Although still widely unknown in North America and Europe, kaiju toys are sold by the millions in Japan, and not only are there thousands of different kaiju monsters you can buy, the most popular all have dozens of variations. In North America, girls tend to collect things such as vintage Barbie dolls or collector editions of My Little Pony, and boys the newest Transformers or Power Ranger toys. In Japan, kaiju toys are such a commodity that they are collected by boys, girls and adults. There are always new TV series and movies coming out with new kaiju, perpetually increasing their popularity.

Everything kaiju is slowly becoming more popular in North America, and while it will never attain the same widespread appeal as in Japan, it will surely become bigger and bigger each year. In fact, Kaiju Big Battel originated in the United States, and is an insight into the growing popularity of kaiju the western world. If you like kaiju, and want to learn more about it, your best bet is to watch some of the famous kaiju movies. They are old and cheesy, but have a special appeal to them. They can often be hard to find outside of Japan, the best places to look are anime stores and certain movie stores that carry the less commercial items. It is usually hard to find new copies of the original kaiju movies, so be sure to ask to see the used movies for sale in the anime section or in the Japan section of foreign films.

Also on this site I write about some other cool collectibles toys that you may be interested in. Feel free to leave comments about your favorite kaiju toy, or let me know of any cool unique toys that I may not have heard of.

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Mothra was first created in a novel “The Luminous Fairies and Mothra”, and subsequently featured in the 1961 movie titled Mothra. Since then, Mothra has become one of the most famous kaiju around.
In the original movie, Mothra is a giant butterfly/moth kaiju that was born on infant island where a colony of female fairies live. She becomes the protector of these fairies and her “homeland” and there are many battles centered around this in the various Mothra movies. Since this original movie, she has been portrayed in many more, most of them by Toho Tokusatsu.

There are three defining qualities that make Mothra so special. For one, she is generally identified as female, and no other kaiju is considered a female. The second is that she is often portrayed as a defender of the earth. She doesn´t harm humans, except for when she does it unintentionally while fighting other kaiju such as Godzilla. The third is that Mothra is portrayed in different forms, namely an egg, a larva, and a giant moth. No other kaiju has been portrayed in three forms.

The original Mothra has different powers in her different forms. As a larva, she can spray her silk to entrap enemies, slowing them down or stopping them completely. Her mandibles are exceptionally strong, and they are her main weapon for close-quarters combat.

In moth form, Mothra can flap her giant wings to create extreme gusts of wind, easily blowing over buildings and even capable of knocking over a kaiju enemy. Her wings are so powerful that she can even fly in and lift a kaiju off the ground. Mothra also uses her giant body as a weapon, flying into her enemies to knock them over. As a last result, Mothra has been known to use her scales as a weapon, that can create a deadly poisonous powder. However, to use this power, she has to lose her scales, in turn making her easy to defeat.

Mothra is a truly unique kaiju, and for us kaiju fans, she is usually seen in high regard. The best thing about Mothra though, are the super cool Mothra toys, which are a must for any kaiju toy collection.

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What´s the legend of the origin of Kaiju Big Battel?
Legend has it that many of the natural disasters caused in the world today are not the result of mother nature, but actually the effects of different kaiju unleashing their fury on the world. Only a small group of humans recognized this, and they created what´s known as the KRC (Kaiju Regulatory Commission). This committee joined together to fight against these kaiju, and ensure that the world was not destroyed.

Years later, celebrity stardom became more and more common in the United States. In the same way that children dreamed of being a famous sports star, actor, or band member, the kaiju themselves decided they wanted to be famous and receive the acclaim they believed was deserved. Of course, they were never going to receive this acclaim, and the result were some very angry kaiju.
The KRC had to think of a plan to keep these kaiju under control, and their solution was to allow the kaiju to fight one another in a controlled setting, thus allowing the monsters to unleash their fury against one another in a safe environment, as opposed to random outbursts against the world. This was called Kaiju Big Battle by the KRC, and became what it is today.

So now when you watch or hear about Kaiju Big Battel, you can feel safe knowing that these monsters are unleashing their fury against one another, and not us poor humans. In the end, the kaiju have received the fame they desired, and the humans get to watch the epic kaiju battles that they enjoy so much.

How did Kaiju Big Battel start (and what´s with the typo)?
The story of Kaiju Big Battel started back in the mid 1990s by a couple of students from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. These students were making a video project about Kaiju, and for the project created the monster Midori no Kaiju, which means big green monster. While the project was never completed, the students decided to create Kaiju Big Battel, which would be a parody of professional wrestling and the kaiju movies in Japan. The idea was to have some of the famous kaiju fighting one another in professional wrestling style. The first battle was performed in 1996, and has increased in popularity ever since.

