New Yusei Majin + Moon Majin Images

New pics I recently shot at Cosmo Knight Alpha of the shop's Yusei Majin and Moon Majin display.

 More after the jump:

Cosmo Knight Alpha Yusei Majin display

Pics from the latest display of Yusei Majin figures in Cosmo Knight Alpha's store window.

 More after the jump:

Yusei Majin news - past, present, and future

Here's some new Yusei Majin information, fresh from my recent visit to Cosmo Knight Alpha.

In a previous post, I wrote about the backstory of Yusei Majin and what led to its production as an indie sofubi figure. Part of the story (actually the beginning of the process for the creators of YM) was a green bootleg Ooze It released in Japanese gacha machines in 1983.

I just learned that there wasn't just a green and red Ooze It bootleg. The line also contained a completely different figure.

There was also a two-piece blue base (with silver spray) figure of the same size that looks like something right out of the Ooze It universe. It looks like it could be an original design inspired by Ooze It. Here it is alongside the green bootleg.

The figure adds an interesting new twist to the story.

Next, here are pics of the CKA window display, showing a nice side by side view of lots of Yusei Majin releases:

 More after the jump:

Night Bazaar release Yusei Majin

Released the other night in front of Cosmo Knight Alpha, in the middle of a big ass street bazaar.

 

Very few were sold - maybe 5 or so. You lined up but had to choose the right card out of a stack for a shot at buying the figure. All very carny.

It's called the Tohoku line Yusei Majin, represented by the green shinkansen toy train the figure comes with. (The first release came with a blue train named after another shinkansen line.)

Yusei Majin was on a spinning dais. Here are a couple more shots:

From Ooze It to Japanese bootleg to Indie sofubi toy: The story of Yusei Majin

I'll admit it - I love origin stories. When it comes to toy reporting, some of the things that get my motor going are tying threads together, finding connections, and tracing toys back to their source. This story has a little bit of everything.

The figure, Yusei Majin, is produced by the same outfit that runs Cosmo Knight Alpha, a (mostly) vintage toy store in Tokyo. I first reported on Yusei Majin in summer, 2012, when the prototype sculpt was revealed at that year's summer Wonder Festival. Here's a look at that sculpt:

Yusei Majin prototype sculpt

A few months after that, the first version of the figure was released. And the other day the second version was let loose:

Yusei Majin New Year's Day 2013 release

Here's how the indie sofubi figure came into being.

The toy it's based on, Ooze It, was released in 1981 by Ooze It Inc.

Ooze It - 1981

With the original figure, you popped off the head, poured in goopy liquid, and watched the goop ooze out of head pores as you squeezed its gut. This, however, was not the start of Yusei Majin's story.

More after the jump:

New Year's Day Yusei Majin (遊星魔人) release

Today, the second version of Yusei Majin (遊星魔人) - the indie sofubi toy inspired by the classic vintage toy Ooze It - was released at Cosmo Knight Alpha.

The gold paint release comes with a small unpainted snake, perhaps to mark 2013, which is the Year of the Snake.

Yusei Majin (遊星魔人) means something like Planetary Demon or maybe Planet Devil. (These names are always really tricky to translate. If someone wants to jump in with a better translation, please drop it in the comments section.)

From this pic we can spot the figure's green base color.

I first wrote about Yusei Majin in August 2012, when the proto sculpt was revealed at the 2012 Summer Wonder Festival. Click here to check out the post.

Display sample

This sample figure is also on green base vinyl.

Unpainted - display only.