I don't build or collect the Japanese Garage kits, and honestly the hyper-realistic detail on many just doesn't resonate with me. I'm a kaiju guy I like a little roughness and some imperfections, but some of them are amazing in execution and I like to marvel at the skill that goes into them.

Of course there's Fewture and Restore. Does anyone have links to others? Here's another company with some pretty amazing kits, http://www.manogk.com

How have these never caught on over here? Garage kits are awesome even though some of them are disturbing (I don't need to see anime characters with tentacles in their hoo-ha). But the execution and detail are amazing.

I checked the site, that D garage kit is awesome!

ungawa seems to keep track of the companies that release gara-related kits. he also tracks builders & painters of garage kits. i'd give him a ring.

Daimos still does great stuff:
http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~daimos/cn3/05kenbun.html
http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~daimos/cn3/index.html
Along with their sister company Murakami:
http://www.kaijukits.com/library/muraka ... ong/kk.htm
http://www.kaijukits.com/library/muraka ... ong/kk.htm

SSSHHHHHH!!!!

Seriously though I was just thinking about that while I was perusing fewture toys the other day. I love Garage Kits. The Cyclops I painted was a GK. There are issues with them, there's almost an art to finding kit's that can be dual purposed as toys, and not just figurines. That said, I've got a pretty extensive list of kit's I'm planning on painting.

I didn't really think GK's were supposed to be toys as much as statues. I actually don't think I've seen any that are "toys."

one of these days, i'm going to build and paint a garage kit. they look so awesome when complete assuming you can paint. It just seems like so much work... cutting, sanding, pining, painting, etc.

some cool robot kits here.
http://www.e2046.com/robot.php

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, I really consider the Harryhausen cyclops I painted to be a toy. It's made out of vinyl and it has 7 points of articulation. However, I've seen the cyclops with no articulation whatsoever. There are also some Guyver and 3x4 GK's I'd consider to be toys. It's really hit or miss, as well as the way you put them together.

Also not all garage kit's are resin, a lot of them are vinyl.

A true garage kit is a model kit- a character, vehicle or hardware (sci-fi weapons, etc) sculpt that comes in parts, unassembled and unpainted, in resin or vinyl. X-Plus sometimes markets their statues and figures with a descriptor they came up with, “Garage Toy”, that nods to their roots as a GK company.

GKs originated in Japan in the early 80s, when several monster, sci-fi and anime fans there decided to start making model kits of subjects that had not been tackled by big toy or model companies. The term derives from the fact that these were model kits being sculpted and poured by “amateur” hobbyists, often working in their homes or “garages”. By the mid-80s, GK companies began springing up all around the States (the Midwest, CA (Sideshow Toys started as a GK company) and NJ are the strongholds), and around that point, in Japan and the US, the quality of the kits begins to rise steadily on every level. The sculpts become better, larger and more elaborate, and the castings improved tenfold- in the late eighties, it was common to have to put in several hours of seam-scraping, sanding, and bubble-filling and parts-fitting before you even began to build a kit; today, the majority of GK companies use pressure-casting techniques that leave behind nary a seam-line, and the kits are, relatively, a breeze to build.

Outside of the older companies like X-Plus and VOLKS that used to do tons of kaiju releases, I gotta say that I don’t much try to keep up with the Japanese GK scene, unless there’s a new Garamon or Pygmon kit. The best place to get an idea of what’s out there in the domestic GK world, currently, is here:
http://www.bucwheat.com/2k12/2k12.htm

Beyond that, if you can find them, Terry Webb’s The Garage Kit That Ate My Wallet series of books is an exhaustive, fascinating, photo-packed history of the whole scene.

I can say from experience that the online GK world has many similarities with the sofubi-collecting world… the amazing works of art being done by fans, for fans; the intensity and chase of the new/unrelenting flow of wallet-shocking new releases; even parallel controversies and infighting. Nerds is nerds, I guess!