[DESIGNER VINYLS] Hot or Not?

You know, I honestly didn't intend for my original posted observation to cause trouble. I mean, I know for myself that I'm correct from experiences, but I've stated all along that what I was saying wasn't intended as being some kind of offensive jibe. Disagreement and debate, not a problem. But this whole process of fending off attempts at debasing some standing in geek hierarchy.. I mean, whatever. I also love it when debate turns to a complete disregard of figurative meaning.

Anyway, so I apologize. And to Sanjeev, we obviously disagree. I'm fine with that. Sorry if what I said was taken personal or seems "misinformed" to point of being offensive.

xiombarg Wrote:
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> ...And to Sanjeev, we
> obviously disagree.


Gods. Still recovering from Summit hangover...and now this...

Dude, there's nothing to apologize for and there's no reason ANY of this shit should be taken personally. And besides the obvious reasons (like, these are toys, this is the fucking internet, etc...), here's the most important one: YOU'RE NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT THE SAME FUCKING TOYS WE ARE.

You posted images of Western "urban" vinyl or whatever it's called. That shit makes me want to stab my eyes out with icicles. But whatever--that doesn't even matter...this ENTIRE fucking thread from the beginning has been about Japanese vinyl. You may as well be posting fucking pictures of your stamp collection.

Paul fucking Budnitz? Really?

Did you just...NOT notice that this thread was about Japanese toys? Sweet holy fuck...

I'm going back to bed.

Oh, Japanese vinyl only..
And here I thought it was an open thread about "[DESIGNER VINYLS] Hot or Not?", you know like an open subject on the internet and stuff..

Xiombarg is right on this one. Your thread starting post never specified that you wanted this thread to be Japanese toys only. I thought it was an all encompassing designer toy topic as well.

This is what happens when you post without reading through the thread.

No, you're right...you're right...

So, xiombarg...hot or not?



lol

Totally hot. I tried to get one of these but with the limited edition and high demand.. didn't happen.
Besides, isn't designer vinyl what rich people buy for their dogs as chew toys?

There's actually been a couple of times when I've passed by some baby toys in Target and thought to myself how some of them could be put into a book on Designer Vinyl and nobody would know the difference.

I'm proud of you Sanjeev. You've finally broken through your toy racism. The kong is a work of art and even dogs deserve excellent vinyl toys. On another note, since American toys are now allowed on the thread, everyone see Matt Walker's, of dead prez, new toy line?

Not my thing. They look too Western for my taste.
Too bulging arms and especially the red/white/blue combo.

I still think Toygraph did it well.
A couple of the many variations:

The Toygraph spacemen are very classy. Monstre Hero did some spacemen stuff too that are pretty nice. [www.flickr.com]

Haha...y'know what's hilarious is that of all people, Chairman Sjoen put me on to the Space Troopers!!
[toyboxdx.com]

I hated 'em at first because of all the insane hype and inflated prices surrounding them. Then suddenly...just like that...nobody was talking about them on skullbrain, and they were showing up on the BST for less than retail! :P

At that point, I said fuck it, and bought a bunch!!

I've probably posted these pics before, but whatever...







I love 'em. Now that no one else does. Does that make me evil? :P

...

As for Walker's Cosmic Squadron figures, first off, for the record, it is Japanese. It was sculpted by Sunguts and the vinyl's poured in Japan. Now, I'm obviously biased, but I dig it. I mean, I haven't handled one in person yet, but *just* based on the pics and knowing that they're just over 6" tall (and knowing they have clear bodies with glowie heads!!), I have a feeling I'll love it.

No, they're definitely not old-timey scifi-styled like the Space Troopers, but they have this bizarre Microman/Micronaut vibe to them that's a bit more modern, but still retro. The "time-traveler" clear yellow one with the silver head blows my mind! I'm not really all that excited about the full-painted version, but the other weird color variants look great to me...almost because of the strange proportions.

But again, I'm biased, so your mileage may vary. But I also benefit from having heard certain rumblings of upcoming products for this line...very exciting stuff!

Joshb, good call on those Monstre Hero ones...those are probably my favorite toys by those guys!

Sanjeev Wrote:
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>
> I hated 'em at first because of all the insane
> hype and inflated prices surrounding them. Then
> suddenly...just like that...nobody was talking
> about them on skullbrain, and they were showing up
> on the BST for less than retail! :P
>
> At that point, I said fuck it, and bought a
> bunch!!
>
>
> I love 'em. Now that no one else does. Does that
> make me evil? :P
>


Wow this happened on skullbrain? I'm really surprised by that. You mean someone posted about a toy there and everyone lost their mind driving the price up and then a bunch of new people who were only into it because it was 'hot' dumped them for half retail months later? Wow I thought that never happened there. Yeahhhhhhhhhhh RIGHHHHTTTTTTT!

