Godzilla's Hawaiian Attire: E-bay Ephemera (part four)

More spelunking into interesting crevices of Ebay.  First up, I discovered only this week that there is a companion piece to the Mothra Fishing Lure we talked about earlier, and it's none other than Godzilla himself:

You can run into lots of great fan-made T-shirts, but this one was so good, I bought several...one for myself, and several to give away.  Unfortunately, the seller told me they were going to stop producing them, so I don't think they are made any more:

 The Japanese have not lost the important, child-like ability to see things in bizarre and different ways.  For instance, put Godzilla on the end of a stick, and what does it look like? Why, a hammer, of course.

This toy noise-making hammer was made by Takara in 1991:

Here's a neat, stylish, and very clever poster that was included with a version of the Japanese "Mothra vs. Godzilla" soundtrack LP:

Isn't that wonderful? I'd love to find a better scan or photo of the artwork.  It gets better every time I stare at it.

And finally, this summer wasn't the FIRST time that Godzilla went to Hawaii.  A company called Bou-Ken-Oh produced a line of amazing shirts several years ago, and they are mind-altering.  I'd not be caught dead in a Hawaiian shirt, but I would wear these everywhere, they are that amazing.  This first one is called "Godzilla Movie Monsters:"

 Let's look at some close-ups while we all recover from the awesomeness:

Oh, my stars.  Words just fail me.  Ebirah? Gorosaurus? Are you kidding me?! That's truly something.  And I have a good look at one more, called "Godzilla's Revenge:"

Even the box is stylish!

I'd love to print this hugely, for wrapping paper!

 

Look closely at the paperwork, and you can see that they made several other movie-themed shirts, such as GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER (hey, another American title, that's weird), GODZILLA AGAINST MOTHRA, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (awwwww MAN I want to see that one!), and many more!

Fishing With Mothra: E-bay Ephemera (part three)

Let's dig around some more in the dark corners of Ebay! First up, a very recent item, and one that I'm sorry to say I didn't win.  It's a Mothra Fishing Lure, by Takara, from 1998.  It's one of those things you have to stare at a while, until then you conclude, "of COURSE it exists"!  I do hope to own one, one of these days.

Next up, a neat Godzilla mini-pachinko game from 1992:

No doubt, in your Internets travels, you have seen the "Godzilla Toilet Paper Holder."  Well, this is the Godzilla Electric Razor, from 1987:

Can't you just imagine buying one of these, and opening it up, to discover it's full of somebody's powdered beard shavings? Ugh, I just made myself gag a little. We'd better keep moving.

Do you remember when GODZILLA, MONSTER OF MONSTERS came out for the NES? What a great time that was.  (And what a hard game that was!)  Shortly after that, a promo poster could be found in some games that announced a RODAN game!  Sadly, this game never saw the light of day.  

This is supposedly a "Backstage Pass" from a Grateful Dead concert.  Apparently somebody in management is a fan.

And speaking of fans, here is an unassuming book from 1982 called "Build Your Own Japanese Pagoda" (I can't read that title without my brain adding, "And SAAAAAAAAVE!")  It's a punch-out papercraft kit that is apparently pretty detailed:

That's pretty cool....what's even cooler, though, is that the author added a bonus at the end of the book:

 Well done, Alan Rose.  Let's all stand up and give him a hearty Sphinx salute.  "SAAAAAA-LUTE!"

King of the Monsters stills (1956)

Here are two original stills from the American version of the first Godzilla film.  What I like about these is that they are both more unusual poses, rather than the "usual suspects" that you usually see from this film.  Also, be careful on Ebay when buying stills.  There are lots of reprints out there, and some sellers are fast and loose with their descriptions!

Baragon vs Mothra: E-bay Ephemera (part two)

There are so many unusual, rare, and bizarre Godzilla items on Ebay, this could be a regular feature.  Let's start part two with beautiful artwork of Baragon going rogue and attacking Mothra.  The likenesses here are so beautiful, they are frame-worthy.  Not so with our second picture, but both of these items come from a 1967 book called KAIJU DAIZENSHU.

