not sure if you guys covered this already, but i interviewed tom franck last year when he found the garada k7.....after searching for 9 years. he's a writer in hollywood so he thought the article sucked but called it "enthusiastic"

http://toybotstudios.blogspot.com/2006/ ... found.html

thanks for the link kirkland. this was a great article.

i found my grail about a week ago (my grail isn't vintage or 15 k, but i was happy nonetheless )so it's nice to be able to relate.

i can see what he means about looking down the mountain as well..makes perfect sense.

I was very excited to find out Tom had found this. I went with Tom on his first 2 trips to Japan in search of it back in 1996-97. His Machinda collection is awesome to see. Great article by the way, don't listen to Tom, he's such a critic.

The whole story of the Garada is interesting (for geeky collectors, at least). For many years, it was thought that it didn't even exist. Then a few years ago, one shows up in the Bandai Museum suspended from wires in a display (they apparently dug it up out of somewhere). Then, one shows up on YJP! (Tom's), and there's rumored to be another collector in Japan with one. That's the fascintaing thing about vintage toys (for me). You can have toys only rumored, only made as store displays, or only seen in catalogs, just appear out of nowhere.

Somewhere there is a crate full of minty fresh IKB Bemons just waiting for someone to stumble on them.

Well, maybe.

I loved reading this story. Thank you.

thats a fantastic article ! thanks so much for sharing that . finally got to meet frank at the SDCC . he said he needs 2 more villians to complete . frank does have the 4 most difficult ones to get so the others are just a matter of time . holy grails are always so hard to get but when you do, well, you come up with another one ! mark nagata got his red ultraman . brian just got his barom 1 daruge and mike j ( clubtokyo ) just won a hawaii godzilla . my holy grail just showed up in the mail today .

Nice article, but TERRIBLE thread title. I nearly had a stroke when I saw it.

Regardless, fwiw, Tom and I disagree about the Mandarake specimen. While it is certain that it is the same specimen that appeared in Gangu Jinsei number 2, I don't believe it's the same one that first appeared online.

Also, not to nitpick but Tom's "friend in Japan" wasn't (and isn't) in Japan.

thanks Nekrodave!

Despite the availability of this stuff on the 'net, it still is something to go digging through stores like Forrest Gang and Third Uncle. Now, you've got shops/stalls in Broadway Nakano Mall. It's cool seeing pictures, but a completely different experience picking these toys up in person.

i completely agree with hillsy 11 . nothing compares to being in japan and going to the toy shops .you may get things cheaper on yahoo but if you have never been in a japanese toy shop you need to experience it . super7 should be comming out with a guide to japan book very soon .

I was in Forrest Gangu for hours. All the glass cases were unlocked and I just dug through hundreds of vintage vinyls. I only bought a couple of things and torture myself endlessly about all the things I SHOULD have gotten...

And if you never make it to Japan, one of the greatest toystores in the world is in the US---Kimono My House. In a lot of ways it's more of an 'authentic' toystore than most of what I saw in Tokyo...

Here's a pic I shot last week when I was there buying vinyls:

It's funny....I think it takes a few times going to really appreciate it. My first time in Forrest Gangu, and I just walked around the store, in awe. I was so overwhelmed by all the STUFF, I barely bought anything. I agree with KMH. When I went with Sjoen, we were rooting around in the back finding stuff not even out on display....

Amazing story! Congrats to Tom.

Kimono My House Rules!

Yuki is mad at me though cause I invited him to Koji's show and didn't introduce him to Koji! doh! He's old school....

http://toybotstudios.blogspot.com/2005/ ... no-my.html

kimono was a place i used to go to about twice a month . mostly because i had a friend who worked there . lots of fond memories of that place . even the bathroom was full of toys ! traded yuki out of a dinosur vinyl that i found sitting on top of the toilet .

are you talking about Dennis (Baikin)?

yes that would be dennis . super nice guy !

KMH alumni are like roaches....crawlin' all over the place...

lol

What about the KMH / Howling Bull Alumni class?

Guilty.