An American collector told me that Marmit is no longer going to be selling Desu-Gojis because the mold has been used so much that it is "worn out." Huh? I've never heard of this. There are sofubi molds from the 1960s that are still used to pull reissues today. When I pressed for the source of this info I was told it came second-hand from someone on a Facebook group who got it from Marmit's president. So...
Anyone know roughly how long a mold should last (i.e. how many pulls before there's noticeable degradation)?
I am not an expert, but I talked with the Nishimuras while back about this possibility and they implied that molds could last indefinitely. I also remember Cory from Science Patrol did a podcast interview where he explained that the oil bath helped preserve the molds.
Well, a fair share of "new" Marmit DesuGojis are being sold for high prices via events/auction. Whether these were recently pulled or dead stock with a fresh coat of paint I'm not so sure.
Fun fact: Masami Yamada—the sculptor of the Marmit DesuGoji—is still making some really great figures that don't get nearly as much attention from the same collectors drooling over the coveted 1995. I think they're some of the best on the modern market, but just my opinion. https://www.instagram.com/yamakichi_sofvi/ Oh, and they've also partnered with Medicom x NAGNAGNAG to produce a new giant DesuGoji which basically looks like an enlarged version of the Marmit but a bit meaner.
I don't know, but it seemed like he was selling these all over the place without getting the license approved from TOHO and selling blanks in bulk to customizers who then sold them for very high prices. Maybe he got in trouble with TOHO or maybe it's the polite way of saying I don't want to sell them to you anymore.
By ‘worn out’ he probably means that he’s kinda over it. Same way it was explained to me why Bemon moved on from his earlier popular toys. Sometimes people keep wanting a toy, but a maker just wants to move on.
It's his toy, his prerogative, of course. It will be interesting to see if he posts anything about it.
Jim C. tells me that Marmit's been selling figures as "samples" directly to customizers in the US for a long time, with no licensing sticker and a paper header card.
Thank you for the link, they're making really great sculpts. I can't believe they're flying under the radar.
He deleted the Twitter post about the Desu-Goji being retired. Which I found a bit odd... like maybe he just didn't want to further fuel the secondary market skyrocketing $$$ by declaring they were officially OOP? But, in that tweet, he also mentioned that it has sold nearly 30,000 units, and he therefore couldn't understand why the prices were so high. When I inquired further, he mentioned the molds were toast. But, just like all of you, I thought these molds could last well into the millions. Perhaps they can endure, but not totally w/o some degradation? I imagine even nickel plated metal is gonna get a bit worn after that many pulls. Could be, that way back in the old days, nobody really cared if the later godzillas had lost some of their sharpness?