"In other news, both Gargantuas teamed up with Frankenstein today (wha?) and battled King Ghidorah.  Piles of spat-out clothes were everywhere."

Wait, is that even possible, for both Gargantuas to team up with "Frankenstein"?  Things like this make my head hurt, so let's move on.

Here we have a Japanese "pencil board" from the 1990's, with art similar to the "Godzillaland" chibi cutesy guys.  For some reason, King Ghidorah is popping out of a volcano, which is situated on top of an hourglass-shaped mountain.  And, not sure who the eyes in the cave are supposed to represent, but as this is basically a Heisei tableau, I'm going to say Mechagodzilla, because from BIOLLANTE on, he's the only character missing.

Our next item is a bootleg, and it is apparently titled the delightful Engrish name of "Variable Uncanny Embryo Horrible." This is one of those things you have to see to believe.

You'll notice, from the left side of the artwork, that the manufacturers believe--or just want you to believe--that this is a baby Alien (as in H.R. Giger).  Huh.  Well, it does CREEP IN DARK.

And, it was also available in green, which is probably closer...no word if it spat acid, though.  To my mind, this is like duplicating an Ugnaught action figure to pass off as a Mario, but whatever, points for trying.

While we are talking about bootlegs, file this one under "HOW NOT TO AUCTION ITEMS ON EBAY," because not only is there nothing desirable about this toy, but it's also extremely broken.  I hope you are sitting down and well-prepared for what I'm about to say, but, it DIDN'T SELL. (Gasp!)

And finally, as much as I'd like to say this is my house, it's not.  It's not even from Ebay, but I found this photo on a Google search, and haven't seen it on any of the kaiju blogs, so it must be seen.  This is the men's bathroom at a San Diego, CA dance club called Big Bang.  All I can say is, somebody has got CLASS.  Well done, whoever you are, well done.

Godzilla vs Dogora: E-bay Ephemera (part one)

I spend an inordinate amount of time on Ebay, and I learn a lot by doing so about Godzilla items.  It occurred to me that there are tons of unique collectibles that will not otherwise be seen, and, as I save photos anyhow when something catches my fancy, I figured the subject would make a good post. 

These photos will be in no particular order, and will run the gamut from cool to absurd...

First up, a very amazing Japanese model kit of Godzilla defeating Hedorah.  Not only is the likeness excellent, but I really like how this kit shows (much clearer than the film) that the mysterious "orbs" Godzilla is holding are Hedorah's eyes.  I recently read an interview with the director of the film, and he stated it was his intention all along that they were indeed the Smog Monster's eyes.  If you listen closely to the (superior) AIP dub of the film, when the scientist first discovers and names the element "Hedronium," he mentions that it somehow is concentrated in the eyes of the creature.  Not an exact quote, but it cleared up a long-standing mystery for me.

From a digest-sized kaiju book that included both Godzilla and Gamera, two neat illustrations--note the second, that shows us in a pictograph how the Japanese word "Gojira" came from "gorilla" plus "whale."

I don 't know anything about the card game "Ascension," but supposedly, in 2013, a promo card was produced for the game featuring Godzilla.  The auction said that only 10 were made, and since I don't see the word "Toho" anywhere, it doesn't look like they were licensed.  I saw one sell for $200, even.

A couple of years ago, I saw an artist (from Japan, I believe) who was selling this beautiful Mothra sculpture, made of a certain kind of wood and stone.  I have no idea how you would ship it around the world without destroying it, but he was asking $5,000 anyway.

Have you ever seen Godzilla fighting Dogora, the Space Monster? I'd bet you haven't, until now.  This is a DVD from Thailand, which is usually synonymous with the word "bootleg."  At first I thought it was a two-pack, but apparently it is only the DOGORA film.  Well, points for creativity, anyway!

Hey, it's Mechagodzilla! No, it's just "Robot King."  In the 90's, a line of knock-off vinyls was sold under the less-than-creative name of "Super Dinosaurs" by a company called Manley.  Look closely and you will see several familiar faces from Ultraman, too.

That's all for now.  In Part Two, we will continue our journey through Godzilla's Ebay ephemera.