Kaijulink.com is a new source for collectors searching for Godzilla and other kaiju (Japanese monster) collectibles. The website offers everything from manga to limited edition collectibles and toys to movie posters and original art in both direct sales and auction formats. Scoop spoke to website creator Sean Linkenback about Kaijulink.com, what collectors can find on the site, his goals for it, and kaiju collecting in general.

Scoop: Let’s start with what do you like about kaiju movies?
Sean Linkenback (SL): Oh, man. Well, that goes back to the very beginning. Godzilla’s just always been my favorite monster. Being a dinosaur lover as a kid, when I first saw a Godzilla film I just instantly fell in love with him. So, seeing Godzilla now just tugs on all the right nostalgia heartstrings.

Scoop: Describe Kaijulink.com for our readers.
SL: I have a long background in comics, but I’ve been out of that for a while, at least in the dealing part. And there’s lots of great sites that do comic auctions, whether it’s Heritage, ComicConnect, ComicLink, and other smaller, newer players. But there’s no one that specializes in kaiju and Japanese movie memorabilia, genre stuff like that. So, it seemed like there was a good market for it, and it hadn’t been filled yet. I constantly see people complaining about selling on eBay, both from buyer and seller perspectives. It just seemed like there was something that’s in there that I could try to fill that void with.

Scoop: Building on that, what led to the creation of the site? Was it just the need to fill that void or were there other aspects to it?
SL: That’s a good question. I guess more the need to fill that void. The idea of using my expertise to help other collectors, be the middleman, help other collectors just connect directly, seemed really good.

A lot of it was driven by the recent increase in demand for the manga. Even though it’s mostly figures and posters and stuff on the site right now, the manga in general as a market whole being driven by Dragon Ball and One Piece has put a spotlight on everything that’s manga. I think that’s certainly been a big part of that. The one that we just sold for the record price is the nicest copy of that book I’ve seen in the 30-plus years I’ve been collecting Godzilla stuff. In the comic book world, it wouldn’t be a high grade, but for a 1950s Japanese manga, it’s really solid. I’ve had copies of that that I’ve sold before. Even as recently as six or seven years ago, that was still an item that was attainable for around $1,000. So that shows not just the interest in demand in Godzilla, but just the manga market in general.

Yeah, I’m sure you’ve heard about the first Dragon Ball that sold over half a million. That was something that a few years ago was probably five figures max. Now the whole area has just exploded. I think we’ve had increased demand and spotlight, but the third party grading has really helped people feel more comfortable in trading in that market.

Scoop: What are your goals for the site?
SL: [laughs] Beyond getting it running, getting people excited about it, and putting things in it? Man, that’s a good question. I would like for people to feel a good comfort level, feel comfortable buying and trading on the site. Whether that means that there’s a hundred listings at a time or a thousand listings at a time, that’s harder to say. We’ll see how it goes. Obviously, it’s very small and modest right now. There’s only 50 or 60 items total. But there’s been a lot of signups, and we’ve had a few people start to list stuff for sale on the set price. Hopefully this auction coming up does well, and we’ll run another one, see how it does, and hopefully keep growing.

Scoop: How does the site work regarding having auctions versus direct sales?
SL: Direct sales are kind of like eBay – you connect, sign up, you get a unique user ID. Once you’re signed up, you are welcome to start listing items for sale on consignment. You don’t have to ship them to us. You can just take the pictures yourself and upload them and put up a price. You don’t need to ship them until we have a buyer confirmed for it. We charge a flat 10% when you do a consignment item like that.

The auctions are going to be a little bit different because we need to have uniformity on that. So for those, we will ask consignors to ship items to us so we can do them all up at one time. That’ll be a slightly higher consignment fee because we are going to do all the photos and all the listings and descriptions.

But hopefully it’ll be a seamless process for whichever one you do. Bidding will be the same. People can mark whether they’re willing to accept offers or not. If they don’t, then you can buy it for the set price. If they are, you’re welcome to make an offer and try to negotiate a better price. If the seller accepts, then the ticket is generated and we let the seller know to send us the item. You send us the payment. We exchange them and get everybody paid and make sure that the buyer, of course, is happy with the item.

Scoop: You mentioned making sure the buyer is happy. Are you going to be moderating issues between buyers and sellers?
SL: Yes. We have the collector background, so we want them to be treated the way that a collector should be. We know how we were treated when we were beginning buyers and we want to make sure this is a happy experience for both people. So yes, when an item comes in, we’re going to double check it and make sure it’s in the condition that’s described, ship it off to the buyer. If they have any problems, we’ll arbitrate and try to settle any disputes. One of the problem areas is that there’s a lot coming out of China in the bigger toy market, there’s bootlegs. We’re going to check and make sure that everything’s real and authentic, not any undisclosed restoration, repaint kind of thing, before we send it off. Hopefully that’ll cut out a lot of the unhappy people.

