Over the years, whenever I got the chance, I would buy original advertising art. I don't have anything by the greats like Maemura or Komatsuzaki, but I think I have amassed a nice little collection of art by some of the unsung/unknown artists whose illustrations on toy packaging, food items, and other ephemera peripheral to the tokusatsu craze were used to sell product. Since I am going to be taking them in to be nicely framed, I thought now would be a good time to photograph them and share.

First up are some pieces used, I believe, for toy packaging.

This Zaboga piece is quite large and, I believe, comes from some toy packaging or perhaps an illustration in a magazine.


This beautiful Zone Fighter piece, I think, comes from a toy package. Any help w/ the translation would be greatly appreciated.

Now for some food packaging.


I am pretty sure these Zone Fighters come from Cisco candy products as does this Barom 1:


My most recent score was these great pachi kaiju used on a Cisco candy wrapper. I was lucky to also get the actual wrapper.




Jumborg Ace has always been a favorite of mine and I have been lucky to acquire some really nice pieces. I think this one comes from a Cisco candy product:


These Jumborg Ace illustrations were used on a box of Cisco chocolate flake candy.


I also have the box flat mock-up and a sealed, original box. The box still contains the chocolate flake product on the top portion and one side features a cool bagatelle-type game.




Here is another Jumborg Ace chocolate flake candy illustration, box flat mock-up, and sealed, original box:




I tried to win the illustration from the bagatelle game side, but lost the auction. If anyone reading this happens to have that piece, please contact me. I would very much like to add it to my collection.

Here's some Jetter Mars illustrations used for pogs and the original pogs. Any help w/ the translation on the back of the pog would be greatly appreciated.




I saved my favorites for last. These illustrations were used for an Asahi Sonograph record/book set. They are not very colorful, but I think the style and subject matter are fantastic. I don't, yet, have the original sonograph set, but I know which one it comes from and am searching!



I have a large collection of photos of other original advertising art from auctions that I have lost. Maybe I will post them some day, but I feel a little uncomfortable posting other people's pictures of items I do not own. Hope you enjoy seeing these. If anyone else has similar pieces, please share them here.

Outstanding collection Mark.

amazing stuff Mark

Excellent collection !

Fantastic! I particularly like the Zone Fighter painting used for a toy insert and the Jumborg Ace full body one with the car. The pachi kaiju ones are great too. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome collection! Please do post the other pics!

Ryuusei Ningen Zone

Push-n-Go

Mighty Liner

Thanks, Daniel!

Wow, im blown away!

i didn't even realize that the original artwork was available for these package designs. fascinating!

do you have a personal connection to the candies or whatnots from childhood? or are you drawn in by the artwork as art in itself?

wonderful to see these collected and preserved by someone who cares!

Really love the pachi cisco ones! Such great colors.

Awesome collection!

Here's one more I forgot to post, probably because I am not getting it framed. It is huge, measuring 14 x 28.5 inches and appears to be targets for a shooting game.




Bill, I don't have any particular connection to the original candies. I have always been attracted to the graphics that drive our appreciation for these toys and other related stuff so when I saw that I could obtain original, one-of-a-kind pieces, I had to have some.

Wow, that last one is amazing.

Woah, that's a pretty incredible collection! Thanks for sharing it!

Phenomenal collection...The greyscale / reddish orange pieces are really grabbing me.

That is bonkers Mark. If you ever want to sell/trade the Barom-1 piece, please let me know. I only have one original, and it is the art t the Barom-1 gun set.

Amazing sir. I need to visit the headquarters someday, stop being lazy.

Love all of 'em but that Zone Fighter piece is great! Thanks for sharing Mark!

Recently acquired my first Masami Watanabe original. I believe it is an illustration for a magazine. Features UGM force members from Ultraman 80. No Ultra hero or monsters but has 'splosions and shootin' Fantastic piece!

Very nice! Keep 'em coming!

I love how one of them has the "sense" to crouch down while shooting...completely out in the open!

Wow, these are all amazing.
Love the Ultraman artwork. Wish we could see which monster they were shooting at! (Except Gavadon, that one was actually sad!)

Masami Watanabe did a lot of illustrations for "TV Magazine" in the 70s. I would start checking those for your piece.
They can be tricky to locate and sometimes pricey. I own a few Microman illustrations done for the magazine by him and have so far only manage to locate one in an issue. Kinda fun trying to find them though...

Pics please Billy!

Recently scored this fantastic Jumborg Ace piece by Masami Watanabe


It was, unfortunately, taped to a large sheet of paper. Luckily the tape was minimal on the edges and not on the image. In the margin of the backing paper was this writing. I do not believe it is in the hand of the artist. Any help with a translation would be much appreciated. Thanks.