Yes, and that's great! Exposed those greedy flea balls!
Click on the number of bidders and you'll see the highest or winning bid.
There's also a line that says reserve price not met on the 1st section while its running.

thanks all for the insight.

Geez! For $3000 couldn't you fly to Japan, visit Mandarake, purchase a Goga, and fly back?

If it were that easy.

So let me get this straight. The person behind Anraku was upset that his toys were falling in the hands of japanese flippers and being sold at outrageous prices. He stops selling to japanese, and establishes a mailing list, which several board members here are privy to.

Yet each week you see insane YJA auctions for stupid money, and some on ebay. Mr Anraku your plan to discourage flippers did not work.

The stuff you see on YJA that is listed for big money, is mostly older pre-mailing list stuff. Some of the items that have come up recently are paint samples, so they may be one of a kind. I've been told that Anraku is very upset that those are being sold on YJA (maybe they were given away as gifts?).

I have yet to see any of the newer mailing list items on YJA.

The stuff on ebay is listed at reasonable starting prices that get driven up by buyers.

I think Anraku's plan is working pretty well. If the economy wasn't so bad I'm pretty sure most of stuff we've been seeing offered lately wouldn't even show up.

Another point is, is there is no better way. There's no 100% way to stop flipping from the toy makers end, none. Let's say he sold them lottery style like Zollmen. For arguments sake I'd say 50% (personally I think more, though) people who'd buy them would do so JUST to flip them. Most people who get Anraku direct that I KNOW, keep them or at least pass them off behind the scenes for cost to people they know will keep them.

Considering numbers, there's still very FEW Anraku figures being flipped. Most of us, at least on this board, keep them around. The reason the price peaks, a lot of the time, is because of that. Most of us keep them, they're in the hands of real fans, so few make it out to the public.

OK that explains a lot. Wasn't calling out board members, for I know most of the people with access to them at retail are real fans and retain them in collections (or if they are passed on an insane bidding war ensues). I just keep seeing these odd editions on YJA for bookoo bucks.

The way I understand it, sincerity is deeply rooted in Japanese culture at all levels down to the girl that presses the lift buttons. She may ditch her job first chance she gets, but while she's at it, its all heart and soul.

Accordingly, when you buy from Mr Anraku its (suppose to be) for keeps. Of course circumstances may force the owner to sell it for cash, but if he's sincere, sell it at the buying price.

Its these flipping insincere douchebag that pisses him off. IMO.

I must also add that I nearly fell into the flipping trap- using flippers price tag on a figure that I wanted to sell. But I've decided to trade it for the same albeit different colors (don't pm me, its not Anraku )

Also, the retailers and boardies that I've dealt with are the best. There's this feeling of fairness and sincerity that I get when dealing with them. Hats off to you guys!

Great discussion. Can I ask what's probably a dumb question?

Well, if Anraku is so annoyed about flippers, and he and "true" fans/collectors here and in Japan work so hard (with mailing lists and inner-circle trading communities) to keep them in the hands of real fans for reasonable prices...well...why doesn't he just start producing them in greater numbers?

Wouldn't that make the products more generally available, thus trumping flippers? Real hardcore fans would still have their pieces, and others (the ones *paying* the flipper prices now and those priced out of collecting these) would have access to them. And, of course, Anraku would be making more money...

I'm not at all interested in these toys. I'm just curious what y'all think...

My only guess to that is the quality would decline. He does it all himself, pretty much.

Anraku paints ALL his figures himself and doesn't use a factory, as far as I know...wants to keep it that way.

I have a feeling that most of the more recent releases were made in larger numbers.

I could be all wrong on that though. They could just seem more abundant because they are going to mostly collectors outside of Japan, and are therefore more on my radar.

Anraku was ill for awhile and as a result there were no toys produced at all, so it's definately just him. Now that he's been feeling better, he's been producing quite a bit of stuff. Some of the best stuff he's made yet, in my opinion.

I thought I heard somewhere that the Cadmiums were a smaller release than say the original Hazards.

Yeah, the new stuff is great, although I wish he'd bring back the OG Goga.

Oh man.
That would make me cry.
I heard there's a new Goga coming out?

Me too.

I asked about it and was told, "Please enjoy Anraku's new characters"

Politest no ever.


That's news to me. I responded to the offer for the original Hazards and missed out on both of them because they had sold out. So, I wish there were more.

New Goga looked more along the lines of your regular old godzilla without the big head. Yea want the old version back please... Oh and the Giant Venus too!

I can't wait to see how the new Goga looks painted. I think the sculpt will look excellent next to the giant Cambodia and Mamaregon figures.

Aren't a lot of companies in Japan one man operations? Does Shikaruna have a team? PK is one man and his runs seem slightly larger than Anraku? Not begrudging the guy for small small runs it's his prerogative, just seems he's limiting access to fans who really want them. It almost seems like an intentional marketing ploy to drive value and prices up. Again not taking stabs at collectors here who have access to getting them at retail.

I like some of the sculpts but there is no way I'd ever justify spending secondary market price on any of them, even a one off. Seems silly that if you if you truly wanted the toys in the hands of fans, and with things like the SB forum around and people consistently posting pictures of newly acquired Anraku on the daily here, that you would deny most fans from getting them. It's the proverbial carrot dangling in front of the donkey no one wants to talk about......

i would agree with you if not for the stories (rumors?) of people facing consequences of being unlisted for being known for flipping/reselling. If it were the case that he was trying to drive prices up, wouldn't he be trying to demand more from his patrons? I'm not a patron so I wouldn't know, but it doesn't seem to be the case from observation.

Now your never getting on the list

Good point. I don't know what retail is but from reading other threads it seems reasonable. OK scratch that, didn't think it through. I still think the list idea stinks though, will not waiver on that point...



LOL! I was never going to get on the list....

Well, all things considered, it sounds like Anraku simply isn't capable of producing more figures. If that's truly the case, then flipping is an unfortunately inevitability. I think maintaining a private list is probably the best way to go.

I mean Bemon/CKA/whatever seems to just make one and toss it up on Y!J and let the market dictate its price. Sure, that's fair...certainly better than allowing flippers to profit so much more off his work. But it's a less-principled stand, I guess, than what Anraku's doing (because it would appear that Anraku refuses to increase the retail on his figures).

Now, if Anraku IS capable of putting out more figures while maintaining an acceptable level of quality, then he's got no real right to complain about flipping (if he IS, in fact, upset about flipping...I've never met the guy!).

This arguement makes zero sense.

How does the maker benefit by driving up secondary market prices? Well, there is a way, but that's a different story.

It seems like the BEMON dude is milking it for all it's worth, while Anraku is trying to keep prices reasonable. By selling directly on the secondary market (YJA), the BEMON guy is saying to his fans "fight for it", while Anraku is making every attempt to put his product in the hands of his fans. The BEMON guy gives all of his fans an equal shot at paying $1000 for one of his toys and Anraku puts his directly in the hands of his fans at a much more reasonable price.

Choose your poison, but it's just the nature of such a limited hand crafted product.