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4/25/99
Collecting, what is the deal
with this hobby?
Wow an ultra rare piece of crap
knockoff from taiwan!
Holy smokes! A super rare, hard
to find inbred bastardization of Mazinga and Gardian for only $42!!! |
I've decided to write a sort of editorial this week.
Many people have been talking about how collecting once was in the
good old days. "Back in the 80's I would go to blah-blah shop
and I'd get a bushel of chogokin for $10!" I can see their
point. Prices have risen, but what do you expect. I've always
believed in supply and demand. If people want to pay $1000 for a
metal robot that is 4" tall, let them.
But last night I was on the net and decided to go to
e-bay and see what was for sale. I typed in Godaikin and of course a
bunch of shogun/popy/godaikin/japanese/robot listings appeared. I
started going down the row, looking at the toys and prices, and then
suddenley something hit me. What the fuck is going on here! There was
some person selling the trendmaster Voltron set as a rare
shogun/godaikin blah blah blah.
This toy is $30 in any Toys R Us, and some poor sap is
going to pay $50+ for it. Then I looked at the list again and I
realized what was bugging me. There were all the toys I had sought
for so many years. The toys that I had looked for in garage sales,
swap meets, comic book shows and weird antique stores in Manhattan.
There they all were, for the right price. No more searching, forget
about the hunt. If you've got enough cash, you've got the toy.
It made me think of something Tom Francks said on his
page or somewhere. He said that even Bill Gates, with all his money,
couldn't get all these japanese toys (or something to that effect).
Well I guess now that's all bullshit. Collecting isn't about finding
a piece on a table in the back of a Toy show. Now its about taking
out a loan from a bank and sniping an auction at the last minute with
your cable modem. Not that I'm some kind of saint. I've gotten stuff
from e-bay and for certain pieces I was watching till the last
second. Maybe I'll just link my collectors
tales section to e-bay's bid history section.
I guess it's just made me sad (or mad?). Like those
other collectors, I miss the hunt. And it seems like many of these
new collectors don't care about that, and thats sad because
collecting is about collecting...it's not about buying. |
