OK, so I have no idea about this and I figured what better resource than Skullbrain.

I bought the Toxic Phantom Boogie and now I want a couple of the 12" Secret Base figures to go around him because I think it would be awesome. Now I know you can get the armor through a number of resources, but what about the bodies? can you just get any henshin cyborg body?

For instance there is a Cyborg Walder Invaders Z on ebay, but he has armor on. Can you remove the armor and get just the body? or does it have to be a certain type? Any help would be appreciated.

The Walder Invader Z you mention is likely a hollow body vinyl toy like the ones pictured here.
It's made to look like a vintage Invader but it is not a cyborg body wearing a removable vinyl costume.


There are a few different (newer) cyborg body types but unfortunately the vintage one works best
with most of the costumes, and it's not the easiest to find nor the cheapest.
Even the reissued vintage style Takara Henshin Cyborg from 1998 is hard to find.
$50-$60 would be a VERY decent price for one that comes with a costume (Left).
The single figure without the costume on the right is actually harder to find, as are the Walders.

I don't even have any of the Secret Base vinyl subforms or costumes but
I'm sure there are some other members here that can give much better details.
In the meantime, don't expect that Invader to be what you are looking for.
Those are cool on their own and I just got another one, The Satan King, for under $25 shipped.
The real Invaders were not reproduced and a vintage one would likely go for $80-$100 loose.

Just wanted to tag on a few things. FYI, visibleinnards.org is a very good resource for this question.

Check out these sites for info on the more recent HC evolutions:

http://jbwid.com/idxfuture.htm

http://www.mykooltoyz.com/cyborg.html


I don't even think the vintage Invaders could fit the costume as they are smaller than the normal HC bodies. The armor is molded on to the body and cannot be removed, unlike the Walders. (Maybe it can be removed, but I've never seen it.)

Alongside the reissue HC bodies, Takara produced soft vinyl versions of the Walder aliens and Invaders. As Dave mentions, these do not have removable costumes and cannot wear the SB suits.




I agree, the SB suits were made specifically to fit HC bodies. As far as vintage-style HC bodies go, the Takara 1998 reissues covered the vintage HC body (clear w/ gold or silver inner parts), as well as the clear red and green Walder bodies (the clear purple was released as a set with the Dokuro King suit). The reissue HC body is the easiest to find; even the reissues of the Walders are difficult to come by these days.

As a note, watch out if you buy the reissue suit-body combo packs because there are reports of the suits degrading over time and melting on to the plastic bodies.

There are also the Neo HC, Cyborg 99 and KWII bodies. I've seen SB suits fitted on to Neo bodies, but I think modification (of the suits, bodies or both) would be required for the 99 and KWII bodies. Neo bodies are by far the cheapest and easiest to find.

EDIT: Checked and the Neos also have fit issues with the suits. So the only sure bet is a vintage-style body (or Obitsu body).



You can also try Obitsu bodies, which come in clear, flesh and black plastic, and fit the SB suits well. These are a little 'better' than the HC bodies because they are built with screws, whereas HCs have plastic joints and other less durable parts which can wear out over time. They still sell these from their Japan website, and the bodies are fairly inexpensive.

If you're looking for obitsu bodies, check out JunkySpot. They'll do ya right.

Thing is, I didn't really like their bodies. Yeah, the Secret Base suits fit *amazingly* well on them, but I found them kinda floppy. Ironically enough, I just won a '98 HC body offa eBay...I hope it fares better than the obitsu. I'll letcha know how it turns out (I have the double-cast translucent pink/gid Toxic Phantom suit to dress him up in!).

I welcome all of akum6n's comments and additions.
I most certainly am not an authority on HC and owe most of my knowledge of these toys
to the posts of members on the groups I belong to.
I was a purposely vague around the vintage Invaders because I suspected
they came only as 8" bodies with non-removable armor but I wasn't sure.
So I'm guessing this addition of the 12" vinyls Invaders to the HC line is a first?
Anyway, I saw Bryan's post early today and was waiting for other members
with more collecting experience to reply
but I knew for sure that he wouldn't be happy with the vinyls for his desired applications.
I really like them but anyone getting any of these vinyl figures would be disappointed
if they were expecting a true HC figure.

Those links are very good,
I remember the FUTURE WORLDS pages from a while ago
but it looks like this site has been updated and greatly improved.
Rik's site is an excellent resource has a great checklist that I refer to often,
and VI is THE best messageboard for abundant info on all things Cyborg.
I don't have any Obitsu bodies but they are one of a few HC substitutes that people have found
that apparently work with Secret Base suits and the like.
There are some clear 12" GI Joes that I've read work too.
The Neo HC are also great figures if you are looking for clear cyborg toys,
but yes, they are not going to work out with suits made for the vintage style HC.
Same with the Cyborg99 bodies.
These are very cool figures and all these different style bodies have their own unique attractions
to a collector of Microman and Micronauts and space toys and monsters and robots, etc. etc.
Good luck.

Hmm, well the one I had was from a DxSxHx Stag Beetle suit, so it could have been a different build. Obitsu even went so far as to make custom bodies for some of their suits.

