toyboxdx toy blog brog: is graceful art of daily expressing japanese toy  

Martial arts has been part of my life for about a decade. I have a sifu whom I owe much to. Someone who has shown me a path to better myself, and how to interact with others.

There is another though, that has simply through his consistent goodness and never ending exuberance, shown me the way.

Boomerang in T minus 10…9…8

“Uncle” Warren, the bright eyed, platnium curl and pepper haired, captain of the perverbial ship of gokin, vinyl, and tin.
The silent, spiritual sentinal who blazed a path from which our toy DNA spirals outward and onward, talks with a quiet and steady cadence.

“Josh, hold up, I have something for you”.

You can’t fake this, buy it, or manufacture it.

Warren Schwartz’s grace is not in how large his collection is, or how long he has been acquiring. Likely more than any of us on both counts anyway.
It is in the kindness of a heart that wishes to not only share his love and knowledge of the Japanese toy foodgroups, and ultimately the care and respect he shows his fellow collector.

Warren runs upstairs and reappears with a Popy box in hand. He seems almost child-like in his excitement. It is a thing I had lusted for when first seeing it not an hour previous. One I know all too well. One up until this point, I never thought I would ever have.

…7…6…5

My first meeting with Warren was the fateful week that Day Old Antiques had closed its doors for the final time.

Like my first meeting with Alen, I was not only impressed by Warren’s nature but the resulting feeling I had known him for years.
Deciding that another meet up should be in the works, we met for sushi and then took a trip to his house to see the famed collection.

It has been written about before, so I certainly will not go into detail, but suffice to say I was speechless at the magnitude and the care in which he quietly stored everything. Row upon row of brown paper bags and boxes, complete with hand written description cards of each one’s content. Each one describing entire runs of toys.

This is Zen. This is what love looks like physically condensed.

…4…3…2

When at Day Old, I had with me one of the many custom containers used for transporting Popy GA 51’s. Shyly I spoke to my new acquaintance about my goofy desire in locating the perfect box one day.

Um, your OCD is showing.

Ironically, up until that point, I only had a Shogun Warrior box, that would be worthy of such a container, as it seemed that in the early days of seeking out these treasures, A Popy version seemed few and far between in any condition above a c8.

Warren hands me the Ark. It is gem mint. It has a sheen and a glow I rarely see on vintage.
I don’t get truly emotional over toys, but this was a moment where choking up a bit did not seem unwarranted.

…1

“I think you should have this. Just when you get a chance, send me your box in the mail.”

I nod.

What do you say in such a moment?

I look up, throat tight, and a sting at the corner of each eye.

Hold steady son.

Warren stands there, his Buddha smile seems to clarify everything for me. A thought begins to crystalize. I have a boomerang in my back pocket and a desire to throw it hard.

My heart is beating fast, and I realize I am in the presence of true benevolence.

Thank you sifu.

I love these Baratak Trotter ships. Ok they’re not as awesome as, say, a Power Charge Baratak (which I would take any day over these), but still think they’re damn cool!

Several different combinations can be created and the ships are magnemo, which is a nice feature. However, the magnets are very strong (I’ve had to really yank them to get them appart), and the combining slots and holes for the missile shooters are quite tight, so be prepared for scuffs and scrapes on the chrome and paint, even after the first time combining them.

I like the color schemes on these ships, and think they look great when fully combined. Hopefully, one day I’ll have the balls to break off the missiles for some eye poking fun.

The box art is nice for the individual ships, but pales in comparison to the Trotter gift set, which is pretty hard to find, and will carry quite a premium:

(Yeah, I’m working on my lighting and non-existent photography skills :p)

Shadow box, that is.

I decided to pick these up on a whim, with a recent HLJ order. I didn’t know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by these little gems. They are mini reproductions (about 3-4in high) by Banpresto, of battery powered model kits originally done by Marusan back in the day. The most amazing part is that the original box art was reproduced, as well. Each box comes with a “painted” version and an “unpainted” version, unassembled, with repro battery pack. There appear to be little secret figures, like the clear Neronga, thrown in. $20 well spent.