Actually this is the scenario there all the time now. Sometimes I'm not sue if I'm lurking on the KR board or skullbrain anymore.

Heh...sometimes, I'm not sure if I'm trolling over there!

In case you guys haven't heard, the hype surrounding the pink-headed glow Matango also died down, so sell me yours now for $40. OK?







(I know, not a designer vinyl)

Hahaha...nice try! Hey, didn't I establish that I tend to like things that aren't "hot"??? ;P

Incidentally, I found an old pic of that Matango:



It's an old group shot...it's missing the recent-ish M1 x BEAMS glow Matango, the two GID Toygraph mid-transform Matangos (red-glow and normal green-glow), and the recent Toygraph "adult" (full-shroom...whatever) glow Matango.

...

Anyway, speaking of Cosmic Squadron earlier, I just found this cool interview with Matt on Toysrevil:
[toysrevil.blogspot.com]

The No-Mad and Atom colorways are killing me! Sucks they're sold out... :/

I remember when you could not help but stumble over a Marmit Glow Matango on YJA. I let everyone I ever saw pass for years. Now you never see them anymore. Kind of regret that. I really do dig the new Toygraph Matango especially the glow. Too bad most US suppliers (fill in retailer here) seem to be getting high on their own supply and don't offer Japanese releases anymore (or very few).

It's true. I wonder why that is...placed like Grumble Toy and others used to be pretty good about getting the latest Toygraph stuff. Honestly, just to guarantee I score the few items I really want, I just buy direct from Y!J...

And you guys know about Toygraph's mailing list where they sell directly to customers?
Possibly some may be offered in the future via direct email.

edit: typos



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2010 04:27PM by liquidsky.

I just read something "elsewhere" that really infuriates me.

"Hi I want x toy, but I don't know which colors I like so send me photos and I'll let you know if I'm interested."

If something is a want, surely you've seen a photo of it and can request a version you want..am I wrong?

It's insanity. I need to delete my account over there so I'm not tempted to log in and be even more annoyed. /sigh

carry on.

"I love 'em. Now that no one else does. Does that make me evil? :P"

No, but apparently I'm chopped liver.

And Ed....we have a douchebag thread already. ;)

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[pgaijin.blogspot.com]

LS, yeah, I'm on that Toygraph list (actually, thanks to hillsy!), but I think that GID Matango was a show exclusive, so it was solicited that way. I caught a pic of it on skullbrain (really, the ONLY value I find there these days)...then I started digging...

Ed, I musta missed that thread (thankfully)...and hillsy, you're my chopped liver!

Ed that "other" board is like one giant train wreck. It seemed to just completely derail in the last year. Sometimes its like watching Lindsey Lohan slowly become more and more of a hot mess. It's hard to look away but you know you should. I log on just to see what new things the idiots are posting in their endless need for approval. It's like watching lemmings jump off a cliff.

It's hard to delete the account to. Part of you remembers when it was a nice community of friends.

yeah, you have a point and I really haven't lost my group of friends over there, but it just seems that the "designer" side of the hobby is going away and the good members are dropping off like flies.

that and being trolled by certain people just makes it less desirable to go, all the more time i can spend here learning about rockbat and robocon :)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you fellas talk about this shit on Skullbrain all day long? I'm not really seeing where many of these parallels have anything to do with Japanese super robots. Sanjeev? Someone?

Erik, are you kicking us out? ;)

Nah, this thread was sorta intended more for the TBDXers who were curious about what the fuck this whole contemporary designer vinyl thing is. And hey, these toys ARE Japanese...and they're new...so they belong on this board (it doesn't say anything about robots only here!).

And the point of these discussions happening here is because of......well...read some of the posts above, dude. It's become a fucking shitshow over there. You can't even voice a negative opinion over there without people taking it all personal and starting a fucking campaign against you. Want and example? Check out this thread from just the other day.

So, basically, there's NO real discussion of anything going on over there. Just dick-riding and trolling (roughly in that order).

I think it's interesting that Skullbrain is now in the phase where "this place has gone to shit" is a common refrain among veterans. Toybox went through that period, hell, I was one of the people who was waving that flag.

Seeing Skullbrain begin and go through a similar evolution that this place went through has been pretty fascinating. I guess all toy BBSes are essentially The Matrix, repeating themselves over and over again.

Ed, I think you're pretty much playing the role that I did. I used to be a moderator here, got sick of it and quit, and bitched about this place on other toy boards. In a few years you're going to evolve beyond caring and come back and laugh. It's nice!

And to bring it back on topic, you can get lost in the whole "designer" or "boutique" thing and trying to parse what these words mean, but at the end of the day these are all toys. To quote myself (for extra pretentiousness), here's what I said in the Amanda Visell "girl kaiju" thread on Skullbrain:

"...to me, toys aren't something to be figured out. As far as I'm concerned, toys are straightforward and up front, they appeal to the kid in you or they don't. The four year old in you gives it a pass or fail grade and that's it, and the adult in you (the one that holds the wallet) approves by buying it."

