Meet your fellow monster

[Josh Barton]

This thread is to act like a virtual party where everyone can get to know everyone. Ascii drinks and 300 dpi cheese cubes are served in abundance. More fun than an AA meeting.

So who are you? What brought you to the hobby? What part of the hobby do you partake in? Fave toys? Etc. Leave the egg shells at the door. If this thread stays alive, it could be a nice way to learn something you didn't know and generally make new friends. Potential, kids. Potential. Since I don't see any hands I'll start.

My name is Josh and I live in Kentucky. Right this very second I am listening to Type O Negative. I like battling my dog, Wolf and eating Thai food. I want to be a Kamen Rider when I grow up.

I've been 'into' toys since I was a kid. I grew up on Transformers and Voltron. I had a Bumblebee cake on my 4th birthday. I have an intense love of robot toys. Growing up, I tried to get a hold of anything robot related. Seriously. The only TMNT fig I owned was Metalhead because he was a robot. I had Robotech underwear when I was real young and I didn't even see Robotech until I was in High School. When Transformers died I graduated to Power Rangers and then back to TF when Beast Wars began airing.

Two particular events brought me to the Japanese scene. Before I graduated HS, my mom came back from a flea market with a robot lion toy. I had no idea what it was at the time. I just knew it wasn't voltron. Later on I did research and discovered it was the lion from Daltanious. This little bit of digging opened up a whole world of Chogokin/ Godaikin. The second event came about because someone on a TF board posted a link to the (new at the time) GaoGaiGar figures. I immediately fell in love with the designs and again with the research, discovered the sweet sweet satisfaction that is Yuusha or the Brave Robot series.

If robot toys are my foundation in this hobby, then Godzilla is the first floor. Another big part of my childhood was the big G. One of my favourite movies growing up was Godzilla VS Megalon. In the late 90's I was introduced to Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. Gamera has been my fave kaiju ever since. I even have a big plushie of the guy.

I have since grown to love kaiju of all shapes and found a deep appreciation for the 'modern vinyl' scene and its sub-groups. Bottom line, I love toys. And this love is what drives me to make figures of my own. Well more like 'try', but we all start somewhere. I don't have a specific focus as I am too ADD to decide on what I want to do. I want to hit it all; robots, kaiju, yokai, super heroes, everything.

With all that said, I look forward to this community growing and making new friends. I think what Matt Walker has here is something special and it'd be foolish not to get involved.

[Chris Bryan]

HI!

So, I run Grumble Toy with my partner Ainsley. We are a shop, but also make our own toys. Ainsley makes hand made plush, and does the designs for our vinyl toys. So far, Wormrah, Manmorah, and... oh.. no spoilers yet.. ha ha.
I've collected on and off for years. I caught the sofvi bug after buying some M1 toys off ebay. Prior to that I had a few from that cheapy Marmit line.
I really like the Japanese monsters that have a real connection to the sculptor. I tend to prefer companies that are only a few people working on the toys. I think companies like Amapro, Yamomark, Elegib, Sunguts etc. show so much of the creators personality in the sculpt.
As a collector I tend to get only 1 or 2 of a sculpt. I don't actually pass on a lot of toys I love.
As a toy company it's important to us that we paint the toys ourselves.. this sometimes slows us down a lot, but in the end we feel proud of each release. Recently I've been using a number of different suitable paints, and experimenting with custom mixes etc.
Other than toys, I run an experimental music label, produce minimalist sound art, obsess about club music, Belgian beer (and now making beer! weee!), film, my pets (cat, 5 chinchillas, and Baxter the lizard)
well... that's probably a good introduction.
Hi everyone!

[Jack Fields]

This is the culprit! The gold finish on mine has tarnished more than this one. I'm amazed that someone else has this magnificent specimen.

Josh Barton said:

[Sanjeev]

Awww...that poor Daltanias... :P

Anyway, Chris, welcome!

I've picked up a few Grumble Toy exclusives of Sunguts and Yamomark toys in the past (glowies, of course!), and their paint jobs have been absolutely top-notch. Some of the subtle masking on the Sunguts "beta" series was just brilliant. Not only were the paints applied well, technically-speaking, but the color selections definitely show an eye for what makes kaiju toys fun. Very classic colorways!

Great stuff!

[KaijuZoo]

Hi Everyone,
Looks to be a nice party going on here, I'd like to thank my pal Sanjeev for the invite!

As for my background, I grew up in Japan as an air force brat (.... a LONG time ago) and have been enjoying my second childhood for about 12 years now, rediscovering kaiju monsters that I knew and loved as a kid. I guess it was the excitement and hype that developed around the '98 Godzilla film that rekindled my interest in old skool flicks like King Kong vs. Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra.

Anywho, I've since amassed a nice collection of toys, books and films for myself and started my part-time business in 2002 with retail sales first and then branching out to include custom painting services. My real gig is still working as a computer systems engineer but I look forward to retiring in a year or two to devote much more of my time to my creative interests.

