BANDAI UNLEASHES THE "GREEN GARGANTUA"! Vinyl Display Figure Breaks Loose in September

日本特撮の「サンダ対ガイラ」からガイラをバンダイソフビで発売。


Bandai issues it's first vinyl figure of Gaira, the Green Gargantua!

COLOSSAL GARGANTUAN BREAKING NEWS! Announced earlier today via the Twitter feed of the journal, Tokusatsu Hi-Ho (Special Effects Treasures), the online-only Bandai Premium service of the eponymous global toy juggernaut, will be issuing a 18 cm (7.08") soft vinyl figure of the fan favorite Green Gargantua, Gaira, from the popular Toho spectacle THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966).


Iconic aggressive pose developed by suit actor Haruo Nakajima!

Coinciding with this announcement, Tokusatsu Hi-Ho’s latest issue will feature an article on the upcoming figure as well as an interview with legendary monster suit maker Eizo Kaimai, who had created the very man-eating mutant this sofubi (soft vinyl figure) is based on – so, we can imagine that this has passed his snuff. Tokusatsu Hi-Ho Vol. 6 is available from bibliopolists in Japan, starting tomorrow.


Run to the hills... Run for your lives... Gaira's looking for dinner!

The Bandai Premium website followed suit with four very important, key, details, and lots of images; which have transposed to this report (Bandai states that the actual product will differ from these intended for illustrative purposes). Most of the text on Bandai’s page for this figure is nothing more than a stream of colorfully hyperbolic points, such as “Beware! Run from this man-eating monster!”


My Green Gargantua's back... and you're gonna be in trouble!

But, as mentioned above, there are four key pieces of information, the first being the size of the figure, which is 18 cm - which fits in with the original Bandai "Godzilla Series", to better appeal to adult collectors (relative movie sizes notwithstanding) - and the ad copy exclaiming, "This is the figure [we] always wanted to see in stores - now, at last, it's available via the Web!"


Sideview of the unpainted prototype for the upcoming release!

While, we've got the size of this thing nailed down, there's the matter of release date and - most importantly to all of you hyperventilating, nail-bitting, vinyl-sniffers out there - price. Each unit will be retailing for ¥3,999 JPY or $36.00 USD. Preorders through Bandai Premium's website go live at 11:00 am, June 16th (Japan Time). Scheduled for shipment this September, Gaira will be ready to  eat  meet you...


Kenji Seki's details pop in this shot of the unpainted prototype!

Last, but not least, the graphics and press features what appears to be a series line moniker, "Kaiju Bangaichi" (which can/may be roughly translated as "Monster No-Man's Land" or transliterated as "Monsters of Unknown Realms"). Even though we haven't stopped breathing into our paper bags, yet, could we soon see the Brown Gargantua, Sanda? And... Other giant monsters Bandai had previously passed over?


Monstrous angled view of the popular bad guy from the 1966 movie!

Stay tuned for more gargantuan information as it comes up from the darkest depths to devour you! Or will you devour it?

フランケンシュタインの怪獣 サンダ対ガイラ THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966)

Tsuburaya directs Haruo Nakajima as Gaira, 1966.

THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS
Furankenshutain-no Kaiju Sanda tai Gaira (Toho, 1966), 88 minutes
Director ISHIRO HONDA • Director of Visual Effects EIJI TSUBURAYA

One of the most beloved of Toho's non-Godzilla kaiju eiga, THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (Japanese title "Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira") was produced as a direct sequel to FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (1965), but this connection was obscured in the US version by co-producer Henry G. Saperstein. His reasoning was that the characters did not look enough like the Giant Frankenstein from the previous film — the four-year gap between the release of FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD and THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS in the States, may be a better (and more logical) explanation.

The first draft of Mabuchi's screenplay featured the same trio of characters from the previous film, "James Bowen" (Nick Adams) "Sueko Togami" (Kumi Mizuno) and "Yuzo Kawaji" (Tadao Takashima), but for unknown reasons, Nick Adams was not available, and so the characters' names were changed and the parts recast, with Kumi Mizuno (MATANGO) being the holdover (as "Akemi Togawa"). Kenji Sahara, the star of RODAN (1956) and THE MYSTERIANS (1957) replaced Takashima (as "Yuzo Mamiya") and Adams was supplanted by Russ Tamblyn (THE HAUNTING) as "Paul Stewart." The rest of the cast is rounded out with the usual stable of character actors, including Jun Tazaki (ATRAGON), Yoshifumi Tajima (MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA), and Ren Yamamoto (GODZILLA).

