Just to clarify...
You do know that none of the vinyl toys we deal with here are painted in sweatshops in China, right? No wait, thats wrong, maybe 1% or less is produced in factories China. Production pieces done in "factories" in Japan are actually more like garages with one, maybe two people painting each run by hand.

Theres a youtube video about Marusan, of M1 and how these things get made, I'm sure someone has the links, and I think you should watch it... Most of these toys have a single steel mold, and each is hand poured and pulled... They don't really pump out 100s at a time I don't think... Dozens, maybe if its a really big run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qUJ7TPK ... re=related
Kaiju Vinyl factory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9a313DSGxY
Kaiju Painting with m1go

I didn't mean that they where. I just meant the toys hand painted by artists are something special compared to production toys in general. I did mention Japanese manufacturing but I collect other things as well and think I fell into just speaking of rarity within collecting in general. I have seen that video and it is definitely not a sweat shop although I bet it is hot in there. Popping out a few hundred was poor wording in relation to these toys. I know that often a few painters do the work on the many of the toys collected here and I did not mean to slight the work they do. There are some great looking production pieces out there. I think my over all statement still applies though. If you are making a run then making more should not be raising the price of production even if it extends the production time. While production paint jobs are awesome in their own right there are still often signs that it is production work. The paint on my Boss is simply better than any production piece I have and I know Paul did them himself. It just makes it more worthy of hunting down or obtaining even if the run was small.

I do recognize that obtaining a new release is not exactly hunting but it's hardly wallet waving. Personally I buy things because I like them and I don't have a ton of money. It's still hard to score a micro run with or without money. I also know what it means to hunt. I am new to Japanese/inspired toys but I am not new to collecting. I have items I have been hunting for a decade and still do not possess. I think the hunt is a central theme regardless of your poison. Sorry if my first post sounded belittling or uninformed.

Edit: Thanks for the M1GO link, hadn't seen that. I certainly didn't mean to imply that was cheap and quick, just that it can be done to more than 10 toys. It's worth mentioning that if a company normally operates on the other side of the world but manages to get a handful of pieces to foreign collectors thats admirable. I certainly wouldn't fault RxH for the recent American release even though it was small runs, I guess thats what I meant by having a good reason.

hunting is cool--but I won't pull the trigger unless the price is right. of course there are exceptions. older toys.

my idea of a great hunt would be when I was searching for SD Gundam action figures. The prices were super cheap, so it was a lot of fun just swinging by TRU or where ever and checking out the clearance bins. $3 here, $4 there. It was always a good time and it didn't butt-rape my budget when I found a "rarer" figure. motha-effers where still $3--$7 at most. sometimes I would go with my friend who was into Gundam and we could look for stuff together, hit up a pizza joint after and just cruise around listening to something new . those were the days....!

I was reading what Living Dead was saying, and that's what can suck about it--hunting, finally scoring, then the toy doesn't really stand out for what it actually does. These days, I'll only hunt for stuff that I really like--the only time rarity comes into play is when I need to be realistic about whether or not I can afford it or find it. I don't go for the rare stuff for the sake of rarity like for some pieces in the early days of my collecting craze. I have to like the toy better than others versions if I'm to hunt it seriously. ...so when it does arrive, I'm really satisfied with it and it works with my set-up. I'm trying to get back to my roots, and not be all swept up in the BS.


but really...prefer to just buy what I like without the trouble as far as this hobby goes. I have plenty of "deadstock" figures that I wouldn't want to let go, and some CRAZY finds that I did let go, so how easy it was to score doesn't bother me. 10 yrs from now no one will give two farts about the stuff I buy today and how rare it is/was...but more importantly, neither will (do) I. they'll stand the test of time for their presence and beauty.

Most of the toys on this board are handpainted by the creator OR someone the creator designates as talented enough to hire to hand paint. They're painted by hand. Not a machine. And what's it matter whether they're labeled an "artist" or not? They're the same, you just don't know their names. They're being painted 1 at a time by someone how is just as much an "Artist" as the person who designed the toy as far as I'm concerned in the case that the toy isn't painted by the creator.

