I'm going start this thread so these pics don't get buried or lost in a "sort of related but not necessarily the thread I would have thought I put those pics in" my memory sucks anyhow. For Viva:

I was inside and took this first shot but then thought I'd go to a museum and take pics there (full sun):











Need to find myself these clears: Popy Barom One, Popy Kikaida, Popy KR V3, bootleg standard V3, bootleg Kikaida and the very elusive (but I know it exists because I found pics) Thundermask clear.

Ah! Thats a classy lineup. Those shots turned out great. You really need natural light for the clears, even though you probably yellowed them a couple of shades.

I probably did (yellowing)! It was fun though, and now I have them arranged on a shelf together because of it- so bonus!

I love how Mazinger Z came just with arm and leg paper inserts but the chest cavity is completely ripped out. It's not a bad look though. Kamen Rider looks really cool without inserts I think.

Fantastic pics Lixx, they really come alive in the natural light, yellowing be damned! (and I doubt it really did much of anything in that short period, you needn't worry). I really love the photos of them all together like that. They compliment each other really well, and honestly, I think they are cooler without full inserts.

That mazinger is great. I love it.

Im really weary of my toys yellowing, even the colored clear ones. I have a king bop eater that looks like it has seen better, less sunny, days. It is still great to see them in natural light.

I don't give a shit either! Keep the photos coming, Chris!

Thanks. So does anyone have a better pic of the Thundermask clear? Second question would be is it a bootleg or made by Popy? Only person I know has one is Flynn. The one pic I have you can barely make it out. It's in the center in the back behind the striped shirt guy:

I don't have any more pics of it saved either unfortunately. It looks to be very similar to the Popy guys though. Most of the clear bootlegs don't have the detailed inserts like those I don't think. I don't have a decent library of reference material on hand, but maybe if someone has one with the full Popy lineup it might be a clue as to whether it was an official release or a bootleg.

Clear vintage vinyl, be still my yellowing heart! Beautiful line up for sure.

Just to throw something different into the mix ..a couple of clear Robocons

Are these made of the same type of vinyl or a different plastic? I've seen Rockbat toys in the same style

A small contribution. Tried to get some decent pics of these Triple Fighter minis, but have to try again for a better balance of natural light. Anyways, one for nice light, and another for detail.

They look lovely Stephen...

Small rant on clears:

So I'm trying to be complete on Popy Clears, and I think I only need three more: Kamen Rider V3, Kikaida, and Barom One. Not sure if Thundermask is an actual Popy Clear, and I've never seen one come up. I know V3 is hard to score but anyhow for some reason, and maybe I'm mistaken, I always thought Kikaida and Barom One were common and easy to come by. I could have sworn I used to see them on YJA all the time for under 6000 yen usually. Lately though all I see are the dreaded still bagged Popy Clears which command higher prices.

Of course this morning I get into a bidding war with oku**** aka Mandarake over a Barom One, which ended up costing me 15500 yen. Did I overpay? Of course I did, but I'm not going to let Mandarake bully every vintage collector by trying to corner the market on vintage japanese toys. Which is exactly what they are set on doing. What they've been doing is buying up whatever they can on YJA and reselling for profit on their own site and even more recently they are trying to make in roads to US vintage collectors by setting up an ebay account with outrageous prices. How do I know? Well I watch a hell of a lot of auctions and I see toys that go semi cheap marked up on their site. I save pics, compare and look for scuffs to see if it's the same toy.

So don't be afraid to bid. I feel its a small price to pay to let them know you're not going to scare off easily and let them run away with an auction all the time. It eats into their profit margin the higher it goes and maybe they'll learn that people aren't going to play their game of trying to corner the market. I know it's a business but I've lost a lot of respect for Mandarake.

Congrats on the Barom. I actually tried for that too, but my bid was no where near the ending price. You guys drove it up well past where I expected it to end. But as you say, you were fighting the good fight. It was a fantastic specimen - no yellowing. Great pickup.

The Barom and the KR are not too common. Not super rare though. The Kikaida seems to be pretty common. You should be able to find one easily.

Thanks D. I like that it has blue tinsel in the head. I've not seen one that color before. Put in a decent bid but as soon as I saw oku**** and 7000 yen I was incensed, and said to myself: "No way are they going to skate away with this auction and then resell this for 25000 yen on their site!" Sure enough they strolled past my bid, so I jacked it up and made them work for it. I guess ultimately the bluff worked because they stopped bidding at exactly my high bid.

In the end all I wanted was the toy, and I don't expect people to lie down and not bid but it just makes me mad that a store with that kind of spending power always has to bust into every auction with the intent of massive resale profit. I can take losing to other collectors no problem- but not to a store.

Thanks for the info on Barom One. I always thought it was pretty common. Maybe I'm just a little mad at myself for not trying to get one years ago when I did see them go for less.

EDIT: here are the auction pics:

I guess I should add pics of my own stuff since that is what drives threads.

True - I didn't recall seeing that either.

Ahhh you know it was you that made me want that Mazinger clear! I recognize that first pic (I saved it although it was pretty small!). How can you resist not opening those bags? I got my Fireman bagged and thought about keeping it sealed for all of 30 seconds before busting it open

I have an auction pic of the Popy V3 clear saved, so fucking beautiful:

Hehe. Unfortunately, mine are not displayed (just no room for them), so the temptation to open the bag is manageable. For now.

(And sorry for the repeat, but I only have these older photos.)

That Barom 1 is about as good as it gets; congrats. Great thread too. (Would love to see Butanohana try his hand with these insert sculpts... )

that jet jaguar is so badass.

clear is the way to go!

I lied earlier. I have seen one with bluish tinsel before:


Popy clear Barom 1 by Paulkaiju, on Flickr

I was looking through my flickr faves and there it was via PK.

Fantastic score Lixx. That one is a real beauty. See, now I have to go and contradict myself from earlier by saying how nice it is to be able to really see all the innards and tinsel when the vinyl has not yellowed. I also really respect the decision to stick it to Mandarake - wish I could take such bold course too.

I am kind of with you as far as the rarity of individual characters. I seldomly see the V3 (or Mazinger for that matter), but I also have found that they come in spurts sometimes - you can seen none for almost a year, then there will be a flood. Always sucks to be in the buying position after a lull, because the prices are inevitably very high. And I would still like to know anything about the clear Thundermask too. All my searching high and low has still turned up nowt.

I think clear vinyl is my favorite vinyl. and clear with guts is my favorite everything.

So I saw mention of the clear Kikaider not being so rare...anyone wanna fill me in (through PM?) how I can maybe search for one of these? (i know the place/how to search its just the keywords i have trouble with..slowly learning) Or is that asking too much..

From my knowledge, the clear Thundermask is unlicensed.