Scoop: Once everything is up and running smoothly, what are some of the things you hope to add to the site down the road?
SL: Wow, that’s a very good question. I’d be open to listening to whatever customers want, really. This is a site – obviously I’m still a collector – so this is a site made by collectors trying to connect other collectors. So, we’d be willing to listen to whatever great ideas somebody might have. I don’t know what the limit would be.

Scoop: What are some of the white whale level collectibles that you’d like to have on your site?
SL: Well, obviously the early manga is a great grail right there, so I’d like to see more of that. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Godzilla, but other kaiju monsters. I think that’s still a growing area, and it’s great because of the third party grading. It cuts out a lot of the questions: What is this? Am I safe in buying this? As we’ve seen in comics, third party grading is really beneficial for buyers and sellers. They take a lot of the mystery out of the transaction.

For the non-manga or comics stuff, I would say, some of the early vintage figures from the Bullmark and Marusan Company would be considered the grails that I would like to see listed. For movie posters, obviously, the earlier, the better. The first Godzilla poster is always a grail for people that collect movie posters.

Scoop: What’s something that non-collectors might be surprised to learn about collecting Godzilla and kaiju memorabilia?
SL: Probably how affordable so much of it still is. Godzilla’s been around for 70 years now, so you would think that the most valuable items are on par with other 60-, 70-, and 80-year-old properties, like top Superman, Spider-Man… Star Wars even, which is only 50 years old. But the collector base and the money on those has always been much bigger than Godzilla. The manga that we just sold, I believe that’s a record price for any piece of Godzilla memorabilia. The idea that you can get Godzilla’s very first appearance in the low six figures just seems to me like a super bargain when you compare it to the first Spider-Man or Superman or any other kind of huge worldwide property. And there’s a lot of cool Godzilla toys and collectibles that are 40, 50, 60 years old that are still in the hundreds. I think when people realize that and see how much cool stuff there is and how affordable it is. I think there’ll be a lot of growth.

Scoop: What are some highlights in the upcoming auction?
SL: You know, the things that are already expensive, of course, are highlights, right? So, it’s interesting because the most expensive item in the auction right now, that’s $1,600, is a Godzilla figure that only came out last year. This is a newer segment of what we call designer vinyl figures. These are more art-driven and limited edition-driven. The one that we have, the Godzilla 1984 TYG toy, was from an edition of 25 figures. It was released last year. They were sold through a lottery. Our consignor won one, had it, decided that’s not really what he wanted, and we’ve been very fortunate that he gave it to us to put in the auction. It’s by far right now the highest price piece in the auction.

Some things that I think have the potential to climb up to there would be the little yellow Mothra larva Bullmark figure. That figure is only four inches long, but it was only available in a small blister pack set for one year in the 1970s. That company didn’t make that figure in any other releases or any other manner, and so it’s kind of a holy grail for the 1970s Bullmark collectors.

The Poki Jumbo Source Godzilla, that’s similar to what we had for the Shogun Warrior Godzilla by Mattel, but that’s the Japanese version. It’s got the little fists that fire, it’s got a pull string on the back, it’s almost 20 inches tall. It’s a really cool piece. At the time it was made in the ‘70s, it was the biggest Godzilla figure they’d ever made. The Jumbo Machinder line in general is highly collected. That’s a very cool item.

Original artwork. I think the one piece we have on there is really cool. When the 1998 Godzilla movie came out, of course, a lot of fans weren’t happy. [laughs] It wasn’t their Godzilla that they grew up with. But I think the fan base and nostalgia for that, now that that’s 25-plus years old, that’s going to be 30 years old here coming soon, is growing. And a lot of people look back more fondly on that film now than they used to. That’s a key advertising art piece. It was used for a trading card. It was used for a movie, not a movie poster, but advertising posters, posters for sale. It was used for book covers. It had multiple uses. And of course, we’ve seen trading card art in general is a very hot area right now. I think that has a lot of potential. I’m actually shocked that it’s sitting at $55 right now. So, it’ll be interesting to see where that ends up.

Scoop: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start collecting kaiju memorabilia?
SL: Wow. I would say really decide what area you like. The memorabilia for kaiju is kind of like Star Wars. There’s just so many different areas you can collect, whether that’s action figures, movie posters, artwork, books, comics, household items. The licensing for Godzilla up through the mid-‘90s used to be much, much smaller. There was a very limited number of items that were produced in the first 30 or 40 years. but it’s just exploded in the past 20 years or so. Whatever you like, there’s something probably for that area. So, try to focus usually on one thing and learn more about it. Buy what you like. They always say you’ll be happy in the long run and you’ll probably do well.