Sofvi Bootlegging Scumbags

Discussion in 'Other Asian Toys' started by badteethcomics, Oct 31, 2017.

  1. Roger

    Roger Vintage

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    The president of Marmit has a reputation for being a bit nuts. In the late 90s he did a large run of US-exclusive Vinyl Paradise Toho characters which, as far as we knew, were being sold without a license from Toho or Sony (who held the US license at the time because of the Ferris Bueller movie). They were sold at San Diego Comic Con and some other shows but the sellers never got pinched for it, and those corporate lawyers were pretty vigilant in those days.

    I think the Desu Goji is nicely sculpted but it's not my thing. I don't understand the kind of prices it fetches, especially when there are so many of them being made. The other "20% Godzilla content" stuff like the Ultimatum or the other one where his head is sticking out of a koi are also not my thing, but as someone noted above I think the more those things are restricted, the more ripe they are for bootleggers. If they're not licensed Toho products and are being sold at high prices, there's that much more incentive to copy the toys because you'll only have one party (Marmit) angry at you.
     
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  2. HBCoffin

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    As far as I can tell only the original Desu-Ultimatum was being pulled by Marmit. Since then I believe he's been producing everything else in-house. Based out of Singapore, his main business is involved in manufacturing car and bike parts. He's using the same facilities and tasking the same employees to make his toys so I think it's a bit of a makeshift process for them and not the most cost effective way to do things.
     
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  3. gatiio

    gatiio Post Pimp

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    Gotcha. That makes much more sense. Thanks for clarifying!


    It’s still a lot of cash.

     
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  4. nico000

    nico000 Toy Prince

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    Jumping on board of the Akametenshi/Centuryfugu sub-tread as I just bought one of his expensive production and I care about what I am supporting with my $$$.

    He is working with Marmit on the Doji and -I think- anything under the Centuryfugu brand. I think he made the Kuangrenhui instagram account to differentiate those productions and the ones which are more 'creative'.

    Like @HBCoffin says, he does everything himself, at least for those later production... Not sure how it goes with the ones in collaboration with Marmit.

    In any case it is stupid expensive and I am not sure wether he has a license from Toho... It looks like he cares about licensing and doing everything right, but that doesn't mean he does. I ve asked him if his creation were bootlegs or licensed, I ll post the answer here if/when he comes back to me.

    Regarding production cost and how he does his thing, here is a message he sent me on instagram (without me asking anything):
    Hi recently, I was approached by a group of fans asking me why is the cost of my works so high? I'm not offended and understand their concerns. So I am taking this opportunity to reach out to share with you how my work is like. I'm basically using the manufacturing facilities that is doing for my car/bike parts to do my stuff. As this is basically my own personal interest, the only way I know how to do it is using people that I already know and working with comfortably. We are not engaged with mass production companies. Everything we do are quite bespoke and have a personal touch, we do it our way, maybe not the best or cost efficient but in a way we can control every part of the process, so that our work leaves our doors with the right spirit that we have hoped to infuse in them. My guys are always complaining that I disrupt their work, as they are not employed to do sofubi... but they have no choice because I'm the boss... ☹ But my passion in what I want to do, pursue and deliver, have inspire them and they all help in every way they can and I am proud and grateful to my team. That's why I can do some of the stuff quite fast, because it's from my own company. But the guys I have are mostly professional engineers and designers for making cars and bikes, not sofubi. Because of my interest, I brought them into the World of Sofubi and now they are all collecting too in some small ways. Even our admin @mcmonster he is an Engineer, his day job is engineering but I have pulled him in to help me do the logistics. So do forgive us if we are slow in this area as they all have busy day jobs and we can only do sofubi related stuff after the day job is done kuangrenhui's profile picture There are also many hidden cost, printing, transport and also the Graphic works are done by professionals. Doesn't help to be operating out of Singapore as it is one of the most expensive cities in the world. My philosophy in all the work that I do is to not spare any expense to get the job done right, perfect. Every piece of work that I do, be it a Super Car, Bike or Sofubi, must be something that I myself want and my heart must beat for it. Every one of them must be a struggle to achieve and not take the easy way out. I believe that all object have a spirit. Good ones are able to bring optimism to people's life. And I am motivated to create this kind of work. Work that inspire, move and bring optimism into people's life and in turn, hope that it will help them do something that can change the world. Thank you so much for hearing me out and also for your kind support, it means a lot to me, Thank You! ♂️❤ Akametenshi
     
  5. gatiio

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    Thank you for sharing! Helps get to read the juicy tidbits.

    it seems to me that he’s passing the cost to the customer under the banner of “this is expensive stuff to make”

    i really hope he’s paying extra to all the homies he is having produce his other stuff.

    really reasonable explanation, from a capital point of view. That said, súper abusive business practice and one I can say now makes me happy I am not supporting
     
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  6. Patrickg2k

    Patrickg2k Addicted

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    ...you fucking nailed it!

