Heroes Club / Art of Toys!

I stopped by the COOLEST toy store in San Francisco, California! Known as Heroes Club/ Art of Toys, they specialize in Japanese Tokusatsu* toys!

*Tokusatsu is a Japanese term for "live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects." -Wikipedia

Heroes Club is as much of a museum as it is a toy store. Below is just a sip of what this awesome store showcases!

Heroes Club / Art of Toys is located in San Francisco, California. It is not a particularly large shop, but it has a ton of rare treasures inside! They even have cool custom models showcased in the windows!

Inside are shelves and cabinets packed with Japanese figures! Here are some Medicom 1/6 scale Ultraman figures!

At the top are 1/6 Kamen Rider Shocker villains! I have always loved the costumes on these guys!

Here is a statue set of the famous Ultraman Ace 2-parter when the evil Yapool captured the Ultra brothers. For whatever reason, the Japanese have an infatuation with crucifixion in its pop culture!

As you enter, the cabinets on the right side of the store are filled with roughly 1/6 scale Japanese model kits assembled/ painted by the store's owner! They are mainly Kaiju!

Here are a few monsters from the precursor series to Ultraman, Ultra Q! Ultra Q was a Japanese black and white anthology series similar to the Twilight Zone!

I always thought the Dino-Tank from the original Ultraman was kinda dumb looking!

If you look closely, you will see Ultraseven's glasses and the another colossal hero, the golden Spectreman! Spectreman was a 70's Japanese Tokusatsu about a space cyborg fighting the evil green Simian Dr. Gori. It apparently had many environmental/pollution themes!

The nefarious looking Ultraman to the right is Belial! I always thought Belial was a cool foil to Ultraman!

I never understood Japan's tendency to create morbidly obese parodies of its characters, but they do it to many icons such as Ultraman. Maybe it is a joke on Western culture!

Here are some Kamen Riders and Shocker villains. When I went to Japan, the Japanese look up to Kamen Rider about like the U.S. looks up to Spiderman!

Some more random Kaiju!

The owner told me to look closely at this cabinet to see a model of Steve Austin's test shuttle from the beginning intro of the Six Million Dollar Man!

On the top shelf are Godzillas, Gameras, and a colossal Japanese Frankenstein!

The owner specifically pointed out that the Kong that appeared in the old Godzilla movies is never referred to as "King Kong" but instead "Toho Kong." Behind him is the colossal hero, Zone Fighter; he is actually an obscure part of Godzilla canon. Zone Fighter was a short lived 70's show where Toho borrowed an Ultraman suit and had the title character fighter Kaiju side-by-side with Godzilla! Apparently both Toho Kong and Zone Fighter are tangled in licensing hell, so merchandise for them is sadly rare.

Heroes Club not only specializes in crazy Japanese toys, but also many other cool figures in various scales. Here are some 1/6 premium figures!

These are some older 1/6 Dragon figures. You can spot Jackie Chan to the far right!

From the ceiling hung a cool 1/6 Japanese Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) figure from Dragon!

The owner specifically pointed out this replica of the "Oxygen Destroyer" from the first Godzilla movie in 1954. Apparently there is only a handful of these in the world!

Here is a cool Ghidorah I wanted to save in a photograph!

This is a striking model kit of a character I really want in 1/12 figure form, Mechani-Kong! He too is trapped in licensing hell, so toys for him are few and far between.

These are the first 1/6 Kamen Rider poseable figures produced in the 80's by the company Time House. Time House is not around anymore, but it was actually a parent company to the figure company we know today as Medicom! The odd mannequin figure on the bottom left is of the character Maguma Taishi. The owner told me it was common for many 1/6 Japanese figures to follow the formula of Takara's Henshin Cyborg. Each character was essentially an armor/costume, and it had to be placed on a basic body underneath for poseability.

This was my favorite shelf at the store because it showcased obscure Golden Age Tokusatsu heroes! Some of the Golden Age characters shown are Nanairo Kamen, Gekko Kamen, Sonny Chiba's Golden Bat, and the National Kid! These originally black and white heroes were the inspiration for the more familiar Tokusatsu characters that later premiered in color!

Here is the main man himself and owner, Robin Kwok! Originally from Hong Kong, Robin was super helpful and could tell me EVERYTHING about anything in his store. He assembled and painted all of the kits displayed, and is a leading authority on Tokusatsu programs and its toys. He is also very knowledgeable in American pop/toy culture as well!

These were not cheap, but I could not resist purchasing these awesome Kaiju figures after Robin's intricate explanation of each character! From left to right: Zazahn from Ultraman Jack, Megalon from Godzilla vs. Megalon, Mijin from the 60's Daimijin movies, and Ebirah from Ebirah, Horror of the Deep!

Even when I was in Japan, I could not find a store that had this selection of Japanese toys with a proprietor that had the knowledge that Robin could spill. Robin's website is below for anyone interested in these type of toys!

https://www.solidart.club/

Heroes Club / Art of Toys is a MUST visit for anyone who loves Japanese toys or their live action pop culture!

-Chuck