Be aware!Saint seiya Toys

[pisces]

Hello everyone: first I would like to congratulate the facts team for this new forum
I'm posting a message here, to warn people about some sellers and more specifically their prices.

To start things off: I'm a fanatic collector of Saint Seiya toys (=les chevaliers du zodiaque), published by bandai. The past couple of years I was a devote visitor of Facts, because it was my only source for buying these toys. But this year I have discovered the virtues of the internet, to great relief of my wallet. Reason? Well, when I compared the prices of these toys on ebay.com or ebay.fr, or specialised forums with those practiced by somme sellers on Facts, i felt really CHEATED by some sellers who return to every Facts.
For example: last year I spend some 450€ on something that's NOT EVEN WORTH 150€ when you buy it on the aforementioned sites (where you can buy directly from HongKong sellers)

I'm not putting the Facts-team responsible for this:what they're doing is great . I'm just mentioning this here so other collectors will pay attention to the sums they spend on stuff that's not worth that much.
I suppose that this is not just the case for saint seiya toys, so other people who're interested in buying stuff should be carefull as well

ATTENTION: Not all sellers have bad prices, there are also good deals to be made at Facts. But you probably won't find them at the stands of professional 'boutiques' (without mentioning names: Atomic, Superdragontoys, etc.). These shops just like to take advantage of ignorant people.

[Nekomusume]

Euh...Hongkong?
Are you sure those are real?
I'm not saying they're necessarily fake, HongKong-people also like to steal real stuff from facturies...

[pisces]

Guest-Nekomusume said:

Euh...Hongkong?
Are you sure those are real?
I'm not saying they're necessarily fake, HongKong-people also like to steal real stuff from facturies...

Yep,almost everything Bandai produces nowadays regarding saint seiya, is made in their factories in HongKong and China.
These are usually meant to be sold only in those countries, but fortunately easy to get through ebay, and so much, much, MUCH cheaper than buying this stuff at a 'specialised' swindler, euh I mean shop

[Flurk]

Small question Pisces: those saint seiya toys, are those the ones with big fists and about 10cm tall?
I'm quite a fan of saint seiya, and I would like to buy some nice toys at Facts, especially pegasus. What is the average price for these toys?

Sincerely,
Flurk

[pisces]

Those that I collect are indeed the 'old style' versions of about 10cm tall, which we know from our toy stores here in the 90's

The price depends on some things:

1) You want to buy a japanese, french or spanish version (you can tell this from looking at the box)?The cheapest are the french and the spanish. A list with prices:

www.whitezeta.net/homepage.php

=> clic left at the bottom 'cotes actuelles': these are the prices (estimated roughly) for those toys published in 88-89. On this site you can also look up how they look.

2)Do you mean pegasus in his 1st cloth or in his 2nd cloth? The 1st version is more difficult to find (price=see list mentioned above), the 2nd version is recently been republished by Bandai:you should not pay more than 50-55€ MAX on this one at Facts: more would be highly exagerated, and this is even rather expensive to me.

Now what does that box from the re-edition look like? For an example=>

cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=17019&item=5902354256&rd=1

By the way: all boxes who ressemble this one are reditions: so pay attention to not paying to much for these, since they only cost about 20€ in HongKong itself

3)If you don't care whether it is an offical bandai product you buy or not: there are also bootlegs (some are bad quality), and you should certainly not spend any more than 30-40€ on these

Examples of bootleg: Here =>

cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=17019&item=5903360385&rd=1

4) There are now also American toys published (Knightsofthezodiac is being aired over there):these are quite good, and since they are new, quite cheap.

