Screw that, you guys at least have Toy Tokyo. ATLANTA..why not? Oh wait, I know, you'd only have 4-6 customers! ::sucksmoanbitchwhine::
ill take that as a "what're you stupid" the amount of eastern vinyl at the comicon is pretty much limited to toytokyo's presence... i can dream of a weekend long kaiju orgy on the east coast thou...maybe someday. no i didnt forget the kaiju nyc show, it was the highlight of my collecting year.
I know right, maybe I'm outta the loop but there's no like bananas toy shows around here. Giant robot had some amazing gallery shows, but as far as just solid toy coolness i didn't see much. scoring my first custom toy [malignant youth] and hanging around with some folks the day after the already cool comicon at the show i was pretty stoked. The most disappointing thing was seeing my huge haul... then remembering alot of it was muled for other board members. But yeah I haven't been collecting too long so i imagine I've only seen the tip of the ice-berg of the fun i can have collecting.
It was one of the highlights of my year too actually. nothing sad about getting a one off ilanena set, meeting some cool folks, and having an awesome dinner afterwards with 8 good friends. you guys are spoiled in the bay area.
As far as NYC toys and shows, we have pretty much nil to squat. Tons of stores trying to be Kiddie Robot wannabes, but not much else. Also there used to be tons more vintage toy stores that would carry cool new stuff. Nowadays? Pretty much nothing. Sorry to be down, but I'd really like to see something creative and interesting opening in NYC instead of the same old same old.
its been reduced to Toytokyo and Love Saves the Day, even Giant Robot closed the toy portion of there store front and upper playground moved in...
Love Saves the Day barely counts. Their stock is so limited it's as if it's a museum to vintage western toys and not much else. I'm pretty sure some of the stuff I first saw in the 1980s is still there 20 years later. And their prices are loopy. ToyTokyo is the only place that seems to rotate stock and keeps a good balance of new/old stuff. Only wish they had a bigger shop.
I like going to Love Saves The Day and loitering around the Star Wars case by the register. It's guaranteed every two minutes someone will walk by and say to the person they're with, "Dude, I used to have that!" Yes, you and tens of millions of other kids throughout the world. You're not special.
You know that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry was dating a girl who had tons of vintage toys? The way everyone acted when they finally had access to those toys (spazzing out like retards on the floor) is exactly what I don't like about nostalgia.
The toy craze does seem to be dying from saturation, the economy etc. So much for expansion... The internet seems like home for so much these days. There is still hope though. At least Super 7 would do well in Austin as long as they sell bike baskets, vegan pastries and guns
Well, online selling and fairs/shows seems to be the way to go. Which isn't a completely bad thing, but it would be nice to be able to go "I'm bored, I'm going to this store..." Somehow NYC has more cupcake stores than anyone needs. Maybe Kaiju and cool Vintage toy themed baked goods is the key?
A new Crumbs just opened 2 blocks from my apartment. If S7 sets up shop in there, I'll stop by every evening.
You think NYC is bad (used to live there- Toy Tokyo was the only hope) try Buffalo?! There is one place in town that sells Western toys and no kaiju to be found anywhere. Toronto is not much better.
I know I was just ragging on them above, but sadly, Love Saves the Day is closing. The place was always weird and always overpriced, but I can't imagine another store in NYC right now that captures the spirit (in some way) of what the Village used to be.
Philadelphia needs some love, we have wthn, which is cool and all, part of the distro, but it's more designer clothes then toyshop. Ubiq... again, shoes. Jinxed is ok if you want to find western stuff from the past year or so... Brave New World Comics is a really nice comic shop, but short of one Max Toy co. Xam, there is no other kaiju. Hell, I just want to have a kaiju gallery show in Philadelphia. The F.U.E.L. gallery would be a great place for it. phil Oh and if S7 made the trek to NYCC, i'd be there like white on rice!
FWIW—and someone correct me if I'm wrong—but I think part of the reason there's a deeper division between thrift stores, vintage clothes stores and vintage toy stores are new laws on liability for selling old toys that don't conform to modern standards. So if you're a cool thrift store that sells a cool 1970s robot that shoots missiles, and some kid chokes on it, the toy company is not liable because they don't make it anymore, but the last seller is liable because they sold it. Not saying that kind of legal mindset is right (I think it's painfully wrong) but I think that at least in NYC it's part of the reason the old/cool junk stores of the past have disappeared and new stores won't touch toys. I live in Wisconsin for a while and was shocked at how many more toys filled the shelves of local thrift stores.
Just went to "Love Saves the Day" today since I heard they are having a 30% off sale on all vintage toys. Sounds great right? Right? NOPE! Their prices are so jacked up 30% off is still pricey for the vast majority of stuff they have. And Toy Tokyo and even crappy Saint Marks Comics had LOWER non-marked down prices than their prices. Insane. And even "better" people were taking pictures and the manager yelled them about taking pictures. Let me get this straight: The store is closing, someone wants to keep a memory of the place and you don't let them take a photo? I was pretty upset when a vintage toy store I knew as a kid closed last year. But "Love Saves the Day"? I've never wanted a place to be cleared out faster. What an incredible rip-off!
The sad, but true reality of NYC is that there really isn't a kaiju community per se like there is on the west coast. Perhaps that's because there isn't a store devoted entirely to it here any more, but that's because those that were here weren't supported enough by locals... KINYC showed that the greater NY def. area has it's kaiju fans, but most people aren't going to make a long trip when they can shop online...TT will continue (as it always has) to carry as much kaiju as possible, but S7 is a store that flourished because of the kaiju community out there that really doesn't exist in such numbers here...and if it does, we're wildy disorganized... also, Rhino...judging from what I heard KINY was a highlight for a bunch of folks, even some from (gasp) the west coast...sad as it may be to you.
