DaveCW2
04-26-2009, 10:52 PM
Before you read the rest of this, understand that it�s not one of those �I�m quittin� the hobby� style posts. It�s also ridiculously long (even a bit non-sensical at times. YAY!!!)
First off, beginning in the early �90s �til recently, I�ve been a huge collector of a lot of different things: Comic books, Star wars toys, Most any Marvel / DC figure line, Transformers, G.I. Joes, etc. Well, in the last couplea� years, the perfect storm hit.
Comic books got prohibitively expensive. I don�t have the numbers, but I know the reason I have such luxuries as food, clothing and shelter is because I no longer collect comic books. Plus, the stories were getting redundant, with writing that was, with few exceptions, not that great; and I could barely stand to look at a lot of the art.
So, comics, I pretty much quit cold turkey.
I was excited to see the Star Wars prequels way back when, and even got a bunch of the figures the day they were released. For me, the movies were pretty disappointing, and the toys didn�t even have the playability of the G.I. Joes I had back in �86.
I�ve always loved Yoda, and have a decent collection of the little guy. Other than him, I might pick up a Star Wars figure here or there, but that�s mostly for LBCs. I�ll probably always keep the guys from the original trilogy, though.
Marvel / DC toys have always been decent. Nothin� great, but decent - until Marvel Legends, that is. Since MLs have been around, I�ve never really seen the point of picking up a DC figure. Before them, I picked up the Total Justice line, and the Batman figures from the two Keaton movies; but Marvel Legends made it a whole new ballgame. Toy Biz was great for MLs; I don�t think Hasbro�s ever done �em right, though. But now, we�ve got the Marvel Universe 3 3/4� line, and all my MLs are lookin� pretty obsolete. But even with MU and the new Wolverine line, I�m still gettin� pretty choosy.
Transformers have been my greatest collecting �heartbreak� these last few years. I�m not one of those people that can�t accept change. I can deal with it, I just want it to be change I like :D That typed, I LOVED me some Beast Wars! I thought the nods to my old school TFs were cool, and to this day see the show as the best TF fiction out there. The early toys were kinda� �meh�, but when TransMetals hit, they were fantastic; and I bought �em in droves.
Then Beast Machines hit.
I thought Beast Machines was SO bad, both toy and show-wise, that I tried to quit TFs altogether.
RID was okay. I loved bein� back to cars, Prime, Scourge, and the Autobot Bros., but over-all, I really wasn�t as impressed as I�d hoped to be.
Armada came later and I hated the show, and felt the same way a lot of other people did about what we thought of as the �Playskool� look of the toys. But then I went back: picked up some Armada toys. Whereas I was a completist before, however, I was now avoiding repaints.
Then Energon hit. I think Energon is where I first realized I really had a �problem�. I was picking up toys I KNEW I wouldn�t / didn�t like just so I could get the �whole collection� (minus repaints). Energon had a few decent figs, but most were, in a word, horrible.
On the plus side, it was during Energon that I got MP Optimus Prime; still my fave TF.
I was incredibly wary of Cybertron. The show had nice graphics / animation, but I was never a big fan of it. The toys were a huge improvement over the past few lines, though. Again, I excluded repaints from my collecting, but still got the whole line; an admittedly fantastic one (I truly think it�s the best TF line ever), but the whole line nonetheless.
I could go on forever about Transformers. The long and short of it is, since Cybertron, I�ve only really been interested in Classics and Universe, and I�m lookin� at those as being pretty cheap over-all. And the insanely expensive Thundercracker and Skywarp exclusives leave a bad taste in my mouth to this day - it was the first sign of my feeling abandoned by a brand I�d enjoyed incredibly since 1984.
As for the movie toys: well, they�re an example of change I DON�T like, but I still bought the stinkin� things (but just the ones in the movie, this time). And the movie itself killed a lot for me (besides what I see as bad design by the artists on said movie). There was no need for �Happy time� or Bumblebee�s peeing. I saw those as insults to the brand, and realized this was no longer my Transformers.
And I don�t view any of that as a sense of entitlement; I view it as a sense of disgust. I�m disgusted by a brand I�d loved for so long.
Then, there�s G.I. Joe.
I pretty much quit Joe around �89. I didn�t see design I liked figure or vehicle-wise (I�m in the realism over sci-fi camp), and had enough �cool� Joes where I didn�t really have to give it a second thought. When TRU brought them back, I thought they looked like crap and stayed away. Then, with Joe vs. Cobra and Spy Troops, I collected the whole stinkin� line, figure-wise. And I didn�t like most of them at all.
Venom vs. Valor came, and then Sigma 6, and I was prepared to forget about Joe all over again. Then the 25th hit.
The 25th is everything I could ask for in a Joe line. I�m usually astounded by what Hasbro sends our way, though think they should be beaten for the endless re-paints. But, I�m even going through the 25th and realizing a lot of what I have is for completeness� sake. I have no room in my collection for things like Nemesis Enforcer, Serpentor, or a horribly-designed Falcon. I don�t have room for a ton of CCs, SSs, Dukes, SEs and Destros, but I�ve still got �em. Or Tiger Force and Python Patrol...
I guess the long and short of this poorly written, late-night, wanna-be essay, is that I�m gettin� pickier. I�m definitely beginning to see what people mean when they say things that seem to mean, �a small collection is a happy one�.
