I find D-Lux's views on customizing to be possibly the most offensive I've seen published to date. The sheer arrogance is stagering.
***DISCLAIMER*** Liquidsky is not now, or has ever been, Knunt. This is just a little joke I always throw out there to try and get him to post collection pics.Please do not email, pm, or telegraph him asking about Knunt related stuff.That is all. ***END DISCLAIMER***
Yep... offended. - His thought that "western vinyl doesn't need changing"... but Japanse vinyl does - To suggest that the creators don't care that he's destroying their work to "improve them" by making something unique. - Any hand paint or custom is automatically better than production figures because they are unique. - Suggesting that destroying production figures is doing everyone a favor because he's making the figure more rare. - Calling people who don't agree with him "elitists". Pretty presumptuous stuff.
Whoever started this thread should be ashamed of their obvious trolling. lol j/k I love painting toys. Much like a canvas, only 3d instead of 2. I'd say I keep 50 to 70 percent of the customs I create. Can't bear to part with them once done.
for me. i see something like a m.unny as a blank canvas, a realxhead figure not so much. I have a different level of respect for someone who can make a m.unny i really like as opposed to a realxhead colorway I dig.
1. I never said Japanese NEEDED Changing... I was just saying I don't collect custom Western because I don't see anything good enough that I'd want customized... There are plently of Japanese figures I'd like to see in different color way, not that I want them changed. And I would only want well done customized Kaiju in my collection, not customized Western... 2. I never said the creators didn't care, but I'm sure most of the time, the creators aren't doing the actual painting... I said the actual factory workers wouldn't care. And maybe they don't care? Maybe they like to see people do different things to their sculpt. You can't assume they think it's disrespectful, just like I can't assume they don't care. It's not like I'm gonna paint over Koji's pieces he puts out. 3. I also never said it was better to have a one off piece. I only said that a one off piece was more unique (not better, just unique), and more rare, than a mass produced piece... Some people don't want to own the same exact toys as everyone else... And some do, and that's fine... But don't bash customizers... 4. So you are just fine with having a piece that everyone has? What if a new amazing zag was being shipped from Japan, and say 25% of them made it to Super 7, and 75% of them were destroyed some how before they made it to other stores... Would you not like that you now have a more limited piece, regardless of how it came to be so limited? 5. I also did not say that everyone that doesn't agree with me is in elitist... I said some people here seem to have an elitist mentality... If you don't like customs, don't buy them... Dude I'm not here to offend anyone, but for people to just bash customizing because it's not their thing is rediculous. You presume that all these people in Japan are going to feel disprespected because I repainted a $40 toy... Seriously... I only paint things that are not sold out, stuff that hasn't been sold out for MONTHS... I'm not draining the market of figures... I'm sorry if you don't agree with my views. But there are plenty of people out there customizing western toys, and eastern toys, and there are plenty of collectors that are quick to commission, or pick up an already customized piece with the quickness... So there are room for customizers in Eastern collecting... I'm sorry if it's not your thing, but I enjoy painting these, and if someone enjoys my stuff, cool... If not, then don't buy it, or don't comment on it... Simple as that...
Who said I didn't like customizer or custom figures? Hell, I customize pieces for myself. I just said I found some of your views presumptuous and offensive.
And Im just saying you either misread, or have selective reading... I by no means think I'm as good as a factory painter... Far from it... But I'd like to be, I'd like for people to own my stuff... I guess I'll just keep making my stuff, and if people like them, cool, if not, oh well...
I have no problems with people doing customs. I do some of my own. I don't have an issue with people buying customs as I own a bunch of custom pieces as well. I do however take issue with people who seem to think they're doing the world a favor by doing customs. The thought you're doing collectors an actual service by doing a custom over production pieces has to be one of the most egotistical things I've read in a long while. To provide some perspective on some of the anti-customizing vibe, right now there's an increasing number of people with very limited knowledge of Japanese vinyl coming here from other message boards trying to cash in by doing some pretty crappy stuff. Rather than taking the time to read the SB board to get a feeling for how things work around here, they just throw their stuff up in BST and expect people to throw money at them... and then they get all pissed off when some of us question their ability to customize. This is happening more and more frequently, and the "work" of some of these people is rank amateurish at best. We're talking about work that is just plain lazy - some guy just throws everything he has into red rit dye. For some of us who have been here a while, it just gets tiresome that these people who don't even use the term "kaiju" correctly for the most part, waltz in and feel that we need to automatically respect them despite their lack of effort to do their homework on this board. Slapping paint crudely onto a figure does not automatically get you respect. The bar is set pretty high here. Koji, Bwana, Martin Ontiveros, Paul Kaiju, Lash, Lamour, Toybot studios do great work. They also have a long history with this board and the industry. We've gotten to know them through their posts and their work over a long period of time. Both respect and appreciation for someone's work has to be earned. They've earned our respect.
