Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Maverasu - Pump Up the Base!

While preparing the Maverasu checklist (coming soon!) I noticed something interesting about the figures. As I mentioned in my Spotlight #10 (on the Premier Spray Maverasu) the vinyl's base color is purple. Well, looking into things a bit further, I discovered that almost every 2005 Maverasu has a purple base color - including those figures that don't show any visible purple at all.

Curious, I kept digging. As it turns out, in 2006 and 2007, the predominate base colors were different, as (I guess) new batches of vinyl were ordered and slowly painted over the course of the year.

Anyway, here's what I came up with:


A few early versions of Maverasu. Each of them has a purple base color.


The feet tell the story!


In 2006, clear vinyl was Koiwa-san's base of choice for Maverasu. (Technically, the first clear Maverasu was released in late December, 2005 - a clear green Mav that came in the Cronic Christmas tin can set.)

Koiwa-san created some amazing clear figures in 2006, including regular spray, pinstripe, and (meticulously) stuffed versions.

In 2007, Koiwa-san has worked a lot with GID vinyl for new versions of Maverasu. (Technically, the first GID Maverasu was released at the 2006 Winter Design Festa.)

There have been exceptions, like the Max Toy exclusive painted (and unpainted) clear figures. Also, with the Maverasu Handpaints, it's not possible to tell what the base color is (without disassembling the figure!), since every part, including the bottom of the feet(!!), is painted. Still, the majority of new versions this year have had GID vinyl bases. (I count 5.)

So there you have it. If the pattern holds, maybe we'll see a new base color making it's appearance in late 2007!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Cronic Dorome Checklist/ ドロメのチェックリスト

This is the complete Dorome checklist. I'll add to it as more figures are released.

これはドロメの完全なチェックリストです。 新しいバージョンが作られているとき、私はチェックリストをアップデートするつもりです。


2007
___ Unpainted clear Amber (Cronic Webstore - July)
___ Unpainted clear Blue (SDCC - July)
___ Painted clear Blue (SDCC - July)
___ Painted Green (Summer Wonder Festival - August)

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Cronic Spotlight #10: 2005 Premier Spray Maverasu

This Maverasu was a grail of mine for about a year until I finally landed it recently.

It was released in September 2005, making it one of the first Maverasu's and, to my knowledge, the first spray version.

The base color is purple (like all early Mav's), with gorgeous metallic paints applied.

More shots:

Close ups:


The figure came bundled with all kinds of goodies: a post card, button, and card (on very thick paper stock) showing a drawing of Zyurai Asu.



This is the header card:

Cronic Zyurai Asu Checklist/ジュライアスのチェックリスト


2005
___ Unpainted Black “Prototype” (Winter Wonder Festival - February)
___ Unpainted Clear Amber “Prototype” (Winter Wonder Festival - February)
___ Pinstripe: White on clear Amber (Pachi Summit – April)
___ Pinstripe: Red on GID (World Character Convention – June)
___ Unpainted GID (World Character Convention – June)
___ Painted Gray
___ Pinstripe: Grey on Black (Tokyo Toy Festival – August)
___ GID with green and brown splatter (Summer Wonder Festival – August)
___ Painted Black (Summer Wonder Festival – August)
___ Painted clear Amber (came with Sin X Wombat Chicken Fever) (Super Festival 37 – October)
___ Painted Red (Tin can set (came with unpainted clear green Maverasu) – Christmas)


2006
___ Painted Yellow (Winter Wonder Festival – February)
___ Painted Yellow (OneUp 5th Anniversary Exclusive – April)
___ Painted Brown (OneUp 5th Anniversary Exclusive – April)
___ Painted Clear (World Character Convention – June)
___ Clear with Orange GID pipes (World Character Convention – June)
___ Clear with Pink GID pipes (World Character Convention – June)
___ Clear with Purple GID pipes (World Character Convention – June)
___ Painted Black (Cronic Webstore – July)
___ Painted clear Amber (Taipei Toy Festival – July)
___ Unpainted Yellow (came with Nerd One resin head – 1st anniversary figure)
___ Painted Orange (OneUp Exclusive – October)
___ Pinstripe: Black on clear Orange (OneUp Exclusive – October)
___ Pinstripe: White on Black (Super Festival 40 – October)
___ Painted Blue (came with Bakurasu head – Kaiju Taro exclusive – Christmas)
___ Painted Green (came with Bakurasu head – Kaiju Taro exclusive – Christmas)
___ Painted White (World Character Convention – December)


2007
___ Handpaint: Red (Lucky Bag – January)
___ Painted Pink (Lucky Bag – January)
___ Pinstripe: Red on White (Lucky Bag – January)
___ Pinstripe: Gold on Black (Winter Wonder Festival – February)
___ Painted Blue (Pachi Summit – April)
___ Unpainted White (came with Bakurasu head) (Pachi Summit – April)
___ Painted White head; Pinstripe Red stripes on GID body (Design Festa 25 – May)
___ Painted Green (World Hobby Festival – May)
___ Handpaint: Black (World Hobby Festival – May)
___ Painted Blue (Super Festival 43 – July)
___ Painted Light Red (Taipei Toy Festival – July)
___ Painted Bright Pink (Cronic Webstore – July)


This is the first of the Cronic checklists I'm putting together.

