"Name Your Price" Sofubi

Discussion in 'Whatever' started by badteethcomics, Jul 13, 2018.

  1. badteethcomics

    badteethcomics Post Pimp

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    "Name Your Price" Sofubi
    Most of us probably saw the 'name your price' lottery for a certain mixed parts figure.. what is this Bandcamp or something?

    Will it be a truly random lottery or will the highest bid be the winner? Gonna be time consuming searching for the highest bid considering how hyped this particular figure is atm..

    Any thoughts on this sales method? Kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.. shouldn't be licking soft vinyl anyways ;)
     
  2. patrickvaz

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    They said highest wouldn’t necessarily mean winner. Seems dumb.
     
  3. Waterbear

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    I have no idea what you are talking about so some details would help me form an opinion.

    Is it the actual maker selling the toy? Are the bids public or private? Or I guess are the entries themselves public? Is this another silly IG thing?
     
  4. xSuicide Squadx

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    "Name Your Price" Sofubi
    This is incredibly vague, but I suppose it does bring about the intention for discussion. The “name your price” gig sounds like no matter how much you put in, it’ll guarantee you an entry, though not an increased chance of winning? Is it from the maker/artist, or a collector account?

    EDIT: Okay, I just saw it’s that Jyankenmark dude. That robot he has is fuckin’ awesome, but I am now thoroughly confused as to what this is about. It sounds like it’s a way to pick and choose high dollar amounts? In theory it sounds kinda nice, ‘cause I wouldn’t rock more than $150 for one of those painted, but I doubt I’d be chosen over someone that offers $300 because they need the likes.
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2018
  5. badteethcomics

    badteethcomics Post Pimp

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    "Name Your Price" Sofubi
    Yeah wasn't trying to spill the beans as I wasn't sure if it was still an active lottery or not. But hey Softoyhobby and i'm sure a hundred posts on instagram have already spread the word about it.

    Name Your Price sounds like he's fishing for what people are prepared to pay for his figures, so expect a price jump for the next release. Why not just have a regular lottery at a fair price to begin with?
     
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  6. bryce_r

    bryce_r Die-Cast

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    "Name Your Price" Sofubi
    Fyi this is for the jyankenmark toy. I'll leave this to the gods but keep in mind....Every "toy" is worth a lot when the market deems it rare...For those that collect secretbase, gargamel, bxh, etc....you all know how this will turn out. Kudos that are paying a ton but the instagram sales stuff has been pretty funny to watch.
     
  7. bryce_r

    bryce_r Die-Cast

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    AND instagram is the new flickr aka new ebay. Follow people, chase links...it's how a ton of sales are done these days minus the commission. Kudos to the sellers.
     
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  8. xSuicide Squadx

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    I honestly have gotten far past the point of begrudging artists for their sales methods. Prices, I still tend to raise an eyebrow or two at on occasion, but that’s only when shit is priced like crazy right out the gate. When you let your market determine the value, that’s essentially letting them eat each other alive, but it simultaneously has the potential to ostracize some of your fan base that can’t/won’t pay those dollar amounts.
     
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  9. Headhunter

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    I was on board with picking one up until I saw the "name your price" tag. Im not about to be ripped off hundreds of dollars for randomly thinking of a suitable price. :?
     
  10. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    "Name Your Price" Sofubi
    Naive take - I think that is actually a fair and open/equal opportunity lottery, which is the artist's way of allowing people to pay what they think the toy is worth. This is not the first to adopt this model, and people who respect the 'product' (and aren't knobs) will pay a fair price for their work and the enjoyment/service that they (the customer) feels they receive in return.

    Cynical take - while good-intentioned, I hope, this is yet only one more way toy prices are going to be inflated right out of the gate. And, what with the IG method, hype around toys already these days, back-market transactions, and incredibly - let's admit it - ridiculously overpriced toys being sold, it is sort of another notch in the disheartening level this hobby is reaching.

