Godzilla Menko Cards! (part one)

I just got in a pile of Japanese Godzilla (and Toho) Menko cards.  Menko is a game that goes back hundreds of years in Japan.  Kids slam down cards, printed on thick cardboard, trying to turn over the cards of their opponents, and they usually get to keep what they win.  This is sort of like the (old) milkcap game that was hugely popular in the United States in the mid-90's.  The cards come in different shapes and sizes, but in this case, they are roughly 2 & 3/4" x 1 & 3/4."  I was amazed at the condition of these...they are glossy, and were probably removed from a vintage pack like this not too terribly long ago:

This is even the same series, as you will see.

Often, Menko cards will have extra information on the back, allowing them to be used to play different games, such as "Rock, Paper, Scissors," or something like that--I have even seen some with pictures of playing cards, allowing kids to sneak in some poker at recess. Here's the first half of my haul:

Baby Rodan! Awwww...

 

Ebirah!

Ganimes (from the mighty YOG aka SPACE AMOEBA)

Strange paste-up of Angilas and King Ghidorah!

 

Gigan!

Gigan again!

Big G Glamour Shot!

Godzilla vs Angilas, colorized from GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN.

Ditto--can't we just forget about that one fight and focus on being friends?!

The underrated Gorosaurus--note that this is a "behind the scenes" shot because the top of the background is visible!

Part two coming soon!

The Things That I See (continued)

Another chapter in the continuing story of sights I encounter while roaming through life.  We start off today with this:

If you've never seen the "derp" Internet meme, then now you know what one is.  This, most assuredly, is a "derp."  This is actually a couple of continuous panels from a comic book version of "The Horror of Party Beach," but this particular moment was so ridiculous...well, the whole thing is so ridiculous, which is why it can be enjoyed via a MST3K episode.

I wasn't aware of this at the time (which now was FIFTEEN years ago, ugh), but this is quite simply one of the greatest album covers I have ever seen, and this is actually a "CD single," which I don't even think they make anymore. 

This is a real thing.  I actually debated buying and converting it, until I looked at the vinyl, which looked like it had been used as a toboggan on asphalt.  Oh well.

Finally, this last item would be easy to stage, but believe me, I was simply walking through the thrift store, in the section of kids' books, and this is what I saw!

Kaijubilee #18, "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla"

Not an extremely original title, I know, so let's just keep moving...


Kaijubilee #18, "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" by Sampoerna Quatrain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Godzilla, KOTM Vintage Halloween Costume! (Ben Cooper, 1978)

Halloween costumes have come a long way, which is an understatement.  When my parents were kids, you mostly had to make your own...you did good to find an old sheet, or the hide of a recently-slaughtered farm animal (just kidding about the farm animal).  These days, you can spend as much as you have, and the selection is endless.  The quality isn't exactly stellar, but you really can find just about anything.

But when I was a kid, costumes fell in between these two extremes.  We had to wear a vinyl coverall sweatbox (some of them had cloth pants).  It tied in the back, and split when you didn't want it to. You also were forced to wear a fragile plastic mask, held on by an even MORE fragile elastic string.  Your breath would condense on the inside of this shell, until your face was wet and it was dripping all over you.  Over the course of the night, the mask would crack, especially around the eye holes, causing torturous poking by plastic shards.....then the string broke.  It never failed.  And I didn't even mention the best part:  mostly, you weren't dressing AS that character, but merely a representation OF the character you wanted to be.  There were some exceptions, but more often that not, you were wearing a suit with a large picture of your choosen character. Confused yet, young folks? Let's take a closer look:

Ben Cooper was a company that was the undisputed king of the Halloween costume and mask world.  They even made some inexpensive toys too, but my theory is, they made their real money at Halloween.  According to Wikipedia, they went bankrupt in the late 80's, after which their factory burned to the ground.  That sucks!

You have to love the box art.  The box looks better than the actual costume.  Even though in the 1970's, hyper-merchandising was just beginning (thanks, Mr. Lucas), I always thought of this costume as a tie-in to the Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA animated series that was on Saturday Mornings during this time, although now I see that it's more accurate to say that the Marvel comic has a bigger influence.  Admittedly, the logo and artwork have much more to do with Marvel than HB. In the end, Toho is the only company referred to on the box, which is as it should be.

See what I mean?

"I am the Lizard King!" I don't know what this looks like, but it's sure not the Big G.

"Flameproof and well-ventilated"...I can honestly say, I never did set one on fire, so they have that part right.

In the end, though, it didn't matter to kids, because for that one night, you WERE your chosen character.  And, you got candy, too.
This is one of the final Holy Grails for my vintage Godzilla collection, and ironically, I won it right before Halloween!

One of the Godzilla Shelves at The Sphinx.

