vintage vs. modern

[palitoy]

Companies like Sideshow and DC Direct make collectibles, not toys. I can't emphasize the difference enough. More than half the action figures on the toy shelves today are really sold and marketed as collectibles--for grown men to buy and put on a shelf. And because they are made with collectors in mind, they lose all the innocent charm of a vintage toy. As a collector of many things I generally find any items that are made, marketed and sold AS A COLLECTIBLE really really uninteresting.....

I'm on this wavelength myself.

Case in point, sideshow toys. I always get this kind of weird "Buyer's Remorse" after I purchase one.

Their Frankenstein is perfect, looks just like Karloff and their Taylor from POTA is also cherry. Something about the toys leave me cold, I love their subject matter and execution but I dig stuff from the 70s much more probably because they were meant as toys.

To each his own though, I know people with a house full of modern action figures and they view my collection as "Goofy looking stuff". I always think "This house looks like Toys R Us" but we all can't like the same things.

[Gorn Captain]

what's up with that pungent plastic smell that wreaks from mcfarlane, marvel legends, dc universe toys, etc... when you rip them off their packaging. did they change materials from the 70's and 80's? i dont remember my super powers, secret wars, star wars, smelling that bad.

I think they might be using new plastics and paints, and with increased machine work, these figures might be getting sealed virtually airtight on the card at a very quick pace, trapping the noxious fumes inside.
In any case, "smell that aroma" when you open them up, indeed...

[megoat]

I'm on this wavelength myself.

Case in point, sideshow toys. I always get this kind of weird "Buyer's Remorse" after I purchase one.

This has happened the few times I've caved in and bought some modern toy. Once I get it home I don't know what to do with it. Then it just starts to bug me and eventually it gets sold, donated or tossed.

There are things that concern some collectors that I am not concerned with AT ALL. Whether a sculpt "captures an accurate likeness" is not a big concern of mine. One of the reasons I like vintage so much is they OFTEN GET IT WRONG!

I guess I just don't "get" modern toy collecting. I see it as a wholly separate area of collecting--like beanie babies, franklin mint collectors plates or commemorative coins.

[Captain]

You brought up a good point. Do you think the risk of trying to do something original in this day and age is too high?

CTC's answer is right on the money. Licenses rule. Unfortunately, thats the mind set in toy company and retailers minds.....Sadly, I think kids are programmed to think like that too. Thats the real risk involved....trying to get people to even look at something all original. I've done some work in the industry, and I think (I KNOW) its easier to get a manufacturer or retailer to jump out a 10 story window wearing a diaper and screaming "be free" than it is to get them to consider something original. They'll look at it....waste everybodies time "reviewing" it...but they wont build or sell it.(Probably why we are seeing so many small designer/boutique type toy companies popping up)

I would love to just start producing all original stuff and somehow "magically" get it on the shelves just to prove original stuff...good original stuff...can sell. I think its possible.....I dont think the programming I mentioned is permanent or irreversible. If its cool....the right product at the right time...it will sell. Funny thing is, if anybody ever pulled this off and it worked....I can guarantee every toy company in the world would follow suite like lemmings on the run.

[Captain]

what's up with that pungent plastic smell that wreaks from mcfarlane, marvel legends, dc universe toys, etc... when you rip them off their packaging. did they change materials from the 70's and 80's? i dont remember my super powers, secret wars, star wars, smelling that bad.

I know what you mean. Stand back and hold your breath when you open a package nowadays....Some manufacturers have even taken to putting airholes in the blisters now, so the toy has a chance to air out a bit.

In the good old days, toys had a unique smell to them too...but it was more like a "new car smell" than hells outhouse on a Sunday smell.

I can clearly recall the fantastic smell that the soft vinyl accessories that came with any Johnny West figure had when you first opened up the baggie. I picked up some of the "Friends of Johnny" re-issue saddles a couple years ago, and was delighted to find they had that same fragrance. I left a bunch of them packaged up for that future point when I get nostolgic and need to get my "fix" of that great smell!

[cjefferys]

I'm vintage only now. The last modern "toys" I bought were some of the Sideshow 12" Universal Monsters and POTA a few years back. I agree that modern toy collecting seems like a completely separate hobby, although based on some posts I read here and elsewhere, there is heavy overlap between the two with many people. But these days, I can't bring myself to spend good money on some easy to find modern toy when I could be spending it on an old toy instead.

[david_b]

When I came back from Kuwait this year, I told myself repeatedly not to invest in vintage toys anymore. LOVE the items, but tried to strive away from cloth and just stick with plastic, like the Marvel Legend and DC Direct sets, most of which are super cool.

'Course with Dida Displays, the Museum, and the new Trek retro line, that didn't work out much. But I'm not planning on getting too much more ~ I just get what I feel like getting, then forget the rest. I will be getting some GL Direct figures, along with the the 60s Batman/Robin set.