Greg I think you should send the Bootleg to NNN. It'll show your tolerance and professionalism till the end even when deals go sour with thin-skinned clients.

@Greg Mishka- Sorry that things have gone messy and hoping that it'll clear up for you and thanks for the breakdown and rundown

One moot point is the people doing this are artist and not businessmen. Passion plays an important part, emotions will fly, hope it will pass.

To make money, we're talking 5 figures at least and usually more. What you guys and most of the toy makers do is more for the passion which is very clear from what you wrote. It's also crappy that PK will need to cap his $, that's really sad and not encouraging at all. I hope all you guys keep at it.

To the f*%#ing a$$h*les that I FART A LOT and whine about pricing and all that crap you could try Toy R Us. They sell plastic soldiers that comes in a bag of 30? and with a variety of colors.

As Greg explained it.

Painting (the price of paint and the Yen), shipping, and all the other stuff do by myself you have to consider also.

The hardest part of this for me was not having enough for everyone.

I'm sorry, but that right there just seems absurd. That's retail price (+) for a standard, painted, packaged figure sold in a brick & mortar store in the US. Shouldn't you at least get a price between wholesale and Japanese retail for a collaborative figure?

To those artists that wish to collaborate with this guy- Is all this extra excrement worth it?

A true collaboration should be friendly, open and on equal terms. I don't think the misunderstanding is at all a cultural difference. It looks clearly like this NNN artist is someone who thinks he is getting a bad deal in any collaboration since it's HIS FUCKEN TOY!!!.

I'm sticking with the Bemon.

This collab looks more like cold war than anything else to me... This is still a business, but so much tension over little details...

I first thought that the "I hate Mishka" was kind of funny because ironical and agreed with him... Now it leaves a sour taste of mediocrity on the release...

Yet, the figure is great... I guess this could be related to artist in history who had lousy political taste and yet produce art that was never seen before...



You cannot imagine

Now someone make a bootleg of this toy and flood the market !

Blech! . . . . now with added disdain!

the mystery of bemon: its maker, its distributor, and the means to purchase bemons is no better if not worse than what is going on here with NNN, and its been going on for many years.

i agree completely. if anything, the bemon guy is worse because he puts his own figures on yja without a BIN and watches American collectors drive the prices up. I know a few collectors who don't mind this because it allows them to get the bemon they're after, but to me it's just duping collectors who dig the toys.
i'd still love to know his reason (the real one, not a speculatory one about xenophobia) for stopping sales to people outside of Japan.

Thanks for the insightful post Greg, I always wonder what this stuff costs you guys who sell it on the secondary market. I thought it was pricey at the time, but your cost breakdown makes a lot of sense and I'll retract my previous statements about the figure.

I think that's the "norm" when dealing with these types of toys. I don't think any US retailer gets RxH or Marusan or Elegab for Japanese wholesale, they get them for Japanese retail. As I understand it, Lulubell and S7 and all the rest pay Japanese retail for nearly all their toys, I don't think there's many exceptions.

Crazy stuff Greg, thanks for sharing. I hold no judgments since I'm not involved and don't know all sides. If it's as it seems I'm sorry to hear it. But I'm just a spectator. I'm also gonna say "sorry" about bitching about the price. I think it's understandable to do so, but it's cool you broke it down in a legit way vs. telling all us cry babies to eat crap (not that you would, but ya know, just saying.)

I still dig the toy so if anyone who got the Mishka or PK or any other versions wants to lose them due to some principals based on all this hit me up, I'd have no shame in owning one

$104, not that bad to me- The paint on those dudes looked pretty crazy, I'm sure the NagNagNag guy put some work in. Besides that, How many has he released now? Around 40? I doubt he's even payed off the molds yet.
Yeah the break down helps justify the price, the initial sticker shock now makes sense. Sometimes you don't realize the cost and time to get these toys made. Anyway, NNN is a cool figure, but I could rattle off a dozen standard kaiju I'd rather have, so I won't lose sleep if NNN burns his bridges and becomes increasingly difficult to find in the US.

I think collaborations are pretty important if not crucial to the longevity of people in this market.
NNN is only hurting himself by treating fellow artists and shops in this manner.

Right - toy stores buy figures for J-retail (we're assuming) to resell in the States. So why does a collaborator have to pay American-retail+? Seems that NNN just treated Mishka as another customer, not a collaborator.
I understand that the costs are high for making a toy - but weren't Exo MMs sold for something like $30 when they were first released? Granted they're smaller, but the material cost can't be that great. And HP Bemons were something like $80? Just seems NNN is trying to get over while the getting is good.

I was assuming $104 IS Japanese retail, so colab or not it's normal. I guess I'm wrong than? I honestly don't know what Japanese retail on these are. S7 charges $60 for their colabs from RxH, same deal.

I'm curious if the experience Paul had with NNN was significantly different or a similar situation. Some people just want to jump on the hate for NNN because of the how the hype grew for the piece. But it really could be cultural differences just spun further out of control by mob mentality. Lots of he said she said going on. I appreciate the read Greg provided us behind how it went for him to get to this point. It seems very heartfelt and honest about his experience. Perhaps when that story gets back to NNN there may be a different understanding on his part. So lets just let the parties involved work it out without dissecting everything into the ground.

blood is spilled, bridges are burned, hearts are broken... what's not to love? THREAD OF THE YEAR

In all honesty I thought the whole "I hate Mishka" was a joke between them and part of this campaign.
I wasn't jumping on any hate bandwagon, just making an observation after Greg's post elaborating on it.
I'd certainly be curious to know how calling someone a "cunt" or "pussy" and printing it on a product can be attributed to some cultural differences.

+1

I would. you guys didn't seem to have done anything wrong so if NNN was rubbed the wrong way, they'll get over it. you meant well.

I believe JP retail is Y15k.

I have to disagree, only because the Bootleg is Joel's and it's coming from his personal connection. Misunderstandings... maybe, but if nothing less NNN sure did jump the gun and reacted severely and prematurely, if Lamour and Mishka do send it, that's quite gracious of them, I'd just wait to get one from the factory.

I thought the same thing and expected those to be released through Mishka

Yep, I also saw it as a way for Mishka to get more publicity and attention.

On a side note, a while back, someone was proposing to do a header card (for their toy) with the words "liquidsky is a douchebag" on the header. I wasn't offended and wish they went through with it.

Would have been kinda cool, not that I was looking for publicity or attention.

A 'standard' release, 15000 Y = $172.

EMS shipping, $15 - $20.

$8 -$13 above 'retail' for PK's magic?

Priceless.

I'm sure PK didn't get his at JP retail.