Sorry... That's Not Vintage!!!

It's been 4 years since I was introduced into the underground world of toys. Along the way I have learned that there are different values in toys depending of the age, the quantity that was produced, and the condition the toy is in.

With so many people dealing in toys these days you see many people using the word vintage very loosely. I mean I’ve seen people referred to Transformers from just 10 years ago as vintage. I’m still learning this stuff and I look at them funny when the say something 10 years old (released in the 2000’s) as vintage. So I’m going to talk about some the language I have learned from my husband and other collectors to safely determine or to refer to the age of a toy/collectible.

 
Prototype or Test Shot: This is where a figure truly comes to life from a concept on paper to a physical figure. These figures are used for testing the fans reaction, and to create marketing hype at comic convention or at toy fairs. Because these figures are meant to create hype for the figure they normally present better, have cleaner sculpts, and have better paint apps than the massively produce figures you would see in the shelves later.

 Pre Ordered: This is a collectible that has not been release but it’s guarantees that when it's released you will have one for your own collections. Now depending on the situation, a toy pre orders can be used in two ways: 1) To guarantee sales of a product that is going to be mass produced in the long run or 2) it can be used to release a toy that has limited funding and it needs to reach a specific sales goal in order to be able to mass produce the product at smaller profit to the company/recipient creating the figure. Many art toys use sites like KickStarter in order to raise funds for a limited release of a unique toy.

Released or New Figures: Fresh out of the production line. Depending on the type of figure this means it was just realized in major retail stores as a normal product, store exclusives, online exclusive, convention exclusive, or comic book store exclusive. For most average collectors this is when they picked up the figures for their personal collections.

In stock / On Shelf:  This suggests that the figure has been out for purchase for some time. This could be anywhere from a few months to a few years.

Out of print / Out of Rotation / No Longer In Stock: Sadly at this point the figure/collectible has been out for some time and it’s no longer easily found in stores. These are the figures most people purchase in the secondary market like EBay, Flea Markets, Local Collectible Shop or purchase/trade with another collector.
Classic : A figure/collectibles that are old but is not quite vintage. These mainly refer to figures between the ages of 10-25 years. A good example are 1990's X-Men Figures. They had a specific look to them, and articulation that really dates them to that time period. Same thing goes with the first generation Spawn figures.
Vintage: these are figures that are around 30 years of age. So since I'm in my early 30's the toys I grew up with such as TMNT, MOTU, Jem, Original Star Wars line, MEGO dolls, and Secret Wars Marvel Figures are now becoming vintage figures. These figures are mainly found in secondary markets. Antique: These collectibles are around 50 years of age and older. Good example of this are some of the first Barbies that came out. Since the first release of Barbie was back in 1959 the Diva is officially 55 years old qualifying some of the first releases as Antiques.

Artifact : Simple.   Something that is so old it probably should be I'm a museum. If it looks like something a little cave girl/boy played with chances are is an artifact. LOL I hope you like this blog.

Remember I’m always learning so don't be shy to leave some constructive feedback on the matter.

LWATC - Gumball Machine Toys Sold at a Premium

**Thank you RNG (http://www.ragingnerdgasm.com) for lending the use of the Pony Pics for this article. 

Is the weekend after Thanksgiving and is now officially flea market season in Florida. During the winter season we get a massive influx of "snow birds" (people that live in the northern states that migrate to Florida during the coldest parts of the year) who migrate to our state. This massive migrations mostly brings a lot retired people to our state but it also brings down vendors that can't setup up north due to the harsh cold weather.

This new influx of fresh vendors bring new stuff down to the state and it makes the flea market a very interesting fun place to explore. Along with fresh vendors you also get a large influx of garage sales , church garage sales and estate sales raising money for the holidays. Here you can find all kinds of stuff from grandma’s old wedding dress to her sons old toys from their childhood.

On our way towards the flea market, we stopped at one of these church garage sale.  They mainly had a lot of donated products from local stores such as medical gauze, old vitamin bottles, and some toys. To our amazement among all the stuff that we found there was an entire tote full of mini blind bags. This had main brands such as My Little Pony, Halo, Marvel Comics just to name a few. When we asked the church member how much she wanted for each bag she said .25 cents each. At that price we grabbed what we wanted and went on our way with 25 blind bags as gifts for our friends. In the end we got a better deal. Because we grabbed so many they sold us  $6.25 worth of toys for $5 (around .20 cents a pop).

While is always great to find a great bargain, this really made us think about what we just bought. I will be the first person to tell you that I have a pretty good understanding of why things cost what they do, but is the markup that blows my mind away.  Recently I did a video called “Why are toys so expensive” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPsykKyDVQI) where I talk about how companies calculate the cost of these toys you see on the shelves. For a company, mark ups are necessary from whole sale prices in order to make profit to be able to continue business operations such as paying for employee wages and maybe benefits, real estate or location space, utilities, so on and so forth. However the mark ups seem a little excessive at times.