Kaijubilee #17, "Morning On Monster Island"

Kaijubilee #17, "Morning On Monster Island" by Sampoerna Quatrain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE still (1966)

Just arrived in the mail....poor Gamera gets no love! This is from the US theatrical dub (and re-cut), which they called GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE, starring an extra "M".  I had a spot left on my wall in "the studio," and I wanted to give it to Gamera!

Kaijubilee #16, "Chasing Butterflies"

Kaijubilee #16, "Chasing Butterflies" by Sampoerna Quatrain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Hobby-Lesson Course for Wurlitzer Organs (1964)

This is surely on of the very definitions of random.  The purpose of this 7" record is to sell you, the Wurlitzer Organ Purchaser, on the idea that you need to buy the HOBBY-LESSON COURSE in order to be able to successfully play the instrument that you have purchased.  I have no idea why there is a need for a hyphen in HOBBY-LESSON.  It makes no grammatical sense whatsoever.

Perhaps this record came with the organ, or perhaps they were distributed through stores; who knows.  It begins with some humorous man-on-the-street (see, that needed hyphens) quotes about purchasing Wurlitzers, (the best one being "that's like my wife buying a sewing machine, and she can't even sew!") and then jumps right into the sales pitch.  What is extremely confusing, and absurd,  is that the "Lessons" excerpted on the record expect you to play along on a PAPER KEYBOARD...because of course, they don't want you to hurt yourself.  After all, touching the actual instrument should be left to the professionals. Sort of like how medical students start out out doing surgery on paper cutouts of people, and remove paper cutouts of organs before they are turned loose, and graduate to an OPERATION game.........not.

Kaijubilee #14, "Mothra T-Shirt Design"

By the way, for some reason my numbering is weird, but #15 has already been posted (adding a Baragon to a thrift-store painting).  Next time we will pick up with #16.  Not sure how that happened.

Kaijubilee #14, "Mothra T-Shirt Design" by Sampoerna Quatrain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Kaijubilee #13, "Three Heads, Two Minds"

New arrivals on Planet X!! Are they friend or foe?


Kaijubilee #13, "Three Heads, Two Minds" by Sampoerna Quatrain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Engrish With Ultraman Jack (part one)

First off, let's talk about this:

Recently, this DVD set (three discs) was released in Malaysia.  It includes a few different sets of subtitles, among them English! As soon as I was able, I rushed to Ebay and ordered my copy, waiting patiently for the discs to make their way to me, making the obligatory purgatory-like journey through Customs...

The wait was worth it.  We now have official releases of the first three shows, and now there is also a way to enjoy Jack in English.  Up to this point, the best you could do were Malaysian "English Dubs," but the entire series wasn't available, and the actors were so bad, you might as well be watching the original Japanese, where at least you can catch a word every so often.

This series is, sort of, the end of an era.  I enjoy all of the classic run of Ultraman (in other words, up to 80), but nothing so much as the earliest series.  It sort of brings the show full circle, as in the beginning the thought was to have the original Ultraman return, but they never fully committed to that, officially naming him Jack years later.  Ishiro Honda directs a few episodes (including the first one), and it's the first series made without the guidance of Tsuburaya, but his presence is evident.  

I guess what I'm saying is, if the series had ended there, I would still feel fulfilled...but luckily, it didn't, and we have decades more of awesomeness--just never so much as in these first series, uh, serieses.  They are, to use some jargon of the youth of today, hard core.

Okay, with that out of the way, we are going to have some fun with the subtitles.  Now, if you have ever seen any Ultraman DVD's with "Hong Kong subs," you know they are very basic, and sometimes nonsensical.  These aren't nearly as bad.  The fonts are large, easy to read, and it's almost always clear what's going on.  There are lots of problems with pronouns, tenses, and plurals, but that's what makes it so much fun.  Occasionally, you get a moment like this...

...and hilarity ensues.  I know it's evident from other posts, but I have a real love for contorting and abusing the English language.  It cracks me up.  Let's get on with it.  There are plenty of fun moments, and I'm sure there will be more.  These screenshots come from the first DVD, which contains episodes 1-17:

Don't kill the people with bomb! They're life!

Oh, yes.  Yes indeed. Combine two of my favorite things: Engrish and FAIL.

As a bit of context, the journal being read says that ideas were discarded...I have no idea how the translators arrived at their final word. Somebody had some Spanish mixed in there. Or something.

It wasn't until later that I realized the lady was saying that the anesthesia had worn off! Also, Malaysians don't know what a semicolon is.

One of my favorites.  Goh and the child are looking at a turtle.  I am going to officially adopt WONKLY as a word. After all, it appears to be a portmanteau of WRINKLY and WONKY...I have a new theory that we can save time if we start combining words in our everyday conversation. Sounds like a recipe for anarchy, doesn't it?

Poor little disabled child...there is no Political Correctness!

And now, the grand finale of grand finales: