Does anyone collect MIB/MOC vintage Mego anymore?

[piecemaker]

I collect mainly vintage Mego,but also like and collect other vintage figures,Lily Ledy,Cipsa,A.H.I,etc.I enjoy making custom figures when i can find the time and have bought a few from different members here. I like some of the Re Mego lines and collect some of those too. I have some MOC/MIB vintage Mego,POTA,Star Trek,S&H,AJ a couple WGSH,most are not pristine carded examples,but i'm happy to have the ones i do.Too many interests and not enough money to collect everthing i would like to.

[dumbldor]

So...I think the consensus among people who have posted on this thread is that we're mostly all still interested in collecting vintage stuff, but we're not in a hurry. Peoples' financial situations may have changed and they may be less willing to shell out for high-end stuff unless there's a bargain to be had.

If we're a fair representation of the vintage Mego market, and we're all waiting for a bargain to come along before we buy, then that kind of means that prices are too high - the demand just isn't there like it used to be (benbarb buyers notwithstanding). I see this as similar to the housing market: if the right buyer comes along, maybe you get your asking price. If you just want to sell right now, be prepared to drop the price.

This seems to pretty well sum up the feeling here about collecting vintage, but what about the lack of vintage chatter on the forums?

[EMCE Hammer]

I love the early T1s and the silkscreen gals......I really appreciate Peritore's monster variants....etc. When someone gets one, I am happy for them and usually chime in. But it's not like they're on the shelves, or another wave is on the way, or I bought one and was disappointed in the crappy quality. There are only so many conversations to be had about oven mitts vs. gauntlets before my collecting ADD kicks in and I want to talk about EMCE monsters or BBP SMDM. It seems logical to me that there is an ebb and flow of interest in vintage depending upon what else is competing for attention.

[megoscott]

This seems to pretty well sum up the feeling here about collecting vintage, but what about the lack of vintage chatter on the forums?

Lack? It may not be at the level it was 5 years ago when things were hotter, but there's plenty of vintage chatter here in buzz and auction watch.maybe your standards are too high or you need to participate more to keep the conversation going.

[Tothiro]

I love the early T1s and the silkscreen gals....

I noticed there are some sweet silks up right now... but that's a topic for Auction Watch

[dumbldor]

Lack? It may not be at the level it was 5 years ago when things were hotter, but there's plenty of vintage chatter here in buzz and auction watch.maybe your standards are too high or you need to participate more to keep the conversation going.

"Lack" was probably not the best word to use. Lower level of participation by the vintage guys, maybe (including myself, as I pointed out early in this thread). Go back to my original post.

[megoscott]

Sorry, there's aspects of this thread that I can't pretend don't irritate me. I agree and disagree with the premise of the question from the start. I know we've been very surprised and disappointed sometimes that posts don't get the response we thought they would. I try to take it in stride, it is what it is. You can't badger people to care about something if they don't. What can you do?

When I feel like the community isn't giving me what I want I ask myself what I can do. Am I welcoming newcomers? Commenting on new discoveries? Showing enthusiasm when someone digs up some interesting history? In my case the answer to the last three is "not enough".

You said yourself you don't post so much, thats a shame because I think you may be missing some opportunities to do so. At the same time, your threads in Toy Room Central are awesome and much appreciated and never fail to make me want to go buy Megos.

I'd say this to anybody: The place is what we all make it. It's fine to complain that it's not living up to your expectations but then you have to take some action that's helpful.

[dumbldor]

Scott, I agree with you 100%, except to point out that I am not complaining, and I am certainly not criticizing you or anyone else who runs this wonderful place.

My intention is to reinvigorate the vintage collectors, including myself.

I am still hoping to hear from a few more vintage lurkers (you know who you are) in this thread.

[megoscott]

That's fine, your renewed participation will be most welcome. I don't mean to come off as defensive but it's going to sound that way regardless.

[MegoSteve]

There are only so many conversations to be had about oven mitts vs. gauntlets before my collecting ADD kicks in and I want to talk about EMCE monsters or BBP SMDM. It seems logical to me that there is an ebb and flow of interest in vintage depending upon what else is competing for attention.

This. I do like vintage Mego very much, but we've been discussing Mego online for almost 20 years now. While discoveries are still being made, most of the major topics have been discussed over and over again, and we're kind of left with obscurities like stock numbers and packaging variants, which is cool, but just not my thing, so I keep my mouth mostly shut when those topics come up.

For me, a lot of the excitement of collecting toys is seeing something from childhood that triggers a rush of memories of sight, sound, and texture and takes over your lizard brain and compells you want to track it down and own it. Or it's that longing for something you never could have in childhood, but now that you're an adult, you can have whatever you want. It's that purely visceral, emotional reaction that keeps me buying vintage. Problem is, I've been at the point for a long time where I have everything Mego I can reasonably afford.

The thing with new stuff is that there has recently been a constant flow of new ReMego products, so there are topics that have never been discussed here before. I think naturally that might seem to dominate the mindshare here, because that's what's new. I don't think it diminishes the importance of vintage at all, though... vintage is the foundation on which this hobby is based.

And I would like to thank Dan for starting this topic. I haven't even bothered to check Mego listings on eBay in a long time, and it's just exciting to see all that's out there again.

[megoscott]

^^ Perfectly said.

[NewForce]

So vintage collectors fall into two categories now?

1. Have just about everything they want

this is my "problem"...very lilttle for me to search for these days...

[mishu2nite]

Three things sort of killed vintage collecting for me (although I have kept some of my vintage in storage).
1. Lack of funds due to number 2 and 3 below.
2. Introduced to threeA Ashley Wood toys about 3 years ago, and the release of something new almost weekly.
3. Hot toys. It sems everytime you turn around they have created another fantastic figure.
Both of these have made it hard to hold on to my vintage and made me really not have much motivation into vintage and mego customs. The way that hot toys increase and threea toys increase makes it more a priority to pick them up sooner than later when they could be 3x-10x the original price in a short period of time.

Also with mego it is sort of pick it up, sell it later, then pick it up again. Knowing for the most part most things pop up, and the crazy increases have pretty much flattend out.

[VintageMike]

My intention is to reinvigorate the vintage collectors, including myself.

What about possibly showcasing a piece and telling a story behind it's acquisition. One of my personal favorite threads/stories here (now gone as it was on the old boards) was the cross-country trip made a member to acquire
a carded Iron Man. Then I believe there was a follow up later on where you bought that piece and a carded Lizard as well. I love that stuff and I'm sure there are others like me both because it's fun and it showcases a side of collecting that does not get focused on much IMO.
To expand on this it's one thing to say to show a picture and another for someone to simply state they've acquired and item/show a pic. I've been guilty of that one myself. What really brings it together is having someone do that AND explain what they had to do to get it (omitting personal information where necessary) and/or why they are so happy to acquire the piece in question.

[PNGwynne]

Sometimes I don't know what to post that wouldn't sound hackneyed or redundant.

I mean, I feel very enthusuastic--as always--about classic Mego, but I just drool over the Museum Galleries or Ben's WGST book instead of sharing it here. I guess I figure other members already have this level of Mego love.


I liked Mego of the Week, it was like a commercial that goaded my buying as I was building my collection. lol

I haven't been collecting long enough I guess to flip & re-collect. Each of my acquisitions is hard-won & I'm very attached to them. If I upgrade something, I usually scavage the replaced item for parts.