@Dave- Sorry, wasn't trying to one-up your post. I just wanted to elaborate because I looked into this specific issue when I started collecting 'new vinyl' suits a couple years back. A lot of the stuff is there on VI, just spread among various posts and such. There is some info on Skullbrain, too, but not nearly as much (and it's mostly from the VI crowd anyway, so...).

Absolutely man, I was not put off.
I agree, there is so much info on VI about this topic but it is hard to find
because it is not all in one place.
I know I've posted similar questions at least twice concerning what fits what
and what alternatives there are for cyborg bodies.
The vintage style cyborg bodies are cool all by themselves and I don't like covering them up.
I've got a cheap GI Joe style body from BIG LOTS in that Ultraman suit.

I knew I came to the right place, it will take me a while to absorb all of this information... Because it is a LOT! But thanks to everyone that was willing to help a damn fool like myself.

So I looked at the Obitsu figures and that looks like what I'm looking for, because the black with the pink toxic phantom, etc, etc would be awesome. But they are not quite 12", does that make a difference? As Sanjeev said they are a little floppy, is that because of a size difference and the armor is floppy, or is it the figure itself? I don't mind leaning a figure up against the wall, but I do mind the armor looking like its about to fall off.

It's amazing that we have such a good community that isn't "are U retarded blah, blah" and that I can ask an honest question.

Are you retarded!?



Nah, for real, Secret Base armor will fit on an Obitsu body like a damn glove. Their dimensions are perfect. My beef is with the actual joints on the Obitsu bodies--some of them are ridiculously tight (to the point where moving them brings fear of cracking the plastic!) and some are totally loose (the head connection to the body, the mid-torso waist joint, etc.).

It sounds like you're just looking to display the suits, so you should be good to go with Obitsu.

I like to play, so HC bodies with their nice, tight joints are the way to go. Plus, the robot innards are CLUTCH. Perfect to offset the monsterous armor!

I tired a few obitsu bodies, didn't like them either. They're too thin for the SB suits, aesthetically speaking anyway. Nothing beats the HC/Walder bodies, with a bit of guts peeking out beneath a Toxic chest piece... the obitsus I had were pretty damn tight at the joints though. My re-issue Walders are a bit loose but my vintage ones are perfect!

Here's a quick pic that shows how different the suits look with obitsu vs walder. The KWII broad shoulders make the suits an impossible fit (red and purple, sitting).



Vintage ones can be tight enough to make suave poses

Nice group shot there showing the differences.

I see what you mean now. That picture would have done me a lot better last night but oh well. I ordered my Obitsu bodies already and they are on the way, now I just have to find the armor.

I got 1 clear and 2 black. I'm gonna try to get one of each type to go with the bodies. the clear is gonna go with the rainy day phantom 8 man, and then I'm gonna do a paint splatter on one of the black bodies (this is another reason I didn't get a HC). It's gonna take me a while to track down the suits, but I'll post as it goes.

As a henshin cyborg elitist snob bastard I can only look at SB or OG suits on an OG or repro classic henshin cyborg body - but I will put a DSH or Skull Toys suit on an Obitsu.

Obitsus seem like quality figs, and stad way better than floppy repro henshin cyborgs, BUT those skinny waists put me right off my porridge.

yeah, like I said once I saw khanate's comparison shot's I had a little buyers remorse. But upward and onward I say. I may have to feed them before putting armor on them.

I would offer to buy one of those Obitsu from you, should you find you don't like it.
I've been to the site many times but never commited to buying any.

I only bought 3. 1 I'm planning on customizing with paint splatter, I want to get one of each of the SB phantoms to go with the armor. If I ever sell one that will never happen. Like I said, I'll take pics, and I may hate the bodies later on and decide to go with HC.

Actually I got them today, it always surprises me when I hold something how much bigger they are than I think.

I am a bit late into this, but all the Obitsu body joints can be tightened and loosened to your liking with a screwdriver.

If yer cybo is floppy, just LMK and I can assist.

I so dig this shit! I am way late getting into this, but thanks for all the cool post. Such cool stuff!

I've heard from other resources as well that the plastic body and the vinyl costume from the reissue body/suit combo packs chemically react with each other and end up melting together.

As far as anybody here has experienced, has this vinyl "degradation" or "melting together" occured when leaving the Secret-Base produced vinyl suits on the reissue HC/Walder bodies for long periods of time?

I have my eye on a SB devil king suit, and wanted to pair it with a reissued vintage style Walder. I just don't want to risk this whole meltdown thing.

Well, I'm not sure about the SB suits, but I'm guessing they're much higher quality and a lot less prone to such meltdowns. I picked up one of the Cyborg A reissues with the Mazinger Z suit. Thing sucked out loud. The body was pretty floppy...and the suit bits were really greasy and melty. And they smelled like a toxic waste site...

Way way late response - but Sanjeev is correct - SB suits are much higher quality than the Takara re-issue suits - they are grade A made in Japan vinyl and won't meltdown. Death Phantom and a re-issue body make an incredible combination - you should give it a shot!

Most of my re-issues are sti

Thanks Muton! That's reassuring. So it seems to be more of a quality flaw with the re-issue suits, rather than the re-issue bodies, that is causing the melt down.

From my experiences - yes. Guy - any comments to add?

I am getting sucked into this genre of figures.