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Jay

I mean, okay, but Steve did it better.

Just black and red? Seriously? What a disappointment. The designs themselves are great. The lack of color is really awful. It hurts.

TwoPiece wrote:Just black and red? Seriously? What a disappointment. The designs themselves are great. The lack of color is really awful. It hurts.

I'm wondering if the monochrome color scheme strikes more of a chord with a Japanese audience. International fans mostly found out about the series through the anime, but for Japanese fans the original manga may feel more "classic," and that was overwhelmingly in black and white. (The red suits remind me of the manga magazines you see over there, where they often use colored ink instead of black to print what would otherwise be grayscale images.) The linework looks more like the anime versions of the character designs, though.

At current exchange rate JPY1200 is a little less than USD11, so there's that. What do bog-standard Bikes go for these days? Eight dollars? Nine?

I will say I think the semitransformational 6oC is cute.

I got my son the Steve Minty deck for Christmas. A steal really at 15 bucks. And his Moon deck. I think he would like these as well. Anyone know where to get them?

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Merlebird wrote:I mean, okay, but Steve did it better.

+1000

TwoPiece wrote:Just black and red? Seriously? What a disappointment. The designs themselves are great. The lack of color is really awful. It hurts.

I'm not lovin' the monochromatic color scheme either, but it also doesn't deter me enough to not want to get my grubby little hands all over this deck regardless lol because, as Merlebird pointed out, it def gives a more "classic" manga feel.

Also, I'm a sucker for fully custom bikes, especially when it's a theme I like as much as this one.
I'm wondering if the monochrome color scheme strikes more of a chord with a Japanese audience. International fans mostly found out about the series through the anime, but for Japanese fans the original manga may feel more "classic," and that was overwhelmingly in black and white. (The red suits remind me of the manga magazines you see over there, where they often use colored ink instead of black to print what would otherwise be grayscale images.) The linework looks more like the anime versions of the character designs, though.

Merlebird wrote:At current exchange rate JPY1200 is a little less than USD11, so there's that. What do bog-standard Bikes go for these days? Eight dollars? Nine?

completely standard Bikes are like 4-5 bucks at Walmart so obviously without any foil or other extras, these are pretty expensive - but then again, they are fully custom and use licensed characters.

Merlebird wrote:I will say I think the semitransformational 6oC is cute.

+1,000,000,000,000 - this is, without a doubt, my fav card of the deck and has me most itchin' to get one lol

Amy, you took the words right out of my mouth. Literally. There's a whole block quote in the middle that's missing formatting tags.

PipChick wrote:

Merlebird wrote:At current exchange rate JPY1200 is a little less than USD11, so there's that. What do bog-standard Bikes go for these days? Eight dollars? Nine?

completely standard Bikes are like 4-5 bucks at Walmart

For pre-order here - https://www.amiami.com/eng/detail/?gcode=TOY-012615" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hope it pops up elsewhere. Brought a deck from there before and it came dented.

STLBluesNut wrote:I got my son the Steve Minty deck for Christmas. A steal really at 15 bucks. And his Moon deck. I think he would like these as well. Anyone know where to get them?

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The Moon deck and Z deck are still available on Steve Minty's website. $20 and $15 respectively.

Just for cultural awareness, I'm absolutely confident that this would sell in Japan and East Asia because the artwork is identical to the original Japanese manga (comics), which is also black on white. As for Minty's Z deck, I'm totally with the vividness and artwork, but the characters are tweaked for the Western market, just so with his Sailor Moon deck. The artwork just isn't authentic with the original manga series. I'm very aware how Japanese comics, American comics (DC & Marvel), Hong Kong comics have very different vibes that appeal to certain fans, and that these styles don't translate well into another. Just look at how Hollywood's Dragonball: Evolution became a massive flop and you'll get it.

Here's the artwork of the original manga:







Personally, I think Bicycle did a great job capturing the original series. By what I'm seeing on their posters, the campaign is targeting Japanese customers. As for Minty, his decks are collectable, but just for art's sake and the rest of the world. Serious fans of both Z and Moon comics wouldn't approve of them easily. No hate for either sides, but a piece of knowledge if you will.

Pablo393 wrote:

STLBluesNut wrote:I got my son the Steve Minty deck for Christmas. A steal really at 15 bucks. And his Moon deck. I think he would like these as well. Anyone know where to get them?

Sent from my Galaxy 8 using Tapatalk

The Moon deck and Z deck are still available on Steve Minty's website. $20 and $15 respectively.

Thanks. Perhaps I didn't write that out well. I got the Moon and Z deck for my son for Christmas and was asking where to get this DBZ deck [emoji6].

