'90s Ultramonster release question/theory...
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:40 pmNow that I've amassed a nice, large collection of Bandai Ultrahero and monster figures (over 200 by this point and growing) and have finally gotten a hold of the 2010 "Figure-Oh Premium Series" book that deals with the entire line, I'm trying to piece together the release history of the line-up throughout the '90s.
Now, the 1991 tag series (featuring the wider but shorter tag designs) contains 70 numbered Ultramonsters, including everything from the '89 line (minus Takkong for some reason), 14 new figures and the first and only re-release of Aboras since the original '83 series. Lots of monsters. 'Nuf said about that...
Then we get to the 1994 series. This basic tag design (minus the perforated bottom and graphics after 1996) stuck around until the end of the decade. By that point the new releases were mostly being made up of monsters from the newer series and movies and eventually topped off at number 140 (141 if we count Jirass).
HOWEVER....
Backtracking to early 1996 (before the explosion of figures that started with Golza and Ultraman Tiga) shows Cottonpoppe at number 80. This is despite the fact that even with brand new figures from Ultraman Great, the renewal sculpts and new characters like Dodongo, Vira Sejin and Yapool there are only 34 individual figures released with the original 1994-96 perforated tags, all of them keeping their old numbers if they had already been a part of the previous line.
When I first started picking up tagged figures from the 1991 series I was really confused at the fact that (for Bandai figures supposedly made early that decade) a lot of them were made of the kind of super soft vinyl that became more commonplace circa 1995. Even stranger to me was that the manufacture date stickers found inside the toys (reading "YY,MM") sometimes showed releases as late was 2000!
What gives?
Were figures from the 1991 series that weren't reissued/renewed with 1994 tags kept in production throughout the decade, accounting for the fact that a new numbering system wasn't introduced? I find it amazing that even the copyright dates on the '91 style tags were left alone even for figures that were still being released years later. I bought brand new, '91 style tagged figures of Z-Ton and Gomora in 1996. Am I right in assuming that almost the entire Showa era Ultramonster line was pretty much kept in production until the end of the decade, after which most of them were finally officially retired before the 2000 series started?
Now, the 1991 tag series (featuring the wider but shorter tag designs) contains 70 numbered Ultramonsters, including everything from the '89 line (minus Takkong for some reason), 14 new figures and the first and only re-release of Aboras since the original '83 series. Lots of monsters. 'Nuf said about that...
Then we get to the 1994 series. This basic tag design (minus the perforated bottom and graphics after 1996) stuck around until the end of the decade. By that point the new releases were mostly being made up of monsters from the newer series and movies and eventually topped off at number 140 (141 if we count Jirass).
HOWEVER....
Backtracking to early 1996 (before the explosion of figures that started with Golza and Ultraman Tiga) shows Cottonpoppe at number 80. This is despite the fact that even with brand new figures from Ultraman Great, the renewal sculpts and new characters like Dodongo, Vira Sejin and Yapool there are only 34 individual figures released with the original 1994-96 perforated tags, all of them keeping their old numbers if they had already been a part of the previous line.
When I first started picking up tagged figures from the 1991 series I was really confused at the fact that (for Bandai figures supposedly made early that decade) a lot of them were made of the kind of super soft vinyl that became more commonplace circa 1995. Even stranger to me was that the manufacture date stickers found inside the toys (reading "YY,MM") sometimes showed releases as late was 2000!
What gives?
Were figures from the 1991 series that weren't reissued/renewed with 1994 tags kept in production throughout the decade, accounting for the fact that a new numbering system wasn't introduced? I find it amazing that even the copyright dates on the '91 style tags were left alone even for figures that were still being released years later. I bought brand new, '91 style tagged figures of Z-Ton and Gomora in 1996. Am I right in assuming that almost the entire Showa era Ultramonster line was pretty much kept in production until the end of the decade, after which most of them were finally officially retired before the 2000 series started?