Pro-Gressa The Great Sasuke Deformed Sofubi figure review

For our next entry, we'll be partying like it's 1999. Blog #198 focuses on Pro-gressa's highly-
obscure and very collectible Great Sasuke Deformed Sofubi figures.

Known in Japan as "みちのくプロレス ザ・グレート・サスケ DEFORMED ソフビ人形"
(Michinoku Pro-Wrestling The Great Sasuke Deformed Sofubi figure), this funny looking
fellow was originally released in 1999 by a company in Japan called PRO-GRESSA.

As the name suggests, the Great Sasuke figure is a soft vinyl figure and stands at 60mm
(2.3 inches) in height.

Fans of this particular figure will be pleased to know there are several different figure variants
beyond Sasuke's natural mask colours to collect. Variants such as:

Silver mask variant.

A special bronze type colour variant which was released in 2001. The included packaging
mentions "限定" (Limited edition) in the top right corner while the text at the bottom reads:

"(祝) 2001 ザ・グレート サスケ               ( (Celebration) 2001 The Great Sasuke
みちのくプロレス (C) PRO-GRESSA"    Michinoku Pro-Wrestling (C) PRO-GRESSA)


And, if three variants weren't enough for you. How about:

The clear and gold versions?

The gold version is extra special as it's another event exclusive.

The gold version was only available exclusively at the Wonderland Market Antique Toy
Show back in 1999.

Talk about predating Funko and their slew of Comicon exclusives 11 years in advance!

The bottom of each figure contains Pro-Gressa's stamp and "Made in Japan".

A look at the packaging the Sasuke figures come in. Again, the packaging reads:

"みちのくプロレス                     (Michinoku Pro-Wrestling
ザ・グレート サスケ                   The Great Sasuke

DEFORMED ソフビ人形"        DEFORMED Sofubi Figure).


But, there's still two more variants remaining:

The Super J Cup coloured & translucent figure exclusive.

Right off the bat, the Super J Cup version contains a beautiful gold foil label on the front
of the packaging.

The provided text was promoting the scheduled dates for Super J-Cup tournament which was
organized by the Michinoku Pro-Wrestling promotion on April 1st and April 9th, 2000.

What sets the J-Cup variant apart from the other translucent Great Sasuke figure is the added
colouring for Sasuke's waistband, eyes and nose portions.

Sadly, a common problem with clear figures is the chance of discoloration. In the above
case, certain parts of the Sasuke figure have turned tan in colour.

In the past, I've noticed similar instances with clear white figures made by Toukon Shop/
Character Product such as: Genichiro Tenryu, Akira Maeda and Jushin Thunder Liger.

Again, the specific is added as a graphic of this event exclusive variant.



The Super J-Cup also had a second exclusive variant in the form of a glittered version!

At first, I thought the glitter version was a custom figure, but....



...the glitter version also contains the Super J-Cup 3rd stage event decal on the back of the
figure.

I assume the packaging was strategically blind-box style, so, you never knew which exclusive
you were going to get (and, thus, enticing the consume to purchase more boxes).

Chronologically, the figures release dates would be:

1999 - The Great Sasuke
            The Great Sasuke (silver ver.)
            The Great Sasuke (clear ver.)
            The Great Sasuke (Gold ver.)

2000 - The Great Sasuke (Clear J-Cup ver.)
            The Great Sasuke (Glitter J-Cup ver.)

2001 - The Great Sasuke (Bronze ver.)


Closing thoughts:

Seven different versions of the same figure, three event exclusives (that I know about) and
one figure line made in a design similar to today's Funko Pops. Would you collect them all?

Though, one company still wins the variant game: Character Product's Great Muta action figure
with a staggering nine different versions of the same mould (and about 19 if you count all of
the matching Mini Big Head Muta variants)!

We still have lots of Pro-gressa figures to look at. So, stay tuned...

Character Product The Great Sasuke figure review

The largest Japanese Pro-Wrestling collectibles database continues to expand
with our next figure review which takes a look at another popular masked
legend.

For blog #127, we'll be taking a look at Character Product's Great Sasuke
figure (purple and green variants).


TOUKON SHOP and CHARACTER PRODUCT

With the success of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Super Star Figure Collection
figures in the late 1990's, other major Wrestling, Lucha and mixed martial
arts promotions around Japan began to take notice of Toukon Shop's success.
But, there was just one small problem.

