Author Topic: What Would Be "The End" For You?  (Read 14464 times)

Offline ysalamir

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #15 on: March 29, 2011, 02:25 PM »
I don't think there will ever be an end to it for me. Just a scaling back and getting rid of extra or chessy stuff.
Most of the figures being produced these days are far superior in many respects to figures in the past. Though I can't say that many heads are better on some of the humanoids because of the ball jointed necks This is why I will keep some older figures, plus it's cool to put them together to get an "evolution" for better or worse of the figure. Not everything new with better articulation is an improvement in sculpting IMO.

An eventual creating of Jabba's Palace or the Cantina diorama in the most realistic way that I can like some have done is high on my list of things to do way into my adult age. Hasbro is more than halfway in creating all these characters.

The things I have done in the last few years that has curbed my collecting is stopped being a completist, stopped being a mint on mint card collector and have to have every card and their variations for each run thumb tacked to my wall. I quit building armies, though an occasional squad is ok.

The TVC cards are the pinnacle of sweetness, but Hasbro burnt me out with all the scotch taped cheesy packaging of the past. So sorry but it's too late to be a completist. Plus the prices don't help. Now I enjoy collecting a heck of a lot more with loose figures. It's a lot easier to find a mangled card with a complete figure in it, than spending all that time and gas looking for the perfect card, or ordering a case of figures with some figures I don't want and paying through the nose. Though the last time I had to do that was the with the last red card 2010 EU wave where every figure was new..no problem.

Nope not going to call it quits just yet, but there are ways to cut back.

Offline speedermike

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #16 on: March 29, 2011, 04:38 PM »
It's interesting to see the coomon thread here.  When we take charge of what we buy and don't buy, we're happier.

Truth is, my few favorite figure desires (Tatooine Biggs, Dr. Ezavan, Cz-3, anything McQuarrie related) have all been made.  I don't think I have any one burning desire for a specific figure anymore...well, maybe a few.  But otherwise, what we have been offered since 1995 has been beyound my wildest dreams, and I'm glad I've stayed with it...
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Offline Dan

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #17 on: March 29, 2011, 07:44 PM »
I've been around it for a few decades myself. While I like some of the vintage, the price stops me from buying more. For the most part, I have everything I need to set up a cantina display, a Jabba's palace display, and a pretty huge hoth display. But there really isn't space, so adding more items to buckets seems a tad crazy.

While I bailed on the carded collection some time ago, I found myself getting back in to it with the Clone Wars series starting at the beginning of 2010. My 10 year old daughter watches the shows on DVD with me, and there is far more new material to mine in CW. The fact that every now and then I could get a bunch on sale for $5-$6 helped. 15 years of movie figures is just about enough for me. Although I wish I had grabbed a couple more of the new gamorrean guards last year  ::).

So random pieces that fit my focused display ideas, or cool sub-lines like the McQuarrie figures, are about all I am looking for these days. And I am someone that would like to see Hasbro try harder at creating environments. Call them playsets, backdrops, whatever, but I like things that make the figures look  better on my shelf.

I'm not sure I'll ever completely stop. Just re-focus, rotate stock, etc.

Offline dustin baetz

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #18 on: March 30, 2011, 05:49 PM »
If the quality of sculpt, paint and materials declined to the level of Hasbro's other lines.  For now, figures like the cross-eyed Anderson Cooper B-Wing Pilot are still pretty rare.

Offline speedermike

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #19 on: March 31, 2011, 09:51 AM »
Totally off topic...I sat next to Anderson Cooper in 1999 on my flight to Denver for the first Celebration.  He was on the phone and kept saying "One day at the show, then to the Ranch..."

At the time, I didn't know who he was, and he was obviously no big deal becuase he was riding coach as well.  I asked him if "The Ranch" was Skywalker Ranch, and he said yes, and we got to talking about SW and E1, which he was seeing early.

He was interested in me, because at the time I was working regularly with SW Kids Magazine and sometimes on "The Insider."  I was also working at Celebration (he was covering it for some news outlet) running drawing sessions at the kids booth.

