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Showing posts from October, 2007

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

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All was quiet on the bonus room front. The snooty Detolf crowd posed regally... and those other toys that don't feel like they "made the cut" lurked silently in the closet on the other side of the room. But suddenly... the silence was broken. What ensued next was quite simply bloody chaos. Two forces... relationships already strained... fighting for something they did not even know. They only needed an excuse. For what seemed like days, the two sides battled to a gory stalemate, carnage as far as the plastic eye could see. Now only two proud leaders stood atop the mysterious prize... struggling mightily. Good vs. evil? The end..............................?

Skum Kun by Bounty Hunter

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This is one of my favorite Bounty Hunter toys. I don't know much of the background of this particular sculpt, although evidently it was made in reaction to a bootlegging problem in China. The Bounty Hunter Kuns were pretty popular, and pirated versions of them were popping up... some of which had been changed. This pissed off guy was designed and his hands were made to look like one of the bootlegged pieces. Then again, this could all be incorrect, and it could just be another toy in my strange little collection with no story other than it's more shit to buy. Header //N/A//: The same Bounty Hunter clear plastic bag. Sculpt //3.75 out of 5//: While having is obvious similarities with the Bounty Hunter Kun character, this piece has some definite differences, as you can probably see. There is a departure here from as cartoony a form, as this Kun goes for a more streamlined body so to speak. There are no ribs, but rather a Punisher like X-skull icon on his chest and hands.I'm

DX Sukeru Kun by Bounty Hunter and Secret Base

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There have been a few toys released, particularly lately, that pay homage to the old Waldar toys by Takara from the 1970s. The DX Sukeru Kun is a toy that pays homage to one character from the Henshin toyline. Before there was Microman and the precursor to Transformers, there were the clear Henshin Cyborgs. In the early 1970s, Takara of Japan obtained the rights to produce the GI Joe bodies that were so popular in the United States. Using this basic form, Takara created the Henshin ("transforming") Cyborg toy line basically by making the GI Joe body clear and adding robotic guts. The villain of this series was Waldar, a clear figure that had organic innards as opposed to the robotic guts of his rival Henshin Cyborg. (photo shown to the right here was lifted from tikitoys.com ) Also, unlike the cyborgs that had accessories and armor to attach, the Waldar villain had various sub-forms thanks to vinyl "costumes" that went on different bodies... There was the Plant Phan

Winters!

And how I'm scared of them. Winter pushes you to be protective of yourself.It pushes you into your bed, scares you to come out to drive on the road and makes you feel lonely. And I get the feeling that this winter is going to be particularly bad. Probably the worst in sometime. More so, because events in the last week have shook me up a bit. Maybe blogging will pick up... :-)

It glows!

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In my article about Bounty Hunter's Clear Skull Kun, I mentioned filling the figure with stuff, so I filled it with these small glow-in-the-dark tracer BBs from Dick's Sporting Goods. They are plastic and used for air rifles. You can get a canister of them for about 6 bucks. I bought two canisters, although you may be able to get by with one. I just stuffed as many as possible in there while still being able to get the figure back together. The figure itself is soft, so you do not really need to heat it up to get the waist separated and back together. It just takes some tucking in when you do put it back. I filled the legs and the torso/head as well as I could (with a bit more piled onto the torso because the toso's flashing has to fit inside the legs). I brought the two filled halves together, and slowly tilted them toward one another. I had to let a few fall out to allow room for the pieces to fit back together, but I think it filled nicely. Here's the effect:

Clear Skull Kun by Bounty Hunter

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This review will essentially be the same as the Original Skull Kun since they are essentially the same sculpt with a few minor differences. Header //N/A//: The same Bounty Hunter clear plastic bag. Sculpt //4.5 out of 5//: Again, simple yet effective. The stylized skeleton of Frankenberry, with clean lines, good balance, and small elements sculpted into the surface to add detail.This is important here, obviously, since there is no paint to create detail otherwise. The vinyl used on this figure is different than I have felt before. It is soft and smooth yet almost sticky feeling (but not to the point where things actually stick to it) ... perhaps this is because it was produced in Japan and the vinyl quality is higher, or it is an effect of properly producing the clear vinyl. Lots more solvents to kill the environment! The difference with the original Sukeru Kun are pretty subtle. For one, the arms come out a bit from the belly. This allows more range in the movement of thew, which ai

Sukeru (Skull) Kun by Bounty Hunter

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Next up, also from 1997, we have the Sukeru Kun by Bounty Hunter. I won't go into all the Bounty Hunter detail again like on the Kid Hunter blog, but since then I did read in Super7 magazine that the Sukeru Kun is supposed to be the skeleton of the famous cereal mascot Frankenberry! Very cool idea. I wonder how this Kun would look with the long spindly limbs like Frankenberry has. I believe the Skull Kun was a toy before the character was featured on a shirt unlike Kid Hunter. Header //N/A//: The same Bounty Hunter clear plastic bag. Sculpt //4 out of 5//: Simple yet effective. Knowing the inspiration behind the figure adds a lot to the sculpt in my opinion. The form is great for it... it is obviously the Frankenberry form while being different enough to not have ripped it off. I love the long slender arms and the hands that rest across the big pot belly. The teeth and protruding lower jaw look great I think. The lines are clean and the figure is very well balanced with a low