Can we do a roll call

[FUGAYZIE]

I fear the day that I come here and the forums will be no more. I don't want that to ever happen, but like others have said it's no where near what it once was. Getting old kinda sucks.

LOL, i feel the same way!

 

 

 

Well I'm here & there on here.....I'm not consistent with my visits here....but the reason I come back here is the community & shiii talking....were passionate people when it comes to our "universe" here & its cool to see so many others that share my passion & that we can bust each other's chops & scare up some laughs...that keeps me coming back, the FB page is cool but kind of heartless in the way that I don't feel connected to so many random people.....here, at least I know some of your personalities. I'm glad that so many of you are willing to share your input & experiences.....

same. the couple of forums i'm part of sorta feel like old friends and i've only met a few fellow posters in person.

[Doom Saber]

I think a big reason why this forum is dying is because the nostalgia factor of toys popular in the '80s making a comeback is gone as most storylines have already made their comebacks more than once. The early 2000s was when not only Transformers and Gi Joe had made comebacks of their own, but also The Masters Of The Universe and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. Moreover, toys are getting expensive to the point of collectors, kids, and new collectors who started collecting are collecting less. The latter is important for the forums to be populated. Nowadays, people talk about games or 1/6 figures as both are pretty popular

[FUGAYZIE]

I think a big reason why this forum is dying is because the nostalgia factor of toys popular in the '80s making a comeback is gone as most storylines have already made their comebacks more than once. The early 2000s was when not only Transformers and Gi Joe had made comebacks of their own, but also The Masters Of The Universe and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. Moreover, toys are getting expensive to the point of collectors, kids, and new collectors who started collecting are collecting less. The latter is important for the forums to be populated. Nowadays, people talk about games or 1/6 figures as both are pretty popular

very true. yeah, before 2000 there was very little in the form of retro collectibles available. since then, we've had the movie's comic boom, and like you stated, many of the old favorites getting makeovers. i guess the would-be collectors have pretty much obtained what they would have wanted to fulfill their childhood wants, ie; the Transformers MP line, GI Joe/TF reissues, MOTUC, ML, DCUC, etc. these days action figures dont hold the same pull with kids. in our time action figures, arcades, and playground sports ruled the spare time. now ipads, cell phones, home video game consoles rull the spare time.

 

 

it feels kind of strange witnessing the tides of change.

[Doom Saber]

 

I think a big reason why this forum is dying is because the nostalgia factor of toys popular in the '80s making a comeback is gone as most storylines have already made their comebacks more than once. The early 2000s was when not only Transformers and Gi Joe had made comebacks of their own, but also The Masters Of The Universe and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. Moreover, toys are getting expensive to the point of collectors, kids, and new collectors who started collecting are collecting less. The latter is important for the forums to be populated. Nowadays, people talk about games or 1/6 figures as both are pretty popular

very true. yeah, before 2000 there was very little in the form of retro collectibles available. since then, we've had the movie's comic boom, and like you stated, many of the old favorites getting makeovers. i guess the would-be collectors have pretty much obtained what they would have wanted to fulfill their childhood wants, ie; the Transformers MP line, GI Joe/TF reissues, MOTUC, ML, DCUC, etc. these days action figures dont hold the same pull with kids. in our time action figures, arcades, and playground sports ruled the spare time. now ipads, cell phones, home video game consoles rull the spare time.

 

 

it feels kind of strange witnessing the tides of change.

 

 

It is kind of strange. When TNI was ADC, it was intended to be a forum for a comic online store that JayC was starting. However, he probably changed it to TNI after seeing how the forum was populated with toy collectors who started collecting toys after toy companies such as Mattel and Hasbro reviving their toy-lines. That is me speculating.

 

Back then, the majority of toy collectors here were Gi Joe fans, where the series was rebooted with Toys R Us reissues. Now that Gi Joe has several reboots, I think those fans had moved on or are on another forum. I think that the way how TNI is so broad when it comes to focusing on various toylines, there aren't many posters here as most would rather go to another website that covers a specific toy scale or toyline. For example, while Thefwoosh.com can be seen as a rival as TNI as it covers different toy brands, it mostly covers superhero figures in the 6 inch scale. Even the forums at www.Marvelousnews.com seems more populated here.

