I'm gonna come out of the corner like a ghost and voice a little something. Personally I can say it's hard to break in or feel as if your accepted in this community. I say this from straight experience. So gauging what I've read it's tuff to tell who is legit and who is a snake unless it's old hat or blatant finger pointing. This community is on the rise. More so than ever so the inevitable is that we have to give the benifit of the doubt. When it comes to IG, for me at least it's a place to bring my collection other than right here. I enjoy collecting what I love and what I find interesting wether it happens to be current hype. Past hype. future hype or no hype. I buy what I like or what I feel I'll like and if I don't end up loving it in hand my goal if decide to let the item go is to get it into the hands of someone who will appreciate or someone who has wanted it. That is our responsibility as the collector in the community that we love. i don't think it's IG fault. Yes it makes the access to people, info and pieces easier witch can be looked at as a good thing as well, but utimatly it straight up comes down to the transaction and how it's conducted. Guy says "sell to me" or "for me to buy. I need" and you ignore or say no. Plain and simple and you have done your part. Back to "breaking yourself in" I was always told to do my research when I startedand really like I said, I didn't feel accepted. And even after a few years here I still find myself feeling that way sometimes. Especially with the toys I collect. I'm not on a hype train but I've been told that I am and that I collect and or hoard to keep these pieces from others. I was also ridiculed for the very first and only sales thread that I had ever posted. Posting a toy for a price I paid and not for the retail. That made me never even want to post sales here and it took me 2 years to finally post another. Newbies don't know how it all works and get ripped off by creeps in the shadows or flippers. And they don't even know what a flipper is really until they have been around to find out and that's if they even stick around. I think that's BS and I don't frankly care who approves and doesn't. I share what I do and love what I collect because it's an extension of myself. And that's all we can ask of one another. To just do and be who we are and make connections to the people we feel are legit. This hobby is not for everyone and the layers of what you have in entirety are really indept. What's expensive to one might be a steal or cheap to another. This hobby sees a huge turn around wether said collector can't keep up with the cost or don't want to deal with the shit heads that bicker and gripe over every "mistake" said collector makes. People are intrigued by this scene and people are scared of it and some people live for it. Like mike said they are ONLY toys. Collect what you love and be a good person. People will respect you for that. And if they don't then they can suck it. Sorry for the rant.
I stopped posting as many photos of my toys on IG because most folk care about the toy and not the person (unlike here, were I feel folk give a nod to the person). The ammount of people asking me to sell things or to try and sell things to me via DM was just ridiculous and it didnt help my enjoyment of the app much. The funny thing is that the same is true when SBers that know me and my interests reach out with help or offers via the same channels. It works both ways, but it depends on our engagement with our respective communities. Its a shame that such connectivity hinders interpersonal relations at times. Ive met so many great people through IG.
flippers suck but like clockwork if there is money to be made in a collecting scene they will be there(regardless if were posting pics on social media). luckily there is great toy makers who care about whos hands their toys are in. Eventually people stopped buying nike sbs and I think eventually people will move on from flipping sofubi
Eric, I am sorry that you feel like you had some bad experiences coming in to SB, or that the community makes it an unwelcoming place. No one should feel that way, and it is an unfortunate case if someone does. I would like to address a couple points you brought up though. First off, in his initial post Mike brought up the fact that he feels a sense of 'missing' over the hardcore, take-no-prisoners, true fan mentality that used to be an integral part of this board. He is not wrong, and I think the remnants of this may be some of what you might be referring to. The simple fact is that you/we sort of do at times have to take this approach - just as he suggested - to be wary of hype-chasers, fair-weather collectors, and opportunistic flippers that might 'join' the community simply by nature of having an email address. You yourself have acknowledged the presence of these characters in the hobby. To take this personally, however, is completely the wrong stance. By nature of the fact that this is a completely open community - everyone is free to join, and everything (sales threads exempted) is visible to the public even without bothering to complete a profile - means that every Thomas, Richard, and Harold can come here, voice their opinion, learn about toys, etc. This degree of openness cuts both ways; we expose ourselves and all our discussions, and offer free information to interested fans and people willing to learn, but at the same are putting it out there to potential flippers and whatnot and opening the ranks to poopholes. You can't have one without the other, and I for one would rather err on the side of welcome and open joining than have the über-secret toy society side of things. And so, by nature of this very thing, you will inevitably encounter a certain degree of standoffishness when someone new comes in. After all, you wouldn't invite a stranger into your home, and immediately expect to be super at ease with them and offer free rein of your stuff (and exaggerated analogy I know, but the point stands). As people you have to make judgements based on what you know - initially very little, if anything - and experience. The mere fact this discussion is taking place points to issues in the latter. This leads me into my second point. You discussed having a poor reception to some of the things when you initially joined, including the sales thread. And you mentioned specifically how you were "told to do your research." Frankly, you have to consider these two things a little connected, and were, possibly, looking at it/taking it the wrong way. The initial advice I would say was