Damn, X-Plus...

... you kinda blew it.
Again.

What the hell is it with X-Plus? They hire some of the best sculpting talent around... they show preview shots that make their toys look absolutely killer... and then, when they actually hit... ooof.




Sure, a step or two down in quality from the proto shots to the retail piece is always to be expected- but X-Plus paint ops typically range from suck to mediocre, and sadly, the Pygmon is no exception (though, sure, it's on the high side of mediocre). The biggest problem, though, is that X-Plus casts their wickedly overpriced items using a really cheap PVC that seems exceptionally prone to distorting after it comes outta the mold. My feeling is that an essential feature to be expected of any high-end character toy is the ability to stand on its own. Don't ever, ever buy an X-Plus toy and expect it to stand on its own.
Check the feet:


Wow... all this and no articulation?

X-Plus should go back to what they did best- garage kits and cold-cast pre-paint statues.

M-1 Gary by COOP

An amazing snap from COOP's photostream (much more kaiju goodness therein)!

hustle55goodjob

Regular YJA seller hustle55goodjob does a hustlin' good job of making Gara/Pyg customs from Bandai mini diorama figures.

Here's Bandai's "Revenge of Garamon" dio:

Here's the big Garamon in front, removed from the base:


... and here's hustle55goodjob's reworking, sitting atop a pedestal with custom-sculpted legs and feet and a great new paint job:



Recently, he's offered a couple reworkings of Bandai's "Lawless Monster Zone" Pygmon diorama.
Here's how the piece looks out of the box:

Here, hustle55goodjob simply did a nice repaint on Pygmon and the diorama landscape:



For this very cute "up, up and away" scenario, he did some extensive figural resculpting as well as a great new paint-up (man, the guy does some great drybrushing on these tiny figures):




Finally, here's the dancin' Pygmon he had up some time ago, featured in an earlier Garamania post:



I'm not really sure what mini he started with for this one... if anyone can enlighten, please chime in.

Flagamon

Catching up with Semi-Ningen

Dance troupe practice...


Shop-vac time...

Lemonade Monster Ultra Pygmon!!

MUST!
SCORE!
A CASE!

The Funk of Forty Thousand Kaiju

Well, the funk of about thirty or so, really... this is great:



Huge thanks to Matt Allison for bringing this to our attention!

I don't know.

And I forget where I found 'em.
Sorry.

Painted X-Plus Pygmon Pics

Lookin' reeeeaaal good...



Complete with Monster Island flora base (bendy, even):




Hopefully the paint ops on the retail pieces will be at least 2/3 as good as this proto.

Pygmonic Coming-Soonz

Marusan Pygmon rainbow set (now avail-a-bule for pre-order from Super7):


X-Plus does Pygmon, due to drop in March:


Much more right-on than their take on Garamon, IMHO.

Keeping the streets safe for the holiday season.

Thanks to mondocoyote.

GARAFINK!!!

What you're hearing is the sound of my head exploding, 'cause this is
TOO!
FREAKING!
COOL!



I have next to no details on this, other than that it's a garage kit that was released at Wonderfestival Summer '09 this past weekend.

Super-fugly Kaiyodo on a rampage

Dude, what happened to you?



From here.

Remember to tip your Garabarista

From here.

Lego my Gary

From here, where you'll find a host of other great Ultra-kaiju Lego creations, too.

PK shoots AoD

The work of the great PaulKaiju has been featured on Garamania many times before (here, here and here, for example). I'm a huge fan of the guy's work- I have commissioned several pieces from him over the last few years, and they're always amazing. I think highly of him not just as an innovative painter/customizer, but as a synthesist of the old and new toy culture. He really gets it, and you can tell he has a great appreciation of his role in all of it.

When I finished the Ash of Death custom, it hit me like a bolt outta the blue: "I gotta send this to Paul!" Seemed so right- I know he has a love of the character, and I was also psyched to send him a custom piece of my own which I felt so satisfied with.

I was delighted to check in on Paul's Flickr last week to find these super-sweet snaps of AoD!




Cheers, Paul!

Busted

"Look, officer..."

"Sir, again, I am not willing to discuss it with you any further at this time. This is NOT a nude beach. End of story. Now, please keep moving."

From Flickr's Ultra fan group.

Great Semi-Ningen and Garamon build-ups

This person did a smashing job on the Kaiyodo Gary, even plugging in acrylic eyes:


... and equally great work on this Semi-Ningen build-up (not sure of the manufacturer of this kit):

This modeler's full gallery of Ultra-Q beastie build-ups can be accessed here- check it out!

Camping with Pygmon!

Great stuff in a very sweet photoset, found here.

Pygmonic forlornitude

Probably because someone else ate the last Lorna Doon...