Godzilla Bicycle License Plate (Marx, 1967)

Have you ever stumbled across something on Ebay, and then suddenly realized that the seller had misspelled some key words in the title? That happened to me recently with an item that is so rare, I didn't even know about its existence.

This is from a line of "license plates" for bicycles, made by the wonderful Marx company in 1967.  There were a few other (American) monsters in the line, too.  I dug around for a while, trying to find out some more information about it, and all I could find was one forum, where the possibility was discussed that the Godzilla plate wasn't even sold in the United States, as a couple of people had verified that they had seen or purchased it in Canada, as children.

It is in beautiful condition, measures 2&1/4 x 4", and as you can see in the scans, is embossed!

It would be hard for me to believe that this was even used at all, since there are no scratches, bends, or rust.  If anyone can shed any more light on this item, or if anyone purchased one in the US way back when, drop me a comment!

Oh, and before I forget, the seller misspelled both "bicycle," as well as "license" in the title, which I think had a lot to do with me snagging this beauty for $20.50! You gotta love it when that happens!

UPDATE (February 2021):

Amazingly, an UNOPENED gem turned up on Ebay, and we can now see this exact beauty in its packaged state! Photos below:

The Amazing Kaiju Art of Yuji Kaida

Here are about a third of a wonderful set of cards featuring the masterful kaiju artwork of artist Yuji Kaida, from a Japanese card set that came out in 1996.

#3 - Gamera and Gayos.....hmm, where have I seen this painting before?

Oh yes, the cover of Dark Horse Comics' GAMERA #2 !!

#16 - Ultraseven, some monsters, and prominently featuring the cool and bizarre alien (that's sort of a robo-Manda) that rolls up/transforms into a flying saucer, who I believe is named Nurse.

#25 - The 1965 Gamera

#30 - This is one of the most beautiful and moving ones, to me.  It's a stirring incorporation of moth and larva from 1961's MOTHRA, even including the Mothra symbol, arranging it into a stained-glass window layout...stunning! It takes a special level of skill to depict the many details in the Mothra Larva, and still convey emotion.

#2 - Godzilla!

#6 - When ULTRA Q finally comes out on DVD soon, I will be able to tell you the name of this monster!

#17 - I do know this one, though! It's the mighty King Joe, from Ultraseven.

#18 - Ultraseven vs. Ironrocks, from episode 21

#24 - Godzilla! Front view!

#28 - Son of Godzilla!

#32 - The mighty Ghidrah is "born" of a fireball in 1964's Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster!

Classic Beany & Cecil Children's Books (1953-63)

Not too long ago, in a post about classic Children's books, I skipped over my Beany & Cecil titles, because I was waiting to track the last one down...well, I did, and the first copy got lost in the mail...sigh.  Now that I've found a replacement, here they are.  There are only three storybooks that I know of:

Beany and His Magic Set (Whitman, 1953)

Cecil Captured For the Zoo (Whitman, 1954)

Beany Goes To Sea (Golden Books, 1963)

Beany Goes To Sea (back)

I should point out that the first two books were printed at the time of the puppet show, and only the third and final book came out during the famous TV cartoon series.  All are charming and the illustrations are both lovely and excellent.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters - Vintage Radio Spots 12" LP (1956)

This is a one-sided, 12" vinyl record from 1956, that totals only a few scant minutes, and it has five individual bands with radio spots for GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS.  The first three bands are 50 seconds, while the last two are 12.  Now, as to what I paid for it, we won't get into...

The good news is, it cleaned up flawlessly.  Oddly, each band was self-contained; in other words, when you played a radio spot, there was no danger of advancing to the next one.  Instead, your record would just spin endlessly, which I thought was pretty clever for 1956.

The first thing that becomes evident in hearing these--and the voices are undoubtedly the Terry Turner and Don Thompson on the label--is that they weren't given anything to work with, especially in the sound effects department.  After all, it was "just another monster movie" at the time, smack in the middle of the 1950's.  What is almost comical, when heard from today's perspective, is the jungle-cat-roar used in a couple of these spots to represent Godzilla.  No, you aren't hearing a Tarzan feature, or even the beginning of an MGM film; that leopard/cougar sound is supposed to be Godzilla.  It's either a case of being really bizarrely unprepared, or really industrious in light of the circumstances; you decide.

Another thing that struck me was the note on the label: tracks 3 & 5 "are for use in kid shows."  Really, all this amounts to is a young voice (or a female representing one, maybe) saying a quick line about "golly gee, I'm going to see this swell picture," but the more I thought about the dark message of this beautiful film, and the parable of nuclear destruction, the stranger it got.  I could never think of KING OF THE MONSTERS as a "kid show" film, for goodness' sake...GODZILLA'S REVENGE, sure, but GOJIRA? It boggles the mind! It just seems really heavy for a 1956 child, but maybe I'm over-thinking it.  I'm sure many an American child became a fan from seeing the film, but was probably just a little unnerved at the same time!

It's just a few minutes, but they are minutes of GOLD. 

Hear here:  KING OF THE MONSTERS RADIO SPOTS

ADDENDUM (08/27/21)

As it turns out, these radio spots were also issued on a white-label 78 RPM record! The video below appeared on YouTube in recent months--which, as far as I can tell, is identical to the 33&1/3 disc!

Godzilla - Aurora Model Kit (1972 version)

As I have mentioned before, there is a lot of evidence that the first two licensed Godzilla items produced in America were the Ideal board game and the Aurora model kit.  This makes sense, as both were inspired by the popularity of KING KONG vs GODZILLA, which established Godzilla as a household name.

The kit has been re-issued several times, and as a public service, I just wanted to take a quick look at the artwork before we look at the 1972 version:

On the left, the original 1964 Aurora model.  On the right, the re-issue by Polar Lights, which was around the year 2000.  It was cool that Polar Lights retained the original artwork, but just in case you are ever looking at an auction, and all you can see is the front (which happens), and, just in case the seller is unscrupulous and trying to pull a fast one (which happens), you can see here that there are differences, particularly in the font, and really clear in the GODZILLA logo.  By the way, a sealed Aurora specimen recently went for $800 on Ebay! [Edit: a few years late, over $1,000!] Of course, unopened vintage models are rare anyway, but even the opened ones are pretty pricey, if you can find one.

But, it's a great kit either way, and the 1972 edition was a re-release of the 1969 one, which was unique, in that it added the GLOW-IN-THE-DARK parts that Aurora was doing at the time with all of their monsters, such as Dracula, Wolf Man, etc. 

Some pieces even still on the tree!

It strikes me that Godzilla would look weird with his entire head, hands, feet, partial tail, and dorsal plates glowing in the dark, but I bet it made a cool addition to a kid's bedside table. (Wait, the plates on his back do glow in the movies!)

If you want to build one, I'd advise tracking down the Polar Lights version; there are tons of them still out there, and they aren't too expensive.  The 2000 line also included their King Ghidorah and Rodan, which, while we are talking about American model kits, look like this:

And are equally nifty!

Apparently, the Rodan and King Ghidorah were added in the 1970's, but also re-issued by Polar Lights, luckily.  Also, there was one more vintage Aurora model from the 60's, originally called "The Godzilla Go Cart," but for some reason, Polar Lights wasn't allowed to use that title, and they had to go with "The Go Cart."  But it makes them MUCH easier to tell apart from their vintage versions.

This is just....so......weird.....

 Finally, here are full scans of the vintage instruction sheet--of course, the amount of blood you want to put on Godzilla's hands is up to you!

Tomorrow, or very soon thereafter, I have a very special post coming...something that doesn't add up to much, time-wise, but something I am really excited about, because it isn't available anywhere else!

