frustrated collector

[ARROW]

Apparently you don't have a clue what I am talking about. It's not just the toy line or cartoon, or buying the stupid things it is about them getting kids interested in their characters enough to buy them or watch them on tv To get a new younger market interested in what they have for the future.Who or what got you interested in the characters? It had to be a toy,comic or cartoon. And yes getting kids interested in the stupid toy line will ensure future collectors markets or don't you see the whole picture? Or are you only wrapped up in your own selfishness?

 

Take a deep breath and go back to your first post in this thread.

 

 

Then go ahead and read every other post in succession.

 

When did "kids" come into this?

 

You are discussing something that is the polar opposite of your original complaint. What about the "future of the toy-line" affects your not being able to find the toys you cannot find??

 

I could care less about the "big picture" you are talking about here.

 

Let's make those big words:

 

 

I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT "THE WHOLE PICTURE".

 

Now that we are clear about that, why should I give a damn about all these other toys lines.....all these other media ( cartoons, comics etc).......and all these other kids and collectors......if I do not collect what they collect??

 

Yes, I AM selfish as a consumer. I have stated that plainly. Did you miss some part of that? Did you not understand WHY??

I am selfish as a consumer......as a toy collector because I collect and consume for MY OWN INTERESTS.

 

Not yours. Not other peoples. Not for the children.

 

My own.

 

And you and every other sane person here does it for the same motivations.

Collecting IS selfish.

 

I do not care about toylines which I do not collect. There is NO BIG PICTURE in my collecting world-view, outside of how I choose to collect. If there is in yours--that's wonderful. I hope it works out for ya.

 

But I don't care. I do not care how YOU collect, or your reasons for doing so. They do not affect me, and they never will.

Why should I or anyone care? To support more crap we do not collect anyway??

 

That makes no sense. If kids get interested in the same toys, its up to them--not you or me. Trying to influence kids to like the same things you like is programming them, not instilling a will of their own.......and do that to support a toy-line YOU like.......well, that is somewhat creepy, if you ask me.

[shazam]

And why aren't they interested? Because you don't tell them about the characters? I battled with my son for years with his dragonball vs. my marvel or d.c. characters who's tuffer and so forth. It finally got him interested in them and now he gets it.

 

This goes round and round in your head, doesn't it?

 

How about this: They have their own personalities and their own interests in life.

 

They like Pokemon, Star Wars and anime. I like Star Trek, superheroes and GIJOE. Why should I steer them into something I like when they are completely free to choose what they like?? I'm raising self-confident individuals able to navigate through the world on their own.....not mirror-images of my own self.

Where they do cross-over in their interests, we share. Where they do not, we don't have to, and I do not force them. Sublime in its simplicity, isn't it?

 

Man I am not trying to sound like a butthead just asking if you see a kid in the toy aisle do you take a moment and tell them about the characters you have? If i see one grabbing avatar or whatever I'll tell them superman is tuffer. Peaks their interest and they want to now more.. sometimes,but it's what got me started in the early 70's with mego worlds greatest heroes.

[ARROW]

Man I am not trying to sound like a butthead just asking if you see a kid in the toy aisle do you take a moment and tell them about the characters you have? If i see one grabbing avatar or whatever I'll tell them superman is tuffer. Peaks their interest and they want to now more.. sometimes,but it's what got me started in the early 70's with mego worlds greatest heroes.

 

Ahem.

 

If a man of my age (or just about any age over the age of majority) turns to a child in a toy aisle and declares that Superman is tougher than a character from Avatar, the usual response is the parent ushers the child away, while giving a not-so-complimentary stare at said man.

 

 

That's on a good day.

 

So, no......I do not do that.

[shazam]

Man I am not trying to sound like a butthead just asking if you see a kid in the toy aisle do you take a moment and tell them about the characters you have? If i see one grabbing avatar or whatever I'll tell them superman is tuffer. Peaks their interest and they want to now more.. sometimes,but it's what got me started in the early 70's with mego worlds greatest heroes.

 

Ahem.

