Thread 11589042

I dont know what it is, but toy collecting kind of sucks now. I find myself ordering stuff and then not really having time to enjoy what I buy.

Imo there are a lot of factors.

1. Prices are just higher, msrp wise.
2. Shipping is higher
3. Secondary market doubles or tripples price of anyyhing if you miss the boat.
4. Toys you no longer want sell slow and ebay / sales taxes / shipping eat up a lot
5. Companies double and triple dip now. Hasbro is the worst offender but Neca, super7, all do it. Like take bumblebee for example. How many variations did they release before releasing a normal yellow bumblebee? Three? Four? And even now they are about to release a 3rd or 4th seeker mold.

6. Everyone is working more hours in this shit economy. Fewer hours at home to enjoy stuff.

7. All the older people in the family need constant help and attention. Every fucking weekend it would seem.
8. Too much stuff and its all expensive. There are what at least 4 companies doing offical tmnt stuff now? And Neca alone is doing cartoon, Archie comic, orginal comic and movie? And the main turtles in two scales? And its all $36 or more a pop?

I don't know. It would be nice to just chill and enjoy things. The hobby doesnt feel as fun as 2015.

>>11589042 (OP)
Oh wow, this thread again. Quit shitting this board up.

>>11589042 (OP)
>too many toys
>triple dip
What's wrong with having more choice in toys?

>>11589042 (OP)
This sounds like an exclusively (You) problem. Figure out what you want to collect and focus on that. It just seems like you're all over the place and it's financially and mentally eating away at you. A little focus goes a long way, it'll help.

And I couldn't help but notice the random, unrelated to toys, tidbit you mentioned about family needing help. Obviously something's going on there and I can relate, but you got a just stay strong and keep your head up. I know it sucks, and I know that doesn't give you any validation but I believe in you OP. You'll get through it.

>>11589042 (OP)
Consider collecting vintage. There's plenty of it, and if you're gonna pay higher prices you might as well do it for older shit that's worth it.

>>11589074
Vintage has its own problems

You still run into being beaten to death by taxes and shipping. And you dont find it in the wild like you used to because everyone has ebay in their pocket.

I do buy some junk lots of forgotten lines like zbots and sky commanders but forget buying lots of something like transformers or Gi joe. People will price the whole lot out peice by peice based on last sold and then bid the total value for the lot.

Do people just collect out of FOMO? Buy something you don't really want now because the price is just gonna skyrocket.

>>11589123
>Do people just collect out of FOMO? Buy something you don't really want now because the price is just gonna skyrocket.

Probably more so now than before, but I couldnt tell you by how much.

And it usually bite people in the ass.

Like that 97 marvel legends Rogue. Walmarts were getting 1 or 2 boxes, assorted. So 1 or 2 rogues. So they were 25.00 plus tax. This didnt meet demand so prices went up on ebay. $45 shipped, plus tax. Maybe more. So you're paying almost double if you miss the boat.

But then a year or so later Target purchased entire boxes of them and would put out 2 boxes at a time. 2 months later Target puts them on clearance.

Similar thing happened with Cosmos and walmart. 1 per box of 6 or 8. Prices doubled and trippled on ebay. 2 or 3 years later, hasbro re-released him.

Same thing was happening with scorponok and teypticon

>>11589042 (OP)
Dedicate ONE day (per week) to playing with your toys. Put them together, fiddle around, pose them, imagine stories and such.

>>11589042 (OP)
It's not about the collecting, it's about the hunt.

People want to travel around from store to store, find something hidden behind a random box and then actually find that buried treasure. Going right to it on some site and clicking buy does not satisfy the same treasure hunt need.

>>11589099
The continuing lack of anything new coming out, and things getting worse makes even vintage and junk lots harder and harder to come by these days. When that sweet spot everyone wants toys from consists of the period of 87-94 or so. When toy based media was in its height.

>>11589858
So actually owning a thing is not enough for you? You always want more? Keep chasing that high?

>>11589858
I've been collecting toys for near 30 years and I always *hated* the hunt. I just want the damn figures, I don't care about "working" to get it. I work a job to buy toys, I don't want to work to *find* toys. The best part about buying toys is opening them and playing with the actual figures, everything else is just a distraction.

