And Denny's decision took money out of Iminime's pocket and left a bunch of collectors in the cold. There was a way to go about that to make everyone happy. It's not just black and white, do it or don't. If Denny offered a discount to the full set Gordon owners for the new improved outfit that would make everyone happy. People who passed on the full set could get the outfit and people who already owned it could upgrade.
Those who already owned Gordon wouldn't have a problem selling off the V1 outfit on the board for $80-$90 bucks. There are plenty people here that stick to less expensive bashing because some of these full set customs are out of their price range. I'm sure there would have been a good handful of folks that would have happily took the V1 Gordon clothes for that price. The point is everyone could’ve benefited if there was a grey area; a different approach then “do it or don’t”.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the appreciation and rarity aspects of collecting like most do. I surly don’t want to see my collectibles depreciate!; but certain things don’t have the effect that some think they do. Like I’m one of the few guys that really wouldn’t mind seeing Rainman beef up his edition sizes. I think 40 full sets, 25 H&C and 15 clothes sets would satisfy a bunch of people who have lately been missing out at the starting bell. Just 5 more per package will leave less people who really want one in the cold and at the same time isn’t a large enough increase to dilute the market value.
What I’m getting at is shutting people out isn’t the answer. When it comes to customs there is usually a way to make everyone happy while not devaluing the V1 owners pieces. I mean originally there were only 21 of these made for Christ sake. Even if Kato makes another 20 of these outfits and Sunohc offers another 20 heads they will all end up being parts of a bash. Each individual owner will get their heads painted by different artists from each other, source different accessories and bodies, etc. There will likely be 5 different work-ups of those 20 bashes. The bashes will take on a market value of their own depending on the final product and I don’t think that they will affect the original full sets in any way. There will be a total of 21 originals and 20 bashes which collectively is still a lower sum than your average Rainman offering.