The Old School Otaku Lounge

That book is why I wrote the 'fake Nadia episode guide' in the first issue of the print "Let's Anime" zine. I was astonished at how much paper was wasted on that show. This book is not the only example, but it's perhaps the largest.

This is a product that came out recently, but it fits into the "let's sell something for a ridiculous price on eBay" category.

Here's a pack of Dragon Quest gum for nearly $70. This gum isn't rare. I could find it easily enough earlier this year. The problem is that everyone ate the gum, so why would you pay $70 for a pack of stale gum? My Fits Gundam gum pack I keep in my car is getting a little stale, and I just bought that back in August or so. Ridonkulous!

greg wrote:This is a product that came out recently, but it fits into the "let's sell something for a ridiculous price on eBay" category.

Here's a pack of Dragon Quest gum for nearly $70. This gum isn't rare. I could find it easily enough earlier this year. The problem is that everyone ate the gum, so why would you pay $70 for a pack of stale gum? My Fits Gundam gum pack I keep in my car is getting a little stale, and I just bought that back in August or so. Ridonkulous!

GOOD LORD, talk about trying hopelessly to drive the market price up. o__O If there's anyone out there stupid enough to pay that much for GUM, I weep for humanity.

I'm pretty sure that the stinkpickle trying to hock a $70 pack of stale gum is likely not going to find anyone gullible enough to buy it. If anybody is stupid to buy it... As Ben Kenobi asked, "Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?"

$70.00 Japanese gum catering to nerds reminds me of the late 90s full of imported (or, "imported") video games and other merch, complete with their $15 to $20 clamshell VHS fansubs for sale. There is a part of me that is surprised "those days" remain with us but on the other hands, I can't feel too bad about the chumps that are so willing to part with their money.

usamimi wrote:Someone had a Lupin figure that came with a couch, and a Lum figure that was originally attached to a Pachinko machine, so they put them together as a pair in this auction.

Ha ha - I remember those Lupin figures. I think there were a set of 3, Lupin, Fujiko and Jigen. They weren't just figures with couches, they were cel phone holders. Where Lum is sitting in the eBay photo, there was a depression in the couch to stand your phone up and connect the charger, all the while Lupin/Fujiko/Jigen lounged around it. I have the Fujiko one but haven't had a cel phone that fits it for ages - so it's on the eventual fire sale block. This is a pretty neat idea, though; shame I don't have any other figures to pair with it.

I probably also spent more than my fair share of time hanging out on that AOL Japanimation Station channel/room back when I was first getting on the Net. A lot of my post-TV/Video Store exposure started with services like that.

I get on eBay every now and again but usually just looking at LaserDiscs, not very interested in much else merchandise wise. I am going to definitely have to keep an eye out for stuff like this though. Are there specific keywords you use to search, or are you looking at something else and this stuff pops up?

Drew_Sutton wrote:$70.00 Japanese gum catering to nerds reminds me of the late 90s full of imported (or, "imported") video games and other merch, complete with their $15 to $20 clamshell VHS fansubs for sale. There is a part of me that is surprised "those days" remain with us but on the other hands, I can't feel too bad about the chumps that are so willing to part with their money.

There was a sweet spot if lived in Japan in the late 90s where going to Akihabara, buying heaps of games (based on the cover) and selling them on Ebay was profitable. There was still a lot of work involved, but it was worth it. It didn't take too long for others to catch and, and then you had to actually be good. Somewhere around 2004 or so Akihabara prices got crazy, and the glory days were over.

gaijinpunch wrote: There was a sweet spot if lived in Japan in the late 90s where going to Akihabara, buying heaps of games (based on the cover) and selling them on Ebay was profitable. There was still a lot of work involved, but it was worth it. It didn't take too long for others to catch and, and then you had to actually be good. Somewhere around 2004 or so Akihabara prices got crazy, and the glory days were over.

Used games, right? I can't imagine buying new would yield that high of a margin. Would you be selling games overseas or just to other areas of Japan where the used game market might be different?

Most of my heavy importing days (if you could call them that - took a long time for me to save away $70 to $80 per game) ended by 2000 and I never bought via eBay - it was either through my local Brick-And-Mortar import store (referenced above) or a couple of import stores listed in gaming magazines. The import adverts were all new/current-gen games and I don't ever recall getting a catalog of their entire sales inventory but the local place had games that were 1 generation back for a time. In a way, I kind of kick myself for not getting that Dragonball Z game for the MegaDrive and modding my Genesis to accept it; though, I'd have probably not really spent as much time on it as I did with Ultimate Battle 22 and Legends.

I used to do the same in the early 2000s; buy used games and flip them. I could buy games like Shining Force III scenarios 2 and 3 used for about 500 yen, new for about 1000 yen, then flip them on eBay for $30 and up. I think the major difference now is that these game stores in Japan have wisened up and now do the same. Now Americans can buy old Super Famicom and Sega Saturn games for super cheap on eBay from sellers like Hit Japan and such. Hit Japan is a great seller too, and packages always come intact and in excellent condition. As a foreigner living in Japan, you just can't compete with that because those sellers have no middle man.

Go look up "Shadowless Pokemon" cards on Ebay. Ridiculous prices for what amounts to a printing
error. I had a bunch if these cards and sold them recently. People wanted me to open the sealed decks to verify the contents so they could buy them cheap and flip them. I said I wouldn't do that. I was at an estate sale in town and in one case there was a bunch of old booster packs that were spiralling out of control on the bids. I let them go at about $100 as the guy I was bidding against had unlimited money. Just crazy...

Then there are all the looney people buying things because they say "made in Japan" on them, not realizing they are actually made in China. I tried to sell some old Beyblade toys I had from the original run. People wanted the Japanese reissues because they were "cooler". But they are actually made with inferior plastic from the old molds that were sold to a different Chinese outfit and you could see they were knock offs! Some people....

Drew_Sutton wrote:$70.00 Japanese gum catering to nerds reminds me of the late 90s full of imported (or, "imported") video games and other merch, complete with their $15 to $20 clamshell VHS fansubs for sale. There is a part of me that is surprised "those days" remain with us but on the other hands, I can't feel too bad about the chumps that are so willing to part with their money.

usamimi wrote:Someone had a Lupin figure that came with a couch, and a Lum figure that was originally attached to a Pachinko machine, so they put them together as a pair in this auction.

Ha ha - I remember those Lupin figures. I think there were a set of 3, Lupin, Fujiko and Jigen. They weren't just figures with couches, they were cel phone holders. Where Lum is sitting in the eBay photo, there was a depression in the couch to stand your phone up and connect the charger, all the while Lupin/Fujiko/Jigen lounged around it. I have the Fujiko one but haven't had a cel phone that fits it for ages - so it's on the eventual fire sale block. This is a pretty neat idea, though; shame I don't have any other figures to pair with it.

I get on eBay every now and again but usually just looking at LaserDiscs, not very interested in much else merchandise wise. I am going to definitely have to keep an eye out for stuff like this though. Are there specific keywords you use to search, or are you looking at something else and this stuff pops up?

Ah, that makes sense! I wouldn't mind seeing what the Fujiko one looks like...I like Fuji-chan X3

I honestly just sometimes find weird things while looking up a specific series. The Lum & Lupin pair I found while idly looking through listings with "Urusei Yatsura" in them, actually.