For those who do not know, a kaiju figure is a vinyl doll (another way of saying "figure") of any Japanese (or of a related genre, but from a different country) monster. Figures of these said monsters are collected throughout the world by almost all age groups of people. The intrigue of these figures is a hard thing to describe. Something about the design of them? The dopamine rush you get when you get your hands on a rare one. Oh, yes. That's the subject. Rare kaiju figures.
Bandai is the most famous company for building these kaiju figures. They usually build them quite small (six inches or less in height, looking at every other kaiju figure company, I'd say the average is about eight inches in height). In fact, most kaiju collectors only buy Bandai figures. But there are many other brands that make these figures. Marmit, Bullmark, Yamanaya, and Bear Model are only a few. There are actually many more!
A majority of Bandai's figures are fairly common, and easy to get. Usually they're cheap, but ever since the "Ultra Series 500" (four inch (in height) figure series that received many complaints) came out, the six inch (Okay, let's make it clear. When a kaiju figure's size is mentioned, it is usually height) figures' prices went slightly upward. Some of their figures, like Grand King go to ridiculous prices, like $200! The other companies can go that high, but usually only for extremely rare figures (but even then, they can be generous and sell it for about $80).
The kaiju collecting community? Well, many say it's "dead", but I have discovered that it really isn't. It is just much (I mean much) quieter than it used to be. Most sites, like Skullbrain remain very quiet. And some websites managed to die out, like Kaiju Collector. But, Ultraman Wiki, and Wikizilla is still jam-packed with a kaiju community. And the collectors who make YouTube videos are usually quite inactive, but you may see a video from them every once in a great while. It may be really quiet, but I guarantee that it isn't fully dead.
So, now to the subject. What was the point in the big read above? Just to give you a taste of what the kaiju collecting community is. So, one of the things that many kaiju collectors try to accomplish is obtaining the rarest figure they can find. Or just their most wanted. Usually I see this being called a "hunt". But the question remains; What is the rarest kaiju figure out there? Well, I'll try to find the answer for you. But it is nearly impossible to define the rarest out of every single one in existence. So instead, I'm going to go through series by series.
A few kaiju brands also make their own monsters into figures. This meaning that the monsters never came from a TV show or anything, they are flat-out original. The most rare (yes, I know I used the word "rare" about ten billion times, but I'd rather say the same thing a billion times than have to come up with something silly to say just for the sake of not saying the same thing. What I'm saying is to expect that word about... I'd say quadrillion more times) original kaiju figure may just be...
Rampaging Polar Bear. Made by Medicom.
Thanks to PudoozaTheConquer for telling me about this one. Apparently, only about twenty of them were made! I guess that's why it is so expensive ($162.39 + tax). This could very well be the rarest kaiju figure ever, but because rare figures are so hard to discover. What if I'm missing one? This one could perhaps be the rarest original monster figure.
Before we get into the three more popular series, let me give you three honorable mentions:
Mayugeruge (Cocoon Geruge) from Superhuman Barom 1. Made by Rainbow.
It is a cocoon demon! In the show (yes, I have seen it), the monster shoots out a red silk from its mouth and it can set its silk aflame whenever needed! With this method of attack, it can set a deadly trap by making some nice red clothes. He ends up getting punched off of a bridge. Anyways, about the figure. Skullbrain had a very large Barom 1 collecting community, and the brand "Rainbow" has made pretty much every monster from this show (as well as other shows). The community says that Urokoruge (Scale Ruge), Honegeruge (Bone Geruge), Hanegeruge (Feather Geruge), Doruge Clown, Kibageruge (Tusk Geruge), and Okozeruge (Stonefish Ruge) are very rare, but many of the people address Mayugeruge (Cocoon Geruge) as the hardest to find.
Gerarachin from Diamond Eye: Warrior of Light.
Not sure what brand made this one. Bear Model made a slightly more common (to find) figure of the main antagonist from the show, King Cobra. Gerarachin (in the show) is a member of King Cobra's monster gang (yes, gang), called the "Zensei Majin". I am still deciding on whether or not I want to spend $600+ on the show just yet. At the moment, I have only seen a small clip of the show. I am unable to find any information on the figure, so I'm assuming it's pretty rare.
Berobero (left) and Garigari (right) from Chat Before the Parody Show of Machaaki!
