Army Building or Hoarding?

[Darth Slothus]

I read your recent post here Justin and I notice two things ..one, you have ALOT of dios. Two, that looks like alot of dusting ..(really nice looking dios BTW)

Unfortunately, I was silent before but now I'm not. That's alot of U. clones just standing there to show off. I guess it's  the collectors' right to show it off if he spent that much money.

Jeebus! 90+ already!!? I've bought 35 so far and you know what? Aside from the fact I shipped 10 already, I expect to have 2 in the end(have homes, reservations for the rest). So I may 'appear' to be hoarding but it doesn't matter because I spread the wealth at retail cost to other folks.

I just find it dumb when I see non-realistic formations like that. I don't think I ever saw more than 24 U. clones at once on the screen in the movie. It's OK for trilogy because you see it. This takes the cake though.
what other value is 90+ figs ..all standing there on there bases never moving if not to show-off?Like I said before if they spent that much it's their right then. I don't like it though..but that's just me.

Nice pics J.!

--The UrbanATR

[ruiner]

Chewie's dioramas are the best - no question.

You shouldn't feel bad if you have a set up like Chewie's....but to buy 90 Utapau clones just for ***** and giggles is a little ridiculous.

[CHEWIE]

Ruiner - I don't know about that, but thanks for the nice words.  A lot of them are thanks to www.owenscustoms.com

Gatillo - Yeah that's my whole point, exactly what you said.  Who would want more Jedi in an Arena diorama than Battle Droids?  Maybe to some people that's fine and dandy, but for others we like to have more army builders.  My Arena has about 10-12 Jedi in it, and about 60 red Battle Droids.  I spent a lot of money to get them.  A few times I cleaned out a Walmart or TRU, other times I left many of them too.

The DS - I agree with what you are saying.  I personally see no need at all for that many orange Clones either for one guy... it is pretty sick.  I think if you can find a place to display them where it makes sense, then go for it.  But I can't imagine anyone needing as many as that guy.  As for your having 35 so far being bought, I don't have a problem at all with that (and would be interested in a couple if you have any more).  Thanks for the comments on the dioramas.

Also, I guess there is the case too where you might want to have a fan-fiction diorama, like this fort that Owen made for me.  This is where I put my extra Clones that don't have a movie-diorama home.



 

[Jim]

Chewies dios are what army building is all about IMO.  If anyone even considers it hoarding then your a dope. Its a fantastic way to display and they look great.  I always tried to limit myself with 10 of a fig that I really enjoyed.  Even then, I would buy only two initially. One for my loose collection and one carded.  Then I would selectively buy one here and there. 

On a related note I went to Target this afternoon and they were just filling the pegs.  First time in 5 weeks.  One jackoff stood there and removed all the Utapau's and Scorch's from the 6 cases.  The stock person filled up the pegs and returned the balance of the figs to the stockroom.  What that tells me is that the next few times they restock it will be nothing but Geos, Jangos, Soras and Yodas.  You get the frustrating dilemma alot of people are in. 

[Diddly]

It's really hard to consider what is and isn't hoarding, but this is DEFINATELY hoarding. When there's a HTF figure, like the U. Clone, and you have $600 worth of this HTF figure, it's hoarding.

[Morgbug]

That number (90+) is problematic, no doubt.  But I'm not sure I can put a distinct number on what is or isn't hoarding.  I've kept more shock troops and black pilots than I honestly need.  Same basically goes for the rest of the clones from ROTS.  The primary reason is that's about all that I can gather as trade bait.  Up here we lag behind more often than not and seldom have good stuff first.  We also suffer from trilogo disease.  So relatively few (very, very few) people are going to take a trilogo figure in trade for a US carded figure, particularly if it happens to be something hot like an Utapau clone.  It's the only way I can generate interest at times.  Thankfully most of the crowd here helps out without asking for anything in return, but it sure is nice to be able to at least offer something on occasion. 

