CHARACTER PRODUCTS
THE WORLD OF PURORESU.
Japanese Professional Wrestling has continuously been a sacred performance of realism.
With founding fathers of the sport such as Riki Dozan & the JWA, moving forward to when his two young boys - Giant Baba, & Antonio Inoki started their own Wrestling promotions, to the next era of the Three Musketeers, the Four Pillars, so on and so forth.
Puroresu (Professional Wrestling in Japanese) has risen with an appreciation in each generational fan of
the sports hybrid style & hyper real ability to suspend disbelief.
Soft Vinyl toy company Bull Mark would create the first Wrestling figures to have ever existed in a cartoon like likeness.
How apropos that the Figures to later come of the world of Puroresu would reflect Fantasy & Hyper - Realism.
ANTONIO INOKI - THE FOUNDER
The Fighting posed Inoki would make its return during the 30th Anniversary of NJPW , A single release featured Yellow Trunks & again in Black Trunks alongside Karl Gotch in this Exclusive Two Pack via. New Japan’s Tohkon Shop.
Following each injection casting using plastic pellets the figures would then get clipped from their respective sprue , sorted and sent off to the paint departments where each part would either be hand brushed or airbrushed.
Character Products designed a system where with minimal pressure you could pop each piece into place, always featuring four points of articulation.
While each piece is removable they’re not compatible with one another .
Beneath is a view of two unpainted samples that never made it to the factories paint studio.
The Deluxe Figure Collection Series was a vehicle for NJPW & CharaPro to release a more intensive line of figures that the S.S.F.C line could not.
Each figure would often include high detailed entrance attire , interchanging limbs for alternate poses , & accessories.
Deluxe figures were not limited to single figure releases & would start off their Deluxe two pack releases.
The variations between the Deluxe Muta can be found in the Snake on his right shoulder , His face paint , & the eyelids on his entrance mask
The Great Nita would see his own release under the CharaPro banner , however Onita handled his own licensing under his EVIL WAYS brand. Nita’s Deluxe figure is the only to included Barbed Wire intended for the NJPW Ring, as well as the Japanese styled steel chair Onita famously sat on during Puroresu most famous entrance.
Lastly but certainly not least this set included Nita’s Dragons Breathe used to combat Muta’s Mist
The Second release in the Deluxe figure collection series was Kensuke Sasaki as Power Warrior , the third member of the
Road Warriors. Power Warrior is featured alongside The Great Muta on the back of their respective cards to commemorate their big matches in the Tokyo Dome.
The Strong Style Puroresu Ring would eventually see a re-release
using a mix of Red or Blue plastic clasps to support the ring frame.
This Concludes NJPW’s Hyper Real Grade Figures collection. Before we continue into Character Products various toy lines here is a Gallery selection of some of our favorite NJPW Hyper Heroes.
Capitalizing on the Blind Box Toy trend made famous in Japan from companies such as Medicom Toy Co.
Character Products would produce series involving various Wrestlers of many era & Promotions alike.
MINI - BIG HEADS
I’ve had the pleasure of opening a factory sealed case of the CharaPro Keshi - Gomu Rubber Eraser toys.
each case featured twenty blind boxes & each case carries a unique color combination , this case highlights combo’s of
Blue & Green as well as Orange & “MUSCLE” Pink drawing inspiration from Kinnikuman’s MUSCLE toy line.
The Four Keshi packs at the bottom tier included a duplicate blind box , furthering your chase to collect the entire series.
CHARA - JOES
Character products would go on to start the Articulated Action Figure line.
with no official name we’ve dubbed them Chara-Joes. Standing at 4” tall these figures are slightly larger than your average Joe.
Including the original metal pin-hole’s & O-ring with added thigh articulation for the later waves , these in my opinion are the greatest
Wrestling figures ever made.
In addition to the New Japan Pro - Wrestling articulated line we received another series highlighting some of the Stars of Mixed Martial Arts.
Takada Dojo’s represented with two variations of Kazushi Sakuraba & Nobuhiko Takada.
Pancrase is represented with Masakatsu Funaki Variant: short hair & silver trunks , Fighting Network Rings with Akira Maeda Variant: Pro- Wrestling Attire , & Rickson Gracie is an individual figure license who also has a Hair figure variation.
“SOFUBI”
New Japan Pro - Wrestling & Character Products would team up with Nagataoshi Sakai to produce three unique sculpts based on his art style to be made in a PVC “Sofubi” style. Masahiro Chono is the only amongst the three to get a second edition.
A uncovered Prototype of Keiji Mutoh.
Returning to Hyper Real
1998 saw the first Hayabusa FMW branded figure by a company named Dreams Come True.
Four edition color variants were produced in the “Hyper Grade” figure style : Red, White, Blue, & Black.
These were a obvious attempt to produce a line cohesive with CharaPro 5” lines, They’re slightly larger than the 5” scale & is still highly sought after
& placed besides any CharaPro figure despite the difference in scale.
THE MASKED COLLECTION.
Each of these Masked men have features in the CharaPro line under their own licensing arrangements.
Beyond The Mat Terry Funk figure designed by CharaPro in their early days.
Available exclusively through this DVD boxed set for the diehard Wrestle-goer.
Beyond the mat Terry Funk included a cloth B.T.M t-shirt & a unlicensed ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt.
CharaPro would be no stranger to the Funk family, Dory Funk JR. would receive a deluxe figure edition
casted in a porcelain-esque material.