Take the My Little Pony blind bags.  These are recently being sold at stores a whopping prices of around $4 per bag.  The sets series comes with 21 different characters plus 3 bonus special edition figurines to collect.  At the current price of $4 x 24 ponies you are looking at spending a minimum of $96 plus tax.  Lets not forget these are blind bags, so you will have some repeats in order for you to get a full set.  So I say the average hard core collectors of these pony blind bags will spend around $150 to $200 for a full set buying a blind bag at a time. Normally I would say go to EBay and buy the full set since it might be cheaper, but these things are so popular that is about the same price, plus shipping and in some states plus taxes with online purchases.

For more pictures of these ponies figures check out RNG's flickr at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragingnerdgasm/sets/72157638264939536/

Lets take a closer look at these little figures. For what I could gather from the pile of ponies we got they have 4 basic molds with minor alterations such as added horn and wings with different paint apps.  So automatically, Hasbro is saving a bundle by simply generating 24 variations of ponies out of 4 main different molds. Add to the fact that they are producing these by the millions with machines and is literally costing them around maybe at the most .10 - .20 cents per packet including figure, printed materials and packaging. So when you think about it at $4 a pop retail stores are selling these at a significant markups.

To me these blind bags markups are like equivalent markup on popcorn and soda a at a movie theater or restaurant.  While these may be popular now, I wonder if these little bind bags with meet the fate of other popular collectibles such as beanie babies leaving people feeling cheated out something they thought will retain their value. I personally can’t see myself buying these little plastic figurines at $4 when they look like the toys I could get a gumball machine as a kid.  Just seems like a big waste of money.  So bottom line is, if you collect these make sure you really like them because chances are you will never get that money back if you are ever in a jam.

Love to hear your feedback.

LWATC Moving With a Toy Collector

Anybody that has ever moved will tell you moving sucks 200%.  Lets face it unless you move on a yearly basis chances are you have accumulated a lot stuff you don’t even know you still have or haven’t figured out why you kept it.  And FYI, good luck finding someone to help you move if you don’t live on the first floor.  Sorting, cleaning, organizing, and disposing of stuff is a process that takes some time when moving.

Before I meet my husband, moving was kind of a yearly to bi-yearly thing for me.  I would literally only buy necessities and would do my best to never buy anything I could not move by my self due to past experiences of moving everything alone.  At one point my apartment was so bare my friend joked that rooms is a 3rd world country had more stuff than I did because they at least had dirt and maybe a chicken or two running around. LOL

Well my bare apartment quickly changed when I meet my husband. He likes having furniture and places to display his stuff.  I don’t mind the furniture, but the size of his collection was so massive that  when he moved in to my little 600 square foot apartment  we literally had small pathways from front door, to kitchen, to bathroom, to bed. It was the first time that my OCD kicked in full strength.  It wasn't fun.  Luckily he agreed to put all his stuff in a storage unit until we could finish the lease and get a bigger place.  I’m sure this is a very common story for many collectors.

What are the Options

If you think about it ,as a collector there aren’t really many options when it comes to preserving a collection.

 Unless you are single millionaire playboy with a manssion chances are you have limited space, and are sharing your space with someone else (parents, spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend, or children).  Depending on your income this can become tricky and leads you to one of the following options.

• Get a bigger place.
• Get a storage unit
• Spreading your collections at several different locations.
• Downsizing

Get a bigger place.

In a perfect world this make perfect sense, however it only works out if you have the income to support this.  Here in Tampa Florida, finding a place to live has become abnormally expensive in both the rental and the real estate market.  Unless you can qualify for income restricted areas you are looking at around $1 -$2 per square foot for an apartment and around $100 per sq foot for a house.  Sure you can find cheap apartments but when you have a fortune in toys do you really want to be in the ghetto and in  high theft area… I don’t think so. That’s not me being a snob... that’s just common sense in my book. And Yes, we are looking into moving away out of state in the future.

If you decide to get decent size living space chances are the cost is so high that you simply will have to quit collecting.  Now I have encountered many spouses that would be thrilled to stop their collectors from collecting but to me is not worth it if they are now miserable and everybody in that home is  “apartment poor” or  “house poor”.

This situation leaves most collectors either downsizing, spreading their collections in several locations, or simply getting a storage unit which is another added cost.

