Neclos Fortress collection shelf!

One of the greatest things about collecting is the feeling that you get when you finally complete a certain toy line or set you've been going after for a while. Some of you might know that I've been trying for a full set of Neclos / Necros Fortress keshi for around two-and-a-half years now, and I was finally able to experience that sweet feeling of completion when I recently scored the last couple of figures I needed!

When I first started collecting Neclos I didn't think I'd ever be able to put together a full set. For one, there's 320 different sculpts, making it one of the largest mini figure lines I can think of. Then there's the fact that the line was only available in Japan, making it generally tougher to track down than other popular mono mini lines like Monster in My Pocket and MUSCLE. But early on in collecting I was lucky to score some large lots, so I decided to go for it.

Once I got the final few figures, I really wanted to see what the full set would look like displayed together, so I cleared a shelf and spent a couple hours setting up all the figures (not a simple task as some of them don't want to stand). It was totally worth it, though--I think they look awesome together.

Sadly I'm not able to leave this display up long-term, but it was fun to do and photograph. It reminds me of why Neclos Fortress is one of my absolute favorite toy lines of all time. So much character variety, fun, unique sculpts, and most importantly, tons of weirdo monsters!

What about you? Have you completed any collections you were especially excited about? I'd love to hear about it and see photos!

Neclos Fortress: Lovecraftian monsters

While most of the many monsters in the Japanese keshi line/RPG Neclos Fortress were inspired by mythological creatures and Dungeons & Dragons-type characters, at the end of its run creatures from the works of H.P. Lovecraft were introduced.

The main villain of the line was the title character Neclos, but in the eighth and final set/series, the storyline seemed to take a turn so that famous Lovecraftian cosmic entity Cthulhu appeared and became a new "boss" foe for the heroic characters to battle. It's hard to tell exactly what the storyline was as any overview of it that can be found online is in Japanese, but whatever it was lead to a handful of Lovecraft-based monsters being added to the line.

I'll admit that my knowledge of Lovecraft's works is limited, so it's hard for me to tell exactly how many Neclos monsters are based on one of his characters. Plus, most of the Lovecraft character names used in Neclos were misspelled, making it even more difficult to tell what's what. Here are the characters I could identify (all from Part 8 of the Neclos line):

• CTHULHU: The most popular Lovecraft creature is represented in Neclos as something that looks like a cross between an octopus and a tree trunk. I've seen some people say they don't care for this figure, but it actually works for me. Cthulhu is one of the rarest Neclos figures, and probably the most sought after of them all. 
• TSUATOGA (TSATHOGGUA): This character was created by Clark Ashton Smith and first appeared in print in Lovecraft's "The Whisperer in Darkness." He was described as "squat and pot-bellied, his head was more like a monstrous toad than a deity, and his whole body was covered with an imitation of short fur, giving somehow a vague sensation of both the bat and the sloth," which is in line with how the character was interpreted for the Neclos line.
• GAUNT: I'm assuming this is supposed to be based on one of Lovecraft's Night-Gaunts, but as far as why it has Ultraman's head, your guess is as good as mine.
• NYALRATHAP  (NYARLATHOTEP): Another Lovecraft deity, this one with an Egyptian-sounding name. I'm not sure what his role was supposed to be in Neclos. Maybe one of Cthulhu's henchmen?
• INSMAUS (INNSMOUTH): It seems that in Lovecraft's works, Innsmouth was a town, not a monster. In Neclos Fortress, it's a fish-man baddie.

What do you think of the Neclos interpretation of these characters? Can you identify any other Lovecraft-based characters in the Neclos lineup? Check out all the figures at neclosfortress.com and let me know if I missed any!

Monster minis of the East & West: Neclos Fortress vs. MIMP

Shortly after I found out about Neclos / Necros Fortress keshi from Japan and took on collecting them, I started to think of them kind of like the Monster in My Pocket toys of the East. Despite some main differences between the two lines (most notably the fact that Neclos Fortress is also a role-playing game and includes figures of non-monster, human characters as well), the two lines are pretty comparable. The figures are similar in size, made of the same type of flexible soft plastic material and a variety of monochromatic colors, and both feature an army of monsters pulled from folklore and mythology. I think they were also both released around the same time (although from what I have been able to tell, Neclos began a bit earlier than MIMP, in the late-1980s).

Check out the image above, which compares interpretations of a few of the same monsters from both lines: Mummy, Hobgoblin, Medusa and Ghost. This is just a small sampling of monsters the two lines share. In fact, there's nearly 40 I've counted (check out a list below--let me know if you think of any I missed).

Personally, I find it nearly impossible to decide which line I like more. Monster in My Pocket is a classic that's hugely responsible for my love of these kinds of toys, but Neclos Fortress is also an amazing, incredibly diverse and comprehensive line that I went nuts over as soon as I found out about it within the past couple years. So...I refuse to choose!

How about you? Do you prefer MIMP over Neclos (or vice versa)? Are you interested in both lines?

