at times a i sense an undercurrent,or at least some nebulous 'anti-custom' vibe.

If so, why is it 'not right' to do custom kaiju pieces?

too confusing to the collector?
wrong to destroy a production piece (rare)

Well its only okay if you are a select few. All others are not welcome to paint the toys. This is what I have gatherd.

personallly to each his own when it comes to customizing. i take offense at someone picking up an airbrush and calling themselves an artist and then trying to sell uninspired 'custom' pieces. kinda the same way when someone gets a computer with photoshop or some other sort of design app and calls themselves a graphic designer.

I guess it's like custom cars. Some lend themselves to customization, some are classics that should not be touched.

I'm just anti-pusher. I'm all for the commission pieces, "the just for the sake of art"and the "just for fun" pieces, but I'm tired of people hyping their wares just to try and sell them later.

yeah. this basically sums it up for me... i don't like it when I feel someone is trying to pimp their "art". i like seeing custom pieces no matter the skill level (although if you're still a novice at customizing i think it is sorta weird posting progress pics). i like to doing customs just because i think alot of these toys look cool and i want to try to make them look cool

In the end, I really don't care what someone does with their toys--just stay the hell away from mine! I generally enjoy seeing custom jobs though.

Nothing more American in spirit than constantly trying to improve on an item. Some times it works, sometimes it doesn't. But just like car cultures, if you can't afford or find FACTORY items, then Ah hell- make one your own. If you own it, it's your choice. Everyone else got paid up the line.

I sense some sort of irony that they're trying to "improve" something we already consider superior to their Western counterparts...

Well, yes and no... I find the Japanese products more entertaining ( especially if you've experienced the culture first hand ) but they have their own limitations. They sometimes beat a dead horse ( albeit with a rainbow-colored stick ) and there accessibility is very limited. Some like the exclusivity and others, myself included find it frustrating. Not being in with the in crowd, it's tough to get a LOT of companies and pieces.

Look at some of the East/West collabs... Max Toy did a bang up paint job on the Rumble Monster Pharohs. And the tie-dyed Cronics are very cool. As for customs, PK and LASH do fine work and their paint apps are much more fine tuned than the factory stuff. And a lot of people like the punk attitude that Kozik brings to whatever he touches. So is there room for improvement? Hell yeah. And you gotta admit, some attempts by fellow board members are rather hilarious and worth there weight in humor, if not vinyl.

some people really should stop, but I believe in creative freedom, and if it makes them happy then so be it, it's cool. It's just annoying if they push it to me and try to hype it up. I don't mind if they share their horrible pieces, I just click the close button and move on. No biggie.

I think one day some of these horrible customizers may become good. I'm sure PK's early stuff, he went though some trials and failures, but he kept at it and just improved faster.

The more failures you have, the more success you will have. That's how I see it. (well, some will have a large disproportioned amount of failures ) but whatever, to each his own.

If I really wanted a piece, but couldn't get it, and it was as simple as a color spray, then hell yeah, I will just spray my own colors for an imitation. I wouldn't look at it as "oh, I got one of the 20 they made", but more like it matched and look well in my display. I could always go hardcore toy nerd, pay out of the ass for the original, and just say hey look at me, only 19 other people in world has this. don't get me wrong, I 've done that many times, and there is a certain satisfaction of being able to do that. anyways, I'm getting off topic here.

I'm trying to read through this one right now, but I'm having a bit of trouble.

There are a few things I've been thinking about but don't think they make any scence to post over at page 10 of that thread. (I don't even know what started it anyway... )

One point re: customs; I think that there are instances when unpainted toys are released by the company for the intention of customizing. ex. unpainted blue Gargamel mini figures (Regular item of [minizotsuki] monstrous beast. You probably will make your own sufficient [zotsuki] monstrous beast) I think maybe people don't know about the Japanese to English translate add on you can put on your Firefox browser.
I guess I'd be cheesed if someone painted over the last cronic unpainted figure that I needed for my collection... (I actually only have one cronic), but thats not what most of the people are painting on anyway....

Another point; Aren't toys and toy collecting supposed to be fun???

Lastly; what is up with message boards. Any board I get involved with (low-bee, etc.) I end up stopping going to 'cuz there is such bull shit drama all the time. Why does it end up that people who want to spout off and act like kingshit get encouraged. Who cares what your post count is. If someone is a dick there a dick!

Anyway, I love toys. I love collecting toys. I love talking about toys. I love looking at good customs, and bad ones don't bother me to much....

post counts are the new kaiju

Maybe there should be a formula. We all find everyones other acct. over at KR (since thats such a target) so KR count - SB count / the difference in sign up date... not sure what the number where people should be takes seriously or not would be.. I'm not great with math.


errr... I guess I better not sidetrack this thread.

I like customs. If it bothers you don't go into the "customs" area of skullbrain.

In the oldern days, Bullmark sold unpainted kaiju toys bagged with paints, so kids could paint them up their own way. Nowadays, "blanks" are usually sold to recoup costs on test shots. They usually end up getting used the same way, though.

The only legitimate gripe I've heard from producers of kaiju toys is that when someone does a custom and shows it off on an English-language board, collectors in Japan start complaining to manufacturers about a version of the toy that was only sold in the US, or that's impossible for them to track down, when in fact it's not an official version of the toy.

(And yes, I am implying that all other griping done regarding customs is illegitimate. I don't understand the criticism, but then again I don't understand most of what goes on in this place.)

[quote="Roger"]
The only legitimate gripe I've heard from producers of kaiju toys is that when someone does a custom and shows it off on an English-language board, collectors in Japan start complaining to manufacturers about a version of the toy that was only sold in the US, or that's impossible for them to track down, when in fact it's not an official version of the toy.
[quote]

i find this very funny... i think we do the same thing when we see a cool custom on yja or some blog we can't read

I cold care less who does customs. It is the attitude of certain hobbiest that cause me to react. I would prefer for people to use more common color ways for their customs but it is their choice.

Paint whatever you want just don't claim to be the next Da vinci becasue you painted the back side of the barn without running out of paint.

i hate to see customs done on rare pieces, or ones that were nicer before the custom was done.

I just think that a lot of people dive in and make ugly customs, therefore destroying a toy forever...one I may have been looking for myself. So if you see me lashing out at anyone, Its because I think that they ruined a toy that is already limited to begin with.

I say if you want to get creative, buy a canvas, or get yourself to the toys r us clearance bin and find a new medium.

yeah... but it's fun to paint your favorite sculpts. i think it's cool to be such a big fan of something... and then go "i think it would be cool if they made one with xxxx" and then go and do it and see how it comes out. I think it's cool for someone to show their first customs even though they might suck ass -as long as they're having fun and don't start thinking everyone else wants them to paint their toys

i've been thinking about getting a fink shit customed. the green one. i got it from S7 and some knucklehead tried fixing some dings with liquid paper or some shit like that. i didn't want to ask to return it after i received so i kept it and since then i've acquired a new in bag one. it's either customize it or see if someone wants to fix it correctly.

edit: deleting my post. Tired of talking about this.

I think part of the anti-custom vibe stems from the western forum where everyone who paint anything thinks they should be in Juxtapoz or a K_R hoodie made of there 'masterpiece', its not like that here, most seem to do it out passion for the toys/genre.

I can totally see why people would not want rare toys painted, blanks are often available for Marmit toys but not as available for RxH, Secret Base etc. The bottom line is, its your toy, do whatever the hell you want with it.
What the hell do you owe the world?

aaaaaaand that's a wrap - good job people

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