Wow Sanjeev how did I miss that gem of a thread? At least it sort of became a proper discussion instead of 3 pages of "WANT!" or "HATE!"

I really don't know what happened over there on SB. The only reason I never came here more is it seemed to be more focused on Robots, etc, where as I was more into the older toho/ultra monster aspect. It seems over the last year quality members who I respected left in droves on SB, and in their place, well, it's like someone sent a free toy message to KR to "come one come all and ruin the SB board". Where as before noobs kind of learned what was cool and what was not cool to talk about, sometimes the hard way, now it's just over run with people who IMO just watered down the board to nothing. Don't get me wrong not every new person is like that and I've met a few new people who are genuinely into the hobby and want to collect japanese toys. I really do (and I could be wrong but I've never been one not to speak my mind) think it had a lot to do with S7 coming out with that line they did.

Where as before they did collaborations with established companies (well mainly Gargamel, but M1 and others) now it seems more of a business model. The niche older members once felt, as a collective of people with a common goal of collecting japanese toys has given way to new people who mainly go for "what's hot" or "a simplified watered down version of a japanese kaiju" piece. Something that more resembles a KR platform toy, or a Fisher Price toy, then a traditional piece. I mean you can't blame S7 for wanting to be an established brand and become a profitable business that reaches a broad base. But it has definitely turned some of us away and conflicts in a way what some might have perceived the board was all about.

Sanjeev Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And the point of these discussions happening here
> is because of......well...read some of the posts
> above, dude. It's become a fucking shitshow over
> there. You can't even voice a negative opinion
> over there without people taking it all personal
> and starting a fucking campaign against you. Want
> and example? Check out this thread from just the
> other day.
>
> So, basically, there's NO real discussion of
> anything going on over there. Just dick-riding and
> trolling (roughly in that order).


Ok, so I read through the thread over there. But to be honest, That thread specifically, although a little annoying because it seemed overly negative, did not seem much worse than some of the threads anywhere. I mean the Summit video caused more personal insults than I saw on that thread.

All the sites go through phases. I still see flame war threads on here that make me scratch my head. Not defending any site here, just being wary of the "us vs them" mentality when there is so much overlap of folks to begin with.

I guess I don't see much point in using our site to complain about another. Maybe I am just naive in that respect. Eh whatever. ;->

"Erik, are you kicking us out? ;)"

"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here..." ;)

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[pgaijin.blogspot.com]

hillsy is right, i shouldn't complain here. I have a thread that I can access to do that so nobody here has to listen to it.

Roger, you're probably right. I already have given up and spend my time lurking here and reading other boards that interest me (disney stuff mostly).

It has to be fun. I will say that one thing I realized over the weekend was that I had been missing the fun aspect of the hobby. friends, weird toys, hanging out..all of that stuff is really the most important thing to me.

sorry if any negativity on my part annoyed anyone.

It's all good, Ed. I was just busting balls. You're always welcome here. We have our little disagreements here, too, but generally I think we're good about focusing on the fun/good stuff. Like Roger said, in the end they are toys. All these other issues we attach to them are of our own creation.

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[pgaijin.blogspot.com]

Ed,
I did not mean you specifically. I have no reason to be bothered by dialogue and hell I am as much of a douche as anyone else. Who is anyone to judge anything? I guess I thought the thread itself was focussing so much on another site, that we were losing focus of what the topic was.

You are welcome to say whatever you want here obviously. We all are.

It's funny. It is like when you get together with friends and someone says something about someone, and everyone gets caught up in the gossip of the situation, that its hard to let go of.
That feeling of "yeah that sucks, lets talk about it more) I know I get caught up in my dislikes of something and then eventually I become as irritating as the person I am complaining about. Heh. Human nature man. People find solace in commiserating over stuff. It's all good.

Shit....you should hear the stuff we say about you behind your back, Fraser....

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[pgaijin.blogspot.com]

I have no doubt ;-). I would not like me much either. Lol

I always liked this, and wish someone had done a mass produced one. I did not have to coin to buy the original when it was on ebay.

[toysrevil.blogspot.com]

Oh I didn't take it as being singled out Josh, I just re-read what I had said before and it sounded whiny and annoying.

Anyway, how do you guys feel about this one? I love watching Jungle Kurobe (when I can find episodes), and I wouldn't pay the dough to buy one of the original figures, but medicom released a new version this year.

It's a bit too rounded for me...I guess I like the smaller version a whole lot more. Was there a full size originally made?

Who would talk shit about the summit video?

People who take things waaay too seriously.

I think some feathers were ruffled about the toy bowling and decided to make blanket statements about those of us as "children" and not true collectors.

Anyway... back on topic.


Ed,
That vinyl has Sjoen written all over it.