well, personally I don't really buy customs at all, except for a few special instances, and often I buy those more to mark an event or friendship moreso than because I'm in love with the toy. they hold more sentimental value to me. I prefer to collect stock. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but in my opinion there is too much customizing going on. I don't particularly care for the whole participatory/I-want-to-be-apart-of-this-too aspect of the hobby. I think only a handful of people are really good at it and approach the customization process from a well thought out standpoint of what is going to be original or look best on the sculpt. I think a lot of people are like "these colors look hot together!" and then just spray them on. yuck-o. I'm not saying that people shouldn't embrace their hobbies and want to be a part of them, but I think everyone can do that and contribute something in their own way. I'm artsy/handy in certain ways, but painting isn't necessarily one of them, so I don't try to paint toys. I guess you could say that you never learn if you never try, but I just feel like if I wanted to I could contribute something in a different way that I'm a little more skilled in. and whatever happened to contributing simply by being a dedicated collector? by sticking with something and amassing a solid collection rather than selling off one thing to buy the next new cool thing seems like it would be a contribution in itself anymore. it just seems to me sometimes that everyone just wants to jump on the bandwagon. I liked a lot of these toys initially because I felt like the culture surrounding them wasn't like that. I understand the excitement for it and the urge to go out and create something of your own that comes along with this stuff, but... it's kinda like when older punk bands would tour and then kids would see them and get all into it and then go and start their own bands. one one hand, it's totally awesome and inspiring, but on the other, what's the ratio of those new bands that are actually really good vs. the amount that play like 4 shows in someone local weirdos basement and break up because no one can stand to listen to them?
Not only is customizing taking kaiju to a new level, but it's giving folks a great way to show what they've got, which can lead to bigger and better things. There's a growing list of folks who have gone from customizing to creating "production" pieces. (Which is a bit of a misnomer. since in many cases the official "production" figure is handpainted by the customizer/designer anyway, not by a factory.) Pachi kaiju is the toy democratizer - the playing field is leveled and folks with talent all have a shot. Heck, most new kaiju companies started out as booth renters at toy shows, moving upward and onward from there. Judging by the increasing number of collabs between kaiju makers and customizers/artists, along with the ENCOURAGEMENT to customize with the release of the Solid series, it's clear that most companies really dig the SPIRIT and TALENT of customizers and want to see more, not less. At the end of the day, one of the most aweome things I've learned about pachi kaiju makers is they really really really LOVE toys, and they're all about having FUN, not passing off a fresh off the shelf "hardcore" attitude (though a lot of them are deep into the punk/free culture, which is cool). Customs rule. Long live art!!!
I don't understand why people buy customs when there is so much incredible contemporary stock and vintage around.
I like a wide variety of toy lines so I have to set rules or criteria on what to buy in order to bring it to a manageable level. Maybe if say I only collected RxH or Biskup or Gargamel, I'd indulge in customs.
Mines personal choice . . . I invariably see a 'custom' and my immediate thoughts are . . . someone's fucked up a nice toy! There are exceptions, but if I'm laying down serious $$$ blind for a big name to splatter paint on something originally produced as the manufacturer intended I'd rather not take the risk.
I know exactly where your coming from, scary andy. It all depends on the artist.. I prefer my customs by the man/woman whom created/ produced the sculpt. I really like bwana's cutoms etc... but have just lately been appreciating other lesser know artists/ customizers. Its all about personal taste, and the main agenda in buying a custom: see it first for god's sake!
I have nothing against custom's. They are not for me though. I would rather have a production toy that's limited to ten than a one of a kind custom. I think it has something to do with my sports card collecting days where authenticity was everything. P.S. All you customizer's do awesome work, not bashing so don't take it that way.
I dont think it counts if its a HP by an artist such as something like bwana doing a steven/killer, pushead doing a pirate or the gargamel releases. I feel about customs the way I do about tattoos. Just because you can doesn't mean you should tattoo. Some(very few) will do it and do it really well(I still hope to own a Paul Kaiju custom one day). Some will just ruin one after another. But if you decide to take it up.. please read up and do it right before you start taking photos..
Thing I love about customs are, if your not feeling the colourways of a production toy, a custom can take things in a whole new direction the makers may not have thought of or intended. Thats where the magic happens. Only a handful of artists out there have the skills and style to pull it off.
I have to say custom wings and pirates by pushead I kind of still look at as production pieces, even though they are one offs. Its what that company intended to come out, that would be like saying oh the official realeased HP and numbered large guys in the gargamel lucky bags aren't really production, but they fully intended to make them come out that way which makes them part of the line. I still think that is just a nice little bonus into a production collection though, like a four leaf clover, only if its how the creator or company intended it to come out. I have seen nice customs from people that I really like, but I have a ton of old releases I need so I can't touch them. I really wanted to jump on motorbots custom mummy madball mantis, but I needed a wing and the purple fullcolor brain so I passed. I still really like seeing custom work though. On another note focusing is the best way to go, a lot of super nice stuff comes out I just don't need to own it all. When I first saw Secret Base in early 2006 I went pfffft lame. Then they just got stuck in my head and I couldn't figure out why, and it took me forever to find out what they were and it drove me crazy that there was barely any info on these. The mysterious factor just made me want them even more, then I finally bought my first wing and I couldn't stop staring at it and for me everytime I get a new one its the same thing. Its not just another figure on my shelf. I still can't wait until I get more content with my base stuff though and start to venture. There is a lot of stuff that I first saw on here and had the pfffft lame reaction too and now I really like and want. Everyone tried to warn me about the gateway vinyl, but I didn't want to listen, and I hid my addiction from friends until it was too late for them to stop me. My name is Collin and I'm a vinylholic. Thanks to everyone on here that got me hooked with killer deals on stuff at first, 20 dollar bagmen, 40 dollar zipfaces, next thing you knew It was 100+ zombie dogs and usugrows, always looking for the next hit as soon as I came down from my most recent purchase........
