Hey Mike, have you found any reliable way to remove marker from vinyl w/o damaging it?

WHEW!!

Holy SHIT, that was a blast! The dust is *still* settling!

I wish I'd had a chance to reply to some of the previous posts on this thread *during* the auction...but there was just SO much going on. I was really nuts. Seriously, if you have the time, head over to the TBDX vintage board and read any thread with the word "Morphy" in the title! You'll get a feel for everyone's experiences there. It was a truly amazing event.

Here's my impression of being there in person:
"Bidding in person is PURE EXHILARATION!! It was seriously just so much fun! The anticipation builds in the lot just before 'yours'. Then, you see that pic come up on the big screen and the auctioneer kicks it off...and you're off to the races. The next thirty seconds will determine whether you walk with the toy or not! You bid. Someone else bids. You counter. They counter. It goes back and forth for a few tense moments...then it happens. No more bids, and you're sitting on the high bid. The auctioneer holds onto that intense moment far longer than you like. I mean, it's seriously agony! Will that guy on the phone or online reconsider and bid again?? It's intense!

And then, when you win, you have the WHOLE front, left quarter of the seats cheering for you [yes, the TBDX/SB contingent took up 25% of the seats!]! That's the shit, right there, guys! I mean, it was AWESOME how we all had each other's backs, of course. If we saw that someone was really swinging for something, the rest of us would not only back down, but we'd celebrate when they won it!

One of the nicest moments for me was that I happened to be sitting next to Mark K across the isle (though I had no idea who he was at the time). When that Bullmark Ninja Arashi set came up, I was ready! When I won it, Mark was the first person to pat me on the back and congratulate me! I just love it when the sense of community permeates a room and pulls others in!"

And here's my take on the underperformance of the vinyl:
"Modern (especially *designer*) vinyl is a fairly new-ish subgenre of the hobby. It's not nearly as mature as diecast, vintage vinyl, or even other modern character vinyl (M1, Marmit, Marusan...). I think the designer vinyl crowd tends to be younger and while they're probably more internet savvy overall, a LOT of the commerce within the community actually occurs privately (on the skullbrain board, itself, or on other bbs'). I mean, I dabble in this stuff, but I almost never look to eBay for these toys. I always check skullbrain's For Sale board or just get hooked up by other people "in the know" via blogs or other private conversations. I'm guessing these collecting habits aren't particularly amenable to the traditional auction house thing.

More to the point, because designer vinyl is just SO new, I think this is the *first time* massive amounts of it is being unloaded at auction. Sure, skullbrain's abuzz with the whole event, but it's not like they represent the ENTIRE modern vinyl collecting world. Meanwhile, vintage diecast, vinyl, and tin collectors have a real history of scoring at such private auction house events...regardless of where you are in the world.

And lastly, modern vinyl collecting is usually about scoring that ONE piece you're searching for. I'm sure people were turned off by having a MASSIVE lot of toys that they mostly didn't want...just to get one or two great pieces. But them's the breaks. The fact of the matter is that despite the prevalence of the "hot" item of the week (and its absurdly inflated price), a lot of modern vinyl devalues to the point that they actually go for LESS than retail on the open market. The price estimates I put on those actually reflects that, too!

I mean, lot 186 went for $225, but it contains a painted Matango that I've seen go for $400ish ALONE! I scored lot 178 for $175 because it had a gid painted Marmit Woo that I've seen go for over $200 ALONE! Shit like that was bound to happen, but I was just really surprised!

I think a private dealer or two made out like bandits on the larger lots. Instant store stock that they can unload at their leisure, on an individual piece basis, for MUCH higher prices..."

As for the vintage vinyl, my major complaint leading up to the auction was the lack of disclosure of flaws. I mean, we did a good job of parsing the toys and lotting them, but we really should have taken it upon ourselves to catalog any writing on the feet...and demanded that they photograph them and include those pics in the catalog (or, at the very least, mention the damn shit in the auction descriptions).

Well, anyway, it sure was an event to remember. I'll get my pics posted eventually.

Mark, again, it was awesome meeting you and your cool and super-supportive wife! Jim, as always, awesome to hang out with you, man! Hillsy, Roger and the rest...well, you know I love you, you fuckers!

So you beat me on 178 huh, I couldn't get the "bid live" thing to work so I just had to sit and watch that Woo go. Nice score, I wish I could have made the trip up.

Question of the day for us poor folk bidding at home. Do you remember which other vinyls had writing on the feet?

Sorry not that i know of. The ink is usually absorbed into the feet. Brian has a cleaner that he uses to clean battle scars, but I do not think it will work for this. It looks to be in great shape otherwise. If you can just put it a shelf, try to forget and enjoy. For me it is one of those things that picks at me. I probably can not name all my vinyls, but i can name the few that have writing:)

If only...

Believe me, if I knew, I'd've posted it LONG ago.

If we had gotten to the auction sooner or somehow had had more time, I would have gone into the storage room and checked them all. No time, though...

