December 03, 2001 CURRENT RUMBLE The Power of Gecki Erik Sjoen 12.03.01 I was consumed by a toy made for collectors by a collector. The Hobby Project Geckiganger complements of Kanzen Hentaro. Let me start off by saying that Josh Fraser RULES! This guy noticed my random BBS posts every month stating "I NEED A GECKIGANGER", and he remembered them. Maybe, because he knows that feeling of desperation we all feel when one of the pieces of our collective puzzle is missing and we can't find it. Or, because he found it irritating as hell to keep reading that same damn post every month. Either way, the hand of Josh rewarded me with a gift of Gokin in my weary quest for Gecki. A few days after my latest pleading post (expecting to find nothing), I checked the message thread to find... "Hey, Erik, I bought a gold one, (Hobby Project diecast) and unfortunately, it has a broken leg. If you can fix him, he is yours free! He just needs a good home. Send me your mailing address, and I will send him to you. Best wishes, Josh" Thinking "No way! This is too good to be true;" I responded by thanking him and offering to at least pay shipping or with an offer of other related shwag in retribution. He declined, saying none of that was needed and that it was his pleasure. The next email stated that he was going to perform surgery on Gecki's injury. "Holy Snausages!" I said, "This guy is unbelievable." It became a side project for him to heal ol' Gecki Gold's leg for me. And did he ever. All the way down to the golden mold on the back of his "bad" leg. Josh went all the way and I can't thank him enough. In times like these it really feels good to be a part of something. For all the damn toys I have staring down on me from those heavenly shelves, they remain toys and I remain man. Collector and collected, keeper and kept. Josh's Gecki changed all that. That Gecki represents a random act of kindness from a stranger who identifies with my "something". Now we (they on their shelves and me in my chair) have evolved. Josh's Gecki made me stop and remember that a lot of my toys have stories behind them. Kick back and take a look at your shelves and think how you acquired each piece. For me, without this website or this community I wouldn't have had the opportunity to amass my priceless (only because it's not for sale) collection nor would I have been able to seek the knowledge I needed to acquire them. Along the way, I have got to meet some very cool people who have not only become Japanese toy scholars but good friends as well. Not many other collecting fields are as tight or as devoted. This latest installment has once again sold me. We are lucky as hell. It's people like Josh Fraser that makes this site as cool as it is. Gecki RULES!  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE