Here's another nostalgic toy from my childhood. My brothers and I had a few of Mattel's Godzilla's Gang figures when they were released in 1978. These toys were actually manufactured by the Japanese toy-maker Popy, but Mattel did the distributing here in the States. I suspect those that made it into our hands were purchased from the local five and dime store. Selling for around a buck, these toys would have been particularly hard to resist for little monster-loving boys.
Despite being a member of Godzilla's Gang, Muruchi here was really a villainous monster from the Return of Ultraman show that aired in Japan in 1971.
Muruchi seems to be suffering from some blobby paint application. Yeah, these were cheap, but couldn't they have put a bit of care into this?
Muruchi is sort of the bizarre love-child of Godzilla and a kielbasa. Unlike some robots I know, kaiju don't seem to suffer too much when viewed in profile.
Paint applications on toys like this aren't usually too complex, but there's a certain charm to the way vast swaths of color are applied, highlighting the sculpt's texture.
Muruchi gets a little mustard yellow for his bee-hive mitten hands. Clearly, this was a much-used toy.
The yellow made its way only other body parts, including his toes.
Articulation was (and still is) extremely limited on vinyl kaiju toys. In Muruchi's case, he's actually got quite a bit more than the normal. His arms, legs, and tail are all moveable. "Run, Muruchi, run! See Muruchi run!"
Yup, he's a fun old toy, and one that I acquired very recently, having been gifted it by my younger brother on my birthday. This is the actual toy we had as kids, and he graciously passed it on to me (along with a few other kaiju who may wind up getting the Geezer treatment). Thanks for the assist into the WABAC Machine, APH!
This is a very short toy review for a very cheap toy. Mattel released a series of old Popy soft
vinyl toys in the USA in 1978, dubbing the line "Godzilla's Gang." Outside of Godzilla himself, the rest were actually Ultraman villain monsters. It was kind of a strange grouping, but at around a buck a piece, one wasn't going to complain (not that I had any clue of who Ultraman was at the time). I'm pretty sure that we had three of these toys, one of which was Bemustar. I have no experience with the actual Ultraman show that Bemustar originated in, but I was able to locate this video of him doing his thing.
Anyway, all this is completely secondary to the fact that I'm here to post pics of a toy I knew virtually nothing about as a kid, but enjoyed mightily. Here is Bemustar.
Sculpting on these old vinyl toys rarely were screen-accurate, but that's part of the charm. He's got a joint at the neck.
I remember that the colors just enthralled me as a kid. I believe the actual vinyl is a brown, but then there are varying sprays laid on top in metallic greens and magentas.
He's also got some joints that allow his arms to move up and down, but that's about it for such vinyl toys. Still, having practically no articulation matters little when faced with such awesome paint.
Bemustar's got some really cool skin texture. I love the silly tail.
"Oh, you think my tail is SILLY, huh? I'll show you how silly it is next time I'm stomping around your downtown!"
There's the famous Popy stamp!
These old vinyls are great if you can get your hands on them. Bemustar seems to be fairly easily acquired via venues such as Ebay, though the other Godzilla's Gang figures may be harder to come by. He was a cheap thrill back in the day, and still seems to be today. Thanks to Bemustar, I am in some small way able to reach back over the years to that little eight-year old me, breathing life into a small hunk of vinyl.
Here's another nostalgic toy from my childhood. My brothers and I had a few of Mattel's Godzilla's Gang figures when they were released in 1978. These toys were actually manufactured by the Japanese toy-maker Popy, but Mattel did the distributing here in the States. I suspect those that made it into our hands were purchased from the local five and dime store. Selling for around a buck, these toys would have been particularly hard to resist for little monster-loving boys.
