i've been watching some of the old barom 1. they make me feel like i drank lots of tussin. i have no clue what's going on. but i like them. for me, the toys come first, then i (try to) figure out where they came from.

I love watching Barom-1 too....I REALLY wish I could get subtitles and really get the dialog though

I chose "I just like the toys" even though I loved Ultraman, Spectreman, Space Giants, and Jonny Socko and his Giant Robot when I was a kid. I'd love to watch these again, but seriously, I knew these shows sucked when I was 10 and I think my brain would implode if I watched more than a few episodes now that I'm an adult. I could probably get into a tokusatsu marathon with a few friends who 'get it', but i don't see myself watching much of this stuff on my own. Something else I'd like is to see at least one episode of each show from which I own a toy so I could have some idea of the context from whence they came.

I did both -- really for me the shows have a special place in my heart while growing up in the Midwest. Saturday nights were Monster / scary movies on one of the local TV stations along with the local spook host Son of Svengoolie. When you're 7 and seeing Matango for the first time (which would have been, oh, 1977-ish) that stuff kinda makes a good impression on a person! Let alone watching Spectreman and then acting out the episodes with your friends

Without the shows I probably wouldn't be so into the various monster vinyl like I am -- or at least have the same appreciation for the sculpts that I do!

I'm only into the toys because of my love of Kaiju movies, so the 2 go hand in hand for me.

I don't think any of these shows suck at all

Neither do I. Agreeing with many others here, without the shows I would not have begun collecting kaiju. The classic Ultraman dvd set is a must have, especially if you have kids. My son and I watch an episode now and then and he enjoys playing with some of the Bandai Ultra kaiju I've bought for him.

S'all about the toys!

Being from the UK we never really had much exposure to the monster movies that most kaiju is based on . . I guess that's why I never really see the attraction of it, but can relate more to SB, RxH and Gargamel Fight figures . . . coming from a toy collector background and opposed to being a movie buff!