Astrosarkus idipi A species I described is now a toy! Pt. 2

Earlier this year, I discovered that a Japanese company had decided to make a toy out of a species I described in 2004!

Well, today the one I ordered finally arrived and BEHOLD!!!

This is one of a set of "candy toys" or miniature models of deep-sea animals from a set entitled "Deep-sea Sushi" which was just released in mid- March of this year.

As I've made frequent mention of in past blogs, the Japanese have a VAST love of the natural world and have made MANY toy series which depict various members from different habitats. This post from my trip to Japan shows several of these different types.. deep-sea, fossils, etc. 

                                 

A full figure by figure walk through is in this convenient video! The set has a cute theme and even comes with little dishes for each one..

So, the big orange thing is a starfish I described in 2004! Go HERE to read the blog about it.  In Japan it goes by the name 竜宮桜ヒトデ aka the "deep-sea cherry blossom starfish"

So, this was kind of cool and sort of weird. How often do you get a toy made out of a species you described?? and that toy was something I had NOTHING to do with?? 

Here are a bunch of questions that I was asking myself which others might have as well...

1. How Did They come up with THIS as a subject for a toy???

The best answer I can come up with is that they saw the picture of it in this book by Quentin Wheeler and Sara Pennak  from 2013 featuring the "100 most amazing new species"

The pic used in the book looks pretty much exactly like the toy...

2. Is this something I was planning? 

Nope. One of my colleagues in Japan saw it and informed me of it. The first I ever heard of this was early this year in February. I only wish that there was a western market for accurate starfish toy collectibles! 

3.  You're getting paid for this aren't you? Are you just advertising? 

 I'm not.  When I described this new genus and species back in 2004, it was part of my science. A remarkable new animal that was radically different from almost anything else I had seen. New species are discoveries that everyone can and should enjoy, and are essentially in the public domain.

and I'll be honest, of all the various things that I thought could happen, someone making a toy out of this wasn't one of them! 

The company who produced these, did so ENTIRELY on their own. They likely have no idea who I am and probably don't even realize that the person who described this species might still be alive (if they even understand that concept). I suppose that its sort of flattering that something I published was considered interesting enough to be part of this line up!

I paid for the toys I own myself. No "comp" toys for me in this case... 

I suppose if I was to look at the bright side of this, this could be one of the many ways that basic research "benefits" economic growth! 

4. Where do I get one? At the moment, the only place I know of that outside of gashapon shops in Japan that you can find these is Ebay. Search under "deep-sea sushi" and you'll find, at least for awhile, complete sets and individuals. Many of the single piece figures are WAAY overpriced relative to the complete sets.  And yes, the shipping from Japan/Hong Kong will either be expensive or take a fairly long tim (mine took about a month). 

5. How Many Other Japanese Starfish Toys are there?

and by that I mean proper figures. None of this cheap-ass gift store stuff...

So, there's no starfish toys that depict REAL asteroids. Or at least, not like the way there is this 90 dollar replica of Bathynomus giganteus

But there's a BUNCH of them that depict kaiju from Japanese Science Fiction!! There are a surprisingly large number of them.. So here's my excuse to show some of them!

Remember when I reviewed starfish monsters in Japanese science fiction? (here)

One of my favorites: Purple Starfish! (from the show Kikaider) who projects the deadly Starfish Sparkler! 

                        
A miscellaneous assortment of the Ultraman kaiju Pestar!! 

here's the starfish monsters from the Japanese classic, Warning from Space! 

There's of course, the villain Hitodanger! (Hitode= starfish, the name means "Dangerous Starfish") from Kamen Rider!  (thanks to Yoichi Kogure)

AND finally the most obscure of the obscure, the starfish mutations BAREM from Rebirth of Mothra 2!!!  

These were all borrowed from someone else's marvelous starfish kaiju collection!

For the next five weeks! The Echinoblog Goes to Tokyo, Japan!

I am travelling!  I am enroute to Tokyo, Japan where I will be spending about a month studying the starfishes of Japan at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo!!   which is approximately the equivalent of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.  In other words, their country's national repository of natural artifacts and biodiversity!

Today i recap some of my past articles on echinoderms in Japan! (but next week I will blog about the trip!)

1. All about hitode (ヒトデ) & momiji. The Blog about Japanese Starfish Names!!

2. The AWESOME Tako Hitode aka Plazaster borealis, the "octopus starfish"here.

Seriously, this thing is as large as the west coat Pycnopodia but we don't know anything about it!

3. Multiple posts about GIANT STARFISH!

Some are REAL......                                            But others are IMAGINED....

... and discovery of the giant "pumpkin starfish" Astrosarkus idipi in Japanese waters! 

4. Japanese Cartoon mascots aka Kawaii! 
                                        
5. And of course TWO posts on Japanese Cephalopod Monsters in Pop Culture! Because they are awesome.

This one is more about Japanese kaiju in TV and film...

Whereas this one is more artistic, showing different ways they are portrayed creatively..

And next week I will share more details about my trip!!

Cephalopod Awareness Days! Echinoblog Off Topic!