If you're only excited about the "hunt" then you don't really care about the toys to begin with.

Also, none of these problems are new. I heard the same complaints 30 damn years ago. If anything things were worse back then.

>>11589042 (OP)
>5. Companies double and triple dip now.
Sure is newfag
This shit has been going on since the fucking 80s and 90s.

>8. Too much stuff and its all expensive.
Ooof, you really are a newfag, because there was waaaaaaaaaay more shit to buy in the 00s and 10s. I literally can not track everything i wanted back then when i was a poorfag. And when i had the disposeable income to pay for for the shit i do remember and still want, the prices are OUTRAGEOUS! And those prices became outrageous over a decade ago, because of how amazing those toys are.

Even your complaint about the prices shows you're a newfag. We went from GI Joes being in two packs for $5-6 to them becoming $5 for a single figure from 2004 to 2007.
Revoltechs and Figmas used to go for $24 back in the 00s and then jumped in price to $40-50 in less than 5 years.
Marvel Legends went from $6 to $10 in less than 3 years AND their budgets were cut in half. Articulation and paint was noticeable enshitified in less than a year AND Hasbro actually killed the ML line from everyone not buying it.

Economies getting fucked are a thing since fucking forever and now you're experiencing your first fuck over as an adult, newfag!

>>11590226
What kind of prize do you get for being an old fag

>>11590300
living when shit was cheaper, living in the wild west of the internet, living before karens started taking over the internet, living when kids were still allowed to go outside without a mask on, not getting arrested for being unaccompanied by an adult to a mall, having a career, seniority, and experience to not get laid off when shit goes down.
But mostly owning more toys and experiencing /toy/ when it had a sense of community.

That's the prize for being oldfag

... buti guess it depends on the generation and years you were born. if i was 5-10 years older, i'd have been stabbed for leaving my house after dark. If i was even old enough to be a boomer... well, that's the golden age.

>>11590226
I mean, OP's definitely valid on the prices at least. Just because they've spiked before doesn't make the insane prices hikes we've gotten recently easier to swallow. I've been collecting sixteen years. I was getting imports for $30-40 when I started in the late 2000's/early 2010's. I was getting Berserk, Attack on Titan, and Fate Figmas, among others, for around $40 shipped from Amiami back in 2014. By the time I was picking up the Persona 5 Figmas in 2018-2020, it was more like $60-70. Now we're looking at around $100+ after shipping unless it's a rerelease or a simpler figure.

Figma was one of the first to really start getting out of control, but we're seeing similar price hikes in all import lines. Worse, and something OP didn't even mention, it's now more prudent to wait for reviews because pre-ordering's become a gamble with QC or scale issues. Do newer figures look and articulate better than figures from a decade ago? On average, yeah. Are they worth 2-3x the price? Imo, not really. Just glad I have a mostly complete collection at this point and am cooling off on the hobby. I'd hate to be starting out now.

>>11590460
>Figma was one of the first to really start getting out of control, but we're seeing similar price hikes in all import lines. Worse, and something OP didn't even mention, it's now more prudent to wait for reviews because pre-ordering's become a gamble with QC or scale issues. Do newer figures look and articulate better than figures from a decade ago? On average, yeah. Are they worth 2-3x the price? Imo, not really. Just glad I have a mostly complete collection at this point and am cooling off on the hobby. I'd hate to be starting out now.

Dont forget that they removed duty free, so now you pay more to order stuff

>>11589521
Not him but I doubt most of us have one day a week to do that considering we work 5 and have other things besides the job we need to do as well.

>>11589042 (OP)
the Tariffs are what is going to get me to actually stop buying. There was already an invisible tariff tax with the prices of all this shit for the first half of the year. (inflations been an issue for years so i'm not just blaming orange man for any MAGAtards. they're all jewslaves) but that fat pedofile faggot really put the nail on the coffin for it. Japan post no longer shipping. Use other shit and your paying out the ass PLUS another like 30%(?) or some shit. Lol. And imports are really the only 6 inch figures worth collecting for me. zero appeal in the slop domestic stuff like Hasbro, McFarlane, or whatever is at walmart.

theres also the fact that I'm honestly kind of at capacity. If I just start putting more stuff on display, it just takes away at this point. got to rotate stuff out in order for it to look crisp.

