I was happy to finally connect with one of the Mothra Fairy Twins sets recently. Peanuts made into vinyl form with a pair of cute and squidgy larvae pets to accompany them, you can't go wrong.



I confess a mirrored Mothra could be the one thing that might have improved this set even more, but the level of detail in matching the sculpts is really well done. A wonderful quality toy from Yuji.

Nice Shobijin, Steve! I have that set as well, and it's killer...really, I think I just love ALL the M1 figures of human characters. And with an original yellow larva, I have a small squadron of Mothrae to do some damage!

I have a love-hate relationship with Mogera though. Don't get me wrong--I love the sculpt. I have the rare-ish green one with orange spray...and it's one of my favorite Bullmarks. But the toy was sculpted before the movie came out--I presume--as it depicts the preproduction version of the Mogera suit. I absolutely love that movie...and I just wish there were more sofubi figures of the final Mogera design...

Oh yeah, it certainly bares little resemblance to the onscreen creation, that is for sure, but that adds a lot to the charm for me. I think you are probably right in thinking it could have been based on early concept work/art. As for 'realistic' versions, the classic Bandai figure is pretty great, if hard to find with both antennae intact. But for me, it is all amount the thin robo-drill Bullmark. It just embodies a great toy, if not really the Mysterians monster itself.

Congratulations Steve ! What a nice set! Pardon my ignorance, but are the twins identical, aside from mirror-placement of the flower hairband and anklet? Or is there a way to tell the difference between Moll and Lora? Wasn't there an evil sister, featured in the movie series?

I have been reluctant to collect he human M1's because I think it would throw off the scale of the others. Maybe I need to start a solely M1 humans shelf. Those twins do look great though. And that Gatchaman figure has been calling my name for a while.

Congrats!! These are still on my wish list.

Well, this set is meant to depict the showa-era Shobijin, so I'm not even sure they were given individual names...much less their evil older sister, Belvera! But, yeah, they're pretty much identical/mirrored, iirc.

What Sanjeev said, Grace. Perfectly mirrored separate sculpt executions. Any redundancy is washed away by Yuji's hand, and I love that they've captured the same but distinctness of the twins. I wonder how the Ito sisters felt about being immortalised in vinyl form? Not too many 'human' characters ever get to make it to toys, let alone ones who look just as themselves in character.

Thank you Sanjeev and Steve! That set is truly a darling! Too bad the names aren't inscribed in teeny tiny Kanji on the anklet--that would've been extra cute! Congrats on the adoption, really nice toys!
P.S. The larvae creep me out a bit...

Some moar Greenmonses.

Pardon the ignorance, but what is that red spot? An eye? To me it looks like a ladybug climbing up the leggies

It is indeed one of a couple eyes on the Greenmons, Grace. You can see a different view of him here that might give you a better idea of positioning on the body. Though, as he is a plant monster, having a ladybug on him is about as great an idea as I have heard!

Thanks for the clarification Steve! Weird that the eyes are positioned in what would be the "knees"! You would think having eyes located down so low is bad for locating enemies headed your way or trying to hunt a snack on the move? But I suppose if you are stalking little humans that barely come up to your ankles, then "knee eyes" will do Personally, I think that's why "it" lost out to Ultraman, in their tussels
P.S. So the "baby" hasn't sprouted his eyes yet?

Well, in his defense, not that such a great creature needs championing, but in any case such positioning reflects the on-screen appearance of the rubber suited monster:



The little fella actually does also have the eyes sculpted in on the mini figure, though on both this and the green release they are not painted (only the special pink egg release does). Not sure why that decision was made, but I defer to Yuji's expertise in the matter. Might have been just coming off too 'busy' to do, with multiple paints on a small figure. They tend to stick with simple traditional paint apps for the small toys.

Pardon my ignorance, but is there some sort of technique that sculptors utilize to make a mirror of a sculpt? Or did he just straight up sculpt the same figure, twice, nearly identical, except mirrored.

Those are the cutest damn larvae...

While there are some techniques that might be employed for this type of mirroring, they are fairly complex, and whereas this is all about handsculpting and traditional artistry of toy making, I would guess that Yuji simply did this himself, with much patience and dedication. To save a bit of work, I think the limbs are symmetric, so that at least he could re-use some parts of the same mold.

^^ i dont think it could be possible without digital (although i havent thought about it that long. ). Surely he must have just sculpted both. Thats some serious talent.


Any ways you were thinking steve?

Well, digital is the most likely, which is why I think it is unlikely, but I suppose there could also be some kind of pantographic/pointing machine setup to model from, or possible inversion of some sort of the mold, but these would be complex to pull of and still require fine tuning post-production to fix the details. I am sure Yuji saw this as a challenge and test of his skill, which he passed beautifully. Artistry.

^^ yea there may be some sort of setup you could use to help aid in the sculpting like keeping things the same height, size etc, but i'd imagine calipers and a good eye is what he used. I dont think its possible to reverse the mold being that you can only make a negative from a positive and vise versa (as far as i know from thinking about it in my head ). maybe he just used the same arms and thats it. insane talent...

Wow. What a master.

i would guess, he would make casts of the body parts without the cloth detail, and then add the fabric detail onto the cast pieces.

I've seen this method employed by Japanese sculptors who work off the same size and base over and over. They just start with a generic cast of the base form and sculpt on costume detail.

yeah, that could definitely work well. good thinking joe!!

Fine guys, I guess I will just have to post more toys. I present another fine example of the craft and another beauty from Yuji. Pestar, as envisioned in his 'Bullmark' form and in lustrous GID vinyl.



Considering how many odd characters made it into toys, this guy seems like a glaring omission of the '66 crew, but maybe the manufacturing just wasn't there at the time. Anyhow, even as nice as this fella looks, until you have one in hand you can't even imagine how great a toy it is I think. Superb sculpting, excellent paint, and such thickness and heft. A great kaiju, and one of the few to my knowledge to have required two actors to operate the costume.

Pretty bat-thing.