So now that I've been gainfully employed for awhile, and now hired & salaried, I can afford to customize my office desk in various juvenile ways.
Y'all can have your bobbleheads, Minions, whatever. I am now the proud owner of a (partial) set of Ultraman and his wrestling buddies (Kaiju). I got most of these via mail-order, focusing on the ones that were reasonably priced, but found one, Pigmon, at a little shop that deserves its own poast, which I'll try to remember to do later. Pigmon is one of the few human-sized Kaiju, who broke my little 6-year-old heart the first time I saw him die (1960s-era show spoiler alert). I'm still searching for some of my favorites, but so far all online sources want ridiculous amounts of money for them.
And while I'm probably better utilized (see custom tittle) than I ever have been before in my life, busy as hell but with actually meaningful work, I still have a moment here and there to do a little Kaiju choreography.
Ultraman does his best to keep the Kaiju in line, since it's his job. Some days are tougher than others.
U-man also has to handle introductions. Here, he asks the gang to welcome Telesdon, with the usual admonitions not to reject him because he's different.
Kaiju Conversation (L-Pigmon; R-Bemler; both look quite invested)
Kaiju Assistant: Ragon (foreground) is doing his best to help, but Antlar is just being a jerk. Gamora doesn't tattle, though.
More to follow.
__________________
hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
Kaiju Reunion: Not that any of you should care, but these two guys (L-Zetton, R-Kemur, whose head looks like a rotten banana) were in both in the last episode, trying to take over the world (as you do). "Dude! It's been so long!"
Kaiju Teamwork (damn, blurrier than I thought)
Kaiju First Aid:
"Just a minute, hold still now ..."
"Owie owie owie!"
"Almost ... there! That was a nasty splinter. Run along and play now."
Kaiju Matador. 'Nuff said.
__________________
hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
...........
Last edited by Sock Puppet; 05-11-2018 at 07:02 PM.
"... I said, 'You're alien--'
It said, 'Shut up and dance with me!'"
Kaiju Tango, as wallflowers whose arms don't move that way look on in envy.
And finally, no dance poast would be complete without ...
*drumroll*
Kaiju Conga!
From left: Pigmon, Zetton, Ultraman, Ragon, Antlar, Bemler, Gamora, Baltan, Red King (the reproduction is accurate; there was never anything "red" about him).
(Added some blank space so the spoiler tag isn't COMPLETELY useless.)
__________________
hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
...........
Last edited by Sock Puppet; 05-11-2018 at 11:53 PM.
Reason: Crap, how could I forget Ragon? Sorry, dude.
I ordered a 1968-style Gojira (the cutest one ) made by the same company, Bandai. Apparently he was from a different collection, even though the vintage is essentially the same as the original U-man series (Gojira even appeared as Monster of the Week on the show, with a frill tacked on and credited as "Jiras" - I haven't seen that one online at any price).
So anyway, he's bigger. The rest of the guys got all fanboyish on him, but he was pretty gracious about it.
__________________
hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
I made a few improvements and adjustments. I'd somehow left out 2 participants, so I realigned the team a bit. Plus, of course, the evidence of kaiju collusion (kaillusion?).
__________________
hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
I have to admit, this was always one of my favorites, even after I realized the bizarre cultural appropriation he represents. There was some seriously weird shit going down with Japanese interpretations/appropriations of Native American culture in the 60s and 70s. I'm sure somebody knows more about this, but I haven't been arsed yet to learn more about it. (e.g., the "Shogun Warriors" of the late 70s, a series of robot-like characters that were actually a mishmash of unrelated properties, included one named "Raydeen," who looked like a NA chieftan with a sci-fi version of a bow.)
American exceptionalism and subjugation of NA culture had something to do with it, of that I have no doubt. I just don't know the whys and wherefores of it.
ANYWAY, this is Geronimon. Yes, that's what he was called in the American English dub. As I said, one of my favorites of the whole series. Guillermo Del Toro said, in the context of making the first Pacific Rim film, that one of the Kaijus' main appeals was that while they were based in part on terrestrial animals, they didn't have completely naturalistic limits; they could have strictly artistic elements, which were "almost ... ornamental."
I believe Bandai manufactured this version, although it's not part of the same series. There's a version from the series I've been collecting, but that one has been prohibitively expensive so far. So I acquired this guy from eBay. He's significantly smaller than the other Bandai series, and in fact arrived somewhat unassembled. You can see some of the attachment points in the pic. The larger version has good detail as well, but this one captures the feathers better; the top "headdress" piece actually inserts into a hole on top of his head. This makes a more accurate version in that respect, as the other version is one piece of molded plastic, with less flamboyant feather extensions. About the only criticism I have of this version is that the feathers have too much red. Not nearly enough blue (or green, actually).
... and yes, you can see in the pic that he was made in China. It was a Japanese company that designed him, however.
__________________
hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
...........
Last edited by Sock Puppet; 02-22-2019 at 11:54 PM.
Geez, look what my wife did. I'm not sure if Ghidorah will stay up there indefinitely, but the rest of them are p. solid.
Yes, it was her idea to put these guys up there. Before today, I only had the little version of Pigmon eating ramen noodles on the left.
Twin Tail is holding my webcam, as he has been for quite some time. He's the perfect cameraman -- I can point that cam in any direction and he'll hold it steady, much better than the crappy monitor clip the thing came with.
Godzilla is still on the desk, both because of his shape & size, and also because I sometimes need to cuddle him on rough days. He's sensitive.
__________________
hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner