Revoltech intro
Osaka-based Kaiyodo started out as Miyawaki Osamu’s small hobby store in Moriguchi city in 1964. He had closed his book loaning business and began selling plastic scale models simply because his son loved them. The store eventually became a gathering place for modellers to socialise and exchange ideas.
In the 80s, Kaiyodo began producing its own figures, beginning with high quality limited run garage kits before going into full scale mass production in 1997.
Now headed by Miyawaki’s eldest son, Shuichi, the Japanese company has gained international recognition for its detailed and faithful sculpts. Its dinosaur models grace the Museum of Natural History in New York and a full-sized Murakami Takashi Miss ko2 figure based on a 1/5 scale prototype by Kaiyodo sculptor Bome was sold for USD567,500 at Christie’s.
Action figure aficionados will naturally gravitate towards the Revoltech line of highly posable figures. Featuring Kaiyodo’s trademark emphasis on sculpting and detail, the line is a little unusual in that it derives its name from a joint.
The Revolver joint, an invention of Toytribe (consisting of designer Zinguzi Noriyuki and manga-ka and toy fan, Nightow Yasuhiro), combines the functionality of a ratcheting joint and two swivel joints by using only three plastic pieces. It was designed to minimise the wear and tear of joints which typically result in floppy action figures.
The Revoltech line consists of several sublines: the Yamaguchi Series (featuring famous super robots, real robots and humanoid figures sculpted by Yamaguchi Katsuhisa), New Family (figures sculpted by others) and Fraulein Revoltech (female figures).
For further details about Revoltech, see this Yamaguchi Series checklist and collection of Revoltech links.
Sources
Wikipedia (Japanese) “Kaiyodo”
Wikipedia (Japanese) “Revoltech”
Wikipedia “Revoltech”
Japan Media Arts Festival 2005 Special Achievement Prize.
The Japan Journal “Mighty miniatures”
The Japan Times “Collectors go cuckoo for Choco Eggs”
Antara News “Middle-aged, older Japanese crazy about plastic model kits”
Business Times “Japanese adults home in on candy-box figurines”
Art Tower Mito “The Chronicles of Kaiyodo”
Brand-new Osaka “Osaka’s exceptional designs reach out to the world”
Brand-new Osaka “These are all works by Kaiyodo, model-making specialists from Osaka”
Mainichi Shimbun “Choco Egg story“