Around 2004, Character Product began releasing bobbleheads under the "Big Head Series"
line. Unlike the common 2 inch blind box minifigures from the Pro Kaku Heroes line Charapro
had released from 2003 to about 2008, the Big Head Series were full-scale figures made of
polystone with included ring bases and fabric ring ropes.
Besides releasing a limited number of Wrestlers licensed by Character Product at the time,
bobbleheads were also produced for Wrestlers contracted under Pro-Wrestling NOAH under
sister company Mogura House.
Mogura House and Character Product would add the biggest names from Pro-Wrestling NOAH
to Character Product's Big Head Series.
Blog #168 drops the hammer on the Kenta Kobashi Bobblehead.
Kobashi comes dressed in his early 2000's Pro-Wrestling NOAH attire.
Switching out his classic orange trunks, Kobashi is pictured wearing black tights with a purple
flame design.
Kobashi is sculpted with both a clenched fist and a chop; one of Kobashi's signature attacks.
Exclusive to the Pro-Wrestling NOAH bobbleheads are a special green ring base. The ropes
are fabric.
Being one of the largest Kenta Kobashi figures ever made (and one of the few, if not, only
examples of a Kobashi figure made of polystone - let alone a full-scale bobblehead), Kobashi
stands about 7-8 inches in height.
There is plastic tucked inside Kobashi's head to keep the bobble portion intact while shipping.
Overall thoughts:
The Big Head series was Character Product and Mogura House's attempt at providing
Japanese Wrestling fans with actual bobbleheads of their favourite Wrestlers.
Character Product would only produce one line of Bobbleheads of the following
Wrestlers:
1) Great Muta
2) Masahiro Chono
3) Jushin Thunder Liger
4) Jinsei Shinzaki
5) Hakushi
6) Tiger Mask
7) Mil Mascaras (ring attire)
8) Mil Mascaras (entrance attire)
9) Dos Caras (blue and red)
10) Dos Caras (green and red)
11) Bob Sapp
12) Minoru Suzuki
13) Yoshiaki Fujiwara
14) Nobuhiko Takada
15) Masakatsu Funaki
16) Kazushi Sakuraba
17) Hiroshi Hase
18) Kantaro Hoshino
___________________________
Pro-Wrestling NOAH series
19) Mitsuharu Misawa
20) Kenta Kobashi
21) Jun Akiyama
22) Yoshihiro Takayama
I've also seen a purple glitter Mil Mascaras variant, but I'm not sure if it's a custom
bobblehead or not.
Myself, I've never been a fan of these particular bobbleheads. While the size of the
figures are a welcomed change, the overall design of the faces and body proportions
are a bit too odd (even for the super-deformed artistic direction Charapro were going
for).
Fast forward two years to 2006 and Character Product would release another spin-off
line called BIG HEAD KING FIGHTERS. The King Fighters were smaller in scale,
no longer made of Polystone or bobbled.
To this day, the three most desired figures from the BIG HEAD series bobblehead line
are Great Muta, Tiger Mask and Jushin Thunder Liger. The last option rarely coming
up for auction in the past.
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