Example:Here=>

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=348&item=5902501605&rd=1

5)A new edition of bandai: the MYTHS (or Astros): really MAGNIFICENT toys: pay max 50-60€ on these.
Ex.: Here =>

cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=17019&item=5903396900&rd=1

Quite a message, but as you can see you've got quite a lot of options, and have got an idea on the prices so you don't get cheated: I'll do anything to stop the scandalous profiteering of the boutiques
Best thing to do is still visit ebay, this is the place where you can get them cheapest




TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT

[Flurk]

Dear Pisces
Thanks for your reply
To be honest:I think 50-60€ is quite expensive for something which is out of date presently. The toys themselves I've seen in a secondhand shop in Paris for not even 20€.
Saint seiya isn't that well known in Belgium. You can only get these toys in Brussels and Antwerp, at least I think. Do you know how much the dvd-box from the Hades-chapter costs?
I've bought the complete manga-series of saint seiya for about 170€ (28 volumes).
It's thanks to Club Dorothee (on a French channel, late 80's) that i've come to know this series.
To be honest, I think the ending of the series is quite dumb:the way Seiya dies
There also seems to be a variant on the story: same concept, but a different story, from the same artist.

Sincerely

Flurk

[Nekomusume]

Unless you buy bootleg, there isn't an official subtitled version of Hades available yet.
Just so you know that when you buy one, it isn't an offical one.

[pisces]

Those toys (the old ones at least) are so expensive nowadays, because they've become really collector-items. Don't forget that at their first publishing in 88-89 they allready costed 1000BF (25€).
And I know that 50-60€ is a quite expensive for those new reproductions of the old toys:but that is what I advised you to pay MAXIMUM at facts for those. Naturally you can get them much cheaper via the internet. But even when you order them there, you should count around 40€ for them (cost/transport/costs of international payment).
If you just want to buy a figurine of your favorite character or something, you're best of buying them 2nd hand without the box. Those you can indeed get for around 20€. I believe that each year you can find some of these 'lose' figs at facts.
But I think that you would like the new 'knightsofhtezodiac' toys most: they should only cost you 10-20€ for the smaller ones, or 30-40€ for the DX=big ones.
About that Hades-dvd box: Nekomusume allready mentioned it: you can only get a bootleg version now, with the 13 first episodes (the rest is still being made): it costs around 20-30-40€ on ebay. I own it, but shoul tell you that the subtitles in english really suck

Now for what you were saying about that variant of saint seiya: either you're talking about BT'X: this is also a manga by Masami Kurumada (=the artist of saint seiya), but is not completely the same: it revolves around mechanized dragons and their armoured riders.
Quite nice, but i like saint seiya more ;D
Or else you're talking about Saint Seiya G: this is a new manga from a different artist, and recounts the history of the gold saint. The drawing style is completely different. This manga is going to be published in Europe one of these months by the way, probably in French. I'm going to buy it

Well, the death of Seiya in the Hades-chapter: maybe this isn't the end of him . There's a new movie (OAV) published in Japan as we speak (named Tenkai-Hen), which is the sequel to the Hades-chapter...So he's still alive, don't worry So what you were saying about something out of date costing lots of money: it's not quite out of date(new Movie, The Hades-chapter, new toys)!

[Flurk]

Dear Pisces
Thanks for the info.

I was told that the Steel saints (chevaliers d'acier) en those from Hades are the rarest toys.

Are there toys available of the bronze saints with their Kamuis (god cloths)?

Are there any videogames of saint seiya?


I only own the mangas of saint seiya, but I also have some stuff from: Gundam Wing, dragonballZ,...

I'm presently looking for transformer toys

Can you negotiate with dealers at facts about the price?



Sincerely,
Flurk

[pisces]

Well, those Hades-toys aren't exactly rare, they've only been published very recently, and are available on ebay for around 30€.

The Steel saints are indeed rare, but not the rarest: the black saints cost around 400€. The steel saints are actually some of the cheapest rare toys.

The Kamuis haven't been produced in toys yet, sorry

Considering a recent videogame: Atari has bought the rights to saint seiya, and so we hope they will do something with that. Keep your eyes on the game-sites!

