Of all the things that have come and gone, I think the most irreversible loss is the comic book shop. When I was growing up, there was one particular shop my brother and I haunted, and it sold and traded not just comic books but every kind of toy and collectible imaginable. Sure, it's now normal for comic shops to sell toys as much as comics, but I would wager none are as eclectic as this and presumably any number of shops like it. I have any number of memories centered on this shop, but my strongest is from when I visited the store on my birthday, and my brother told me he had found something. I followed him to one of the store's more secluded corners, and saw something that is with me to this day. Here's a pic of the big guy with my stalwarts Husky and Carl.
Don't worry, it's Carl. Seriously, his superpower is being unkillable.
Only a flesh wound.
Up to that day, I had been obsessed with Godzilla, though I had never seen any of the movies and still didn't have a TV. I had seen licensed Godzilla toys, but their size and quality never impressed me. I had better luck with the Definitely Dinosaurs Tyrannosaurs, which had served as the big G in many playtimes, but it still wasn't the same. When I did find my Godzilla, it was obvious that it was no authorized likeness, but it represented my idea of Godzilla better than any of the tawdry, rubbery guys I had seen before. Of course, a big part of that was simply being absolutely gigantic. I never doubted that this would be THE Godzilla, and I never questioned or cared where he really came from. And that is where the trail begins.
While I was growing up with my Godzilla, I saw identical items on sale at least once, after enough time that it was clear someone was still making them. There were epic battles, including showdowns with army men I had bought just to fight Godzilla, and sometimes the army won. In the course of these battles, I figured out Godzilla's head, arms and tail could pop off relatively easily, and improvised further gruesome effects. Eventually, I took to hiding undelivered note and other random treasures inside, many of which I only cleaned out in the course of preparing for this piece. Then, sometime in the age of the internet, I did a little digging. What I found was story after story of people who had owned and sometimes still had my same Godzilla, and the name that came up again and again was the one I found on my old Godzilla's foot: Dormei.
It turned out that "the" Godzilla was one of many products by a clearly prolific company that specialized in turning out rubber dinosaurs and sci fi/ fantasy creatures. Many of these seem to have been intended to fill niche markets created by other toys, notably that of "mounts" for He Man figures and others of similar size and themes. The larger offerings, up to and including Godzilla, might have aimed to be villains and monsters for higher budget kaiju/ giant robot lines like Shogun Warriors and Voltron. I further discovered that the Dormei Godzilla was issued with several different heads, one of which had a much closer resemblance to the "real" thing. Here are two prize finds, an actual Dormei advertisement (originally posted at skullbrain.org), and a specimen sold with a tag sometime after 1990 (apparently removed from the original source):
Of course, with this lead, I was going to do something foolish. Immediately before starting this piece, I bought another Dormei generic-zilla online. It came in a box that was too big for the postal box but still outlandishly small for one of these guys. Here's pics of my unboxing and the new guy with my old friend.
After seeing the outside of this box, I was genuinely afraid to open it.
Never mind nuclear testing, they made ME fly COACH!
Needless to say, the new arrival looks far less threatening. His overall look is in line with the 1970s Godzilla movies, usually considered the weakest of the series (albeit with psychedelic interludes like Godzilla flying). What caught my interest is that the spinal ridge line extends to the head. This convinced me that this was the "original" head the toy was designed for, though the mention of "interchangeable" heads in the ad suggests that alternate heads were available from the beginning. Here's a closeup of both:
Unfortunately, this photo also shows that the "original" specimen has serious issues with quality. The tail is loose enough I would have suspected it had been replaced if the colors didn't match. (And there really is no way that a repainting could be made convincing to anyone who has handled one of these.) There is flash and frills of plastic all over, including an unbroken line on the underside of the tail that is actually sharp. It was bad enough for me to give a much harsher inspection to my beloved old battler, and I did find similar problems when I looked for them, but nowhere near as bad. It would be tempting to assume this was a late and inferior copy, but it does have the Dormei name, and I think it just as likely the manufacturer cleaned up their production methods when mine was produced.
For the post script, this is one where the trail is long but untraceable. Dormei is reported to have introduced the toy in 1986, and production continued well after 1990 both by Dormei and other manufacturers. Later US sales were by Toysmith, source of the tagged example shown above (and naturally independently familiar to me). I have no doubt the same toys were the subject of a lawsuit by Toho at the mindbogglingly late date of 2008, as well as less humorous complaints about lead paint. From what evidence is at hand, this may have been the end of the line for our not-Godzilla, as no reports are in evidence of further production and sales. Abundant specimens remain on sale online, where they are by no means rare but certainly not cheap. Most such specimens appear to be from Dormei's glory days, but it is certainly possible that somewhere, some obscure manufacturer is churning out copies of copies of the big guy.
If that all seems somber, here's one more pic of the "original" with some friends. Lineup in order of size is Lanard Alien Queen, Definitely Dinosaurs Spinosaurus, Ken R. Wampa, the Truckstop Queen, Marx evil space guy, Bossk, sidekick Carl, Husky, Playmobil astronaut, Galaxy Laser Team commander and Rogun Robots H bot and Red.
Hail to the King, or the next best thing!
Very short link list:
Knockoff Collector article on this and other knockoffs and generic fantasy toys.
Video review of vintage specimen, and the main thing that got me started on this.
While I'm at it, my first/ previous Legion post on the patchisaurs.
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