Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others

The Sidora-Ju is honestly my favorite thing Hirota has ever done. Top tier work top to bottom.

 

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Feel free to grab a Hunter X if Hirota has you priced out

 

Absolutely pumped for these!

 

dawg come on

 

Houston we have touchdown. Looks like someone only wanted a Gigan.

 

Did you just derail the derail?

 

Even if he did, that doesn’t change the fact that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself…

 

I thought hirota was aping the X-men now with that orange sentinel for a sec and it just made sense given his track record.

The model kit looks fun only a matter of time before his buzz lightyear villain comes out in die cast chogokin goodness.

 

Thought experiment. If you had known how crazy the top end of the hobby would become, would you have snapped up all the $1500 Gorilla-Ju you could find in 2018-2020, or just quit this stuff sooner?

Let's pretend you're not allowed to sell anything later, so you're either buying to collect or getting out.

Inspired by my recently learning that you can expect to spend upward of $20k on the newest Ilu Ilu toys. Came as a real shock given that prices on the old stuff, while totally crazy, have not entered that realm. I think I would have quit. But now I'm too hooked, and letting myself get boiled slowly.

 

They were going for 1500? I would have bought as many as I could fit.

 

Yeah, I remember turning down a collector clearing out basically everything you could imagine, at $1400-1800 for most of the standard size stuff. The mechas and King Ju still cost a bomb back then, but probably half or a third of what they do now. We really thought it couldn't get crazier, and patience would win the day

Another fun note from this time, the mini King Ju had only been produced twice, and only once with paint, so that paint cost as much or more than the big guy for a while. Not so any more, I think.

 

I traded a mini Gorilla Ju for a REE I still have the REE though

 

I traded a Bemon Kougai for six Obake Dogs, two or three of which were one offs. Zero regrets and I helped a homie that’s a bigger fan than I.

 

I purchased a substantial amount during 2018-2020 from three-four exiting collectors, all of which I still own. My favorites at that time were Brutal Robots, so I loaded up on MG1, MG2 and Brutal A, then added King Ju and Itamus later, followed by Gorilla Ju.

Mini Kings are still hard to get - I'm after one that I probably won't acquire anytime soon. When I started hunting for them, there was only a goji blue and red painted if I recall correctly (other than the clear green blank). Afterwards mini Kings were only available at Exhibitions in micro runs - Shanghai 2018, 2019 and Ginza 2021.

 

The offers I've received for Tokyo Radzigon are mind boggling. But that entire package is absolutely spectacular.

 

naw, just pains me more that I could'nt nab a OG ape even though trying since 2010... Makes me wonder if those who entered the hobby in more recent years, with artists already hype charging up or already being sustained... if they actually liked the toys, or kind of just scooted themselves into a mold of 'this is what's cool to the scene, so yeah i like it' it is rather interesting when you see some artists new toys go WILD, and their old stuff gets looked over, when it can be just as good, or sometimes even better.

 

I don't wonder.

Why are people buying a Godzilla or Gigan by HxS when they could buy one by Bullmark, Marusan or M1 for a fraction of the price?

 

Because those Marusan/Bullmark figures are easily obtainable and reasonably priced.

 

While we're on the topic, the Maxtoy Godzilla stuff sculpted by Pico Pico has a similar clean style imo

Still Japan only of course

 

Lots of people just want what they can't easily get so they flex that they got it when they finally do. But for the dedicated collectors, hunting down oldies and goodies usually is more fulfilling chasing the flavor of the month

 

Agree. 7-10 year hunts finally being rewarded are nice

 

Sometimes when I see people's collections on insta, I wonder if they actually like the things they are buying, or only if they're getting it because everyone else they follow has those things.

Like where is the artistry and appreciation if what you have looks exactly like 10 other people's?

 

I’ve made the argument(for lack of a better word) for some time that if collectors of certain artists were prohibited from posting their collections anywhere a lot of them would lose interest. ‘Cause if you can’t show off and brag about what others covet and can’t obtain, what’s the point? Of course that’s my own theory.

 

It's a pissing contest for Adult Sons on insta. I don't search toys on insta too often because it's sad/funny/pathetic to see posts like "PUNK DRUNKERS - ONE MONTH" and the guy has more than a dozen. Hoarding and collecting start from the same compulsion, but they are not the same activity.