What started your sofubi addiction?

Discussion in 'Whatever' started by MyVinylVeins, Dec 10, 2019.

  1. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    Curious as to how you all got into collecting these vinyl gems. I've been collecting toys since I can remember, focusing, primarily, on the retro wonder-filled toys of my childhood. Growing up in the 80s, I'm convinced, was the best generation for toys and no one can tell me otherwise lol. They will always hold a special place in my plastic heart. That said, it wasn't until a little less than a year ago, that I was even made aware of sofubi. A friend, someone I now consider my best friend, introduced me to them after noticing a photo of me surrounded by toys lol. We started talking about our collecting addictions and he eventually showed me his cases :shock:! Immediately I knew this was going to be a problem... I mean, I love toys and I'm an artist and these are art toys lol ffs just stick a needle in my arm lol So what about you guys? When, where, how did your plastic love affair begin? <3
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2019
  2. Bob

    Bob Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    I’ve been collecting vinyl for about 4 years now. Always collected stuff mostly comics and original comic artwork and bought up various toys especially Transformers and other robots. Picked up a couple of Fierce legend of super robot toys and when looking for a checklist to see what others were in the line I found SB. Got my first Gargamel lucky bag a couple of months later and been stuck on vinyl kaiju since.
     
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  3. The Moog

    The Moog Die-Cast

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    A visit to Japan in 2008, wandering around Manga book shops turned into wandering around toy shops. I'd seen Bandai stuff in the UK before, but it was nothing compared to actual sofubi.

    I then got home and started researching all types of sofubi, stumbled across photos of RxH stuff. Immediately started ordering RxH Mini Neko, Daruma and fight figures. I then branched out into tokusatsu Kaiju/Kaijin after RxH started my addiction.
     
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  4. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @Bob - An accidental discovery then! Did you have any idea what the contents of that lucky bag could be prior to ordering? or it was a shot in the dark? Gargamel makes such smooth sculpts <3 I'm kind of obsessed with his sculpt of Jon's Micro UU and his S7 Skeletor lol. What did you end up getting in that lucky bag?

    @The Moog - OMFG I can only imagine what it was like to walk around in those toy stores <3 #BucketList lol. Did you end up purchasing anything in Japan or you waited until after you got back?

    Great stories guys, thanks for sharing =) <3
     
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  5. Bob

    Bob Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @MyVinylVeins yeah a complete accident and I’d never even head of sofubi before then. Didn’t know much about what was in the lucky bags but I’d seen a couple of the toys as the US bags were starting to land at the time I joined the board. I immediately fell in love with the Deathra and scored one in my bag and was hooked from there. Gargamel are still my favourite makers to this day.
     
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  6. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @Bob Nice little score! Its always nice when you get what you're hoping for in those bags. Deathra is a cool scupt.
     
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  7. The Moog

    The Moog Die-Cast

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @MyVinylVeins
    I spent most of my money just getting to Japan, so I couldn't buy much. I did get a large vinyl Tachikoma (spider tank from Ghost in the Shell) by Medicom. Its a beauty and I still have it. I thought the sofubi was insanely expensive at the time (it still is, but I got over it).

    Most of the toy shops I saw were very small and densely packed, but some of the Manga bookshops were huge. There was a Book-off in Hiroshima near the train station that was massive. They had toys/models on the top floor and at least 3 floors of books. CD's/Vinyl was in the basement.

    Shopping in Japan is insane, they have so much choice. So many cool little places to discover.
     
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  8. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @The Moog - Sounds like an incredible experience. I've seen what the shops are like in documentaries and it's insane! :shock: probably a nightmare for people with OCD lmfao. Sofubi is damn expensive! the initial sticker shock took me a minute to get over, myself :razz:...especially since I was used to flea market/ garage sale prices. As a retro toy collector, thats where I did most of my toy hunting, $200 is a far cry from $2.00 lol but hey, they aren't just toys, they're art, which makes the prices justifiable in my eyes....just wish I wasn't so broke :oops::razz:
     
  9. Mr Fox

    Mr Fox Addicted

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    The 80s also has resonance for me (I'm still convinced that the majority of the best artists were spawned in that decade... a few naff ones as well!) and I was one of those sad children that really looked after my toys back then. My Mum was a single parent and I recognised just how hard she worked, so I think that appreciation and care stemmed from there. This meant a lot of my toys survived and I’ve kept many of them to this day.