To me, whether it's a 1-off or painted by the creator or anything like that doesn't matter. If I never knew who painted or even created the toy (which I'd say I don't know who paints some of the toys I collect) I like them because they look cool. Not because a name is tagged on.

I don't think you meant anything mean by it all.

Dear Japanese toy painters who's names we do not know: I SALUTE YOU!



ON HUNTING: I like scoring a toy without paying flipper costs whether it's right away or after years of searching. I like the hunt but it becomes tiresome sometimes. Especially when you see new guys popping in and paying x400 what you'd even consider and driving the price up. Makes you wanna quit sometimes. So the hunt isn't my problem, it's the frustration that comes with watching guys with lots of cash and no sense coming in and loading up after you've been trying for years just making things more difficult.

I like getting new stuff easily AND having to hunt. Part of hunting is getting to know people and building friendships. If this was a Star Wars Toys type of collecting where I could just got to Target and load up it wouldn't be as interesting. But if I could NEVER get anything it'd suck too. Double edge sword.

If you mean that an M1 production figure, which is still hand painted, is more special that a Hasbro production figure then I agree with you. But if you're talking about HP vs FP in the Japanese vinyl realm - say an M1 production figure vs a RxH 1-off - then I disagree with you. Or a better example - put the Secreters up against any Hiddy HP and the Secreters come out on top every single time.

For me the only "HPs" that I'd ever want to own would be a Bemon or Anraku. And those early figures I still consider to be production figures, as that was the way in which they produced their figures at the time. They were done in runs, they weren't done with the intention of being "special" compared to the other figures they were producing at the time.

For me, hunting and finding things is far more exciting than going on a website, putting something in my shopping cart, and calling it a day. I'm not knocking what other people like to do, and sometimes the ease of purchase is really nice, but at the end of the day when I walk by my display I feel that the stuff I searched years for has far more meaning to me and my collection. I could go off on five tangents here, but I will also echo what Jeff said about making friends and building relationships. My "collection" of friends that I have made via this hobby is far more valuable than a physical toy in my mind. I can't think of many friends with other hobbies who can travel around the world and find adventures waiting for them with other likeminded individuals.

HP figures in small numbers are nice, but like NT said about other toys, in my opinion some of the FP bemon runs can rival his early HP's (except the glows...those are just nuts)

Nothing like the reward of finally scoring a toy you've been after for a year or two at a good price, that's for sure. But if every toy had such a difficult chase, I'd say it would be more frustrating than fun and I probably wouldn't enjoy it.
It's a balance. It's fun having a few toys on the list that seem impossible to score. But more than that and I'd feel depressed about collecting.

Sorry for the over explanation, I really did a horrible job expressing my point. One day I will learn not to post on no sleep and caffeine. I didn't mean to put toys painted by the artist on a pedestal for that reason alone but I clearly did with my statement. The Poll asked about the hunt and run size and I was thinking that I hate micro runs but sometimes it's understandable or even admirable. With Rich and Paul I was thinking about recent releases and I know many wish that Ollie or Boss had more pieces. Still it's easy to understand when only so many got done before the cons or whatever event and there is no reason to bag on them for not having more. I am lacking any Bemons or Anraku to compare so I recognize I am speaking partially out of ignorance. Still though, I have four Power Patty's and the 2 hand painted by Bwana and Arbito are without question, far superior. I think most people would agree that the bluebell Steven has a nicer paint job then any production one. So I guess it can easily go both ways. The point I failed to really illustrate is that if company x for instance makes a run of 10 and clearly has the resources and fan support to make more, that pisses me off unless there is a valid reason. If upstart X has built a name for himself and is now trying to make his own toys or painter X got so many of these done for a show then it doesn't. I will shut my pie hole now.

I'm with ScaryAndy in that I want toys.
But I am usually quite happy to lie in wait until something comes along that I really like, it doesn't matter to me how limited it is or valuable, just if it appeals to me.