 

As said before, I moved onto the 1/6 forums, but I still go here maybe once every few days to look at the articles and the threads. For me, it is because I started collecting a few 1/6 figures here and there, as well as trying to kitbash 1/6 figures as it is easier to get help and make especially on the 1/6 forums like the Freaks forums. I also love looking at other people's customs, which is abundant at the freaks forums. Here, the only customs I see here are yours and Jin Saotome's.

 

Anyway, I do agree that because kids are now collecting amiibos and pokemon games, toy collecting is mostly an adult thing.

[FUGAYZIE]

 

 

I think a big reason why this forum is dying is because the nostalgia factor of toys popular in the '80s making a comeback is gone as most storylines have already made their comebacks more than once. The early 2000s was when not only Transformers and Gi Joe had made comebacks of their own, but also The Masters Of The Universe and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. Moreover, toys are getting expensive to the point of collectors, kids, and new collectors who started collecting are collecting less. The latter is important for the forums to be populated. Nowadays, people talk about games or 1/6 figures as both are pretty popular

very true. yeah, before 2000 there was very little in the form of retro collectibles available. since then, we've had the movie's comic boom, and like you stated, many of the old favorites getting makeovers. i guess the would-be collectors have pretty much obtained what they would have wanted to fulfill their childhood wants, ie; the Transformers MP line, GI Joe/TF reissues, MOTUC, ML, DCUC, etc. these days action figures dont hold the same pull with kids. in our time action figures, arcades, and playground sports ruled the spare time. now ipads, cell phones, home video game consoles rull the spare time.

 

 

it feels kind of strange witnessing the tides of change.

 

 

I also love looking at other people's customs, which is abundant at the freaks forums. Here, the only customs I see here are yours and Jin Saotome's.

 

 

LOL, I haven't posted a custom here in a while. actually, I still have a few figures planned, but I have not been into the hobby as much lately.

 

TNI is the first place i ever posted a custom. it's kind of where i got my "custom roots" if you will. even though people rarely ever comment/provide feedback in the custom thread here, i know there are those still stop in to take a peek.

[Capt.S.G.Wiseman]

Ya, I still lurk. Lol! Sorry I haven't been active here. ...in the last few years! Been busy. @onthecan@

[DCFan20]

I used to be a regular here. Maybe I was banned, maybe I just stopped posting, maybe I just want to be more anonymous than I already am. But for a time I was here and very active. I occasionally come here when I'm looking for news and reviews and that's when I saw this.

 

You can blame the end of nostalgia, you can blame the price of comics and toys and you can blame ever-growing personal lives (and that all could be true) but sometimes a forum fails because of the people running it.

 

JayC makes it perfectly clear: You don't have to like the moderating team, but the moderating team has to like you. Which is fine as long as the moderators aren't idiots and don't hold grudges.

 

Wheeljack, Wiseman, and a couple others let people have their say and rarely interfered. Then you have clowns like CLAM and Card (guess they're not active anymore-good) who have to nitpick everything and if you don't agree with them you're on the s*** list.

 

I did two things that most members (examples:featofstrength, mako, Floundderr) didn't do: Have opinions the moderators didn't agree with and read. I said things like "Mattel is not the Great Satan" and "Direct interpretations of comic book movies would ruin the comic industry" and when the aforementioned members couldn't defend their positions they'd leave me a negative (or in FOS' case also post a picture) and cry to a mod. Then you're done.

 

Viper Hunter. ARROW. SuperPowers1980. Plenty of others. I didn't always agree with these people but they were at least intelligent with their opinions. Now they're gone. Three top posters who often banged heads with mods gone and that's why I've been gone for years. I get being booted because of excessive swearing and name calling, but when sharing your opinion and explaining to people that they don't know what they're talking about gets you "in trouble"? See ya. I'm sure everyone has their reasons for not being here anymore but let's not pretend this epic fail of a mod staff has nothing to do with it.

 

Congratulations to JayC and the Moderating Team for whittling this community down to 20 people. You're all doing a bang up job.

[Capt.S.G.Wiseman]

Your words hold weight DCFan20. Thank you for chiming in and voicing your opinion. #US1#

 

ADC/TNI was (and still can be) a great sight where people like us can share their hobby and keep one another updated.

The biggest problem we faced was, once we got to know each other, we expressed our opinions and beliefs that were no longer toy related. Most of the biggest threads this place ever saw were politically fueled and emotionally charged. I guess I was always on the fence about this.