Prominently featured in the film are the Self-Defense Forces' mobile Maser Cannons, one of the more evocative and iconic creations in the genre — a tradition that started with the Katusha Rocket Tanks in GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (1955), the Markalites in THE MYSTERIANS, and the Atomic Heat Ray Cannons in BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE (1959) and MOTHRA (1961). The principal behind the weapon was a concentrated microwave beam, used to disrupt the cellular structure of its targets. Designed by Mutsumi Toyoshima (the unsung genius behind some of Toho's famous "mecha"), the Maser Cannons were built upon the A-Cycle Light Ray Cannons previously featured in MONSTER ZERO (1965). The Maser Cannons were also featured in GODZILLA VS. GIGAN (1972), GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973), and while offshoots and variants appeared in the Godzilla films of the 1990s, the originals were revived for GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002) and GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS (2003).

Another element that has made the film memorable was the Gargantuas themselves and the striking use of the monster suit actors' own eyes, emphasizing the physical performances of Haruo Nakajima (as Gaira, the Green Gargantua) and Hiroshi Sekita (as Sanda, the Brown Gargantua), and allowing for a realistic and unsettling effect. This element of realism is one of the contributing factors in the film's rabid cult following on both sides of the Pacific, coupled with Tsuburaya's highly detailed studio and outdoor miniature sets (roughly 1/10 scale) which achieve a greater illusion of reality — and the furious fight to the death between the monsters — making this one of Tsuburaya's best monster films. Unfortunately, Honda's original concepts concerning the Gargantuas' growth from another's cells (adding a threat of more such creatures), and the original ending, having the undersea volcano engulfing and destroying Tokyo in flaming magma (an ironic twist that Honda wanted to punctuate the ending with), were cut from the final script. Honda later stated that shooting these destruction scenes would have run the film well over budget.

There were a number of editorial changes made between the Japanese and American versions of the film that are worthy of spotlighting: Tamblyn was given more scenes for the US version, including those only featuring Japanese cast members in the original, emphasizing his central importance in the narrative (Tamblyn was also asked to loop his dialogue to remove any references to "Frankenstein"). S. Richard Krown replaced Ifukube's repetitious military march with more suspenseful stock library music cues (including cues cribbed from MONSTER ZERO), which actually help the scenes in question. And there are additional visual effects scenes, unused in the Japanese version, which were employed to great effect, and help to make the US version four minutes longer than the Japanese. Honda told the late Guy Tucker (in his 1996 book, "Age of the Gods"), "Actually, I find [the film] a little boring. I'm glad it's popular, but [I feel that it] doesn't really have much heart."

Executive Producer TOMOYUKI TANAKA and KENICHIRO TSUNODA Screenplay KAORU MABUCHI and ISHIRO HONDA Production Design TAKEO KITA Cinematography HAJIME KOIZUMI Film Editor RYOHEI FUJII Music AKIRA IFUKUBE Visual Effects Production Design YASUYUKI INOUE Monster Design TOHRU NARITA Visual Effects Photography SADAMASA ARIKAWA and SOKEI TOMIOKA [US Version]: Producers HENRY G. SAPERSTEIN and REUBEN BERCOVITCH Original Story RUBEN BERCOVITCH Dialogue Supervisor RILEY JACKSON Film Editor FREDERIC KNUDTSON Production Supervisor S. RICHARD KROWN

Starring RUSS TAMBLYN (Dr. Paul Stewart) KENJI SAHARA (Dr. Yuzo Mamiya) KUMI MIZUNO (Dr. Akemi Togawa) JUN TAZAKI (Colonel Hashimoto) NOBUO NAKAMURA (Professor Kita) YOSHIFUMI TAJIMA (Hirai, Maritime Safety Agency)) NIDAO KIRINO (Lieutenant Kazama) REN YAMAMOTO (Saburo Kameda) and KIP HAMILTON (Nightclub Singer)

I KNOW LOWBROW ARTISTS IN HIGHBROW PLACES Damn, I Really Love Monsters & Lowbrow Art!