offered in a welcome, "hey, I've been there where you are, here is a good tip to try out" sort of way; read up on the board, learn a bit of the nuances of the way things work, the ins and outs of what is discussed on Skullbrain, and the incredible depth of information contained in these pages. Part of this is learning particularly how the sales threads are used around here. It's no mistake that there is a set limit of times you must post here before you can actively put up a wants thread or be involved in sales (outside of buying of course, which is still freely open, for better or worse). It is NOT to set new members at a disadvantage at all, but to encourage participation of them in other areas of the board aside from the BST subforum. Yes, people easily come here and post their usual 'WANT,' '+1', and 'Sic!!!!!' comments, but that is neither here nor there [and another thing that new members will quickly learn by reading or experiencing is not adding anything to this board]. Basically what I am trying to say is, you are suggesting it is unwelcome, or downright unfriendly on the board, but I don't think this was necessarily the case, but you may have misread some intentions. And I will say here as well that I am responding to you only because you brought these things up, but not at all referring to specific instances with you; this is general advice/feedback for anyone reading this. We all make mistakes, and people on Skullbrain are no different. And anyone considering themselves mightier or above others is just doing it to take the piss, trolling, or is probably just not worth responding to anyways. You do have to have a sense of humour and probably develop a thick skin, it's true, but we're all generally good people, and the ribbing is just a friendly part of that. Most people who have been around a while will tell you that personal attacks and poor behaviour will not be tolerated, and there is a list of ex-members who will attest to this. The board is a unique atmosphere, and does take some getting used to for certain people. But that's everything in life, and doesn't automatically imply a degree of exclusivity or eliteness. It is all about toys in the end, and people can lose track of that (more often when high amounts of money is involved). I am sorry you felt you were put through a bit of a wringer or initiation when you first joined, but some of that is out of necessity - for being wary of flippers and such ilk - and some of it was probably just simple misunderstanding. We've all done silly things and probably a few of us have posted dumb stuff when we were first learning the ropes, so just look at it as a learning process and consider yourself among good company.
I agree with you and of course I am still here. I stayed the corse. And I appreciated all the critique and help I have got from this board. I think I was just more so implying that the "standoffish" look that this board brings or may look like to a new collector can be hard to take. I know of a few people who are on the boards for years and don't post just because they don't have that thick Alligator Hyde that you need to deal with some of the hardcore guys and gals here. I respect most if not all the people I've delt with here wether good or bad because we all are in this together and I continue to post and contribute because of that respect. I think we as a people take a lot of things for granted and don't get the full story before we run our fingers through the keyboard. But reguardless your words are correct.
Is continuously dredging up unfortunate incidents and personalities all for the sake of promoting this "Bill of Rights" nonsense you're clinging on to for dear life? If you haven't got the message yet, let me make it crystal clear: The Skullbrain door you keep knockin' on isn't buying what you're soliciting. Move on. WTF does that even mean? Don't answer. I don't care. Will say this much: if you keep buzzing around here rambling on/promoting your ill-conceived project, the Funny People are gonna start turning nasty real fast. Consider yourself warned.
I didn't realize the situation with Sunguts until reading this thread, although I was wondering what was up. I have had an automated search on Ebay for years now and thought that his popularity had just skyrocketed... but then you see the same figures, overpriced, being relisted again and again. Everyone who says to not pay for a hyped item is absolutely correct; make these people eat their "investment" until they finally lower the price to something reasonable, and even then let the buyers' beware!
http://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1105584 @vapdee Move on and get professional help instead of posting.
@animator @toothaction @ultrakaiju Bunnyboy isn't doxxing you, he is following the history of your online handle. There is a line that none of us should cross in exposing someones' personal information, but if you didn't want that to be known, you should have chosen a unique username.
That's like asking "Why are you naked and have a dead duck taped to your head?". I just hope the mods log back in soon.
What the fuck are you talking about. Most people on this board (myself included) love what we collect regardless of how much or little the market values it. See how what plays out? You don't even know what you're talking about, do you? If you come back to this board in 10 years you will see a lot of the same people passionate about the same lines of toys. Regardless of popularity or value. Because that is what real collecting is about. I don't think you understand that. What do you even collect? What makes you qualified to create this bill of rights? Your posts are only making sense in your own mind. Oh, and you can't join this board just to insult everyone and then cry cyber bully. That's not how the world works.
@JoeMan @Paulkaiju You don't know? Paul Kaiju Century! Cyborg-PK came back from the future in celebration of 100 years of his vinyl masterworks. He has a special show lined up at the Toy Art Skynet Center.
@vapdee seriously, are you ok? Like what the hell is going on and why and what are you ranting on about? Are you just trying to get enough posts to see the for sale post? I know you've been going through things within the last few years but what you've been ranting about has made no sense at all. There are a lot of people here that do not care about what you have to say about the Bill of Rights for toys or whatever. I would personally just accept that as defeat and move on to a different board or forum. Obviously the KR boards were no good either.
