I was originally going to add today’s entry into my Pachimon Kaiju Showcaseseries but, considering the long-after-the-fact-parody nature of this article's titular feature, I decided to keep it relatively separated.
Plus, there isn't much to say on the character beyond its origins and obvious appearance.
Amapro is a ridiculously small (seriously, there’s like two or three people running it) independent Japanese toy company that specializes in limited edition vinyl figures based on overlooked and obscure kaiju. In addition to those, Amapro also creates arguably weirder and sillier original characters.
Sitting between these two extremes are figures inspired by the aforementioned Pachimon, taking different elements from more famous movie and television kaiju, haphazardly birthing supposedly new (rip-off) monsters in turn.
That said, Barizogon is basically King Caesar from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) but with condor-like wings and a third eye in place of Caesar's forehead jewel.
Based on what little I could find online (again, these guys are S-M-A-L-L), Amapro will often repurpose their toy molds to make variations by reincorporating different body parts from different figures like an interchangeable jigsaw. Barizogon seems to be their own King Caesar figure reworked with a pair of wings taken from their numerous other bird-based ones.
There's also the official Sailor Fight channel, based around the robotic heroine from a series of short films that also showcases these same oddball vinyl toys. This channel may-or-may-not have ties to Amapro, seeing how one of its two public faces hosts the aforementioned content.
Here's some intriguing kaiju and other giant monster-related videos to for me to share and for you all to enjoy. I will be keeping up this feature as-often-as-possible for the remainder of 2021.
Direct from MONSTROSITIES Tokusatsu Vlog:
The story of how a tokusatsu technique created for the original MOTHRA (1961) was passed on to the original Kamen Rider and continues to be practiced to this very day.
In Japan Hero's latest video, they take a closer look at the history of the Robot Detective TV series ( ロボット刑事 ) including a brief look at some abandoned giant robot concepts.
Linkara's History of Power Rangers returns with a relatively (relatively) short and coherent recap of POWER RANGERS BEAST MORPHERS, the first of the Hasbro-era of the franchise but produced with creative talents from the previous vanguard. The whole of Beast Morphers is available on Netflix and I might give it a watch as it's a far better alternative to the one-episode-every-rare-blue-moon-year scheduling Nickelodeon was and still is infamous for.
Ronin Warriors, known in Japan as Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers (鎧伝サムライトルーパー, Yoroiden Samurai Torūpā), is a Japanese anime series created by Hajime Yatate and animated by Sunrise somewhat riding the popularity of Saint Seiya. Ronin Warriors first aired on American television during the summer of 1995 and subsequently appeared through syndication, as well as the USA Network and later on Cartoon Network as part of Toonami. Besides being known as Ronin Warriors, Yoroiden Samurai Troopers and Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers in some parts of the world it was known as Samurai Warriors.
After almost a decade of waiting, the 25-year-old journey finally comes to an end. Here's Yoko Higuchi's review of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time in anticipation for its international streaming release on Amazon Prime Video this Friday.
Sometimes the fossil record preserves some truly extraordinary glimpses into the past life on our planet, including traces of prehistoric animal behavior. In this video we're exploring 5 examples of such remarkable fossil finds - moments forever frozen in time.
Because I have no life, I often wander the web and stumble upon obscure giant monsters through Japanese-based blogs and twitter accounts. Again, I'm a lifeless nerd.
During one such time-wasting exodus, I found Tsutomu Blog: a nifty site dedicated to Japanese toys and model sets from yesteryear, particular ones involving giant monsters.
Unfortunately, Tsutomu Blog has been permanently discontinued and I plan to share as many salvaged images I had grabbed before it's shutdown starting with this spiky oddity.
Box art for "Rocket Car Against Gamess"
The toy is roughly called "Rocket Car Against Gamess" with the titular monster being a giant tortoise as Gamess (ガメス, or the English alternative 'Games') is a play on the Japanese word for turtle, kame. Titanollante, one of the web-masters of Wikizilla, helped me with the description apparently offered by the box art though he noted that the following its a rough translation: Inhabiting the deep waters of the Mariana Trench, its energy source is a kind of heavy liquid that flows out from the seams of the seabed strata, one supply powering it for 450 days. Its personality is "ferocious". Spraying viscous body fluids from its mouth, Gamess will eat anything. Turtle-based monsters have always been a personal favorite kaiju motif and Gamess is another fine addition to that shelled legacy. However, like many obscure giant monsters, Gamess' name is terribly vague in the English sense and hence I could track down ANY information online to confirm the release date for this set (I'll add updated notations if I come across them later).
I also love the concept that you get a smaller but no less powerful super vehicle to combat against / play along with the larger monster figure, but the option to fit the car in its mouth doesn't come off too well in my opinion - I know Gamess will eat anything but that's still an unintentionally off-putting visual.
"I can't believe I regurgitated the whole thing!"
Once more, massive thanks to Titanollante of Wikizilla for the translations and a grateful salute to the late great Tsutomu Blog.
I still cannot stand this bloody holiday known as Ex-Mess but if it offers some festive giant monsters then I'll take it!
Robin: Gargantuan killer toys whose bright colors highlight them from the otherwise pitch black background? I don't see any, Batman!
Here's a trio of giant toy soldiers from the fun but ultimately passable CHRISTMAS WITH THE JOKER, the second episode of BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES (November 13, 1992) which also marked that show's first appearance of the titular Clown Prince of Crime. Despite the series' attempts to avoid the more fanciable clichés of children's adventure cartoons of the 1980s and early 1990s, the producers and writers would still dip their toes into such nonsense occasionally, as with their rendition of The Joker being surprisingly efficient at building murderous robots as either attack drones, booby traps (Hazel), or fully functioning henchmen (Captain Clown). Despite their great size and stomping square-shaped feet, The Toy Soldier Robots were among The Joker's weaker creations as their heads were easily torn or knocked off by the defending Batman and Robin, destroying the holiday giants instantly. I really have nothing much other to say about these three automatons other than that their Joker-like smiles were a nice design touch.
Criss-Mass still blows. Give us the time off but keep everything else I hate about this time of year. Happy Arbor Day, suckers!
Nothing major this time around, but thought I’d share these photos I took of a Bandai produced Destoroyah toy, which I bought super-cheap earlier this year. I may be a massive fan of giant monsters, but I’m NOT an avid collector of their toys. Unless an extremely lucky (again, cheap) opportunity arises.
This is of course the title opponent of 1995’s “Godzilla vs Destoroyah”, who is a mutated Precambrian life-form; extremely ancient, extinct life-forms of whom the real Trilobites was apart of). And is directly linked in its origins to The Oxygen Destroyer - the only super weapon in the franchise that can positively end Godzilla’s life.
Since these photos are originals, you’re all more than welcome to save and re-post them on your ends. And expect more impressive images, and equally as obscure monster subjects, posted at this blog, all across December!
