GODZILLA 1985 Video Flyer/Order Card (1986)

 

Here is an interesting piece--this is a flyer announcing a special price to order GODZILLA 1985 on home video.  While "flyer" is probably not the correct word to describe this, it's hard to imagine exactly how it was used.  It is printed on glossy cardstock, is one-sided, and measures 8 by 5 inches...so it's too big to be packed into regular VHS releases of the day.  Back in those days, local newspapers had "Sunday Supplements" that would often contain items like this, so perhaps that's one idea.

You can tell right away that the marketers on this side of the Pacific were attempting a "wacky" approach to sell the film (I mean, it had a Love Theme after all), and in hindsight, it's really too bad that they didn't just let the film be itself...well, the American version of itself.  Case in point:

Yikes. At least this is the only place that this synopsis appeared!  If you wanted to order the movie, it would set you back $14.99 plus a whopping $4.00 (for the time) shipping, making a grand total of $18.99.  Just from what I've seen, I'm going to say that this was a very decent price for an official release in 1986, because the big Hollywood titles were still pretty expensive at that time.  And this was an official, SP tape, and not a low-quality bargain bin thing.  And, Betamax was still available, too (although this film would be the last Godzilla Beta tape in the U.S.)!

This is definitely a fascinating artifact that I've never run into before--if anybody has any other ideas of how this piece would've been distributed, leave me a comment!

The Things I See: Goodwill and Other Horrors

These sort of photos pile up after a while.  It could be a regular feature, if we didn't have other business to attend to around here.  But hey, why not? "Enjoy," he said, in quotes........

Yes, this is the actual thing they give you at Chik Fila to put on your table when you are expecting food.  And not only did somebody steal it, but they donated it to Goodwill...and GOODWILL SOLD IT.

I am not an expert, but I don't think this is the sort of thing you can learn from a book. Unless you are a serial killer.

"Would the person who lost their Diplodocus please come to the check-out area? Thank you."

It's interesting what people put in frames. I could've done a whole post on bizarre or dumb things left in frames, but here are a couple:

This person treasured the Columbia House Record And Tape Club so much, they framed a newspaper ad from the 1980's.

And this person was so enamored with this embarrassing typo (really two, if you count the inability to understand what an ellipsis is), they immortalized it in a frame.

This obviously wasn't Goodwill, but it sort of sums up the current state of Amazon pretty well!

And now, a special one that's dear to my heart. Do you ever stumble onto a random act of hidden hilarity that someone's left behind? Have you ever committed one? There had to be a first person who added words to a traffic sign or bathroom paper towel dispenser and made them hilarious. I think there should be more of these in our daily lives.  Case in point, I picked up a random paperback at Goodwill, thumbed through it quickly, and just happened to see this:

Thank you, whoever you are.  Your work is immortalized here for all time.

And now, we conclude with a speed round of  bizarro products:

1) A slightly used spitoon. Hey, somebody may need that.

2) And here is a GYYAAHAAGGHGHH let's just move on.

3)Admittedly, this is from a Wal-Mart, but this particular store is very, very....desperate.

4) This one is cool, my buddy has one of these. We put some wilted lettuce, a box of paper clips, and a tarantula into it, and it came out ham! It's pretty handy.

And finally, the grand finale...hide the children:

5) As you drive home tonight, just take a moment to think about how somebody returned a used urinal to Wal-Mart.  And they took it back.  Hooray for Current Year!

GODZILLA x KONG Choco-lympics Candy Bar Showdown and Taste-Testing-O-Rama Death Match!

 

Well, here's something new: food reviews.  More of an "accidental food review," but hey, it' s a new Godzilla product.  If you haven't noticed, they have been marketing the newest Godzilla film a lot harder than the last one...which could be a good or bad thing.  But hey, like many folks, I haven't gone to a movie theater in a few years now, so I'm looking forward to it.  In the meantime...we have products! Candy bars, to be specific.  

