Viper Hunter
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Posts posted by Viper Hunter
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I'm sorry VH if I seemed dismissive to valid complaints about the pricing and availability of these things. Maybe in my situation I like so many dang things that if I can't find one thing, I move on to the next thing I want. (lol) I guess I'm silly that way...
Oh HELL NO!!
I didn't think you were dismissive at all my friend. I'm just frustrated and raggin' on the hobby a little bit...nothing new from outta me. -
Looks like there's no waist piece and the gray boots are always stupid looking. Who the hell wears primer gray boots anyway?
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Thank you guys. That's what I keep trying to say; I know what I myself am willing to pay for something. I shop around and compare prices, and I do my homework. I look for a given item knowing what I feel is a reasonable price for it. If I think it's outrageous or unreasonable, I'll just assume a given seller is smoking crack and I'll walk away, as it were. No matter what we do or say, the secondary market exists. The price gouging happens. And yes, sometimes an artificial shortage is creatd by scalpers and hoaders looking to take advantage of us collectors and make a quick buck. We can talk all day long about what a reasonable or unreasonable price is to pay for an action figure, but it's a fact that companies and stores set prices, then when stock is gone, the secondary market determines the prices, and you either pay that or you don't. It's a simple as that. Now if these new carded Joes were being offered at retail for twenty-five bucks a pop, I'll admit I'd have to think long and hard about it, especially if they could be found anywhere and everywhere. But they're not gonna be. You're only gonna be able to get them through the club at first, then through the secondary market. And do you think for one minute secondary sellers are gonna adhere to that price? Of course not. So...given the situation, as I have stated before, twenty-to-twenty-five bucks per figure, in this situation that we have no say in or control over, is probably the cheapest we'll ever see these figures available for. It's just a fact. I understand those of you that ask why pay such an inflated price for the same thing we used to pay way under half at retail. I know. I get it. But what can you do about it? You can complain and not buy the figures, or you can spend the money for what you want. I personally think they're cool enough to invest a little in.
Hey...I wish it were still 1984 and you could buy oodles of Joes at any given store for a buck ninety-eight or whatever. But it's not 1984 anymore. I just try to stay positive and remain a collector within the confines of the current collecting environment, which happens to include words like availability, scalping, exclusive, limited edition, and *cringe* AFA Graded.
That's all very well stated DB and totally understood and agreed with. However, that is still the exasperating state of the hobby right now regardless of the rational logic behind it. When I stick to my guns and refuse to pay what I think is too much for something and suddenly I find that I'm no longer buying much of ANY of it (no where to be found at the stores and already SOLD OUT online) that's still going to be a frustrating and disappointing state of affairs for a longtime Joe collector. Most people probably wouldn't admit to price EVER being a problem, too proud to admit to money woes or limited incomes to splurge, but I'm just being blunt and honest about it. Pushing these things up closer to almost $10 a figure is bad enough, but $20 and higher for something brand new, but made to look vintage, is outrageous IMO. That's all.
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What can I say? I'm a sucker. (lol) Seriously, with the secondary market the way it is, I just think that later on these things will easily end up being two and three times what the club will be charging, so why not get them for what will most assuredly be the cheapest price. And yes yojobro, maybe the vintage packaging is a gimmick...but it works on me. I just can't help it.
That's the whole exasperating thing about this hobby anymore. The secondary market has ruined it for many collectors and left only those with nothing to do but spend more of their easily earned (you would have to think?) money...on plastic toys with cardboard painted to look like something they loved as a child? Openly expressing what we would gladly PAY (beyond what is reasonable) for this crap, in public forum, is just asking the scalpers and so-called "secondary market" operators to exploit the hobby and it's fans even more so.
Because everything said on the internet is true.
Seriously, nobody cares what someone says they'll pay. It's what someone actually will pay. He's not airing state secrets. One person being willing to pay a hundred dollars a figure won't pay for a toy line. Even one in ten being willing to do that won't. The simple fact is if you have ever paid more than retail for a toy at any time, you've contributed to the problem. These scalpers deal in volume and for every figure they manage to unload at three or five (or more) times retail, they have to gamble on breaking even somewhere else. I'm not crying for 'em and I hope they choke on their left overs, but it's the reality of the situation.
