So while hunting for toys, i came across several auction listings. Very cool items, but since i don't actually know the artists on a personal level or have the ability to waltz into the stores myself, i'm left wondering if they are what they are. Super rare releases or knock offs? Sadly some sites just don't update with everything they release and or can't keep up with all the releases they have.

So the actual topic of this post is:

Can you actually erase paint aps from toys? Is there some sort of solvent that doesn't eat away the vinyl, but will remove the paint? Understandably i'd imagine any acrylic or poor paint appication could easily be scratched off. But the chemical bond used in spray paints like v-color just don't seem like they separate from the vinyl so easily. Especially when using harsh chemicals, it just seems like it'd damage the vinyl as well?

Are you talking about that hazy finish that's left when you strip the vinyl? I imagine that a good buffing will restore the original base finish providing the vinyl itself isnt damaged in any other way. Try using a Dremel tool with a buffing tip and buffing compound for plastics.

The picture i attached is from the auction listing. Unfortunately, I don't own these and i cant tell from the pic if they've been altered.

Just wondering if these are the real deal or if someone just took the paint off if them(if that's at all possible)?

I would throw your pic up in the regular Japan toys section and just ask the cat experts if these blanks were ever released... I think with careful use of acetone you could clean the paint off without killing the vinyl. It's definitely real easy to go overboard and wreck the vinyl with acetone tho.

I've never seen blank cats for sale...full sized or mini.

May have been lottery prizes... think those showed up around Superfestival time earlier this month. RxH had jars of baby Fortune Cats in those colors, but with eyes and coin painted. I wouldn't be surprised if he gave out a few blanks as gifts to customers.

Most test shots and blanks that are given out are not documented at all. You usually end up relying on the seller's honesty and memory.

thought Mori had a couple of glass jars filled with unpainted cats for visitors...?

There is also a fishbowl with blank minis at the shop in Aoto, and there may have been blank cats in there at some point. Anyone else who has been to the shop recall seeing cats in the bowl?

As Daniel mentioned, a lot of figures were given as gifts and there are probably tons we have not seen. It's really a call you have to make, but if it was me and I liked them and the price was ok I'd probably buy them.

You can always ask for more pictures too...sometimes you can tell if they have been acetoned from the look of the vinyl.

haha...i was just typing that out too kirkland

maybe I was dizzy from the excitement of being at the shop in Aoto...
the food after going to the shop was the best part

I'm not sure about the blue and orange, but the green definitely does not look like the same shade Mori had jars of at Superfest. They were neon. He also had white ones in addition to the orange and blue, so it's weird that there wouldn't be a white in the set.

As of...3 days ago, the only jars of unpainted blanks at Shinto Gangu I saw were flesh colored minis. I didn't notice any cats. Oddly enough, Mori had a bright red unpainted cat laying out, but he always has random toys scattered around.

Oh, there was blank whites too, just not in this set.

For visitors?

lol

These were probably gifts or lottery prizes

Oh what I would do to get my paws on a bowl full of blank mini-kitties...

if you are a painter you can EASILY strip any toy and make it a blank, then hit it with some clear to restore the shine...

Hell if you have the paint, you can repaint almost any figure to look like a certain edition, minus pad printing...

True, but so many of us are so damn lazy