    So here is the summary. I want to put faith in the former, and fully believe that the artist will honor the price named by a successful lottery winner. Unfortunately, this means two things. Firstly, those toys, even as one-offs, are going to be worth very different things to different people. And I don't mean average Pierre from the street, even within sofubi collecting, people might look at them at generally feel 'meh' about the design. Or just see it as being a blank toy, which then is worth considerably less (than, say, a market price). Let's say 20$/60$/whatever. The point is, it is very subjective based on 1) your experience and 2) motivations for being in this hobby. Right or not, that is what is is. Secondly, while making the toy accessible to more people it [in theory] also allows certain types of individuals to get in on this toy who might not care about it one way or another at a reasonable level, with pre-built hype around it, which they can then turn around for, well, almost anything, in today's market. That's also not something I like to see happen, but is the way it goes.

    So all of that being said though, I really applaud the artist here for trying to do something nice and allow people to honour his own work, even if with the lottery behaviour in sofubi being the way it is, it might be less then ideal. (Is there any brilliant solution, because no one has come up with one yet). And it is trying something different. The key thing here to remember though is that there are going to be an inordinate amount of entrants, and even if one were very low (insulting so) you also know/have a very good chance, that one of the four will be incredibly high (Pick meeeee, I have monies now, [emoji] sir please, I never win [emoji] love very much :roll:) and anything else will balance out. We'll never know what the final bid amounts will be (again, I cringe to think what this means for its later implications) but no matter what, they'll probably be honoured, and in all likelihood the artist will come away with a profitable endeavour for his time and effort.
     
  11. eckotyper

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    assuming he can use the numbers sent to gauge just how high he can price his toys, and what quantity the run size should be to get the best of both worlds... sell out, but not be left with stock from overcharging...

    although if there is enough hype. those with deep pockets will pay it.
     
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  12. eckotyper

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    also... whats your guys take on ark_custom selling what i suspect to be a custom bootleg dx... in this same format. he's now edited the wording, probably because the auction is now over. but he did silent auction for a winner.

    it is very possible it is in fact real, but it seems highly unlikely
    he would of had to paint over the rare gid dokuro given as a gift tho those who pre ordered both dx and doji's on the initial drop.
    Plus score a gid blank sam head, or strip a painted one.

    scenario 2 would be that he pieced the gid figure from mixed parts ( i don't even remember if glow was a option in that)

    scenario 3 is that its just a bootleg blank with a extra head... which seems like the more then likely event.
     
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  13. Waterbear

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    Kinda looks like a semi-stripped and repainted Rotten DX to me. Same color palette for sure. No idea how hard it is to get those other heads but if the DX was stripped for repainting I would assume the heads were too.

    Or it could all be fake but from my not very educated perspective it doesn't look like one of those wonky ass skinny ass stupid ass bootlegs.
     
  14. JoeMan

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    This toy is a hirota rip down to the paint schemes, this dude is totally unoriginal and the second he saw the opportunity he decided to collect that pay check. I’m sure we can all expect more crazy pricing and schemes from him as long as there are plenty of people who refuse to see his toy for what it is.
     
  15. 879

    879 Fresh Meat

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    The "name your price" made me too uncomfortable to even attempt this lottery. Considering how much lower he prices his stuff compared to the after market value maybe he's serious about it not being about who has the most cash. I wouldn't be surprised to see them all pop up on the high roller instagram accounts though.
     
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  16. Headhunter

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    You know at least one will probably make it regardless.
     
  17. xSuicide Squadx

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    I’ve been noticing this becoming rather common. Lots and lots of contrived copies or stolen(for a lack of a better word) traits in new toys being released, and many a collector settling for the “they’re similar enough since I can’t get the real deal” mindset. It’s like buying a bootleg in a sense, without the guilt. I’m personally not much of a Hirota fan, though his toys are immaculately executed, so this Jyanken read more like Mazinger to me. Obviously legitimate, dedicated Hirota collectors would see it as more.
     