List of monsters shared between Monster in My Pocket and Neclos Fortress:

Neclos Fortress: Angels & Demons

Seven Angels: Camael, Hamiel, Gaburiel, Mikael, Kashiel, Zadokiel, Rafael

Demons: Astarot, Bealzelb, Lucifer, Neclaga, Satanachia, Pazuzu

One of the best things about the Neclos Fortress keshi line is the incredible range of characters it offers. You've got your standard mythological monsters, your original characters (like main bad guy Neclos himself), your heroic warriors, Lovecraft-based creatures, and so on. Strangely enough, the makers of the line even went so far as to include a number of "actual" angel and demon figures from religious texts. Yes, this is a line that finds Gabriel the archangel and Lucifer existing alongside a killer apple.

The Neclos toy line was made as eight different "parts," with each part containing 40 unique figures. In parts three and four, a number of demonic deities were tossed in. In part seven, a group of archangels made an appearance. Why exactly were these included in the line, and what significance do they play in the Neclos story and game? Hell if I know, because it's all in Japanese. But my best guess is that the angels are used as allies to help in a hero player's game, and the demons are just another subset of evil-doers for players to defeat.

In the photos above, you can see the various angel and demon figures. Below is a list of them. I believe they're all based on figures from ancient texts, except for the orange winged beast, Neclaga, who is a character original to the line that I included because I thought he went well with the demons.

Seven Angels (how Neclos spells them and who I think they're actually supposed to be)
Camael = Chamuel?
Hamiel = Haniel
Mikael = Michael
Kashiel = ?
Rafael = Raphael
Zadokiel = Zadakiel
Gaburiel = Gabriel

Demons
Astarot / Astaroth
Bealzelb = Beelzebub
Lucifer
Satanachia
Pazuzu

If you have more information on exactly what function these figures play in the line's story and game aspect, please fill me in. What I do know for sure is that their inclusion only makes Neclos Fortress that much more of an intriguing toy line.

For much more on the Neclos Fortress toy line, check out another site of mine, the Neclos Fortress Collectors Archive.

Neclos Fortress: New website / figure archive!

Are you a fan of the awesome Japanese keshi line Neclos/Necros Fortress? Or do you think you might want to become one?

Then go check out a new Neclos website I put together at NeclosFortress.com!

I've been big into collecting these toys for a while now and thought there needed to be more information on them out there, so I began working on this site a few months ago. It includes an archive of its over 300 figures and cards, background info on the line, a photo gallery, and even a Neclos-specific forum.

I hope fellow Neclos fans find it useful and enjoy looking around!

Neclos Fortress: The good & the evil

Good guys: Samurai, Mercenary, Elf, Amazon, Knight, Berserker, Dwarf, Mage

Bad guys: All eight forms of Neclos

Finding a lot of detailed information about the Japanese Neclos Fortress (aka Necros Fortress) keshi line can be difficult unless you know how to read Japanese, which I definitely can't do. But from what I've been able to gather the general gist of the storyline behind the toys is that an evil sorcerer (Neclos) is trying to take over the world with an army of monsters, and a group of good warriors have banded together to try to stop him.

There are eight different "parts" to this toy line, with each part containing 40 figures. Eight figures in each part are heroic characters you could play as in the line's game element. Parts 1-4 each contained different sculpts of the following eight hero characters: Samurai, Mercenary, Elf, Amazon, Knight, Berserker, Dwarf, and Mage. Parts 5-8 included different hero characters.

Each of the eight parts of the line also included a unique sculpt of Neclos. I'm pretty sure the idea was that when one form of Neclos was defeated he would resurrect in a different form.

The photos above show each of the eight hero characters from parts 1-4 as well as all eight forms of Neclos. Which character would you want to play as? It seems like the knight would be the obvious choice, but I personally might go for the berserker or the dwarf. And which Neclos do you think is coolest? I'm partial to "Super Neclos" (light purple guy in the middle), which was the final Neclos sculpt of the line.

Beastly blues

Mini figure lines in this photo: Panzer World Galient, Villgust, Diener Space Creatures, Gorewad Monsters, MUSCLE/Kinnikuman bootleg, TMNT companion figure, Necros Fortress, Diener Mythology Creatures, vending machine bootleg kaiju, Musclemania, Mini Boglins, Monster in My Pocket, Freakies, Dragons N Monsters

The witches (MIMP, Necros Fortress, Terrible Monster)

Here are three different mono mini takes on one of the most commonly-referenced monsters--the wicked witch. This is a character that can be seen around everywhere at least once a year, at Halloween time, and there have been a lot of witch-related toys created over the years. But as mini figures go, I think the three pictured are the only ones I own.

First, we've got the Monster in My Pocket witch from the first series of the line. Although she was one of the lowest point monsters in the line, this is a pretty cool version; she's got an appropriately ugly and demented face, and her hair was sculpted to look like it's blowing in the wind to give a bit of a dynamic quality to the figure.