 

If a man of my age (or just about any age over the age of majority) turns to a child in a toy aisle and declares that Superman is tougher than a character from Avatar, the usual response is the parent ushers the child away, while giving a not-so-complimentary stare at said man.

 

 

That's on a good day.

 

So, no......I do not do that.

Where I am from here in Iowa people don't look at you weird for trying to help a kid in a toy aisle or talk to one.When I lived in California it may have been that way,but not here. Any way how well built are the wave 10 figs I haven't seen any yet?

[ARROW]

Where I am from here in Iowa people don't look at you weird for trying to help a kid in a toy aisle or talk to one.

 

We know.

 

 

But the rest of the world is a lot bigger than the state of Iowa.....

[MasterJailer]

Long ago, I called for stores to limit how many of a product an individual should be allowed to buy and brother! was I shouted down!

[ARROW]

Long ago, I called for stores to limit how many of a product an individual should be allowed to buy and brother! was I shouted down!

 

Yea, I remember that and I still do not understand your point of view on it.

[synch]

Long ago, I called for stores to limit how many of a product an individual should be allowed to buy and brother! was I shouted down!

 

last month? @loll@ seems like it @loll@

[Superpowers1980]

These boards have become very strange lately, a man is bashed because all he wants to do is go to a store and buy figures off the shelf without the hassle of a no-show because someone raids a store to make a profit. When he is attacked for that, this place has become very strange.

[CybertronianArtifacts]

When I got to look for what I need I rarely see any kids around

 

But if they are there I will not push them away I bite my tonque and wait hoping they wou'nt take the figure I want

 

Cool and wether they do or not explain to them who the characters are get them interested to help insure future toys for all us collectors. See my point?? anybody??

 

 

Ooooooooooh, so get the kiddies hooked on the product to feed OUR wants?

 

What part of that is not the same kind of selfish consumer agenda I've talked about?

All of the thinking points back to the self. Haven't heard you......(or anyone else ever on this spin) mention making toys that kids alone would be interested in--it always got OUR (or your) interests worked in there somehow.

That is why the whole "for the children" crap does not hold water-its always got this piggy-backed condition attached to it that WE get something out of it.

 

Frankly, I do not give a damn if kids buy into the toy-lines I collect. There's a reason I don't collect Fisher-Price.

 

Well apparently marvel gets it because who do you think the super hero squad is aimed at ? us ? I don't think so,it's marvel way of getting a new generation interested in their characters.And why would that be? oooooooh maybe to insure future product for us consumers.

 

Here is the point I take away from this comparison:

 

Superhero squad is always plentiful everywhere.

I see people buying them.

If it get kids into superheroes great, but they are not for me.

Arrow is right. I am selfish, but I help people too, by selling extras or sharing info with locals (Ares6009, Spidey1967) so it balances.

 

In the end, supply should satify demand. If the store knows about you and others like you who want DCUC, they should order more and it should be there for (the general) you and me to buy.

 

...but if there is wave 6 and 7 or whatever on the shelves, don't cry. The store has DC for you, but you are not buying it. They do not know the difference. I know it sucks to hear, but thats how they work.

 

Whenever I move, I discover my local Walmart blows for toys. Not the worst, but I have to go out of my region to find anything in the wild.

The toy floor workers know me. I have his number programmed in my phone. He has only been able to help with wave 3 he got at a Target, and in truth I sell more to him.

 

On numerous occasions, I've complained about their nomad treatment of DC while Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, and tons of other stuf I do not buy flood the shelves, multiple areas, endcaps, space filler, etc...I told him to tell his supervisors, hell give them my number, make an appointment I'll complain in person.....and it solves nothing

 

THAT IS WHERE THE ANGER OF FRUSTRATION COMES FROM, BEING IGNORED.

 

So, who is to blame?

Mattel or the retailer?

 

Target, TRU and Walmart all share the 3 peg space, is Mattel not sending enough, or is the scalper ninja to blame?

 

And about scalpers, in my experience, the live in their moms basement, were spoiled all their life, and have no real life or responsibility, so the can and will drive all over, spend all nite searching and raiding.

 

Do you have kids???

I do and I know how important it is to teach them fairplay and if I didn't practice it myself I would be a biggot and guess what bud I am not I do think of other collectors when my fingers are grasping at more than one of the same and then I leave one behind for the next guy......I only buy one of each.

 

What about having kids is relevant to this topic? Your original post mentioned NOTHING about children, it mentioned your own frustrations with your own consumption.

 

I have three step-children.

When their interests coincide with mine, I do indeed share. When they do not......they do not enter into the equation. Why should they, when their needs and wants have been met? Most of the stuff I collect, they are not interested in anyways.

 

And why aren't they interested? Because you don't tell them about the characters? I battled with my son for years with his dragonball vs. my marvel or d.c. characters who's tuffer and so forth. It finally got him interested in them and now he gets it.

 

Dragonball wins. It is in a land that doesn't exist with superbeings so powerful they can't be beaten, but yet do no damage to each other. Dragonball sucks!

[shazam]

These boards have become very strange lately, a man is bashed because all he wants to do is go to a store and buy figures off the shelf without the hassle of a no-show because someone raids a store to make a profit. When he is attacked for that, this place has become very strange.

 

Thanks if that was meant about me.I have noticed since I started buying figures 30 years ago how much more competitive it has become. Now it seems it is all about what I person wants and the hell with everyone else.I try to tell people when I see something and where,but other people in my area aren't willing to do the same.You'll see one guy with his hands so full even with 3 of one item,but will he give one up to you?,no..It has turned into more greed than a hobby,and that is what is starting to take the fun out of it.My wife used to say how she loved to see my eyes light up when I saw something on the shelf.Now she tells me to quit because I am starting to be angry all the time.If you want to make some money, the cool,'cause there are people who don't want to drive around and that's also fine ,but please leave some on the shelf for people who like to drive and hunt them down to get the thrill of the hunt.. please thank you for listening to my plead

[EldestSon]

These boards have become very strange lately, a man is bashed because all he wants to do is go to a store and buy figures off the shelf without the hassle of a no-show because someone raids a store to make a profit. When he is attacked for that, this place has become very strange.

 

I think he got bashed when he said that he was a true collector because he takes figs out of the box or because he doesn't buy online. In other words, if you don't take your figs out of the box or if you buy online, then you aren't a true collector.

 

If he had come on and said, this is what I do. This is why I do it. W/o the true collector bs and w/o telling others how to collect, he might have had an easier time.

[ARROW]

On numerous occasions, I've complained about their nomad treatment of DC while Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, and tons of other stuf I do not buy flood the shelves, multiple areas, endcaps, space filler, etc...I told him to tell his supervisors, hell give them my number, make an appointment I'll complain in person.....and it solves nothing

 

THAT IS WHERE THE ANGER OF FRUSTRATION COMES FROM, BEING IGNORED.

 

So, who is to blame?

Mattel or the retailer?

 

Actually, us.

 

We are to "blame", simply because there's not enough of us.

 

I know.......I know...........that's not a fault worthy of blame, but its the reality. There are simply not enough people interested in the lines that people are complaining about collecting to justify heavy orders. Those folks that call up stores asking about incoming stock are few. They are often persistent ( making it seem like there's a lot of them) but they are few in number.

 

As a demographic, the collecting community represents a small but dedicated consumer base. There's just enough of us to make producing a line worthwhile, but not enough to make stores order heavy.

The big risk is that we are fickle.

Retailers cannot "read" us correctly, and when they assume wrong, it costs us. There's been a few mass-retail toy-lines aimed specifically at collectors that have bombed--and enough so to make retailers wary of getting stuck with peg warmers that they have to discount to move.

This isn't anyones fault--its simply the law of averages working.

 

To that end, as dedicated as we collectors are we remain the epitome of a infamous quote of a well-known toy industry rep: " Collectors are the fly on the elephants ass".

