Mogura House Naomichi Marufuji (Openweight Belt) figure review

Today's figure review and item for sale is another Japanese rarity that was
produced by Mogura House. For blog #102 we'll be looking at the special
single-packed Naomichi Marufuji Openweight Championship figure.

The single-pack Naomichi Marufuji figure comes in Mogura House's
deluxe packaging.

As a deluxe figure, Marufuji also includes a deluxe base, two acrylic
foot holders, an acrylic display base and an attachable nameplate which
reads Marufuji's name in Japanese.

The back of the packaging lists Marufuji's stats up to his then-recent
Pro-Wrestling NOAH Openweight Championship victory as well as
stylish graphics of Marufuji from the era.

Exclusive to the deluxe single-packed variant Naomichi Marufuji
figure is the stylish Pro-Wrestling NOAH GHC Openweight Hardcore
Championship.

Naomichi was the second Wrestler (the first being All Japan legend
Jun Akiyama) to hold the Openweight Belt; which Marufuji won on
October 16th, 2004 at Pro-Wrestling NOAH's "Navigation Against
The Current 2004 – Day 7" in Tokushima, Japan.

The Openweight Championship contains a unique white strap with silver
and black coloring.

A similar design is also incorporated into the belt's side plates.

The now-defunct Openweight Championship was only used for five
years before being deactivated by NOAH in 2009.

This variant of Naomichi Marufuji features silver pants with a red and
black finish.

The acronym "I.V.Y." (short for I.VY. GEAR) is featured on Marufuji's
right pant leg.

Other Wrestlers such as Jun Akiyama and Akitoshi Saito (the latter of
which also has the acronym "I.V.Y. GEAR" written on his figure count
-erpart's pants) displayed on their ring attire.

I'll take a wild guess here and say that I.V.Y. GEAR was Pro-Wrestling
NOAH`'s official, in-house ring attire maker.

As Marufuji was a gifted high-flyer, the right side of the Marufuji's
pants contain a retro, comic-style graphic with the text "SPLASH"
in red and black colour.

While most Mogura House figure variants simply feature a bit of
facial hair and a slight variation in ring attire colour, this variant

of Marufuji features an updated head sculpt with medium length
hair and a chin strap beard.

Mogura House Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuharu Misawa figure set review

The Mogura House Marathon continues with blog #91, which focuses on
another Championship belt set featuring tag partners Yoshinari Ogawa and
"Mr. Triple Crown" Mitsuharu Misawa.

As one of Mogura House's earliest two-packs, the packaging for this set features
text promoting Pro-Wrestling NOAH's "Navigation TUG of WAR 2001" tour
which ran from October 6th to October 19th 2001.

                      

Yoshinari Ogawa (who was only available in Pro-Wrestling NOAH's two-packs)
is featured for the first time with Pro-Wrestling NOAH's GHC Tag Team
Championship belt.

The set also marks the first time Mitsuharu Misawa came packaged with a
GHC Tag Team belt as well.

Unfortunately, the above set is another example of the gold paint discoloring
issue associated with Japanese figures from the late 1990's to early 2000's.

The back of the packaging describes the origins of Pro-Wrestling NOAH's
Tug of War tour in great detail.

Mogura House Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa GHC Tag Team figure review

Our Mogura House figure marathon continues with blog #90 which takes
a closer look at another stand out two-pack: the Mitsuharu Misawa and
Yoshinari Ogawa GHC Tag Team figure set.

                             

The text on the packaging reads "THE 8TH GHC TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS"
referring to Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa's Pro-Wrestling NOAH 

GHC Tag Team Championship victory on January 10th, 2004 in Tokyo, Japan.

I have to once again give props to Mogura House for another eye-catching 

package design.

Mitsuharu Misawa is featured in a brand-sculpt complete with entrance robe
and GHC Tag Team Championship belt (which, unfortunately, cannot be
removed).

Out of the four robed variants of Mogura House's Misawa figure, this is the
only version to come packaged with the GHC Tag Team Championship belt.

                                 

The two-pack also features an exclusive Yoshinari Ogawa figure that is
sculpted without Ogawa's entrance vest (it's also worth noting that Yoshinari
Ogawa was only available in Mogura House's various two-packs).

                            

The back of the packaging features graphics of the tag team along with
their respective bios and stats.

                              

As an alternate variant, the tag team version features Misawa in a beautiful
green and gold robe with a glitter finish on the shoulder portions while the
single pack version features Misawa's robe with a more simplistic Emerald
green colouring.

Mogura House Mitsuharu Misawa (Entrance attire) figure review

As the main star and founder of Pro-Wrestling NOAH, the legendary

Mitsuharu Misawa has his fair share of action figures released by
Mogura House.