    I agree 100% with what you are saying, this is really a non-issue. Provenance is the way it's done for fine art and antiques. Don't these "toys" we collect seem like one or both of those things? I am interested in the digital means of logging ownership...but we forget how fragile and temporary electronics are...plus, software often gets abandoned after only a few years. Think about how many electronics you own and still effectively use that are from the 1990s, probably none, or extremely few. And that was only 20-30 years ago. Paper can last for hundreds of years. It's dead simple, but so many collectors are inexperienced or just don't care. The solution might seem simple, but it's not easy to implement because of the casualness and inauthenticity of so many collectors. I actually took some time off from work next month to catalog my entire collection and rearrange so I will personally be starting there!
     
  7. deafmetal

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    These things are now on Mandarake, YJA, eBay and getting more difficult to determine with some of the low-quality photos. The black vinyl blanks seem to be getting resold the most. Heads up and look out for your friends. Philosophical discussion aside on bootleg collecting, it’s total bs if they are being sold anywhere as the real deal:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  8. hellointerloper

    hellointerloper S7 Royalty

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    Wait wait... are these all bootlegs?!?

    Also I saw some dude on eBay say “confirmed real, pm me for photos of the foot stamps”
    LOL they know how to bootleg the fucking foot stamps and have for a while.
     
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  9. The Moog

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    There's been a big batch of MVH dropped on Vintage Vinyl Club over the last few weeks - all are very expensive. How a collector could tell if the unpainted ones are bootlegs or not (from their photos) would be difficult, if not impossible.
     
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  10. gatiio

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    Just a matter of time before we all end up with fake nags on our grills
     
  11. Max Rodriguez

    Max Rodriguez Toy Prince

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    Those rxh toys look janky as fuck
     
  12. Roger

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    1. buy a cheap bootleg of a toy
    2. buy a genuine toy from a dealer
    3. tell the dealer they sold you a bootleg and get them to accept a return for a full refund
    4. send the bootleg back to the dealer
    5. sell the genuine toy for double what the dealer charged
    6. profit!
    7. repeat steps 1 through 6
    8. when you have enough profit, start a sofubi factory
    9. create new figures, build hype, sell them at 10x your cost
    10. create bootlegs of your new figures and sell 5x as many of them them at 2x the cost
    11. profit!
    12. repeat steps 9 through 11
    13. when you have enough profit, buy a small island nation
    14. someone else run with this
     
  13. JoeMan

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    Don’t tell him or he’ll fix it.
     
  14. andyspurs85

    andyspurs85 Fresh Meat

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    I got one from VVC recently as i'd been after it for a while. I was concerned about buying from there at first but I think they're just selling on behalf of collectors who are looking to get rid of stuff at big prices without anyone finding out it's them, fear of getting blacklisted i'd imagine. I think VVC are pretty much acting like a middle man and probably making a few $$$ off of it too.
     
  15. eckotyper

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    MVH is easy with pics of the footstamps... he's tried twice to get it right, and they both are off. he has a better shot at passing blanks off versus his shitty paint jobs. He even made his attempt at the Sam Knife lol
     
  16. Alebrije

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    It can be easy for someone who has been collecting MVH for a long time and is already very familiar with his pieces, a new collector could easily be fooled with one of these bootlegs. Some time ago I could read a comment from a collector on IG where he said that he was very happy with his first MVH but that he felt a little disappointed by the quality of the vinyl, I think that some time later he removed the publication, it is very likely that he was a victim of a scam with one of these bootlegs.
     
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  17. Rich

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    Nope they are shady. I willing to bet they sold boots.
     
  18. taviq

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    Oh no! My gf bought me something from them for the holidays. The box just came in. Oh god, I hope it's not a bootleg.
    And if it is, I can never tell her cause she would be so much more pissed than me.
     
  19. Rich

    Rich Die-Cast

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    VVC tried to sell the bootleggers “original toy”, but people called them out and they took it down claiming they didn’t know.

    Now they have impossible stock....

    If they worked with the bootlegger once they can for sure do it again.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2020
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  20. JoeMan

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    Those Illysnapse toys they listed looks pretty suspect too.
     
  21. deafmetal

    deafmetal Comment King

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    @wanghangho dump and affiliated with VVC. I am always curious how people end up with so many drop/lotto pieces and then dump them like this for cash. Lame.
     
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  22. Anti Social Andy

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    Making lemonade out of lemons ;) . . . a big 'Fuck yeah' given the current state of the world, that none of this page (and most of this thread) makes any sense to me, or is of any real interest, worry or concern! :lol:

    #hypedtoysforrichboys
     
  23. Rich

    Rich Die-Cast

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    You have proof he did this ???
     
  24. deafmetal

    deafmetal Comment King

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    @Rich - The Blobpus Death Head DX one-off and all the other legit MVH pieces from their page suddenly appear in the shop for sale. Their IG page is like a MVH museum of the most amazing pieces you have created, but also has a lot of shout outs to VVC. Maybe more middlemen were involved, but it certainly seems to be the source of the collection. I would love to pick up that Thrashout 6-Eyed Ghoul, but not for almost two grand, jeez.
     
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  25. hellscrape

    hellscrape Comment King

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    @wanghangho sus, I saw him vent all his prized MVH
     
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