Is this the best time ever to be a collector?

[Shaunyboy]

It occurs to me that we are living in interesting times as collectors.

By that I mean that most of us who remember Action Force / GI Joe from the time of it's original release are now in our thirties or forties, maybe older. As a result we've got all big and clever and have created the resources to match our wants.

We've got online forums so we can chat and trade, we've got vast online auction sites so we can buy and sell globally. We've got sellers like Mr Tree and others who can reach out to hundreds of buyers through a site like this. Most importantly we've got the means now to create repro sticker sheets, replacement weapons, 1/18 scale diorama props, custom casts etc

As grown ups we have the skills, the contacts and the spending power to grow, adapt and propagate our hobby.

I'm certainly looking forward to what else we get in the next few years, but it makes me wonder whether for our particular passion of Action Force we are at our peak of resourcefulness?

[gung-hoeddie]

your right there shaun. I think for me being in my thirties it has certainly been useful, as a boy i could only get toys at birthdays and christmas and as some items like the whale my parents couldn't afford so it was always the excitement looking through the toys in the catalogue but never getting everything you wanted. I think with ebay and the internet we have it easy when collecting you can buy what ever you want without having to venture out of a chair. Without it i'm sure as sh*t i wouldn't of been able to get my collection as swiftly as i have,

[Red Laser]

I echo that sentiment eddie my collection in the last year has grown vastly.

[ODB]

I miss the old skool toy fairs where they were boxes of loose Star Wars, Action Force and Transformers that could be had for only a few pence. Nowadays there is a distinct lack of loose stuff at reasonable prices at most fairs.

[gung-hoeddie]

true, but as with everything the internet has opened some doors but closed others, gone are most vintage toys shops so you can't just pop down the road, more utter rubbish certainly at our local car boot than you can shake a stick at, i've given up going as it's a waste of fuel. So i suppose the thrill of the hunt has some what been side tracked.

[Chopper]

your right there shaun. I think for me being in my thirties it has certainly been useful, as a boy i could only get toys at birthdays and christmas and as some items like the whale my parents couldn't afford so it was always the excitement looking through the toys in the catalogue but never getting everything you wanted. I think with ebay and the internet we have it easy when collecting you can buy what ever you want without having to venture out of a chair. Without it i'm sure as sh*t i wouldn't of been able to get my collection as swiftly as i have,

+1 on all of that, Eddie. Bang on the money. My folks only really got me stuff on birthdays etc. VAM was my favorite and then Star Wars. But we couldn't buy AF in NZ. BAF got me into 3 3/4 AM's (Joes) but I only really got the figures I'd read about in BAF. The day they gave away the free figure was one of the happiest days of my life. I emptied the piggy bank.

catalogues used to get the imagination going. I'd dream of having my own army. one that I couldn't buy and if I did, couldn't afford.

Now I have the same problem, if only I had a fraking job.

[The Baron]

Oh yeah, most definitely. To have been a vintage toy or comic collector even so little as ten years ago required a serious dedication and an awful amount of legwork. The web has made everything that much easier, but there are still bargains to be had and rarities to be hunted. The thrill is still there, it's just that the game that has changed.

[Double-Tap]

agree its great but expensive to be a collector in the modern age but back in the day when you did get something you'd been after for a while the rush was great. now you just push a button and wait for it to arrive.

also great to be the kid of a collector but my kids have sooooooo many toys they dont really know what to play with.
when i was a nipper what little toys i had were played to death

[Monkfish]

Yes. For those of us who couldn't do it without the internet, or those of us with kids the right age to play with these toys themselves, it's a great time. (Double-tap, mine are spoilt too but the lad loves his AF & Joes.)

For those who can get to UK car boot sales, (and how I wish I could) the joy of the discovery and the bargains are still to be had - was it Thundershot who got some bargains just a few days ago?

And I think you make a great point about the forums Shaunyboy - being able to talk regularly about collecting and customising with people from all over the place has got at least one of us doing both those things where 10 years ago they'd have likely done neither; a positive feedback loop.

[Thundershot]

Hi all,
Yeah, the inter-net's made life a lot easier for collectors in a lot of respects, like being able to find near impossible items or pieces that were never released in the U.K.
I feel a lot less isolated as a person who collects toys nowadays & thanks mainly to this site, I now feel a part of a like minded community.

Before I'd got inter-net access @ home it often felt like I was the only person who still bought toy's in their adulthood & dispite being comfortable with it myself, I always felt a tinge of embarrassment to admit it to work colleagues & other people in general... people can openly boast about how pissed they got the night before or can get really argumentative about a stupid football game & think it mature behavior, yet when I started to get enthusiastic about how Airfix had been saved from bankruptcy a few years ago a guy told me to "grow up".

The boss is right about how hard it was even a short while ago to be a dedicated toy collector, many a time I've got up early in the morning to attend a toy fair or boot sale only to come back empty handed, but it was the only option open for a large part of my time building up a nice collection.

Bargains are still out there to be found, if you put in the leg work, only yesterday I bagged this pair @ a small local charity shop for the grand total of .88p sometimes you get lucky & are @ the right place @ the right time

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