He wasn't really into SW or anything, but he didn't seem to think that we were all nerds.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2011, 12:40 PM by speedermike »
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Offline darth punkinhed

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #20 on: March 31, 2011, 11:51 AM »
For the most part I hit the end back in late 08 early 09. I'm an OT collector and for the most part already have everything I need. Except for a new Death Star, still holding my breath on that. Price and assortment killed it for me. I buy by the case and after about the 2nd or 3rd wave it no longer makes sense because of all the repacks. I buy a handfull of figures for myself each year but I always buy OT ships/playsets but they just don't make enough of those. I have a lot of gripes with the line but nothing that I really need to go into here and for the most part are the same issues everyone else has. 
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Offline Blaster under the pillow

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #21 on: April 12, 2011, 05:31 AM »
I think something cataclysmic would have to happen for me to stop collecting, then again.... I quit smoking overnight after eleven years so who knows...


Offline Jabba the Slug

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #22 on: April 18, 2011, 08:53 PM »
For me it's about price, sadly... I've even noticed that I haven't bought a single basic figure in a while, too. If the price hits more than $12 (and it's almost there, too), I'm definitely out. These days, I buy one figure on occasion, I'm so behind in TVC, which is a shame because I really love that line. I haven't seen any TVC figure beyond the ROTS wave. I'm doubtful my local retailers will catch up.
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Offline Ghost of QG

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #23 on: April 20, 2011, 09:18 PM »
For me it's all about interest. I collect PT figures ( Mainly Ep. 3 and Clone Wars) The animated line is really my only main line, besides an occasional Vintage figure. When Hasbro stops making things I like then I'll quit. My other main interested is EU novels and comics, so that will be there for awhile....

Offline darth broem 2

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #24 on: April 23, 2011, 12:42 AM »
Sadly I am basically at the end right now.  Or it's just a funk I'm in.  Anyway here are some reasons lately. 

1) The past several months I can't find a damn thing I want.  It's all peg-warmers.  I never found any of the AOTC wave.  NONE!  I have never seen Death Star Escape Luke, Han Yavin, etc.  I sure as hell can't find Dagobah Luke, AOTC Clonetrooper, or even Lando.   Heck, I never even a saw a $10 Wicket in the wild. 

2) The price is basically $10 a figure which means even if I were to find a whole wave I'd only be able to buy maybe 2-3 tops.  Maybe a couple more. 

3) I HATE buying cases of figures.  I have to drop $100 for about 8-10 figures.  I just can't do that even on a credit card because I don't wish to add to my minimum per month.  Plus, there are always a couple of figures I don't want.  It's a pain going on the boards or wherever to dump them off on others. 

4) I have pretty much lost any interest in going on toy runs.  It's a waste of time really to go in and see all the same pegwarmers.   

5) My overall enthusiasm has dipped to an all-time low. 

I am hoping the Blu-Rays rekindle my interest.  Or that I can find at least one sought after figure either at the store or HasbroToyShop.  Maybe that will help my funk. 

Offline Jesse James

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #25 on: April 23, 2011, 02:33 AM »
Sadly I am basically at the end right now.  Or it's just a funk I'm in.  Anyway here are some reasons lately. 

1) The past several months I can't find a damn thing I want.  It's all peg-warmers.  I never found any of the AOTC wave.  NONE!  I have never seen Death Star Escape Luke, Han Yavin, etc.  I sure as hell can't find Dagobah Luke, AOTC Clonetrooper, or even Lando.   Heck, I never even a saw a $10 Wicket in the wild. 

2) The price is basically $10 a figure which means even if I were to find a whole wave I'd only be able to buy maybe 2-3 tops.  Maybe a couple more. 

3) I HATE buying cases of figures.  I have to drop $100 for about 8-10 figures.  I just can't do that even on a credit card because I don't wish to add to my minimum per month.  Plus, there are always a couple of figures I don't want.  It's a pain going on the boards or wherever to dump them off on others. 

4) I have pretty much lost any interest in going on toy runs.  It's a waste of time really to go in and see all the same pegwarmers.   

5) My overall enthusiasm has dipped to an all-time low. 

I am hoping the Blu-Rays rekindle my interest.  Or that I can find at least one sought after figure either at the store or HasbroToyShop.  Maybe that will help my funk. 

