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Post by poindizzle on Jul 6, 2012 10:05:22 GMT -5
Look guys, everyone keeps bringing up the points that if you have money you can buy whatever figures you want and location as well. Let me learn you something.....I live in Valley City, North Dakota. There are 7,000 people in my town and we have 1 store that carries wrestling figures. I also only work part time at a grocery store....I don't have millions of dollars. However, every figure that I have wanted in my collection is in my collection. Sometimes you have to be thrify with your money and pass on something else. Like I said before, you can't have your cake and eat it too. That's just the thing, I used to be able to. I'm not going to put this at Mattel's doorstep entirely, I realize that the economy and retail outlets both are far more to blame. I am going to say that Mattel makes too many figures, and then when they already have this hectic fast-paced shipping schedule, they then compound the problem with B.S. signature series and Best of sets that shelf clog for no good reason. I would have agreed with this post until we reached the last quarter last year and something snapped in distribution. I went from finding every figure I ever wanted at retail to finding nothing, hunting long hours, making fruitless trips and paying too much online. I understand times are different, but I go into Marvel Legends heavy (i.e. I got a job and started having a decent savings account, I had lightly collected them before) after about the 9th series, and from 9-15 I was able to get every figure, reasonably priced, right down to every variant. I could even get the chase figures easier back then, compared to now when I hunt for months for something that is shortpacked. Why is something that is one per case or one per every other case harder to find than something that wasn't even in a fraction of the cases? And by the logic in the original post, you could be a completionist because there were fewer assortments and the window of opportunity to get them was longer. Sure, no internet, but if we're just talking retail, which is generally all I'm interested in (because I don't want to pay triple retail for the damn Bellas online) then it was far easier back then. If something is gone, sometimes it's just gone now, like the one case I ever saw anywhere in the area of Basic 8. It never trickled down to the drug stores or Big Lots, or any other secondary outlet, and I had to resort to online prices. I have the money, I just don't want to waste 2-5 times more online for the same thing that, if this had been 5-10 years ago would have been so easy to find.
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Deleted
Joined on: Sept 27, 2024 9:40:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2012 10:15:16 GMT -5
whats funny is people bytch and complain about collecting, but in reality its one of the cheapest hobbies around. Collecting Action figures is not the only hobby i have and let me tell you their are way more expensive things out their. I understand standing by your principles and priorities. I too have a cut off point I refuse to pay over 30$ for any mattel wrestling figure, and I only go that high for exclusives. what I don't get is why people bytch and complain? If its not fun.. don't collect, if its too expensive... don't wast your money. Whats pissing people off is the aftermarket, people know they can make money in the aftermarket so they will buy every thing new at retail. All the outrages prices I see for new figures out at retail first (So called good Distribution) that are selling on Ebay...are Members of this COMMUNITY! we are the ones who know what is most desirable and popular because we follow wrestling. I don't know how many times I see a HUGE number of members say "Yeah I grabbed all the ones on the shelf only to get some to help board members or for trade", but when I see that and try to make a deal with these people trying to help fellow collectors, well turns out all they wanted to do is PROFIT and price gouge me. I don't know how many classifieds posts I have read of some one wanting to trade their CRAP for new figures that are not even mass retail yet?? So blame every one on here not Toys!
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Von Hooten
Main Eventer
The Innovator of Innovation
Joined on: Jan 23, 2012 13:13:14 GMT -5
Posts: 1,412
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Post by Von Hooten on Jul 6, 2012 11:50:19 GMT -5
I am a child of the LJN days, but I was more educated in the Hasbro dept as I was still a little too young for LJN. I am 30 BTW. I personally feel that collecting was easier back then. I had to rely on my parents, and getting my chores done if I wanted a new toy and finding them was no issue for my parents. Hell my father even found the Hasbro Dusty Rhodes for me, and it was after the fact we found out how rare he was. I feel sorry for parents these days because there are too many. Hell, my mother still asks me if there is anything I am looking for in particular incase if she happens to be a out at a store, and a lot of time I tell her No because if I (which I am a very active "hunter") can't find these chances are she won't at all. Parents have it much harder these days with all the different version of one character out at the same time and the limited availability. Unless if their kids are into Flex Force, or Rumblers.
I also like that there weren't sets on top of sets coming out all the time. It gave people more of a chance to get all the figures in a given series. Back then it may have taken me months to complete a set, but it got complete regardless. Now it is more like a do or die situation because you may never see a certain figure or series again and in some cases if at all.
I will admit that distribution used to be good and I used to be able to calculate it like clockwork. For some reason after Elite 9 it fell off the tracks. Now it seems like every WWE figure I want is a chase figure and it sucks. I don't expect everything to be perfect, but in the Jakks days pics of a new set would be posted and I used to get excited, and my first thought would be "Wow, I can't wait to buy _____ when I see him" Now, when new pics of a set get posted my first thoughts are "Wow, to bad I'll never see ______"
Yes, I can go online but truth be told I do feel a little bitter about having to spend $40 on something that should be available to me at my local retialer. I had problem shelling out $50 for a SH Figuarts DBZ Goku figure, because it is an export from Japan. Same goes with me spending $90 on a Takara Buster Optimus Prime, because again, it wasn't like I could hit my local Walmart and grab him. But to spend $40 plus on a Booker T that should be sitting on my store shelf is a bit much. I remember in 1996 when me nor my parents couldn't find the Carnage Unleased figure. Months went by, and nothing, but then came Dec 26th and "Bam" there were loads of them. Now, I can't even rely on the dsay after christmas to find figures I missed out on.
It is just a different ballgame today, and there are many faces to blame but the main culprit of all is greed. Plain and simple.
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