 

Sure it IS frustrating, but its the new paradigm for collectible toys. It was a great fallacy to expect that the availability of the toys of our youth would remain a constant, when the market for such toys changed from children seeking them, to almost exclusively adults seeking toys actually tailored to adult aesthetics. Times changed,we have to be prepared to change with them.

[Wheeljack35]

Ok don't make me turn this thread around becuse I will

 

Please gents pm each other with the bickering

[RecklessEndangerment]

When I got to look for what I need I rarely see any kids around

 

But if they are there I will not push them away I bite my tonque and wait hoping they wou'nt take the figure I want

Yeah, screw that. I just take it.

[HarryWildman]

One thing good about collecters working in retail besides us getting to the item first is that we usaully will if at all possible stop the scalpers from hoarding things at that particular store

 

I'll admit we don't know all the scalpers or are there all the time but we do know a few and the people who got us the first time ...we tend to get back the next time

 

The scalper will ask if we have a particular thing in stock we act like were going to look

 

We then go to the back putz around and come out and say "No it is out"

 

I love it becuase you know there scalpers(especially the ones you don't know) when they ask for a case or they offer you money to make sure a case will go to them only

 

meanie

[synch]

When I got to look for what I need I rarely see any kids around

 

But if they are there I will not push them away I bite my tonque and wait hoping they wou'nt take the figure I want

 

Cool and wether they do or not explain to them who the characters are get them interested to help insure future toys for all us collectors. See my point?? anybody??

 

 

Ooooooooooh, so get the kiddies hooked on the product to feed OUR wants?

 

What part of that is not the same kind of selfish consumer agenda I've talked about?

All of the thinking points back to the self. Haven't heard you......(or anyone else ever on this spin) mention making toys that kids alone would be interested in--it always got OUR (or your) interests worked in there somehow.

That is why the whole "for the children" crap does not hold water-its always got this piggy-backed condition attached to it that WE get something out of it.

 

Frankly, I do not give a damn if kids buy into the toy-lines I collect. There's a reason I don't collect Fisher-Price.

 

Well apparently marvel gets it because who do you think the super hero squad is aimed at ? us ? I don't think so,it's marvel way of getting a new generation interested in their characters.And why would that be? oooooooh maybe to insure future product for us consumers.

 

Here is the point I take away from this comparison:

 

Superhero squad is always plentiful everywhere.

I see people buying them.

If it get kids into superheroes great, but they are not for me.

Arrow is right. I am selfish, but I help people too, by selling extras or sharing info with locals (Ares6009, Spidey1967) so it balances.

 

In the end, supply should satify demand. If the store knows about you and others like you who want DCUC, they should order more and it should be there for (the general) you and me to buy.

 

...but if there is wave 6 and 7 or whatever on the shelves, don't cry. The store has DC for you, but you are not buying it. They do not know the difference. I know it sucks to hear, but thats how they work.

 

Whenever I move, I discover my local Walmart blows for toys. Not the worst, but I have to go out of my region to find anything in the wild.

The toy floor workers know me. I have his number programmed in my phone. He has only been able to help with wave 3 he got at a Target, and in truth I sell more to him.

 

On numerous occasions, I've complained about their nomad treatment of DC while Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, and tons of other stuf I do not buy flood the shelves, multiple areas, endcaps, space filler, etc...I told him to tell his supervisors, hell give them my number, make an appointment I'll complain in person.....and it solves nothing

 

THAT IS WHERE THE ANGER OF FRUSTRATION COMES FROM, BEING IGNORED.

 

So, who is to blame?

Mattel or the retailer?

 

Target, TRU and Walmart all share the 3 peg space, is Mattel not sending enough, or is the scalper ninja to blame?

 

And about scalpers, in my experience, the live in their moms basement, were spoiled all their life, and have no real life or responsibility, so the can and will drive all over, spend all nite searching and raiding.

 

Do you have kids???

I do and I know how important it is to teach them fairplay and if I didn't practice it myself I would be a biggot and guess what bud I am not I do think of other collectors when my fingers are grasping at more than one of the same and then I leave one behind for the next guy......I only buy one of each.