Storage Units

In theory, storage units do help clear up a lot of clutter and help keep the other members in your home happy, but they also have a downfall.  Mainly cost.  Let’s face it if you don’t place your collection in a climate control unit you might as well don’t expect to retain the value of your stuff.  Here in Florida it’s very very hot and is very very humid.  A horrible combination for a collection, especially for vintage pieces.

My main issue with storage units is the cost.  With so many people losing their homes, storage units have become high in demand.  My husband and I currently have a 10’ X  30’ storage unit costing us a whopping $190 per month (after insurance and taxes).  That is around $2300 for the year just to keep his collection stored away safely on top of the collection that we have at home.  That’s a lot of money.  I can even imagine some of our friends who have 2 to 3 units for their collections.  The cost adds up really quick and let’s face it many collectors are not wealthy to begin with.  One missed payment and you are 30 days away from seeing your entire collection in an episode of “Storage Wars”.  Trust me they don’t mess around with late payments.

Another problem that we encountered with Tom’s collection is how to simply store it in the unit.  Most collectors have either things in boxes that are crushed or torn, or have a lot of loose figures.  These are hard to stack.  Not to mentioned that even when you have found a way to stacked the stuff in the unit with out causing a toy avalanche, most people don’t noticed that climate control units have a water sprinkler system hovering over their stuff. So imagine having an entire collection mint in box or carded figures wiped away by one person acting stupid in the facility.  No insurance in the world can cover you for that much damage.  So here comes another added cost.  Totes and resealable bags can make your life easy but at $5 a pop per 18 gallon tote adds up.

It has taken us 2 years, but we finally have around 80% of his collection protected.  The larger pieces that are in the box are sealed inside larger trash bags and are watertight.  We could get larger totes but sadly the bigger the tote the more expensive they are.

Spreading your collection in several locations

We have encountered many friends that have very large and vast collections but they have it spread in several locations.  This could be in their own home, several storage units, friends, and family houses.  Yes you've read that right…. spread through several friends and family houses.  This might work for some but for me I simply couldn't sleep easy knowing that my stuff is in someone's house other than mine.  You might trust that one person but you can’t control who comes in and out of that person home, nor are you guaranteed that the person that you trusted will watch your stuff or will take care of it like you would.  Is just very risky in my opinion and just plain crazy.

Downsizing

Here’s what I call the final frontier. Meaning you have peaked because of lack of space, finances, or other reasons and must cut back.   Downsizing means different things to different people.  The two main translation of I've seen is a) the person is sorting and getting rid of stuff they no longer want or b) they are really cutting back to purchasing only very few lines they still enjoy.

For what I have observed many collectors have a hard time downsizing.  Many collectors collect because there’s an emotional attachment to a specific item or series they simply just adore.   So I can only imagine that after so many years going to comic conventions, shops, flea markets, storing and maintaining these items that all of the sudden they must let go due to an urgent matter.  It can be a horrible experience for them.  We've meet many collectors that have dissolved their collections due to spouses or partners and the relationship has taken a horrible down turn. No one really wins if there's no compromise between the parties.  That is fair.

Conclusion

There is not right or wrong way to move a collector, however it is good to take a moment and really think about your situation in regards of needs, resources, and ability to continue such a unique habit. If you take the time to really plan things out, even a big move can become and easy move.

As for Tom and I, we will be moving to a larger place this weekend, killing the storage unit but he will be downsizing some of his collection.  I even volunteered the master bedroom for him to enjoy his happy little kingdom.  I never asked him to downsize, he simply figures that it is time to downsize because he was becoming sick of towing around extra stuff he doesn't care for any more.  I can honestly say that it makes me very happy to have a new place to live in, but it also giving him the chance to enjoy and display his collection properly.  I get my computer space and he gets his Man Toy cave.  I can't complain.

LWATC - So Cheap looking and So Expensive. WTF!!!

Thank you Raging Nerdgasm for allowing me to use these pictures.  World War Z figure. Check them out at http://ragingnerdgasm.com/.

Maybe is just me but recently I find myself walking down the isles of toy stores with my husband and thinking to myself “Wow, many of these new toys just look so darn bad and cheap, but they come with a whopping price tag. What gives?”

I recently did a You Tube video called “Why are Toys so expensive”.  Check it out.

Now, I personally have an idea and an understanding of why the toys cost what they cost, but it still doesn't justify it enough for us to buy any of the products at the whopping prices they are asking for just because is a license we love. Especially when we keep encountering the following problems with new collectibles toys:

Figure...
… is not secured in package.
… is broken in package.
… comes with wrong limbs, poorly attached limbs or poorly made limbs.
… has a sloppy paint jobs.
… will brake the second you get it out of the package due to using cheaper plastic.
… will not stand or pose well due to molding issues.
… can’t hold accessories they come with.
… doesn't have likeness or a bad sculpt of whoever they are supposed to be.
… has orange color skin or colors are off completely and they are not suppose to be variant.

