yeah, i'm from the jersey shore where we had absolutely no punk scene.....

i was actually agreeing with you. doesn't sound like you interpreted it that way.
i should add a smiley after nice.

sorry atease, i thought you were picking a fight/trying to derail the thread. my bad. apologies.

This sort of vinyl has in common with punk the DIY thing and some degree of aesthetics. However, nothing could be less punk than punk nostalgia or tributes. That's the sort of thing that punk was in part a reaction against ... Beatles on pedestals, rock journalism, rock gods. "Nag Nag Nag" is a seriously cool single to pay tribute to, but doing so isn't "punk." Furthermore, punk rock was accessable to almost anyone who wanted access. It was anti-elitist, whereas there's soooooo much about the hype, desire, and tease factor of these releases that is rarified and elitist and materialist, even if that wasn't the maker's intention. As for the "FUSA" sentiment, yeah, that's a bit punk in spirit, but anyone can say that for any number of reasons, and they do, and they have been going back a lot further than punk's birth.

As for the culture vs. music thing, I remember well that in the OG punk days, people insisted that it was indeed an attitude. Not a codified dogmatic one, but an attitude and a perspective to be sure. I don't remember anyone saying it's only music and that's it. If anything, the codification of fashion and hairstyles were one of the things that punk disliked about itself, except ... they were so cool!

Ed, you crack me up. You've got everyone confused with everything you said after "nice."

Now, come to Morphy's let hillsy bear-hug you!

OH...and this toy blows.

nah, morphy's is a no go for us now. planning for the west coast in 2010!

no bear hugs.

I disagree as I dont think music nor mohawks are punk. I think toys have the abillity to be way more punk than the sex pistols ever were. there I said it.

with that said I thin this nag nag nag toy is boring and I think being "shocking" is boringgg zzzzzzz..zzzzz

I dunno, I've met some pretty elitist twat-bag punks. Also, one could argue that they're "low run" because that's the only way the maker can afford to do it or keep up. Old punk 7"s are usually pretty low run partially due to smaller markets but also due to the means of the makers. I'm just playing devils advocate here, though. I don't give a crap about what is or isn't punk.

When I look at any of my toys, there's no baggage, no bullcrap internet social issues or drama. Just a toy. I base what I like just on how they look and feel. Not based on who makes it or why it's made.

I think a lot of the BS attached to this figure is dumb, a LOT of it, but the toy straight up as a toy I like. Even if it was made to envoke a reaction or just to be marketed to someone who likes chunky-pooh like toys. If I said otherwise it'd be false and contrived and so that's that.

This is correct I think is what it gets labeled as "punk" so often. Early punk singles like early runs of some toy lines were done in very small runs. Not for hype, but because they honestly didnt think they could sell many. The line is crossed when they KNOW they can sell many and they do small runs just for hype



If it were up to me I would never read msgboards anymore and just stick to buying what I like. I know a good amount of collectors who have never heard of skullbrain and simply buy what they like based on their opinions alone. I always love to see what they buy based on that alone. Its great.
(when I say buying what I like I mean buying based only on what is aesthetically pleasing, which is no longer the case for me)

We don't disagree as much as it might seem. It probably looked like I was disagreeing with uberboy but I really just meant to dis all the nonsense around this toy. You're absolutely right that there are elitist punks, always have been, but then, part of punk was "cultivating alienation" from the lemming mainstream, which is inherently Voltaire-ish. Punk was set to self-destruct from the get-go.

I agree that collections of people who aren't into what's currently cool are more interesting. Not that a lot of what's hot right now isn't great ... it truly is, but ... eh, what can you do? Without this board and hype, a lot of people wouldn't have any central point of information and by extension access, so there will always be a bit of a "follower" factor. I guess hype isn't all bad. Without the "RxH Collections" thread that generated a huge surge of interest in Mori's toys, he may never have been able to up production and open a shop. I honestly think that thread had much to do with that line's "boom." Ironically, the same boom that now has collectors looking elsewhere...

If there was a way to get information on a lot of these figures without hitting boards, I may never have made it here. Honestly, it'd be easier too. But this was the only source for me, still is the most up-to-date source for those without inside connections in Japan. Even after hitting blog after blog, nothing moves as fast as this place for public Japanese sofubi/fight figure/kaiju/neokaiju/whatever information.

However, I've met a lot of cool people here and enjoy the BSing, and I've NEVER been a message board guy. If you guys think this place is all "kindergarden" and crap you haven't spent enough time on certain Star Wars boards, yeesh! Even after all of the BS, it's still the most "mature" and relaxed board I've ever hit.

It's really hard to tell when you're basing your opinions on hype or anti-hype, which is the same thing (it's too hyped I hate it, etc.) vs. just liking or hating something right out for it's own merrit. You just gotta walk away and shut it all off sometimes.

+1

I also think that I collect what I like and that HYPE has very little to do with it.

I've also meet some realy cool folks and was able to pick up some stuff that I wouldn't be able to get elsewhere.

I must confess I am a victim of the hype.

I'm sure I wouldn't have so many Gamera vinyls if it weren't for peer pressure.

Gamera is the new Bemon!

Jesus, this thread is still going?

I think the real question is...

new at Taco Bell, punk or not?

Not. It's New Wave. Note use of fake halftone dots and black/white/pink swatch. It's a Blondie taco. If it were Ramones it'd be a burrito anyway.

Mmmmmmmmmmm, goth taco.

No, aren't you down with the kids? That's not a goth taco it' Tac-emo.

goth, emo, new wave, will we ever know for sure? the answer? who cares, it's all about the nachos anyway.

nachos are punk

nachos and this toy are both hiphop

I've been mislead, I thought it was new romantics.

Punk?!?
I thought it was for the Black Metal enthusiast who's hungry at 2 am...

Real tacos use soft maíz tortillas and don't have hamburger, lettuce, and weird little squiggles of flavorless cheese product arrayed in such a manner as to suggest some sinister subliminal suggestion going on. I'm sure if you squint and look real close you can see the cheese-product worms interacting with the seductively curvy flavorless iceburg lettuce to spell "sex" or something else to discreetly make your greedy little id think you desire ingestion of the thing. Madison Avenue must stop using our biology against us!

Clearly this is a bootleg taco, with its platform prefab shell, low-grade Big Agra hormone-fed e.coli-susceptible "beef" and rubber cheddar graphical elements. A north-of-the-border unreasonable facsimile. It thinks it's Rico Suave at the Palladium with Tito Puente on timbales but it's just Ricky Martin bubblegum on post-music MTV. It wants to be Hip Hop but it's not even Vanilla Ice in his Christian Folk aspect. It's like that Scarecrow western toy dude calling his KRap "oldskool kaiju." It's like actually believing that Green Day were ever Punk. It's a post-Baudrillardian simulacra of the idea of a taco, but without the ingredients. I hate this taco and all the hype around it. Draw an anarchy symbol on it with tabasco sauce and call it punk. See if I care.

I got my oldskool DIY fresh-off-the-comal tortilla, frijoles pintos and carne asada right here, y'all. I call it "taco." Not neo-taco, not "oh look how cute a chihuahua who speaks high school Spanish" taco, not Punk Rock taco, not King Diamond Is Satanic Majesty taco, not Sugarhill Fresh Crew tribute taco, not Tacos for Grown-Ups taco, not Manimal Is The Next Paul Kaiju taco, just taco.

My favorite tacos are made in a converted bus. They are not punk, they are Mariachi.



They even sell the Coke bottled in Mexico - Real sugar, fuck the corn syrup.