 

What about having kids is relevant to this topic? Your original post mentioned NOTHING about children, it mentioned your own frustrations with your own consumption.

 

I have three step-children.

When their interests coincide with mine, I do indeed share. When they do not......they do not enter into the equation. Why should they, when their needs and wants have been met? Most of the stuff I collect, they are not interested in anyways.

 

And why aren't they interested? Because you don't tell them about the characters? I battled with my son for years with his dragonball vs. my marvel or d.c. characters who's tuffer and so forth. It finally got him interested in them and now he gets it.

 

Dragonball wins. It is in a land that doesn't exist with superbeings so powerful they can't be beaten, but yet do no damage to each other. Dragonball sucks!

 

Sounds like comics to me :S sure every now and then the odd smuck dies & they do something like kill off spiderman or superman but they just come back @loll@

[Superpowers1980]

These boards have become very strange lately, a man is bashed because all he wants to do is go to a store and buy figures off the shelf without the hassle of a no-show because someone raids a store to make a profit. When he is attacked for that, this place has become very strange.

 

I think he got bashed when he said that he was a true collector because he takes figs out of the box or because he doesn't buy online. In other words, if you don't take your figs out of the box or if you buy online, then you aren't a true collector.

 

If he had come on and said, this is what I do. This is why I do it. W/o the true collector bs and w/o telling others how to collect, he might have had an easier time.

 

I read that and didn't take offense, open and keep some figures MOC, I know I am a true collector and I don't think he was being malicious. As a person having a hard time finding this wave, it is painful to hear about the problems because if I turn to ebay, some people still have BIT's for 300 to 370 dollars, that is a person who took a case to resell at an enormous profit. I think in the true spirit of all of this is not scalping but collecting and helping.

[MasterJailer]

Long ago, I called for stores to limit how many of a product an individual should be allowed to buy and brother! was I shouted down!

 

Yea, I remember that and I still do not understand your point of view on it.

 

 

It's not complicated.

 

If stores limited the number of items ONE consumer could purchase there would be more of that item for other consumers. I have no illusions that Walmart would ever entertain this. They're happy to sell their stock and they aren't going to care if they sell everything to a whole lot of customers or to one piggish scalper. It's all the same money to them. If there were limits though, it would be better for the rest of us. Our chances of finding these things would improve if only a little.

[ARROW]

Long ago, I called for stores to limit how many of a product an individual should be allowed to buy and brother! was I shouted down!

 

Yea, I remember that and I still do not understand your point of view on it.

 

 

 

It's not complicated.

 

If stores limited the number of items ONE consumer could purchase there would be more of that item for other consumers. I have no illusions that Walmart would ever entertain this. They're happy to sell their stock and they aren't going to care if they sell everything to a whole lot of customers or to one piggish scalper. It's all the same money to them. If there were limits though, it would be better for the rest of us. Our chances of finding these things would improve if only a little.

 

Okay.

 

 

Why?

 

And why only for toys?

 

Or would such a policy be in place for all products? And if it WERE in place for all products, would THAT be fair?

 

See, once you employ a policy of limits, either narrow-range or blanket, then it DOES become complicated.

How do you impose this so its fair?

 

Think about that for a second.

If Walmart imposes the policy, but Target or K-mart does not--what are their respective customers going to think?

What is the incentive for a shopper to patronize a store that imposes limits on what they can buy?

 

If the limit is , say, two toys per household per purchase, what about those families with more than two children, say they have 4 kids--who wish to purchase a toy for each child? The policy would have to be simply and all-encompassing. You'd be denying such a family a purchase, and thus declining their patronage. Yea, stores LOVE doing that.....and customers........well...

 

And do you target JUST action figures, or does the policy affect others toys, like Hot Wheels, Barbie or Lego? Is that fair?

Do you classify those kinds of toys as "collectibles"?? Hey, for a while there, BABY SOOTHERS were a "trendy item" and thus considered collectible. How can a retailer track what the trends are, and who is going to be responsible for that and for covering the costs involved?

