Clear green seems to have been bought by a Japanese "collector"..??!? The bullshit surrounding hype toys in this scene is getting worse by the day.
The crazy thing about all of this bootleg stuff is that it's not even the artist or the manufacture's fault. All this came about because of other "collectors". They were the ones asking crazy money for toys, not the artists! The artists weren't seeing a dime of that money, but yet they are the ones getting punished for someone else's actions.
Actually, the bootlegging, as I recently heard it, was started because of the begrudged “collector” that didn’t like the retail *and* aftermarket prices for everything he’s bootlegged, hence the “Say No To High Price” on the even bootlegged foam fingers. It didn’t have anything to do with him making monies off of hype beasts, just a literal “fuck you” to artists he feels charge too much, and the hype that commands astronomical aftermarket dollar amounts from flippers.
When I said that, I wasn't saying that the bootlegger was making money. I was saying that the flippers were making money... they are the ones charging the high dollar amount to folks who were willing to pay.. I.E selling to Chinese collectors
Also, it's the Chinese artists that are coming right out the bat charging $500 per figure for a toy so I don't quite understand the logic. Rich and Paul don't push out 1000 toys a release, it's more like 40 if we are lucky. Their one off figures don't even cost that much retail in comparison to the newer artist. Just saying, all in all, this is just stupid.
@foto junkaay Oh, I understood what you meant, I was just throwin’ that into the mix of a general statement. I should’ve clarified, my B. And I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with your sentiment about these newjacks charging shit prices. Chinese blanks(I only mention this ‘cause the cost per figure is generally lower than sofubi) retailing at $180, then dropping to $140, then to $120 ‘cause no one was buying them. Lotteries being held for first time toys from “makers”, only to have “remaining pieces online” because not enough people entered. Shit’s embarrassing. Have some tact and some class. If Paul drops a brilliantly painted Boss 2.0 for $150 - $200, why in the hell would I find a blank of lesser caliber more enticing for around the same price???
Ah no worries! It’s getting crazy out there!! I guess if you can get 10 people to pay that and still have inventory to sell at a lower cost.. you’re still making money? I’m doing life completely wrong.
No one’s justifying, just dispelling rumors and misconceptions. As far as I’m concerned, solidifying the reason that he’s bein’ so cunty over prices just makes it that much worse for him.
Not quite right... They were buying up figs on the aftermarket trying to influence higher prices. They started out selling boots quietly as real for high prices. Once they were caught out and I called them out, that’s when it got personal. No other artist did much or say much or gave me much support. So I went it alone with the help from my fans. So yeah, they didn’t just do it as a f u, it was only when they got caught out that it got more personal. Even now I’m still pretty much the only one doing anything to help stop this.
And as far as I’m aware only me, Hirota and nag have been bootlegged. If anyone else is it’s news to me. I know some here call me hyped or don’t want to give my art any credit, but I’m proud of what I make and do. Just saying.
Definitely not at all meaning to discredit your art, as I do know it’s legitimate, and you should be proud of your work/talents. Hype really starts with fan bases, and it pretty much gets out of the control of the artists at that point. I do appreciate the further clarification about the initial super sketchy practices from this fucker. I didn’t know he was initially trying to actually scam people, but changed his tune once he got called out.
But all were on a Dx. So technically yes, but it’s more of an aim at me. None of their other work was touched.
Yeah he had a team doing this for a while and once I was notified and followed it and called it out was when the shit hit the fan. Then he tried lowering prices, now he’s tryinh to make what ever anyone wants or makes mash ups. He’s just a opportunist piece of shit.
Just curious. Like Hirota or Shig? Seems like a few involved could just fly over and choke a son-o-I FART A LOT. I'm sure you have other fans in China, or know people with connections to Chinese production who would be able to help and slam the source?
WTF now he's booting Atom. I don't remember any drama surrounding Atom's releases. What's the point of booting him if all of his collectors are happy. This just keeps getting shittier and shittier.
Atom's collabs with Mori are going for very high prices; from what I can tell the Aliman has broken $1000 on the aftermarket before. The downside of a truly random lotto process is that plenty of people will win who get swayed easily by money, precedent gets set for high prices, and so on.
Nobody thought it worth mentioning that Zheng posted a pile of apparently bootlegged HxS headers six days after the show in Shanghai? And is using the metal badge from that show in his bootleg "SALE" shots now..?? This shit is obviously well organized, as @kichigai pointed out a while back...
As you know in IG you can use a keywords to follow, so when someone uses the # with that keyword in automatically appears in your history photos related with the same word, one of the words I follow is; #HxS and a few days ago this picture appeared automatically I thought it was from someone who had attended the Phillips auction, but today I wanted to find a photo that I had liked and I came across with this photo again and it was until I realized that it had been uploaded by the person who makes the Bootlegs of HxS, MVH and other artists, of course I took away the like, but what disturbed me most is the doubt of knowing if this photo was taken at the event or whether the degree of sophistication of these scammers reached the level of making a copy so detailed of this HxS from his last auction. /?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"> /?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> View this post on Instagram
It's troubling for sure. I'd guess at it being the event piece, just because bootleggers research that way and advertise like that as well--show the real thing and sell something noticeably different. Plus, even if it's a bootleg, there's plenty you can hide by editing a photo. I do worry about popular artists' work getting ripped off so well that the difference is minimal, but the amount of skilled work that goes into producing quality sofubi gives me hope.
Why don’t we all just report this guy’s account as spam to IG. We can get him shut down repeatedly and make it harder to sell at least. Or report the content as inappropriate.