On my drive from PHX to Portland I took a small detour to stop by the shop. It was partially to see if I could make it from PHX to S7 before closing time, but mostly to check out the shop and meet the fine folk that run S7. I was pretty amazed that I made it with a half-hour to spare, though I think the drive had somewhat of an impact on my mental capacity (I almost fell down the stairs in the shop!). But it was worth it to check out all the great stuff in person. Also, it was great to meet Alex and "talk shop" with someone. That was probably my first time talking to someone in-person that has a real passion for this stuff. Thanks for taking the time to shoot the shit and show me all the merch, Alex! Also scored this sweet little Slash Godzilla:
Alex rules and 80% of the reason I visit S7 is to have toy chats with him, Josh, Joe and when "lucky", Glenn.
Yup, absolutely! I think I'd be there quite often just to socialize with the staff and other BASK members. You guys are quite lucky to have such a great shop to socialize at - it's like the Rotary Club for kaiju collectors! Or something...
i thought josh's hiring was more out of charity than anything else. that other hippie goes to berkeley so he must have coin.
hhaha. by the time we get there, Glenn, Brian and Josh will have already scoured all the Mandarakes for their personal collections and then the store. Nakano Broadway will be empty!
It was great talking to you too. The slash godzilla was a great pick. Hope you found your way out of the city ok. Don't worry I tripped out the door my first trip to Super7 as well. I'm lucky enough to have a job where it's normal to ask someone what they think of the marusan releases. Sometimes people say "I think it would take the fun out of it for me" or "I'd hate to make my hobby my bread and butter because I use it to relax". I usually tell those people are jealous. slow and have never had a crappy job.
i prefer seeing karen at the store <3 but for those items that require bending down and leaning forward, i intentionally try to get Joe to get it for me
Yeah, the shop was way cool! And glad to hear that I'm not the only one that's nearly fallen down the stairs - my face must have been hilarious as I stepped backwards towards the door...the shop needs a webcam for such moments! And yeah, I did find my way out of the city, Alex! Thanks for the directions to the bridge! Though I'll say that once I got on the bridge I had no idea where I was going and was worried for about 30-40 minutes that I was going the wrong way. As I was driving I saw the moon straight ahead of me and for some reason (maybe because I had been driving for about 14 hours) I thought I was heading west when I was trying to head east. I think I thought the moon was setting? I don't know. But I was definitely relieved when I found I-505N!
From what I remember we didn't talk too much about toys though. And it's different when you're able to be SURROUNDED by the toys while talking about them...yeah, that's the ticket! Yeah, I guess I've talked to both you and Martin and you both have a passion for these things. But being there at S7 I felt like I was truly "dorking out" as that's ALL I talked about with Alex.