[Baltan II]

Before S.H. MonsterArts and Ultra-Act, years before Bandai, your only hope for giant monsters in toy form was vinyl. Five points of articulation if you were lucky, and only swivel joints, and incredibly light for the size, but fun and bright colors and certainly durable. The variety was nearly endless between all the classic film and television monsters out there!



Over time, the vinyl got smaller, but more detailed and show-accurate. This was the new era of giant monster love, an explosion in the 80s led by Popy and Bandai; Ultraman begat the return of Godzilla, and so the others followed.



Just after this new era began, the children of the 70s grew up still loving their monsters of old and you had big figures again... and with price tags to match. These are the cream of the crop, the ridiculously expensive, but masterpieces in their own right.



Whether it's an original Hawaiian Bullmark Hedorah costing more than your student loans or the latest 6" Bandai Ultra Monster Series toy for 840 yen, all discussion of sofubi (soft vinyl) toys goes here!