 

 

 

And if the limit is for one person......what is to keep your so-called "problem buyers" from using teams of people--friends, family, even hired people to buy up stock for their own purposes?? How does the retailer distinguish these people?

"Toy scalpers" are, under the law, considered to be the same as any other customer, with the same rights to purchase. Do you think for a minute that a savvy scalper would stand by while a retailer imposes limits on purchases and NOT challenge it??

 

You are also assuming the goods are being bought up by scalpers, what if some of the items are being bought up by an army builder? Is this kind of policy fair to someone who chooses that kind of hobby to pursue?

 

 

 

 

And while we are at it, if you impose a limit on how MANY toys you can buy--again, let's say two per person--how is that going to make it possible for a collector to buy a complete set in one go from one store??

Because stores will NOT take the time to distinguish between different characters in a toy-line, they will only see them as two of the "same type of toy"--and you'll force collectors to have to travel to multiple stores to complete their sets..

 

Answer carefully, because it is indeed complicated.....

[CLAM]

 

 

I am 45 years old and have been collecting since high school , so I guess I have been doing this for 30 years in Iowa,California,Phoenix and Illinois so I know stuff gets to the midwest last. I can say that I found a complete set of marvel legends apocalypse series at a small walmart in iowa falls 2 months before there release. I found them the first week of december and they didn,t start showing up on ebay 'til end of january. Only time we got something before everyone else. and thanks,have any of you guys ever found the fantastic four classics dragonman?I waited and searched and 1 year after it came out I got lucky and found one. One of the most impressive figures made.

 

 

how do you find something before it is released? Marvel legends have never had a release date. So if you found them, they have been released.

 

 

Anyhow, the first findings of ML12 (apoc wave) were in late November. you can see HERE that people were finding them all over the US as early as november 20th.

[HarryWildman]

But they're FAT! They're fat. It's been scientifically proven that all scalpers are fat. And by gum, that's what's important.

[Wheeljack35]

Long ago, I called for stores to limit how many of a product an individual should be allowed to buy and brother! was I shouted down!

 

Yea, I remember that and I still do not understand your point of view on it.

 

 

It's not complicated.

 

If stores limited the number of items ONE consumer could purchase there would be more of that item for other consumers. I have no illusions that Walmart would ever entertain this. They're happy to sell their stock and they aren't going to care if they sell everything to a whole lot of customers or to one piggish scalper. It's all the same money to them. If there were limits though, it would be better for the rest of us. Our chances of finding these things would improve if only a little.

 

 

Target has tried this but all the Targets don't help

 

Nowadays stores want to make money and they don't care if one person is taking alot

 

Plus its the non collectors who don't care

[jjlecaros]

see targets policy always baffled me...cuz they dotn want collectors taking everythign and not leaving anythign for regular buyers like adults buying for their kids. but their policy is well we cant pull any out from the back...you have to come back in the morning if you want to find them....doesnt that polic kinda play in vor to collectors that go in the mornign and buy them all? average parent would be at work in the mornign and couldnt be there when store opens....policy always seemed ass backwards to me.

[ARROW]

see targets policy always baffled me...cuz they dotn want collectors taking everythign and not leaving anythign for regular buyers like adults buying for their kids. but their policy is well we cant pull any out from the back...you have to come back in the morning if you want to find them....doesnt that polic kinda play in vor to collectors that go in the mornign and buy them all? average parent would be at work in the mornign and couldnt be there when store opens....policy always seemed ass backwards to me.

Yea, and for a while Target had a policy of deliberately defacing the cards of certain kinds of toys, essentially ruining their "value" for collectors that chose to keep items MOC. IIRC, the manufacturers of these toys caught wind of thins and asked for the policy to stop because it was essentially vandalizing their products , and hurting the image of their goods in the public eye. It did not affect collectors who open their stuff, but MOC collectors complained bitterly, and retailers like Target react (or over-react) to complaints that seem to come in numbers. Money talks, and they see ANY potential loss as a bad thing.