On one hand, I liked talking, debating, even arguing with people like me.

Yet on the other hand, I hated the day after. Lol! #party# All of us got out of control many times over, and maybe THAT was what burned us out.

Ya, there was always the toy related arguments, but from where I stood, those were never an issue with me. Like you said, I let people have their say.

 

If there is a way to bring this place back, I'm all ears.

Capt.S.G.Wiseman @cap@

[ensign]

Like Batman said...

 

"Im a part timer, call me when you need me...and you will need me...."

[CaptainTriumph]

I used to be a regular here. Maybe I was banned, maybe I just stopped posting, maybe I just want to be more anonymous than I already am. But for a time I was here and very active. I occasionally come here when I'm looking for news and reviews and that's when I saw this.

 

You can blame the end of nostalgia, you can blame the price of comics and toys and you can blame ever-growing personal lives (and that all could be true) but sometimes a forum fails because of the people running it.

 

JayC makes it perfectly clear: You don't have to like the moderating team, but the moderating team has to like you. Which is fine as long as the moderators aren't idiots and don't hold grudges.

 

Wheeljack, Wiseman, and a couple others let people have their say and rarely interfered. Then you have clowns like CLAM and Card (guess they're not active anymore-good) who have to nitpick everything and if you don't agree with them you're on the s*** list.

 

I did two things that most members (examples:featofstrength, mako, Floundderr) didn't do: Have opinions the moderators didn't agree with and read. I said things like "Mattel is not the Great Satan" and "Direct interpretations of comic book movies would ruin the comic industry" and when the aforementioned members couldn't defend their positions they'd leave me a negative (or in FOS' case also post a picture) and cry to a mod. Then you're done.

 

Viper Hunter. ARROW. SuperPowers1980. Plenty of others. I didn't always agree with these people but they were at least intelligent with their opinions. Now they're gone. Three top posters who often banged heads with mods gone and that's why I've been gone for years. I get being booted because of excessive swearing and name calling, but when sharing your opinion and explaining to people that they don't know what they're talking about gets you "in trouble"? See ya. I'm sure everyone has their reasons for not being here anymore but let's not pretend this epic fail of a mod staff has nothing to do with it.

 

Congratulations to JayC and the Moderating Team for whittling this community down to 20 people. You're all doing a bang up job.

Not sure I agree with all that your saying.

 

Yes, banning certain discussions caused members to stop posting here.

 

But I don't see this as a site where all that stuff needs to be brought up in the first place.

 

Plenty of sites where these discussions can and should be held....other than a toy and comic site like this one.

[fettman]

Here, I just focus on headlines but other toy sites are getting updated faster than TNI.

[Doom Saber]

 

I used to be a regular here. Maybe I was banned, maybe I just stopped posting, maybe I just want to be more anonymous than I already am. But for a time I was here and very active. I occasionally come here when I'm looking for news and reviews and that's when I saw this.

 

You can blame the end of nostalgia, you can blame the price of comics and toys and you can blame ever-growing personal lives (and that all could be true) but sometimes a forum fails because of the people running it.

 

JayC makes it perfectly clear: You don't have to like the moderating team, but the moderating team has to like you. Which is fine as long as the moderators aren't idiots and don't hold grudges.

 

Wheeljack, Wiseman, and a couple others let people have their say and rarely interfered. Then you have clowns like CLAM and Card (guess they're not active anymore-good) who have to nitpick everything and if you don't agree with them you're on the s*** list.

 

I did two things that most members (examples:featofstrength, mako, Floundderr) didn't do: Have opinions the moderators didn't agree with and read. I said things like "Mattel is not the Great Satan" and "Direct interpretations of comic book movies would ruin the comic industry" and when the aforementioned members couldn't defend their positions they'd leave me a negative (or in FOS' case also post a picture) and cry to a mod. Then you're done.

 

Viper Hunter. ARROW. SuperPowers1980. Plenty of others. I didn't always agree with these people but they were at least intelligent with their opinions. Now they're gone. Three top posters who often banged heads with mods gone and that's why I've been gone for years. I get being booted because of excessive swearing and name calling, but when sharing your opinion and explaining to people that they don't know what they're talking about gets you "in trouble"? See ya. I'm sure everyone has their reasons for not being here anymore but let's not pretend this epic fail of a mod staff has nothing to do with it.

