ULTRAMAN: GREAT MONSTER THE 30 (Bandai, 1990)

 

We alluded to these great sets from 1990 in our post about the M.U.S.C.L.E. toy line, but they are worthy of featuring on their own.  

It gets confusing for collectors, because all types of little rubber guys like this get lumped in under the word "keshi," which literally means eraser in Japanese.  And yet, while there are figures (often using the same molds) from retail sets and gashapon machines that are literal erasers, they aren't all made for that purpose (also, the erasers are usually brighter colors).  (Bandai had been making such sets for several years--here is an awesome Godzilla Comichara set from 1984 we featured ten short years ago!)  In the U.S. of course, we had the occasional gumball machine eraser, as well as the monster erasers made by Deiner, but I never wanted to use them for their intended purpose...why would I literally disintegrate my prized monster figure?

The obvious comparison to these 30-packs are the M.U.S.C.L.E. boxed 28-packs (which were actually larger in size, when compared).  There was also an Ultraseven set (stay tuned for that), although it would have been cool if Bandai would've just gone all the way and done an Ultraman Jack set as well, but it's obvious that the most iconic of Ultraman foes were created in those first couple of years.

Here is the back of the box, which strangely shows two enemies in the bottom row that aren't even in this set, Gabora and Kemular!

Before we get to the actual figures, here is the included game board, allowing you to play a game with your keshi army:

And now, the star of the show, the inner tray holding Ultraman and 29 of his adversaries:

How many can you name? Yeah, I got stumped on several of these too, so I cheated, and I'm not above admitting it.  Here is a glossary of everyone that's included (you may have to blow it up):

Some favorites didn't make it in, such as:

Gango (usually spelled Gyango, the totem-pole-decorated kaiju), or even Bemular, from the very first episode.  Also, you would expect a Pigmon.  I wouldn't want one, but you would expect one.

A very cool set! So, did the Ultraseven one measure up, or even surpass this one? Stay tuned for the answer!