Sho' yo' Butas for Lixx

@Mr. Humphreys - Grace, excellent shelves -- very inspiring!

 

Thank you Robert and Mark! I really like the analogy of the shelves looking like the Tokyo toy shops Robert! I think you should start collecting more buta (although lately, the prices have either been extremely expensive, to under the normal market). I would love to see more buta photos from you!

I'm waiting for my carpenter friend to have a free window of time, to help me add extra shelves in the tall Nornas cases, then I can stuff the rest of the buta on the shelves. He's off pouring concrete for exterior landscaping, making decks, hand-cutting and installing granite stairs, busy busy! Turns out you can double the vertical shelf count on the tall Nornas cases because the butas are small enough. I'm also having a serious problem with the large vertical cases. One of the case glass doors keeps falling out (!), did it 3 times! Fortunately, nothing was broken. The design flaw is little plastic piddling hinges, holding a heavy glass pane! The weight of the glass over-whelms the hinge, which holds the panes by compressive pressure only. My friend is going to frame each glass pane, and put proper screw-in hinges to secure the glass door frame, to the case!

p.s. I don't like the drab gray background of the display cases, so I might print out a "wall paper" to cover the gray, on a large-format plotter. Nothing flashy, just a lighter color.

 

Such a nice display and so very many little critters! Nice shot Mr. H.!

 

Another skyscraper price! I think last year, one of these cuties sold for less than 16500 JPY

 

what is wrong with people right now?!
glad I got it at retail..about $45 I think

and I've passed on those packys for way less than retail, more times than I can count! (don't like him much)

 

That's the one giant black hole in my buta collection. I haven't got any Ultras, except for the clear blue Gargamel one. I used to think the same about Bakkey as you do, but he's much cuter in person (although probably not +62000 JPY worth of cuteness!) . I'm guessing there must be a new buta collector (or maybe a new handful), who is/are willing to pay super high prices for a particular figure, which results in these crazy ending prices. Lately the super high prices haven't even been for the "rare" figures!

p.s. I can distinctly hear Chris grumping about the latest pricing too!

 

Last week I got irked with a guy flipping an unpainted dino for a c-note on the 'b*y. I shoulda just scooped it I guess. But still....

 

Yes, I saw that listing. I actually don't think it was an unreasonable price, because I've paid slightly higher prices than that on JYA and Mandarake (unpainted flesh Trex was $160 on JYA, after domestic + international shipping, and a small deputy service fee). It's when the prices are double, triple, or more (outside of a "reasonable" range), that has me buggy eyed . After unpacking my butas, I found I have a handful of dupes, but I'm reluctant to list them here, because I paid the higher prices on JYA and Mandarake. I might try to trade them or list them on "the pond", for slightly lower than what I paid, but in terms of "fairness", if you're just trying to recover what you paid for them, then I think it's fair game. Just my humble opinion (and no I will not be listing any butas for $600! )

 

^^^ EXACTLY!!! I figured he had gotten bitten by the buta bug. Going by his Insta-stream, he doesn't have a whole lot of buta, but the prices he's willing to pay are insane! Just wondering who he was battling to drive the prices so high, toward the end? I think just those two figures alone cost him +100000 JPY.

Perhaps I should take one of my blue Garamons, break off a paw (ok, maybe put a bandaid on it), and roll it around in the dirt, and wave it on Instagram under his nose, and maybe he'll give me a matching price for it?
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k315889628

 

Could be the other bidders are just trying to slip him the "poison pill" and so far at least, it makes no difference.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Like it was born to be that way. Per-fecta-freakin-mente!

 

Now we know how Hedorahs reproduce, they germinate offspring by budding!
Excellent photo, and congrats on the adoptions!

 

Late comers to the office get stale cake...



My latest trade!
Half a Pink Zarab is way better than NO Pink Zarab!

 

More madness on the Buta market! I was hoping to nab the orange Pochi, but not at these prices!

 

What the...?

*Takes down chibira-kun buta from want list*

 

You know Deevis, I was seriously thinking last night, that if you put up your entire collection on JYA for $250K USD, it would not at all surprise me that someone would actually buy it!

p.s. I did put in, what I thought was a ridiculous bid for the Mamagon, and received the shock of my life when I checked the ending price the following morning!
UGH!

p.p.s. @toothaction
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/best-countries-for-american-expats
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/best-places-to-live-abroad_us_59b1a8c6e4b0354e44108306

 

Sometimes I just get that feeling that the cycle will take a long time to turn around again, like maybe 20-25 years. Some mid-century fan will find a bunch of butas and cronics in a shoe box at a rummage sale for 2.00 or whatever the currency of the future will be. All the non-fans will laugh; "Ha. Again I say, 'Ha'. Why you trade perfectly good Magic Crypto Beans for old plastic trash?" A month later the fan will trade the box for a nice, but not pretentious, semi-tropical beachfront villa in Greenland. There will be a sign framed by a window looking out at the pounding surf: "I was here. -Toothaction"....

 

Something chocolate, something NEW?

 

Sharp eyes, Mr. H!

 

Thanks Stevie! Looks like the back of a chocolate spaceman!

@Vombie , watched the rather depressing ending of Chibara Kun, but it was the price of Gebagoro that was really off the rails! I adopted him for $70 MIB last year!

 

Yes! I love it when that happens to mem(of course) and others on the board. I was lucky to have found my recycled booska costume characters for "student" prices.

 

Pricing/bidding war isn't fading yet, the American auction site had a pretty crazy price this evening on that unicorn dino.