I know my behaviour at times irritates some local guys, but there's a hook to it.  During the ROTS release, I'd buy all the shock troopers and black pilots I saw.  To some, that's hoarding.  But I'd just watch guys post and find out who didn't have any, then pm them and sell them to them at cost.  The hook comes in that the guys that I knew would turn around and ebay them or sell them to someone else at a profit margin never got that pm and quite frankly, if I was screwing them over, it makes me happy.  But I can say I never, ever approached 90 of anything in my life.  I'd say my upper bound is 20 or so and I really don't need that many in most cases.  Even VOTC stormies I topped out at 19 and started downsizing.  But at the same time it's hard to unload, because after taxes up here those VOTC stormies were $17 CAD and change.  Not many folks want to reimburse me the $14 USD-ish those cost and I'm usually not prepared to take a loss to help someone out.  Sometimes I do, but not that often.  I don't make that much money.

[Paul]

Army building is not Hoarding OR equivilant to scalping in MY Opinion.

If that is what a person likes to collect, let em.  Would I personally go all the way to 95 of ANYTHING?  Nope probably not.  Does that mean I begrudge somebody else for doing it? Nope. 

I do agree that if the guy got them cuz "They fell off the truck" then that is beyond low and eventually he will get his.  But I think anybody that gets figures that way is slime whether they get 1 or 100 figures.  I don't even hold it against a "stock boy" for pulling a couple out if they are for themselves personally.  There have to be some "perks" to every job.  Selling stuff off the loading dock though, is not one of em.

But if this person went to every store in a 3 state area and bought clones, or had his network of buddies help him out all over town/state/nation or ordered cases from online vendors and that is how he wants to spend his money, go for it.  Is it killing the hobby?  Not in my opinion.  Does it make it harder to collect stuff?  Sure it does, but it is called Collecting, not Gathering.  If it fell from the sky like Mana how many people would "enjoy the hunt?" 

I just think Army Building is part of the hobby, just like Mint on Card, Prop Replicas, Kubricks, Titanium Customizing, Posters, Micro Machines....I don't get into any of that stuff, but I also don't go around hating people that do. (Star Wars Transformers those and Choppers I hate,kidding of course)

[Ben]

This is the kind of thing that really shouldn't be an issue.

Hasbro knows people want more than a few Clones and Stormtroopers and their various offshoots. It's their fault these are so hard to find. If people want to buy 100 Clones, there should be ample enough supply for them, and not just on ebay. (That's another issue there.)

This is part of the reason why I rarely buy more than 5 of a given army builder. I like to think there's such thing as collecting karma, that if I leave a few figures, someday that will come around for something else I want to buy. I broke this rule with the white ROTS Clones only because they were common enough and sat for at least a week before I bought them.

[Ithorian Clergy]

I'll probably be ripped for saying this, but I don't really care.   I really don't see the need for more than two of any figure, but I understand some people are into army building.  Anyone who needs more than 10 of any figure has problems.  You have an obsessive/compulsive disease and need to seek professional help.  You are taking figures away from others to fill some void in your life IMO.  Go talk to a doctor.  You are no better than a scalper.  Seek help.  These toys will not give you the love your mommy and daddy didn't.  

Well, I need more than 10 of some figures.  I do not have problems.  Consider a stormtrooper for a moment.  Say you have a Tantive IV diorama where they are fighting Rebel Fleet Troopers and you have 10 there, then a Bespin diorama for Han's freezing and have 8 there, then a Battle of Endor diorama and have 12 there, and a Death Star diorama for the shuttle landing and have 30 there.  That's 60 stormies, all displayed nicely in cool dios.  

So that's 6 times the maximum limit that I'm allowed to have before someone like yourself comes along and passes judgement on me and tells me I need a doctor, my parents don't love me, and I have problems.

If you ask me, if you care how many and what type of action figures I own, you should go get yourself one of those appointments with a medical professional that you refer to, or better yet, go get yourself a life.

[Darth_Anton]

Hoarding would be if they were kept in the package for future use. However, the poster isn't very popular over there (I hear) and seems very arrogant. So in this case, like the forum member formerly known as Slothus said, he's just showing off.

