I've been having bad luck with the lotteries i've entered lately, so I was surprised to see that invoice pop into my inbox this morning. Excited to see this guy in person!
I also got the invoice and am hoping this will be my turn around with some bad lottery luck. Also looking forward to the toy!
Well, I’m daft as hell and didn’t notice this recent iteration of Gigara is a tribute to the Bullmark Aboras. Only feel silly as I owned a reissue at one point and it didn’t even click until Shirahama posted his Aboras with Gigara. Even still, I’m excited to see this one in hand and take it out to some greenery for photos!
Congrats, @Bob!!! I think mine will be landing Thursday? Hopefully! Looks like it’d fit comfortably between the two Godesu in that second photo there!
This Aboras tribute version of Gigara perfectly fits alongside the Arstron Godesu, as both friend and foe! The vinyl base is so…pretty! I don’t know what other word to use! I love how vibrant Lenny - San’s paint mixtures and applications are. The deeper aqua/green spine is a nice offset against the majority blue sprays, as well. And, as always, the eyes, horns and teeth are just goddamn perfect!!! Spoiler
Beautiful photos Robert! The new bouncy ball is just a wonderful touch (the plastic bag is also unique to Gigara). I'm very happy with the toy overall, but found a couple of odd marks. Unsure if they're scuffs from shipping or intentional, as some areas on the upper thighs were left blank intentionally on this release to avoid scuffing, and these parts on the arms would contact those areas. They do look pretty out of place though. Edit: these seem to be a normal result of the painting process, so no issue
Edited to delete my comment. Didn’t mean to be a bummer, but just more of a documentation of it if it was a wide problem
@zindabad If you watch the video Lenny posted to IG of him applying the blue the arms are in the down position so the 2 points on the arms would be touching the legs so it looks like all of them will have this.
@grosspustule honestly, I’d be surprised if you are offered a replacement. It sucks that yours came with scratches, but given the nature of the thing- how they’re painted, the number painted, how they were shipped (across the world, then across the country) It’d be a hell of a lot to get yours back to Lenny, and another one into your hands. I think at best it’s a moment that Lenny, and CB might be able to learn from for future releases to prevent this from happening; but that’s all. I think this release will go down with an asterisk in its history, mentioning that scratching on the arms and thighs were common due to shipping, and it will just be an accepted unfortunate reality.
Suck it up dude. Damage can and does occur during shipment, especially if a maker is trying his best to do a good size run and please a lot of fans. From my experience, Lenny is a class act to deal with from start to finish. I understand it’s disappointing to receive a damaged toy, I have received hundreds at this point. That’s life unfortunately. You should have saved your public grievances for a shitty eBay seller, and not a toy maker who is trying very hard to do right by his fans. Just my two cents.
I totally get it, and didn't mean to be such a bummer. Sorry guys! I put up those photos (which i'll remove) just as documentation for others if theirs had similar damage. I was lucky up till now and only ever received a damaged toy when buying 2nd hand. I'll keep my bummer-zone to myself. Didn't mean to stink up the forum!
You weren’t being a bummer, and I would have left the photos up just as you said; as documentation of what happened. You’re completely within your right to be bummed out. I think @Michael Beverage and I were just saying basically the same thing, maybe he was just a bit more upfront and brutally honest about it. These toys can be fragile; and sometimes scratches happen.
No apologies necessary at all, just giving some constructive criticism that will help you win lottos in the future. Collecting is a marathon not a sprint, so always good to take the long view. I have literally received damaged toys from every maker I collect over the years, and the majority of the time I would place blame on the postal carriers if I had to. But if I were a maker trying to pack say, 50-100 toys in a big run, I would most assuredly not have a perfect track record. It’s very easy for toys to get rubs via shipping or otherwise.
I think I was incorrectly imagining (and hoping) vinyl toy releases were somehow in a similar realm as limited LP releases, where the person doing the release holds back some extra LP jackets & records incase of shipping damage. They could easily have an extra leg or arm thrown into a future order without any hassle to the buyer or maker (and without need to ship the whole toy back). Regardless, I know all this should be discussed with the seller/maker instead of on a forum I really love the toy! A chunky big guy that looks classic and fresh at the same time!
Discussing this stuff is kind of the point of the forum. Don't let anyone try to make you feel bad about it. I am sure there are people who HATE scuffed toys and will be happy to read this and avoid the toy knowing it is probably scuffed already. Your info here is a service to the community. You have every right to be annoyed. You paid money for something new and it was damaged. It's up to you to decide if you still want it or would prefer a refund or to sell your toy to someone else. Some toy makers feel really bad about scuffs or shipping damage and do everything they can to fix the situation. Other makers could not give a shit at all. It's the same with collectors. Scuffs annoy me on brand new toys so I tend to chase blanks more than anything else. The fact someone is "a class act" doesn't mean you need to be okay with getting damaged toys from them or that you shouldn't share your experience with people here to see if anyone else has dealt with the same thing.
Not to be a dick, but 2/3 of the toys I get have a blemish, wether it’s paint scratches, scratches on the vinyl from pulling it out of the mold. Air bubbles, loose joints, dirt or debris in the actual vinyl. If you are going to be upset by every little defect you should really consider if this is the hobby for you. And again I’m not trying to be a dick but every toy is going to be a coin toss, and if you are going to be disapointed when the wrong side of the coin turns up, well it’s just not fun. You could collect vintage where everything is beat up. You can try to change your mentality to understanding it’s a hand made item even the vinyl pulls. But I know that is easier said then done.
It is terrible to receive a toy that has damage when it is new and you basically need to just deal with it as they are rare and impossible to get second hand without a 5x mark-up. In two cases I received a toy with paint damage I was able to send it back to the artist for touch up work and I really appreciated it. Those makers were both in the US so shipping/return was much easier.
Wouldn't consider any of these a "blemish", since they're faults inherent to the medium and most indie & mainstream sofubi toy makers regularly point out the possibility that they might occur. Scratched paint caused to the finished toy by poor handling/packaging however pisses me off and generally shouldn't happen if you are selling $100-$150 "toys" imho. That said, this seems more like a weird painting oversight...