    When I moved out, University days, I didn't have a lot of money to decorate, so I tended to use some of the larger pieces I had (Millennium Falcon, AT-AT, Slave One, etc) to make my place look more interesting, alongside film posters. Having those toys around meant that I never really stopped enjoying having them as a visual element in my life and it continues until today.

    I've always loved the Universal Monsters and, for a reason I can't quite put my finger on, Japan; therefore, it wasn't a big leap from vintage toys to Sofubi. I'm heavily into art and the blend of monsters, irreverence, DIY art, Japan and a sense that it isn't mainstream appealed to me.

    At times I feel like that kid in the 70s and 80s, the only difference is my budget is more and I don't eat as much candy.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2019
  10. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @Mr Fox - You're a wonderful story teller <3 Love how you paint with your words. I was very carful with my toys as well. My love never faded, it just got more expensive lol. Thank you for sharing =)
     
  11. Madmax405

    Madmax405 Addicted

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    I'm typing this sentence lastly, only to realize I just typed a wall of text and if you don't want to read it, that's totally OK ;)

    Like many others here, once a collector, always a collector. When I was a child (~10-12) I collected Garfield toys and other memorabilia. Then it was Lord of the Rings (Fellowship movie came out when I was 14), and I was getting so many LoTR toys. I continued collecting LoTR and also started buying some Star Wars stuff throughout highschool. Including a huge collection of Star Wars Customizable Card Game cards. To this day I have a giant plastic tub in the back of my walk-in closet that probably has more than 50 pounds of cards in it.

    My spending habits in the early college years were admittedly not really collection focused. After all, you don't really have the space to collect anyway. But in the middle of college (maybe around 2007-2008) I discovered toy makers like JLed, Kozik, Kidrobot, and Tokidoki. I was buying mostly little blind box D unnys and other small items for around $10 each. At this point I at least had a bedroom of my own, so I could make a little display.

    After I graduated college in 2010 and got a place of my own, that was when I really started collecting as I know it today. Back then I was buying mostly western vinyl (again Kidrobot and JLed, but now the larger 8" figures) and art prints (from Mondo and the like). That was followed by ThreeA and Coarse. Around this time (approximately 2012) I made my first large sofubi purchase. I spent somewhere around $300 on Kidrobot forums and received a fair amount of Sofubi including a GID guts Deathra, a Zagoran in Airplane, a few Crouching guys, and a Ggml Makaimura set. Back then, I honestly had no idea of the difference between western vinyl and sofubi, and I didn't even know the word was sofubi. I could tell the toys were made in Japan, but I didn't put much thought into it at all.

    Between 2012-2016 I slowed down on the art prints (walls are full!) and slowly built up my collection of western vinyl toys, buying mainly from ThreeA, Kidrobot, and Coarse. At some point during these years, I began to slow down on these too. I loved the design of the large threeA robots, but the quality wasn't doing it for me, and they took up too much space. Not to mention, there is a lot of effort in displaying these types of action figures, and they only look good together if everything you own is at the same scale. But, I was still a toy collector at heart. At this point I owned more Gargamel, some Instinctoy, and some other sofubi figures that would be more popular in the west (think like Negora from Konatsu). But I wasn't on IG, and I still didn't fully understand the difference.

