I'm not worried about value retention of my collection at all and for people thinking the thread is dumb you sure seem to want to keep it going with responses.
Yeah but did you actually read my entire post? It wasn't a probe to find out what is the most valuable so I can get it, nor was it a post to insight flippers. I don't even own half these toys. I thought it would be fun to discuss what toys are really hard to find and after going through lengths to find them actually were worth it in the long run retaining their value. Is this not a place to discuss toys? I'm not apologizing for shit. PS you guys can go on an on with this. I will never admit wrong and I'm done arguing and defending my actions, to people trying go trolling on me.
I care because if the toys that I covet turn up on the list, I'll be totally bummed, but at least I will know to stop chasing them. Goga is the only thing on the list that I want and I stopped hoping for one quite a while ago. There's no way I'm dropping that much on a toy. Hopefully Gogas will be worthless 10 years from now and I'll be able to pick one up. This list could be quite useful to me.
The rub is I think these toys will be worthless in 10+ years, but extremely hard to find. Most people will have wandered away from skullbrain, probably with their collections intact, and then just kinda forget about them. Very few people currently know about the figures, and as people drift away from this collecting community even less people will know about them in the future so there won't be the buyers to drive prices up. They'll end up in garage sales and someone will buy a toy for $2 and take it to Antique Roadshow where it'll throw the appraisers for a doozy, but eventually they'll find out that it was made for a niche collecting group and it's not worth crap because nobody has any interest in them. Or the auction house will manufacture interest and sell them for $25K.
I think you and I are on a similar page NT, BUT the quote above is a mis-quote. What i said was that I'd like my toys to atleast retain their value, I didnt actually mention anything about increasing in value from $x to $xxx. Not a big deal, but boig enough for me to add yet another response to this thread. As to it being pointless - I agree - but not entirely pointless as it did let me act on my latent hippie impulses and use the word "glowie". So not a waste then PS. Hey flippers - this shit will be as worthless as Toybiz X-men figs quicker than u can say "Spawn Series 1" - but they will always be so otherworldly, shapely, imaginative, insanely colorful, occasionally glowie and made of the purest Japanese vinyl - like u give a shit - so DON'T bother!
That is one of the most interesting comparative speculations I have read regarding modern vinyl. Although I would say that it wouldn't be the worst end if they became the next Toybiz X-men or Spawn Series 1. Not much of a stretch to say that both made a huge impact on the American toy market, for better or worse (my personal bias will say for better with respect to the Toybiz toys, and vice versa re: Spawn). But I think it may be a very apt comparison because even though the old Toybiz guys don't hold much monetary value, they still have a certain intrinsic worth to superhero and action figure collectors because of their ties to the source material. That is to say, as long as X-men, etc. are around, they will be relevant. Similarly, I think the modern vinyl toys that reference classic and patchi kajiu (or other toys- like the Henshin Cyborg based fight figures) will have a following as long as the 'old guys' remember the shows and toys, even if they no longer go for crazy moolah. Maybe a few generations out, they will finally disappear when no one remembers. Although I wonder if the impact of "designer" and other high-end toys such as these will affect the overall toy industry (as Toybiz action figures did) or remain a niche market. If you look at some of the crossover deals- Touma's Ultraman and Transformer trading figures come to mind- they are slowly blending into more mainstream areas. Great thought, Carl- really ties the two areas of toy collecting together.
With any emerging market people always tend to overestimate the short term and underestimate the long term. I personally see the "brand equity" of a couple of super talented contributors to the community becoming very mainstream before everything is said and done. The currency of the future is creative content, and you don't have to look very far to see who the true modern day pioneers are in toy-making circles, namely Bwana Spoons, Brian Flynn, Kiyoka Ikeda, etc. Each is an exceptional artist, creator, and businessman, and I'm betting their days in the sun will come. Otherwise, my new store would seem like a very bad idea.
Fair enough - and I hear the difference and agree with it. I guess I was thinking about the difference between my Japanese toys and my KAWS toys. I'd be lucky to sell my Japanese toys and break even right now - but that's fine cos I'm not planning on selling them. And with the KAWS - which I'm not selling either - it's nice to know that if I had to I could make a few mortgage payments off of them. That's especially nice these days now that my wife is unemployed. Certainly not the reason I bought them - never thought they'd sell for so much - but I'm not gonna feel bad about them increasing in value.
For now. Huck Gee's work is so inherently weak and derivative I'm certain it will be worthless long term.
MoMA, you are dead to me......... Bio A native of the UK, Huck Gee moved to San Francisco in the early 90s to pursue the venerable life of a b-boy & artist. Starting off as a graphic designer by day and a graffiti writer and break beater by night, Huck later honed his skills as an illustrator delving into the alluring world of Japanese and Hong Kong pop art. Huck has released numerous limited edition toys through Kidrobot, including some of the most exclusive and sought after [expletive deleted] to date. In the winter of 2007, his Hello My Name Is 8-inch [expletive deleted] was accepted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC. Huck currently runs a studio in San Francisco, and when he is not busy planning world domination, he spends his time chasing skirts and pretending to be a racecar driver.
MoMA accepting a Dummy (by anyone) into its collection is a bit bizarre. Of course W!lbrain, Inc. and or any of its subsidiaries could very well be a valuable donor/patron. I don't believe that was selected for its "artistic merit". Huck Gee is sort of KR's flagship artist, that bio reads like KR copy, and KR is a subsidiary of W!ldbrain, Inc.
Weird is the word - could have been much worse tho - they could have accepted a Koxik dooney or worse still, one of those plastic Beethoven busts......
Moma has a little design wing, I guess that's the best way to describe it, where there are a few toys, I think there is also a blank white mun-ny in there. It's not next to Monet or Picasso. The subway map graphics done for NYC our right next to them. Interesting furniture, those types of things. I hate platform toys, boring as hell. But for how many they've sold, how many have been customized, and how relevant they've been in modern pop culture- I fully agree they belong. I'd have problems thinking of other design work that has stirred up such interest in recent times. Edit- I agree with the blank mun ny , not the Huck Gee dun, that looks like shit and there have probably been 100 duns made that look cooler.
I think its OK, and even interesting that museums open their doors to stuff like this. Be it a couple of Dunnees or even a KzK bust. It's not worst than a fuckin' Warhol record cover and his wig.
