Always inspiring and fun to see fellow collectors stuff and happy for all the exposure to artists...but i really feel shows like this do a total disservice to the hobby. Moments in the spotlight like this, toyhunter and collection intervention, do this quick one-two punch of 'look how weird this is' 'look how much it's worth', as if the price-tag somehow validates it as either an object or as something you should pay attention to. I know, that for everyone in the loop, we just celebrate in the nod our way and shrug the rest off, but for others out there, who this is a first exposure to these types of toys, this kind of introduction is toxic, in my view. Show people how fucking cool the toy is, not how much craayzeey money it's worth. toypunks 2, come out already...
Agreed. It always feels like these shows reinforce the idea that toy folk are just one level up from the paramecium. Maybe. I love me some Barry Weiss...but I just got past the "toys in the fridge" part and up to "super Cooper" jumping in the Batmobile. Big bunch of bullshit. I will finish if only to see Carl...but it's just a depressing picture that gets painted.
it's kindda sad to see the scripted aspect and the hollywood glaze of tv reality thrown over the top of something we all truly enjoy but it was at least entertaining for a small amount of time. @ joeman...i mimic your congratulations to rich and paul and am thankful that a certain buddhist deity had some good company in a few shots mingling with splurtt
I was bummed, I showed up to work with a Monster Worship shirt. Then I had to put on an Autopsy Baby shirt. No offense but they had a whole show opening for them.
^ im sure it was a clearance issue, they prob got permission from the autopsy baby guys to use their name and logo so its easier for them to put u on TV without paying other companies or blurring ur shirt in post. I work in reality tv and its annoying how often we are concerned about logos, sometimes even badges on cars... Also "reality" tv is far from fucking real, its so staged and made up. Not even just prices like on this show, sometimes like on a show like pawn Stars they find items all over the us to feature on the show and then pay some extra off craigslist to come on the show an pretend its their "heirloom." Obviously some shows are worst than others and lots of shows are really real but i wouldnt say thats par for the course in my experience
I'm surprised no one mentioned and/or was offended at Barry pulling up to the TAG show and saying it looked like a "nerdapalooza". Its one thing for us to call ourselves nerds, but for a show that is supposedly featuring an interesting collectible market, to have the host disparage the collectors at the same time is sort of disrespectful. (Actually, I don't know if I really care. But then again, I don't particularly care what most people think of me. )
I forward through most of it, I really cant stand the crappy editing of most of these programmes. I hope it was all scripted for show, because the numbers thrown around in there are just gonna feed a lot of hype and it would suck if these toys ended up beyond our reach. The godzilla zeitgeist is upon us with the new movie and this hobby will only get more exposure, lets see how much of this is worthwhile after the dust settles. regardless, I do appreciate the fact that two of the best guys from america are getting the exposure they deserve. Paul and Rich work pretty hard and its nice to see them get exposed outside their niche markets. That said, it did feel a bit condescending at times.
I can assure you, no one outside our little word could give two shits less about all this so dont worry about prices booming I was stoked at first to see my stuff on TV, mainly to show family and stuff. But over the last few days I'm kind of cringing over it all. The inflated prices and my brand name got WAY to much screen time. I really wished more coverage of all the brands that got shown. I don't want anyone to think I had a hand in this being about me, I was just as surprised as anyone else watching live I was brought up. I assumed it was going to focus on the autopsy baby show. I do appreciative the love from you guys !
Better than the people who buy those creepy "reborn babies"... That's some uncanny valley shit right there.
The only way I see prices booming(so to speak) are people that become new to sofubi/kaiju because of the exposure, but are familiar with flipping items for profit. So it may have opened a few new doors to people looking for a quick buck.
Congratulations to those of you artists that did get exposure though! There just may be new collectors out there now (legit collectors who actually appreciate the toys, I mean) that were turned on to kaiju & the like from that epsiode. Ha, I love that thought for some reason. Maybe because it exposes people that may not know of such otherwise (even if they have questionable taste in tv ). But Trust me, down here in the swamp, outside exposure is MUCH appreciated by those of us who have never really fit with local traditions that dictate the only society we know. Man, did my world open up when I skedaddled out of this place (Sucks to be back now tho. grr). Anyway, it's going to be interesting to see Barry'd Treasure mentioned on the Introductions page. Btw, Y'all hear about the "Lego Movie" inspired "Sofubi Movie" in the works? Written by and starring some Sam somebody.