This thread should be subtitled "Suckered by great auction photos."

I saw these photos on an auction, and I REALLY wanted to get this, but the price was more than I wanted to spend on it. The auction came and went (automatic relisting) three times, until it finally went away for good. Seeing that it was finally gone made up my mind - now that it was no longer an option, the yearning for it made me realize that I really did want it! I contacted the seller with an offer, but my agent received no response. Aw crap! Live and learn - buy now or regret it later!!

As luck would have it, the seller finally relisted it! I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted a Bullmark Gomora for a long time, and all the ones I saw paled in comparison to this one. I was mesmerized by the shiny metallic light blue paint and striking light green stripe down the back, all in comparison to the nice orange base vinyl color! These were the colors that I wanted, and I was willing to pay more than I ordinarily would for this particular specimen. Just look at these pics!!









Well, I won the auction with no competition at the price of the original listing (when I first discovered this specimen). Then I had the unendurable waiting period for me to acquire additional items until I had enough accumulated to make the shipping cost worthwhile. I received my tracking number, and it was on its way!!

The package arrived yesterday, and I eagerly ripped into it to check out this (and all the other items I snagged - many personal grails for me!). Lo and behold, it looked nothing like the photos! The vinyl had a strong reddish tint, and the blue and green paint was dull. Paint loss was very apparent, too. I took the toy to the computer and compared carefully, on the chance that this item was switched by the seller. However, every pain blemish and paint boundary matched up. This was the item in question. I thought that maybe they touched up the photo, but when I snapped my own picture, the blue does seem to shine a little, and the vinyl does look a little more orange than in person. Here's my pic:





Anyway, I'm still happy with the toy, although I probably spent more than I would have had I seen it in person. But it is my first vintage vinyl kaiju purchase (I have a few vintage vinyl robots), so it is monumental to me, and I thought I'd share the experience with you guys, who might appreciate the toy and the story.

I like the deep red in your photo more than the orangish looking vinyl in the seller's photos.
The sculpt makes me want to rub my hand over his belly. Nice!

Still looks like a beauty to me.

auctions can be very tricky as far as the condition of the toy . hope your next vintage purchase is a better one and let me know if you need any help . still a very cool kaiju .

Congrats, Myles!

Despite the unexpected colors, I actually dig it better more red, too. I'm technically not a vintage kaiju guy, myself (as I have nothing but glowie reissues of vintage sculpts), but this a great colorway. The early B-Club reissue in dull blue spray with a green belly just doesn't compare...

Thanks guys! I am very happy with it, still. Its just not what I fully expected, and the missing paint and such is much more evident in person than in the auction pics (as can be seen when comparing my photo to the auction ones).

Now if only that vintage vinyl smell wasn't so funky...

Revel in it.

Huh...I thought Jim showered before we saw him in SF...

I used to be bothered by missing paint and banged up vintage, but came to accept it and maybe even appreciate it versus a pristine contemporary toy.
Cause it has history and adds some character. Imagine some kid banging it around or sending it down the slide at the playground.

And I like the funky smell. I even like the funky smell of newspapers that some sellers use for wrapping.

Now THAT'S funny!!



One vintage vinyl was a little stinky. I can't imagine a whole room full of them! But then again, I just spent last weekend going through my stacks of containers holding all my diecast boxes (cataloging them before putting them in storage - finally got a storage unit so I can actually walk into my collection area), and afterwards my hands stunk!! Now that funk was even worse, and it wouldn't go away for awhile.

hey sanjeev , you probably didnt think it was me that had that funky vintage smell because everybody always blames the fat guy in the room . really though , take a trip to japan and when you hit the airport that smell thats part of your vintage vinyl is in the air .

On the note of smell and vintage, I've been collecting vintage Microman stuff for a while. Even have my own Microman/Micronauts stuff from when I was a kid. No smell... UNTIL I won some large lot of cool/banged up stuff on Yahoo! Japan and wow. Those figures have that "old book" smell I'm slowly getting rid of. Cleaning and storing with desiccant. Wonder what crawlspace that was taken out of?

And oh yeah, auction photos don't like. All photos do that. Gotta be aware. But color-wise, it looks like they did some color/gamma adjustment on the auction photo to push that red to orange. It happens on my shots sometimes but I just desaturate to make it all balance out better.

try cleaning it with a tooth brush and watered down tooth paste or soap and water

He's really cool, and I think I agree with you that I like the brightr colors and orange look of the auction pictures. It gives me an idea for something I've been working on... hmmm.


phil

All in all, I'd say that we were a remarkably un-stinky bunch, actually. When we hit KMH that Saturday, though.... Yowza!!

Y'know, I actually had a chance to handle a nice specimen of this Gomora colorway this past weekend. I don't think the photos do it justice: the green on the chest is just super-bright and really pops against the red vinyl. Who knows...I may try to get one now!

Anyway, one thing that I've really come to appreciate is the "Bullmark smell". I was poring over a lot of mixed old and new vinyls, and that distinct odor genuine Bullmarks emit really helped differentiate them from modern re-pops. I'd always heard about the Bullmark smell, but this was the first time I was really able to put it to the test...

Nice vinyl, and you can put it in a bag with baking sodar or (fresh) cat litter to absorb some of the smell.

Yeah, to be clear, don't try the alternative!