It's Andy Fish!

At the beginning of 1971’s GODZILLA VS THE SMOG MONSTER (original title Godzilla Vs Hedorah) little kid Ken has a backyard play area that made me and my friends jealous. He had a bunch of really cool Godzilla toys and we all conjectured that these were made specifically for the film– boy were we dumb.

Turns out the United States wasn’t the sole place on Earth where toys were made, Japan had a thriving toy industry and some of their most popular offerings were called Sofubi’s — which is because they were soft vinyl toys- sometimes cheaply made, but a lot of them were sturdy enough to hold up to years of play and still look good.

I don’t know when I first discovered them, probably 1983 or so- and I was hooked. Here in the states they go for $80-$1000 each– while in Japan you can find them starting at about 1500Y (less than $13 USD). I’ve got quite a few. I’ll spotlight a couple of them here.

If you’re a serious Godzilla fan like I am– you’ll know that each film has a different look for Godzilla– that’s because the suits were hand made and they fell apart during filming. My normal collecting range is for the designs from 1962-1968 and if you follow CJ’s amazing blog — and you should– she often displays a 1962 Godzilla in her posts. The above is a rare exception, it’s the more angular Godzilla 2000 suit which is black with purple fins. It’s a neat sleek take on Godzilla.

Many of the Sofubi’s I have glow in the dark- here’s the 1962 suit glowing with fun! Behind him you can see the Pumpkin Skeleton Sofubi from Hong Kong and to the far right is the Super 7 Shogun Godzilla Glow figure.

Another extremely rare one which I picked up in Chicago a few years ago is a black crystal Godzilla with Yellow fins. The suit is either the 1965 version or the 1967 one, I’d have to look a bit closer to be sure (but I think it’s the 65).

More tomorrow.