Wonder Festival 2010 (Summer): Figures

We at TSB pride ourselves on our consistency. You can set your watches to our event coverage which is guaranteed to be delivered a week after the fact. Trust us, it's worth the wait. Enjoy the goods that went under the radar and directly to the kill zone.

Conflict



Nestled between a booth filled with Hatsune Miku figures and another booth filled with Hatsune Miku was our man Conflict, who traveled all the way from Aichi prefecture to show the world how much he loves Life Force/Salamander with his tenderly crafted kits of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 bosses, Golem and Tetran, respectfully. Guys like Conflict who bust their ass only to barely sell enough kits to cover their train ticket home are the heart and soul of Wonder Fest.

Roswell Japan



Zombies are all about the details. The pox marks. The pus. The impossible angle of the foot. This version of Tar Man is everything you could want from the world's first talking brain eater.



Roswell Japan brought along a couple of friends touting the melty monsters from The Thing. Cooler than owning Charles Bronson from Death Wish? You decide.



Kurohige



Kurohige's ad space proclaims that he "answers the dreams of old men everywhere," and this Devil Man with life-like nipples is a proud testament to that. His imposing four foot Daimajin was also back to turn some heads.

T's Facto



Technically I should take off points for the hyper-modern Final Wars design, but this figure's overpowering swagger is enough to cancel out any and all damage done by Kitamura Ryuhei.

Ginyor Zoukei Koubou



While everyone else was content to merely hold a booth, these guys were running a show. Entertainment is the name of the game and they had the crowd eating out of their hand with "fire breathing" Godzillas and miniature props galore. To the other exhibitors: Take notes.

Tamanegi Kokoro



There were plenty of Mega Man figures (and Zero also, but he doesn't count), but none captured their whimsical yet impish design so well as this group. That, and you can't beat Air Man.

One-Two JUSTICE



The classic alien boss from R-Type is an iconic throwback to the time where shooters were king and Giger had his clammy mitts on every prog rock album, horror movie, and action game. This model makes me want to hop inside my PC Engine and fly back to the late '80's.

Lovecraft Busts



You can't say no to those pouty cheeks. The tentacle on the base really seals the deal. This guy had busts of all the big names from the annals of Gothic fiction history, as well as movie monsters from the Golden Age of Universal to Hammer Horror.

Kaijin Oukoku



Oh sure, everyone and their mom makes Kamen Rider kits these days, but how about the entire rogue's gallery? Bonus style points for going with the eclectic mix found in Stronger's Delza Army.

Dummy Head



So maybe The Room wasn't so hot, but that doesn't make this guy's dedication to model each Victim any less impressive. Definitely someone to keep an eye on.

Rainbow Zoukei Kikaku



A whole mountain of Kaiju, all nonsensical and looking bootleg as hell. It would take an elite team of collectors to trace each stolen element back to the source material. Truly the essence of soft vinyl.

Ankama



Jumping from the cover of Amazing Stories, these robots are equipped with the latest positronic brain, ready to clean our homes, automate our factories, and squash our soft flabby flesh.

Velocitron



Velocitron continues to out-geek the geeks with his Girls of Macross Frontier colored Ghouls and Pretty Cure inspired Larvagons. This is either his first step into madness or a brilliant marketing ploy.

Nostalgic Sofvi Collection



Ashura Man comes in a number of flavors with variant limb counts and crying/non-crying versions. These combinations allow for limitless reiterations, all of which are guaranteed to sell because 1) they're awesome, and 2) the kids that grew up with the show need an outlet for their disposable income.

BILLIKEN SHOKAI



Poor Mecha Kong never got so much as a sequel while his robot successor, Mecha Godzilla, went to tear ass through the Toei lot for decades. Now the tables have turned and Mecha Kong is the new hotness. For garage kit makers, anyway.

Aruimi Makezu



Akuma-Kun is another one who doesn't get the love he deserves with his big brother Gegege Kitaro hogging the spotlight.

Flying King Ghidorah



I'm not sure who was responsible for these, but they had several available and ready for you to saddle up and fly off towards Armageddon on.

*BONUS* MYSTERY FIGURE!



This mystery monkey professor was in the corner of my eye the entire day, slowing working its way into my unconscious. Amongst the throng I neglected to identify him and now the question of his identity is eating me alive. Who is he? Friend? Foe? I ask that knowledgeable parties come forward!