After a long day at work and a dreary rainy drive home, I was pulled out of my slump by a small package on my bed. Seemingly zooming across the country from California in record time, this little guy was just what I needed. Thanks to a fantastic tip from Chairman Sjoen I snagged this little guy on ebay without any fuss at all. As a Macross fan from right around my initial discovery of mecha anime, I have spent plenty of money on various Yamato and Bandai items all vaunting their Perfect Transformation and incredible details, and listened to plenty of fans complain about line-art accuracy or how company X is giving us a sub-par product on purpose. Look more than ten years ago, however, and these complex toys are just a glimmer in some toy maker’s eye.
This is my first TT Macross vinyl, and it’s bigger than I expected, but still small enough to fit in a pocket and provide endless entertainment anywhere. Without being concerned with lots of articulation or line-art accuracy or complete painted detail or any transformation at all, this little guy hits just the spot, allowing for a great playable TOY to pick up a dreary day.
Thanks Erik!

There are few toys in my collection that represent what Alen coined the “Karmic Boomerang” for me as this one. The only other that comes close is the result of the extreme generosity of a certain Uncle Warren, but thats for another blog.

Pan back a decade. The frenzy of competition for the right piece was fierce to put it mildly. The early days of ebay bidding wars was in full effect and even though we complain about prices now, we sometime selectively forget that even common toys by todays standards were perceived as much more “R@RE” than they are today, and bore prices that reflected it.

Tiring of the stress of what should be a fun hobby, I found a website, that mirrored my growing feelings about what the toys and the memories should be about.
How was it through my rush to collect , I sort of forgot a little bit about the funk, and why it was I was searching for these totems.
Perhaps this is the ever present sentiment that goes through its cyclical life span every few years and has become the mantra of the oldskoolers who watch wistfully as a new wave of people rediscover and reacquaint themselves with their childhood friends.

Why do we do it?

I found a kindred spirit when I first contact Alen about selling him my GB24. It was a toy he had expressed an interest in locating, and I felt perhaps it would find a better home with him. I was after all in the beginning stages of my c10 illness, and the toy although mint as one could be, the box had begun to beckon an upgrade. The voices since then have gotten louder, and my threshold for ignoring it, has lessened.
I contacted him and offered the toy at a third less than what I paid, simply because it felt like the right thing to do. The importance of the green, had to take a back seat to the importance of the T28 blue so to speak.

We met for the first time in Porter square mall in Cambridge, which was not far from where he lived at the time. My memory of the specifics fails me, but we met at the benches near the atm, and exchanged our greetings. Sushi followed. I felt comfortable almost immediately, and realized this beautiful toy was going to the best home possible.

From there, the friendship began, and endured. The combined faith in the goodness of our fellow collectors being the cornerstone to what is so utterly fantastic about this niche of nerdiness.
It took me much longer to find the right replacement. Like a number of other pieces in the collection that I sold off in hopes of finding a upgrade, it took years. The better part of nine plus in fact.

I thought it would never happen.

But when I did find it, as luck would have it, it was when money was tight and any hope of scoring it was not likely. Lamenting the loss, I casually mentioned it to my old friend, who without hesitating , graciously spotted me for the purchase.
I was floored and grateful and amazed. Well maybe not amazed as I knew Alen’s character enough to know, he understood it was never about the money. It was about the pursuit and love of the toy , and what they represented. It was about the friendship above all else. About the kids who never met, but the adults who did, and cultivated a place that would serve as a home to others like us. A land of misfit toy collectors.

So it came full circle. A generosity of a decade past came back. The boomerang is alive and well, and for that I am glad. Probably more than I could rightly express.

So what to learn from this? I figure I have rambelled on enough as it is, but here it is in its most distilled form.

Life is short, so love thy chogokin neighbor bitches.

Karmic toy boomerang is go.

Out.