We love Kick-Ass but the figures for Kick Ass 2 just don't look very good compare to the usual NECA Release figures.

The worst part is that many of these companies have the balls to sit there and ask for $12 plus tax for a crappy 3 inch figure or $20-$25 plus tax for a 6 inch figure.  God forbid if you are buying anything larger like a 12 inch figure, special release figure, overseas release, a play set, or a reprint or re issue figure.  At that point you are looking at $35 + for figure.  That’s insane. It wasn't even that bad even just a few years back when I first met my husband.

We find ourselves often going into the store and often leaving without buying anything these day. When we do find something,  we are finding ourselves literally picking up certain figures just because we simply love the licence so much that we have to have it, but only to leave them in the package because we are aware that the manufacturer produces such low quality product it would simply break or paint will chip the second it comes out of it’s package.  We like to call these figures “NRFB” or “NRFP” Figures” (Never remove from box or never remove from package).  However, there’s been times that we have simply loved a licence but the quality of the figure was so so so so bad that we walked away without buying.  I mean that is bad when you have people willing to give you money for something and they simply can’t do it. That’s bad business.

Currently I believe that the main issue is that being a nerd and a collector has finally become so mainstream that companies are quickly trying to profit on this and simply putting out garbage just because they think new collectors will buy anything that has a connection with the licenses they love.  While this might be true for some new collectors, in the long run their will start fading off this craze due to several “life” events or simply realizing that the quality is not there for what they pay for and cut off cold turkey.  That’s when you start seeing collections being sold on eBay or craigslist.

Companies are banking on the same illusion that comics when through during the Golden Age of comics “If I buy this now and keep it, in the future it will be worth a fortune”.  Well I would say that would have made sense if you started collecting in the 1950’s  when collectors were far and few and many toys were simply played with and disposed.  However if you start collecting today many of those toys you buy at the store will not be worth much because they are too many people collecting them and there are too many of them out in the market.  Supply and demand 101.  More of an object the less is worth, less of an object the more it’s worth.  Yes there are exceptions for to these statement but more often than not this is fairly true.  Example:”Spawn Figures”, "Newer Star Wars Figures", est.  That’s all that I’m saying.

Living With a Toy Collector Living With A Toy Collector #6 Ruby gloom fan art video

Here’s another fan art piece. This time I did fan art on Ruby Gloom. I don’t own the rights to characters but is my interpretation of the characters. Video mainly shows sketching process. Hope you enjoy it.

via WordPress http://livingwithatoycollector.com/?p=264

Living With a Toy Collector Living With A Toy Collector Pony Fan Art process 07

Here’s some fan art created based on the show my little pony. I hope you enjoy watching the process.

via WordPress http://livingwithatoycollector.com/?p=192

Living With a Toy Collector Living With A Toy Collector intro video

Hey guys. Hopefully this gives you an preview of what my channel is about. Living with a toy collector. I’m very happy to share my experiences with you.

via WordPress http://livingwithatoycollector.com/?p=185

Reviving a ZOMBIE BOX

So if you have a toy hunting husband/spouse like me you will occasionally see him/her bring home a really tattered toy that is “carded” or “in the box”.  The sad part is that most of the time you will hear he/she  say “it’s really cool that I found it un open but man it’s a shame the card or box looks like hell”.  The way I like to compare this situation is to a cat bringing their owner a dead bird and thinking it’s the coolest thing they can show their owner... yea it’s kind of like that for other members of the collectors family LOL.  

If you are trying to keep your collector happy, and if they did not pay high amounts of money for the piece (less than $10), you can do something to fix their box.  You will need a few things before you start.  Caution if you or your collector have a weak stomach you might want to skip this blog completely.   

Tool you will need
-exacto knife or knife
- clear packaging tape
- Clear Plastic sheet that is big enough to cover the damaged plastic window


The video below will show you the whole process I go through to fix my husbands Dick Tracy Big Action Figure Doll.  If you have better suggestion or techniques please don't be shy and share. I'm always willing to learn new things. Enjoy :D

Just WASH IT!!!

In my last blog called “Flea Market Survival Kit”, I explained the many reasons why you should wash your toys.  This video I’m going to show the reason why you should do so.

Tools to clean your toys
1)  Small container to hold some water
2)  Dish soap
3)  Soft sponge or soft used tooth brush
4)  Drying towel
5)  A Dry place to let your toys air dry.
6)  Some spare time

Thank you for watching the video and check in out my blog, and please don’t foget to check out my husband stuff at Raging Nerdgasm (http://ragingnerdgasm.com/) .

Thanks for watching. :D