Post by H. B. Coffin on Oct 11, 2012 5:02:32 GMT -5
Hello everyone,
I joined the board a few years back at the spark of my interest in jumbo robots, but never really contributed. It was then I picked up a few of the Unifive reproduction pieces; Gaiking, Mazinger Z, and the Gangu Jinsei limited Garada K7. This satisfied my hunger for jumbos, up until recently.
A little history... my father was a big toy collector when I was growing up. His primary focus were Star Wars figures from the original 1980 Kenner catalog. He worked to obtain a complete set (in and out of packages) when I was young, and shortly after, helped me to acquire a set of my own. I guess you could say this was my first big achievement as a collector. We collected a variety of other action figure series from the 80s-Masters of the Universe, Super Powers, Secret Wars, amongst others. Both of us would go through phases of interest in other toys from just about every decade, dating as far back as the 50s (when my father was growing up), all the way to the present. I think my oldest passion personally were Nutty Mads and the original Rat Fink kits, both of which my father had remnants of left in his collection of toys he salvaged from his childhood.
Back in the early 90s, before eBay (before the internet had an impact on collectors at all really), we would acquire most of our new acquisitions from local toy conventions-dealers would come from all over the state to sport their best wares. I had the time of my life at these conventions, seeing old toys made before my time (they always fascinated me more than the toys I found on the shelves at Toys R Us), amongst a wide variety of other goods. Sometimes we'd attend with some sort of goal in mind, but for the most part, it was just like driving up to a huge garage sale made just for you, taking your personal interests into account. Sometimes you'd get lucky finding that one toy you've been looking for, other times you might find something, you don't know what the hell it is, but it sparks your interest and carries a reasonable price tag. The joy of shopping for toys & collectibles the old fashion way... there was something special about making such pickups-don't get me wrong, winning an auction on eBay can be a great feeling, but somehow it just isn't the same.
Looking back, I'm sure I probably passed by jumbo treasures a time or two at those conventions, but they went unnoticed by the likes of my childhood self. So what happened? How did jumbos make it under my radar? I had studied toys dating back as far as the 1950s, I had a fascination with anime, Japanese robots, and tokusatsu entertainment, but it all comes down to what exists between my father and I which I refer to as the "toy time gap." This gap just happens to be the decade which these robots made their big debut. This is the time just before my father started collecting toys as a hobby (just before I was born in 1985), and the time after his childhood when toys wouldn't be of interest during his early adulthood. I would be introduced to most toys preceding and succeeding this time gap by my father and various texts he possessed with such references. It probably didn't help that my father wasn't as big on Japanese culture, that was something more exclusive to me between the two of us. Until recently, due to the time gap, I was pretty much oblivious to these large scale robots.
I had my own toy time gap during my late adolescence and early adulthood (it's a thing!) when collecting wouldn't be a part of my life anymore. Though, starting in 2007, collecting would become part of my life again when a friend of mine introduced me to the world of designer vinyl toys. This shortly led to my discovery of kaiju and Japanese sofubi which in turn would become the basis of my new collecting habits. My fascination with jumbos came not much later, and since has been a small sub-interest behind the greater taste for contemporary sofubi. However, as of late, jumbos have been inching their way into the forefront.
I finally came around to picking up the reproduction Garada K7 based on the original Popy, and am currently focused on trying to complete the Unifive collection (just need the Garada K7 prototype concept colorway and Great Mazinger).
Now, past the long introduction, the real discussion I wished to impose before I got off track... yesterday, I decided to go toy hunting the old fashion way-checking local thrift stores, comic shops... I even found out that there's going to be a local convention this weekend! Anyway, I got lucky enough to come across a Dragun at a comic shop not far from home. It was loose, missing accessories and half the stickers, but it was a find none the less, hiding behind a giant spiderman mannequin only to be found by one truly searching for it. It carried a price tag of $95, which shouldn't be considered a bargain given the state of things, but I was able to haggle it down $15, which isn't too bad. Now, I could have left it there, taken my business to eBay, where, if I was patient enough, I could probably find one complete with the original box for not much more than their asking price, but it wouldn't feel the same. There was something special about finding this particular one. It felt good to take home after the hunt, to have a small project to clean up and care for, just like the old days.
My question for all of you is, have you ever come across a jumbo locally, or at the very least, apart from online sources while traveling, and if so, how does it feel in comparison? Do you feel a special bond to the these finds, or indifferent?
Look forward to hearing your replies!
