Kaiser Head

Real x Head is a small Japanese vinyl company started and run by Mori Katsura in 2003. Mori’s first figure was the Oni-Head, but he saw much more success with his second figure, the Mutant Head, the start of the iconic Mutant Zone series. The Mutant Head sculpt was borne out of Mori’s love of classic 80’s toys, especially Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Taken from the Super 7 Mook, the Mutants are an invisible race that lives in the forests and mountains in natural harmony, existing outside the realm of human perception. Led by the militaristic Akro-Kaiser, the Mutants dislike humanity because of the damage we do to their natural habitats, and so the Mutants cause accidents and natural disasters to punish us. During an engagement, Mutant Head is injured and loses his ability to stay invisible. Mutant Head is found by a young boy and nursed back to health, showing Head that not all humans are evil. When Mutant Head returns to confront Akro-Kaiser about their aggression towards humanity, a schism erupts within the Mutant world over how to deal with humans, leading to what amounts to a civil war among the Mutants, with the human-defending Mutants being lead by Mutant Head.

The Mutant Zone 3 sculpts debuted in 2009 and feature significantly more detailed sculpts. The story of the Mutants has taken a major turn. In a massive battle, some of the main characters have been merged together through the ferocity of their fight.

Kaiser-head is the fusion of Mutant Head and Akro Kaiser. He’s warped and mutated and very clearly angry about that.

The sculpt manages to tie key details from both characters into a cohesive new figure with the addition of even more detail. From the exposed guts to the cracked skin, it seems that Kaiser-head’s mutation was a violent one.

This version was the debut release at SDCC09. It is on black vinyl. The effect on this one is really neat, with a shimmery and scary finish. I think it was painted by applying clear red over a silver overbrushing, with some details accented with sprays. However it was done, it looks great.

The MZ3 sculpts are slightly chunkier than the MZ1 and 2, and that makes them really fun and impressive figures in hand. Many versions of them are pretty easy to find, and they are really detailed and worth looking up.