    Around 2017 purchases slowed down a lot. The Kidrobot forum was virtually dead by this point, and I didn't really have collector friends. I wasn't on Instagram either. I knew that Five Points Festival came to NYC, but I was taking my CPA exams at that same time, so I couldn't even go! Facebook, followed by Instagram, was what really got me passionate about toys again. At some point earlier in 2017 I realized I could use Facebook to connect with like minded individuals, and it is there that I met so many people, including someone who I would call one of my closest friends to this day. I think he was also on his transition from Western toys to sofubi at the same time, so I like to think we went on this journey together, watching each other's collections grow and continue to evolve.

    In January of 2018 I started lurking on Skullbrain, and eventually made my own account. And I think in the late half of 2017 to first quarter of 2018 is when I really learned about sofubi and switched priorities for my collecting. I sold off a lot of my Western vinyl in this time, only keeping a fraction of choice pieces. I held on to a few of my favorite 8" d unnys, a Coarse Paw Rainbow, a sizeable ESC-Toy collection, in addition to a pretty nice ThreeA lineup. But, I got rid of all my KAWS, and tons of other stuff. And in the beginning of 2018, I finally made an Instagram. I am quite proud of some of the pictures I have taken of my toys, and have made a bit of a hobby of taking cool pictures (curse you Winter months!!)

    There are a few reasons why I have now settled on sofubi and why I don't see it changing...

    To me, sofubi was the perfect marriage, it was basically what I was always looking for that I never knew how much I needed. I was always collecting "art", and I was always collecting "toys." To me, I think sofubi is the perfect marriage of "Art" and "toy," far superior to western vinyl in this regard. Sofubi is much more playful. You can carry it around and take it outside. You can swap body parts. There's no intricate setups as there is with ThreeA , and to me personally, most designer toys made out of resin is more "sculpt" than "toy." I love the toy part, I don't want that to be lost amongst the "art." And the other part that really hooked me, is the sofubi community.. Sofubi is a niche hobby, even amongst "designer toy" collectors. The fact is, in sofubi you really can feel like you know a good amount of the people in the hobby, including the artists! After all, in sofubi, the artist may be the very same person assembling, painting, and shipping the toy. It just feels a lot more hands-on, and I feel a much deeper connection with the artist. I cherish the connections I have and the friendships I have made with the other sofvi artists and collectors, and I hope to make many more in the future. I'm sappy and proud!

    EDIT- TIL SB has the word "D unny" in the profanity filter.:lol:
     
  12. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @Madmax405 - lol, quite the little journey! I agree, as an artist and art collector, I too found the marriage of art and toys to be irresistible. I have, since, abandoned my retro toy collection to focus on sofubi...although I still collect art and mineral rocks, I just don't go out of my way to hunt those categories down. Thank you for sharing =) <3
     
  13. IzzyRodriguez

    IzzyRodriguez Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    When I was around 3 or 4, my mom would take me to Olvera Street in Downtown LA. There was frequently a ton of bootleg toys i/e Power Rangers, Disney films, and vibrantly colored plastic dinosaurs. I immediately went for the dinosaurs, specifically the T Rex. He was hot pink, yellow and blue. It kind of sparked my love for oddly-colored toys, especially reptilian monsters.

    I grew up watching Godzilla films with family, but I really enjoyed (now in retrospective cannot stand) Godzilla 1998. I had a toy of their version of Godzilla I would take EVERYWHERE with me as a kid, even to school. I became super into drawing monsters and dragons and always enjoyed collecting them even into my late teens. I had seen sculpts from Biskup and Konatsu on Tumblr from art and toy accounts and thought they were beautiful, but never bothered looking into it until a few years later.

