I asked about that recently, and was crushed by an unyeilding no.

Son of a nut cracker!
I've never even seen these go up for sale.
Great score!

I would've snagged this quick at that price...awesome set.

Um, this is sure to be a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway ...
Why are the Anraku toys made in such small numbers? They are really adorable, and I understand the "llimited" concept, but with such a small release per sculpt, do they actually turn a profit? Gotta eat, ya'know?

i guess maybe integrity to keep it underground but it does seem odd & even if a run of 100 were done it would still be unheard of in most of the 'collector' worlds. keep in mind tho the time involved with painting a run of 20 - 30 figures with the care & consideration of a crastsman vs. a factory filled with 'workers' painting insane quantities of a consumer based toy just to live.

its a difficult thing enjoying an underground artform and patience is your best friend, more so than a bucket of cash. these 'toys' are sincere modern folk art at its best. i own no Anraku but i enjoy even seeing that this kind of stuff is being made and maybe someday i will be able to pick up a peice. until then i will be a kaiju voyeur its not so bad.

I've only learned of Anraku Ansaku here. Googling and searching this forum, I haven't found too much info on the artist, and the website is still under construction. Anyone know of a link with info on this artist? Is a toy sculpt by Anraku typically 20-30 pcs? That is seriously small! Even if it's produced purely as art, you would need to recover some base cost, no? Also, does Anraku hand paint every one?

Part of the Anraku mytique is that no info is readily available on the artist, who does hand paint every one. As far as recovering costs, the retail on these are higher than most other toy makers.

NO Mr. Humphrey, NOOOOOooooo.....
WHat you don't know will not hurt you.
Probe further and you will be suck into the abyss....
THe phantom of the toy world, mwahahaha....

Sorry for the drama, folks.

Oh Agony!!! IT's too late!
Here I am tottering on Celga at 4 am on a work night, agonizing to jump or not! I really want "it", but I just dropped a wad on 2 other toys a couple of days ago. You guys have throughly corrupted me.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Nice, Kichigai hit the nail square on the head with this summation as far as how I feel about and Anraku and Bemon for that matter. Out of my reach currently, but I appreciate the fact that they're being made at all and don't mind admiring them from a far. I love equating these to "modern folk art" too, Brilliant. Don't get me wrong I'd love to have a pink piece of Anraku at some point for the collection.

Reminds me that Public Hazard should be showing up before Christmas...

[opinion]I'm not convinced that the term, "folk art", works. I just can't ignore the elephant in the room: the aftermarket. What we're discussing here only amounts to a few actual figure sculpts...that get repainted ad nauseam. Don't get me wrong--I'm not hating on the artists, themselves. I think their retail prices are fair for the work/dedication they put in, and I think that these very sculpts are hot.

But ya gotta wonder: would they continue to put out so many colorways if there weren't such hype surrounding these pieces? Flipperism is off the charts with these things and, again, these are only a few sculpts we're talking about here. Again, don't get me wrong--I'm completely on board with the quality of these pieces. I'd LOVE to own a gid Bemon, for example, someday.

It's just that there's something about this market that makes it NOT seem like folk art to me. In my mind, folk art is about creating consistently great, diverse stuff... With these toys, I just feel that the aftermarket drama has taken on such a life of it's own, that it's actually overshadowed the art.

I think to make it truly like folk art, you'd have to increase the numbers of runs so that most of those with the sincere love could realistically obtain some! Sure, the demand wouldn't be as ridiculously high, but I'm sure they'd still sell out quickly enough. Ideally, the artists should keep creating new sculpts/designs. Art is about expression and if you're genius enough to come up with these sculpts, you can come up with more. That's to the benefit of the artist, first...to the fan, second. Flipper, zero.

In this sense, even though I certainly don't like everything they put out, I feel that a company like Gargamel, or even Blobpus, is more representative of what "folk art" really means. I dunno...this is all just opinion, but I think teh MARKET is corrupt and artificially inflated (I'm reminded of the recent Space Troopers argument). I'd love to see it get back to being about the artists and their fans.

I agree with you Sanjeev on most of your points, but sadly flipping these 'limited toys' has become an art unto itself, and a very horrible one at that. It would be nice if we lived in a perfect kaiju world and artists could directly sell to just those people interested in owning an appreciating their hard work. Unfortunately there are just too many unscrupulous people out there and it hurts everyone wanting to obtain something like Anraku. Sad....

i would gladly except either, if i can ever find them......when i have money.

Info is hard to find on Anraku and to me that adds a kind of mystic to it. Here is a link to a site of some of his animations ect....

http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~anrakuansaku/

that is the website btw.

in a way i would agree with the folk art aspect of these. the figures are definitely creations of his, with influences from outside kaiju. the fact that he creates his own characters and paints each one himself definitely makes it feel more like a piece of art to me.

they're special toys. i think i'm at around 20 or so right now...not sure the exact number. I planned on taking a photo of the whole gang this week, but with others arriving within the next week or two i probably should postpone it.

these toys are not for collectors who want the next "hot thing". they're not easy to find. they're not given up. you won't find one in an hour in a trade for some figure that just came out last week.

a wise man once said to have patience when collecting. it might take you 5, 10, or 20 years to get what you want, but if it's the right time it will happen. It took me two and a half years to get my "grail" so to speak. I still can remember how excited i was when I found it...it's a feeling that cannot be easily replicated.

wow...a tangent here to be sure...carry on...

More pics!!! Less excuses!!!

To me, folk art is something painted on a turtle shell or a sculpture made entirely from pubic hair.

Anraku's stuff is based on his quirky designs, but those designs are informed by an understanding of Kaiju in popular Japanese culture (Gojira, Ultraman, etc). So, those designs translate quite naturally into sofubi, because that is a natural medium for Kaiju characters. Or, in this case spoofs of Kaiju characters.

For example, Gogamejira is obviously based on Gojira (and maybe Gamera because of the retracting legs that convert into jets). He has a mechanised nemesis. He is clearly based on popular Kaiju motifs. So, in making a 3d version of him, sofubi would seem natural form.

But is it art?

Well, we don't know what they used for the hair on Dr. Gori and Megaloman.....

heyyy waitaminnit i sniffed gori's hair up close!

20 or so Anraku pieces.... So how many PM's have you gotten today asking if you'll sell any.

Relax, Dr. Gori's straight.
If its curly.....

Um..Want what?

I fell asleep before placing the bid, but "it" was relisted! !
I asked Celga to put a bid on it for me, so I'll tattle in a few more days when the auction is over.

But! Thanks to pickleloaf's excellent photos of his collection, I did manage to pick up a red suited seminingen! Woooo!

THanks for the link Phantomfauna! I just wish I could actually buy an Anraku toy (don't we all!). I would really love to have an Anraku Gomejira

...this is not kr.

no pm's at all. if anyone knows me well they know that it would take something incredible to pry anraku away from me

my anraku now is all stuff i'd keep if i got out of toy collecting completely tomorrow.