Oh, you mean the KR "Those toys look like cheap 25 cent crap!" comments, and the "They can't sculpt".

That changed to "Oh those toys are too hyped, I won't even bother liking them." real fast.

Sofubi is the new JINGO. It's a lifestyle now get it?(No many people don't understand it still, the smell of opening the bag, they enjoyment of the chase?)

Gotta sell it with western licensed characters now.

Don't mind me, I'm off to sculpt some drippy anus hands and penis drill skulls.
Back to the underground baby.

Sofubi is the new kaiju.

That's a great point, but do we know if these toys are being produced through a genuine sofubi factory? Will this money be helping out a little "mom & pop" backyard vinyl factory?

The main thing that's annoying me here is that it's obviously trying to market "sofubi" as something that they can sell at a (far?) higher price point with no nods towards sofubi culture. With the new Godzilla movie a couple of months away it would have been a perfect opportunity for them to produce some cool Godzilla vinyl and get mass exposure for the toys. This approach of doing new school/KR style versions of properties like Batman will give a lot of people the wrong first impression of what soft vinyl is and where it came from.

We have an idea of the vintage japanese toys, the creatures and creativity, the traditions that we attach with sofubi. In a few months there will be a shitload of people that will associate "sofubi" with limited edition/funko/glittery vinyl and cartoony new school versions of TMNT/Star Wars/etc.

My understanding, and sorry I had this explained to me when I visited Japan last year but this may not be 100% accurate. I would bet these are being produced by Obitsu. Obitsu distributes work across a network of factories, those smaller factories also take on independent work. My toys aren't produced by Obitsu but at a couple small factories that also pull vinyl for Obitsu. Just one of these runs is over 3000 figures, that's probably as much vinyl as I'll pull in 10 years. Just this TMNT series probably made the Japanese toy industry more money than the influx of indy Gaijin would create over the next 10 years.

I was told years ago, sofubi simply meant made in Japanese vinyl. It was a cop out so you didn't have to mislabel something as being kaiju or neo-kaiju or call it a designer toy. It's like Made in America, it simply designates the location of production. But I guess that's marketing, they will always look for a point of distinction or a point they feel emphasizes the quality of their product to help sell it.

I want to like the Batman figures but something about them just feels off. I think my biggest gripe about this release is that its branded as "Hikari Japanese Vinyl". I just think that and the use of the term Sofubi is so strange.

Okay so the factories are backed up now, this will cause a bigger bottleneck. Especially if they sellout quickly, they will order sofubi for everyone of their licenses.

Funny, thats exactly what came to my mind as well haha. Greaaaat this is exactly what I need, another way to delay my vinyl dolly addiction.

These aren't for me, and I don't think they need to be JP vinyl, but as long as they don't interfere with what any of us collect who cares really. Just another toy for a subset of collector who could care less about what we all collect.

Like Paul said, I prefer the underground, its my home and I'm glad I"m here now. No turning back.

I do get a kick out of the word play they are going for and failed at, isn't " Sofubi Vinyl" like saying katana sword ?

I'm now wondering if those are edition numbers or item numbers? 3000 does seem huge for Japanese vinyl. Maybe they won't be that big. Shit factories have been backed up plenty of times in the past from fishing lures and Medicom madness. When I visited the factory they were pulling tons of little Micky mouse key chains. Beautiful little toys, I thought maybe they were for Tokyo Disney? I have a feeling there is a lot of work they do for larger corporations and franchises we don't know about.
I've become quite used to living with back ups and delays it's part of the deal. Order a ton of shit at once and save your favors for when you're really in a pinch.

It could backfire, like the boom in records. Major labels jumped on it re-pressing their garbage, and indie labels got pushed to the way side.

My 3 yr old son will love these in a year when I buy them for $5! no but seriously, cut the sofubi ruse and sell them in blindboxes for $10 so that my kid will be happy!!

Part of the appeal of collecting sofubi for me is supporting the independent makers doing it out of passion. Even the larger companies tend to be headed by fans turned collectors turned toymakers. Additionally, many figures produced by these folks and companies often have intentionally messy sculpts or paint apps for various reasons... as an homage, to reference something vintage, or just to be ugly... wabi sabi if you will.

These have none of that. Just another mass produced "limited edition" collectable made solely to make money and done so by jumping on the bandwagon shamelessly.

That said, they do look nice, qc wise, and I like the metallics, but the pseudo SD proportions are dorky and super typically "art-toy" to me, and what is a TMNT without weapons? Also, it really, I mean really really peeves me it says "Sofubi Vinyl" instead of just "sofubi", especially since it already says Japanese vinyl right next to it... makes you wonder if they are aware sofubi is a portmanteau of soft vinyl itself, or if they just dumbed down their marketing for the dumb people these are for.

Still more than one could expect from a company that licenses Duck Dynasty.