As for Ebay and outrageous BINs, that's the other side of the coin. You can list your MOC whatever for ONE MILLION DOLLARS but it doesn't mean someone will buy it. I've seen stuff get relisted and relisted for years - aint no one going to pay. About the only thing BINs are good for is low balling: if you want to get rid of something, put it ten percent less than the lowest BIN and someone will snag it.
For me, when I've sold off older stuff all auctions start at .99 cents with no reserve. Whatever I get is what I get.
Doesn't matter does it? If these scalpers wipe out the selection of toys I want from the brick and mortar and even the online shops, I still can't find what I want, and at a price I prefer, can I? As far as what the collector club wants to charge for these things....you seriously don't think they pay attention to what people are paying (in the secondary market) for them and are just charging barely enough to cover their costs and a little pocket change? I doubt they're reading what people "claim" they're willing to pay for it (that's a bit of a tease I'm giving my old friend DB) on these forums, but can figure it out by what they actually do spend on anything they can slap an "exclusive" or "limited edition" label on. If $20-$25 seems to be the going rate (not a million dollars) for something a scalper took off the shelf at Walmart and placed on his or hers eBay page, then by golly that seems to be the gauge for where to price THEIR stuff as well.
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What can I say? I'm a sucker. (lol) Seriously, with the secondary market the way it is, I just think that later on these things will easily end up being two and three times what the club will be charging, so why not get them for what will most assuredly be the cheapest price. And yes yojobro, maybe the vintage packaging is a gimmick...but it works on me. I just can't help it.
That's the whole exasperating thing about this hobby anymore. The secondary market has ruined it for many collectors and left only those with nothing to do but spend more of their easily earned (you would have to think?) money...on plastic toys with cardboard painted to look like something they loved as a child? Openly expressing what we would gladly PAY (beyond what is reasonable) for this crap, in public forum, is just asking the scalpers and so-called "secondary market" operators to exploit the hobby and it's fans even more so.
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@loll@
BTW, love the new avatar VH!
Can't go wrong with the Eastwood!
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I understand everyone's complaints. Heck, I'm on a limited budget myself. But twenty to twenty-five bucks is not a deal-breaker for exclusive vintage carded G.I. Joe figures to me. It's just not.
There not vintage though. Would you want to pay the same price for a Mona Lisa copy, that the original sells for? I know you certainly wouldn't want to pay MORE for it. Tossing the word "exclusive" around to justify asinine prices is getting ridiculous with this hobby.
Oh no...I just meant they come on vintage-style cardbacks, not that they're all vintage figures or characters necessarily, although one or two are. I just really like the thoughts of having some (what I think are) cool figures in vintage-style packaging. And if I like them enough, I'll pay around twenty-bucks for them easily.
SHhhhhhhhhhh!!
Remember...INSIDE VOICE on that! -
LOL!
Cracks me up when all these ARAH purists poo'poo on everything that isn't an exact remake of the 1980's line (in appearance and cardback) and then suddenly switch gears on something that isn't even close to the original. This Jinx looks more like a Kill Bill knockoff of Uma Thurman's character and while that would be cool in itself, I don't like the looks of this for reasons other than it not being like the "pajama wearing", blindfolded, female ninja, of the 80's version. It's just not an appealing figure. Ugly boring headsculpt and odd color combinations make it look like somebody ate a book of crayons and puked on it. -
I understand everyone's complaints. Heck, I'm on a limited budget myself. But twenty to twenty-five bucks is not a deal-breaker for exclusive vintage carded G.I. Joe figures to me. It's just not.
There not vintage though. Would you want to pay the same price for a Mona Lisa copy, that the original sells for? I know you certainly wouldn't want to pay MORE for it. Tossing the word "exclusive" around to justify asinine prices is getting ridiculous with this hobby.
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So, what would you like to see the cost per figure be, realistically?
PharmV
$7.99 no higher
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That's quite disappointing and lame. I agree...why the hell go with the VvV version? Big thumbs down here. Seems the customizers always do it better...
Should we get that on a t-shirt?