These figures are made by Bullmark. I'm sure you have at least seen these two monsters on image dump sites and blogs. The monsters happen to be from a Japanese variety show that has no literal translation, but it means the name above. It would open up like a documentary and people would talk about Yokai and what-not. The monsters would sometimes be seen fighting each other to parody tokusatsu. The show only aired for a few months, and it is no wonder that these figures are very rare and expensive. Doesn't help that Bullmark made them for a festival, in 2012.
Now onto the more popular series.
We'll start with the Gamera series. Most of the Gamera figures are fairly rare, or just expensive. After browsing pretty much every Bandai figure from Gamera, I thought I'd take a look at some other brands and I found this:
Marukobukarappa from Gamera vs. Garasharp. Made by Yutari.
Yutari is honestly a brand that I have never heard of. Apparently, they have also made a figure for Garasharp, which is also incredibly rare. Marukobukarappa and Garasharp were from a Gamera film that Daiei couldn't make due to bankruptcy. Gamera was to fight Garasharp, the giant cobra and steal its babies. That's the course of nature, kids! The role that Marukobukarappa was to play is unknown.
So now onto the all known Godzilla series. This one was actually quite difficult to decide on. Many of the series' figures are either rare or just plain expensive (Biollante comes to mind). Actually deciding on the rarest was way harder than I expected. Okay, I actually have no idea. Bandai has quite a few rare Godzilla figures, but then there are the ones by Y-MSF and other companies. If you have a clue on what the rarest Godzilla figure would be, leave a comment down below and I just may add it to here.
And finally, the Ultra series. Ultraman has an extreme amount of monsters, and many of them didn't even get figures. Others are just inexplicably rare. When people try to think of the rarest Ultraman monster figure, usually this one comes to mind:
Fire Golza from Ultraman Tiga. Made by Bandai.
You probably can't imagine how many stories kaiju collectors have told about how hard it was to find the all too legendary Fire Golza. The figure's original release was actually in a pretty neat box, and it came with a figure of Ultraman Tiga. The reason for the figure's rarity is not quite known (didn't sell well, or just not many were made). However, despite of this oh-so legendary figure, there are still Ultra monster figures that would beat this one to pulp in rarity.
An example of a figure way rarer than this elusive Fire Golza would be:
Mechagiras from Ultraman 80. Made by POPY.
If it weren't for Gnawman, who was lucky enough to get his hands on this figure, it would take a very long while for the U.S. to find out about this figure. POPY is notorious for making rare figures, but this one is arguably one of their best. Way after this figure's creation, a brand named MARRS came along and made a not really as good figure of Mechagiras. Their version doesn't really look bad, but POPY's takes the cake on great detail and design.
But... Mechagiras also isn't the rarest figure ever. Before I get to my "top rarest", here are two more honorable mentions:
Bad Balloon from Ultraman Ace. Made by Bear Model.
This character also goes by the names Bad Baron and Bad Baalon. Going by the fact that the monster is a hot-air balloon and looking at its Japanese name, I assumed that Bad Balloon was a more correct option. But either way, who cares. It's like potato and tomato. Say it however you wish. Bear Model has a large variety of colorful and rare figures, but Bad Balloon has really nice colors and details that many figures don't have. It is also extremely difficult to obtain. If you manage to find it, I surely recommend you buy it! It's a real psychedelic beauty.
Kendoros from Ultraman Leo. Made by Bullmark.
This artichoke monster's figure isn't really all that rare, but for a very strange reason, it goes for ridiculous prices. Minimum usually being $1,000! I know, ridiculous and strange for a figure like this one. The figure is for some reason red (the real one is green) and over-all, it is fairly well detailed. However, for that much money, the stupid thing better be made of platinum.
Now, here I will show you who I find to be the rarest Ultra monster figure. It might even be just as rare if not rarer than the Bear. I introduce....
Machres from Ultraman Ace. Made by Marmit.
If it weren't for me telling everyone that I happened to discover it, the U.S. wouldn't have even known about it! This one is so impossibly difficult to find that there are barely any Japanese places that have it! Even more surprising, the figure's foot says that it was made in 2013. How could such a rarity be lost so soon? Who knows. But I'm happy that I made this figure slightly more well-known. I have never seen a figure this rare, and I'm willing to bet that it's the rarest. I'd be surprised to see any figure trump this one's rarity.
And that concludes it! These are the rarest figures that I know of! Hope I solved a mystery or maybe just answered a question. Just don't forget that I could be completely wrong about this entire thing. If there are even rarer ones that I missed, then let me know!
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