I still stand by my original post:



The only thing up for debate or questionable is what the "scene" is and if it's growing or holding steady or shrinking. I don't have numbers to go by so all I can base it on is the board activity.

I would also add that people go through life stages (lose a job, get married, have a child, move in with someone, get sick, go back to school etc) and that contributes to people dropping out.

I'm not sure it's accurate to group me or David in with grumpy douchebags. I do my share of helping people find stuff behind the scenes. And I tend to speak my mind and offer something more than alot of shallow +1 comments.

Meanwhile, just when I thought it was boring, RxH and Dehara come roaring back.

Anyhoo...

i never will understand the "too much stuff being released" mentality.
i like these toys, and prefer to see them actually released.
for example, galoob announced a The Last Starfighter figure series in 1983 and it never came out. this is the type of stuff that bugs me. but if a company releases a ton of figures that i like, i don't see the problem with it.

I haven't thought this all the way through, but too many weak releases or toy lines kinda waters down and weakens the really great stuff.

And too many releases too quickly kinda blows things up. Space Troopers, RxH minis, Secret Base a couple years ago etc

well. i guess my previous statement is somewhat wrong.... i've never seen so many people attend tradefest. fun was had

Maybe the word 'scene' should be replaced with 'happening'.
I know I would feel a little more upbeat & groovy.

I'm glad my original post sparked an interesting conversation, I have to apologize that my tone was a bit over the top, I'm glad that folks haven't taken it in the wrong way.

The biggest thing I was really responding too was just my perceived activity level here on the board more than anything. Of course we all like the toys, no question, and there will always be ebbs and flows in the releases, brands, quality, quantity.

However, the people I've met through skullbrain have really been a cool breed, and it's always too bad when folks go in other directions -- maybe it's economic, life cycle, etc.

Thanks again all for taking my original rant, and actually improving on the conversation from where I started it.

actually, the topic isn't really interesting anymore. this same conversation happens about every 2-3 months, with the same people pretty much saying the exact same thing, right down to pogue's finishing statement.

I miss so much fun stuff when I go away!

Thanks for making personal attacks Glenn, it brings so much more to a pointless old discussion.
Especially as one of the representatives of the company trying to sell us things.

Every forum goes through quarterly gloom and doom predictions, with pining for the good ole days and dreams of Californee way, but I think the OP does make a good point about how low sec. market prices are and that does merit attention and discussion.

In terms of the "first 100" members to join, if you go back to the registration/member list, you can see that most of them have either never posted or have since left. So I think mentioning that group (which always comes up, for whatever reason) is a non-starter. The vast majority of the most active contributing members joined in the last 2-3 years.

In terms of overall release pace and quality, the first half of this year was pretty dismal - depressing even. But recent months have shown some outstanding "back to roots" releases. I think the sofubi makers recognize that the market has shrunk and people are getting more selective, and they're really ratcheting up the quality.

That's just my sense of recent offerings, anyway. I've been interested in more releases in the last month than I have in the last year.

But this time we get to factor in the effects of the worst economy since the depression.

This thread is ridiculous. A "collector" stops in after "dropping out" for a year and can't believe the state of things, sparking another opinionated debate of a subject that nobody has any concrete proof for.



The bottom didn't fall out. Peripheral collectors such as yourself disappeared...for awhile, for good, I don't know and don't really care...but how interested could you possibly be if you hadn't even checked the board for a year? You ask what happened - you're what happened. I've nothing personal against you, but your post basically says "I bailed out on buying toys.....how come nobody is buying toys anymore?!". I'm pretty sure that's called "morony"...a sweet combination of the words irony and moron.

Yeah . . . but he's back now so all is peachy! . . .

You guys crack me up!!

Bless you khanate.

How did I miss this thread until now? A great read.

I'm still in it - and still positive! Here's my top tips for longevity (in no particular order):
Loyalty: Willingness to stick with the old companies and not drop 'em or slag 'em off the second they release a toy I (in my non designer wisdom) deem below par.
Freshness: Willingness to try and like new companies, new toys and new ideas.
Trend avaoidance: OK, not always successful, but try to avoid trends.
Inclusiveness: Willingness to welcome new people.
Comraderie: Cool friends I actually communicate with in person as well as online.
Addiction: Addicted to the toys (even cut the sneakers and music).
Enthusiasm: Is contagious!
Shared interests: Amazing how many people here have similar cross-cultural interests which veer form the mainstream. If the dreaded "alternative nation" is alive anywhere, then it's here.

And here are some reasons I have felt like giving up sometimes, which are thankfully outweighed by the above positivisms:
Frustration: Completism
Destitution: Impending financial doom
BS: Bitchiness, politics and hypocrisy in the scene
Addiction: Addicted to the toys (Buying toys before paying the mortagage is not good)
Negativity: Sucks! They are toys dammit!

I feel like kind of a boner myself for not really being online or posting much lately, but to be honest I've been working 3 jobs to stay afloat. My hourly salary (I work freelance) has about halved compared to a year ago, and its pretty much a difficult situation all around. So, to everyone whose e-mails or PMs I haven't gotten back to as soon as I should have I'm really sorry. Its not that I don't care, its just that sometimes I need to get a little sleep or I won't be able to keep moving.

In regards to the doom and gloom stuff, from a producer's side its tough right now. Sales are down and people don't have disposable income to buy figures like they did a couple of years back. The bummer is, the stuff still costs as much for us to make as it did before. I've seen a lot of producers cutting back on the costs, though, and lots of one or two part figures are either out now or will be out soon (I'm working on a few myself). Why simple figures? The way I see it, I want to make toys and I want people to be able to afford them. I'd absolutely love to make a gigantic monster as big as the old Inhumanoids guys, but nobody could afford it and even if they could they don't have the shelf space. Hopefully in the future I can go that direction, but its just not viable right now. But if I can make cool, smaller toys and sell them for $10 or so each, awesome. Yeah, things are tough, and it might not get any better for a while, but I'm not gonna throw in the towel.

So as for me, if you don't see me on here that much rest assured: its not that I'm giving up or anything like that. Chances are good I'm either making toys or working to pay bills from making toys. The guys over here that are doing this for the love aren't going anywhere anytime soon, myself included.

That right there rocks.

Well, I never was a hardcore poster/collector, my comment was geared toward some of the missing folks who seemed more regularly active.

And, the biggest point of my post, which you seem to have missed, was all of the resale values going to hell, people selling off their entire collections and such. I have never sold a single toy I've bought, ever, in my several years of collecting. It's sad to see people getting rid of so much, for so much cheaper than you know they bought it for.

But I'm glad I now have you to look toward, to know what the model skullbrainer is all about.

oh... i don't think people are selling off entire collections, the stuff you see is just a small fraction of what people have. i just think when you get into this hobby, your collection can expand super fast & you need to constantly sell stuff (because you find that you're out of money and space... so you need to sell in order to maintain buying). example: If you just started collecting, and in two months you've filled a detolf.. most of us can't afford to keep up the pace and have the room for 12 detolfs in two years, so most of us adjust (either scale back, get out completely, or sell - which is what alot of us want to do to fund something new and still be in the hobby)

because this "scene" has only been around for a few years, i think we've now hit a point where alot of us have started running out of display space and money & this "scene" would have needed to expand at an unreasonable pace to have kept the resale of our toys up.

This is the boat that I'm in...good points.

You're too nice Jeff, as if bother with this moron.