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Heck, I just came across a Steel Brigade figure at TRU this week that cost me $9.03. I felt sick to my stomach with THAT purchase, let alone ever thinking of spending twice that or more for these things. I quit paying $15-$20 for G.I.Joes when I got caught up and filled some holes on my vintage 80's Joes by buying them off eBay. VINTAGE....ORIGINAL...3 3/4" G.I.Joes from the golden era. There's absolutely no justifiable reason for these things to be priced like that hot off the new press and I don't have much good to say about those that PAY it, or pay the jacked up prices off an eBay seller, who scalps the toys from retail first, making it damn near impossible to get them at even the $8.79 range. @grumpy@
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Not a bad figure, but I'm not feeling the bright red with the bright purple. If it were toned down a bit I'd like it.
Same thing I first thought as well. The bright and shiny Red, with Purple colors and the floating beret make it an odd looking figure.
I've seen customs that were more pleasing color-wise...
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Maybe you're right VH...but sadly it's the nature of the beast these days. If I want something bad enough, I'll pay for it. I'm not ashamed to admit it. (lol)
and I don't mean to imply that you should be DB! I just think when it comes to what we personally are willing to dish out for the things we REALLY want....as collectors, we should get that info hush hush, to ourselves and private. No sense if letting the cat out of the bag to the ones that profit off the sales of all this "EXCLUSIVE" stuff to know just how much some of us are willing to spend. You don't walk onto a car lot and immediately tell the dealer how much you would be willing to spend on a car if they happened to have one in stock.....they just might have it available for $12,000 and you just let'em know you'd spend twice that. BAM!! The price just went up to $23,000 and 99 cents. You got a deal! @loll@
Funny how these people can claim that a line was not a success because it didn't sell at $20 a pop, yet when the price drops to a more reasonable level, the stuff disappears. Even when they show up at places like Big Lots, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and what have you, they seem to all get bought right up and into the arms of happy children or the collection of happy collectors. What...they're gonna b!tch because they couldn't get more people to bite on the jacked up, unnecessary, prices and tell us they lost money? I don't buy it.
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Are these gonna be on vintage-style cardbacks? That would make my decision much easier. Twenty-five bucks a pop for cool exclusive figures on vintage-style cardbacks doesn't seem like a whole lot at the end of the day, but maybe that's just me...
It's just a small, plastic, kids toy, army man, action figure though, and the cardback is just cardboard and "exclusive".....what does that even really mean besides a gimmick for jacking the price up? $8.99 is too much to ask for these things, so $25 a pop is totally asinine unless it's from the 60's 70's or 80's and isn't being made anymore and is now RARE! Hell a scalper can raid the brick & mortars in a certain area and go on eBay and call his stash "Scalper Steves club" and charge $25 (or more) a pop on everything he scalped off the shelves because they're all now "exclsuive" to him and his little eBay shop.
This crap has just gotten way out of hand and obnoxious. -
Regardless of what he thinks of himself, I think it's pretty damn cool how he's showing such enthusiasm over his role in this movie. How can we knock that?
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My decline in interest in GI Joe aside, there's no way I would pay what they're asking for these figures...
Same here Joe. Scarce sightings in store, instant sell outs online, rising prices all around....and I'm just about burntout on an almost 30 year hobby.
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WOW! Talk about a blast from the PAST??? @loll@ Ahhh...the good ol days!
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Due to my age, my "most painful loss" came when I lost one of my 12" Adventure Team Joes in the pond of our new house. It was the Eight Ropes of Danger set, with the deep sea diving suit, and since our new house in the country had a nice big pond, with a dock, I couldn't wait to string him up and drop him in.
Well, it didn't last long before the string came lose and he was stuck on the bottom of the pond next to the dock supports, but it was early fall and too cold to go in after him and several tries with a stick or pole wasn't getting it, so there he would stay until the first warm day of summer and I could go in after him. I did just that, and set up a makeshift hospital for him in the big pole barn we had, and he was in relatively good shape considering. A little rusty around the rivets and I'm sure the cords were rotten, but I had high hopes for a full recovery with light duty adventures thereafter. Unfortunately, he survived 8 months underwater only to be ate alive by our pet racoon Pepe, who managed to pull one of his great escapes that night, and must have thought my Joe smelled kinda fishy??