Lego: Iron Man's Laboratory (2013)

In the last Lego magazine, a full-page ad ran for downloadable plans to build "Iron Man's Laboratory," and it took them a while to get the link up and working.  In fact, there are a few errors in it, and it seems like Lego was rushing to get the instructions up in time.  I still don't know where a couple of pieces they had me obtain even go.  You can download the instructions here, but after scouring my extra pieces (I had around 30% of the 400+ parts), and after $50 in pieces from various brick dealers, here is the finished product!

2017 Updated photo (with Iron Patriot and all gray bricks now the same shade)

2017 Updated photo (with Iron Patriot and all gray bricks now the same shade)

2017 Updated photo (with Iron Patriot and all gray bricks now the same shade)

 

I was so proud of this picture...until I realized I'd forgotten about Tony's "other" face, which his hair isn't long enough to cover. Oops.

This is the only representation of the red & silver armor that Lego has made.

Once again, there is a creepy second mouth on the back of Tony's head. Yikes!

So was it worth it? Oh heck yes. Another thing I should point out is, they expect you to have the label sheet from set #76007, the Malibu Mansion attack...and not one extra set of labels, but two, because there are three computer screens in this set.  The best thing to do is what I did, simply print out duplicates and glue them on, because in the end it's just three computer screens and the two-sided briefcase.  (By the way, this is NOT an "alternate build of the 76007 set, so don't fall into that trap.  Of course, you will need 76007, because it's the only place to get a Tony Stark figure!) Good luck, and happy building.

UPDATE: 10-22-13:

With LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES, Iron Patriot arrived, so the last space in the Hall of Armor is filled! Here's a photo:

Urban Myth of the Day: Zoot Fenster - The Man On Page 602 (Antique, 1975)

I used to hear about this "thing" that happened, from time to time in my childhood, whispered here and there...usually, as I would come into the room, the conversation would stop, but I gathered that "something" had happened that I needed to know more about, and Sears was involved.

Flash forward to a few years ago, when I was reminded of this "event," the one that embarrassed and hushed chattering aunts and grandmothers...and I learned a few more of the details.  I will give you the quick version: a picture in a department store catalog caused a furor in the mid-70's.  This is hard to believe in our "modern" age....if you are trying to tell this story, odds are you will first have to explain that department stores used to send out regular catalogs a couple of times a year, and that as children, we would eagerly await the Christmas ones ("wish books") and begin tearing through them...but I digress.

I found out there was a (novelty) song about the incident, but promptly forgot about it.  Imagine my surprise when I found the single in a pile of otherwise dull records recently.

Since this subject is sort of outside the bounds of what we usually cover here at The Sphinx, and it's not one of THOSE sorts of taverns, I will direct you to the fine urban-myth-debunking folks at Snopes.com for the rundown, as well as the offending photo, so you can see and decide for yourselves.

GODZILLA BATTLES THE TRICEPHALON MONSTER (1979, HG Toys) Part 2

Picking up from where we left off yesterday, let's take a closer look at the many parts that make up this incredible playset.  On the side of the box, we see the contents listed:

I suppose we could just follow the order they suggest. Let's start with "GIANT GODZILLA"!

As the star of the set, Godzilla is around 5" tall, and solid, non-posable plastic, with a hollowed-out area in his belly, which is probably for molding purposes, and to keep the figure from being overly heavy.  It isn't visible from any angle,as you can see.  His feet don't stand flat, making his stance a little lopsided, but they captured the lumbering qualities and heaviness of his walk very well.

 

Next we have the other star, the one HG Toys created, the Tricephalon Monster.  He is equal parts fish, turtle, and dinosaur, and I have previously noted his comparison to King Ghidorah.  The artwork (also used for the largest of their puzzles) shows his heads and necks to be metallic, but here they give the impression of being scaly and plated like the rest of his body.  He's 7" long, and is also hollow under his belly. His green hue of plastic is a little different from Godzilla's, which was a nice touch.  There is one case (you can see it on You Tube even) of a Tricephalon monster being found made of red plastic.  At first I thought it had to be a fan-made remold or something, but when I stopped to think about all the variations possible with this sort of thing (especially because the plastic pieces for this playset were manufactured separately, overseas in Hong Kong), then anything is possible. [NOTE: The same mold was used as a dragon in other HG Toys playsets, which of course makes sense.]