    Then one day, in early 2014, my friend took her and me to Little Tokyo. I had never even heard of it before, DESPITE it being so damn close to Olvera all these years!!! We looked around until we got to QPop and Jungle. There wasn't much sofubi in QPop at the time but there was an entire case of Godzillas. The top shelf had TONS of these weird multicolored and clear versions(mostly Bandai theater releases but some M1) and I was entranced. There was this beautiful translucent Bandai Godzilla, and at least 3 of them. I wanted one but I literally had 10 dollars to my name at the time and just vowed to go back. By the time I went back (months later) it was gone and I was devastated. So when I went home that day, I hopped online and searched up "translucent Godzilla toy' and then "(insert color) Godzilla" which led me to Skullbrain, which then led me to search up what kind of toy names and characters there were that WASN'T just Godzilla. This search led me to toys that were posted on threads here on Skullbrain. As an artist who draws cartoons, I immediately gravitated towards Tim Biskup, especially Rangeas. And then that led me to T9G. I also adored Marmit, M1, and Marusan and how beautifully colored they were. I became well aware of the pricing and realized how much love and effort were put into these toys, and since they reminded me of an old childhood T Rex, I was super into it. I began to slowly save up for ones I really wanted and here I am, 6 years later burning damn holes in my freaking pocket.

    I miss Toy Art Gallery. I'll never forget my first visit, right before I was going to catch a musical with my friends I was in the area and bought a few Vinyl Artist Gacha Rangeas. And then I found out the store had the Plant Rangeas and I asked when I could buy, they gave it to me a day before. Very thankful and grateful.
    My first major con was DCon 2015.
     
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  14. Lalo

    Lalo Mini Boss

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    ah, jungle. spent many hours there back in the day. still hit it up when i go visit family.
     
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  15. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
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  16. hellscrape

    hellscrape Comment King

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    I was a western vinyl collector and always saw sofubi on the KR forums, but the seemingly labyrinthine application process and the stories about the chewed up noobs meant I stayed away until 2012-13. There was this clear pink skull by Secret Base with Bowie stripe and rainbow glitter that I was obsessing about online. I'd made a couple of very tiny sofubi purchases already, but when I was pointed in the right direction by old timer Josh Kade and picked it up on Mandarake (what is this amazing store??? I thought!). Once I got it, oh so many weeks later (damn you SAL shipping) I was enchanted and never went back!

    I've maintained a very small collection of my personal favorites that has ebbed and flowed since then. This skull is still right here, right on top of the display stand. As I type this, I realize that it's my avatar. I guess I still like it.
     
  17. MyVinylVeins

    MyVinylVeins Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    @hellscrape Lmfao, that store can be dangerous if you’re not careful. I feel like I have a similar approach to collecting. I only buy what I love I t he color ways that I love... made a couple of mistakes but for the most part, I love everything I’ve purchased so far. That Bowie skull is pretty kick ass <3 love me some bright colors and some David Bowie lol. Thanks for sharing :)
     
  18. Smotemotem

    Smotemotem Toy Prince

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    I collected keshi several years ago. I hosted my pictures on Instagram. I didn’t have any real focus, so I was following a lot of collectors who also had soft vinyl, and I was going to websites that either sold kaiju toys or had news about upcoming releases. I bought a few minis, but again, my focus was very scattered. I wound up selling off those minis, and I’ve only replaced one, to date.

    I took a four or five year break, collecting other things along the way. Nothing looks good on a shelf like soft vinyl monsters, though. Once in a while I would just google “kaiju toys” or “sofubi collection”, and just look at those wonderful walls of color. I had gotten back into watching kaiju movies, including “Godzilla: King of Monsters,” and found a few reasonably-priced listings for a Vinyl Wars Ghidorah. I started lurking here again, as well. I bought a few newer toys, but I was growing more fond of the old sculpts. Around that same time, the Criterion Collection dropped to about 40%-50% of its regular price. I had my goals set: I was going to watch all the Godzilla movies (and the other Toho films that tie-in with Godzilla), with my wife. And I was going to have a soft vinyl version of as many of those Toho monsters as possible.

    Still working on both goals. We have about 14 or 15 movies to go, and if things settle down, I’d like to try and pick up at least 5 or 6 more toys this year.
     
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  19. ARB

    ARB Addicted

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    What started your sofubi addiction?
    [​IMG]
    [Not my pic]

    This one started it for me after I bought it at Kid Robot NY in 2010
     

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