Far East Vinyl Cafe Vinyl Fusion Ramen? (yes, I'm hungry right now...) or something with edible allusions?
This section is a fail... Planet X seems totally singled out at this point, tons of awesome new companies are coming out of mostly Hong Kong but all over really. I say scrap the China cabinet. What about Japan, USA and a general 'Other' ? I bet nobody would have a problem with that.
I don't think it's so much about section names, they could call this section Other or anything else, it's just a general lack of people posting on the board. If you see something you think is cool, start a thread. Unfortunately you can't rely on others to do it.
I can rename this to whatever we want, and I can move threads here. I just need some help in knowing what exactly should go here. Where do we post about American artists who are having vinyl pulled in China? Or Chinese artists who are having vinyl pulled in Japan?
While I agree overtly there could be some confusion, I think people are just really overthinking this whole thing period. James rightfully put forward the idea to have a new section of the board devoted to a growing market of producers based outside of Japan, that has only recently seemed to be garnering more attention. Few people (and barely any, given the number of active posters here) voiced concern over this one way or the other. If anyone can really put out a valid reason why not to have it, please make a logical case here. As for the name, again, we aren't being literal here - the obvious play off the term hardly refers to country-specific toys any more than it does dinnerware made in that region. Daniel is right to propose some degree of care and sensibility when coming up with a name, so [reasonable] suggestions are welcome. But until we hear loud and clear an agree-upon stance from more board members, I don't see it is such a critical manner for one to start wringing their hands over.
I absolutely want a non-Russian Asia-oriented section! While it has definite quality differences in some specific cases (translucents come to mind), I love my Fewture ArtStorm and "Made In China" Bounty Hunter figures. Inspired by Bobby Lee's skits on MadTV, I vote for "Asian Persuasion".
As someone who is currently working with a Chinese manufacturer, I'd really love to see this section get some more love. Like it or not, there's some quality stuff coming out of there. I'M LOOKING AT YOU @michael ! I want to see all the things, xiexie!
yeah- james (@TiredChildren ) , you can feel free to move my "skattum made in china monsters over here, doesnt bother me one bit
There's some confusion on whether this is meant to be organized based on a makers homebase or their toy factories' homebase. From what was originally said , I think this is for the creators' locations, not where they the toys are actually being made into vinyl. I also vote for Asian Persuasion btw, as it's a more inclusive section. I've come up with an easy solution for the other tho; now that we have tags on sb, just tag where it's made. Something like -"Made in Japan", "Made in Mexico", "Made on the Moon", etc. Or if an artist utilizes factories all over the place, something like - "Toy X Made on Planet X". Either way, it'll work. This way we we can still integrate the information from the soft vinyl toy world as of late , but if say there's only 1 company utilizing the factory in Transylvania, there's no reason to give them their own section. Everyone dig? Sb may have originally been setup before soft vinyl factories of quality toys were all over the place, but without knowing it at the time, the last overhaul actually gave us a pretty useful tool here to change that with tags... Now as long as people know to look at them , there will be a lot less factory location misinformation. Now let's bag it and tag it,.. then unbag it. @TiredChildren @ultrakaiju @toothaction @animator
I think this section actually makes a lot of sense. The new makers and sellers from Hong Kong/China are having the biggest impact on the sofubi scene since Ricky/Lulubell/etc opened the floodgates to toy makers outside of Japan. I have to say I am impressed by some of what I've seen. Though there are the ho-hum band wagoners on the two-headed toy and shock horror gore trains, there has also been a creative infusion incorporating elements of Chinese culture and design. It's nice to see that as a fresh counterbalance to the other design types we've been seeing from the Japanese and Western crowds. Add to that the interesting production elements - ie, both Japanese factories and equivalent materials at work in China, with the costs A FRACTION of what they cost elsewhere (while preserving a high quality level), and there really is a lot to talk about. For a bit more, image and word wise, about what I'm talking about, you can see pics from my recent Super Festival report. In the report, I've identified some sellers from the Greater China area: http://kaijukorner.blogspot.jp/2017/04/super-festival-74-74.html
I'd say that the spotlight should shine on the toy maker or the brands country of operations, they gather the ingredients and deal with the circumstances surrounding the end product. Tagging where the vinyl is pulled, painted would be good form. Skullbrain needs to position itself a little more firmly if it's going to document and welcome the worlds vinyl toy market, i feel rather behind on what's going on in Japan, both past and present. Looking back more intently and discouraging direct imitation. That being said i'm not much of a contributor myself.
