I admire procrastination in students, it brings me back to my sordid youth.
On to my latest aquisitions...
If Kame Bazooka didn't exist, this would be the GREATEST KAIJU EVER.
It's a parapalegic Dinosaur surgically spliced with a 3 barreled tank. BRILLIANT!
I would be considerably more terrified of this thing tearing up a city than Godzilla. Because, he has many of Godzilla's best accutramanets AND he's mounted to a giant tank.
Plus he has what appears to be a grin of pure satisfaction. This is clearly a Kaiju that loves his work.
Dino Tank made his appearence in an early Ultra 7 episode. His appearence in the episode was somewhat shorter than that of many other Kaiju in the series and I have a theory as to why that is. With nothing to back this up, except watching the episode, I think it got so little screen time because the suit was very difficult to operate. In a few of the scenes where it is moving you can clearly see the suit actor is shuffling around to keep it moving forward. The guy was obviously on his knees in the tank section and had to basically crawl forward.
Plus, it looked a little difficult for the guy in the Ultra7 suit to grapple with this thing. So, the GREAT Dino Tank's debut was short but MEMORABLE.
The construction on this piece is a little different than the average Ultra-Kaiju. The tank section is a seperate piece from the dino section and made up of a much stiffer vinyl that is closer in feel to the classic Bandai vinyls of the late 80's and early 90's. Clearly it is made this way to allow for a solid support base that won't sag under what is effectively the weight of a standard Kaiju figure riding on top of it.
The dino portion has articulation only at the arms and is made of the standard and current type of Bandai soft vinyl. He's squishie.
He has a heavy solid vinyl knob under his belly that is used to connect him to the tank. This means that he can be moved around the tank exactly like an actual Tank Turret. But, since the tank's main guns are always facing forward there is no real reason for this. Unless, Dino Tank has some sort of fire breath or laser eye weapon that I don't recall him making use of in the episode. But, I suppose you can pretend he has anything you want him to have. Such is the wonder of toys.
His primary paint scheme is a dirt brown color and his claws are sprayed in white. He is highlighted in a nice metallic bronze paint which is used to acsentuate certain areas of detail such as his head, neck, arms, tail, and armored plates on his back designed to give him much more of a cyborg look.
Silver paint is sprayed over the circuit board looking patches at his back haunches which are designed to look like the area where animal is fused with ordinance. The Tank portion is sprayed in similar colors with silver being used for the headlights and parts of the wheel and tread areas.
All in all this is one of my favorites. It is without question one of the GREAT conversation pieces of vinyl Kaiju and figure that anyone can afford and EVERYONE should own.
NEXT
Can a toy collector have fans?
I say no.
But, an artist can have fans. Mark Nagata is an artist, and I am certainly a fan.
I would imagine this has already been discussed here. If it hasn't...well shame on you people.
I knew I wanted my first Max Toy purchase to be something particularly cool. I have been digging the Mechanical Kikaida for a while, but it has been sold out at a LOT of places. I finally ordered it from Generation Kikaida, although shipping from them was a bit painful.
What can I say...Retro BIG SOFUBI LOVE AT ITS FINEST!!!
The soft gooshy vinyl, the paper inserts, the fine silver spray, and the texture...so much texture. Vinyl toys are all about the texture, if you don';t have that you don't have anything.
The printed circuits on the side of the head and down the different parts of the figure's left side have a nice raised texture that is very different in feel to the smooth vinyl that makes up the main body.
The Yellow stripes, the eyes, the belt, the spikes on the belt, and belt buckle are also all raised molded (as opposed to just being painted) on to the figure.
Add all that to the paper inserts and the effect is that this is a very busy figure. It makes a dynamic figure even more so. This thing will draw attention on even the most crowded shelves. I have him on my shelf with all my Ultraman figures and it is a see of red, silver, and blue. But, this thing immediately takes over the shelf.
Plus it's in classic, Old-School standard size. I wish more companies made vinyls this size at the very reasonable price this figure is. Because it really is the size vinyl toys are meant to be and it just comes off as a very natural scale for a Tokusatsu hero like Kikaida.
I intend for my next purchase from max Toys to be a Captain Maxx and then probably Kikaida in color. I'm really hoping we might see a Kikadia 01 as well. But, we shall see.
-Ray