First, the info:  these are 2.1 (oddly specific) ounce candy bars that are only found at FYE stores. I do not have one of these locally, but happened to be traveling, which was a lucky thing (mostly).  I hope you're sitting down, because these candy bars are five bucks apiece. Did you ever think you'd see the day when four candy bars would be twenty bucks plus tax? It boggles the mind.  They are produced by Brooklyn Born Chocolate, and distributed by the repugnantly-named "Get Your Geek On" from Canada (yep, they go from New Jersey to Canada, so they can be sent back to the States).  There are some other FYE exclusives that exist, including a Black Cherry Soda (which my official testers loved), hot sauce (wasn't interested), and Freeze-Dried Ice Cream, which the store hadn't received yet, probably because it's still deep within the Hollow Earth. 

This is the second time FYE has sold Godzilla candy bars (the first were pretty good, and larger even), but last time they weren't tied to any film.  So, nothing left to do but to divide them up after dinner and get the family's reaction! And, heeeeeere we go...

Godzilla Supercharged Bar

This would be a natural selection, in looking at the four on a store shelf, just from the wrapper alone.  This candy bar is: chocolate with 35% white chocolate and stone ground coffee beans. A word of warning though:  left in the car on a 65 degree day, it mostly melted.  I am sure this is due to the white chocolate content, and I therefore had no choice but to refrigerate it, where it reconstituted and obviously affected the experience.  

Upon opening the wrapper, you are met with a pretty strong coffee smell, but I have to say, the beans were finely ground, and it didn't taste strong at all.  In fact, non-coffee drinkers really liked it, which was a surprise to me.  Unfortunately, the chocolate itself had a weird consistency, but I believe it had a lot to do with partially melting and reforming.  So all in all, this test was a little skewed.  Was it good enough to buy again? Yes, especially if summer hadn't set in yet, and I could get to eat it faster.

Kong B.E.A.S.T. Bar

"Nevermind that most people don't understand the acronym yet, it's what we were told to name it, so we named it that." This candy bar is: dark chocolate covered peanut praline & raspberry pate de fruit. And you know what? It's going for "peanut butter and jelly," and it is exactly like a mild, gourmet version of that.  BIG word of warning, though, this candy bar completely and totally melted on a 65-degree day. I kid you not; it was vertical in the shopping bag, and when we got home, it was a literal bag of goo.  

Which is too bad.  After being refrigerated, it was still quite soft, but able to be divided up.  This is the richest of the four, and is a thin, crunchy praline layer, filled with the raspberry, under a chocolate coating.  It's very luxurious, and there's nothing else exactly like it among candy bars.  Personally, there's no way I could eat a whole one, but hey, the wrapper clearly says there are two servings here.  This was a big favorite among my group, so it gets the YES vote for possible re-purchase, if it's ever possible.

Shimo Sub Zero Destroyer Bar

Let's not discuss how my brain still wants me to call this thing "Shimu" (I have killer whales on the mind I guess), this candy bar is: dark chocolate, cacao nibs, & peppermint essence. But, much like the coffee in the Godzilla bar, the peppermint is much milder than you'd expect.  The dark chocolate is quite good, but the little cacao bits seem to be mostly on the back of the bar, and sort of fall everywhere, which was my only complaint.  Otherwise, this was my personal favorite of the group. I'd buy it again, if I found myself needing to buy a five dollar candy bar that is.

Skar King Shadow Titan Bar

And then there's this.  This of course would be the one that the foodie-types would navigate to, because it's the weirdest. This candy bar is, and I kid you not: molé blend, toffee, toasted almond & fleur de sel.  Points for creativity.

Now, there are no actual moles in this candy bar.  It is instead molé, a traditional Mexican sauce that is different everywhere you have it, and is known for a large amount of ingredients (sometimes even chocolate).  Fleur de Sel is simply sea salt, but a fancy and expensive one from France. So, right out of the chute we have quite a cosmopolitan candy bar! The flavor is...hard to describe.  The toffee bits add a little sweetness as you'd expect, but then there's a bitter aftertaste afterwards.  Nobody in my group liked this one at all, so this one's a loss.  

Still though, 3 out of 4 isn't bad. I'd recommend you try these for yourself, if you are in the area of an FYE.  Next time, we will discuss people who are obsessive enough to wash out and save candy bar wrappers, and who probably  need professional help.

Trendmasters Godzilla Unproduced Doom Island Resin Recast Figure!