The "Civillians," like the Army men, resemble traditional plastic soldiers from all of our childhoods, but the comparison ends there.  In person, they are both much smaller, an inch or slightly less tall, and made of softer plastic.  There are five different Civillian figures, with six different humans.  On the left we have a splayed-out man in a weird position...he could be a drunk stumbling out of an alley, but he makes a better dead body.  If it wasn't for the base, I would think that's what they intended.  Next we have an old-fashioned cop, who could be straight out of BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS.  The pair of children really shows the level of detail that this playset gives us: the sister, teddy bear in hand, pulls the young boy, who is pointing at the sky in horror! Next is a favorite of anyone who sees the playset, the grandma shaking her cane, looking like a Ruth Buzzi character from LAUGH-IN.  While this is an extraordinary touch, the downside is that, getting three or four of these makes it look like the city is populated by bag ladies.  Last but not least, the screaming woman is so traditional, but so necessary, that it really adds to the scene...look at her, she can't run at all.  She is completely frozen in fear, with both hands to her head in true monster movie fashion.

There are six different poses of soldiers included.  All of them are completely appropriate for defending the city. My one complaint is, like the bag lady, ending up with three or four of the "Walkie Talkie guy" is a little problematic.

Also included are two jeeps, two tanks, a police car, ambulance (nice touch!), and fire chief car.  Including vehicles was thoughtful, because the playmat has several roads, and the bridge is a prominent part of the playset, after all.

The two "F-111 Jet Fighters" and the "Missile-Firing Destroyer."  While these are awesome, you should have seen the ship when I got it.  The playset had been in somebody's garage for years, and I gave everything a bath and/or cleaning.  Anyhow, why specify "F-111" instead of just "Jet Fighters"? Maybe because it sounds cooler? Looking up the F-111, it was a real thing, known as the "Aardvark," and was brought into use by the U.S. Air Force in 1967. They only built 563, and they were phased out.  As for the Destroyer, I still am not quite sure how it fired missiles--well, I am, because you can see a spring in the instructions.  What I really am not sure of is what the missiles looked like.  There's no clue from the box or instructions.  Maybe you were supposed to supply your own.  Who knows? 

The Playmat is 30" square, and is similar to what used to come with traditional army men, or even Play-Doh, playsets.  It has roads, a dock, and a large river for the Tricephalon to destroy your boat.

I was really, really lucky to get the instruction sheet included, and it's the first time I've seen one.  It's single-sided, and shows how to set up the cardboard pieces, assemble the boat, and put the spring in the gun turret.  

As we wind this thing up, there's one more factoid I wanted to mention, and it ties into the subject of variations I discussed above.  Somewhere, I read there were TWO different background scenes, and I had thought that the large diorama piece was simply two-sided.  Mine isn't, which makes me wonder.  The only place I can find it in writing is the ad (which I've posted before) from an old FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine:

from FAMOUS MONSTERS #184

You can see that it says "two different background scenes, one of city docks, one of crumbling skyscrapers!" which almost makes it sound like two separate pieces.  I only bring this up to wonder if this was a later addition, but then again, one of the small photos on the box shows us this:

I just haven't seen any photos on the Internets of folks who had two separate pieces, and we can't see the whole thing here, to figure out if it was later produced as a reversible backdrop. If anyone wants to clarify this, or share some info, just let me know.

At any rate, I hope you have enjoyed seeing an up-close look at the many details of this once-in-a-lifetime toy. I hadn't seen any in-depth reviews of this amazing relic, and I thought it really deserved one.