezawa

This is a set of three 'friction toy' kaiju produced by Yonezawa in the late 60s. Much like friction cars, you can rev these up on the ground and the internal mechanism will keep the wheels spinning for a short distance.

You might see the front two (Dabora and Sebira) around from time to time, but this is the only example of Kurada (back) that I have ever come across. Other than the box art depicting three characters and a name reference, I had written Kurada off as a unproduced toy. Not impossible, as these were the tail-end of Yonezawa's kaiju experiment; in fact, I don't think the friction kajiu are even pictured in the ads that I have seen.





But, there it was up for auction last month. Boxed and pristine. I plugged in a bid that I thought was way beyond likelihood, but it got damn close. This last one cost me roughly three times as much as either of the other two. Such is the pain of completionism.

Even though I went from bargain bin on the first one to a hefty chunk of change on the last, no regrets here. These are quite possibly my favorite vintage vinyls because of their unique construction and design- more like stone statues or carousel ponies than kaiju toys.

Very nice. I like them posed like the picture on the box. Congrats on completing the set. Yonezawa has a bunch of great friction toys. I really like their Kamen Rider ones.

That box art looks really sweet. There could be a pictorial devoted to those alone. The toys themselves are something to behold too.

Great pickup. I would say the Kurada was well worth it (though I am sure it hurt at the time )

Wow, Daniel, those are superb! Heh...they are sorta reminiscent of carousel ponies, huh? The sculpting IS totally excellent--probably my favorite thing about these toys. The friction motor is a neat gimmick, too. Good on ya for not giving up on these!

i cant remember who i was talking to about these, but they wanted to know how many there were in the series, and said two ! i told them the third one was never made. Boy, im so full of shit. Great score man.

Jim: That was me. We where talking about these and I sent you the links thought.

Mark: If you like the Kamen Rider one's , here is my latest brog: I am a sucker for anything KR.

http://toyboxdx.com/brog/?p=9949

You sir have great taste.
Thanks for posting up info on these.

Those are just gorgeous! I bet the metallic paint is still stunning after all of these years. The paint on the red dragon I have really pops! Thanks for sharing these

Thanks for indulging my preoccupation with these weird wind-up rubber dinos. Grace (and Joe)- glad to see you back and posting!

Jim: That was me. We where talking about these and I sent you the links thought.

Mark: If you like the Kamen Rider one's , here is my latest brog: I am a sucker for anything KR.

http://toyboxdx.com/brog/?p=9949

Josh- Thanks for linking to your blog post. I was going to reference it in my original post, but forgot.

These are the two Yonezawa patchi wind-ups that correspond to your KRs.

Small:



There were 3 small wind-ups (Gomera, Gimegon and Todora), with at least two color variations of each. They are about 3" tall. This is Gomera. Shuwaaaaa!

Mid-size:



There is only one confirmed mid-size wind-up, King Gomera. These are around 6-7" tall. There are at least two color variants of this: orange and green. I have another mid-size that might be made by Yonezawa, but the base plate is not marked, so I don't know for sure. These are around 6-7" tall.

Aha! So that's his name... Gomera! He'll be making an appearance in my toys for Japan sale. Isn't he stunning in person. I was really surprised by the shine on that blue metallic paint. It still looks so fresh and sparkly after all of these years! Congratulations on the adoptions Daniel! I really am partial to these friction wind up toys. Have you tested the spark plate on your Gomera?

I also have a figure that is green that looks like a dino with a baby riding alongside (sort of like a marsupial). Do you happen to know the name of that character? It's nice to be back in Kaijuland again

Finally scored the last Yonezawa I was missing. DABURA!!!
Thanks to those that made it happen.



And here's a shitty picture of my band of misfits.
Will take better pics when I get the chance.

A quadraped would balance out that lineup nicely.

This Dabura is just sick. Sick and twisted!
Are those adam-apples or did he swallow a couple of fresh heads?

Incredible collection!

Thanks for sharing, akum6n and Joe. Such great examples of what makes this hobby worthwhile!

Are those adam-apples or did he swallow a couple of fresh heads?

That's how you can tell she's a he!

These guys would make for one awesome movie.

These guys would make for one awesome movie

I concur wholeheartedly!

Thanks for indulging my preoccupation with these weird wind-up rubber dinos. Grace (and Joe)- glad to see you back and posting!

Jim: That was me. We where talking about these and I sent you the links thought.

Mark: If you like the Kamen Rider one's , here is my latest brog: I am a sucker for anything KR.

http://toyboxdx.com/brog/?p=9949

Josh- Thanks for linking to your blog post. I was going to reference it in my original post, but forgot.

These are the two Yonezawa patchi wind-ups that correspond to your KRs.

Small:



There were 3 small wind-ups (Gomera, Gimegon and Todora), with at least two color variations of each. They are about 3" tall. This is Gomera. Shuwaaaaa!

Mid-size:



There is only one confirmed mid-size wind-up, King Gomera. These are around 6-7" tall. There are at least two color variants of this: orange and green. I have another mid-size that might be made by Yonezawa, but the base plate is not marked, so I don't know for sure. These are around 6-7" tall.

Besides the obvious yonezawa search are there any other ways to find these guys?

Confirmed the second mid-size sparker vinyl (King Dragon) on a recent trip to Japan. This one was stuffed way back in the vintage case at a store in Osaka and I almost missed it amid the clutter. Amazingly, it was a different paint variation from the one that I found a couple years ago AND it was wrapped up with the original box and cardboard inserts. Hubba hubba. Come to papa.







From the box, I suspect this may have been the last of the sparkers to be produced by Yonezawa. For one, the box uses a photograph of the toy versus hand-drawn artwork; probably cheaper to produce. The item no. is also in the 20X range, matching the friction toys, not the earlier sparkers and King Gomera (which curiously all share the 86X numbering). As I mentioned previously, I believe the friction toys were produced after the more common 'Gomera' sparkers.





This is the version that I found originally; I suspected it was a Yonezawa figure, but couldn't be certain as the metal footplate was no longer stamped with the company logo. I think this one actually came from Kaiju-Taro's collection.

Bryce- I don't know if I answered your above question earlier (sorry if not), but these are usually listed as Yonezawa toys; maybe Bullmark or Marusan if the seller is mistaken.

Why do the regular Yonezawa (non-windup) figs run so high?

these are great

kitty fire sparker - yonezawa

got this recently but it won't wind-up... has anyone ever tried to fix a broken wind-up/sparker?
is it relatively simple or not worth the trouble?

Really nice figure you found there Charlie, and equally good to revive this thread! Congratulations on him!

I haven't tried repairing a sparker myself, though I imagine if you can read Japanese there are plenty of blogs out there who report it. I have a few for vinyl repair. As for the technical side of it, depends a lot I would say on how easy it is to get at the mechanism first of all. Then you need to diagnose what the problem is, e.g. if it is something as simple as a stuck winding wheel, grinder, or if something is broken inside, or if the sparking fuel is gone. You might be able to order modern replacements for the latter, I am not sure.