Covered in Cordyceps redux

Remember this post?  It's the most-viewed Garamania post of all time; I can only guess that's because of the absolutely stunning originality and quality of the sculpt, and because many people land on the page unintentionally while searching for info on Cordyceps.

Anyway, I was looking at a selection of Ed Godzisewski's photos from WonderFest Summer 2012... when about halfway down the page I spotted a display featuring everbody's favorite mummified, mushroom-sprouting Gara-sculpt!  I had somehow not encountered this in all my various perusings of WF photo wrap-ups, several weeks back.  Ed's pic is captioned, "Truth Modeling 30cm resin Gamera 3 and Garamon, looking like they have a serious skin condition."  I hopped on Google translate and generated several forms of "truth" in Japanese, combined it with "ガラモン", and ran some image searches; hit paydirt on several Japanese-language blogs.  I learned that the sculpt is by longtime GK master Ryu Oyama (his Alien and CFTBL pieces are legendary on these shores); the modeling company reads as "Shin Kai modeling" in several translations.  Here are the pics- and a video!- that I was able to cull:
 

Another Oyama Gara-sculpt was displayed on the table, as well- this smaller, elegant piece depicting Gary either twisting out of the Garadama, or writhing in the earliest stages of the fungal death process.

Needless to say, if anyone has further info, please get in touch!  These are some of the most unique and intense Gara-sculpts I've ever seen, and I would love to know more- especially if these are actually going to be available as kits!

New Garamon figures from CCP and Billiken Shokai!

Big Gara-news on the full-size figure front from two heavy hitters in the world of realistically-rendered kaiju sofubi!

First up- you knew they were going to do a Garamon at some point; that day has finally come, and CCP is ready to release a brilliantly-sculpted 30cm Garamon toy.

Dig the knock-kneed stance, faithful to a certain sequence in Gary's first, dam-smashing Ultra Q appearance ("Garadama", original air date 3/27/66):

CCP is also offering a dam accessory base which you can pre-order with the figure for an added cost (full product/ordering details here):
 

I gotta say, the face is eerily show-accurate on this one; CCP's blog entry on the piece features several shots from the colorized Blu-Ray Ultra Q set, and I have to think that stills from that edition were heavily referenced during the sculpting.


You may recall that I posted about the new Garamon by Billiken Shokai a little while back; more pics have since surfaced on their site:

Looks like there's no firm release date yet, and I'm still not sure if this will be released as a kit, fully-finished figure or both; needless to say, I will keep you posted.

Billiken Garamon vinyl model kit

Well, this came as a complete surprise to the Proprietor... Billiken showcased this amazing new Garamon vinyl kit on their SuFes 59 table: 

Word to Kaiju Korner and Kadomium Tank for their always-excellent reportage!

Built-up, unpainted VOLKS Garamon

This resin model kit, one of the many interesting versions of Garamon from VOLKS, is up now on YJA.

A fixer-upper to be sure, but at 2000 yen, it could be worth the investment, if you have the scraping/puttying/gluing/painting gumption.

New Atragon G-K "Set 01A" companion kit to ガラモン release

Not content to release one of the finest resin Gara-masterpieces ever poured, Miyazaki-san at Atragon G-K has completed work on "Set 01A", a sold-separately companion kit to his (very) soon-to-be-released Garamon kit (new header pic is one of his awesome promo shots).

Here's a look at the kit, which features a Garadama base with nameplate, a chunk of tilsonite, alternate appendages, and some... I'm not sure... bonus (?) spikes...

And the box art... for Set 01A:

... and the figure kit itself:

Both kits limited to 100 copies; pre-order closes on 3/20!

ATRAGON G-K ガラモン FINISHED

While the run-up to GARAMANIACAL was in full swing and all the posts here were centered on it, Miyazaki-san at ATRAGON G-K finished his fantastic new Garamon kit. 

As expected, the final retail version is wholly awesome...

On the table at WonderFestival 2012 Winter:



Three interchangeable jaws, held in place with a neodymium magnet?
Of course...



As well, two pair of Garappendages, also featuring magnetic attachment:

I'm guessing the bin on the shelf underneath Garamon in this pic is full of the sold-separately acrylic eyes:

Many congratulations to Miyazaki on this spectacular work... keep it up, my friend!
I really hope I can grab one of these kits, at some point!

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled GARAMANIACAL programming...

... to let you know that Miyazaki-san at Atragon G-K has pretty much finished his Garamon kit and it is, unsurprisingly, wonderful.  He really dialed in on some true-to-the-suit details, and also made some very unique interpretive decisions.  Check out the shape of the nose overall, and the nostrils in particular- real grotesque elegance going on.  The strange vertical seam-like impression running down the torso is something I have never picked up on before, and it makes me want to rewatch the Ultra Q Gara-eps again soon, to see if I can discern it.  As ever, he's included the heavy-duty zipper up the back, and the placement of the spikes to the left and right of it is exceptionally well-done, obscuring this great detail just enough to make your eyes want to dig in and find it.  Can't wait to see his paint-up of this beast!

Check out these pics from his recent posts, then head on over to his site to check out the rest.

Howl's Move-Outta-The-Way-Gary Castle

Smashing new Garamon sculpt from X-Plus

Pics of a new Garamon from X-Plus have hit, and sculpturally, it looks like a real winner (as ever, let's see how the paint ops turn out on the production piece... and in any case, let's hope they put this one out in a resin kit version, as they did with their Pygmon). Seems like he will be available with a Garadama or destroyed dam base. Nice!

They really kept this one under wraps until now; I had no clue it was coming.

Interestingly, the late-December release date of this one will roughly coincide with the release of Atragon-GK's Garamon...

UPDATE:  Got some further info on this guy: he's about 15cm (6"), and the dam version will be the shorter-run variant and a bit more expensive.

Atragon-GK keeps chuggin' along...

...towards a truly superb Garaccomplishment:

Are you keeping up?

Three jaw

"This kit will provide a three jaw.
So you say can change the opening of the mouth by the replacement of parts.
Neodymium magnets are embedded in the filtration 差Shishi as replacement parts can be fixed firmly,
We will devise a strong magnetic force easily dislodged."

http://atragongk.exblog.jp/15803960/

JAW

Gnarliest set of chompers on a Garamon EVER!!



I really think, when all is said and done, that Miyazaki's piece is going to be unlike anything we've seen before; every in-progress shot he posts amazes me.  Go back and check out the hands pic from a few days ago. Really, really special; so much heart and soul going into this one...

Atragon-GK: work on the Gara-head continues...

Looking great so far; as you'd expect, Miyazaki-san is putting his usual careful, masterly thoughtfulness into this one.

Click to embiggenate, and read all about it here.

Atragon-GK Garamon

Aaaawwww yeah... it's begun...

Stay tuned to the Atragon-GK blog for the latest in-progress shots... and start saving up your yen!

Volks resin kit build-ups in red and green

Outstanding work on two copies of the 40cm Volks kit from the talented people at ZOOMS: