the week of

[davemerrill]

It's the week of AWA! For the past 18 years this week has filled me with dread and excitement. Seriously. There's a tense feeling in the pit of my stomach and I'm jittery and nervous, and it's all because of this convention. It's not as bad as it has been in the past - the first five years were absolute nightmares of stress - but it's always there. That's part of why I was happy to "retire" from "con chair". I'm a worrier and I will find something to worry about, and GIVING myself big whacks of things to worry about, things patently out of my control in the first place - well, it's not healthy.

There are new pages of ZERO FIGHTER and THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE up at Mister Kitty for you to read. I'm at page 160 of Zero Fighter. I realize these are smaller "pages" than traditional comic book pages, but still, this is the longest continuous narrative I've ever done. As a loosely scripted thing I can't say for sure, but I'm past the half way point to be certain. What you're seeing up at Mister Kitty could be compared to the raw footage of a movie - when I'm done with the story I will be trimming parts, adding narrative, and creating something that will move with a tad more flow. Probably not the most efficient way to create a graphic novel, but so the hell what? Nobody's paying me and I'm enjoying myself.

Anyway this will be the last Mr Kitty stuff from me until I'm back from Atlanta next week sometime. I may even take next week off from Stupid Comics. Who knows?

Yesterday we went out to Aberfoyle Antique Market to wander the stalls and see what's up. Didn't find a whole lot, but we did find one dealer with this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPER-ACTION-GIANT-GORG-REMOTE-CONTROL-TAKARA-B-O-1984-/270721289102?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item3f083f0b8e

That's from Kimono My House's eBay auction, but it's the same item, a little Giant Gorg toy with a little wired remote. It rolls around. We were in the guy's shed and spotted it in the display case. That's a 'what the hell' right there, a Gorg toy in an antique mall in Ontario. I asked the guy about it. He said, and I quote, "that's a Micronaut toy from the 1960s. Very rare. $175." So while my eyes were rolling in the back of my head, he dug his way back to the display case and pulled the thing out. I did my due diligence as an anime nerd and informed him of the object's provenance, namely it's from the 1984 series GIANT GORG and is not a Micronaut nor from the '60s, and countered with $40.

Of course he couldn't let it go for less than $100. That's your call, pal. It's still there in Aberfoyle and will likely be there for a while if anybody feels like overpaying for a Gorg toy. I am probably the only guy in Ontario likely to buy the thing.

I'll go $60, I can do that.

Comments

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD.

THANK YOU for linking to the kimono my house auctions. i just bought something i never thought i would be able to replace in my life.

back when i was about 15 and obsessed with akira i bought a tetsuo pin from a local "wacky shit" store on philadelphia's south street. i kept it for years until i eventually lost it in 2006 or so when i had it pinned to a bag that i was carrying anywhere and everywhere. probably on an airplane.

anyway, dude happened to have one on his current auction listings. WTF. so i bought it nowed the hell out of that shit.

i've been mourning the loss since then but trying to be buddhist about it. you know, "nothing is forever".

his:



my old one:



i think i lost every single pin that's pictured in that photo. i stopped putting pins i gave a shit about on that bag.

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

also i had this T-shirt from around the same time and i wore it until it was unwearable:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AKIRA-KANEDA-BLACK-T-SHIRT-SIZE-XL-ANIME-JAPAN-/270736301088?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f09241c20

however, i am not paying $65 to replace it.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Glad to be of assistance to both you and Kimono My House!

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, Kimono My House is swell but their prices are a bit pricey. I'll go $50.

[footyfoot.livejournal.com]

Reminds of that rainy afternoon more than 18 years ago, when we went to that one place (Excalibur?), and dude was trying to unload a Minky Momo Roman Album for $25- with a torn cover, too! Thanks to power failure that crippled the cash registers and a bit of deceit, it was mine for a more appropriate $5. I'm sure I was the ONLY possible buyer for THAT thing...

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I think that was Oxford Comics, back in their old basement location. Apparently they are still in business, but I'll never go back, not after the clerk hollered at Shain for daring to carry her purse inside a business establishment.

Ed, your rocketmail email address has been hacked and is sending spam to everybody. Run some antivirus, stat.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

$50 for that Gorg toy is a gift, he should take it. Make sure the battery contacts and clean and the tires are intact, it should have his big-ass cannon and shooty missiles.

Micronauts from the '70s, huh? Yeah. Show me that in your f'ing price guide, idiot.

Kimono My House, I have such mixed feelings for that guy. He had a big "OH dear, the internet is making me close my doors" sale a couple years back, got the Japanese toy buying community all in an uproar, people made national width pilgrimages to make ONE LAST TOY RUN for old times sake, the whole bit. Then the dude re-opened a block or so away after about a year or so.

I've always been a bit chary about the place since I know he used to buy most of his stock from Pony Toy when they had deadstock clearance sales. So, ya know, he's buying a toy for $5 and charging $50. I'm all for capitalism but that's stupid. That's why he's got so many glorious toys from the '80s still sitting there...sitting there...

Also he was the printer of the Star Blazers tee shirts that swiped my blueprint poster from Space Fanzine.

So, when you off to the ATL?

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I bought plenty of Micronauts toys in the 70s. I don't have the nostalgia for them that many my age do, but they were fun to have.

There aren't many times I wish I had a smart phone on me at all times, but it would have been fun to pull up a few listings for Gorg toys and show him what he had and what it was going for in the real world.

I have a feeling antique dealers are antique dealers partly because they can be their own boss, they are their own experts, and nobody can tell them otherwise. They're king of the castle.

It's my impression that Kimono My House's new 'location' isn't really a retail space. Their 'open to the public' hours are between 2 and 4 on alternate Saturdays, most of the space is a dojo's training ring. Most of their business now is online.

I'm leaving for AWA tomorrow at 2, which means I need to be at the airport in roughly twenty four hours. Guess I should pack!