strange or rare yahoo auctions post here (after theyre over)

I hope no one bought this Icarus. The feet definitely get repainted and the face also looks odd to me.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n1075717045

 

i know the conversation of vintage prices skyrocketing is old news.... but this is pretty insane

 

The recent price of vintage sofubis is crazy.

 

some popy's kaijus just sold for some stupid prices...

 

I passed on this for $500 bucks one time thinking I'll have a chance. This is astounding!

 

I got mine for 300, in better condition than this one- hoping this was a battle of bidding egos and not the new norm for kamen rider villains

 

This one was pretty eyebrow raising. I got one of these a few years ago MIB for like 10k .Prices are nuts right now. Id hate to start collecting at this point.
@michael Ive noticed the KR villains have gone up quite a bit in general, but nothing close to that level of insanity.

 

Really wonder who are buying all of these? Seems these new comers have no limits on buying toys. I am totally beaten up by rencent Ninja Arashi and Keiji K auctions. And the Arashi auction is especially stupid, cause there is a much "cheaper" bagged one lying on Mandarake for years.

 

Big Boy Bids

 

I was wondering about that Irutan talker as well! Maybe it's just me, but.... $4,000 for that? Is there THAT MUCH LOVE for Irutan? I guess the answer to that is "yes," apparently...!

 

It’s a wonderful world.

 

This early Bullmark King Joe... wow.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/j1085705999

I must admit, I was previously unfamiliar with this version.

 

Even with a cheap yen, it's a big price. Wasn't familiar either. Nice stuff!

 

Bullmark mid-size Red King went for 431,000 yen:



Some interesting discussion about this one as it was a first for many of us on this brown/red vinyl. Yet another mysterious vintage Bullmark variant:

Spoiler: more photos

 

Lovely paint!

 

I was wondering what the story was with this Marusan Garuban:

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/o1086290299

I've seen this version come up a few times, with the heavy silver paint application. Is this just the "more silver paint variation"? I love the color scheme! I have the Bullmark version which looks pretty close to the non-heavily-silvered Marusan one.

 

I believe it's all about the condition on these first edition Garuban especially if the head antennae are in perfect condition and not repaired. This is one of the finest examples seen in a quite a while. I have also noticed that this specific seller is well-known as a trusted supercollector which may bring in some higher bids. There was actually one in slightly better condition from a "dead stock" auction back in 2021 that went for 356k yen: http://skullbrain.org/bb/index.php?...after-theyre-over.13925/page-132#post-1007581

 

> There was actually one in slightly better condition from a "dead stock" auction back in 2021 that went for 356k yen
Wow, what a beauty.....!

And on an unrelated note, this Megaloman with the 80's Dolly Parton hair is getting up there these days:

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k1087853352

 

Another recent Riderman auction. This figure has become somewhat of a grail for me. It's so cute and the proportions are just to my liking. Though official, the overall design screams pachi sofubi. I honestly thought it would go for more, even with the missing antennae.

Original link: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/l1094059940

* Ended on Sunday June 4, 2023 @ 480,800yen

 

Update on this one with the buyer claiming it was a counterfeit. There seems to be access to vintage molds as flesh vinyl blanks have also been popping up lately of Bullmark minis. The head piece of this mid Red King was reported as being flesh vinyl.

 

Ah this is really interesting that you mention the Bullmark minis Mark. When I was in Japan recently I went to as many shops as I could hunting for pieces for my collection and started spotting these flesh blank minis. What I thought was strange was that nearly every vintage focused shop had one or two. Obviously they peaked my interest so I looked at a couple, my gut feeling was that they didn't feel right so this news is not a surprise, I am by no means an expert in this field however my job does revolve around spotting restoration, reproduction, fakes etc in vintage toys and sometimes you just get a gut feeling for stuff like this. I would love to know what the story is behind these minis because what you would do if you were trying to pass these off as genuine is exactly what's happened, slowly release them into the market through specialist stores at exorbitant prices and hope a few get purchased and set the bar high before people realise the scam. I hope this isn't the case and they are genuine finds but I do have my doubts.

 

I brought up these flesh minis to Kaminaga-san from Marusan. He says that these are sort of an open secret among many dealers and collectors, and that they are coming from one of the original factories that still has original Bullmark tooling. He didn't name names and I didn't press.

Perhaps related to this, there is a seller on YJA that has been posting absolutely pristine specimens of rare Gundam vinyls, including Guntank and White Base. When you look at the photos the vinyl seems very glossy for what is supposed to be a vintage toy.

These sofubi molds can last forever if you take care of them but that seems to be working against collectors in instances like this.

 

This was not a YJA listing, but a Bullmark Mechagodzilla sold instantly for 1.1MM yen on Mercari. No idea why they went this route. With the exchange rate so strong against the yen right now, it might have went even higher at auction:

Spoiler: More photos