I think the 'traditional' finger puppet figures have slowed down a lot. I can't remember the last time I saw new cats or tanukis in the Shinto Gangu photos.
There were new cats and Tanukis in his shop when we visited on a closed day. My lady picked up a cat.
If anyone wants toys from last weekend's Sydney Rxh/Uamou show - looks like half of the show has ended up on wechat/mworld/fuckingflippers.com - Pick up an affordable rainbow Xenomorph RxH figure for only $2000! I've heard some pretty shady shit went down at the show but I wasn't there, maybe someone who was can shed some light on it. Looks like you're right @Paulkaiju - maybe Australia is full of flippers!
@xSuicide Squadx Oops, sorry for spreading misinformation. @badteethcomics Sounds like standard secondary market price...
@akum6n Oh, I wouldn’t at all say it’s misinformation! Hell, I didn’t know until we got there ourselves! He hasn’t made any public in so long!
@akum6n oh for sure, flipping is nothing new... how I've heard how the toys ended up in the flippers hands though, that's what was super shady. Full story at 11 on the Badteeth Drama Hour - tune in on channel 69
Ok I’ll bite… the Sydney show at Mattree Cafe got fleeced, about 5 flipper bosses paid collectively about 50 people to line up for them, they out numbered the local collectors by a lot. I lined up for 8 hours and still missed out on the Chairoi Brown rainbow dyed Alien, I actually don’t think a single one of those went to a local collector. To make it worse a friend of the organizers who was “helping” with the show was providing information to the flipper bosses about what was available before the show opened (we all had no idea what Mori had brought with him) and then the bosses would update their troops. It was pretty depressing to watch, the shiftiness was all out in the open, nothing was hidden and nothing was done by the organisers to try and stop it. My fav part was when a boss moved his car and parked it in front of the venue and the line had to watch him pack his haul into the back. I have photos of some of the bosses but not sure if they’re worth posting. I know this seems to be the new norm with shows especially RxH but I walked away from the show pretty angry and depressed. I spent more money flying to that show than I had a chance to spend on toys, everything RealxHead was gone by my second time through the line.
That's the really offensive thing here.. sure, the secondary market and flippers is nothing new to any of us, but when show organisers are openly co-operating with flipper groups then that's never forgive action.
Not targeting anyone in particular (artist, manufacturer, collector or asshat hipster bandwagon jumper), but it's gotta be obvious that the game is rigged and there's . . . A. ALWAY'S some OCD collector that will shiv their granny to get hold of the latest hot shit for completion. B. ALWAYS some chump with deeper pockets for who dropping $5k on the latest hot shit is chump-change. C. ALWAYS someone that wants to be King Dick (even in something as insignificant as dolly-collecting) and has to be seen buying/acquiring the latest hot-shit! D. ALWAYS someone out to make quick easy $$$ from A, B or C! E. ALWAYS someone happy to help D for a cut! . . . even though most of this junk isn't antique/vintage/becoming rare over time, but intentionally made yesterday in teeny-tiny production runs, to create interest and generate hype, this situation should hardly be a surprise! I still dig toys, collecting and talking to (the lesser OCD) toynerds. Most of the shenanigans not so much.
Ever since this hobby blew up in China, HK, Taiwan things seem to be more crazy than ever. I've never seen so much hyping in my life! Everything they go crazy over will be impossible to score for a normal price (unless you happen to win that toy in a lottery).
Artificial hype and inflation. Just remember that these will not be worth what you pay for them in this hypebubble. Once all the beasts go back to Beanie Babies or pogs, the true lovers of the medium should still be around to swoop up on these discarded beauties.
I know I haven't been around long, but for perspective, we were seeing a lot of the same in Asia with 1/6-scale figures for a long while. Of course there are still artists making tiny runs for whom demand keeps prices high, but in general demand has fallen out the bottom of that market, and I've seen plenty of folks based in both Asia and the west dumping their doll collections at a fraction of their flipped cost. We'll see the same here once the whales move onto something else. The big question is, what will they move onto? Resin? Micro-run collectible socks? Funko pops but they're all Turkish presidents? Taking bets
Hoping Asian collectors move into sneakers: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-to-make-big-money-in-the-sneaker-business Similar scene, flippers, one guy w over 3000 pairs etc I can wait them out, then only hope for some fire sales or collapsed prices. Just seen it happen so many times w hyped toy lines collapsing or collectors moving on to other stuff.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. EDIT: Blocked by @mattreecafe after asking how both rainbow aliens ended up on m-world...
O-r they never left those and enjoy collecting these to. Than I guess ppl are just fucked lmao. Offtopic: It's been so long since iv even seen pogs. Im not even sure how anyone would bring those back to relivence. I remember they had some extremely expensive metal slammer pogs that ppl did pay for.
I've always hated that most organised flippers think they're so fucking clever. They are always cocky and smug. Rich people always eventually come in throwing cash around and ruining things for the average punter. Its just the way it is. Luckily I'm OK with collecting the older RxH, which can still be frustrating of course, but way less. I have sympathy for any newer collectors who would like to build up a nice collection of the more recent releases. You are up against some crazy, craycray fuckers. I always shake my head when I think back to the days of Rotofugi and Lulubell, and how much easier it was to lay my hands on sweet new RxH. Still, never forget the good people of Skullbrain. The other day a boardie pm'd me and unknowingly offered a RxH collab that I can genuinely describe as a 'Grail'. I thought I would never own it, and had in fact taken it off my wants list years ago. I couldn't believe my luck! You just never know in this hobby, you just never know.
And to be that way openly in front of Mori, Uamou, Charoi Brown is nothing but a big insult to all of the effort they had put into the work for the show. Just real scumbag behaviour.
Amen. I'm still new here but boardies have offered me things I never thought I'd see a sniff of, at prices I could actually afford, out of sheer kindness and goodwill. The only way I can decently respond is doing the same in return as my collection grows.
It was incredibly frustrating seeing the flippers in action at the show. It was the first sofubi show in Aus that I’ve been able to attend and it definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. They were so brazen with their flipping. I saw one boss going through pics on Instagram directing their minions what toys to target for the biggest profits (all rxh) and then taking out a huge wad of $50 notes and divvying it up between them. The guy that pulled up out the front and loaded a heap of toys in his boot was the most disgusting thing I saw. Such flagrant disrespect for the artists as well as the collectors that waited hours in line only to miss out. I couldn’t hang about in the queue for a second time in the hopes that something might be left because I had a plane to catch. Was a pretty shitty experience, luckily balanced out by getting to meet some cool local collectors.
@arjybarjy truly sorry to hear about your experience at the event. Felt the way same for some newer heads at 5Points last year who were put off by a similar scenario. Sofubi collecting has reached a peak of borderline insanity recently, but try to not let it detract from the positive aspects of this hobby. The current bubble will indeed pop in time (hopefully sooner than later) and the flipping bastards will be the direct cause. Growing numbers of unobtainable items (via ridiculous pricetags) will lead many to lose interest and the opportunistic scum will find a new cash cow to milk. Don't lose faith in the meantime. Keep up with the online drops, lottos, etc. as well as the sales threads here. Great way to keep building up the collection while this current craziness works itself out.
Thanks @smurph. I haven’t lost my love for collecting sofubi and I’ll definitely keep up with online drops, lottos and sales. I’m headed to Japan next month so I’m sure my collection will grow a lot after that trip.
