You gave us a Very good look at/comparison between
Restoration and
Customization.
And it pretty much reflects which way trends come
and go in this hobby these days.
As a consumer in this hobby market
(I can only speak for myself):
I'd be more inclined to buy a Restored toy if I wanted
something preserved to resemble the original manufactured
condition of the toy in its era (ie: repro stickers that look
exactly like the original stickers that were on the Jumbo
back in its day; repro parts and missiles that are made
to complete a set of items that were missing from
the original accessories).
I'd also buy a restored toy if the restoration replaces
missing parts while the color scheme matches the toy's
original anime source**.
**
Example: I'd buy a restored Great Mazinga jumbo
if it has all of its accessories and stickers, while the
body and limbs were painted to look exactly the same
color scheme as the robot appears in its anime tv show
(ie: Black body/torso/shoulders with White or Metallic biceps;
White or Metallic waist; White or Metallic thighs; and dark
Blue forearms/fists/lower-legs/feet)I'm more inclined to avoid buying a Customized toy,
because I'd rather do the customization job myself
on a toy that was bought in some beat-up/broken condition.
I enjoy the challenge of doing my own custom jobs
for the fun of learning new crafting arts and skills.
The only way I'd buy a customized toy is if it was
customized by people I know who have put all their love
and energy into the craft as their channel of artistic
expression, that way I can behold the toy and appreciate
the person's efforts to make the toy look as good as
its anime source, and not just for the sake of making
a quick dollar......
...A good example of this is TheMazingerZ's
customized
Ankoku Daishogun figure... I'd buy it, because I can
feel the artistic energy bro has put into it, for being so
passionate about the Mazinger-Z series.
I can feel that even when I'm just looking at pics of
his custom-made figure posted here at RJ.
Believe me, if I were a rich b*tch I'd buy custom figs
from so many of you who are just as passionate about
your favorite robots and tv shows.
Moving right along.... sure, there are many customs
and restores up for sale and auction at eBay.
But is there a huge market for it? Well, perhaps about
1.7%, or less, of hobbyists in this culture might take interest
in that area.
Largely, the majority aren't gonna buy modified nor
customized Popy's- - - because then it's almost no
longer a Popy but an altered state of being.
Restores seem to be of a higher prestige over Customs;
but both are kinda like a sub-culture in this little
corner of our hobby.
That's just my own opinion and observation. ;-)
zozo-mag
Restoring a toy is a completely different thing than customizing it.
Taking a junker JM and *restoring* it to something that looks like it once did originally will generally increase the value of the figure (so long as the restoration was done well).
Such a toy would never be worth what an unrestored, mint figure would be but it should still be a respectable "collectable" for many so long as the restoration work holds up well over time.
One the other hand, customizing the same figure will generally reduce the appeal to those who think of the modified figure as "cool" and since that will ultimately be a smaller sub-set of the overall collector's market will cause the figure to have fewer potential buyers and thus generally be less "collectable" due to the extreme niche nature of the items.
That being said, there are degrees of "customization" out there as well. The wildly painted custom figures being at an extreme end of the spectrum while on the other you will find people such as Bourno who have simply modified their Dangard JM to more resemble the figure shown in the Marvel Comics version.
To the American market, what Bourno did in that case might actually increase the desirability of the figure over a Dangard restored to stock condition (while many people in Japan would probably not find the modifications desirable at all).
