Bicycle Skull in Black by Bocopo

[Don Boyer]

Still awaiting more info on this deck - just received some from the producer.  The box lists them as "Casino Stock" and "Premium Finish."  They're not as thick as a pack of Bee Casino, though - more like Bicycle grade, which is fine, and they appear to be traditionally cut, faro shuffling better face down than face up straight from the box.  The finish is quite slick, on par with Magic Finish - but lacks the signature chemical smell.  (Or I'm just too congested to notice!)  They're a well-made pack of Bikes, from the look of it, with a visual vibe that's a cross between Black Ghost and Black Tiger.  Good for performance work.  The tuck box is printed with silver foil and black UV spot ink on blue vellum - gives it a much more luxury feel.  My photo is terrible, but the deck's seal is a skull design, the same that appears on the Jokers, done in silver on black.

The naming and design are interesting - despite having the "Skull" brand, they didn't use the "Skull and Bones" back revived by Bill Kalush over at Conjuring Arts Research Center.  I know the producer; he has a fondness for the Bicycle Rider Back design, used it in his last project, the VPL decks and apparently that fondness carried over to this project as well.  The skull does appear on the Ace of Spades, however, as you can see below - it looks identical to the skull Bill made for his deck, but flipped horizontally.  I know this has been a bone of contention for Kalush before, as he had the original design that USPC created over 100 years ago modified to make something unique - according to Lee Asher, it was Mark Stutzman who made the modifications.  And this isn't even the first deck in which this happened - both USPC and CPC have made decks based on this design, using the exact same back design as the Kalush version of this deck.  If forced to guess, I say it would seem that USPC is attempting to assert "ownership" over Bill's modified version of the design.

EDIT: here's a video of Derek Lau twirling them around a bit, courtesy of the Bocopo Co. Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/1374529109524402/videos/1474082269569085/

[Justin O.]

Are these available at retail?

[Don Boyer]

Are these available at retail?

Allow me to quote my first sentence...

Still awaiting more info on this deck - just received some from the producer.

I haven't seen them on sale and they aren't listed at the company's site yet.  They do, however, appear on their Facebook page.  If forced to guess, I'd say they're either on sale outside of my country or they aren't selling yet.  I'm awaiting more information from the producer, Bocopo.  When I have it, you'll have it shortly thereafter.

[Cardfool]

They have been on sale in Asia for over a month...don't know if they will go on sale in the US as it seems very little of Bocopo's stuff does

[Don Boyer]

They have been on sale in Asia for over a month...don't know if they will go on sale in the US as it seems very little of Bocopo's stuff does

They do sell in the US now - they have a US-based distributor.  I forget which state, but I think it was from the Midwest somewhere.  The Bocopo site offers sales in the US and even has deals on shipping.  But as I stated, neither this deck nor the new "Luxury Deck" appear on that site yet, though you can get VPLs and some T11 designs.

[Cardfool]

I realize that they do sell in the US and have a website, but it seems that the Asia distributors get the new releases immediately while other distributors (including the US) don't get them immediately after they are released, if ever...there are many choices readily available from Asia distributors (i.e. Love Promise, Templar, Luxury Skull and Lucky Box) that are still not available on the website. 

[Don Boyer]

I realize that they do sell in the US and have a website, but it seems that the Asia distributors get the new releases immediately while other distributors (including the US) don't get them immediately after they are released, if ever...there are many choices readily available from Asia distributors (i.e. Love Promise, Templar, Luxury Skull and Lucky Box) that are still not available on the website.

That might have to do with Templar and Love Promise being sold out.

This is one of a handful of releases by a handful of companies that are ordered by Asian producers from USPC and intended primarily for the Asian market only.  A prime example of this would be the Bicycle Cage Garden No. 1 and 2 decks.  A good non-USPC example would be the Moth/Myth Black, the Watcher and Moth/Myth White by Misdirection's Mystery/MSM.  There's also Bicycle Clot Ltd. Editions, Bicycle Bape, Bicycle Bearbrick, etc. - many, many cases of Asia-only distribution, decks that only made it to the US by direct mail order from Asia or via the secondary market.