This is turning into a standard RxH production model. Limit it at a show, and then open the flood gates for pre-orders for the same item. In that sense, few RxH figures are "show exclusives" anymore. Also, nearly every new RxH release is "large" (made possible since RxH figures are factory painted) except for the chases. The important thing is that the quality holds and prices are kept reasonable.
hells yeah. thanks to the large runs, I've been able to score some of the newer releases. rarity is "cool" and all, but it's just a problem when you want them and can't find them. (btw, Ginger R is awesome. what a weirdo!)
wow andy I really have to disagree with a lot of the categorizations in this post. Since Real x Head isn't sold at Wal-mart, shows have been his main release venue and he has always released a fixed number of figures at any given show in Japan and only at that show. He has never (at least not since the Mutants came out) offered the same figure for sale at any show instead always dropping at least one but usually more new figures even when his stuff wasn't selling! As his popularity stateside has grown he has started running a fixed number of each figure for the Japan shows which are his 'regular releases' and another lot of these for the US which have been brought to you by the good folks at S7. Sometimes these are all created together sometimes the lots might be run a month or so apart depending on factory capacity, event schedules etc of both parties involved. Once they are gone they are gone. Larger compared to what? Real x Head releases are rarely more than 100 pieces worldwide. In any market a manufacturer struggles to maintain the balance between desire and availability. Too many and the fire goes out, too few and collectors give up. Alot of the figures we all collect here are "factory-painted" which usually implies a 60-year-old airbrush artisan sitting in an old home shop painting with a craft and technique that is actually a dying art. Its hardly mass-production by a bunch kids in a sweatshop in the Philipines. Real x Head is the epitome of both quality and price. Better and less expensive than many toys out there. His production costs are the same as most of the other makers out there yet he prefers to less profit in the short term so he can keep making more toy and making more fans. And unlike many other makers out there this is his full time job. I also want to add that Kirby at Rotofugi took an increidble leap of faith and a wad of cash and invested alot in exclusives from artists he was only just learning about and was unsure of selling out if selling at all at a toy store in the heart of the midwest. Kaiju-sized Kojones in my book. The Blobpus and Chaos figs are capped at a max 100 pieces (a large release?) and are Rotofugi store exclusives that will only be sold while Toy Karma is on.
Thanks for the insight datadub!!! I find all this info priceless from a collector's and an artist's point of view. It makes me appriciate my RxH figs more and more!!! And big ups to Kirby and Roto for spreading the Kaiju love in the mid west!!!
Not sure what there is to disagree about. I just described the way things are: Quantity sold at show + quantity sold through e-tailers = total release size. Total release size IS large compared to the early Real Head releases when (I believe) Mori was painting everything himself. Actually, if you could let us know when he started using a factory, that would be interesting to know! Large is not a judgmental description, but a relative one. In the last 6 months or so, release sizes have been substantially larger than in the past. No need to get defensive whenever someone brings up Real Head, Don. I wasn't coming down on Mori, just describing the situation (in a rather positive way, I think). Hell, I just ordered the green Chaos from Rotofugi. (Incidentally, nearly every pachi-kaiju maker actually does do this full-time. Cronic is the only exception I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe Anaraku, though I'm not 100% sure about him..Blobpus, Secret Base, Gargamel, Charactics - all full-timers. Again, no judgment involved whatsoever, just observations, so put down yer piece! )
Does Chicago even count as the Midwest anyway? Everyone who I've grown up with in Chicago kind of doesn't associate themselves as "Mid Westerners" though geographically they are and other cities do. Off topic, sorry, that's a different discussion for a different thread, but it's not like Chicago is some ho-dunk mid west town of nothing but dairy farmers, so I don't see the risk in releasing Kaiju there on a wider scale especially since there are a number of "art toy" stores, and a few classic monster haunts too. Seems like there's a proper crowd brewing. ANYHOOOOOOOO! Yes, awesome points all around data, your input continually makes me appreciate these awesome toys more and more. NOW WHAT'S WITH THE SHIRTS@?@?@?@?@?!?!?