Jonee

[Brenda King]

Hey Guys,
I'm Brenda & I live in Denver,Co. I am a wife, mother, nurse & collector. I got turned on to collecting by my husband who collects a little of everything from coins to vintage tools but his passion is toys & monster related items. We use to watch
some of the old Toho movies together & Ultraman & one day I was doing a search on google trying to find some good dvd's for sale & I found myself on sb. Then the madness began for me, my collecting taste varies but I love damnedrons I have 100's of them. I love it's simplicity and that it reminds me of the monster I had invisioned living under my bed & in my closet when I was a little girl. Yep, I was terrified of monster's when I was a child, the down part of being stuck in between 3 boys in age, but it made me one hell of a tomboy. Other than dam's I collect things that appeal me,shikaruna,marmit,m1,etc.
Anyway, I look forward to being here hanging out, talking & learning more, who knows maybe I'll buy an airbrush & some paint & start painting. Doubt it, but maybe.

_B

[Dead Presidents]

Welcome Brenda ! Thanks for sharing a little about yourself. Your avatar brings back good memories !

[Sanjeev]

Brenda! Great to see you posting here!

I can definitely vouch for Brenda's taste...she's got an eye for great kaiju toys. The Damnedron thing is a surprise, though...didn't know you were into those! And it sounds like you were into them too at some point, Matt. Interesting...don't think I've ever seen one in person.

Anyway, welcome again, Brenda. Even if you don't end up getting into painting, by all means, feel free to post...especially pics of custom stuff you might have. The board's still young, so it's a bit quiet here...but it's a nice change of pace!

[Dead Presidents]

A Lot of new members around here ! Please don't be too shy :)

[Dead Presidents]

This was sent to my comment wall. I put it here for more to see. This is our first featured member Laurent Trapp from France.

 

hi Matt, what can i say...  i'm not collecting kaiju since long time, i'm starting to collect matango ( it's one of my favorite with many others but i love very much matango, the movie are excellent) 

i love collect : tiki mugs, ventriloquist dolls, finks and kaiju

since my enfance i got a real passion for movie monsters, vintage science fiction movies, bmovie and russ meyer movie ( of course)... when i discovered kaiju i be crazy . in kaiju this is all what i love  : monster, a little bit of vintage style, colors etc...

 

in art i love very much the works of todd schorr, ryan heshka, dave burke and more.. ( for info : very soon a martian fink ceramiq mug will be available it's a collaboration:  dave burke/munktiki )

at the moment i'm learning the sculpture and modeling , i want to make  kaijus, i got somes ideas that i want to realized. 

i hope you 'll know a little bit more about me. it's difficult for me because my english are not very very good!!

best,

laurent

 

[Sanjeev]

A fellow Matango fan. Can't go wrong! ;)

[toybot studios]

Hello Monster Kolor Krew..!  Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kirkland. We live in San Francisco. I've been collecting Japanese toys since a wee lad but pretty much lost everything until I re-discovered toys after college.  I've always been fond of Japanese robots and drooled over Popy die-cast as a kid.  Gundam got me back into robots, but partial to Votoms and Super Robots today. Got the Japanese vinyl bug around six years ago when I first met Mark Nagata and subsequently Brian Flynn. Been collecting Secret Base, RealxHead, Gargamel, Exohead, BLObPUS and most derivatives ever since.  I would say i'm a collector first and foremost.  I enjoy photographing toys and over the last few years, customizing toys as well. I hesitate to call myself an artist though.  Toy Ruiner is more descriptive...lol...  I met Matt Walker a few years ago when he first hit the scene with his automotive-painted toys and have been a fan since the very beginning. It's really awesome to see Matt's fans and businesses grow... 

 

 

[Dead Presidents]

Thanks for sharing Kirkland ! . For those that don't know. Kirkland was one of the first collectors to take notice of my custom paint work on neo-kaiju figures. There is some great ones in his collection :) 

toybot studios said:

Hello Monster Kolor Krew..!  Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kirkland. We live in San Francisco. I've been collecting Japanese toys since a wee lad but pretty much lost everything until I re-discovered toys after college.  I've always been fond of Japanese robots and drooled over Popy die-cast as a kid.  Gundam got me back into robots, but partial to Votoms and Super Robots today. Got the Japanese vinyl bug around six years ago when I first met Mark Nagata and subsequently Brian Flynn. Been collecting Secret Base, RealxHead, Gargamel, Exohead, BLObPUS and most derivatives ever since.  I would say i'm a collector first and foremost.  I enjoy photographing toys and over the last few years, customizing toys as well. I hesitate to call myself an artist though.  Toy Ruiner is more descriptive...lol...  I met Matt Walker a few years ago when he first hit the scene with his automotive-painted toys and have been a fan since the very beginning. It's really awesome to see Matt's fans and businesses grow...