Crimson Twins

Yes, come join the conversation. We are very accommodating, and would love to hear what you have to add.

It makes me sad to know that all that Joe greatness is only a few hours away, and I can not attend. Looks like it was great!

Many 'collectors' hate me because I am the opposite of this. I open everything. I did this back in the day with GI Joe and Marvel, and now I do it with Hot Wheels and other diecast. I see the cries of the MIB people every time I post the fallout of a good cracking session. The way I look at it, I don't collect cardboard. I collect the toys. I want them free of their plastic prisons. I want to see the colors, the details, the articulation and movement the way they were meant to be seen. Up close and out of the package. I want to pose my action figures in action poses. I want to race my race cars down a track. I open everything, and now I own over 1000 loose action figures and roughly 3000 loose diecast vehicles. As someone that recently had to move to a new house, let me tell you, that was not an easy move. It was the opposite of the OP comment. Everything had to be put up securely, and it had to be properly wrapped so as not to damage anything. I am still in the process of unpacking everything 4 1/2 months later. But, to me at least, it's totally worth every minute of it. Setting everything back up is where I get my high from. That is the addictive part to me. Not a bunch of boxes. But to each their own. There are a lot worse things that one could be addicted to.

First, let me preface this by saying I am one of the older members on here. My journey started around 2004, and there have been multiple long term absences from time to time. So, some of what I 'remember' may have happened before many of the current members even came around, or I may just be misremembering it completely. I seem to remember back in the day there was a section called 'The Garage'. It was a small section of the forums where the diecast car guys could get together and talk. There wasn't many back then, and I wasn't one of them by any means, but they had their spot. The diecast scene was much milder back then as well. There wasn't much crossover with pop culture, and it was basically just cool small cars. Fast forward a good 17 years, and the scene has changed completely. It, like many other 'collectible toy lines' has boomed. Now, there are tons of pop culture crossovers, even a dedicated Pop Culture line for Hot Wheels. I, personally, have become entrenched in this section of the toy collecting world. One thing I noticed about this world was that there wasn't a lot of places to go to talk about diecast. Sure, there was official forums for the different brand names, but they often felt very regulated. I needed a place where I could talk to other collectors without big brother banning me any time I said something derogatory about their particular product. I figured I would come visit my old favorite toy forums to see if the boom was noticeable there as well. To my surprise, there was nothing diecast related to be found. The old garage had been boarded up, most likely in an effort to streamline underperforming sections some years ago. I was just wondering if there had been any other like-minded diecast collectors out there looking for a place to talk here at TNI?

OK, first let me just say I don't agree with the OP at all. I believe if you purchase anything with the intent to immediately resell at a higher price, you are scalping. If you are buying up all of the stock, creating a false sense of demand with the intent to drive up said price, you are scalping. If you are army building, or the items are for your own personal use or consumption, then more power to you. You found the goods, it's your score. Enjoy. The one question I do pose to you all is this: What is the timeline for it to be determined scalping? I'll give you an example. Nearly 14 years ago, I was fortunate enough to purchase a BAF Sentinel right here on these forums for $40 plus $12 shipping. I have owned that figure for that whole time, and it has been an enjoyable part of my collection the whole time. Recently, I decided I would let it go. Checking the current market on it, I see it's going for well over $100 now. So, if I sell it now for the current market price, am I still scalping? I feel as though I am not. I did not buy this figure with the sole intention to resell it. It is no longer something that can be purchased at retail. And I did not buy it at retail when I bought it. So, is there a statute of limitations on scalping? I would honestly like to hear the community's opinion.

I'll say they go with the Ghost Hawk. It's a small flying craft to combat the recently released Fang. Not too big, not too small. Could still be priced at the $20-$25 price point and not seem too outrageous. Plus, they have two versions of it from the 25th line and the Rise of Cobra era that they can choose from.

This is a good way of breaking things down. I think the metal rivets is a great feature to focus on when telling the eras apart. The quality of the modern O-Rings should not be held against that of the Vintage era. When I use the term 'modern' when describing Joes, it is solely for the non O-ring figures of the 25th Anniversary and beyond. Which is funny because in the 2000's, 'modern' was used for the new non-Vintage era figures. I feel like there were a few gems in the modern O-rings, but not that much that I feel I need to track anything down from them if I already missed it. It's hard to believe that the wonky proportions and limited articulation of the JvC, SpyTroops, and VvV were made by the same company that did either the vintage Joes or the 25th era Joes. It is such a weird period of Joe history.