I got *mostly* lucky with the Ninja Arashi set: there was no writing, but there was...chewing gum(!?) on the bottom of one of the dude's feet. Scraped for hours and it's still there...

I'm kicking myself for not noting the other vinyls with writing. I know at least one (possibly two) other Bullmarks had similar writing. The giant size Kamen Rider villians had problems you could not see in the pics. The Cobra Man had lots of paint rubs/battle scars on one shoulder and the Chamelian Man had a name written down the back in Japanese and scribbles that were hard to see through the black overspray.

As Sanjeev mentioned, bidding live was a great experience. People were actually cheering each other on to the amusement of the auctioneer.

Anyone who won a modern lot got a great bargain and will have a blast going through all the stuff. I also think most all the vintage vinyl lots were bargains too, unless you get one with writing that you did not know about. You were allowed to preview the lots anytime before the auction, but I agree that not disclosing this was a real problem.

Sanjeev, great to meet you also and I wish we had more time chat. That Ninja Arashi lot was a great score!

Anyone who ends up with vintage vinyl and the handwriting is driving them crazy, hit me up as I might be interested.

Almost missed this post! Hey, thanks, man!

It's funny: some of us found out later that we had accidentally bid against each other and we all laughed about it after the fact. The camaraderie was truly epic.

Glad to see you got that Ninja Arashi set Sanjeev. I thought that set and the Kamen Rider villain set were real bargains.
What was the deal with the Popy King Joe and Mecha-Gojira? I was really surprised those didn't go for a lot more.

Saturday was pure torture for me to watch and not be able to bid. The tin Nomura Super Kun and Oghan Bat were two other pieces I expected to go really high (and drooled hideously for) . Maybe these were in lesser condition than actually described. The thin legged Nomura Big X robot...dream toy...major grail...someday.

Thanks for write-up, Sanjeev!

That must've been awesome!

Fuck me! I guess that means I just threw my money away. I bid on the giant kamen riders specifically because the description in the catalog said "little to no paint wear." I've already got the Cobra dude but since he's a little beat-up, I figured this was a great chance to upgrade to a nicer copy and the red guy is the last giant kamen rider villain I need (and he's not that expensive on YJA). So, I just wasted my money on those. I'll have to wait to see them in person to make a final judgment but if either of them have some serious paint problems, the catalog contains a material misrepresentation.

I also won the lot of 8 standard size kamen rider figures and now I'm worried they went so cheap ($500.00) because they have serious problems that could only be seen in person. I really wish Morphy's had done a better job describing problems (and the fact that problems were described for some figures suggests that if no problems are listed for other figures, it means that the figure doesn't have issues rather than just being an oversight).

I went into major debt to get these lots and some others and it'll be very upsetting if I wind up with junk (I studied the kamen rider standard size figures as best I could and they looked like they all had their boots and belts but now, who knows . . . . . )

Thanks, Ralph! The Arashi set is...breath-taking. As for the Popy robo-kaiju, the King Joe looked mint, but the MG looked pretty beat. I don't have a pic of it, but I remember a lot of paint wear on the face.

And, yeah, there's been a lot of talk about the condition of the toys. Bummer that it went down this way. I'm just hoping they get it together for next time an auction of these types of toys goes down. And there WILL be more...as these toys--and we!--keep getting older!

Well that explains why that Popy diecast lot didn't go higher, thanks Sanjeev.
Oh and since I wasn't there in person to cheer your win...here's my belated applaud...clap! clap! clap! clap! clap!

Haha...thanks, Ralph!

Okay, so it's kinda early because so many skullbrainers bid remotely, but I figured why not start posting winnings. I'll go first (this one's for Bryce! ):



Henshin Ninja Arashi!



So fucking psyched to have scored these!


Majin Sai


Mashira


Doku Utsubo


Onibi Mamushi


Nekomandara


Majin Kamaitachi


Hayate/Arashi

I totally wanna get some of those 1/6 Mononofu sword sets to arm these guys!




Thanks to everyone who's helped id the deadly Yokai Ninja of the Chiguruma Tou!

Oh, and more pics here...including diecast, tin, and modern vinyl...

Fuck those are stunning and in such stellar shape. Nice score Sanjeev!

Those are phenomenal, I was just about to ask you to take some close ups too
I was about to bid on them too, but the price quickly shot past what I could afford. So happy for you, that is an incredible score.

I really like Nekomandara. Paid my invoice yesterday morning and PA ain't that far from western NY. Should have mine over the weekend or early next week. Morphy said they ship within 3-4 days tops (lol you know I had to ask!).

wow, great pick up sanjeev! such a cool set.

So envious Sanjeev!!

These look like they are in fantastic shape too.

yeah i just got off the phone with them, making my payment. same thing, will ship it out in a couple of days. am really hoping to get it here in CA before thanksgiving but most likely it will be after.

Seriously beautiful set.

this i want

@Sanjeev. Beautiful grabs. The one you refer to as a boar is actually a weazel. He is Majin Kamaitachi.

Agreed, great set in beautiful condition - I was so tempted to bid on that one myself. Getting that one dude with the staff makes it worth it by itself.