>>7203905>>7203950Sofubi toys are currently at an overinflated price because of the Chinese market recently getting into the scene and opening the gates for flipping toys at higher prices. The current consumers buying these toys for ridiculous aftermarket prices are also to blame as they are creating a further market for profit.
As a side result of this a lot of makers have raised their retail prices. The sofubi scene has few people really into it for the toys anymore. Each extremely limited hyped piece has become a commodity for collectors who like to exert their affluence on social media - particularly Instagram where this is most prevalent.
If we took a time machine back to say four or five years ago, toys would be cheaper both in terms of retail and the aftermarket. In fact some of the bigger names now would probably struggle to offload all their stock!
I’ve been into sofubi for a few years myself and I am praying that the bubble bursts soon so that toys become affordable again. Of course artists who raised their retail prices would most likely have to keep them the same at that point. I can’t see them charging someone less for a product which originally cost a different collector more. It would reflect poorly.
To give an example of how fucked the market is currently, search up RealxHead on Instagram. Mori sells his toys for cheap in Japan, generally placing a price cap at the $100 mark for bigger items. In the aftermarket they use to sell for cheap too but now that it’s China’s flavour of the day each piece can be flipped for 500-a k easily and the dumb fucks paying these prices, ruining it for the rest of us.
That ape posted is by Hirota Saigansho and he is especially favoured by those with the deepest pockets. He’s capitalised on this recently by charging upwards of 1k for his pieces.
Surprised to see a thread about sofubi on /toy/ desu. Pic is unrelated as vintage sofubi will always be expensive due to time and rarity.