This week- a little diversion as I have the pleasure of honoring our Oh-so-lovable tentacled invertebrate bretheren the Cephalopods (squids, octopuses, cuttlefishes, nautilus, vampire squids, and ammonites) as "Cephalopod Awareness Days" takes place from Oct 8 to the 12th!

Now, ANYONE could just do a blog about cephalopods and frankly, there are several good ones (see the sidebar) that focus entirely on cephalopods. So, what odd or unique thing can the Echinoblog bring to the table?

Well, I DID do that story on an interesting sea star, Plazaster borealis whose name in Japanese the Tako Hidoe, literally means "Octopus Starfish" (click here to see!).

(from Marine World Japan)

BUT as it turns out, I happen to know that a LOT of Japanese popular culture, including a lot of science fiction is inspired by marine animals...especially cephalopods!

These animals inspire a lot of toys and action figures in Japan, which in turn inspire a LOT of creative people to do some fun things.

So, a little break from echinoderms and actual biology..and a bit of a detour into art and pop culture this week!

You may recall that I did a post on Japanese echinoderm-themed monsters (called kaiju) a few years ago... (sadly the Starfish Hitler video seems to have been pulled)

But here is a creative fellow (from website Corey's Head) who has applied Photoshop to several Japanese monster toys (mostly about 6 to 9 inches tall) with cephalopod themes!! He has applied some scenic backgrounds from the Washington state area into..well... these cephalopod monster inspired masterpieces!

The monster Tagarl from the show Ultraman Taro. You can read about its "biology" here..

An attack by the 4-armed octopus themed GUYROS from the show UltraSeven!

The formidible monster cuttlefish GEZORA and yes, of course, there's a Wikipedia page on it!
and finally the weird tentacled VIRAS from the Gamera movie franchise. Look its history up here.
Here are some wacky images of something called Chibull seijin (seijin is Japanese for alien) also from the Japanese show UltraSeven.

Some artists work in the medium of a sculpted soft vinyl to produce these original ad colorful cephalopod figures/statues!

This one is called Tripus and is produced by an artist named Mark Nagata whose blog can be found here.

And here's an odd one from an old Japanese science fiction show called Barom-1. . Unfortunately, I'm not sure what its called other than "Ammonite Head Monster" .... but uh..yeah, that's pretty much what it is...

and if that wasn't enough? Go take a look at this New Zealand-TePapa Museum video of what must be one of the world's LARGEST ammonites! (a fossil cephalopod from the Mesozoic!)

Japanese Science Fiction: Monstrous Asterozoan Kaiju!

Today I present to you:

The Japanese Monster-Starfish Collision!!

Perhaps one of my favoritest things in the world is giant monsters: Godzilla!, Ultraman!, giant robots, big massive things that destroy stuff! Threaten the world! etc.

Japan, as one of the most creative countries in the world, has created a whole GENRE of films, TV and media that feature big monsters (called kaiju for 'mythical beast' in Japanese) and aliens (called seijin in Japanese) (and did I mention the guys in rubber foam suits??) as both antagonists and protagonists. Japan is also a country that is creatively inspired by the animal life living around it. Two of their emperors were marine biologists (and taxonomists to boot!).

So, it should come as no surprise that the two paths should cross....Here are some of the most prominent echinoderm-(mostly starfish) inspired creatures from Japanese science fiction!
1. The Starfish Aliens from "Warning From Space"

Oddly enough, I have never seen this movie the whole way through..but basically its about a bunch of starfish-seijin who try to warn the Earth about an impending disaster.

Starfish as the saviors of Earth.

I like it!


2. The Monstrous Pestar from Ultraman
From the 1960s classic Japanese show Ultraman (about a giant Silver giant alien who comes to Earth and fights monsters) is Pestar! The kaiju from the episode "Oil SOS" !!!

Pestar was two parts starfish, along with a BAT head stuck to it in the middle. It breathed fire and destroyed oil refineries!

Plus, it gets turned into a BUNCH of action figures:

(taken from someone's completely random collection! really!)

Some of which, glow in the dark!!

3. The Bizarre Brittle Star Deimos from Ultraman Leo!
Now, WHERE will you ever find someone who can make a monster out of an ophiuroid?

Ultraman Leo was a later incarnation of the successful Ultraman show, which ran from 1974 to 1975. He fights a host of monsterous beasts, many of which take after marine life!

The six rays are perhaps inspired by the tropical six-rayed brittle stars Ophiactis savignyi or Ophiothela which would be found in the tropical regions of Japan??

Here for comparison is the giant tropical ophiuroid Ophiarachna incrassata! Which I wrote about awhile back...

4. Hitode murasaki (purple starfish) from the show "Kikaider" Kikaider=good guy with cool half blue/half red costume who fought evil monsters every week. These monsters typically had an animal theme and acted as the "boss" to a bunch of evil minions.. having some gimmick or power that made him the special menace of the week...

The sinister "Purple starfish" could apparently fly and leap over walls! Not a common adaptation seen in your garden variety echinoderm...

5. And of course......

Starfish Hitler!!!

(I'm not kidding-that's what he's called!) from Kamen Rider X -a popular Japanese franchise about motorcylce-high kickin' cyborgs!!! In Japanese the name is more alliterative: Hitode Hiteru

I really don't know how to top Starfish Hitler.