In the middle is my favorite--the witch from the Japanese keshi line Necros Fortress. I love how horrible-looking her face is; Between the gigantic, twisted nose, the long, pointy chin and the evil gaze, she looks downright wretched. It's also cool that the sculpt has her riding on her broom.

In comparison, the Terrible Monster/Monsters & Goblins witch, in red plastic, is a bit dull. I do like that she's all hunched over and looks to be casting a spell on someone with her bony, outstretched finger, but all in all she doesn't look nearly as formidable as the others.

Can you think of any other witch mini figures?

Hand monster keshi unite!

I came to the realization the other day that I own four different hand monster mini figures. Four different hand monsters! I think it's pretty awesome that at least that many hand monster mini figures exist, so I of course wanted to get a pic of all of them together. From left to right in the photo above are Mas Mano, one of three characters in the 2012 set of custom rubber figures called H.A.C.K.: OtherWorld Aliens, Handla, the first hand monster from the Japanese keshi line Neclos/Necros Fortress, Sunigator Shotai (a.k.a. the Claw), one of the most popular characters from Mattel's 1980s M.U.S.C.L.E line, and Handla-Left, the second hand monster from Neclos Fortress. They're all pretty great, but I think it's safe to say Sunigator Shotai will forever reign the king of all hand monsters, no?

Can you think of any other hand monster keshi?

Yucky yellows & petrifying pinks

I love taking these photos of like-colored mini figures. It's a good excuse to dig through my big ol' box of "little rubber guys" to figure out which ones I want to include in the shots! You can check out all of the "by color" photos I've done on my Flickr page here. I'm thinking I'll do blue next.

Here's a list of all the toy lines represented in each of the above photos:

Yellow: Terekoma vending machine bootleg, Ultraman vending machine bootleg, Monster in My Pocket, Mini Boglins, Musclemania, OMFG, Zoids vending machine bootleg, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure companion, Monstruos Mutantes, Diener Space Creatures, Kinnikuman bootleg, Space Ace, Martian Fink

Pink: Vending machine kaiju, vending machine MUSCLE bootleg, Mini Boglins, Diener Space Raiders, Monstruos Mutantes, ZOMBIE, fantasy playset skeleton warrior, OMFG, Galaxy Laser Team, Necros Fortress, Monster in My Pocket, Cosmix

Ornery oranges

There are a lot of moments in my life where I just stop what I'm doing and say to myself, "Damn, I'm a huge geek." One such moment came during the process of taking the above photo, during which I spent way too much time picking out, arranging and shooting a group of orange toys. I had so much fun taking a pic of a bunch of green mini figures together that I wanted to do the same for other colors, starting with orange. See? Huge geek. But if being a toy geek is wrong, I don't wanna be right. Now to figure out which color to do next...

Here are the toy lines featured in this photo: Dragons N Monsters, MUSCLE, Mini Boglins, vending machine knockoff of Marty Toy space creature, Diener Space Creatures, Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys, Necros Fortress, Freakies, party favor monster, Space Ace, mini vending machine kaiju, Monster in My Pocket

Necro's Fortress, continued

Ever since I first posted about Necro's (Neclos) Fortress figures, I have officially caught the Necro's collecting bug and have been trying to track down as many more as I can (not an easy task, for reasons I mention in the last post). I only have about 300 more to go...uhhh, wish me luck? Anyway, here are photos of a few of my favorites from the latest batch I've gotten. I just can't get enough of these guys--I love everything about them: the soft plastic material, the consistently fun and cool sculpts, the fact that they change colors in warm water, and so on. Now, who has some that they'd like to send me?...Come on, charity is fun! :-P

For more Necro's photos, check out the set I created on Flickr. I will add to it as I continue to get more figures, and hopefully it can serve as a useful resource for fellow collectors.

The Gorgons (Monster in My Pocket, Diener, Necro's Fortress)

I always find it interesting to see how the same character is interpreted by different people. Considering the fact that multiple mini figure lines are based on well-known mythological creatures they often share the same characters, which allows for some good comparison. Medusa has always been one of my favorite monsters, so I thought it would be cool to get a shot of different interpretations of her from three mini figure lines: Monster in My Pocket, Diener mythological monsters and Necro's Fortress. They're all technically Medusa figures, but in the photo you could also think of them as the three Gorgon sisters from Greek mythology: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale. Which figure do you like best?

Necro's Fortress

Hobgoblin

Medusa

Tacolos

Bealzelb

Kappa

What: Necro's Fortress (Nekurosu No Yousai, also sometimes referred to as Neclo's Fortress) is a Japanese line of little rubber creatures that came with illustrated cards and could be used to play a Dungeons & Dragons-style game. The line consisted of many sculpts, some based on well-known mythological creatures (Medusa, Chimera, Cerebus, etc) and others being original concepts (many of them very imaginative, such as a monster apple and a monster foot). They came in a variety of colors, unpainted.This is a truly excellent and fun line of mini figures, but one that isn't easy to collect considering it was limited to Japan. You can check out the entire line of figures here and their corresponding cards here.

When: 1990s

Where: Japan

Who: N/A