 

Congratulations to JayC and the Moderating Team for whittling this community down to 20 people. You're all doing a bang up job.

Not sure I agree with all that your saying.

 

Yes, banning certain discussions caused members to stop posting here.

 

But I don't see this as a site where all that stuff needs to be brought up in the first place.

 

Plenty of sites where these discussions can and should be held....other than a toy and comic site like this one.

 

 

I agree with the two Captains on this. It was worse when the moderators didn't close threads or banned members that would start political threads that had nothing to do with toys and comics. Viper Hunter was the worse offender of all - he was pretty big here to the point where the majority of the Gi Joe collectors who had the same beliefs worshiped him like some sort of god. It had gotten so bad that the forums had become basically Fox News for toys and comics. I remember he twisted my thread about going to a fair that celebrates diversity to a thread about immigrants should be forced to only speak English and abandon their culture to assimilate the US culture completely (now that I think of it, his statement was a bit racist since this statement was not applied to immigrants or Americans of European descent with strong ties to their Jewish, Scottish, German, or Irish upbringings) and women being forced to take up their husbands' last names. If that continued, I would have left a long time ago. I don't miss that and I am glad that Jay C finally stepped in and stopped all that BS since they were losing members due to the extreme political threads that didn't contribute to the actual website. If someone wants to get that political, go to a political website, not a toy website. While the forums offer a general discussion section, do we really need to scare off the members who wants to talk about toys and comics for people who wants to sure their extreme political beliefs and conspiracy theories? The extreme right wing discussions happened before a lot of members joined ADC.

 

As for Arrow, I have a feeling that he was tired of the political BS threads and moved on to another forums I go to. I haven't talked to him since he left ADC, but I do see him around, talking about toys.

 

I also think the decline of the forums is because nostalgia and growing up rather than a couple of ADC staff members abusing their powers (though I do think a few were abusing their power, but such a discussion won't be mentioned here). For instance, the ADC chatroom used to have their own set of regulars - people who rarely post on the forums, but go to the chatroom daily. Now they don't. These people were also in their early '20s, so it is a possibility that they moved on. Same with the chatrooms that the 1/6 forums have - unlike this forums here, I would still see the members posting on the main forums, but they stopped going to chat just because they moved on.

[ensign]

Forums like email are a dying breed as social media evolves. Why does the Entertainment International section on this page not update anymore?

[Doom Saber]

Forums like email are a dying breed as social media evolves. Why does the Entertainment International section on this page not update anymore?

 

I think you are right. I've realized that the majority of news I get are from the tin links from their th page. I am also a bit active on the Big Chief Studio fans Facebook page, which is a fan page for the company that makes 1/6 Doctor Who and BBC Sherlock toys

[FUGAYZIE]

Forums like email are a dying breed as social media evolves. Why does the Entertainment International section on this page not update anymore?

I tend to agree with you. Is it me or does this form of "evolving" actually feel like "devolving"?

 

I think that people should still fight to be social. Having and learning proper/healthy social communication is extremely important in human culture. Without it we start to become voiceless, passive, zombies to the crap that the media decides to shove down our thoughts. Sadly, the media promotes what is hot at the moment to bring them a quick buck and that seems to always feel like whatever the Kardashian's are doing at the very moment.

 

The majority seems to follows and clicks or tweets and retweets these days with little to no active social communication taking place. I don't see how that is an improvement.

[StrangePlanet]

Still here.

And still checking in with Masterpiece Transformers, Marvel Legends, Star Wars Black 6-inch line, and the like.

[featofstrength]

I used to be a regular here. Maybe I was banned, maybe I just stopped posting, maybe I just want to be more anonymous than I already am. But for a time I was here and very active. I occasionally come here when I'm looking for news and reviews and that's when I saw this.

 

You can blame the end of nostalgia, you can blame the price of comics and toys and you can blame ever-growing personal lives (and that all could be true) but sometimes a forum fails because of the people running it.

 

JayC makes it perfectly clear: You don't have to like the moderating team, but the moderating team has to like you. Which is fine as long as the moderators aren't idiots and don't hold grudges.

 

Wheeljack, Wiseman, and a couple others let people have their say and rarely interfered. Then you have clowns like CLAM and Card (guess they're not active anymore-good) who have to nitpick everything and if you don't agree with them you're on the s*** list.

