Hi all,

These guys have come up a couple of times, and derailed the Toygraph thread, so I figured I'd post up their own thread with some real pics and thoughts... anyone else pick any of these up?

I wrote a whole blog post about them here.

Dead Presidents (Matt Walker) designed a neat vintage style spaceman as a way to combine his love of vinyl toys, tin rayguns, and classic-ey spacemen. The design by Matt was sculpted by Sunguts.



They're just over six inches with the helmet on, and have a really fun take on fight-figure proportions. I added the pipecleaners myself



The belt logo and backpack detail are actually vinyl stickers applied to the painted figure, and then sealed on using the same Monster Kolor gloss coat as the rest of the figure.



There are two weapons so far, designed by Matt Doughty (Onell) and cast flawlessly in resin.



The rayguns hook up to make a space rifle.



You can go Akimbo-style...



Or beat dudes up close with a space hammer. Matt showed me this.



The rifle looks sweet as well.



I dig them, and am looking forward to what's coming next. The latest Japanese release can be purchased from the One Up shop, and a real US release is forthcoming.

The way the gun functions is so well thought out.
I'm waiting for a new painted face version though. The expression is great, but I think it needs paint to come through.
It looks like he farted and there's no escape.

Honestly, that was sort of my thought, too. The flat toy colors are cool, but the head sculpt is good enough that you could really go to town on it. I almost think it'd be neat to paint the face really 'model-like' with oil paints and shading under the helmet. I really like the way Matt masked off the visor area and painted the helmet on him... making it look like a hazmat suit or something really changes the overall feel.

I wasn't terribly hot for the fully-painted red, white, & blue one...but I really like the concept of a fully painted figure like that in general. I think the face would look a LOT better if a thin black line were added just over the eye to simulate eyelashes. He'd look a lot more natural, I think.

Anyway, I should post some pics of the dude I got. It's a clear one, and I intend to fill it with glow gravel...

not digging the painted one at all.
the microman style one that P5 posted has me all like though.
would love one of them.
the gun kicks so much as. reminds me of modulok's guns, but better.

I like the Time Traveller versions.
Got a yellow one - need the blue one - next Orange???
(black trimmed one doesn't count)

Those look great together!!

Cosmic Squadron Kaiju Hunters from Kaiju Bazaar. I have almost no idea how DP painted these, but they're incredible. One's suit was freezer burnt and the other's burnt to a crisp facing some mysterious menace.

I love these guys, wish i could get my hands on some of them! The more micronautesque the better

on sale now
http://www.cosmicsquadron.bigcartel.com/

way better than the $300 price tag at Double Punch

Def, but i want THIS one

As usual, Ben, your atrocious photography continues to amaze and astound. Or maybe it's just that I'm jealous you got that blue "freezer-burned" one. I saw these online a while back when they were for sale at Double Punch(?). They didn't impress me. They just looked sorta messy...though the added bits seemed kinda fun. Very Mantech.

Then, a while back, I had a chance to see some of them in person. I nearly shat myself. To be fair, these guys really ARE next to impossible to photograph without losing the majority of their impact. I fell in love with that blue one...and it looks like you snagged it. Congrats.

Matt told me the story behind this bashed-up set of one-offs. These are the veteran kaiju-hunting platoon. Apparently, they were sent off to bring down this particular beast with fire- and freeze-breath abilities. They started their mission with the most high-tech gear build into their armor--everything bright, shiny, and brand new. Of course, things didn't go exactly as planned.

All the guys are painted up with worn, stained, and scorched armor. They all feature clear, painted helmets with smears across the faces so you can see the "battle-damaged" paint jobs on their bloodied faces. All...except the advanced recon squad member, Radar, that is. His armor is curiously pristine. Not to mention the silver head/black eyes, the mysterious "180" unit number on his back, and of course the altered Cosmic Squadron seal on his belt buckle!

I know I'm a fucking nerd, but I love shit like that!

So anyway, in trying to help Walker with his own terrible photography, I tried to take some glamour shots of Radar back when I was shooting other toys in my backyard. Not surprisingly, they came out teh suck...