  18. The Moog

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    I assume all the offers would have to be higher than 18,000 yen, considering that was the retail on the previous release?

    'and the price they’re willing to pay for it'

    In the words of the trailer park boys, this lottery just seems really 'Greasy'.
     
  19. gatiio

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    i shifted away from toys on my instagram because it really became a pain in the ass to deal with all the pms asking for things. I also stopped following collectors that turned into storefronts or weekly lotteries. Its been a bumpy ride, thats for sure.

    at the end of the day, Im just another loser collector, leave me be.
     
  20. hellscrape

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    I rarely get PM's for toys... I guess my collection is not cool enough for the hypebeasts.
     
  21. Headhunter

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    I leave all my pics off of Instagram. So thankfully I never have to deal with the above mentioned.
     
  22. zindabad

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    I don't think they need the likes. One of the first painted ones sold for 400k jpy on Mandarake, which is what had me a little leery of the 'name your price' lotto. I have no idea how a totally new toy from a new maker cleared that, but that's the state of the market I guess. If anyone has more info and can help explain how this exploded so fast, I'd love to learn more.

    This is exactly how I thought about it, and I sincerely hope it's the former. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt since the four 'one-offs' seem to be made with the blanks used for the last three painted releases--effectively leftovers, already paid for. It would be cool if this was just a fun way to get them out there, but we'll see.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2018
  23. xSuicide Squadx

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    @zindabad Oh, no. I meant the people willing to shell out crazy dollars just to get one for Instagram posts “needs” the likes, not the maker. Jyanken knows what he’s doing.
     
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  24. Madmax405

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    "Name Your Price" Sofubi
    I think what scared me was the fact that I saw more than one person somberly stating how they were offering more than $1,000. And I wouldn't be surprised if some offers were approaching $2K (or more). Personally, I have no idea what has driven it to the hype/price level seen on Mandarake. But, it seems that price is of no consequence to some, and there is no difference between $1,000, $2,000, or even $5,000 to these people. Some of the spending going on in Asia is just nuts.

    Unfortunately it is hard for me to believe that he will accept sub $500 offers when he has some big shots trying to throw money at him, but if this is a way to deal with flipping then I could applaud it. I think the problem is that you'll never really know, since there is zero transparency.

    I wouldn't mind this toy going up in price from $200 to the $300-$400 range, but if he sees the offers for $1,000 and thinks that is normal, I'd go away pretty quickly. I entered in the lotto for this. My thoughts were, since this is a special/one-off type release, and I've been following this toy all year, I was comfortable offering about twice the price of the previous regular painted release. Most of my curiosity revolves around the artist himself... is he young? who is he? what projects has he been involved in the first place? is daiojin really his first toy? etc...

    While I can see the similarity between HXS and Jyankenmark design, I don't think there's anything wrong with borrowing design elements. In the end it is a mecha toy, which has inspirations from many toys before it. I am sure HXS has also borrowed design elements from past toys/art/etc, that's just how it works. Even if they are doing it subconsciously.

    Edit- Drawing is done. I am a little happy he said he will use the entries from this time to determine the winners for the next lottery sale, so I hope my interest comes across. If anyone on the boards won one of the four, then congrats!
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2018
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  25. Waterbear

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    I will never understand the pricing of blanks in general.

    My collection is probably 80% blanks because I enjoy playing with my toys and taking stupid pics and letting other people grab them off a shelf and pose them with no worry at all. It's more fun for me that way. What I don't get is why so many toy makers charge MORE for blanks. Wouldn't toys they spend time actually painting be worth more money? Doesn't that mean that they think they are reducing the value of a toy by painting it? That makes so sense at all. What am I missing? Is the threat of someone else painting their toy increasing the price they charge?

    I don't generally judge how anyone prices their toys because they are their toys but blanks being sold for more than painted runs confuses me to no end.
     

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