REVIEW: Max Toy Co's Booska

Background

Booska is a cute and lovable kaiju (“monster” in Japanese), who first appeared on Japanese television in 1966.  In the years since, Booska spawned another TV series in the 90’s, as well as numerous toys and merchandise.

Max Toy Company teamed up with artist Martin Ontiveros to produce their own version of the iconic Booska.   Ontiveros designed the figure as well as the header and backing cards.  The piece was then sculpted by Kiyoka Ikeda (from Gargamel) who based the sculpt on Ontiveros’ design.

Packaging

The figure is bagged with both a header and backing card.  The backing card has some information about the character and vinyl figure, as well as a great drawing of Booska.

The Figure

Booska stands approximately 9” tall and has 6 points of articulation (head, arms, legs and tail).  The rotocast vinyl piece has big eyes, buckteeth and rabbit-like ears.  The figure’s corkscrew tail is packaged unattached from Booska.

The character’s body is painted similar to a cheetah…lots of brown spots.  And most of the paintwork (minus the pink in his ears) is done in a glossy texture.

Our Opinion

Every time I see Max Toy Co’s Booska, I think back to the 1980’s made for TV movie – The Ewoks Battle for Endor – and the speedy little character Teek.  Remember?  He was the furry creature that hung out with Wilford Brimley.

Like that character, your eyes are drawn to Booska’s big smile and buckteeth.  (It’s because of those that the figure freaks my wife out)  While there have been several incarnations of the Booska character (just do a Google search), this one has more of a stylized (read animated) look to it.

So how about the actual figure?  It’s well done in traditional kaiju style.  There are sprayed on spots, but most of the paint has a nice, smooth gloss to it.  It’s my favorite Max Toy Company piece to date.

You can pick one up at the following:

Frozen Empire Toys: $44.95
Fugitive Toys: $44.99
Max Toy Company: $45.00
Tainted Visions: $42.70
Tenacious Toys: $45.00

Booska Grades:

Quality: 9/10
Paint: 8/10
Packaging: 8/10
Durability: 9/10
Hype: 9/10
Fun Factor: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 9.2/10

Have this figure?  What do you rate it?