Blog #89 takes a look at another Championship belt variant. The
Mitsuharu Misawa (entrance attire) figure.

                             

Mitsuharu Misawa comes in Mogura House's deluxe style packaging.


                              

From head to toe, Mitsuharu Misawa has received a brand new figure sculpt
complete with entrance robe.

The Pro-Wrestling NOAH GHC Heavyweight Championship is also included
with this figure variant (which, again, cannot be removed from the Misawa
figure's waist).

                           

This particular version is a factory error with the GHC Championship belt
discoloured to black from inside the packaging (the result of using low-
quality paint that darkens over time).

The green substance above the belt is the result of plasticizer which has leaked
from the figure (used for figure articulation during production). While harmless
to the figure cosmetically (and easy to clean off once removed from the packaging),
this chemical reaction is common among older figures (especially those made by
Character Product).

For more information on reversing the effects of plasticizer with your boxed
figures, check out this forum post

The deluxe single-packed Mitsuharu Misawa figure is the only Mogura House
figure to feature Misawa in his entrance robe and a GHC Heavyweight Champ
-ionship belt.

The back of the packaging features an updated graphic of Misawa in
his Pro-Wrestling NOAH entrance robe along with his stats and a brief
bio.

                                                                      

Mogura House Tamon Honda & Kenta Kobashi GHC Tag Team figure set review

For blog #85, we'll be looking at a special figure set released in the mid 2000's
by Japanese toy maker Mogura House.

Continuing to expand on the largest source of information for Puroresu figures
and collectibles on the web, today's figure review is all about the rare Tamon
Honda and Kenta Kobashi tag team figure set.

While Character Product (Charapro) was known for creating figures based on
All Japan Pro-Wrestling's legends such as Giant Baba, Stan Hansen, Toshiaki
Kawada and Bruiser Brody (to name a few), Mogura House was best known
for releasing figures based on active Wrestlers from the Pro-Wrestling NOAH
promotion (and the AJPW veterans that would flock to the promotion in the
early 2000's).

The middle of the packaging contains the text "THE 6TH GHC TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONS" celebrating Honda and Kobashi's tag team championship
victory on June 6th, 2003 in Tokyo, Japan.

The back of the packaging contains individual bios and stats for both Wrestlers.

Let's take a closer look at the figures themselves:

The included Kenta Kobashi figure comes dressed in his entrance robe
and includes a deluxe display base along with his GHC Tag Team
Championship belt.

This is the only Kenta Kobashi figure sculpted with his hood up and
clenched fist-holding pose.

Unfortunately, the GHC Tag Team Championship belt is only a decoration
on this Kenta Kobashi figure and cannot be removed.

The back of Kobashi's robe contains the copyright stamp "(C) NOAH
CHINA".

As a deluxe figure set, both figures include an acrylic display base, two
attachable figure holders and an acrylic nameplate for both Wrestlers.

It is also worth noting that fellow Japanese toy maker Character Product
also packaged their deluxe figures with the very same display bases.

                            

The second figure from the set is fellow All Japan Pro-Wrestling veteran,
"the Red Devil" Tamon Honda.

Like Kobashi, Honda also comes with his own deluxe display base, name
plate and figure holders (which is a blessing since standing the Tamon
Honda figure on his own can be quite difficult at times).

It's also worth noting that this is the only action figure ever made of
Honda to date.

                               


The Tamon Honda figure was only available alongside Kenta Kobashi
as a GHC Tag Team two-pack. Collectors should also look for the
special blue shoes alternate variant as well.

Kenta Kobashi HAO Figure Review

Following their New Japan and All Japan Pro-Wrestling licenses,
HAO Arts Office would add a series of figures based on Wrestlers
from the Pro-Wrestling NOAH promotion.

This blog is about the Kenta Kobashi HAO figure that was

released in 2007.

The Kenta Kobashi HAO figure features Kobashi in his modern

Pro-Wrestling NOAH attire.

                         
Kobashi is depicted in his signature Knife Edge Chop pose
(the first and only Kobashi figure to do so).

Kobashi's black trunks include a purple and white flame design.

                    
The Kobashi HAO figure includes articulation at the arms, waist
and head.

Kobashi stands about 2 inches taller than the Mogura House Kenta
Kobashi figure.

HAO would also release a limited edition, orange variant based
on Kobashi's classic AJPW attire.



Closing thoughts:If realistic head sculpts are your thing, there's nothing better
than the HAO Kenta Kobashi figure.

At roughly 6 inches (15cm) in height, the HAO version is quite
easily the tallest Kobashi figure released to date (the only figure
that comes close is Mogura House's line of Sofubi-styled figures)!