 

I did two things that most members (examples:featofstrength, mako, Floundderr) didn't do: Have opinions the moderators didn't agree with and read. I said things like "Mattel is not the Great Satan" and "Direct interpretations of comic book movies would ruin the comic industry" and when the aforementioned members couldn't defend their positions they'd leave me a negative (or in FOS' case also post a picture) and cry to a mod. Then you're done.

 

Viper Hunter. ARROW. SuperPowers1980. Plenty of others. I didn't always agree with these people but they were at least intelligent with their opinions. Now they're gone. Three top posters who often banged heads with mods gone and that's why I've been gone for years. I get being booted because of excessive swearing and name calling, but when sharing your opinion and explaining to people that they don't know what they're talking about gets you "in trouble"? See ya. I'm sure everyone has their reasons for not being here anymore but let's not pretend this epic fail of a mod staff has nothing to do with it.

 

Congratulations to JayC and the Moderating Team for whittling this community down to 20 people. You're all doing a bang up job.

It's easier to name drop, point fingers, and excuse yourself from any blame than it is offer any solutions, isn't it?

https://pearlsofprofundity.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/the-pot-calling-the-kettle-blac.jpg

[yojoebro82]

Your words hold weight DCFan20. Thank you for chiming in and voicing your opinion. #US1#

 

ADC/TNI was (and still can be) a great sight where people like us can share their hobby and keep one another updated.

The biggest problem we faced was, once we got to know each other, we expressed our opinions and beliefs that were no longer toy related. Most of the biggest threads this place ever saw were politically fueled and emotionally charged. I guess I was always on the fence about this.

On one hand, I liked talking, debating, even arguing with people like me.

Yet on the other hand, I hated the day after. Lol! #party# All of us got out of control many times over, and maybe THAT was what burned us out.

Ya, there was always the toy related arguments, but from where I stood, those were never an issue with me. Like you said, I let people have their say.

 

If there is a way to bring this place back, I'm all ears.

Capt.S.G.Wiseman @cap@

 

Ah politics. There were some real head cases that would blow up those threads. They inevitably led to personal attacks and, lo and behold, they got locked down. I guess that was for the best. I remember the guy that kept getting banned and coming back with a new name, probably 6 or 7 times in one night just so he could bait people and call Jay C names. He must have led a boring life.

 

I considered starting a thread politely suggesting opening up politics and religion again and pointing out that the troublemakers who got it locked down don't post here anymore. But then I decided I don't really care either way. I'll sneak in a mention about my belief in God every once in a while. Or drop a comment hinting at my slightly right-leaning tendencies and hope the god's hammer of the moderators doesn't come down on me (which it hasn't yet) and that is good enough for me. Toys, comics, and geek movies are more fun to talk about.

 

I never had any issues with anyone posting here. I remember Superpowers saw a picture of my Superman display and called it a "shelf fit for a sissy". Word-for-word quote, right there. I still got a kick out of some of his antics.

 

I'm Facebook friends with Guitar Devil, he's a good egg!

 

I like replying to posts by mako and featofstrength...I agree with them on some things and completely disagree on others and I think that makes for fun conversation.

 

Oh...I remember a guy on here that I hate. Lurker and known scammer Matthew Mason, who's always ready to come up with a new DC comics related internet name, post fake pictures of expensive toys, and steal your money. I hope he's in jail now.

[Marvel_Joe_Spider]

Hey I'm still around I check on the boards every now and then

[Mike]

I havn't logged in, in a few years, but still into collecting Transformers. I usually just stick to TFW2005 cuz its the largest TF fan site out there, lotsa people to mingle with and share photographs. I venture to cybertron.ca as well because its canadian only, I buy and sell on there from time to time.

 

Still see I'm in 6th place for post count here though lol you guys are slackin! Cool to see so many same guys still kickin!

[Wheeljack35]

I have never left but aren't as active because either the posts don't interest me or nobody is posting on some days

[CaptainTriumph]

Hey, 46 replies in this thread so far is good!

[Nguyen_Dragon]

I been focusing on a new career so haven't been around much...

[Mike]

What ya been working on Dragon?

 

Im working full time as facility manager at a bingo and gaming centre, doing marketing and promotions, operations, and in charge of the cleaning department. Been steadily climbing the chain of command, its pretty interesting working in the gaming business.

[Starscream49]

I still check it out from time to time but FB puts it all in one spot.