His soft head and soft kung-fu grip hands were totally destroyed. -
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#2 "no country for old men" I put my visiting friend from Georgia and my wife to sleep. Boring , the dialogue was slow and uninspiring. Some kid told in my college class told me that I didn't like it because my brain was washed with action flicks and that this a "Bogart" type film , I told him I like Bogart and this was no Casablanca or Maltese falcon.
I was all into this flick and thought it was going along very nicely and had me hooked, when suddenly it was like they cut out about 20 mins worth of film, jumped ahead past critical key elements in the drama, killed off (without a visual) one of the main characters and changed plots smack dab in the last moments of the movie and ended it in a rush and without any REAL finality other than a longass cerebral conversation over breakfast by Tommy Lee Jones and his retirement woes? #WTF#
P!ssed me off so damn much I felt like doing a drive-by at Blockbuster and just throwing the DVD at the front door as I zoomed by.
Movie sucked! -
Is it just me or are all movie critics either worn out watching movies, or simply in someone else's back pocket?
A decent movie comes along and the FIRST thing most people do is look at the "Ratings", ...ratings that some overly bored movie critic HAS to rate, whether they like it or not. The movie may be to your liking, but people are short on cash these days. Their quick answer is to look at Movie Reviews. If the "Experts" say the movie is bad, then box office sales drop in a heartbeat. Why do people listen to them? Because they may have been right 10% of the time? Like I said, people are short on cash and going to the theater these days cost an arm and a leg. Sad.
My question to everyone is - Has there been a movie that you liked that got bad ratings? Are you mad that there may not be a sequel because of these ratings?
The movie I liked recently was Conan: The Barbarian. I have read most of the original Robert E. Howard stories about Conan and I was very happy with the movie. Many people however want to compare it to the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. That was a great movie. Infact it is one of the best classic movies of all time, but it was just a good barbarian movie. Arnold was NOT what Conan really is.
The new movie did a great job with the casting and showing the world who Conan really was. Conan is sharp and witty. He is more like a tiger that a muscle bound ox. He is fast, powerful, cunning and merciless. He is a leader among men, not some loner brute that is easily fooled. He is an adventurer, a warrior, and a hero. Not having Mr. Universe size muscles does not make him less powerful, or less convincing. I thought Jason Momoa was a better Conan, not necessarily a better barbarian.
That's just my opinion. What do you think?
Are movie critics the worst kind of troll, or are they what dictates what you spend your money on?
I read all the Howard stories and have a nice collection of CONAN comic books. I htought the Schwarzenegger movie was a joke and it didn't help that it was at the time when I was getting into bodybuilding and reading up on what a major jackass Arnold was, and how they gave him the 1980 Olympia trophy just to help promote his upcoming Conan movie. I've since gotten over all that and actually like his later movies a lot better, but still think of this version of Conana as being something subpar to the old comics and books. I'm actually looking forward to seeing this new Conan movie, as it looks more in line with what I thought the 1st one should have been like?
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She's dead.
Thank you Devil Bat, your kind words help me keep things in perspective.
Thank you all.
She's at peace and you're left with the aching hole in your heart and a void in your life that was once filled with her presence, but the thing to focus on is her "peace". Where she's at now is where we'd all long to be if we could only get a preview of it before we get there. My deepest sympathy and thoughts are with you. Losing a parent has to be a tough one and I count my blessings that mine are both hanging in there for the long haul.
I didn't think you were dismissive at all my friend. I'm just frustrated and raggin' on the hobby a little bit...nothing new from outta me. 
G.I. Joe Sub Service: Figure 8 Revealed - Barrel Roll
in G.I. Joe
Posted
I'd buy it if it was on a peg at Big Lots or ROSS/Marshalls stores for $4.99 and use it for custome fodder or to repaint and stick him in a tank along with Heavy metal, but it definetly has no appeal in trying to lure me into signing up with the collectors club as an officer and then paying an extra (?????) a month for the entire set of subpar, overpriced, fodder pieces.