I haven't the foggiest idea of how these could be improved upon. Total perfection.
M1Go M1-Go M1 Kanegon Hayata Ultraman Gomess Garamon Pygmon Pigmon Marusan Mascot repro Yujimade

I love how wonky Kanegon's eyes look.

Is that a baby chicken? No, it's pigmon!

^ a beautiful set! ^

I don't think any comments from me are necessary at this point David, so I will just offer a most sincere congratulations on that set. One of the best new toys to come along in many a time. Hits me in all the right spots.

^^ That artwork is super-cool too . . . . nice bonus!

Its interesting . . . i just bought a mini vintage unpainted ninja turtle that is 'straddling' a similar base. In his case its a tree-stump.
Is there a tradition for that kinda thing? Its a great idea . . adds more character and i suppose it makes them stand sturdier.

Actually it's Garamon.

Amazing grab on this set David. Love the art on the card backing. Artwork looks like Tatsuji Kajita-san work. Anyone know for sure?

Sorta off-topic, but just outta curiosity, how the hell does one tell the difference between Pigmon and Garamon??

I should have looked at the header. If it is Ultra Q it is Garamon. If it's Ultraman it's Pigmon...they are really the same other than that.

Absolutely! The whole package is beautiful. I was actually tempted for a minute to leave the entire array intact, or at least felt the rare patch of remorse while I was tearing into it to get to the toys.
I agree, but I wasn't able to dig up any confirmation. I wonder if the piece was a new commission or just another wonderful reproduction.





It's great that M1 is using the original Marusan art for their toys that are repros of that slightly earlier era. Another nice touch.

Well, in this case both the header and the backing board mention both shows, but I'd say the similarities in the style of the sculpt to Kanegon and Gomess would suggest that what we have here is a Gary. Most, if not all the toys of the character's image produced in the '60 and '70s were Garamon, actually. A chest insignia always signifies that you're looking at a Garamon, a balloon always denotes Pygmon, but it gets a bit trickier to ID them without those iconic touches. M1, for example, just added balloons to their 3 Garamon toys for later releases, but the first time that they issued the character it was just their ep.13 Garamon mid-size in red with ピグモン stamped on the header. The modern Marusan standard-size sculpt is one of, if not the only proper Pyggy out there in that size.

It all depends on the license and intention, really, and it can be difficult to suss out either much of the time!

o

In the case of the mascot toy, the original announcement specifically mentions Gary:

So there's that, too.

Kajita-san unfortunately passed away in 2011. But the style and the way the characters are positioned are very typical of his older works. Maybe an older reproduction but I can't find the image.

@animator & @toothaction Thanks, guys! Always wondered about that...

end of next week hopefully

Possible Matango paint sample, similar to the one from plover's photograph several years ago.

The other possibility, of course, is that someone painted a blank yellow Matango to match that paint sample after seeing it in a photo. But the paint work is clean and seems consistent with the quality of other M1s. So if it is a fake, whoever did it is quite good at painting toys. Unfortunately, there are big paint scratches on both eyes.

Not being personally familiar with the history of plover's sample, anyone know more about these?

I dunno...but that's pretty fucking beautiful.

I've never seen that one but I know there are some one offs by Yuji floating around. I've seen a couple others that were gorgeous also. The simplicity just makes this one even better.

Plover's example is about 2/3 of the way down on the first page:

http://skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=16440

No signature on the foot.

Perhaps more research is required...

Yeah, I saw that guy and was admiring him too. Fantastic figure, congrats on a superb pickup. It really is such a shame about the damage to the eye paint, but I think it looks fantastic just the same, and definitely, to me, seems like it could be a Yuji test paint.

Plover's collection still look so damn good after all these years.
I am still after that GID fever till now!

Coming back to the topic. Good eye in the nice matango pickup! I think it does fits yuji's style.

That's interesting.... I actually purchased Plover's Matango several years ago. He had thought it was a test version, but maybe it's actually more like an older micro run? I had always thought of it as the "Mardi Gras Matango" because of its traditional colors (and also because I love New Orleans). Anyway, here are some quick shots of it. I had never seen another one like it prior to Akum6n's posting his photo. No signature on mine either.

Well, you just saved plover a PM.

Thanks for posting the back shots; they match the paint layout on my example. So I guess there are two (or more) in the world.

I'm thinking you may be right, and that this may have been more of a micro-run/gift version than a paint sample. Someone else would probably know of this version, were it a normal release (even if it was something obscure, like a lottery or ring-toss prize). But I haven't seen any information out there. A lot of one-offs are signed by Yuji, and neither of these are signed. Additionally, I have photos of a (probably) real M1 paint sample in my files and it is both signed and marked as a "sample." So the lack of any markings on the feet of these suggest they were produced in some quantity.

Maybe there were just two--mine, and your scratched eye variant!

On a semi-related note, I miss Plover. He was a great guy with such a nice collection--a few pieces of which I was fortunate to acquire. Hope he's doing well.

That's a great paint job on the Matango. Would make a beautiful full run.

Super nice – that's one tasty looking Shroom!

These guys are gorgeous: