The Quest For Radio Boy
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...erboy/6d_1.jpg

So chances are, you've seen this clay sculpt on ebay. It has been up there for AWHILE...and frankly, I had always questioned it's authenticity. SO... I decided to do a little super sluething. First I hit up Steve Murphy at Mirage.

I Said:

Hey murph, You may have seen the wax sculpt in the link below on ebay before. The guy claims that it was an unproduced TMNT figure. The guy wants FAR too much for it obviously, but before I go through the trouble of haggling him down to something reasonable, I wanted to try to confirm that it was intended for the toy line…Do you remember this one ever coming across Mirage for approvals?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=012

Steve replied:

Hi Stephan,
Hmmm, it doesn't ring a bell but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Let me forward it on to Ryan Brown: he has a much better memory for these things than I do. Back at ya...

Being the impatient guy I am, while I waited on Ryan's input, I shot an E-mail to Scott Hensey at Anaglyph Studios, who sculpted a large portion of the original line.

I said:

Hey Scott!

It's Stephan Reese, I have a question for you about one of your pieces.
It is definitely your style, so I'm not questioning that you sculpted it, but I do question that it was for TMNT and not for a different toy line. I asked Steve Murphy at Mirage about it, and he doesn't remember it coming through them for approvals, so I thought you might remember what you sculpted him for.

Thanks!
Stephan

Scott Replied:

Hello Stephan-
Thanks for the contact-
Yes, I remember that piece. It is clay by the way, not wax.
Yes, we sculpted it here at my studio. To tell the truth though - I can't say for sure it was for Turtles, it may have been for Toxie. It was one or the other for sure.
Good luck, let me know how it turns out.
scott

The plot thickened! It was definately either Toxic Crusaders or TMNT. Minutes later, Ryan got back to me.

Ryan said:

Yes. It was never approved though...I have the concept drawing for it somewhere.

So then I sent an e-mail to GML Enterprises, the person who has the Radio Boy Sculpt.

I said:

Dear gmlenterprises,

I was able to get absolute confirmation from Ryan Brown at Mirage Studios that radio boy did come through them for approvals. So, that means I am interested... Now, I would like to talk about price.

The current price you have set for the figure is frankly astronomical. And I have noticed that you've had him on the market for QUITE some time now. I am probably the foremost collector of ninja turtle prototypes and wax sculpts in the world. My collection includes such rarities as:
*The HotSpot Wax Sculpt
*A Scratch resin Prototype
*A Pizzaface resin prototype (Unreleased version, hand painted by the sculptor)
*The wax sculpt for an unreleased version of Casey Jones.

I have never paid more than (Price Edited Out) for any of these items, some of which are much more historically relivant to the toy line than radio boy (as he was never approved). As such, I would like to offer you (Price Edited Out) for the radio boy sculpt. Let me know either way.

Thank You,
Stephan

So that is the saga so far. I will tell you more as the story unfolds!

Hmm... I remember there was no absolute conclusion on its authenticity in the topic back when I first saw this many moons ago.... It would be interesting to see where this story ends up!

Remember, though, Video killed the Radio Boy.

yeah, Ive seen this thing up there for a while. and Ive always wondered if it was actually intended to be part of the TMNT line. anyway, you know Im always rooting for you Archon, but if you offered him what I think you did, then you'll probably have to pry it from his dead hands before he sells it at that price. that guy is nuts, just look at his Canadian Trek figs with the SpaceCaps. he wants for $250 them, but I can still find those here for about $10 a piece.

yeah... he is being... difficult. I mean jesus, original Kenner Star Wars protos don't go for more than 5 or 600. I offered him more than anyone else ever will, I promise you that.

Here is something interesting. It seems that at one point, that Radio Boy piece was Stolen from the studio:

From Scott Hensey:

No, I never molded him. Playmates would sometimes cancel a figure and start a new one. I would invoice them for the percentage of the figure finished to date. That piece could not have been more than half done.
I can see where you might want to pursue this piece - it's a curiosity I suppose, but it's is far from a wonderful display piece.
I don't know how this thing got on the market anyway. I'm assuming one of my sculpture staff took it home when I closed the Los Angeles shop.

I know what you mean, Ive tried to deal with Jerry before and he wouldnt budge. I wanted to purchase his loose Batman Beyond Stalker proto, so I made him a fair offer but he refused. it doesn't matter though, cause I got a resin copy later for alot cheaper. I have about 20 protos (no TMNT) and I paid under $100 for majority of them, only one I paid $600 for. and it killed me to pay that much, but I knew that I wouldnt ever find it again, so I bought it. most of the original Kenner Star Wars protos that Ive seen still sell for alot regardless of which character it is. it's kinda funny though, sometimes the proof cards sell for more than a actual proto figure.

anyway, did you ask him where he obtained the Radio Boy proto from ?

"The Artist"

Gosh, seems like I wanna say I've seen that up on ebay for sale for at least a few years now?

Good luck snaggin him by the way. I know you're passionate about TMNT protos and hope he ends up in your sweet collection.

When the topic first came up I showed it to Ryan and he didn't remember it. But then he emailed me months and months later saying he found a sketch for it, so it did turn out to be for TMNT.

Hooray for burning bridges! Whatever, that guy is a tool and a liar. Here is how the story concludes.

So he said:

Stepen,
thanks for the email I have the same unproduced headed Jones figure which I love. With my Radio Boy being stolen is impossible which I know for a fact. I can not tell you my connections but the way they made these figures aren't as stated by your sources. There are private people as well private companies that are contracted to make these items and if lets say Playmates does not want the item (Unproduced) the artist may do with it as they please, many times they throw them away. So my Radio Boy is not a stolen piece but unproduced and playmate did not want it.

To be honest the only reason I have the Radio Boy at $4000 is due to Pay Pal will only except this amount for a one time payment. I really want $8000 for the item. So sorry with this particular item there is no deal to be made. I will soon when Pay Pal raises there limit will raise the price of the Radio Boy. Thanks, Jerry.

To Which I...very spiritedly replied:

I would be very interested to see a photo of your Casey figure, because frankly, I don't believe you.
The rest of your information is simply false.
As for Radio Boy being stolen. Yes, Youre right. It was a private studio who crafted him. Anaglyph Sculpture infact. Scott Hensey, the president and founder of Anaglyph (whom I have acquired quite a few pieces from) told me today that that piece was taken without authorization from Anaglyph. Even if the sculptor was the one who took the piece, they did so without permission while they were an employee of Anaglyph. That, my friend, is called stealing.

And as for your $8000 price point. Let me put things in perspective for you. Even original unproduced Kenner Star Wars Prototypes have never fetched 4 grand, or 2 grand for that matter. So to phathom that you could somehow fetch 8 grand for a TURTLES clay or wax is absolutely ludicrous. You've been trying to sell that Radio Boy for atleast...what...like 2 years? Why are you even bothering to list it at this point? None of the serious TMNT toy collectors are willing to drop that kind of coin on a sculpt. I KNOW most anyone who would even be interested, and it is a very short list. The freaking MOVIE COSTUMES don't even go for 8 grand. As it is, most of the TMNT community assumes the piece is a fake.

Anyway, you can keep your $8,000 toy. Good luck with that.

Seriously....he can goto hell...now I am just waiting for him to send me a picture of MY Casey lol.

That's like the conversation I had with the lady selling the "April" cel that wasn't of April.

HOLY S***!!! 8 grand?

I knew he was crazy, but that's just sick.

well maybe another sample exists somewhere, and if it does, then you'll find it.

Bastard can't even spell your name right. How disrespectful.

yeah I didn't think he had the nerve (or the proof) to back up his claims. He simply replied:

thank you for the email and good luck in your hunt. Jerry

I know how that feels a number of Dromers do it to me all the damn time.
And damn that guy is a nutball!:o

yeah well you've got a tricky one!
And yeah...I thought alex bickmoore is dillusional...but this guy takes the cake!

Not only is he a nutball but he takes cake also! Pure Evil!:|

This is my thread, so I am allowed to take it off topic. Hey Vaughn. Tell about the new avatar.

you misspelled Bickmore :lol:

besides, Alex aint that bad. and Jerry might be nuts, but has anyone ever heard of a certain p***k named Brian Semling? he's the biggest a*****e in the business.

heh ok, It's Complete Carnage I started him last week as I don't have much free time these days.
He's just about done so expect a thread about him soonish maybe tonight.
Oh does he own Myteefinestuff.com :lol: heh Archon's gonna love that I brought this up again.:P

Ah ok. I was just curious :-) </OFFTOPIC>

It's cool that's why I put it there ;)

No, that's Tom, and you smell. I like that guy. He's nice to me :-(

Well of course he is nice to you You've given him millions of dollars to go scalp figures on ebay and take them away from real fans so he can sell them for double what he bought them for.:D
Oh and yeah I do a lil bit I better go shower!:lol:

He just got some money from me, because he had quite a few things I've been looking for, for cheaper than I've ever seen go on eBay.

The thing that bothers me that even HE doesn't have the Purple-Armoured Super Shredder. Ever since I got shafted on that one, I've been willing to nuke a city for one.

the old fella who owns MyTeeFineStuff.com doesn't buy foreign releases thus he wouldn't have that figure you're after.

That would explain why he doesn't have any Japanese stuff either :lol:

don't mind me I'm just bitter at him, he bought allot of my stuff off me when I needed money before having the job I do now, and he's also buying allot of the same things he's already got on his site off of ebay and taking them out of the hands of real fans.
He's got my Hothead figure with collector card and he's got it for 40.00 I want the damn thing back but I'm not paying him double what he paid me..nu uh no sir no how.

most of the time I'm like "wow he is really marking it up" then I go get in a bidding war for the same item and end up paying more....so basically it is like he just takes the bidding war out of the buying experience :-P

Not for me since he's usually the person I'm having the bidding war with, or Rose lately lol *shakes fist*

Yeah, I've noticed that there's a lot that he's selling that are way overpriced. Then again, like I said, I just got some stuff on the cheap that I've not been able to get for that price on eBay since I first joined there in March... plus some accessories and parts I need for customs :p

While I believe it's a person's right to charge whatever they want, 4 g's is ridiculous. I don't think it's always been that price either, it used to be less.

The guy has some sort of backwards thinking, over time if the item doesn't sell, raise the price! Brilliant!

Kinda like this guy. Ever 5-6 months or so, he shoots up a $1,000-$2,000.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=016

yeah, he would be very fortunate to get a 10th of that price for that book.

Well, the last sale of the book in that grade (highest grade), was for just under $10,000 last november.

really? cause Ive seen one go for 1,800

Not anytime recently. Back in '04 one sold for $2100. Later that year, anther for $3400. Then '05 $8300. Then that last sale I mentioned earlier.

I track all of these turtles CGC books, and have NEVER seen one sell for that price on ebay, other auction houses, or on other forums.

I guess its possible you saw that, but that must have been like 5-6 years ago when books first started getting CGCed. If you're recalling something recent, you must be thinking about another book, as 2nd prints dont sell that high. Do you remember when you saw this?

Nope. My time reference is piss poor. I have two times in my head. "The Other Day" and "a long time ago" :-P

As is mines...thats why I write stuff down!:D

LAFTA (Long Ass F***ing Time Ago, like in a town called Kickapoo) is a very useful measurement of time.

I could have sworn I saw a graded copy within the last few months go for under $2K. It was at least since March.