 

I'm so excited about this one, I don't know where to begin, so let's take a historical perspective, and begin at the beginning!

The existence of this Godzilla figure has puzzled fans for years.  We all know Doom Island ended up as a cancelled line, but at Toy Fair that year, the Trendmasters display looked like this:

You'll see this page cropped and shared all over the place, but its origin is TOMART'S ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #38, and the full page is presented here, above. There's a prominent photo in the middle of this montage that caught the eye of many a fan.  What was this cool-looking Godzilla figure? To further add to the mystery, it got a full page in the Trendmasters Doom Island catalog:

What in the world was this figure, and why did we never see it?

Well, now it can be told!

Enter Jeff Bergeron.  Jeff is an artist and designer, and worked at Trendmasters from day one of their Godzilla license! He has now shared the long-lost details, and the facts are: this wasn't a Godzilla figure...it was TWO Godzilla figures!

Shockingly, there was to be both a 4-inch and a 6-inch figure of this Godzilla for the Doom Island line.  As Jeff relates on his Etsy listing (which we will get to momentarily), they were designed by Bill Bronson at Trendmaster's request to take the line in a new direction, and to make Godzilla more "edgy." The 6-inch figure was never tooled (therefore what was seen at Toy Fair was a painted prototype, which is not an unusual practice), but the 4-inch figure was, and only somewhere around 12 were produced! So, what happened to those? How many survived?

Well...who knows, but what's important here is, Jeff owns one, and now you can own one too! On his Etsy page, Jeff is offering high-quality recasts of this Godzilla, professionally made in the exact same way that they would've been back in the day, using high-quality resin and dowel rod joints for articulation.  Each piece is custom-cast and all edges are sanded off.  He will even give one a Trendmasters paint job for you, if you so desire!

For me personally, I chose unpainted, because I want it to look like the unproduced figure that it is.  As you can see, the casting job is excellent, and loses no details (I recommend that you view these photos at full size to take it all in).  He looks great.

I forgot to mention, the figure bears the date of 1997!

Interestingly, you can see that this figure would've had lights and sounds.  There are small vent marks on the front, but directly above them is a square cut-away that would've held (or been) a button! Take a look at the photo of Jeff's disassembled figure on his Etsy listing, and you can see that some of the pieces are transparent (not just fins, but also hands)! This would've been an interesting figure indeed.  On the underside, you can also see where the battery compartment would be, which looks similar in design to other Trendmasters figures.

Another thing that's cool about this figure is that its design doesn't shorten the tail, like they had to do with their earlier Godzilla figures:

In fact, as you can see above, the tail would've had an extra joint for added articulation! 

I can't say enough good things about this figure.  It's a piece of history, and it's an incredible feeling to be one of the lucky collectors to own one.  It's in a place of honor in my collection, and will be a bragging point to friends from here on out!

You can buy one for yourself right here:

Trendmasters Unproduced Doom Island Godzilla Resin Recast

Not only will you receive the figure, but Jeff also includes a personalized Godzilla drawing with his orders! An original Godzilla drawing, from an original Trendmasters artisan? It doesn't get any better than that!

BATTLE ARMOR MECHA KING GHIDORAH (Godzilla Doom Island, Trendmasters, 1997)

 

Today we get into the last figure of the Doom Island BATTLE ARMOR series! Trendmasters varied a bit on what they called him exactly, but here (on the back of the box that is) it's "Battle Armor Mecha King Ghidorah" (with no hyphen; on some earlier Trendmasters toys he's just "Mecha Ghidorah").

Just like the Godzilla we looked at last time, this figure began life in the previous GODZILLA WARS series, as "Power-Up Mecha-King Ghidorah" (with hyphen):

Of the four "Power-Up" figures, this one is one of the coolest.  Once again, the figure was given the black Doom Island wash, which really accentuates the sculpt here.  Now, let's get inside the box...

When you look at the packaged figure straight on, it almost appears his tail(s) and wings aren't separate, but they are, as you can see below:

And here is a better view of the heads...I didn't stop to see if the backpack-type piece connected to the middle head was removable like the "Power-Up" figure, but I'm willing to bet that it still is.

