I will agree that the economy is going to come into play at some point. That’s usually when you see some dump their collections and move on, and usually it’s also when you see some of the deep pockets start to let up as well. I’ve personally seen it on the western vinyl front as well as sofubi. You have someone who came into the hobby guns ablazing throwing cash everywhere. And if you give it enough time. You see they pull out and aren’t around anymore. The social media side of things. I think this might effect the makers/artists more than the collectors? But i could be wrong. I’m known to be wrong a lot. I think if anything it was part of a fix of what another company broke. This board was a amazing source for info and history of this hobby... we followed some unspoken rules during lotto time and we’d talk about the release pretty much right when the lotto period came to a close. We’d share our collections, compile databases on different makers/sculpts. When photobucket did their shit. It put a huge hit on not just this “toy” forum, but forums across the web. Photo documented threads were now full of errors and missing photos and such. IG kind of came around the same time and gave us the ability to upload from our smart phone instantly. Do any of you remember pulling that memory card out, put it in the reader just to plug it into the computer... pick photos to upload to the web. Yeah IG made things easier on that front. I do love those who have taken IG as a platform to express themselves. Some of you guys can just simply take some damn good toy pics. That i do enjoy about the platform for sure. It’s connected us with our passions/interests. I still do enjoy the app for what it is. I don’t rely on it for collecting though: On SB i don’t think i got even a handful of “sale to me? If you ever sell, I’m your man” personal messages. On IG... i feel some dudes are being turned down more over toys, than women. which is kind of funny.
I still take photos with my camera and I have an SD Card to iPhone reader. Regarding social media, I agree. It's connected many in the hobby, and it's easy to deal business with people overseas (or get scammed), but it's almost too easy to connect. "For sale" comes into my inbox all the time. And some people live on social media, bring their toy on all kinds of trips to take photos with their phone to a point of nausea.
Yeah, ummm, this is still the only way I upload any photos. I get that young people think IG is the de facto medium and just take it for granted. Some people live on there like it is their holy book, and will accept nothing but. but SB has it's place, and always will. Like anything else, it adapts and changes with time; we all do. Double dang! I think Kevin is absolutely right. What I want to see is some more classic or re-imagined toys, missile-launchers, pachi remakes, removable mask heroes, heck even some new chogokins (okay, wrong crowd). I could honestly see this coming from Medicom, which is just fine with me, frankly. They won't be hyped, will likely be available for open pre-order, and will just be plain fun and amazing toys - that is what I am in the hobby for. I'll play with them, enjoy them, and won't have to feel bad about selling organs to get one. They won't get me any attention or envy; and I could care less. I think one thing that has become immediately evident from even this discussion now is that, with the massive growth of this hobby in the last 5-10 years, it encompasses such a wider range of things. That is precisely why we can all take so many different things away from it. It means a massive variety of things to all of us in the community - from Made in China Bandai Ultra figures at 500yen to the highest market art toys commanding thousands of dollars. No one is right or wrong in that scope, and it is not a one-size-fits-all model. My advice is to take what you want from it, what makes you happy, and try not to get all flustered over other aspects which exist on the periphery of that.
@ultrakaiju More pachi remakes, yes!!! Hukkokudo has done so much for me, as far as giving me both insight as well as collector ownership to pieces of sofubi history in the pachi realm. And now that I’ve taken a moderate dive into Miura, I would love to see remakes of those classics, and in wider arrays of vinyl colors and sprays!
Who wanted to open a "Sofubi Cafe" or started making their own toys. Specifically some Chinese collectors. What they say about the Velvet Underground? Everyone that bought a VU record started a band? Yes it does. It used to be really helpful with business on gauging figures release sizes and colors. Unfortunately it's some guess work now. I always relied on intuition and my own collecting sensibilities which could be right "most" of the time. I would quote the last paragraph more, as it's all so true Mike.
Gotta act fast before those Disney cease and desist letters flood the market ! Just the fact these are already being made like this makes me sad.
Quick and dirty toys, stuck to the cultural pulse and ready to be irrelevant in a year if not sooner. Very much the soul of resin, so I love it
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Blind bags will be replaced with 'toy hunts'. These will take place in jungles, deserts, and deep in the sewers beneath major cities. You'll pay a fee and then get a map with hints to locations. Beware the perils! Long ques at toy events will be fixed with death races and 'running the gauntlet' but this will lead to the great sofubi toy wars that will change the course of vinyl history. I will manage to get a few things I want every now and again adding to my collection.
More Fukno, more ReAction, more rotting zombie penis, more small runs, more price jumps, more jumping through hoops to buy overpriced junk, more bandwagon-jumpers, more jumping full-stop, more hype, more browns, more jaded old collectors trying to sell crap stuck in storage and then getting sucked back into collecting by other random crap, more n00bs that don't grasp sarcasm, more smoke-blowing, more new wave po-faced too-cool-for-school collectors, more lemons, more tasteless over logo'd designer-brand wearing, sockless buyers swarming all over Mandarake looking for something expensive to impress their bro's, more emojis, more artists trying too hard, more 'Fugliest Toys', more, more, more . . . SSDD (Same Shit, Different Decade)!
I would like to see more vehicles or modes of transportation. Something you could put a figure in like the charatics cars, or the planes and tanks Gargamel did. Bwana did a great job with the Randall riding a killer figure. Love to see more of those in 2020.