Cryptid Combat answers the age-old question: what happens when lucha libre goes Lovecraftian?
If you’ve ever dreamed of staging lucha libre battles between Elder Gods and classic cryptids, fulfillment of those imaginings is at hand via horror artist Velikan and Wandering Planet Toys. Get ready for CRYPTID COMBAT!
The artist and toymakers are offering two brand-new 5-inch soft vinyl art toys.They’re “inspired by classic horror, cryptids, and professional wrestling, Cthuluchador and The Ultimoth Warrior are ready for battle in the arena and on the toy shelf,” according to the official description of the offering.
Fans can also sign up on the Backerkit pre-launch page to receive an email when the campaign launches.
“I grew up in the late ‘80’s and merged my youthful interest in WWE with my later interests of H.P. Lovecraft and cryptids.” Velikan in a release. “I was lucky enough that Wandering Planet had the same interest in such things! I hand sculpt my designs out of Super Sculpy and then make a silicone mold to cast them. This gives me a hard resin figure that outlasts anything else I’ve tried. The originals are seven inches tall so that I can get the details in, and they are then scanned and painstakingly hand reproduced by sofubi masters. Hardly a machine involved in the process! They are true Art Toys.”
Fans are invited to stage their own wrestling matches with the new figures — with no holds barred, no TV time limit and no disqualifications, obviously.
“In one corner is H.P. Lovecraft’s ancient evil, Cthuluchador! In the other corner is the terror of Point Pleasant, Mothman—the Ultimoth Warrior! Will Cthulhu pull off moves that even the Mothman won’t see coming?! Or will the terror-gaze of the Ultimoth send squidface back to the depths of R’lyeh?!”
“When we saw VELIKAN’s insane sculpts for Cthulchador and Ultimoth, we knew we had to work out a collab,” explained Wandering Planet Toys co-founder Chris “Doc” Wyatt. “Seeing these two mythic titans of horror clash is a weird fiction dream (nightmare?) come true. It’s as if 1930’s pulp fiction slammed into 1980’s wrestling culture, and gave rise to Japanese-style vinyl kaiju mutants. It’s madness.”
The non-articulated CRYPTID COMBAT figures are rendered in Japanese sofubi-style soft vinyl and are available individually for $75 and in pairs priced at $120, packaged in hang bags with original header card art by Velikan. These Hand-Sculpted Horrors come in three unique colorways: THE INSANITY SMACKDOWN, THE MIDNIGHT MATCHUP, and FIRE VERSUS ICE (a Backerkit Exclusive Edition).
In addition to the figures, Wandering Planet Toys will also be creating retro-style lunchboxes featuring CRYPTID COMBAT art by Velikan.
Velikan is an award winning and internationally selling 3D artist, illustrator, and graphic designer. This is his first foray into sofubi. Find out more about him at www.FindPhil.com
Fans can sign up to support the campaign on the Backerkit pre-launch page and follow Wandering Planet Toys on X, Bluesky, Instagram, and Facebook for more updates.