That's a fair point to bring up and a very valid concern, Ben. I think it's true that SB has historically focused on Japan-related toys, at least those that in some respect had a cursory connection to the history of soft vinyl toys and monster characters that came out of that country. But yes, it has become sort of a changed game these days, like it or not. And, fact seems to be, that more the 'traditional' side of things, and those toys that were the focus when the board started up (and don't even get me started on vintage) are slowly being pushed out of the spotlight by the 'neo' style and new makers. It may just be time for a heavy reflection on what makes Skullbrain, Skullbrain, and whether we choose to open it widely and freely, as has been happening anyways for several years now, or just decided to limit the focus of discussion here. I am not advocating one side or the other, but I have remarked in the past how it has certainly changed, and the hobby has evolved - is evolving constantly. Unfortunately, I will say that it seems we have lost a lot of the good crowd from early years of the board, and, perhaps indirectly, this has also led, or at least allowed, a certain shift in the core audience of active posters on here, like it or not. Anyway, it is certainly a heavy discussion, and one some might not care to undertake, but I can see it's relation to the current issue.
Just a random thought with folks doing vinyl all over the globe now....... Call this part of the board: THE GOOD. THE BAD. AND THE UGLY. Combine the Americans back into this thread and everything would fit, awkwardly in the most lovingly hateful way. Life is short, smash some clay or fly a kite. Do something other than make noise. Drops microphone, goes back to clay.
It's confusing because no one knows what is supposed to go here yet. The melting pot that creates vinyl these days is very hard to categorize. Lets say this section of the board is for stuff produced in China by everyone. So does that mean all the people who produce stuff in Japan and China need to have separate threads for their toys in different parts of the board? Like does Paul Kaiju need a mockbat thread in the American section and a mini-mockbat thread here and a two-headed mockbat thread in the American section and a giant mockbat thread here again? What about Skattum? Does his Japanese stuff and his Chinese stuff need to be picked apart for the different sections of the board regardless of how it all beautifully fits his unique style? Jeff Lamm makes toys all over too so does his MW stuff go one place while his Unbox toys go to another place and his injection mini monsters somewhere else? Isn't the Groman stuff produced in Japan and in China too? So the Rotten Rex and the King Korpse need to be in different sections of the board? What about the pushead stuff that medicom produces in China? That should be moved here because it's made in a different factory than some of the other stuff? If you don't separate all that stuff wouldn't it look like some people get a pass and others don't? Even just the logistics of dissecting all those threads to create different ones here and moving new posts that end up in the wrong place seems daunting. That sounds like it would lead to more confusion which would be the exact opposite of what making this new section was meant to do. If this place was just for new artists out of China I don't see how it could get enough activity and posts to make it worthwhile. An entire section dedicated to three or four toy makers seems odd. The idea a few people mentioned about making this place for artists who aren't in Japan or America regardless of where they have vinyl pulled sounds the least confusing I guess but still a bit odd. If I were dealing with this issue myself I would scrap this section and create a really simple Master List of toy makers that said where they are from and where they have toys manufactured then make a sticky thread with that info and update it whenever I had to. Hell if you really wanted to geek out you could list the toy makers and list the toys they have created along with where they are made. It would be a perfect reference anyone could use anytime they needed it. As big of a task as that would be it still sounds easier than taking a scalpel to the entire board and cutting out all the toys based on where they happen to be pulled.
I proposed the idea of a list before too, and not that it couldn't work, but tags put on each makers/toys threads relaying these short tidbits of info about em would be a lot easier to do and cut down on extra pages for short topics. Plus they can be easily altered and updated if needed. For example: the Mockbat thread could have had the tag - "Made in Japan" before, then once the Unbox mini came along that former tag could be removed or altered to something like - "Full Size Mockbat Made in Japan". I've actually never used tabs before, but this seems like a pretty good reason. @TiredChildren @ultrakaiju @toothaction @animator
Really great examples, somthings got to give. PlTtoy, red hot style, don't cry in the morning, Kurobokan, Tan..., 5233toys, Mechnoiz, bluemoontoy, toysbian, awesome toy, kuidaore, roooockyyy, bukimi blasters, kearjun are some of the companies doing some great things. I don't know where they all produce/pull their toys. I do know some of these new companies have used Japanese and Chinese factories. I personally can't even try to keep up w that. I just like cool toys.
Bukimi Blasters should be in the right spot on the Japanese forums section since im pretty sure he makes everything himself in the place he stays at in Japan. Hes been around much longer than some of the newer guys you listed anyways. Im cool with just a list of makers in general though.