The pics aren't fucking terrible in and of themselves I guess (though my camera, in general, takes pretty washed out shots outside in bright sunshine)...but they simply don't capture what you actually see with your eyes, holding the toy in person.



First, the closeups of the chest look almost like the toy is dusty. Yep, this is more of Matt's color-change flake paint. Admittedly, I wasn't blown away by these toys when they first came out...and in fact, I've never been a huge fan of Walker's super-insane-glossy paint and rainbowy, color-change/metallic paint jobs. To me, that stuff just doesn't look right on most traditional-style kaiju. But on these retro space toys, the shit is perfect. I mean, *really* brilliant! The translucent burgundy paint on Radar, with the color-change (why isn't it just called "glitter" by the way???), plus the metallic silver head. Fucking NUTS.



Anyway, back to the shitty pics. Next, the helmet looks really cloudy--horrendously bright glare. In actuality, it looks very clear in person and you can see his head perfectly. I have no idea how to fix this. Maybe smaller aperture and longer exposure time???



And finally, the bare shots of his head don't even come close to capturing how eerie this fucker looks. Like, the silver is CRAZY. It's not chrome, like a terminator endoskeleton head, but it's very bright with a metallic flake texture used in it. That texture is completely lost in these pics. And the black eyes and other facial details are just matte black, but they really just suck up the light and look crazy-dark against the rest of the face. That lovely contrast, again, is missing in the pics.



(Can ya see my dumbass reflection in the closeups of the chest??? haha)

It looks like Matt didn't use these shots., so I guess it's cool for me to post 'em now. Anyway, I think I'm officially sold on these figures. They seem hard as hell to get, but he tells me more are coming...and they're gonna keep coming. These recent guys have blown me away far more than the original figures released at SDCC. As long as he keeps coming up with intense, creative paint schemes like this, I'll keep following this line...

Fuck you, Sanjeev, I took proper detailed pics of Kaiju Hunters Gary “Heat Death” and Steve “Infernus” as they meet the mysterious No-Mad.





The frost effects are amazing. Lots of clears colors and shades going on.



The scraped away ice effect is what sold me on picking up a second Kaiju Hunter. I never would have thought to do something like this, and it's amazing.







Gotta love the clear helmets.



Fire and ice...

YES!!!

Huh...I just noticed Walker has revamped his Cosmic Squadron blog. Looks totally different:
http://cosmicsquadron.blogspot.com/
I heard rumblings of a webcomic or something. Hope that shit happens--that'd be tight! More fluff, damnit!

Hell yes ! A comic would be great. I guess he's planing something along the line of The Gendrone Chronicles http://www.gendronechronicles.com/
I ordered a soldier from the Rainbow Squad. Can't wait to see this first hand ! Those kaijus're gonna see some troubles.

Glad to hear they're getting some love. The rainbow ones looked awesome.

Y'know, I'm just not feeling the Gendrone Chronicles. Like, I love the artwork and layout--it totally feels like the free mini-comic you'd get with any number of great 80's toys (He-Man, Starriors, Sectaurs, etc...), but I actually kinda expect more in terms of story. Heh...*just like* those free mini-comics from the 80's, GC is kinda pointless. Like, stuff just sorta happens...with a ton of melodramatic dialog. That works for the Glyos Passcodes (video games), but I would like more from an on-going comic.

I'm hoping whatever Walker has cooking has some substance to it...

Anyone who wanted to snag one of these and has been wondering where they were for the last few months is in luck! The next production run is up for preorder now:

http://www.cosmicsquadron.bigcartel.com/

Get yourself the main character fig Haz-mat:


Or a blank with clear helmet!

Do these new releases come with the gun?

Uhhh... I'm going to have to assume no, by default, but I have no doubt if you ask for one Matt will hook you up.

Yeah, I couldn't resist the painted. Been wanting that version since I first saw it, gun or not.
I'll shoot Matt a mail, guess I could always go buy a gun on One Up too.