I think using the word "huge fanbase" for anything in this hobby is really over selling it, not too mention customs suck, I also would call flipping toys you picked up on the cheap then charging more for them "working through it" $$$



Genuine japanese vinyl, sofubi, sofvi, kaiju whatever to me is 50% paint/vinyl color 50% sculpt, and in my opinion they both lack on these, yay for the vinyl happy they are using it, execution is f'd though. Funko'd out bobble headed POS chunk of vinyl character with no thought to play value because they are all being made as shelf sitters and "hand numbered limited edition" and colorways all at once, with gold and silver variants? really? FAIL dude no, tons of em cheap, make as many as you can to lower price points F variants if you are getting 5k pieces at a time, high play value, little f'ing bastards running around with their soft vinyl toys everywhere you go actually being used as toys, plus stuff like that IS more fun to collect than the LE#'d BS and every single piece made never left the package or still has it with it.

Turtle sculpt is kick ass, coulda used better hands, batsy kinda hurtin.


seriously, who's ever heard of rad japanese vinyl in a tube? AVOID anything you see in a tube

It would be great if the 'Big' companies could help keep the industry alive but if this the direction everything is headed...I'm out either way. Plus...I believe 'Big' companies never have a good impact on smaller companies/makers and the more that get into it...The less room and possibilities I see for the DIY maker.

Yeah, hopefully the indy guys still have their place, and don't suffer too much from busy factories. Maybe Obitsu can start a Funko only factory.

I read more properties including, Marvel, Ghost Busters, and Star Wars are in the works. We will see what happens.

i'm eager to see what other sofubi they'll make seeing as how man of those pop figures they have.

There are the adult toy factories that can make "sofubi"' too! Many of you may not know that squishy private part toys from Japan are also "sofubi", not just silicone!!!

No surprise . . . just more toys that should be stuck where the sun don't shine!

That's right. Don't buy those Ilu Ilu toys you see in a tube either. Let me be the one to suffer owning them.

Funko Sofubi... just the title made me cringe.

I dunno if it's just me, but I got pulled into toy culture originally by K-R's stuff. I got tired of it quickly once I realized that most artists that had their designs put on those-rabbity-things had stuff of their own, and I've never looked back since.
See, a part of the magic of toys (for me at least) is the fact that it's a platform for artists and collectors alike. There are limited runs of toys, just like art prints or a series of paintings, and a large majority of it is original work.
When you take familiar characters and mass-produce them in toy form, a part of that magic is lost.
Funko is a clear example of that. They've taken every well-known TV or movie franchise and made cheap figurines of their characters, giving the illusion of exclusivity by the sheer number of releases.

In the end it doesn't matter what the material is, a Funko toy is nothing more than a piece of plastic of a character I've seen a hundred times before, and I know thousands of people have one sitting on their shelf gathering dust. There's no magic in that.

Sort of a trivial argument and I don't get why people get disappointed or cringe. The word "sofubi" has been overused. Collect vintage? Cool. Collect new jp toys great? I could give a shit who uses the term these days. That being said the ninja turtles look stupid in my opinion. Star wars in Jp vinyl would look stupid. I prefer the versions that have been released. The 80's ninja turtles were great as were the kenner star wars. Those were the epitome of perfect. If someone wants to jump on the bandwagon of those because they say "SOFUBI" then that's fine and comical.

The cyclical argument of what is worth jp vinyl and what isn't is just dumb.

Honestly, I think deep down I'm just cringing at Funko's attempted take-over of... well, everything.

SOFUBI IS DEAD!!!

http://youtu.be/xGjk1Y_j8QE

Anyone wanna re-do it?

"Yes that's right, SOFUBI is dead,
It's just another cheap product for the consumers head.
Bubblegum rock on plastic transistors,
Schoolboy sedition backed by big time promoters.
Funko promote TMNT,
But it ain't for revolution, it's just for cash.
SOFUBI became a fashion just like hippy used to be
And it ain't got a thing to do with you or me.

Movements are systems and systems kill.
Movements are expressions of the public will.
SOFUBI became a movement cos we all felt lost,
But the leaders sold out and now we all pay the cost.
SOFUBI narcissism was social napalm,
Brian Mariotti started doing real harm.
Preaching revolution, anarchy and change
As he sucked from the system that had given him his name.

Well I'm tired of staring through shit stained glass,
Tired of staring up a superstars arse,
I've got an arse and crap and a name,
I'm just waiting for my fifteen minutes fame.
Brian Mariotti you're napalm,
If you're so pretty (vacant) why do you swarm?
Brian Mariotti you're napalm,
You write with your hand but it's Bandai's arm.

And me, yes I, do I want to burn?
Is there something I can learn?
Do I need a business man to promote my angle?
Can I resist the carrots that fame and fortune dangle?
I see the velvet zippies in their bondage gear,
The social elite with safety-pins in their ear,
I watch and understand that it don't mean a thing,
The scorpions might attack, but the systems stole the sting.

SOFUBI IS DEAD. SOFUBI IS DEAD. SOFUBI IS DEAD.
SOFUBI IS DEAD. SOFUBI IS DEAD. SOFUBI IS DEAD.
SOFUBI IS DEAD. SOFUBI IS DEAD. SOFUBI IS DEAD."

nice crass callback