>>11589138
The X-Men 97 situation is ridiculous.

First wave, only a single Magneto actually hits shelves here. But they are available in stupid volume online. Go through at least two different sales on Target's site and one on GameStop's site. Not going to apologize, but I picked up four cases worth to fill out my table at a convention so I can afford to sell stuff I actually want to get rid of several months later. People are screaming about scarcity and scalping somehow.

Second wave doesn't hit shelves here at all. No sales either. Picked up about an extra case worth anyway. Then they quickly disappeared from online sites, like everywhere inside of a week. Somehow not as much screaming as with wave one though.

Convention rolls around. I'm seeing $60-$100 for all of them on eBay. Can't move them for $30-$40 in person. Like nobody even looking at them. What the fuck.

Third wave, supposedly out for weeks now, found a single Jubilee. Don't expect to see any more, let alone on sale. Budget's a little too tight right now to speculate, especially with now poorly the first two waves did. Watch this be the wave that's somehow worth something in the aftermarket, despite being somewhat weaker than both previous waves.

I really like the line and have a complete set so far for myself so I hope it continues.

>>11602001
That's artificial scarcity, right? Or it's a case of lots of cases never even hit pegs because they’re sold online. Some buyers assume scarcity equals value and just throw money at listings. eBay listings ≠ real demand. A figure listed at $90 doesn't mean it sells for that. Check the sold listings and you'll often find the real number is lower.

>>11602001
>I picked up four cases worth to fill out my table at a convention so I can afford to sell stuff I actually want to get rid of several months later. People are screaming about scarcity and scalping somehow.
You're part of the problem. Whether you personally price things fairly or not buying in bulk reduces retail access, which drives more buyers to eBay and that drives prices up. Even if your prices are low you're helping fuel a demand bubble. And others will exploit it.

>>11590226
Despite your attempts to sound superior for being an oldfag, you're ultimately just agreeing with him. Yeah, many aspects of the western economy have been getting worse for a long time now. The difference is that now, they're getting worse at such an extreme rate that even people who have only been collecting for 10 years or less can tell how bad it is.

>>11602009
Oh I know the listed vs sold trick. They were selling at those numbers. Listings were even higher. That's why I was so surprised.

I was at another show last weekend but as a buyer. Lots of impossible to find at retail sitting at retail prices. I hit a comic shop on the way back and stuff was even cheaper. Meanwhile my comic shop won't even order toys even if I prepay.

>>11589042 (OP)
I feel you. Higher prices as well as distribution issues suck all the fun out of it.

>>11602017
Small part maybe. Like I said, they went on multiple sales, and I waited until the sales were nearly over. There's no effect on physical retail, because the online inventory is regional, meaning stuff almost always hits both or neither. The first X-Men wave was a real outlier in that regard.

>>11598513
Do you just keep working after work? I always have time for a little play before bed. I don't whoosh them around, I just set up a scene and im done. With that time, I fiddle with the toy enough to determine if it was worth keeping at all

>>11602084
Where'd I say he was wrong about anything he said?

Like i said in my post, he's just a newfag who's just experiencing his first economic downturn.
And because it's his first economic downturn, he's exaggerating shit, hence me shitting on him.

IF we're still at this point or worse in 2-3 years (because that's how long shit takes for things to return to some resemblance of normalcy again), only then will i think it's something worth creating a thread about.

>>11589858
>People want to travel around from store to store
That's true FOR A WHILE. I outgrew that because I got tired of spending time and gas on fruitless toy hunts.

>>11602969
>I got tired of spending time and gas on fruitless toy hunts.
This. I can understand if you work it into your daily errands but just drivng around for toys seems kinda asinine.

>>11589042 (OP)
I don't disagree that some of your points are valid but they have been discussed here many times before.

As to your specific situation, OP, I agree with the folks who say you need to focus on and just hunt for/purchase/engage in ONE franchise or one type (e.g. vintage as someone suggested) or one character, and avoid any FOMO or other meme type inducements to go outside that.

Simplify your life.