Good to know. Just from looking at the bids I can see a few deputy buying services, so definitely people should be aware. Thanks for posting Sanjeev.

Based on the auction info, this looks like one of the IDs for a mass selling service- the other names are other big resellers of old/used toys. I don't think they know what they are selling half the time, so my sense is that the lack of disclosure was not intentional.

The tells for the Gorosaurus are the size (too small) and the blue paint, which should be darker. If you're planning to drop $1,200 on a vintage toy, you should have known enough to see those tells.

Thanks for the insight, Daniel! I'm not so convinced this was unintentional, however: my agent requested those photos of the bottom of the feet several days ago...and he received them *literally* minutes after the close of the auction. C'mon.

Anyway, the biggest tell in my opinion was that the toy was listed as a "Marusan Gorosaurus", not a "Bullmark Gorosaurus"! But yeah, the purple paint definitely isn't as heavy as it is on any of the legit ones I've seen.

Man...I feel bad for the winner. I wonder if s/he'll try to get their money back...

I use Anime Chaos as my deputy service but I was not the under bidder. I noticed that auction this morning and did a double take. Daniel is correct plus Bullmark did the stripe belly. The seller also had a Sasahela (sp?) ending this morning that was over 100k Yen when I looked. Did not have it saved. Anyone see if it was legit and what it ended at?

Here is another seller to be careful of: http://openuser.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp ... 0jp&mode=1
He has really accurate repaints of almost every rare, Hawaii, paint variation vinyl out there. Cool if that's your thing, but he never shows the feet (I assume they are not marked) and who knows where the toy will end up once it leaves his hands.

Oh yeah, the stripe belly was a Bullmark. Duh on me.

Here's a pic I pulled from the web of the vintage hawaiian, with a decent article:



http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2006 ... yesterday/

Sanjeev did you save bigger pics of the fake? Side by side time?

I didn't see the Sasahela, Mark...but like Daniel mentioned, if these guys are a massive selling service, there's no telling if the original owner was the same or whether there was shady shit going on with that item or not. Oh, and yeah, I've seen that schnaither2720 guy before. I think it's more obvious that his toys are repainted, so I'm a lot less concerned about that...but you're right: people *should* be wary.

Anyway, here ya go, Chris:

^^Scifi Japan version on the left (great article, by the way!) and fake on the right.

And here's another reference from ClubTokyo:

Along with what the feet *should* look like:

What also scares me is that I often don't get my stuff shipped until months later! If anyone else is like me, by the time you receive it, its typically too late to do anything. Something similar just happened to me. The seller claimed an item was MIB, never opened. Well, the tape was clearly cut and some pieces were missing. Now, several months later when I finally received it, there is nothing that can be done. Positive feedback had already been left. When my agent contacted them, the seller accused him of being unscrupulous. C'est la vie.

I don't think this seller is trying to push these off as vintage. These have been relisted over and over again, and the asking price is low. I've been tempted on quite a few, but other things are always keeping me at bay.

-
(double post )

At least the auctions have "repro Bullmark" in the title.

Wow that sucks! Hope they buyer can do something to get a refund.

Got some good news just now: a friend of mine in Japan got in contact with the seller of the fake Gorosaurus somehow. Apparently, the transaction is being cancelled and the item is being relisted properly.

Now, I'm not sure what the circumstances were. Like, the seller could very well have been trying to pass off the fake as an actual vintage Bullmark...and just got caught--either by the winner of the auction or by some other potential bidder who received the foot pics (like my agent). OR...the seller could have legitimately not known what was up...

Either way, no one's getting fucked over.

That is good news. I have seen some weird listings like this on YJA, but generally I find the sellers honest and if anything will always err on the side of advising you not to bid, in order to avoid any 'discrepancies' or disputes after the item is received. I have only had one really bad experience, and mostly it is the repeat/mass sellers that are not helpful. I won't make a generalisation and say that the Japanese are all honest folk (pretty close though), but more just that shit is not tolerated - just as it should be. Anyways, glad this worked out and no one got shafted in the end.

Well... Some shit is tolerated. I recently won two BIN auctions. The seller then cancelled them, saying he mislisted the prices (they had lower starting bids with a higher BIN). I was told by my agent that this is allowed. He automatically received negative feedbacks from the YJ system, though, for both auctions (plus one from my dealer). He then relisted them in auction style formats. I still managed to win them, albeit at 2K yen higher for each. Hopefully these will go through and there won't be any more problems with this seller. But basically the seller had second thoughts and wanted to be greedy.

^^^this happened to me to, a little differently but still similar enough. Placed my bid a day before ending, I was the only bidder. 10 minutes before ending, the auction ended early, and was relisted immediately at a higher BIN price, and higher auction start. I didnt go back for it because i was irritated.

^^ Good man.

Ive had the same thing happen a few times ... I think it is is not uncommon if there is a low price on something and only one bidder, the seller gets jumpy on the last day and I agree it is infuriating to be the bidder !

On the opposite side ive bid on things that have gone round and round with no bids ... I bid ..then suddenly there's a lot of interest it

I've had this happen several times! I think I'm more mad at myself on these though for not bidding earlier.

Yeah, that thought definitely crossed my mind too. But on the other hand, I sort of had the sense that they were already mine (or at least should have been), and I was going to reacquire them, DAMN IT! And also they were still absolute steals even after paying a little more for each.






This has happened to me more time than I care to remember. But after the first time the auction is listed, you start to question yourself on whether its really a good price since it never sold, or if its more common than you thought, or you just figure it will still be there later if you ever change your mind. I vividly recall many of these, and they still haunt me to this day. Friggin Gatchaman base, Getter Robo G missile firing gun, ... Ugh!

Been after this clear Bullmark Triple Fighter forever but again too rich for my blood. Put up a good fight but unwilling to go beyond 30000k range. Ended at 35200, but at least oku**** didn't win

How beautiful is this toy? Is it weird I like the yellowing and think it gives the toy more character? The seller had great pics:




Then there's the Bandai Giant Thundermask (same seller). So beautiful. Ended at 59100k. Wasn't even going to bother since I knew it would go high and all I need is that damn mask! At least I take comfort I got the toy sans mask and in better shape for 4000k. Now I just have to keep begging Sanjeev to make me a mask!

youre right lixx. that toy is really beautiful! i almost shed a tear..
love the sculpting of his face.

Yeah some really nice stuff up lately...bunch from the same seller.

I think there's a new 'Oku" in town though...AAZ....'I HAtes THee...FOREVER!" -

Thanks for sharing those pics lixx. That Bullmark Triple Fighter is crazy good. I too have a thing for yellowed vinyl. Reminds me of amber. That blue on the helmet, in my mind, looks so much better against the yellow color. Just a beautiful figure!

That is an amazing Triple Fighter. And actually I agree with you; I find that in a lot of the cases (if not all) the yellowing of the vinyl actually gives it more character and the added colour is an improvement. I don't think that is too expensive, but it is getting up there. Definitely a figure I would love to add though.

I am honestly shocked at the end for that giant Thundermask. As you said, there are plenty of bargain loose ones without the mask, and I don't think he is particularly that much more rare than some of the other giant heroes. All depends who is bidding though.