Oh, and here he is on my operating table... getting the screws out for a bath:
I joined the board a few years back at the spark of my interest in jumbo robots, but never really contributed. It was then I picked up a few of the Unifive reproduction pieces; Gaiking, Mazinger Z, and the Gangu Jinsei limited Garada K7. This satisfied my hunger for jumbos, up until recently.
A little history... my father was a big toy collector when I was growing up. His primary focus were Star Wars figures from the original 1980 Kenner catalog. He worked to obtain a complete set (in and out of packages) when I was young, and shortly after, helped me to acquire a set of my own. I guess you could say this was my first big achievement as a collector. We collected a variety of other action figure series from the 80s-Masters of the Universe, Super Powers, Secret Wars, amongst others. Both of us would go through phases of interest in other toys from just about every decade, dating as far back as the 50s (when my father was growing up), all the way to the present. I think my oldest passion personally were Nutty Mads and the original Rat Fink kits, both of which my father had remnants of left in his collection of toys he salvaged from his childhood.
Back in the early 90s, before eBay (before the internet had an impact on collectors at all really), we would acquire most of our new acquisitions from local toy conventions-dealers would come from all over the state to sport their best wares. I had the time of my life at these conventions, seeing old toys made before my time (they always fascinated me more than the toys I found on the shelves at Toys R Us), amongst a wide variety of other goods. Sometimes we'd attend with some sort of goal in mind, but for the most part, it was just like driving up to a huge garage sale made just for you, taking your personal interests into account. Sometimes you'd get lucky finding that one toy you've been looking for, other times you might find something, you don't know what the hell it is, but it sparks your interest and carries a reasonable price tag. The joy of shopping for toys & collectibles the old fashion way... there was something special about making such pickups-don't get me wrong, winning an auction on eBay can be a great feeling, but somehow it just isn't the same.
Looking back, I'm sure I probably passed by jumbo treasures a time or two at those conventions, but they went unnoticed by the likes of my childhood self. So what happened? How did jumbos make it under my radar? I had studied toys dating back as far as the 1950s, I had a fascination with anime, Japanese robots, and tokusatsu entertainment, but it all comes down to what exists between my father and I which I refer to as the "toy time gap." This gap just happens to be the decade which these robots made their big debut. This is the time just before my father started collecting toys as a hobby (just before I was born in 1985), and the time after his childhood when toys wouldn't be of interest during his early adulthood. I would be introduced to most toys preceding and succeeding this time gap by my father and various texts he possessed with such references. It probably didn't help that my father wasn't as big on Japanese culture, that was something more exclusive to me between the two of us. Until recently, due to the time gap, I was pretty much oblivious to these large scale robots.
I had my own toy time gap during my late adolescence and early adulthood (it's a thing!) when collecting wouldn't be a part of my life anymore. Though, starting in 2007, collecting would become part of my life again when a friend of mine introduced me to the world of designer vinyl toys. This shortly led to my discovery of kaiju and Japanese sofubi which in turn would become the basis of my new collecting habits. My fascination with jumbos came not much later, and since has been a small sub-interest behind the greater taste for contemporary sofubi. However, as of late, jumbos have been inching their way into the forefront.
I finally came around to picking up the reproduction Garada K7 based on the original Popy, and am currently focused on trying to complete the Unifive collection (just need the Garada K7 prototype concept colorway and Great Mazinger).
Now, past the long introduction, the real discussion I wished to impose before I got off track... yesterday, I decided to go toy hunting the old fashion way-checking local thrift stores, comic shops... I even found out that there's going to be a local convention this weekend! Anyway, I got lucky enough to come across a Dragun at a comic shop not far from home. It was loose, missing accessories and half the stickers, but it was a find none the less, hiding behind a giant spiderman mannequin only to be found by one truly searching for it. It carried a price tag of $95, which shouldn't be considered a bargain given the state of things, but I was able to haggle it down $15, which isn't too bad. Now, I could have left it there, taken my business to eBay, where, if I was patient enough, I could probably find one complete with the original box for not much more than their asking price, but it wouldn't feel the same. There was something special about finding this particular one. It felt good to take home after the hunt, to have a small project to clean up and care for, just like the old days.
My question for all of you is, have you ever come across a jumbo locally, or at the very least, apart from online sources while traveling, and if so, how does it feel in comparison? Do you feel a special bond to the these finds, or indifferent?
Look forward to hearing your replies!
Oh, and here he is on my operating table... getting the screws out for a bath:
Thanks for sharing.
