Too cool not to share: '60s Universal Monster inflatables on ingenious display.

[palitoy]

Seeing that Ultraman picture made my heart sing, too bad it never saw the light of day.

[darkmonkeygod]

I've been researching Japanese Captain Action items a bit, and based on what I've read written by knowledgeable Japanese collectors, the CA stuff was released in Japan in the US boxes, with Japanese paperwork inside (and probably some sort of sticker on the box) and the Ultraman suit was never made and the one pictured was only a prototype. If true, too bad, I would have loved to see some crazy Japanese CA packaging, and a CA Ultraman.

Yeah, I'm more than half kidding about the CA Ultraman, but I want it to exist. I used to get Figure O and Figure King from Diamond a number of years ago, and one of them reprinted an advertising section from a mid-sixties Shonen King Weekly magazine and featuring the Ultraman figure. As far as I know, there's one source that has said it was only a prototype, and otherwise no one knows a thing about it. Any idea what the Japanese paperwork included in the Nippon Ideal releases of the others looks like?

Seeing that Ultraman picture made my heart sing, too bad it never saw the light of day.

Yeah, like too very cool toys. It's very cool that there was consideration for it so many years before the idea would come around again with Henshin Cyborg. It's also interesting to see how that's a Japanese branch of a US company attempting to tailor for the market. Anyone know of anything besides the inflatable monsters Takara was producing for the US?

[cjefferys]

Any idea what the Japanese paperwork included in the Nippon Ideal releases of the others looks like?

That I do not know, I'd love to see a scan of such paperwork. It kind of reminds me of Japanese release CDs that have all English packaging, but with an insert that includes Japanese liner notes and translations of the lyrics. Maybe the CA paperwork was something similar, explaining the character, etc?

Anyone know of anything besides the inflatable monsters Takara was producing for the US?

That's what makes those such an anomaly IMO. Bandai and Tomy had US divisions that released Japanese made toys stateside, but did Takara?

[darkmonkeygod]

That's what makes those such an anomaly IMO. Bandai and Tomy had US divisions that released Japanese made toys stateside, but did Takara?

I don't know, but haven't come across any info, so there's no ruling it out. Know of any resources on how to suss it out? Bandai and Tomy's US divisions were much later, weren't they?

[Meule]

Man, those are incredibly cool. He should paint his display to look like a castle to make it look even cooler