Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others

Discussion in 'Japan Toys' started by chimply.kaiju, Aug 18, 2011.

  1. IronPaw

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    This is a bit unrelated, but reminded me of a “collector” from China that I met in line for Mori-Sans shop. I asked how long he had been collecting rxh, he said about 2 years. I asked if he collected anything else, he said Utsugiyo. Anything else, butanohana. Then I mentioned other makers; Gargamel, Cometdebris, Secret Base, M1Go, Yamomark. He didn’t know who any of those makers or toys were. I couldn’t believe it but then remembered, he is just chasing what’s hot or whatever he can flip. It was a bit enraging.
     
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  2. zindabad

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    That's kind of it. I'm definitely selling out a bit, but try to take photos of all my toys pretty consistently to spam less. Rubs me the wrong way when someone's feed becomes 100% one maker at lotto time, like they've stopped appreciating the great work of everyone else they collect.

    So if the options are posting your collection nonstop and feeling like an ass, or paying the aftermarket price and feeling like a bigger ass... perhaps the only way to win is not to play.
     
  3. Michael Beverage

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    You gots to play to win gurl, haaaaaaay
     
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  4. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Yeah, I suspect an experience like this would have provoked some involuntary face twitching in me as well. This whole new scene is just so disparate from - IMO - what was/is a simple hobby appreciating plastic toys.

    As @Beantime said, stuff like this BS posturing, overhyping, hyper-speculative inflation, flipping, etc., etc., just makes it really disappointing to fans who just genuinely want to have some cool figures and who happen to like some of the aesthetic HxS offers/ed. There are more than a few really good folks who have just stepped away, completely reasonably, to just avoid the whole headache and toxic nature which has come to more the norm than the exception.
     
  5. JoeMan

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    I think many of us who have been around for a decade +, know that back in the day you had to actively seek out info and find new toy makers, find foreign obscure Japanese websites, or blogs with links to all of them. Maybe you joined SB and were able to explore it all through new threads. Now people just get a direct feed to their instagram and don't need to expand any effort searching. Truthfully someone like Mori created such a large output these days, I can see how you could be almost fully occupied collecting his stuff, so much of it ends up on Mandarake and the Japanese and Chinese secondary market sites, even if you can't make his releases, you can spend plenty of coin just chasing it and don't need to search out other stuff.
     
  6. Anti Social Andy

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    There’s also a cynical Yorkshireman that’s almost forced to step away (definitely not a ‘really good folk’), just because the ‘direct offer’ route tends to favour newer collectors, unfamiliar with the $100 Gorilla Ju days, who are are happy to pay big for the privilege.

    Any ‘good collectors’ on Skulldrain received the DM?
     
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  7. ---NT---

    ---NT--- Prototype

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Be patient. You'll be able to get these toys in 10 years for under $100. If you really like them, it'll be worth the wait.
     
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  8. Mecha

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    I doubt the prices will ever ebb back in that direction, but good on you for staying positive.

    And remember folks...

    YOU CAN'T TAKE ANY OF IT WITH YOU..
    :twisted:
     
  9. Michael Beverage

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Fuck that, I’m already putting aside cash for a sarcophagus so I can stuff as many toys as possible in my place of repose. Egyptian style! :lol:

    Honestly, when it gets to the point that it has with HxS lottos, the fun is long gone. I chase a couple hyped makers, but I’m not gonna prostrate myself at anyone’s feet for a toy.

    Also Hirota is just encouraging the shitty behavior on IG...the people who flood our feeds with nothing but gorilla pics for weeks on end get picked more frequently.

    If you are a true fan of a line and want the maker to know through social media, it should be evident from your IG account. Not just your last week of posts. Makers should be able to figure that out. At the end of the day it’s a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease I guess.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2019
  10. Waterbear

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Imagine a fine art gallery where not only do you have to have the ridiculous funds to buy the art you want but you also have to somehow convince the artist that you deserve the piece more than anyone else and that no matter what you will never part with it because it means more to you than anything else you could ever need money for.

    No thank you.
     
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  11. ---NT---

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    And then imagine that, instead of this occurring in a fine art gallery representing a world-renowned artist, this were to take place on Instagram for a vinyl toy created by someone collected by 10s of people, and recognized by perhaps hundreds of people.
     
