1.27.2009

Es mi Kaiyodo

Assembled and painted by myself, with tremendous help (x-actoing all those spines off the sprues! E-frickin'-gads!) from Sister Sara, back in '00.





Stands about 10".
Stands on my desk.

Bare Model Garamon in "March Afternoon"

Just some good old Nerdstrom collection shots...






1.13.2009

Kaiyodos A-Go-Go

More great Kaiyodo build-up pics ganked from YJA.
I never tire of seeing other people's diverse work on this classic kit.




Nice bashwork on this next one... altered head position! Yeah!



Ultraman Daddy, you are the greatest.

Just go look through his photostream.
Right now.

Yama Yow!

Post-SuperFestival 48, the new Yamanaya Garamons have hit YJA in full force.

And they are freaking beautiful.

Check these pics from a pair of current auctions... they look even better than they did in Yamanaya's promo snaps:




1.04.2009

The Assumption of Pygmon

I'm delighted to share with you this wonderfully awesome painting, courtesy of the very talented artist Isabel Samaras.

Bask in the glow of transfiguration:


Alex hepped me to the existence of this piece, which was part of the recent "Kaiju Monster Invasion, Miami Beach" show at Harold Golen Gallery. I got in touch with Isabel in short order, and found her to be a real peach to communicate with. Here's what she had to say about the piece, and her background experience with the spiny one:

"Okay let's see... I used to watch Ultraman a lot when I was a kid, and my very first crush was on Hayata. Then I didn't see my silver and red hero for a long time (except for occasional forays over to Kimono My House in Emeryville), until the DVDs came out and I decided to infect the next generation with my obsession. I bought the first set for my son for Christmas in 2004. That kind of ignited an Ultraman obsession in him, and reignited my own -- we both started drawing kaiju all the time (often battling each other). But it all stayed on the down-low, nothing for public consumption, until Harold Golen got in touch with me about a kaiju-themed show he was planning.

One of the things that always blew me away about Ultraman was that even though the monsters were often "villains" there was still (sometimes anyway) a tenderness or sympathy for them. Like Seabozu! Heck they even had a Buddhist ceremony for all the ones that were killed. I always had a soft spot for poor little Pygmon, who was just trying to be sweet and helpful and got unceremoniously squashed to death by Red King. (Can't keep a good pygmy monster down though, he came back again later.) In a lot of my work I like to make connections between old master paintings and contemporary pop culture, so I thought for the show I'd do a classic assumption scene where a host of heavenly angels lifts the saint-of-the-moment up into the heavens for their just rewards. I think Pygmon earned it. Painting him was my favorite part of the piece -- I love all the weird coral-like shapes of his body and his sad eyes and huge lips. It's amazing how iconic his features are -- you can take so much away and still have a recognizable Pygmon (I have a small round rubber Pygmon ball, it's just a red lumpy molded rubber ball with his face on it but it's so totally him -- you can knock him all over the place and he just comes bouncing happily back)."

Awesome... you have the everlasting gratitude of the worldwide Garamon/Pygmon fan fellowship, Isabel!

One more pic, mit der frame:

GiD Gara-customs by Sanjeev

I don't know why the fong it's taken me 'til now to do a post on these, but anyway... man-about-CollectionDX and super-nice chap Sanjeev has done some fantastic, blacklight-reactive custom work on three different GiD Garamon toys. His very tasteful touch has been given to (l to r, below) a Popy/B-Club Bullmark reissue, M1-Go's towering "dolly eyes" beast, and the very fun Marmit bank.






Dig Sanjeev's great articles on these pieces (with superb glow pics) here and here.