I haven't negociated with dealers yet at facts, but you just gave me an idea:I will try this in the future ;D

[Flurk]

Pisces
What things have you got from saint seiya?
Got any pics?
Do you buy saint seiya stuff in Belgian shops?


Sincerely,
Flurk

[pisces]

My collection (not complete, foto's a bit outdated):

www.saintseiya-fr.com/ma-deesse/forum/viewtopic.php?t=86

The only thing I bought in Belgian shops, are the mangas.
Now I mostly buy on the internet: on ebay.com, ebay.fr and the forum: www.ikki63.com/forum (french): all much cheaper than shops

Oh, and by the way: don't buy your saint seiya figs in shops like Superdragontoys (Brussels, Antwerp): they will rob you blindly

[The Original Steven Smet]

For whom it may concern: for insurance purposes I've put together a price guide of my anime-collection, which includes saint seiya.

My list:
users.pandora.be/malpertuis/pictures/Toylist.doc

[Steven]

The prices on this list are rated rather high than low, because for insurance purposes, the potential value of a piece is more important than what it actually cost.

[Flurk]

Pisces,
You have a big collection!!!
How long did it take you to collect that much?


Flurk

[pisces]

I wonder: how much do you pay the insurance for insuring your collection? I'm thinking of doing that as well in the future...

I've been (seriously) collecting for about 5 years now (before I had 3 toys from my childhood days)
I've paid them with money earned from holiday jobs. And since I discovered Internet, my collection has been growing much faster than before ;D

[Flurk]

Can I buy saint seiya toys at facts for about 50€? I would like to buy pegasus 1st cloth and dragon. Or posters?
Does anyone know whether I can buy Tekkaman Blade toys at facts?

Greetz,
Flurk

[Steven]

I will be present at facts as a dealer this year, and will be selling for example custom zero toys (these are custom made saint seiya toys of characters never published by bandai)

The easiest thing to do for your insurance, is ask for a complementing insurance to your fire-insurance.
What you pay will depend on what your insurer appraises as the value of your collection (so this is why I put rather high values on my list).
The biggest problem, is that you have to be able to prove the values that you declare, with official pricing-lists, catalogues and such... For saint seiya, there aren't any official price-guides (although there seems to be a small-press guidebook in japan, but I haven't got it yet), so the only material I can use is outprints from sites such as Ebay, Yahoo Japan auctions, etc...

[pisces]

Custom zero are very good custom-mzkers, I just love their Papillon figure
Maybe I will be tempted to buy some at your stand at facts, since I know you to be one of the 'good' dealers


Flurk:I bought 5 posters last year, at 10€. So quite cheap

[Steven]

I will probably sell my custom zeros at around 200€

[Flurk]

I've got about 500€ as a budget for this Facts. Most of it will go to Transformers Armada, Tekkaman blade. whatever's left goes to saint seiya



Steven:
What other stuff, next to saint seiya, do you sell?

Greetz Flurk

[Flurk]

Pisces
Have you got any dvd's of saint seiya? If so, what do they cost and are they subtitled?

How many movies exist of saint seiya?

greetz Flurk

[pisces]

I only have the dvd's from the Hades Chapter. I paid them 50 €, but you should be able to get them cheaper.

But I do have the complete series in video(VHS):
2 boxes (16videos) Sanctuary, 1 box (8videos) Asgard, and 2 smaller boxesPoseidon (2*4 videos).
There are 4 movies: la pomme d'or, Lucifer, Eris, and Asgard=the movie=> you can be these in boxes which include all 4.

[Flurk]

Pisces
Do you know any good websites of saint seiya?

greetz
Flurk

[pisces]

I have some:

www.ikki63.com/forum/ =>nice forum, with recent info

www.whitezeta.net/
ragnarok.saintseiya.info/
www.ellision.ht.st/
cyna.net/
www.ma-deesse.fr.fm/
www.saintseiya.tv/accueil.php
webperso.easyconnect.fr/sjacquet/saint_seiya/saint_seiya.html

lots of choice ;D