what's the story with these guys? are they paying homage to any toy in particular?

I think they are paying 'homage' to Micromen. Check out the bare feet---just like the Gargamel Micromen:

whatever their homage might be, they kick ass! probably one of my favorite minis. but yeah, i'm curious as well. speaking of which, all gargamel stuff seems to be a homage to one thing or another, aside from the fight figs.

have you heard of gomess?

i guess i'll take back the "aside from the fight figs" part.

Check out the fight figure history in Super7 magazine some time. It's a great story. Their roots run deep. Fink.shit inspired by Rat Fink and all that.

Someone once told me that the Dokuromen were inspried by fan fiction characters. If that's true, I don't know any more than that.

They also seem like a nod to the evil Skull Head from the Cocobat Joe world.

http://www.microforever.com/RAH100MBatta.htm

LOL... I just thought it was more a case of "well, we have the mold for the legs already..."

i'd like to read that. do you know what issue? all i gots is the mook.

They are indeed! There was a microman knockoff/bootleg Dokuroman in the mid 70s of these guys. There is a picture in S7 volume 1 issue #4 page 41. Koji if you read this please post a pic of that fantastic display you used to have. Was there a promo bracelet with Dokuroman skulls as well or am I thinking of something else?

Dokuroman is Dead! Long live Dokuroman!

I didn't know this. I love contemporary versions of bootlegs from the '70s!
So post-modern.
Thanks for the intel.

kichigai nailed it.....in fact, the bootlegs still pop up from time to time on YJA. They get a little pricey for cheapo plastic bootlegs, but still cool.

i had a few of these and sold them for probably way too cheap

that is tough to gauge..

I have seen vintage sell for $20 - $200

&

Gargamel versions sell for $15 - $100

its one of few lines I would like to "collect them all" over time.

the gargamel ones. i had a clear green and black and orange... i think i sold all 3 together for 50 bucks

Sorry SLM I don't remember which issue off the top of my head, but I'll check at home tonight and post here unless someone beats me to it.

Here are a couple of pictures of the plastic guys. I think it's pretty cool how the back card design was also duped. These guys are about 5" tall.

wow. i've never seen the clear one before! nice! does that thing have guts? welll.....it's probably circuitry, huh?

Wow, very cool. I think I've seen those pop up now and again- thanks for sharing the photos.

yeah, i was both stoked and surprised when i got the '08 lucky bag silver doku for $16, and that included shipping!

No guts - these are solid plastic.

You can pick them up on YJA for around 3000 Yen. Although they are often priced at a lot more. I've even seen what appeared to be an entire store display for sale one time. Back display board with about 20+ of these guys!

shit i got ripped off mine was $18 shipped

Yes Dokuroman was a 70's bootleg version of Microman likely with some influence from Dokuroking Walder of Henshin Cyborg fame. They are made of horribly cheap plastic and were sold at the Japanese equivalent of 5&Dime stores. It is hard to determine how many variants were made but I have seen

gold chest paint green paper insert
gold chest paint red paper insert
blue chest paint no insert
red chest paint no insert
green chest paint no insert
I've not seen gold chest paint blue insert, but that doesn't mean it's not out there somewhere. I have three of the 5 I've seen.

Here is the full sheet that once belonged to Koji before he split it up for sale (heartbreaking Koji! haha):



The three I own are lurking on this shelf:



At Super Festival 2000 Altimet released VP04 Walder Soldier: Dokuroman which was a costume + head + chestplate for M10X type Microman figures which was clearly based on Dokuroman. Here are mine pictured with and without the costume on a white M10X:



Gargamel made their dokuroman head bracelet (not sure what year offhand) and as someone mentioned Koji does have this beautiful piece or did, you can just barely see his Dokuro bling here (i know I have a close up somewhere...) circa 2005:



Gargamel then released their run of Dokuroman vinyls starting in 2005 with these:









(green painted chest was a previous Lucky Bag release)

Next came Gargamel x Super 7's release of 3 different Dokuroman vinyls:

black with orange paint
clear orange with black paint
and glow with orange and black paint
(sorry no pics of these handy with me, I can shoot some later if anyone hasn't seen these)

Then this winter Dokuroman made another Gargamel appearance with the release of Pink Glow version and the Lucky Bag Silver Metallic (I'm still waiting for mine but I have all of the others)

Oh there is also the one of a kind piece in Thrashout which is a chromed one. (Sorry pic is also not on hand, I'll have to see if I can find it later, or perhaps someone else can post it up?)

Special mention should also go to Microbatta Skull Head version (hiding in the case behind my Dokuroman figs) and this unreleased version (SDCC '06):



...and the VxFxCx release of the Dokuroking M10X costume kits (unpainted color version, painted color version, and clear version pictured below)




That's about everything. I'm always after Dokuroman stuff so I'd love to hear if there is more out there!

-Adam

Wow, thanks for all the info and pics.

Killer post DK! Nice to see that never released proto micro Rumina Borg - was that the year Oka turned up with a ton of cool stuff on display. If only they'd release those!