Legend has it that some t-shirt were made to promote the event, but these t-shirts had a typo, and Kaiju Big Battle was spelled Kaiju Big Battel, which they decided to keep as a permanent spelling.

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source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51135940@N00/3586630993/

Godzilla is hands down the most famous, well known kaiju. He was created in the 1950s by the famous Eiji Tsuburaya, who was working alongside Tomoyuki Tanaka and Ishiro Honda, which became the birth of kaiju. His name means gorilla whale, eluding to his massive size, his aquatic origins, and his ferocity. His original form is based on the body of a Tyrarannosaurus Rex, with arms similar to that of an iguanodon, and a Stegosaurus for the row of plates down its back.

Godzilla was originally created as a villain, attacking man-kind, supposedly because of the harm that humans had done to him. However, in other films, he also becomes somewhat of a “good-guy” as he helps the humans destroy other kaiju. At the time, this was an original concept, in the way that Godzilla was not just a monster, but could almost be seen as having feelings.

There have been numerous movies made about Godzilla, but that is not the only place he has been seen. There were TV series featuring Godzilla, and he has also been seen in comic books. His fame has spread throughout the world, and he is one of the most popular (if not THE most popular) kaiju toys. There are hundreds of different variations that can be purchased, and for this reason, makes him a kaiju toy collector’s dream.

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The classic Autobots versus Decepticons became legendary to the kids of the 80s, who continue to assert that it is the best cartoon series ever made. Of course, with any major TV series, there is lots of merchandise. Transformers are probably some of the greatest toys ever made, though they never had the same staying factor as kaiju toys, which have never gone out of fashion.

However, I would still like to mention the value of the great, original transformers toys. What made them really unique, is the quality. A lot of the original toys were made with metal, even at a time when current toys were coming out made with plastic (think GI Joes, He Man, Barbie, My Little Pony, etc). Not only that, but the details and how each toy works is pretty amazing. Not to mention Devastator and other “combinable” transformers. For their coolness and uniqueness value, they are definitely some of the coolest collectible toys available.

What is the ultimate transformer collectible? I think it would have to be Optimus Prime, a real transformers masterpiece and the epidemy of classic.

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The original Ultraman was created by Eiji Tsuburaya, who worked for the Toho studio that created Godzilla. He was an alien that lived on a distant planet, called Nebula M78. This planet exploded, and Ultraman travelled around the universe in what was called TravelSphere. He crashed into a human spaceship known as there Space Patrol, killing the pilot. However, Ultraman used his powers and own life force to revive the pilot (Shin Hiyata), which in turn implanted the spirit of Ultraman into Shin Hiyata. The result was that Shin Hiyata was able to turn into Ultraman by pushing a button on a special device.

From then on, Hayata would battle the various space monsters that came to earth, along with the rest of the crew from Space Patrol. Naturally, when things became difficult, he would turn into the mighty Ultraman, and defeat the space monsters, which are known as kaiju. Thus was created the mighty and famous Ultraman, who many compare to the American Superman.

Have you ever heard of Ultraman? If you’re Japense, it is pretty difficult not to know who Ultraman is, because he is a big part of pop culture, from movies to books to toys. However, people from most other countries have often never heard of Ultraman. If that is the case, now’s the time to go find an Ultraman movie, and find out about the “Japanese Superman.”

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Looking for to buy Kaiju toys? Visit our store.

What?? It´s hard to know exactly what it will be like from just the picture, but skeptics point out that the new version of the game has more to do with dexterity than brain power to solve the puzzle. This would be in contrast to the original which had more to do with brain power (or in my opinion, lots of patience). Either way, it is guaranteed to be a huge seller once it finally gets on the market, and we will probably see even more sales and videos on you tube than the original. We hope the Rubik’s Sphere (I suppose we can call it) should rival the popularity of the original cube back in the eighties when every shop or store from San Francisco to Osaka to London seemed to stock a variety of the cube. You don’t have to have an off or online mba to realise that all retailers are very excited about the prospect of making some serious sales of the product. The toy/puzzle looks great and promises hours of fun too!

There is even a blog about the Rubik’s 360, where you can find more information including recent news and videos.

If you are interested in getting your hands on the new Rubik´s Cube, they can be pre-ordered on Amazon. It is rumored that the toy will go on sale some time in August and will be put to market by Drumond Park Games. One word of warning; there are many fakes being sold on Ebay right now so be careful. It looks pretty cool, very spacey – but personally, confuses the heck out of me just looking at it.

Official Site:  http://www.rubiks.com/

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