I think Pushead Hps are more of a collaboration between a toy maker and an artist, and not in the same vein that most of us consider customs. I think custom projects are very subjective: for some, they may view a toy sculpt and wish that it had a different colorway. And indeed, we have seen some of the coolest toy sculpts which were further improved by a different paint app / color / technique, and end up being amazed by the newly customized toy. Some maybe impressed by the brilliance of an artist---on what he could possibly do to a particular sculpt , therefore, decides to replicate/achieve the same "magic" from what he thought was amazing, and commissions a work or two from the artist. Others would probably want a custom by a particular artist for the sake of owning a really cool piece. As in.."i love my Kojis, my PKs , my Bwanas"...which could also be referenced to collecting art. Suffice it to say, its nice to know that a lot of people support custom works, and personally , in my opinion, it should be welcomed and encouraged.
Having re-read my post in the cold light of day it may come across that way - no offence intended . . . obviously there are guys doing good custom pieces and guys doing crap customs . . . it wasn't an all encompassing statement!
exactly. fuck customs. don't ruin toys that are already limited. its simple. go paint a [expletive deleted] and go away.
we just view things in drastically different ways. just as I would say that I don't think everyone should/needs to be a customizer, I don't think that everyone should/needs to make production pieces. too many cooks spoil the broth. I feel like there are WAY too many new companies these days, and while someone like yourself probably likes the variety, I just think it has brought on a mindset that anyone and everyone can and should be putting out toys, which I don't think is true. I think there has been so much mediocre product being churned out. people just draw up another random lumpy kaiju design and send it off to be molded and cast. I'm not into that solid series at all. I don't really want to be part of some arts and crafts toy community. I just want to be a collector, a very dedicated focused one. I also don't think of these toys as art, because I don't want to collect art. I want to collect toys. so that's all I want them to be. sure there is some artistry involved and I do appreciate that, but I don't want to consider them art. if I wanted to collect art, I'd do just that, buy paintings or prints and original art (which I do sometimes do). but I want to be a toy collector primarily, which is why I buy toys, old and new. the artistry involved on my end, if there is any (which there doesn't really need to be), is me developing some kind of sense of what looks good together. how it is displayed and comes together as a collection is what is important to me. everyone has their own eye for that, and that's where it all becomes personalized or "custom" I assume. my collection doesn't look like my friends collection, or at least it shouldn't. I think that there are way too many collection shots I see these days that all look the same and interchangeable. what's the fun in that? makes me not even interested in what anyone else has. I would consider myself more of a librarian/archivist (or preferably a hoarding pirate) than I would an art collector. maybe that all seems too consumerist. maybe my statements seem contradictory, where I say I want it to have DIY punk rock attitude yet not everyone should be doing it. I don't want to knock anyone, but I just feel with so many people putting stuff out there are so many toys that are average at best. no one is weeding out the junk. I feel like 2-3 years ago, it wasn't like that and every release I would see coming out was solid. this is even for the companies that I support, I feel like the quality/originality of most releases has faltered. and I'm not trying to say that any toy companies are "passing off" a punk attitude. if that's what they were doing, I think we'd see right through it and would call it fake. I actually want the exact opposite - someone who is NOT "passing off" a punk attitude, but rather actually live and breath it and therefore infuse that culture/aesthetic into their toys. that's what initially attracted me to this new style of toys. I've always collected kaiju and will continue to do so, but that's a whole different ballgame for me. you know, if I want to buy some thorny dinosaur/alien monster, I'll buy a Marmit/M-1/Marusan/etc. release of some character from a Toho movie. when it comes to this new stuff (fight figures, etc.) what drew me to it was that it was that style of toy filtered through the look of punk rock culture to create something completely original and different. and then the creators only reinforced that idea with the way they ran their store/company. nowadays I feel like that is taking a backseat to just more cutesy lumpy kaiju in wacky colors. nothing wrong with that, but that already exists. so I think we're just coming from different sides of it and we're going to have to agree to disagree. I think this is probably even evident in the toy lines we collect. long live art, but keep it away from my toys please
I am so with this statement. There's artistic merit, sure, but they are TOYS first and foremost! That's why I'm not into the Western stuff, it seems to be made for arts sake not funs sake.
Great thread . . . some good points being made . . . opposing opinions being aired without digressing to a slanging match. S'just like the good old days!
