Monday, April 03, 2006

San Jose Vintage Toy Show- Updated!

I visited the San Jose Vintage Toy Show last weekend. I had never been so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was...charming. There wasn't a whole lot of Japanese toys, but Izzy from Far Out Toys had a booth so he was representing the mecha! It was kinda like a swap meet...but with nothing but toys. There were a LOT of Hot Wheels! Table after table of nothing but Hot Wheels. I had no idea they were still this popular. When I was a kid, I couldn't get enough of Hot Wheels so that was a nice trip back. They were pretty cheap too. Where else can you get die-cast ANYTHING for a buck??? Actually, where else can you get anything period for a buck??? Now that i'm thinking about it, I should have purchased a ton more Hot Wheels, but I only got this little "Hammer Sled" which reminded me of some of the bikes on "Biker Build-Off" on the Discovery Channel. There were lots of Transformers there too and plenty of Star Wars. I know Star Wars is pretty popular, but I didn't realize how hard core these collectors are!!! They were paying some big bucks for what seemed like regular figures. $25-$50 each!! The specific negotiation I was witnessing was for an orange clone trooper which I guess is somewhat rare. I know we pay a lot for our Japanese figures, but that's because we have to import them! These are Star Wars for the love of pete! You can get them at Walmart can't you? Just kidding guys...I know some of them are rare and hard to find. No hate mail please!






I would have to say my two best discoveries had to do with real vintage americana robots. My first and only real purchase of the day wasn't a toy, but a limited edition print from Eric Joyner. Eric is an award-winning illustrator with a long list of gallery exhibitions and corporate clients. His artwork is nostalgic, yet modern at the same time. His images invoke your childhood memories, yet seem futuristic as well. I enjoyed meeting him as he's really "down to earth". The images here are available as limited edition Giclee prints: "These signed, limited edition prints are printed on Somerset Velvet watercolor paper utilizing an archival ink guaranteed not to fade for 100 years. The dimensions of each print is 17"x 22", with roughly a 1" white border." The print I purchased is titled the "Usual Suspects" which is fitting as I routinely have my mecha in the "Line-Up". Visit his site: The Art of Eric Joyner and sit back, relax a bit and peruse through his illustrations. An odd sense of calmness will creep up on you and then you know you have been taken away to another place, far, far away. It's a cool trip!





My other discovery was this guy who goes by the name "Lockwasher". He's this cool, eccentric artist who makes retro ray guns and vintage-looking robots from spare parts. If you're thinking about the animated movie "Robots" with the all star cast including Ewan McGregor, yes, that's exactly it. Lockwasher's creations are just about the real-life Robots from the movie. I could easily see his designs as extras in the film! I wanted to buy one of them, but unfortunately they aren't cheap either. Were talking north of $500 each which is cool and totally worth it when you consider it IS art!! I just didn't have $500 to spend on a tin robot! You can check out his entire gallery on Lockwasher on Flickr

Updated! Paul "Lockwasher" sent me a note clarifying his pricing:

"Awesome, thanks for the review/pics toybot studios! One change...only 2 of the 28 pieces that I've created are priced @ $500. The rest are well below that. My ray gunsrange from $100-$250. Robots start at under $100 and withthe exception of the two I've mentioned, the rest go foraround $300. Sorry for not pointing that out at theshow....should have them all tagged with prices! As I'm just getting started with my Lockwasher thing Ireally appreciate any kind of exposure, so thanks again foryour cool coverage."

Paul "lockwasher" Loughridge

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, San Jose has a vintage toy show?? Little too far north for me, unfortunately. :P

I've seen Eric Joyner's stuff on The Sneeze before- pretty cool. I particularly like the rock-em sock-em one.

On another note, I read your previous post on the Armored Core trading figures. I'm also a collector of those, but have had trouble obtaining full sets. In particular, I have a large number of duplicates from Series 1. Let me know if you're looking for anything or if there are any duplicates that you want to get rid of (I'm willing to trade- or buy)- my e-mail is big_slippahs@hotmail.com.

If you're willing to risk it, play-asia.com has a sale on single boxes of 3rd series.

toybot studios said...

Hey Akum6n,

yeah, i'm looking to sell / trade my armored core figures. which ones / colors do you have and need?

I have a case from the 2nd series with plenty of duplicates.

bayareahobby on ebay has a set of blue ones from the first series for $60. Animeking has a full set various colors of the third series for $64.

I will also be unloading Front Mission trading figures from the 2nd series. I'm doing a post on that this week.

my email is: toybotstudios@yahoo.com

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