Over time, I'll add more links as I put up new photos of different versions. That might take a while, so please be patient. ^_^ I've only included regular production figures - no one off's. I'm not listing production numbers either. I've got the event and month listed for nearly every figure.

If you see any mistakes or omissions, please let me know. ^_^

これはジュライアスの完全なチェックリストです。 新しいバージョンが作られているとき、私はチェックリストをアップデートするつもりです。どんな誤りも見るなら、私に言ってください。

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Nuevarts X Max Toy Co. Alien Xam Exclusive!

The good folks at neuvarts.com are getting set to bring you their first exclusive - an excellent new version of Max Toy Co's Alien Xam!

This version is limited to 40 pieces, and each one will be handpainted by Mark Nagata. Each figure will come with a giclee print, drawn by Mark and printed by letterpress.com, an outfit well known for their gorgeous prints of the work of many artists.
This print looks pretty interesting and continues in the vein of Mark's Boddhisatva (or perhaps Hindu) inspired imagery!

The set is set to drop one day this month, so keep your eyes peeled and keep an eye out on nuevarts.com for updates!

Cronic checklists coming soon!

One of the features I'm working on is building checklists for each Cronic figure, starting with Zyurai Asu. I'll add images over time (and link them to the Spotlight/Focus images) to create a comprehensive visual database.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Itokin Park

Itokin Park link added to my list of links.

Ito-san does great handmade and handpainted resin and vinyl work.

Check it out sometime!

2007 Summer Wonderfes Alien Xam

This cool version of everyone's favorite Max Toy Co. villain was sold at this month's Wonder Festival at the Miracle Toys booth. Alien Xam is GID, with grey, silver, and metallic green spray.

Only 10 of these were made. Each one was hand painted by Mark Nagata - Max Toys' owner, designer, and (rumor has it) mean taco artist.

The figure came with a numbered card with a little Xam drawing on it. Tres cool.

More shots:


Hanging with some Max Toy compadres:

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Cronic Special Focus #1: Black Zyurai Asu

This is the first Cronic Special Focus. The idea is to look at several versions of a figure across different styles, or to look at a style across different figures. I think it's an interesting way to highlight the many styles Koiwa-san works in.

In this focus, all the figures are black based Zyurai Asu's. (As always, click on each pic to see its full size.)


The first figure is the unpainted "prototype" Zyurai Asu. It's one of the "premier" (first versions) of the figure, released at the 2005 Wonder Festival. As Zyurai Asu was the first Cronic character, that makes this version one of the first Cronic figures ever made.




The next figure, released at the 2005 Summer Wonder Festival, is one of the first (possibly the first, actually) sprayed Cronic figures. This version is simply amazing, with purple and silver judiciously sprayed in different areas, allowing the black base to really pop, with the spray perfectly complementing the base color.




Next is a Cronic pinstripe figure. Koiwa-san started pinstriping figures in 2005. It was one of the first styles he worked in. Over time, the amount of striping and complexity increased. This figure, released at the 2007 Winter Wonder Festival, is one of the last pinstripes we've seen. It's probably the most complex pinstripe design used on any of his figures. The gold paint on the black base, with gold eyes and silver teeth, is really striking.





Finally, we have a "Hand Painted" figure. Koiwa-san started creating hand paints in late 2006 and only made a few of each of his characters. Because they took so long, he made less than 10 of each version. This hand paint has a silvery paint mix hand brushed onto the black base.


Sunday, August 26, 2007

Cronic Spotlight #9: 2007 Summer Wonder Festival Nougaki

I just can't stop photographing Nougaki!! This spectacular version was released exactly 2 weeks ago at the 2007 Summer Wonder Festival at the Tokyo Big Site. The figure has an iradescent, velvety feeling.

It looks like special metalic paints were used, as the figure gives off different shades of burgundy, purple, and silver, depending on the viewing angle. I've tried to shoot the figure from many angles to show what I mean.

(Remember to click on each photo for larger pics.)


Where's Nougaki?


Multiple angles:

Close ups:

Nougaki knows good food!


Nougaki knows good reading!


Nougaki knows lions!

"2007 Last Summer" Cronic figures



Yesterday, Koiwa-san sold cool new versions of Dorogami and Nougaki through his website. The Dorogami looks like it would go great with the 2007 SDCC clear rainbow colored Nougaki!

Friday, August 24, 2007

Cronic Spotlight #8: Cronic X Nerd One Trifecta

One of the most exciting things from Cronic toys this year has been the Cronic X Nerd One collaborations.

Super customizer Nerd One has worked with Cronic toys for a long time. Last year, Nerd One made a cool resin head to go along with the Cronic 1st Anniversary set (which came with an unpainted yellow Zyurai Asu).

This year, the two friends have teamed up to create three spectacular sets. Each boxed set comes with a Nougaki figure (painted by Cronic) and a resin skullhead (handmade by Nerd One). The skullhead actually fits onto the Nougaki body!

This set "Grow in the Darkness" was released at at Feb 2007 Winter Wonderfestival, to mark Cronic's 2nd anniversary. The Nougaki is GID.



This set was released at SuperFestival 43 in July, 2007.


This is the most recent set, released at the August 2007 Summer Wonderfestival.


A shot of the Nougaki's.




The Skullheads


Each set came in specially made boxes and included a laminated card.


The back of the cards were numbered.

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