Kirby is a great guy and his better half Whitney runs a tight ship at Roto for sure. He has a TON of respect for S7 in particular. His shop is particularly popular for western vinyl & toys...but I believe that both the Toy Karma show, and attendees that turned out have convinced him to take more chances like the one data describes above to stock more Japanese toys...which is awesome. Kirby was really blown away by the Dream Rocket stuff especially. Its hard to tell how cool some of this stuff is from only internet pics! I'm glad for the combination of both a larger release with a limited chase figure, it really keeps it exciting...and I really dig that show and shop exclusives are still the plan for RxH. Very glad to hear that a paint artisan is still hand finishing RxH figures!!!! Thanks data!
Since Roto opened I always meant to go there, but never did because from the site it was mainly Western and so I just never cared enough to make it there. Now that I left Chi-town it's gotta get into Kaiju, just my luck
Since bizarrely I feel like I'm being pushed onto the wrong side of the fence (since more was read into my post than was there), I want to chime in and say I also think Roto is a great shop, Been buying from them for years. Same goes for the other shops Real Head deals with. I've been to at least 5 of them - all excellent. Matter of fact, more of my money will be going to one of those shops in the very near future.
I agree with Andy - "special" release as we knew it does not exist in this release scheme. If you can get it later easily without even visiting an event - so what's the point? Although it allowed me to get a green chaos I must admit that as a "special event release" it has no sence. Leftovers are perfectly fine, but re-run? I dunno This new "another-run-to-satisfy-everybody" tendency is washing out very small western kaiju market. everybody has everything, second market is dead.
yes, it is this IS a large release how about aftershow re-run for blob and chaos? without release limit? just to satisfy all preorders? again, I'm not completely against this, it's just make senseless the definition "show special"
That's 100 total for the show and pre-orders. There is a limit, 100 total ever made EVER. I think it was like 40 at the show and another 60 for these pre-sales. And I agree, for this market that's a big release, but I don't care. What about the SDCC Bruise? I don't think that officially showed up ANYWHERE but the Con. No "re-runs" no left overs no web sales, just ALL secondary market or the Con. I have no problem with any of this because there ARE special releases now and than to mix it up. I'm GLAD to get my toys from S7, even if they are re-runs or whatever. And again, there's always that super limited secret release that slides out here and there to spice things up. I don't feel like it's killing anything, and there are plenty of releases that might be considered 2nd runs or "easy" to get that people are still hounding.
Honestly I would prefer "pure" event-only release of lets say 30-40 pieces without any bloody "super-puper-ultra-special-secret versions of 5 pieces". Right now we have the situation here that everybody has painted blob, but nobody (except a lucky few) - unpainted one"
i dont give a sweaty ballsac about how many as long as Mori eats and i get toys were all happy .........
Well I for one am grateful I don't need to hound YJA and eBay all night to pay more than I'd like for even a regular release. Sure, thrill of the hunt is awesome, it's part of the appeal. So is having something much more limited, there's a slight appeal there. But at the end of the day I just want my toy, regardless of someone else having it or the work involved. It's done this way FOR us because we CAN'T be in Japan at all these shows. I guess I can understand where you're coming from if I lived where they were released and had an in person chance, but I don't. And I thank Mori and S7 and in this case Roto for making these pieces somewhat easier to obtain for me. As far as the secrets go, there's the hunt! There's the one you NEEDED to be there for and be there EARLY. Those satisfy that part of me. But I'm way happier to get this easy Green Chaos cause I like it more than the difficult blue one. Though I'll still hunt it I see where you're coming from kinda, just don't totally care myself and like things this way. I was never part of the Western scene, so I don't know what happened/is happening there to compare. I'm just glad to get RxH without TOO much trouble, and have plenty of older stuff to keep my hunting urges alive. (ps hope you're not taking of this personally, I don't think you are but things have been all flame-war round here and you never know, just a good toy discussion )
I think that there were only 8 or 9 of the unpainted blue RxH. You had to be there to get that one. And I am glad that I was able to make it.
Hey Geo/Taro, I think your signature quote should be modified to: "He can sell them if he wants to... after he takes a ton of pictures of them."
That was a rhetorical question, right? edit: Oh, my bad... I thought you were asking if someone would be posting pictures of the unpainted blue...
