This is pretty amazing. Absolutely fantastic work. I don't normally collect cutesy toys like this but if this was available I would definitely be on the hunt for one.
Thanks for your kind words Chris. I actually wish they would make something like this. I would buy it!!
ahaha thanks Mike! I was happy today because they announced I was one of the winners in their photo competition! Yay!
Fantastic pics and diorama's @spacemonkey66 ! At Dcon18 I bought Colin three random guys from @datadub and others booth - super cute, reminiscent of Richard Scarry's work and of course, your very own!
Thanks Carl. Pointless Island evidently liked my photos also because I was a winner in their competition! Yay! I'd love to see the ones you bought at D CON for Colin.
Most of those are still available at Toy Underground as well. TU also just put out the Shanghai Toy Show releases. The two new rabbits really nail the 'Showa cartoon character' look.
If you ordered any of the new releases, I was told that China customs has not released some/all of the figures being shipped back to HK from the Shanghai show.
Still waiting on my order of the new characters from Toy Underground. I e-mailed them 2 days ago, but no response yet. It's been over a month since I placed the order. Moreover, they are still actively promoting the figures as being available for purchase on their website, which seems kind of lame if they don't actually have them. They're sitting on a fair amount of my money, as I ordered almost the whole lineup, so I'm not too happy. TU has been really good in the past, and hopefully this is just a fluke. Did anyone else order from TU?
Hmmm.... That is strange. And most annoying. I have ordered several times from TU and have had no troubles. One month seems like a long time. I'm sure they have all the figures in stock, but don't understand why they're not responding to your email. I know they are doing a lot of the toy festivals of recent. Has anyone else ordered from them recently?
I ordered the new koala figures about a month ago and have received them. I also placed another order yesterday for some of the older figs. Hope you get your order soon akum6n.
So as an epilogue to my interactions with TU, I received my figures crammed into a very small box. I also noticed that it had been shipped via e-Express, rather than Speedpost (which I paid for in my order). In terms of JP shipping, this would be like using SAL instead of EMS. Now, normally, I'm not one to make a fuss about overpaying a few dollars for shipping, but they charged me $56 for Speedpost (which I thought was exorbitant, but I had ordered a fair number of figures and it was either that or airmail, i.e., e-Express). Both services charge based on weight, and the package that arrived indicated a weight of 300 grams. Using the HK Post website, e-Express would come out to roughly $5.87. Speedpost actually only comes out to about $38.25. Even if you assume that there were handling charges built into the $56, it was a pretty big difference. So I sent an e-mail back to TU, asking for a reimbursement of the difference between the actual Speedpost rate ($38.25) and the actual e-Express rate ($5.87), since they shipped using a cheaper method. The first response from TU essentially said, 'Yes, maybe I shipped by the wrong method, but many people prefer e-Express. Would you like a credit for your next purchase?' Me: 'No, I would like a cash refund.' TU: 'We cannot do a partial refund by Paypal. We can send a payment to your Paypal.' That was a week ago. At this point, I'm not holding my breath. I can forgive the long wait, but not cheaping out on shipping and then giving me the run-around when I call them on it. I doubt I will order anything from TU again. I'm sorry to keep beating this drum, but I think it is better to have this information on the forum than not, so folks can make informed decisions when purchasing.
Hmmmm! Thanks for the info Daniel. I was going to order some of those cute toys awhile back, but from the fiasco you described, I think I'll pass
Jeez Daniel, sorry to hear that this saga continues. This seems to be rather an exception, based on what others are saying, but it is troubling, and certainly makes me more wary of placing an order. As you said, it is one thing to let a minor error or delay slide, but when it reaches this level you have every right to question them. I hope you are able to sort it all out, and ultimately enjoy these toys for what they are; it is a disappointment to have something become tainted to the point where a bad experience always sticks in your mind, and that would be unfortunate for everyone.
This is a nightmare scenario. I experienced something a little bit similar with celga which is why I will never use them again.
I wonder are people out there still using Celga... I almost went down that path but I quickly realised my pockets were not deep enough.
I bought this figure in April 2019. I had it in a display case unopened for a while. Today, I took it out to open and display and discovered that the white vinyl is covered in brown discolored spots. I haven't tried to clean it, but the spots look like they are in the vinyl and not on the surface. Not good for only 2 years old.
Damn. Such a shame. No, not good for two years. I would assume (with zero scientific knowledge regarding chemicals/paints/toxicity etc) that it is most likely the reaction of the toy having been trapped inside the plastic bag for a long period of time. As a rule, I think it's always a good idea to remove toys from their bags because these types of reactions can occur, depending on what type of plastic bag has been used, and also, if there were any high humidity levels, that might be a contributing factor. That is not to say that it could be a problem with the actual paint used. However, I have some of the others which are painted white in some areas and there is zero sign of discolouration. By the way, I don't have this particular one, and now I'm tempted to acquire it!
Keeping it in the bag probably didn't help, but I've never seen new vinyls degrade this quickly. I've bought new Japanese vinyl figures that have been in the bag 10-15+ years, and nothing of this sort. I went through my other figures from this line, and only one other has this brown spotting. I also noticed something that looks like an oily bead of liquid on the surface of the vinyl. I've never seen anything like this on new vinyls. The only thing close has been rubbery plastic figures from the 80s that develop a similar brown spotting as they break down. Environmental conditions haven't been anything out of the ordinary. They've been in fairly cool rooms with low to moderate humidity. Hard to say what caused it at this point, but I wanted to make a note of it for other folks here.
