LOL, every grocery store in America has a wall of pictures of people who stole a cart full of TIDE. And the Japanese are wondering if it's ok to reveal this guys identity. They are without a doubt the politest nation in this world.
I've never been to Japan or set foot inside a Mandarake, but how does one just walk in and take such a valuable toy? I mean I figured it would be behind a glass case or something.
^ You're right. They are/used to be(?) in locked glass cases, and you had to get a clerk fetch stuff for you... He picked a lock?
as i mentioned on FB where i first saw this... if their cctv system's resolution is that clear, i'd be shocked if they dont also have the concealment on tape. that or, there was an eye witness to the theft and they were too slow to catch him. (I worked Loss Prevention for years at Tower Records.) it be interesting to get more details on what went down.
As for how he 'got' the figure out, it would have certainly been displayed behind glass. In fact, all of their vintage toys are, pretty much irregardless of value; it's just the way the shop is set up. But I would also guess this would have been in a special 'showcase' display as well, which makes it a but more noticeable. Anyhow, if you look at something from a display case, there is always a customer service person there, and if you buy it, they will actually carry it up and hold it at the cash until you check out. This is all just to say that he no doubt either picked the lock, or somehow the lock wasn't properly secured when someone opened the case earlier, and he jumped on the opportunity. Not exactly the most crazy rare item I would have expected to be targeted by a thief, but still, what an odd story. Lame and sad at the same time. But definitely very unusual for Japan. Hopefully they can recover the figure.
What can I say? It's still early here and I am just having my coffee. Obviously Bill's absence is having a profound effect on my grammatical degradation.
My theory is that the dude was probably hired, so he can give two shits if Mandarake gives him the lifetime ban hammer and plasters his face on their website. As if some super villain collector gave a random amateur thief $500 to steal a $2k toy for his own personal collection. How many hardcore toy collectors/flippers, would also happen to be a hobbyist lock-picker/thief? And it's not like we see photos of super collections of vintage from Japan anyways. With that introversion, who knows which shelf it's sitting on now.
Oh come on, that guy with his checked-shirt-with-white-shirt-inside and backpack has 'otaku' written all over his pixelated face. Unless he was a hired thief who cleverly disguised himself as an otaku...
Mandarake's actions seem more on the vigilante side, I mean the whole deadline thing and the "we know who you are" sounds kinda like from a comic.
I agree it does sound pretty silly, but I think it reflects their priority of recovering the toy over prosecuting the thief. It's like a kidnapping where in the end, all you really care about is that they get home safe and sound
Does he look Japanese? He could be out of the country already. Maybe this was a vacation theft? Then what?
