So, I'm wondering if we have many designer toy/vinyl toy collectors here. I've been a fan and collector since about 2004, and have never really found a solid community, online or otherwise, for vinyl. I've seen a few TFWers reference designer toys in the past, especially when there were those design concepts from Touma for ROTF figures. I'll be honest, part of the reason I'm asking, is because I'm trying to trim down my collection, make it about design themes and artists that mean something to me, and I didn't know if it was worth the time to make up a sales thread here. Also, I'd love to see other members' designer vinyl collections if any. My favorite artists are Mars-1 and Jeremy Fish (both of whom I've met, and are really nice guys), but my collection is pretty diverse. So, any designer toy collectors out there?
We have a few here: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/toyark/153372-show-off-your-designer-toys.html As for an online community, I've found the most welcoming, laid-back and sane place to be the October Toys forum. There's also Skullbrain and KidRobot forums, but those places have a pretty high dingus factor.
October Toys forum unfortunately closed, but Skullbrain forum is still active. skullbrain.org For stores, Super7 still makes and sells a good amount of vinyl Super7 KidRobot too Kidrobot brings art to life I’m sure there are others that have cropped up, I haven’t really kept up in the last few years. Once kiddos started coming along the designer vinyl was the first thing I dropped out of collecting.
Rotofugi is still around. Although I'm rather sad ToyQube seems to have scaled back to online only. Always did like visiting there store in Flushing. Rotofugi I do notice there's a lot less variety though then when I was into designer vinyl.
I don't collect them like I used to, but I do have a couple hundred figures. Here is an article on my collection from back in 2014. You can see some of mine in the pics of the cabinets. My most wanted was the Jeff Soto Walker. I was offered the prototype a few times, but I did not want to spend a couple grand for it. Collector's Corner #18 - Robot Japan
For any fans of the Iron Giant, Mondo will be putting out a 10" vinyl figure in a couple different colorways. Sales go live at a random time TODAY on mondotees.com. ::edit:: Live as of 11:00am central! Got one.