Retail 2 Resale: KaiKai KiKi Toy Madness

Question - If you had to guess which art toy appreciated the most in 2018, what would it be? We guess most would say the KAWS Companion 4fter and in dollar terms, you wouldn’t be wrong. However, if you look at pure percentages, the resounding winner are the KaiKai KiKi vinyl toy set released by Taskashi Murakami. Yep.

Originally released at ComplexCon in November, the set was sold at the KaiKai KiKi booth for $700 +tax. In the week following, we witnessed the set selling for as much as $8,600 on eBay. For those of you playing at home that’s a 1128% increase above retail. Even if we take the second highest close ($6,100) that’s a 771% increase. Not bad for a few weeks return.

Why you might ask? There were a few factors at play. Speculation based on the value of Murakami DOBs from previous ComplexCons played a part. The novelty of the physical vinyl toy form for these beloved characters was another factor. But if we had to point at one thing that drove the crazed bidding for these toys we look towards our beloved Mr. Murakami himself.

The night before the toys were set to release, @takashipom dropped this bomb via IG, “I have to say very sorry about this toy sales Today. We can ready to sales this time just 80sets. Because we could not ready in time many…”

Open to interpretation, this could mean either a) “hey, sorry we couldn’t produce enough toys in time but there are more in the way” or b) “Sorry, we only made 80 — Tonight we dine in hell!” Based on where the market went, we’re guessing people were getting ready for a strong dinner with Lucifer.

Now that a few weeks have passed, it appears the market is starting to settle. On December 2nd, the toys rereleased at Tonari no Zingaro in Japan which would seem indicate that Takashi was planning a wider release this entire time. Great news for all the fans looking to cop the toy, but its really gotta burn the soul of the folks who bought at the top.