Glad you brought over all those good points. Since we are going to use the term artist (loosely), shouldn't they have a say in whats done with the piece? Or at least in the way its treated? Im sure you wouldn't want your work erased off, no less erased off the toy you created? Same deal with blanks, I imagine some of the toy gods would like to see the unpainted remain monster kolor free, especially if they only sell 2 or 3 of them. If your an up and coming toy ruiner, contact them and see if they will do a run with you ruining. I think any of the artists should be able to ask for this, it is their work of art your trying to paint over.
I have some blanks that I definitely would never paint over, but not because it's a blank Bemon (I wish) or any other hyped toy.. It's just that I bought the toy because I wanted a blank to sit next to the painted version because I liked the details of the sculpt. Of course there are some unwritten rules when it comes to stripping one-offs but really (as a poor example because I hope nobody would ever do this) if you spend $500 on a Naoya custom Deathra then you have pretty much paid for the right to strip it and paint over it if you want to. I would hate to see that happen, and to any other toy that somebody has taken the time to paint but we really don't have any say in what happens after we sell our toys. People can flip them, display them in sunlight, blow cigarette smoke all over them, give them to their kids to smash into the road or paint over them after paying to own that toy. I have my reasons for buying blanks and other people have their own reasons.. the original producer doesn't have a say in what happens to their toy (painted or unpainted) after I hand my money over. Just like if I bought a painting from somebody they have no say in how I frame it or where I'm going to hang it on my wall..
There was a guy that made news around the web in the last few years that was buying expensive paintings or prints or something and then cutting them up to collage into his own work. Cant remember the exact details,but its a similar thing. Its definitely a weird idea to me to spend the money on original art only to paint over it or strip it.
I dunno... Sure it's yours once you buy it, but if you're an artist then you should understand the amount of love that goes into painting. To just erase that by stripping it and then putting your own paint on it... It's disrespectful. You're fully within your rights to do so, but that doesn't mean you aren't a major douchenozzle. I don't understand why they couldn't just wait for a blank release or tried to contact the artists themselves to possibly get their hands on a blank... y'know, explain that you really want to paint one. Maybe a deal could have been worked out. Maybe even a collaborative run, and everyone would have been happy. But nope, he decided to go this route, and he's going to have to face the ire of collectors who would have happily kept that toy in its original state and enjoyed it for years to come.
I think so as well - I'm just trying to be neutral here about the whole thing. In the case of the Cadaver Kid how easy was it to get a blank? As far as I can remember there was a lottery release for a light blue version.. so if you're somebody who was attracted to this scene as a painter you gotta jump at any chance to get your hands on a sculpt because it might be your only chance for some toys. If only it were that easy! Which brings me to the more constructive (and less pitchfork wielding mob style) discussion of encouraging some of the more popular toy makers to release open pre-orders (or at least capped orders if overwhelming factories is an issue) for blanks in the future. I have high hopes one day to see guys like MVH, PK, Splurrt, Shig, HxS do something like this. There's one issue that could be discouraging these guys from doing it which is they would be undercutting themselves in prices they have set for certain sculpts - they have built their toys up to a premium level of pricing and desirability through the quality of their work, years put in and scarcity of releases etc. It's only speculation but that could be a real concern. One example of it working successfully is Elegab's blank festival releases - he was selling blanks for 3000yen of toys that he would normally sell for 8500yen+ and it hasn't affected the demand for his releases at all. It would be nice to see something like this happen. Not only for our wallets for a lot of us a release like this would be a great chance to own a piece from toymakers that we admire but either miss out because releases are gone within minutes or we can't afford the price of painted releases. And then we can painted them without being called a "major douchenozzle"
It would be great to see more blanks for artist to use,or at least form a safe way for people who enjoy painting these incredible toys without stepping on anyone's toes.
I've got a cheap B-Club Jamira that I wouldn't mind trying something out with so I'm going to attempt to strip my first toy. I guess this thread is as good of a place as any to ask this question.. I've heard both Lacquer Thinner and Acetone are good options for stripping figures, is one better than the other??
I was able to safely strip the paint off of resin with a soak in concentrated Simple Green, but that's as far as my experience with stripping goes. Be prepared to rinse a LOT though, that shit foams up.
Did you ever end up doing this? How'd it turn out and what did you use? I have a toy that I'd like to repaint, it's a common toy and the paint is somewhat damaged (which is why I was able to buy it for cheap). It's japanese vinyl with I'm presuming something like V-color paint. The paint job is simple with probably not very many coats. Anyone know how best to strip it down to the vinyl, or would it even work to just paint over the existing paint job? I plan on using V-color
It is almost impossible to tell in a lot of cases what has been a blank, or what might have been stripped, but I thought what with a lot of the conversation happening in the 'Fugly' thread, it is worth shifting some of that here to have a serious discussion over; versus just dumping all over [genuinely horrible atrocities we would be grateful of never having been exposed to] toys in that space. I know there was recent discussion of this recent Gargamel figure Glenn had shared, and I also just today saw a Toygraph Godzilla (hard enough to come by in the 2020 toy market) painted up in camouflage. I mean to each their own, and people can obviously do whatever they want with their possessions (even if it is throw them on the BBQ ), but that doesn't mean we can't also have a civilised discourse* over the merits of impacting on an artist's original vision/work, and, in a much smaller way, the toy collecting fans. So anyhow, seemed like a good time to raise up this topic again. * oh wait, this is Skullbrain right?
