We’re living in weird times people ! Selling originals to buy fakes. Bootleggers fighting over ethics. Fake accounts pretending to be me when they are obviously not me
the selling official shit to buy bootleg crap just blows my mind. like... i understand that having some sought after pieces might bring you some sofubi clout but how does a worthless pile of bootlegs measure up as a valuable collection versus official product?!
To me, if this dude posted that wild ass rant like it’s been said, sounds more like he’s throwing twice the tantrum and tryin’ to flip twice as many fingers. “I flipped your shit AND bought bootlegs! NOW what?!” Not realizing, of course, he’s ostracizing himself while simultaneously looking really stupid.
I think it was more so that he didn't think anyone would notice LOL Little did he know that there are people that noticed everything, right down to how much marbling a figure has on the left side of the pinky finger
2040 EBay auctions list Bootleg MVH dx Monster made in China. KO vintage RICH. Buy it now $1200. Today’s Mexican blow mold He-man is tomorrow’s modern vintage sofubi boot This is what it’s going to come to. Not that my two cents is worth a quarter but I think Robert got it right. That specific dude was pissed and couldn’t be patient as much of us are, no matter how long we have been collecting. He saw the OUT. The way he can get instant gratification and a way to say “ hey I have these now “ most of today’s newest sofubi cronies don’t care about “value” they care about “I need it” and “look at what I got” they don’t view it as Art as most of us do. They don’t do the research that we all did. Ultimately it’s on them all the way. And really puts aside aftermarket sales and Backdoor deals for us serious collectors because now who really knows what your getting. I’ll stick to direct sales and shows and be just as happy getting one new piece a year as aposed to filling my shelves in one months time. Patience. It’s the only way. Be good to people and they will be good to you. Karma is real. Toy karma is realest.
i think if anything it is just making official stuff more valuable. no one wants to get duped so people im sure are going to want to buy from reputable sources (shows, trusted collectors, etc.) and are probably going to be willing to pay a little more. retail OR aftermarket.
I've been contacted on two separate occasions now by (i think) two different individuals claiming to be from some toy manufacturer over in China. Both of them have and are using images of pre-existing soft vinyl toys from other artists. One being from RedHotStyle on IG and two custom painted MVH Ollie's. I've tagged @Rich in an instagram story just to give him a heads up to see if he knows of that certain individual/company using his toys for their own gain. Being relatively new to the soft vinyl toy scene and being contacted twice now by Chinese factories who use photos of other folks' toys makes me feel kind of shitty... Like my stuff isn't good enough or whatever. I dunno. I mean being a student of the arts, I'm never really satisfied with my work by any means but I dunno. Whatever. Gotta keep trucking. So just a heads up yo.
this would be the place to tell us who these two companies are... unless its a lil secret. but plenty of boardies have become and will become toy makers/designers, might be kind of nice to at least tell em who to avoid
Whoops my bad. One was "Yixing Plastic Toy Co." @yixingtony and the other was an individual on Facebook named "Vison Chiu". I already mentioned them in a post on here before. Vison Chiu was extremely unpleasant to chat with as well. Didn't mean to not post their info. Just the Mondays is all.
It's just insane that whatever issue this guy has with Rich has blown up into this huge production line of shitty vinyl.
I would guess any issue with Rich was just his own imaginary excuse so he could start bootlegging stuff. He boots stuff from splurrt and paul kaiju and rampage and triclops and nagnagnag and hxs just to name a few. If it was about Rich he wouldn't be booting every hyped toy from anyone he could get his hands on.
It seems like it is though... didn't he start off months ago with comments like F*** MVH etc? The imitation foam fingers and tongue-in-cheek disclaimer of "This is The only shop . NO other stores . think carefully before purchase ！" seem to be direct jabs towards Rich. The other figures are either produced for use with the MVH DX body or are general money-grabbers like NNN. If he was after money there are some extremely hyped toys that this guy just seems to disregard, which further suggests this shit is personal. It's just interesting that this guys beef has been so fierce and sustained itself for so long. I've had issues with toymakers, Rich included, but that shit disappears over time a relatively short amount of time in days/weeks.. this guy just won't let go it seems. As always, I'm just bored at work digging for a little drama/entertainment/actual discussion on these boards to get me through the day to 5pm
Well looks like Alibaba is on the sofubi train... https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...llow-Migora-Negora-konatsuya_60228191085.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Custom-Painted-Killer-J-10-Goran_60238556012.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/6-inch-pumpkin-head-soft-vinyl_60741676730.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/OEM-plastic-toy-Kaiju-BLObPUS-One_60415851823.html
It did originate from some beef (whether real or fabricated) with Rich. In the end, whatever justification the delusional bootlegger had for starting this doesn't matter. He simply used the old-as-time move of generating controversy to bring attention to garbage, that would've otherwise been disregarded and written-off for the hack crap that is. One could argue he was successful in that regard. Case in point: this thread. Negative press is still press and opportunistic parasites thrive on that fact (shithole "presidents" well-included). Been going on long enough now that anyone even paying half-attention should be remotely aware there's fugly low-quality boots being forced into the market. If people don't have the patience & time to do their homework, buy direct or deal with trusted collectors that's their price to pay for impulsiveness and/or ignorance. Perhaps it's time we stop commenting on this shitshow and let that cockroach crawl back into gutter he emerged from... On an upbeat note: agreed with Manny that this bootlegging nonsense will end up a being positive for all the artists whose work was appropriated, making their authentic product more valued and appreciated in the wake of all this.
I agree with most of this but I don't think it's time to just ignore the guy altogether. He keeps booting new stuff in new colors so it's still nice to be able to see what new toys have been faked. Plus he blocked anyone who ever commented about the bootlegs on his page so lots of people here can't even see what he's doing anymore. Like another user here commented in another thread it seems like some "legit" people might be getting fooled into painting real MVH toys with fake heads. Or maybe it was on purpose. Who knows but not talking about it surely won't help at all.
^^ Fair enough. Not talking about it isn't the solution, but I'm skeptical this thread has any sway over the demographic most likely to buy the junk: the uninformed & impulsive newbie collectors. IG is the battleground and many have spoken up there, which is great... but it seems to be a losing battle with Mr. Bootlegger silencing critics and well-intentioned informers with the push of a button. So what can be done? This just came to me on the fly, and the undertaking would require a LOT of work. "Official ____ Database" IG account run by a knowledgable collector (with the artist's blessing & input) *not suggesting diving down the painted run/micro/1-off rabbit hole... but a comprehensive database compiling official blank releases could in theory help those looking to distinguish the real from the fake. Yeah, it's a far-fetched idea... but crazy ones are better than none, right?
Why would the "demographic most likely to buy the junk" care about the database? Even if they did, how would they find out about the databases existence? It seem that those most knowledgeable in collecting will either be able to identify it for themselves, or will be able to with the friend's or artist's help.
If Instagram is where the battle needs to be fought: - Create a hashtag like #sammyshitbagsisabootlegger (or whatever the guy's name is) - Use the hashtag along with Sammy Shit Bags' most frequently used hashtags. It should pop up when people click on his tags. - Extra credit: get a sponsor account and make sure your negative posts about Sammy Shit Bags pop up on peoples' home pages
Given the dude only has 400 followers (and most look like spam accounts) . . . I question whether anyone's actually buying, or even interested in this junk? You may be actually giving the asshat more attention than he'd get if he were just left to shrivel up and die.
He's got some regular buyers now it seems. Those that seem to be supporting the dude are more noobish, with a sense of entitlement/I need it now syndrome.
