I dug up these beauties....Takatoku Cyborg 009 Vinyls.
Look closely at the clear chests, I can't believe how crystal clear the vinyl stayed on these.
These are my most treasured figures and one of may all time favorite series by Shotaro Ishinomori.

More pics on my flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97049254@N00/

Beautiful!

Excellent toys Ralph.

No yellowing, wow!

wow... those are so fucking amazing!

They got some awesome hair.
Great stuff. How big?

awesome...I just scored some old cyborg 009 manga last week...these rule

They are pretty close to standard size...8 inches or so...

i always liked these vinyls but have yet to pull the trigger on these guys . thats what i love about collecting vintage vinyl just when you start getting satisfied with what you have something else is just around the corner . thanks ralph .

Very cool, Ralph. The stylized heads really set them apart. When were they made? Were they associated with a show or mag?

Cyborg 009 was a manga series created by Shotaro Ishinomori whose body of work is mind blowing.
Ishinomori created popular series like Kikaider, Akumaizer 3, Inazuman and more.

The manga series began in the 60s, as did various iterations of Cyborg 009 as anime.

These Takatoku figures I believe were released in the 70s along with diecast versions of 009
and the Dolphin ship. Bandai released a really nice set of 5"-6" Cyborg 009 figures some 5 years ago or so, along with a new Chogokin of the Dolphin Ship.

These are great! I'd seen these before...

http://toyboxdx.com/datafiles/data/taka ... owerup.jpg

...but not the vinyls you posted with these transparent chests!

DUDE!! Ishinomori is the mother fucking MAN!!! Kamen Rider V3 anyone?? Hello?? Wow... It's all in the fro bro... sheeeet... Dude's the equivalent of Bob Kane or some shit..

Yeah...Bob Kane times 20! And no disrespect to Bob Kane...I LOVE Batman and he fought hard, I mean really hard for creator rights and helped pave the way for creators, writers and artists. But he ( with Bill Finger ) only really had one successfull creation.

But, Ishinomori.....much like Osamu Tezuka, constantly created character after character, story after story...heroes and monsters that still have huge relevance in Japan and the world.

Kamen Rider... just slipped my mind....and you are right Erik...
Ishinomori is the mother fucking MAN!!!

Stan Lee is a much better comparison to Ishinomori. TONS of creations, and insane amount of charisma. Both of those dudes are characters in their own right.

Ishinomori put out some of the best manga of the 70's and did a ton for Japanese TV and comics. He is the shit!

Wow! Those toys are really amazing. I love the clear torsos. They just wouldn't have the same visual impact without the clear. Thanks to everyone who shared background info. Lots of interesting information here. I'm taking notes.

So, my interest is totally piqued about Mr. Ishinomori. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what a good starting point would be for me to start reading his work? I'm guessing it's a sizable body of work, so any opinions about what might be a good starting point would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Yeah, these are some great toys. I passed a few times mint of card years ago but now I realize how stupid I was.

I'd start with the live action stuff. Easier to find and assimilate.
All of it will have you shaking your head in wonder and laughter at the same time.

Well, you can't exclude "Jack Kirby" when using Stan Lee in a comparison as a creator. It's heavily debated but Kirby had a huge hand if not more, in creating the silver age Marvel lineup.

Stan Lee has consistently overstated his creativity and exaggerated his involvement in creating the classic Marvel characters we all know and love. He is basically a skilled salesman, who did contribute great ideas, but Kirby/Ditko/Romita/Claremont and others really did the work to create the mythos we all know/love.

But back to these vinyls. Very awesome! When were they released? The pristine clear chests make it seem recent, but I think I would I have noticed these released if they were recent. 1980s?

Good point Ralph, Kirby deserves ALOT of that credit. I was just trying to come up with a comparison that would be easily recognizable.

You are going to have a hard time getting a good collection of actual Ishinomori comics going. The live action stuff is far more accessible. However the comics for Cyborg 009 were released here in the states by Tokyopop a few years ago.

Yeah, I've been meaning to pick up the new translated manga versions, thanks for reminding me about those.

Worth it for the art alone!

Those are some real knock-out figures, Ralph.

Thanks!
I always wondered if Takatoku made more characters from the series or if these were it.
Anybody have any more info please chime in.