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  12. eckotyper

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    To each their own on if you choose to post content related to the lotteries as they are going down. IG has changed the game. I personally am going through my shelves now to appreciate a new toy a day, while dusting off the toys, and cleaning the shelf, before they all go back on that said shelf. i'm using this opportunity to appreciate each piece a little more than i may have previously. finding new angles and portions of the sculpt, or how the specific patch of marble set etc. I saw the Hirota post, and figured i'd make a simple comment because it is indeed a nice piece and just move on. I personally was not going to break out the Hirota just to snap pics in hopes of hyping my chances. The Hirota will come on my feed when I chose for it to, i'm refusing to buy into this new "look at me, im a real fan" type of collecting, 3d,4d, green screen images etc. it just screams look at me, pick me, pick me. Entitlement seems to be at a all time high to some specific people in this hobby. Not calling anyone out, but if you feel some type of way of that last sentence, perhaps you should reevaluate why you collect. Some are chasing a certain Status Quo with what they choose to collect. Old collectors you can't help it if some of the items in your collection are now they Hype thing to collect. Trust that I know there is plenty of things not worth more than a nickel in your collection as well. It's almost laughable seeing new age collectors with a wants list along the lines of Utsugiyo, MVH, Uzumark, Hirota, Ilu Ilu only. It's also kind of weird seeing some old collectors who had zero interest in certain lines of toys, now falling over backwards for them. Did you all of a sudden see something you didn't before? or just falling in line with the times now that the line is more mainstream than it once was before?
     
  13. JoeMan

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    These days with popular sofubi, the collector numbers can be more around 1000, with recognition by tens of thousands.
     
  14. chimply.kaiju

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Sofubitology. God will not let you in to Heaven if you do not have the hypest toy with the coolest Instagram. :D
     
  15. xSuicide Squadx

    xSuicide Squadx Super Deformed

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    I do this same thing, and more often times than not, not even when I’m dusting. I just walk through the house and somethin’ will happen to catch my eye, so I pick it up and play with the limbs and do some goofy, fun shit with it for a little, and return it to its place. But it’s fun in its own right to just handle these toys and appreciate all that goes into their existence. I genuinely can’t see most of these IG hype collectors as anything but a bunch of cheap thrill seekers putting their toys into filing cabinets and only rifling through the folders when they need something to fit shitty photo criteria and hashtag filling.
     
  16. IronPaw

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    I’d totally agree if Mandrake were full of only RxH, Utsugiyo, and Buta but there’s such a huge variety of pieces at still hyped prices that it still seems it just about getting the likes. There’s plenty of Comedebris, M1, and even Splurrt in those packed cases! :D
     
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  17. kid_miracleman

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Can with start calling Hirota "Gorilla Shig" yet?
     
  18. analog101

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    I don’t think that is a fair comparison. Hirota has been around the vinyl scene for a long time and was involved in some really classic sculpts, as well as continuing to pull vinyl for himself and others. I think he found himself in this situation rather than having it always be the end goal. How many $100-200 sculpts did he watch get flipped for $2,000 before he just cut out the middleman? I used to love winning an hxs lotto(didn’t happen often) and having the total be under $300 for a large painted toy. I still have everything I’ve ever won, or bought retail at a show. I miss the affordability, but I don’t begrudge him or any other artist their prices. They went all in to a career that has no safety net, no healthcare benefits, etc. they can’t make toys forever, and if this paves a way for a more secure life, I understand, even if my wallet can’t hang.
     
  19. Anti Social Andy

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Not even close!
     
  20. patrickvaz

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    I think the thing that really pisses me off, is that after like 7 got dam years of trying for a win, now I don’t have a chance without being a c*cksucker. No thanks. Would of been nice to win just once so it was all, idk, worth it? Oh well, maybe I’ll sell my Mr X set for 5 g units so I can stop working 3 jobs to pay for my wedding 8)
     
  21. gatiio

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others

    Wait, Mr X is going for 5k? I need a few ebay postings to make.
     
  22. Michael Beverage

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Agreed, Hirota has contributed a ton to the hobby and the popularity he has found himself experiencing is largely not by his design. I think I won 5 or so lottos since 2013, and feel fortunate to have done so. I moved on from collecting his stuff before the hype went stratospheric, so I have nothing to get upset about in terms of the relative inaccessibility of his toys these days.

    The constant IG spamming is just interminably annoying. I think he could do something to curtail that...just simply ask his fans to chill out a bit at lotto time.
     
  23. doomsDAY

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Pre-“HxSxK”/IG era was the best. The good ol’ days...when this thread was only active after the email window was closed and you felt like shyt if you missed it. :mrgreen:
     
  24. Spaceman Yells

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    Hirota Saigansho: Gorilla-ju, Mecha Gorilla-ju, & Others
    Are you saying personal integrity & psychological stability are more important than temporarily perceived coolness from complete strangers on the internet...?

    HOW. DARE. YOU. 8)
     
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  25. Spaceman Yells

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    Seriously, though. It’s a great point.
     
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