Toukon Shop (the company that made the figures)'s namesake was owned by
New Japan Pro-Wrestling - and New Japan wasn't interested in humoring
the idea of selling toys of Wrestlers from rival promotions.

So, in 1999, Toukon Shop decided to create another toy company - one
outside of New Japan's jurisdiction. A toy company that would be free
to seek out and make figures based on Wrestlers from promotions such as
FMW, RINGS, PANCRASE, OSAKA PRO, WAR, K-1 and, in this
blog's case - MICHINOKU PRO-WRESTLING.

                            

One of Character Product's earliest non-NJPW figures was that of
Japanese masked legend The Great Sasuke.

This particular Sasuke figure I personally had Autographed by the man himself!

This particular variant features a special white emblem on the side of Sasuke's mask.

The most obvious difference to look out for in this variant is the colour of the
stripes on Sasuke's mask. In this case, this variant also features green stripes.

The same emblem from the side of Sasuke's mask is also featured on Sasuke's
chest.

Another trait with Character Product's figures - each figure contains a
copyright licensing (usually licensed by each individual Wrestler that
was turned into a figure).

The back of the packaging contains a great graphic of Sasuke with his
stats and a small bio detailing Sasuke's accomplishments up to the year
1999.

The belt featured pm the back of the packaging's graphic is the NWA
World Middleweight Championship.

Let's take a look at the second variant:

                              

This variant features Sasuke first and foremost with purple stripes along
his mask.


                            

The emblem on Sasuke's chest is also different with a red outline.

The stern and determined look on Sasuke's face is well captured. This
legend is ready to fight!

                           

                                   

The face-like design on the side of Sasuke's mask is unique to the purple
stripe figure variant.

                          

                             

Even the laces and stitching on the back of Sasuke's mask are sculpted
- making this collectible the most detailed Great Sasuke figure to date!


                             

The purple stripe Great Sasuke figure contains the exact same packaging
design as the green stripe variant.

The Great Sasuke Mexican Bust figure review

Welcome back to the largest source of information for Japanese Pro-
Wrestling collectibles on the web.

In this online archive, you'll find hundreds of pictures, in-depth coverage
from the last 80 years as well as the Wrestling history behind each item.

Blog #122 takes a look at another incredibly obscure figure of legendary
Japanese masked man: The Great Sasuke!

This obscure bust of The Great Sasuke was made in Mexico in the
1990's as part of a small series of Wrestling souvenirs.

Scale-wise, the hand-painted Sasuke bust stands about 3 and a half inches .
The material seems to be made of a durable clay/plastic mold that is not
hollow.

Despite it's sloppy paint work and crude appearance, the Sasuke bust
is far superior quality-wise when compared to the common Mexican
"Arena Figures" from the era.

                          

The bottom of the base reads "SASUKE".

The back of the Sasuke bust reads "MEXECO" (Mexico in Espanol).

The bottom of the base is made of fabric to avoid scratching when
displaying  the Sasuke bust on wooden surfaces.

To date, the only other figure in which I have uncovered from this line
is fellow masked Wrestler Octagon. Were there more figures in this
series?

Only time will tell as the search for Pro-Wrestling rarities continues...

Pro-Gressa The Great Sasuke 1/15 scale figure review

Welcome back to the largest source of information for Japanese Pro-Wrestling
figures on the web!

In blog #81, we'll be diving head-first into coverage of an obscure Puroresu
rarity; legendary high-flyer ...The Great Sasuke!

                          

Sold as the "1/15 SCALE THE GREAT SASUKE" figure, the Great
Sasuke figure came sealed in cellophane packaging. The packaging
contained stickers with "Michinoku Pro-Wrestling" written in
Japanese as みちのくプロレス.
                           

The Great Sasuke figure stands a little over 4 inches tall (10cm) and is
considered to be the very first figure ever made of Sasuke.

                               

Posing wise: the Great Sasuke figure is only articulated at the arms.


                            

The bottom of Sasuke's right shoe contains the Michinoku Pro-Wrestling
copyright.

When compared next to Toukon Shop's Great Muta figure.

What makes the 1/15 SCALE Great Sasuke figure so special is that
the figure was one of the very few non-commercial pieces produced
and sold by Michinoku Pro-Wrestling itself in the 1990's!


Japanese toy makers Character Product and INSPIRE wouldn't
begin to make figures based off Sasuke until the early 2000's.

As such, the 1/15 scale Great Sasuke figure is noticeably smaller
when compared to other Japanese figures that were released during
the era; making this unusual collectible stand out even more.