That's it for this round of photos. Obligatory cosplay post forthcoming! Check out the gallery for more amazing figures:

wonderfest summer 2010

Ultraman Daizukai Concept Sketches

A small glimpse into Shoji Otomo's Ultra Kaiju Daizukai sketchbook, taken from the out-of-print The World of Shoji Otomo: Kaiju Daizukai

Ultraman

Alien Baltan

Bikon

Guronken

Red King

Mefirasu Seijin

Pestar

Terochirusu

House Cake

House (Hausu) actresses get sweet revenge on the mansion that ate them at the film's wrap party.

Super Festival 53: A-MA-ZON!

Okazaki Tooru (岡崎徹)

Super Festival continues their Kamen Rider-themed guests with Ozaki Tooru, the stud behind Kamen Rider Amazon. More Tarzan than Rider, Amazon was infamous for departing from the formula laid out by the previous three series: He transformed not into an insect but a gaudy lizard/angler fish combo, spoke Japanese like a junior high ALT, ran around in a leather loincloth, and was generally inscrutable. Hardly the kind of thing most impressionable elementary students would want to run home from school to catch. Or is it? In spite of historically low ratings and a short run, the friends of Amazon were out in full force, easily dwarfing the turnout for Kamen Rider Stronger.

Okazaki took to the stage with trepidation, face twisted into a mortified smile that did little to hide the fact that he was totally over the whole Kamen Rider thing. Yet as the talk show began his waxen mask of fear melted away to reveal the good humor underneath.

Q: Amazon, your Japanese has gotten a lot better since the show concluded.

A: Oh, you know. After I returned to South America I palled around with the Japanese immigrants there which helped me brush up my skills. Eventually I was comfortable enough to move to Nagasaki where I became a naturalized citizen.

Q: Why did you decide to become an actor?

A: During my school days I couldn't compete with my friends academically. I knew that I couldn't make it into a good university so I had to find another way to stand out. Becoming an actor seemed like the best solution. After graduating high school I left my hometown of Nagasaki to pursue my dreams in Tokyo .

Q: It’s a good thing you did. You were the only thing standing between Japan and the evil forces of Geddon! How did you get the part?

A: My manager approached me asking if I wanted to be Kamen Rider, and that was that. There wasn’t even an audition. I went into the situation blind. Kamen Rider was a social phenomenon, so of course I knew about it, but I had never sat down to watch the show until then. Even so, I was surprised to be playing a lizard!

Q: Was it cold traipsing around in just a loincloth?

A: We started filming in late summer, so it worked to my advantage in that respect. The opening sequence shot in the jungle came back to bite me, so to speak. You see me running through the underbrush, but every time I jumped into a bush it would kick up a cloud of mosquitoes and gnats. I got eaten alive. All you can do is grin and bear it.

The same goes for braving the elements. Come winter I was frozen to the bone, but I wasn’t in a position to complain! I had been given the lead part of a major production despite my inexperience. Sometimes you just have to man up.

Q: You took to the extreme conditions rather well.

A: I was an outdoors kid, always running around half-naked. This helped prepare me for my role as Amazon. All the sun gave me a dark complexion, which meant I never had to worry about sunburns. On the flipside I had to wear super heavy makeup. It wasn’t noticeable during broadcast, but you can see it on the digitally remastered DVDs.

Q: What was your shining moment as Amazon Rider?

A: Fighting the Snake Beast Man at the Fuji Q Amusement Park. In one scene they have me dodging an oncoming roller coaster by jumping to the maintenance platform on the side of the track. The narrow rails were hard enough to maneuver without considering that I was scrambling precariously on top of steel girders. It was a scary, scary shot.

And then you see the final edit, and the stunt is over in a flash. You’d never know what I went through for that shot!

Q: Were you ever spotted on the street?

A: That's the thing about Tokyo people. They’d recognize me, but never seem surprised. Kids would sometimes come up to me and ask me for my autograph. They were always polite about it.

By popular demand, series producer Hiroyama Tooru returned for an encore performance of his circular ramblings.

After Rider 1, 2, and V3, I knew we had to mix things up. Rider X was a bit of a poof, but Amazon was a man’s man! A lizard man! And scary! How manly is that?

I’m not the one that chose Okazaki for the part. No, I just did what I knew the women wanted! I could tell they were waiting to be swept up in his muscular arms and coddled like babies.

When you imagine a sentai hero you normally don’t picture them in their underwear. However, Tarzan’s New York Adventure set a precedent that I would be a fool not to follow.

