Review – RealXHead Mutant Chaosman Mini

Manufacturer: Real X Head * Year: 2007

I haven’t reviewed many Real X Head toys here at battlegrip.com, but amazingly we’ve already seen this particular toy’s head before; the Rilleco Chaos we looked at last month (review here) uses this Mutant Chaosman Mini’s head sculpt and merges it with the Pheyaos (review here and second review here) body. So basically all we’re gonna see that we haven’t seen before here at battlegrip.com is the body. And a tiny body it is.

2007 or 2008?

The toy’s foot has “2007” engraved into the sculpt, but my Encyclopedia of Kaiju (at the Super7 store) lists this as a 2008 release. Something’s not right there, but I’m gonna have to side with the toy on release date. Not that you really care, but it was something I wanted to mention.

Anyway, that Review You Were Looking For

Since the Rilleco Chaos review didn’t really discuss the head sculpt, let’s start there. In the review I called it a Chaos head, but that’s incorrect because according to the Encyclopedia of Kaiju this is actually a Mutant Chaosman Mini, and despite the release date issue I’m willing to take the book’s word over mine; I don’t know anything at all about the line so the book clearly has the advantage.

Anyway, I love the asymmetrical design of the head, with a glass doll’s eye on the left side and sculpted features covering just about every other bit of the head. We have bits that look like a mask, some brain-like parts, and even a horn. Gorgeous and creepy all at once, and exactly the sort of design that makes these toys pop out as so different from what we see mass-produced here in the US. I mean, it’s pretty unlikely that we’re gonna see an asymmetrical action figure appear in G.I. Joe or Star Wars. I’m not saying it’s impossible, just not very likely. In the Real X Head line asymmetrical is SOP.

A Pretty Dull Body

After the insane head it’s a bit disappointing that the body is . . . well, it’s pretty basic. Two arms, two legs, a torso and nothing particularly exciting or wacky. He’s got a cute skull belt buckle, but other than that this is a clean, uninspired body design. I guess not every vinyl toy can have an awesome sculpt that blows me away, but this body feels like one of the weaker designs I’ve seen in my limited experience with Real X Head.

Clear Orange Plastic with Light Black Sprays

The other thing that’s uncommon in mass-produced toys here in the US is the use of clear and translucent plastics. This Mutant Chaosman Mini is cast entirely in clear plastic and then shots of black paint were sprayed to highlight some of the details. The black on orange contrasts nicely, and a few spots even have an orange spray highlight over the black spray. The toy seriously would have benefited from some sort of paint wipe to bring out more details; overall this is one of the weaker paint jobs I’ve seen on Japanese vinyl toys. Not terrible, just not terribly inspired or exciting.

Closing Thoughts

A fantastic head design married with an okay body, the Mutant Chaosman Mini is not one of the better Japanese vinyl toys in my collection but it’s a good introductory toy for someone who is interested in Japanese toys but hasn’t taken the plunge. These aren’t too tough to find online for reasonable prices — I’ve seen them as low as $10 and $20 is pretty standard — and they’re a good example of the plastic quality and designs. One of the better sites to find these, other than eBay, is Lulubell Toys.

Philip Reed has his Mutant Chaosman Mini living with other RealXHead toys in the display case. He looks neater in the group than he does on his own.