I'm going to kind of steal your post Broem, because it's the same kind of crap that puts me to my rope's end with the hobby...  I'm not there yet but I'd put myself as "close".  Especially now that Hasbro has done THREE good Rebel Army builders, they've really hit my top wants now and I'm not as interested in newer figures as I was in getting that last key guy (Fleet Trooper, obviously) knocked out.

But to just kind of pile onto what you said...

1)  I didn't have the same trouble finding stuff as you did, to some degree...  I ordered Wave 6, glad I did as I haven't seen much of it.  Mostly Wave 4 and 5 are just shipping here, which tells me a couple things...  First, Wave 6 may ship for a while, and that Wave 4 and 5 are clogged up in the system because they continue to ship here.  I JUST saw DSE Luke for the first time ever at retail on Thursday evening, so my advice there is don't give up yet... 

Patience is always a virtue in this hobby.  I've never once had it not be.  You know that though, but it always bears repeating I guess.  I'm seeing more Wave 5 now than ever...  Wave 4 I'm still seeing in some capacity, and even Wave 3 still dribbles out in some form or another.

But I can't blame anyone for frustration there...  I ordered through our site here, at EE, and I was really happy I did on Wave 6.  I'm abandoning relying on retail to find stuff.  Instead I'll use it for extras I may want.  I'm getting cases from here out though I think.

2)  I'd be the last person to argue with anyone, ever, on price driving them away...  Figures are $8.99 at WM/Target, and $9.99 at TRU and K-Mart.  K-Mart at least has their Rewards Card Program, which works at Sears as well (and I buy tools semi-often there since I like Craftsman stuff).  With that, I have K-Mart down to reasonable now...  At $9.99 I wouldn't shop there though otherwise.  I haven't bought a basic figure at TRU in over a years.  TRU can choke on the green weenie.

Ultimately though, price is what will force me to quit...  $8.99 is my threshold...  I think this is absurd for the basic line.  Everyone has problems right now, and Hasbro is cranking out stuff where they've cut back on paint aps a lot (Every figure I examine pretty much has a corner cut that just a couple years ago wouldn't have), they're on the cheapest cardbacks ever to produce, and they re-use mroe and more parts or repaint more and more figures...  For me they have to get the line to something more reasonable.

I've quit army building anywhere near what I used to.  I'll buy Fleet Troopers, but that's the only exception I'm making.  I've also basically abandoned figures for fodder unless it's like the $6.50 Legends/CW stuff.  Hasbro's lost a lot from me financially in the last year.

By comparison, in 2007 I want ape**** buying figures...  I was buying tons of Legends, tons of basic figures.  Almost every figure in 2007, I bought at least 3 of, and with army builders (even McQuarrie stuff) I wound up with a dozen or more in many cases.  How the line's prices shift from here out will determine whether I stay or not.  I can't blame you for not wanting to buy $10 figures.

3)  Can't argue with people who don't want cases...  I think for people wanting to stay, like me, it's the only option right now.  For those not wanting to stay, I can't blame them.  Fortunately some army builders were cool extras to have (for me...  this varies for everybody obviously).  At the same time though, I really don't want that extra Bar2D2 I have, ya know?  I don't blame you at all for this either...  For people REALLY wanting to hang in there, and tired of hunting for things they can't find because of gas prices, I think cases are the only way to go.  EE was great with me, and it went back to the site so I'm obviously shilling that a little bit because I care about Jedi Defender, but it's also the only way I think I'd legitimately stick with collecting right now.

4)  Toy Runs still happen for me, more on the weekends now though when I'm out anwyay and in an area with more stores.  While out, I stop in.  Sometimes I see something, sometimes not.  Even with cutting my runs down, WM still has steadily gotten new in...  But in dribs and drabs.  With new figures 1 to a case, it's easy for everything from a case to get bought by one person, when the other 90 figures on the pegs are white Phase 2 Clones and E3 Obi-Wans.

I wont' give toy runs up, but I've not done toy runs lately, any time other than when I was out for something else.  Where I live, I'm 45 minutes to anything really, haha.  I have to go, to go shopping at places I sometimes need stuff...  So I just fold them into that. 

5)  This is probably the thing that just really varies the most for collectors...  How do you get pumped for something you're just not pumped about?  I still get kind of giddy looking at a new figure, but I've got a sense of exhaustion too about collecting.  Certain figures just wear me out anymore I guess. 