"Bad Ass." Acrylic on canvas 16" x 20." © David Durrett

A few months back, I was "knocked for a ghoul" (to paraphrase Toho's English language brochure for VARAN), when I saw one of David Durrett's pieces based on Ishiro Honda's much beloved THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS on a message board. I was especially struck by David's use of texture, color and caricature, which felt as if they were painted in the 1960s during the height of the Kustom Kulture boom — when Ed "Big Daddy" Roth reigned supreme with his knight errant, Rat Fink. The so-called "Lowbrow" art flooded children's hearts with monstrous glee with exaggerated bug-eyed creatures emblazoned on t-shits, trading cards, stickers and model kits. It's a style and sensibility that's been often imitated, but rarely captured.

Then came David Durrett. Born April 1964 in New Orleans, Louisiana, David is the Vice President of Client Service for the Dalton Agency, a full service ad agency in Jacksonville, Florida. A Graduate of Jacksonville University, summa cum laude in Commercial Art, he said "Right after I got out of school, all the hands-on graphics techniques I had learned gave way to computerized approaches, which was great for the industry and for clients, but didn’t appeal to me as an artist." When asked about his influences, he quickly stated, "I’ve been a lifelong fan of Al Hirschfeld, Mort Drucker (who hasn’t), and Ronald Searle. Among current popular artists I really like are Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Amanda Visell, and David Horvath—I have many of their toys to prove it."


The Mad Monster Artist hard at work!

After seeing his amazing art, I had to ask why he had been "hiding" all of these years, "I’ve decided to get back into art for a number of reasons. Mainly, I’ve come to realize that my creative side is the part that’s really me, and it’s been dormant for too long. Also, the Lowbrow movement is perfect for artists with my personal history and sensibilities… suddenly, you can merge your art with the pop culture icons you’ve loved since childhood. I also am an avid toy collector, primarily of figures that render two-dimensional cartoon characters into three dimensions. That’s always fascinated me. With Lowbrow, and its offshoot Urban Vinyl, artists themselves are controlling how their characters are transformed into the third dimension, and I’m really into that."

When asked why he has started with the Gargantuas, David replied, "To so many of us, Japanese movie monsters are the stuff of our fondest Saturday morning memories, and Lowbrow gives us a chance to pay tribute as well as offer our own perspective on these characters that we view simultaneously with awe and amusement. (They’re also a lot of fun to render in acrylic.) I remember seeing THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS as one of the summer matinees my mother took me to at the old San Marco Theatre here in Jacksonville. GARGANTUAS was particularly memorable because what I knew as 'the Green one' was so frighteningly and excessively evil, and the fighting between the two was so relentless. Years later I got hold of a DVD and found that my 30-year-old memories were still spot-on."



"The Brown & the Green." Acrylic on canvas 24" x 30". © David Durrett

Asked to comment on "The Brown and the Green," he said, "The brother-against-brother theme suggested one of those tragic stories you read about families torn apart by the Civil War (in fact the script includes such a reference), and I just had to put them into a Matthew-Brady-style portrait complete with full regalia and weaponry. It was a lot of fun to research the uniforms and rifles, and to render such varied surfaces as leather, brass, wood, cloth, gunmetal, and, of course, fur. Following August Ragone’s very encouraging comment that the painting was 'bad ass,' I realized that Gaira perfectly epitomizes the term and was worthy of a follow-up portrait."

"Simultaneously, I have begun pieces with titles ranging from 'Candid Gamera' to 'Toho Presents The Mikado.' I plan to have at least six paintings completed by G-Fest, where I will be offering prints and posters (maybe 'Bad Ass' T-shirts?) as a member of Artists’ Alley. I’ve launched a simple website, daviddurrett.com, where I plan to both show and offer my work. In addition to paying tribute to existing characters, I’d like to develop some of my own, which is a natural progression of subject matter among Lowbrow artists."

Check out David's site at daviddurrett.com and visit him this July 4th-6th at G-Fest in Chicago — his dynamic work redefines the term "Bad Ass" for the Monster Kid in everyone. I'm sure that we'll be hearing a lot more from David and his wonderful Lowbrow creations in the near future — I just hope he remembers me when he's famous!