Review – Zombitron Vinyl Toy
Brought to life during a Kickstarter project earlier this year (see the Zombitron Kickstarter page), this Zombitron vinyl toy was the work of A Colorful Monster and was made in Japan. The wacky sculpt and nasty colors of the toy are all well-suited to any collection of Japanese vinyl toys, and what we’ve got here is a wicked little beast that makes me smile.
Two Sides to Every Monster?
The Zombitron features simple swivel articulation like we see in all Japanese vinyl toys, with the articulation existing mostly because of the manufacturing process and how individual parts are assembled to make the final toy. The Zombitron has six points of articulation, with the head swiveling around, legs rotating at the waist, and all four arms rotating where they connect the body.
Additionally, as you can tell by the pics, the toy has two different sides and completely different face designs. One’s a skull-like, ghosty face while the other looks like some weird blend of Homer Simpson and the alien monsters Kang and Kodos. I personally prefer the skull-like side of the toy, but both are fun and I certainly won’t be surprised if some of you feel I am wrong and the goggle-wearing side with the alien eyeball is the better design.
Paint
I’m not sure what process was used to paint the Zombitron, but it seems clear to me that all of the work was done by hand and there was an airbrush involved at some stage in the toy’s creation. Yellow plastic decorated in reds and greens, with a few gold hints, the toy’s colorful and really does have that Japanese vinyl toy feel that is so popular with some of the collectors out there.
Closing Thoughts
I’ve no idea when — or even if! — the Zombitron vinyl toy will be offered to those who didn’t back the Kickstarter project, but holding this in my hands tells me that we need to see more vinyl toy projects on Kickstarter. The goal for this 5-inch tall vinyl beast was only $3,000, which is far less than it takes to manufacture toys that are not manufactured with the simple slush molding process used for Japanese vinyl toys. These toys may not get the levels of articulation or the rigid feel of action figures, but when designs like this can exist for thousands (as opposed to tens of thousands) of dollars then we need to encourage toy designers to try more vinyl works.
An excellent and weird toy design. He’s gonna look great in my collection.