I recently stumbled across this adorable Namazu monster catfish...





These are not my photos, but they are from the Science Patrol toy website.

I've tried to search out some info about this toy company, but could not find very much, other than some brief facts in the FAQ section (posted on the toy website). Just wondering if Science Patrol has been producing toys for very long, and wondering if this Namazu came in other colors? A perfect sized toy to fit in your hands! Just as if you caught it wiggling, unawares, at a local lake

You know, I've been passively wondering about something for a very long time, and I wanted to thank you for the unintentional inspiration that you've just given me to finally solve this small mystery for myself:

Unaware is an adjective. Unawares is an adverb. Unawares may sound like a colloquial variant of unaware, but in fact the word goes back centuries, and every dictionary lists it as an adverb. The -s here is one of the few remnants of a practice in Old and Middle English of creating adverbs with the -s ending. The suffix also lives on in words like towards and afterwards.

Ess issue solved. Satisfied.


Science what now?

I think Science Patrol is run by Omnihiro, although he doesn't seem to post much.

Thank you Daniel! I didn't realize he had a presence on the board. It's a very cute toy (ok, if you don't like the word "cute", substitute the word "adorable" ), and a fun size too! Thanks for the info. I hope he sees the post and gives us more news of his toy world. Wouldn't it be nice to have a whole shelf of these guys?

Deevis, nice Ess factoid! I'll have to remember that!

p.s. I managed to adopt a Namazu, so he's being put in a little glass jar filled with water, and is winging his way over to the states as I type. I really wonder about those EYES . Are they the solid lucite eyes you see on doll toys?

The guy behind Science Patrol is definitely here on the board, he said hi at some point.
He's also on IG. From what I could gather, he was kind of like Ricky/Velocitron's apprentice and then started making his own figures.

I have one of the Avalons (one-eyed hats), the coins, a lantern, elemental mage, and a dungeon slime. They're really fun figures and very well priced. Dungeon slime takes the cake for me, such a crazy design!

*correction, Slime Adjudicator. Either way, his all-seeing eye continually stares from my shelf.

An apprentice of Velocitron?!? How interesting! Thank you Maddy

A nice video of the legendary monster...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kDM1_ThLKM

P.S. If you are planning to adopt a Namazu, it is highly recommended that you have a protective image of him being subdued, so that he doesn't "rock your boat" (especially in earthquake prone areas ).

Namazu being subdued by a protective Kaname-ishi rock:


and being subdued by a protective gourd:

^^^ The Japanese art work that inspired this toy is really cool to look at.

Iv also heard of catfish so big down in the Brazilian area they can swallow kids whole and can mess up ppl pretty badly in general. Let that generate through your head for a little. These things can be quite scary and dangerous haha.

Love me some Science Patrol....!!!

Jiro Jiro Kun & GID Avalon

^^^ That glow in the dark wolf man!!! :O

I picked a Sludge Adjudicator and a Monochochin, lantern ghost, a while back and they're great little toys. I agree that the slime is awesome. He's two piece toy also, so he doesn't come off like a finger puppet.

There's a Metal Slug inspired tank available now too called Mastodon.

His IG feed is great too. Not only his toys.

Food-in-(assumed)girlfriend's-face is an amazing ongoing photo series of his. Also the adventures of Beakie.

Been following Science Patrol and his progress for a while now. Totally in love with his yokai inspired toys. Here are a few of his things I have picked up.

Awesome post Connell....!!! A truly wonderful set of Science Patrol goodies you have there.

That is definitely a fantastic family Connell. My sincere compliments on that SP shelf. Their yokai are some of my favourite designs; a very fine balance of whimsy and monster creativity, which is everything a yokai should be. I really want to track some of these down.

^^^Thank you for posting the herd of Science Patrol toys! I am very curious to see the Namazu in person (I ended up ordering 3, because they seem to look better in a small pile ). I'm curious about the eyes he's using in his toys. Love the barnacles sprouting from Namazu. Gotta hurry up and make a third protective print

A slight diversion. The asian carp was introduced to the Americas, and has become an invasive species. They've become a huge problem, out-competing native fish and critters for habitat:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnZp1jtOhR0


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLmJjRqXDCo

I think Alfred Hitchcock should've made the movie, "The Carp", instead of "The Birds"!

One quick question.
Shouldn't this be in the Japan Toys section?

Well, he is an American Caucasian, but lives in Japan and is making toys in Japan, AND toys are based on Japanese mythology... Yeah, that's a bit of a puzzler on where to place.

The first time I remember this debate coming up (although certainly not the first time it occurred on the board) was when Grody Shogun showed up. Fun that it's now occurring around the Children of the Fort.

Yuppers! I wasn't sure where to put the topic, but please feel free to move it where you think it belongs. I do apologize for the confusion, please don't lop off my head or take my Buta card from me . Thank you.

P.S. So if I wanted to start a thread on Hints and Spices toys (those wonderfully cute Kowaiilas and Waniphants), it's the same situation, except Shane isn't an American, he's Australian! So where should I post that?

I wouldn't beat yourself up to bad on it. Japanese hybrid toys and comics can be hard to place sometimes. Just put it where you think it best fits and you should be ok.

Hey guys!

Sorry for all the absence on the board. I've been a bit tied up with work and such to have much of a social presence outside of Instagram, but hey!

Thank you all for all the support and interest over the past year and a half. I've really loved the photos and the feedback everyone (mostly Instagram comments // emails) has given me and I'm glad to see that people seem to like the little guys I've been making!

To answer a few of the questions I saw in the thread:

1. I've been making toys here in Japan for a little over a year and a half. I work here on my own projects and act as the studio assistant to Velocitron (Ricky) and the various projects he is handling. He's taught me everything I know and prototyping, wax work, and painting and has been a fantastic mentor and friend. I recently started pulling my own vinyl as well.

2. I have 20+ figure releases so far with an emphasis on yokai and strange monster based figures.

3. The eyes I use for all my figures are just standard plastic doll eyes (9mm specifically). I am less than competent with a brush and much prefer the look I get with doll eyes than anything I could paint by hand. A few of my upcoming figures though need painted eyes so I best stop being shitty at details and start upping my skills.

4. Namazu comes in a TON of different colours (the number increases every week) with the grey and flesh being the standard colourway.

Thank you all again for all the support! I hope you all enjoy the upcoming projects I have for 2016!

Thanks for checking in!

Obviously, it's always great to hear from the artists themselves.

What's the story behind Pipe Dog? It looks like a great little monster, plus being an engineer, it's make sense to have one at work...for professional reasons...yes...

Here's the couple I have:

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. That statement is about as factual and on-point as anything on this board.

Thanks for checking in omnihiro, great to hear from you on here. Personally, I love the doll eyes, and think they work wonderfully for these figures. I especially like them on the Namazu. I'm no on instagram, so let me just say here once more, excellent work all around on these. Ricky's really steering you in the right direction, and I love the creativity you are showing. Can't wait to see even more yokai and SP monsters to come!

I'm actually not 100% sure what the Pipe Pup's origin story is (my girlfriend designed and made him, I just produced it). As soon as she gets around to painting some more of them I will hopefully have them up on the web shop!

The pipe pup with slime on the inside looks like a ton of fun.

Can't wait to see more sculpts! I'm especially excited about the iron maiden. Been waiting a long time for that one, I'm glad to finally see it in vinyl!