Terry Funk would return to the line in his classic Texan ring gear that would inspire the character design for Kinnikuman’s Terry Man.
THE NEXT GENERATION OF TALENT.
Keiji Mutoh would also revive his Demonic side - The Great Muta with a mask as opposed to his traditional facepaint.
Muta’s AJPW figures would rival any other CharaPro’s details & variants.
Ebessan is no stranger to Cross-Promotion figures or shall I say Ebeyger ?
Unlike American Wrestling figures cross promotional fantasy matchups have always been out of scale in modern times
A glimpse of that dream made a reality : a Co-branded two pack between NOAH & AJPW’s top stars at the time.
Produced both by CharaPro & Mogura house this raises the question many have asked for a long time.
Is Mogura House & CharaPro the same company?
I reached out to the only person I was aware had a relationship with either company.
A Conversation with Shawn Ng of KWK
Shawn, based in China is a super fan, collector, seller, & licensor of all things Pro - Wrestling.
Currently he handles talent bookings for select Professional Wrestlers & has been sharing his process on social medias in creating his own retro inspired figure line - Kayfabe Heroes.
Our conversation started with me asking : What is the relationship between CharaPro & Mogura House? Is it maybe a subsidary of CharaPro or perhaps the team of designers branched off to make wrestlers not currently under contract for NJPW.
Shawn : This is to my belief, at the time there were a lot of politics in terms of Pro-Wrestling in Japan. So in order to work for everybody CharaPro & Mogura House were set up to distinguish that.
But, obviously CharaPro came first, and if you see later New Japan CharaPro figures, some of them didn’t even have the CharaPro or Mogura House name on them.
Matthew : Thats what myself and many others always assumed. Another inference is that the Tohkon Shop was a NJPW funded project until CharaPro became a legal entity. A lot of the early NJPW figures doesn’t have the CharaPro brand on it.
Shawn : That I woulnt’t know. I think there might have been deals set up to produce the figures. New Japan was interesting back in the day, because there was more control & they were more interested in working with people from their own country, in fact many Wrestling companies were like that back in the day, even now to some companies it is the same.
At the time they wanted someone to look for bigger names to sign, one of the stores I often supported in Japan asked if I could help. I then first referred to Road Warrior Animal, who I met at a Con in Boston & remained in contact with. They worked out a deal and to my knowledge Animal signed the contract as he owned the Road Warriors and legion of Doom name but somehow the figures were never made. We exchanged some emails and the owner’s English was quite poor, but I still was able to understand him. I was asked to see if I could contact Goldberg, Kevin Nash, & Scott Hall ( they were on that waiting period during the WWF/WCW Invasion ) I asked around for them but the fees was too big for the company and they just stopped reaching out.
Matthew : Wow that’s awesome knowing they were pushing in a more big appeal Western direction. Those names would’ve surely helped the line grow. Its a shame that Animal never came out but my imagination is picturing him in the Hyper - Real style.
Myself & Shawn continued to chat about various toy lines history such as Pyscho Toy Barn’s Sofvi deal with the Road Warriors. Shawn also shared with me images of some CharaPro prototypes currently in his collection.
In conclusion the signed contact with CharaPro/Mogura House has me curious
if there was a Sculpt made for Road Warrior Animal & if Hawk was in that conversation at any point.
MOGURA HOUSE & PRO - WRESTLING NOAH
Mitsuharu Misawa
The Emerald captain that steered the ship in a exodus of AJPW following him & Giant Baba’s Widow not agreeing on the direction of the company.
NOAH was born & the All-Stars of All Japan followed. With the exception of Kawada the Four Pillars of Heaven & soon to be the 5th ( Jun Akiyama ) all help create the vision for the new promotion.
Misawa has had a lot of Variants in the Mogura House line, with single releases that included the GHC Heavyweight Championship &/or facial hair
two pack editions with Wrestlers Misawa’s competed alongside or against, Christmas Specials, & transparent Emerald Green deluxe figures.
The Popular founder would participate in everything from charitable events, Japanese variety shows, to the most hard hitting matches you’ve seen.
KENTA KOBASHI & JUN AKIYAMA
These two ushered in a hard-hitting main event fight style from AJPW into NOAH.
As both Tag Team Champions & as bitter rivals these two always brought a interesting dynamic to the squared circle.
The two in figure form also received many variants, Hand posing, Bronze type figure, Inclusion of World Championships, or unique sculpts, entrance gear, & for Kobashi - a Sepia tinted series.
VADER & 2 COLD SCORPIO
The odd pairing of the two would see them capture the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championships in 2001, the first Tag Champions for NOAH.
IN CONCLUSION
Character Products / Mogura House has a very deep history in many waves & variations of figures.
They’ve worked with so many Puroresu legends over their roughly 10 year run producing products in all shapes & sizes.
From Co-Producing with Planet Liberty, Alex Toys, BAPE, & more obscurities that lives beyond the major three Wrestling Promotions, we’ll have to end this chapter here . . . for now
The storied significance of each edition, each release, each variant has depths even this page can’t yet continue to.
From the unknown thumbnails on the Internet of statuesque Wrestling figures, into our Preservation Museum & Gift Shop
The Character Products story will continue in other Mediums that myself & NOWHOME will be at the forefront of.
Beyond this point is our Galleries of various CharaPro’s that we’ll be diving into at a later time.
Thank you for viewing.
NOAH
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Pancrase , Fighting Network Rings , K-1 , Takada Dojo , & beyond.
Thank you to those who helped contribute images to this Exhibition.