[Jesse James]

I haven't read everything in detail here but I'll give my thoughts...

First, army building isn't hoarding...  If you wanna hate someone, hate Hasbro and retail because they're making figures hard to find, not collectors.  Army builders are collectors, nothing more and nothing less.  They buy lots of figures NOBODY gave a **** about and helped you in your collecting life, I guarantee that.  Same with customizers...  They buy up the **** you don't care about and keep the pipes clean, or at least contribute to doing so.

That said...

The guy posted the picture to piss people off IMO, and I don't know how he got them but if it was via unscrupulous means then he's not someone I respect in the slightest.  I coulda gotten a figure at Target free the other day because she just scanned it once but I told her there were two there and she scanned the 2nd.  That's my morality kicking in and while I despise retailers I know stealing is wrong and that outweighs my hate.

Fact is, the guy has them opened so I'm inclined to think he wants them...  Of course, does a loose Utapau Clone sell for any less than a carded one?  I doubt it, so let me see this guy take a new picture of ALL these Cloens 10 years from now, and then I'll believe HE wanted them for himself...  I could easily see him breaking them up into groups and ebaying them to be a twit.  I don't know the guy, don't care either.

I firmly believe the photo was meant to irritate...  Personally I wouldn't post pictures of anything currently shipping to "show off" how many I have while others have none.  Do I want that many Utapau Clones?  You're damn right I do and if I could find (and afford) them you better believe I'd have 90 Utapau Clones all lined up like that too.   Don't hate me because I army build, hate Hasbro and Retail...

If that were even a dedicated army building thread like the "How many ____ do you have?" threads, I'd maybe not feel like this, but the guy started his own thread for that picture if I'm not mistaken, and that's just a middle finger to everyone...  Hell, if I had 90 Utapau Clones right now I'd probably dole out a set number to people on the boards.  One-per to everyone...  I'm sure I'd keep a certain ammount for me and my own collecting happiness but I know if I had 90 I'd be sharing with people a CERTAIN number of them.

Unfortunately, I'm struggling to just get to a number I'm content with...  I've yet to see a UTrooper in stores.  I've gotten mind from incredibly helpful friends.  I still don't even have a "team" though.  Paul knows what I'm saying.

[John C]

I guess we'll just all have to agree to disagree then.  I don't hate anyone for doing it, but to me, taking a bunch of rare or hard to find figures for yourself no matter what you do with them still means less for others.  I'll STFU now.

[Jim]

I dont want to sound like I have double standards about army building because I dont.  I have no problem with the amounts people collect.  My philosophy is why cant people wait til they become more abundant to capitalize on buying more.  There is no need for someone the first month to buy every possible (desired) figure.  Like someone else said.  It has become bragging rights that " I have 100 Clones and you dont".  Childish?  Most definitely.  Frustrating?  Definitely.  Read my post above about the person removing all the Clones from the 6 cases that were put out at my Target.  The balance of the figs (pegwarmers) that would not fit on the pegs will go back to  the stockroom and the reorder point for new assortments take twice as long.  And as far as the people saying that there is nothing wrong with it, I bet those same people have 6-8 Walmarts and 2-3 Targets in the area they live, where finding figures becomes much easier since the close proximity these stores are to where they live.  I have 3 Walmarts in my area and 1 Target.  But they are within a range of 50 miles so the frequency of me hitting these stores (especially at the right time) makes the hunt that much more difficult. Plus they are much smaller stores due to geographic and economic area I live in.

[Ithorian Clergy]

One jackoff stood there and removed all the Utapau's and Scorch's from the 6 cases. 

An employee jackoff or a customer jackoff?

[Jim]

One jackoff stood there and removed all the Utapau's and Scorch's from the 6 cases. 

An employee jackoff or a customer jackoff?

A Customer.   The thing that sucks is that the employee let him take all the Clones out of the 6 boxes.  The employee should of only stocked 3 cases and left the other 3 complete for the back.  This is another problem where someone making miniumum wage could give two squats.