So, I have gone back and forth several times on this subject. When the 25th line began to hit, I was very much against it. Especially the diaper crotches of the first run. I had also been back in the collecting game for about 4 years at that point and had amassed a large RAH style collection. The modern style figures didn't really trigger any nostalgia on my part because I had spent those last years reliving my childhood dreams of grabbing up all the figures and vehicles I had always wanted as a kid, but never had the money for. My nostalgia was already used up with toys that I actually remembered from long ago. The new figures seemed more like a money grab. My opinion towards them became more negative when I found out they would have different sized foot holes and backpack holes. That meant a whole bunch of accessories would not be compatible with the two lines. It was looking more and more like I was going to let that line pass me by. I was a diehard RAH guy. Then, I gave in to temptation and actually bought one. More specifically, I bought 10. The first two 5 packs that were released. They had their flaws, but I felt they were overall well made. Most had better articulation than the RAH line. All had more detail. And the softer plastics they were made of meant less stress on things like thumbs and elbows. There were no metal rivet eye sores holding the arms together. A lot of them came with better accessories and most even had working holsters. Small things that were few and far between on the RAH style. Surprisingly, there were even different body sizes. Every figure was not the same exact height. As the modern line grew, I found myself grabbing more and more of them, slowly replacing my RAH collection. The old school style figures were being sent into boxes and bins. When the movie(s) came out and the figure line that followed, I became even more immersed. The head sculpts were some of the most detailed I had seen in that scale. They continued to pump out awesome figures, and some highly underrated vehicles as well. The ROCC and Rhino are two of my favorite vehicles. Hasbro also dipped into the 4" Marvel figures around this time, and the modern era figures blended in so well with those figures I was finally able to create so many of my dream match ups. The RAH figures still hold a dear place in my heart when it comes to nostalgia. They also hold a big place in my collection when it comes to army building. But, I do believe if I end up deciding to continue to grow my collection, I am going to be leaning towards the newer figures. So many of their highly detailed and articulated figures have become my definitive versions of the characters I grew up loving as a kid. My collection will never be one or the other, but going forward I believe it will begin to skew to one side.

I just found a carded 25th Snake Eyes in my boxes of long forgotten Joes. Wanna work out a trade?

I have been very blessed to have a large amount of what others would call 'grail pieces.' However, there has been 3 major ones that I've never owned, either as a child or as an adult. Terror Drome USS Flagg Defiant If I can get my hands on those 3, I would consider my search pretty much done.

Entrances this year seemed so weird without the fans. Canned, recorded reactions and countdowns were ok, but can never truly mimic a live crowd's reaction.

Nice! Although it's almost a year late, I really like this pic.

Giving you guys, and the guys at Marvelous News a shot at this before I put it up on eBay. EDIT: Adding price. $160 shipped.

Looks like things died around here. That's a shame. I do so love my pro wrestling. I've been watching since I was old enough to sit and watch TV, so almost 4 decades now. I've seen the Rock n Wrestling era give way to the Attitude era to Ruthless Aggression ... and so on and so on. My favorites have varied over the years, but never seemed to go along the with the norm. I guess I've always been a bit of a 'smart fan,' having been able to predict most of the big matches throughout the years based on how I saw the 'business' was going. The last few years have been brutal for me though because it seems like WWE has no clue what they're doing with their product. As for some current news, it looks like WWE sold their Network content to NBC's Peacock streaming service for an estimated $1 Billion. Not sure how I feel about this. I know it can expand their subscription base since they only had about 1 million Network subscribers and Peacock already has around 20 million. So, more eyes on the product(?). Or is this just another big cash grab coming right before they have their annual shareholder meeting/report?

For a long time, I had displayed my Joe collection proudly. A few years ago, I moved into a much smaller apartment. I had to justify even bringing the Joes with us and not putting them into storage. Unfortunately, they now live their lives in boxes and plastic containers. I think them being put out of sight is part of the reason I moved onto collecting Hot Wheels. I needed a collecting fix, and I could display so many more of the smaller cars than I could the Joes. But, every now and then, I pull the boxes out from the closet, or under the bed, and look at parts of my collection, remembering just how great things looked back in the day.