Ozaki had a great body, which is why I kept him in his skivvies for as long as I could. The guilt has been eating me up the whole time. I tried to compensate by giving you a vest and leggings mid-season! The last thing I wanted was for you to go down in Kamen Rider history as "the naked one." For the grand finale I sent him back to the Amazon in a suit to leave the audience with the image of Okazaki as a clothed, civilized man.

I apologize for the years of embarrassment. But now look at you! It all paid off in the end You’re a made man, now its all suits all the time, yessiree. Doesn’t he look good in a suit, ladies?"

At this point they escorted Mr. Hiroyama off the stage before he got around to reminiscing about Amazon’s wardrobe malfunctions on and off the set.

The mandatory mugging for the camera begun awkwardly, but Okazaki soon slipped back into character. He looked as genuinely terrified as Amazon had been when accosted by the paparazzi’s flash bulbs and abrasive questions.

Thankfully, Okazaki regained his composure once things quieted down and the fans queued up for their big chance to score an autograph from Amazon. The line was twice as long as it had been for Stronger, surprising given the relative popularity of the two shows. The wait dragged on. Vendors closed up shop, people wandered home, until only the fans and their mentor remained in the building. Okazaki remained chipper to the very end, laughing with the children whose parents grew up in awe of each week’s adventures. Seeing the sincere joy on his face reminded me that a true Rider wears his heart on his sleeve, even the perpetually shirtless ones.

It's What's for Dinner

Strap on your galoshes and full-body frocks, it's time for a trip to the slaughterhouse Central Wholesale Meat Market! See firsthand how last weekend's yakiniku found its way from an animal's body and into your belly.

Don't get too excited quite yet. Reservations are required to tour the factory grounds, so be sure to call ahead of time and make your self a date with your meat maker. For those of you who are unwilling to wait, or simply lack the fortitude, there's still the Meat Information Center. This mini-museum to all things butchery holds your hand through the whole process with child-friendly illustrated flow charts. Do the Japanese incapacitate their livestock with gas, brain-blowing air guns, or a good old-fashioned bump on the noggin? Discover these answers and more as you peruse their cache of awesome tools used to rend a thousand pounds of muscle into lean jerky.

"After the foot cutter does its job an air knife is used to remove the skin."

The conclusion of the museum is far more upsetting than the carnage implied so far. Tucked into the far corner is an oblong glass case containing hate-filled letters sent by citizens. Traditionally, people in the meat and leather industry have been discriminated as members of the Buraku class, Japan’s outsider caste akin to India's Untouchables. The class system was abolished in the Meiji period, though this did little to cleanse the social stigma that continues to live on in certain parts of the country. According to mainstream opinion the situation has improved in the post-WWII years, although the recent trend towards sweeping the problem under the rug in the hope that discrimination will disappear if the Buraku vanish from the public conscious is the subject of hushed debate.

Going back to the letters, they're real Son-of-Sam type sensational trash. Clawed handwriting fills the pages with threats to flood the factory with Sarin gas ala the Aum subway attacks. Baseless allegations accuse workers of having contracted mad cow disease from snacking on infected bovine brains. Quotes that "the life of an Untouchable is only worth one-seventh that of a normal citizen" echo the judicial ruling from a 1859 homicide case where a man was pardoned for murdering a Buraku. The writer asserts ominously that he'll need quite a bit of blood on his hands before any court would convict. Thankfully, these threats of violence led to his eventual arrest, but not before he sent over 300 letters in a two year period.

As if to cleanse the palette of the bilious aftertaste, the case of correspondences concludes with words of encouragement from elementary school students who toured the factory. One girl chimes in with the adorably self-unaware hypocrisy we all wish we could emulate.

“I learned that killing animals is really scary! I love animals. But I love meat more!”

Truly a mooooving eulogy. I’ll eat to that.

Image borrowed from オッさんの頭

Curse of the Tanuki

Forget The Great Wave, this is Hokusai's true masterpiece.

Ever know that elephantiasis was caused by parasitic worms? I didn't, and Edo Japan sure didn't either! What they did know was how to swing with style. You'd have to be rollin' in serious rice to be able to hire some dude to tote your 'scrote around town. The fleshy infection was once in vogue, particularly in Japan, before being eradicated by modern medicine post-WWII.

And what a loss for the fashion industry! Imagine all the designer satchels that never had a chance to be. If you think a Gucci wallet is bank, you'd have to take out a loan to afford a brand name snuggie for your sack.