Of course, I�ll still be army-building, just not �10 COBRA Flints� type army-building :D
Have fun, everyone!!!
First off, beginning in the early �90s �til recently, I�ve been a huge collector of a lot of different things: Comic books, Star wars toys, Most any Marvel / DC figure line, Transformers, G.I. Joes, etc. Well, in the last couplea� years, the perfect storm hit.
Comic books got prohibitively expensive. I don�t have the numbers, but I know the reason I have such luxuries as food, clothing and shelter is because I no longer collect comic books. Plus, the stories were getting redundant, with writing that was, with few exceptions, not that great; and I could barely stand to look at a lot of the art.
So, comics, I pretty much quit cold turkey.
I was excited to see the Star Wars prequels way back when, and even got a bunch of the figures the day they were released. For me, the movies were pretty disappointing, and the toys didn�t even have the playability of the G.I. Joes I had back in �86.
I�ve always loved Yoda, and have a decent collection of the little guy. Other than him, I might pick up a Star Wars figure here or there, but that�s mostly for LBCs. I�ll probably always keep the guys from the original trilogy, though.
Marvel / DC toys have always been decent. Nothin� great, but decent - until Marvel Legends, that is. Since MLs have been around, I�ve never really seen the point of picking up a DC figure. Before them, I picked up the Total Justice line, and the Batman figures from the two Keaton movies; but Marvel Legends made it a whole new ballgame. Toy Biz was great for MLs; I don�t think Hasbro�s ever done �em right, though. But now, we�ve got the Marvel Universe 3 3/4� line, and all my MLs are lookin� pretty obsolete. But even with MU and the new Wolverine line, I�m still gettin� pretty choosy.
Transformers have been my greatest collecting �heartbreak� these last few years. I�m not one of those people that can�t accept change. I can deal with it, I just want it to be change I like :D That typed, I LOVED me some Beast Wars! I thought the nods to my old school TFs were cool, and to this day see the show as the best TF fiction out there. The early toys were kinda� �meh�, but when TransMetals hit, they were fantastic; and I bought �em in droves.
Then Beast Machines hit.
I thought Beast Machines was SO bad, both toy and show-wise, that I tried to quit TFs altogether.
RID was okay. I loved bein� back to cars, Prime, Scourge, and the Autobot Bros., but over-all, I really wasn�t as impressed as I�d hoped to be.
Armada came later and I hated the show, and felt the same way a lot of other people did about what we thought of as the �Playskool� look of the toys. But then I went back: picked up some Armada toys. Whereas I was a completist before, however, I was now avoiding repaints.
Then Energon hit. I think Energon is where I first realized I really had a �problem�. I was picking up toys I KNEW I wouldn�t / didn�t like just so I could get the �whole collection� (minus repaints). Energon had a few decent figs, but most were, in a word, horrible.
On the plus side, it was during Energon that I got MP Optimus Prime; still my fave TF.
I was incredibly wary of Cybertron. The show had nice graphics / animation, but I was never a big fan of it. The toys were a huge improvement over the past few lines, though. Again, I excluded repaints from my collecting, but still got the whole line; an admittedly fantastic one (I truly think it�s the best TF line ever), but the whole line nonetheless.
I could go on forever about Transformers. The long and short of it is, since Cybertron, I�ve only really been interested in Classics and Universe, and I�m lookin� at those as being pretty cheap over-all. And the insanely expensive Thundercracker and Skywarp exclusives leave a bad taste in my mouth to this day - it was the first sign of my feeling abandoned by a brand I�d enjoyed incredibly since 1984.
As for the movie toys: well, they�re an example of change I DON�T like, but I still bought the stinkin� things (but just the ones in the movie, this time). And the movie itself killed a lot for me (besides what I see as bad design by the artists on said movie). There was no need for �Happy time� or Bumblebee�s peeing. I saw those as insults to the brand, and realized this was no longer my Transformers.
And I don�t view any of that as a sense of entitlement; I view it as a sense of disgust. I�m disgusted by a brand I�d loved for so long.
Then, there�s G.I. Joe.
I pretty much quit Joe around �89. I didn�t see design I liked figure or vehicle-wise (I�m in the realism over sci-fi camp), and had enough �cool� Joes where I didn�t really have to give it a second thought. When TRU brought them back, I thought they looked like crap and stayed away. Then, with Joe vs. Cobra and Spy Troops, I collected the whole stinkin� line, figure-wise. And I didn�t like most of them at all.
Venom vs. Valor came, and then Sigma 6, and I was prepared to forget about Joe all over again. Then the 25th hit.
The 25th is everything I could ask for in a Joe line. I�m usually astounded by what Hasbro sends our way, though think they should be beaten for the endless re-paints. But, I�m even going through the 25th and realizing a lot of what I have is for completeness� sake. I have no room in my collection for things like Nemesis Enforcer, Serpentor, or a horribly-designed Falcon. I don�t have room for a ton of CCs, SSs, Dukes, SEs and Destros, but I�ve still got �em. Or Tiger Force and Python Patrol...
I guess the long and short of this poorly written, late-night, wanna-be essay, is that I�m gettin� pickier. I�m definitely beginning to see what people mean when they say things that seem to mean, �a small collection is a happy one�.
Of course, I�ll still be army-building, just not �10 COBRA Flints� type army-building :D
Have fun, everyone!!!