Interesting Andy. Which store was this at, if you don't mind me asking? My experience at Mandarake shops - largely outside of Tokyo, to be fair - was that turnover inside the cabinets was actually very high [not unlike the website]. Of course, I am mainly referring to vintage toys, but because people dropped off stuff to sell every day, you never really know what might pop up in a cabinet on a visit (or if you are lucky, still be in a box waiting to be displayed). But I can also see that they might be holding on to select 'popular' toys in anticipation of the big opening.
Spot on! As with much of life, the journey is a lot more interesting than the destination. I have at least one new friend, whom I hold in high esteem, thanks to a shared interest of art, vinyl 'toys' and other common interests.
Sorry but this mainly is an artifact of you being a new collector in the sofubi space. I get it, I’ve been there. There are only a few items you won’t get multiple chances to buy with enough patience. One offs, insanely small runs of 3 or 5 that are very sought after mainly in my experience are things you might not get a second shot at. Even most tiny micro runs resurface with enough time. A lot of new collectors cycle through toy lines like laundry while they try to figure out what they really like. That’s fairly normal. So being patient is mainly for folks who know what they want in their collection for the long haul. Also you need to learn enough about the specific toy lines you collect to figure out when you are presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity vs something that will come up many times over the years. Pricing is the wildcard though- the market and collectors are fickle, and while generally stuff has trended upward it’s not always the case. We all expect this crazy market to level out at some point, but when that comes, who knows. Bottom line is, stick around in the hobby, you can get good deals regardless with patience, making friends, networking, hooking others up, etc.
Although new to SB, I'm not completely fresh to sofubi; however, all your points are good to hear and the message that things tend to pop up, even when rare, is great to hear. I am far better at acquiring, than selling; therefore, I do try to limit myself to things I'd like around for the long haul. With that said, tastes change and thus I am sure some pieces will fall from favour and overtime, I'll wonder what I was thinking. At the moment, my collection falls into three distinct camps: kaiju, vehicles and robots. All three things have long been a passion of mine and this gives me comfort that it is less likely that I will fall out of love with a piece if it is within one of these groups (or even better, a combo of two or more!)
