Godzilla has been stomping across Japanese and American screens for more than 70 years, and in that time there have been many toy lines based on the franchise that have come and gone. Although some of these toys remain easy to get your hands on, others are obscure rarities that collectors will pay a lot of money to add to their shelves — and one collector just did exactly that for a line from a forgotten toy company whose short life led to very few figure ever being made at all.
A recent Heritage Auctions event saw a lot of six Japanese monster vinyl figures spanning three decades of kaiju and tokusatsu history sell for $30,000. The headline names, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla and Hedorah, are instantly recognizable to any Godzilla fan, and while this alone would make collectors pay attention, it is the company behind most of them that is the real story when it comes to why someone was willing to pay so much for these particular kaiju figures.
Four of the six figures in the lot, standard-sized sofubi pieces measuring around eight inches, were made by Japanese company Bullmark. Founded in 1969, Bullmark quickly became the defining name in soft vinyl monster toys, producing stylized versions of the Godzilla and Ultraman characters and creatures that are now a holy grail for many. Its figures carried a small stamped bull on the sole of the foot, the bull mark, along with the character name and the usual copyright markings. The King Ghidorah, Hedorah, Mechagodzilla and Gorosaurus figures sold in this lot all bore the mark of authenticity required to instigate a bidding war.
Bullmark as a company was short-lived. Declared bankruptcy in 1977, the production of its toy lines lasted just eight years, meaning that any Bullmark-made toys out there now are serious collector’s items thanks to the quick demise of the business and the resulting small number of figures it created. While other companies of the time often diluted the future value of their toys with reissues, Bullmark figures effectively became a one-shot deal. Nearly 50 years later, the number of surviving examples of Bullmark toys in good condition is few and far between. As an example of a golden age of Japanese monster movie merchandising, it is hardly surprising to see Bullmark figures pulling in thousands of dollars every time they happen to come up at auction.
The rest of this particular lot is made up of some nice filler alongside the main attractions. A 12.5-inch translucent blue King Ghidorah, a limited-edition reissue from Marmit’s Vinyl Paradise line, provides a glimpse at a late-1990s piece, while a carded Metallinome figure from Unifive and Banpresto’s Captain Ultra Giant Monster series brings the set into the early 2000s. One thing that makes the sale price on this lot even more impressive is that the condition of these toys is far from perfect. The listing notes paint loss, scuffing and aging, while the packaging of the carded items includes creases. This kind of wear and tear would usually see sale prices take a big hit, which suggests that if these figures had been in better condition, then the price tag could have been even higher.
Vintage toy sales often revolve around franchises like Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, and Transformers, but the Japanese giant Godzilla is more than capable of holding his own when the right combination of factors are in play. This set of vinyl figures has proven that there is only one king of the monsters when it comes to vintage toys, and some of the rarest iterations can bring in kaiju-sized sales.