Got them from Steve Minty's site for those great prices. Makes me chuckle when I see them on Ebay for 40 bucks.

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A noob question... what is Steve Minty's site?

http://www.steveminty.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ICantShuffle wrote:http://www.steveminty.com

Thanks!

This would've got bashed if it wasn't for Decknowledgy's post. USPCC continues to drop the ball with most of their Bicycle decks.

Bikefanatic wrote:This would've got bashed if it wasn't for Decknowledgy's post. USPCC continues to drop the ball with most of their Bicycle decks.

But... they're Bicycle decks.

Like Amy said, maybe the price shot up because of licensing.
These are almost the "Disneys" of Japan in terms of comic books.

Nah, man, Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki are the Disney Studios and Walt Disney of Japan. This is more like the Buena Vista or DIC of Japan.

Example: Japanese women look at you funny if you mention anything Shounen, even if it would've been around the time of their childhood, they get excited/nostalgic if you mention My Neighbor Totoro. American women my age aren't going to be nostalgic (generally) for Toxic Crusaders, however, they will reminisce with you about seeing The Lion King or Aladdin for the first time.

What I am saying is that like Aladdin and The Lion King, Totoro and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi are going to have universal appeal, unlike DBZ or Toxic Crusaders which have a well defined demographic. I don't think you could even get Toxic Crusaders to be popular among an American young boy audience, now.

That said, I am going to pick up some decks of these. I like them. I don't consider myself a "bike collector" but there are a few decks where I feel they are really worth collecting either for the novelty or for the branding-- I really like some of the decks that have come from retail stores in Japan, like the New Era deck, Itoya deck, I also managed to find the Yomuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers decks.

For those of you that ordered from here: https://www.amiami.com/eng/detail/?gcode=TOY-012615" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How much is shipping to the US? It won't show me the shipping cost when I am about to submit an order, says it'll send a separate invoice with shipping cost...

Depends on the shipping method, but EMS from Japan to U.S. would be about 2000 yen for up to several decks, so about $18 USD. EMS is a tracked, insured and priority mail service, though, so there are cheaper options, but they're a lot slower and many of them don't have tracking.

I got my three decks in the mail via EMS yesterday, the tuck is actually nicely foiled and metallic inked. This is definitely a premium deck. I'll take a picture under lighting when I get home.

ICantShuffle wrote:I got my three decks in the mail via EMS yesterday, the tuck is actually nicely foiled and metallic inked. This is definitely a premium deck. I'll take a picture under lighting when I get home.

Where did you pock yours up?

Play Asia and Amiami both have them, I got mine from Amiami. For three decks it was about $50 with EMS.

Update: looks like Play Asia is sold out.

The front is metallic inks, but the dragon balls on the back are foiled.

Everything about it looks really crisp.

If anyone has friends in Japan, they are also available on Amazon Japan

shermjack wrote:If anyone has friends in Japan, they are also available on Amazon Japan

Amazon Japan - and some private sellers who put listings up there - will actually ship to the US. You can even set the site to display in English. (You have to register for an Amazon Japan account, though; accounts from other countries' Amazon sites won't work.)

Sherman's right that your better option, if it's available to you, is to have a friend in Japan order it off Amazon or Rakuten and onforward it for you via international mail. Amazon Japan's international shipping is not cheap. But if you gotta have it, the possibility is there.

I have two that I can get to anyone stateside for $25/deck shipped. That basically reimburses me what I paid + shipping and packing materials.

ICantShuffle wrote:I have two that I can get to anyone stateside for $25/deck shipped. That basically reimburses me what I paid + shipping and packing materials.

I"d be interested in picking one up from you! Can you send your paypal email info via PM?

https://cardvolution.com/shop/unique-pl ... ing-cards/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not sure if anyone is interested

Decknowledgy wrote:As for Minty's Z deck, I'm totally with the vividness and artwork, but the characters are tweaked for the Western market, just so with his Sailor Moon deck. The artwork just isn't authentic with the original manga series.

I guess copyright plays a big role here. I don't know if he has asked for permission, but if he didn't, than the Moon and the Z deck are the furthest he can go without a copyright claim.

Decknowledgy wrote:Personally, I think Bicycle did a great job capturing the original series. By what I'm seeing on their posters, the campaign is targeting Japanese customers. As for Minty, his decks are collectable, but just for art's sake and the rest of the world. Serious fans of both Z and Moon comics wouldn't approve of them easily.

I grow up with Sailor Moon (don't ask older sister! ) and Dragon Ball (Lucky me that it didn't aired simultaniusly to Sailor Moon. ). The artistic differences were the reason I dropped the Moon and Z deck from my wishlist, although I really like the Minty touch to the originals.