Hasbro's overall quality is good for me, but some of it is just a letdown (Much of wave 5, for instance), and that hurts enthusiasm for anyone about the hobby I think.  I haven't hit the point where I'm disinterested when I see something new though.  Usually when i see new, I still get the "new figure giddies" enough...  I still care I guess.  I've got a million other worries/responsibilities though, so toys get pushed back a little more every year.

Anyway...

Right now, for me, the biggest shot in the arm is if the line goes back down by at least $1/figure at retail (and if TRU would actually slightly attempt to compete with other retailers instead of just going all Kay-Bee on us).  I'm ok on overall quality...  Distribution could use some tweaking, but overall I think it's a case of "one bad apple" right now (that white Phase 2 Clone)...  If he weren't in such heavy rotation, I think more Vintage would ship...  He's the only heavy pegwarmer in my area.  There are others, but nothing like that guy.  Couple that with K-Mart and Target just not restocking for one reason or another, and TRU sort of pricing itself out of selling or even getting anything in since Wave 2 (my area...  Wave 3 in others), and it's a situation ripe for people to lose interest.

I'm sort of curious right now if Hasbro feels sales of Vintage have been good or not.  If they feel they recaptured that collector core that they felt they lost.  Build-A-Droid was pretty slick...  A free figure or two per wave, if you bought everything, was interesting incentive.  We lost that then...  basically lost 1 or 2 figures per wave, even if they were random repainted droids or whatnot, plus figures shot up by a buck...  All for a cardback that looks nice, but I'm buying toys instead of cardboard...  To me, that got off on the wrong foot from the get-go I guess.

Regardless, I'm not out...  Not yet.  I could easily jump ship next week though if something went wrong with the line and I just said, "f this, I'm out".  There was a time that I'd sludge through something crappy...  Hell, I stuck with it in 2002.  That was the worst time for me, as a collector who liked articulation and neutral sculpts.  This is yet somehow worse, but not so much because the figures suck, like back then.
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Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #26 on: April 23, 2011, 09:15 AM »
Those last two posts are excellent. I will never be out. I love SW too much, but for me now it's either the store I am near happens to stock (whether it's near my house or if I'm out and about) or if a store somewhat close is reported to have something new stocked then I will buy it. But the fun days or running around and having to have everything right away are long gone.

So if I miss out on something because of it. Oh well
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Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #27 on: April 23, 2011, 07:25 PM »
I'm the same as Nick - I'll never be fully "out" - I'm still collecting at a pretty high level - with all of the squad building and multiples that I buy. If costs started to become a huge factor - I could easily drop those extra opener purchases in order to keep my complete loose and MOC collections going. I think in order for me to stop one of those the price per figure would have to jump up to $15 and for me to stop both the price per figure would have to reach $20.

And while in 20 years I may eat these words, I think that if the line ever gets that high - there won't be a line anymore since very few people are going to be willing to pay $15/$20 for a 3.75" action figure.
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Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Offline Scockery

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #28 on: April 24, 2011, 12:54 AM »
I was thinking about this, the vintage collection has gotten me to buy Clone Wars and even Legends more than I had in prior years.  Part of that is the improved articulation in some Clone Wars releases, and some recent additions to Legends, but price and availability are factors.

The Vintage Collection had gotten MOC and nostalgic types to buy more figures, probably. But the same old situations exist, stores are still ordering more Legends and Clone Wars. But now when those go on sale or get reduced, the collector-aimed series (Vintage) does not, which increases its "peg warmers", and makes restocking of that series slower. Instead of Pons Limbics and Brea Organas hanging around on pegs, we have ball-jointed hipped Sandtroopers and ROTS Clone Troopers, which seemed unthinkable 2 years ago. (We also have 4-LOM, which doesn't surprised me, as he bombed back in 2007...enough to make it to clearance at some stores.)

Some people are saying "fold Legends into Vintage". Nah, I say fold vintage into Legends. Then I get a figure stand, a keen card game card and extra weapons for less money!   ;)

Offline warinthefloor

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Re: What Would Be "The End" For You?
« Reply #29 on: April 26, 2011, 02:07 PM »
I have left over distrobution before
I will do it again