The body of the figure also benefits greatly from the extra black paint:

And, just like the other figures, a packet of weapons and missiles can be found under the cardboard base:

Here is something else that you won't see anywhere, well, else.  While the Godzilla figure included a Mechagodzilla card, this figure actually includes the right one.  This card is so rare, I couldn't even find any trace to include it in the Trendmasters Guide (please see our Sphinx Godzilla Guides page for free PDF downloads, updated constantly), but it's there now!

Interestingly, all of the Doom Island cards I've been able to see the backs of are unnumbered, and this one is no exception. For the curious, I count 10 different ones that you can see in the guide!

I hope you've enjoyed not only getting to see these rare figures, but actually being able to see what's inside of the box! It's sad that there were only four in this group, but it's also sad that Doom Island never had the chance to really take off. At least we have a handful of items that made it past the prototype stage!

BATTLE ARMOR GODZILLA (Godzilla Doom Island, Trendmasters, 1997)

We need to conclude our inside look at the four BATTLE ARMOR figures from the ill-fated DOOM ISLAND Trendmasters series!

To get a run-down on the line, as well as see the first two figures we looked at, see the previous posts about Battle Armor Kumonga and Battle Armor Anguirus! Both are completely awesome figures.

Those figures were brand new sculpts; the remaining half of the line were really re-painted re-packs, though, that you have probably even seen before.  Today's Battle Armor Godzilla began in the previous GODZILLA WARS line as "Power-Up Godzilla."

The "Power-Up" Godzillas came in two colors: Trendmasters Green and the blacker "Supercharged," which you see above.  These are the famous (infamous?) figures that included armor and weapons, and as they have aged, have taught the initial 90's doubters (of which I was one) that they are nothing short of sweeeeeeeet.

As you can see above, the box for my figure has encountered a bit of moisture some time between 1997 and now, but the tape on these usually falls off anyway, so let's look inside!

The Doom Island figures benfitted--and not--from a black paint wash that they were all given, which makes the details of their sculpts really stand out.  Everything looks better, down to teeth and claws.  I say "and not" because some people have complained about this black wash breaking down and getting gummy over the years.  So let's hope for the best.

Unlike "Power Up" Godzilla, this one comes with his largest pieces of armor already in place.  They don't want you to wonder what all of those other vac-metalized pieces are, I guess.

You may have noticed that, like many Doom Island figures, the trading card is completely wrong.  This is very common in this line, and speaks to the rushed way in which they were disposed of.  A Godzilla (as well as Supercharged Godzilla) card does indeed exist.

One more angle, while we are in here.  This gives you a better look at his back and tail.

As with Kumonga and Anguirus, a packet of armor and missiles is found beneath his cardboard stand.  It looks like to me that they match the "Power-Up Godzilla" perfectly.  (He even has a little helmet!)

Next time, we conclude with the fourth and last BATTLE ARMOR figure, Mecha-King Ghidorah! Be there or be square.

(Another) GODZILLA 1985 Ad Slick Set (American Screen Accessories, 1985)

 

Here is a second set of ad slicks for GODZILLA 1985, comprising 5 pages measuring 11 x 14 inches.

Comparing these to the previous set that we looked at a few years ago, one thing jumps out right away:  while that set had a light-colored background behind Godzilla, this set has a dark one, making for a solidly black ad with white text.

This gave the newspaper personnel a choice, I suppose...the dark one is more striking, but in smaller sizes it might have looked like a big smudge on the page.  What do you think?

And speaking of, some of the most interesting ads are usually the smaller ones:

The Kaiju Art of Ray Fromme!

 

We don't do any paid endorsements around here, and the blog isn't even monetized.  While we don't receive any money, great kaiju artists should, and here is one you should know about. I had the privilege of meeting Ray Fromme at a convention a few months ago, and have been meaning to post about his excellent kaiju artwork ever since! 

Ray is a gifted and prolific artist, as well as a true fan who can talk about any era of Godzilla that you bring up, not to mention other great tokusatsu franchises! I don't feel comfortable copy-and-pasting examples of prints that are for sale, so you are encouraged to go to this LinkTree site, which lists out his stores, social media, and whatnot, including prints, originals, T-shirts, and more.

I will however show you a print that I bought and framed! What can I say? It spoke to me.  Check out his work, won't you?