Diecast Interest

[admin1 aka Ed]

So the Jumbo area stoked some thinking...Is vintage diecast interest going away? What do you think?

Me, I'd argue that with many established prices and few "super rare toys" hitting market, we have little to talk about.

SOC lines and the such are of course stealing some thunder.....but are we now "more" into jumbos and "less" into diecast?

E

[bowhntr66]

That may have to do with who has more time for the forum's ed. Speaking for myself, I collect jumbos, so I tend to spend 90% of my time in there. For the past month I've had nothing but time on my hands so I've posted more.
Tom

[mecha-mania]

I suppose unlike SOCs, brand new vintage diecast bots, will not hit the market at all, hence nothing much for fans to cheer on. Perhaps a slight tweak in forum's rule that allow the posting of 'live' auctions or BIN might stoke interest a fair bit.

[Mr. Ginrai]

Aug 14, 2013 8:40:55 GMT -5 mecha-mania said:

I suppose unlike SOCs, brand new vintage diecast bots, will not hit the market at all, hence nothing much for fans to cheer on. Perhaps a slight tweak in forum's rule that allow the posting of 'live' auctions or BIN might stoke interest a fair bit.

That's done as more of a courtesy to each other than anything else. Honestly, remember you can post YOUR auctions anytime. It's when you post random auctions or say "hey look at how rare this is" etc. it shoots a lot of us who may be bidding on it in the proverbial foot.

[Mr. Ginrai]

FYI, I'm on the forums a lot. The time zone differences dictates whether there are a lot of people "signed in" or just lurking.

As far as vintage diecast dying, I'm a bit scared. I'm a lot younger than you guys but have only collected vintage since I was a child. I don't care about the value of my stuff because I buy right (in my opinion) but I do care about being able to find stuff, especially things I don't have yet.

It's getting hard to find reasonably rare stuff, or it's being held for absolute ransom prices on eBay and usually in sh*t condition.

Because of that, and the limited activity in the vintage forum here (myself and some regular members generally) it's hard to make good ground on increasing our collections, so many of us turn to flying solo or dealing privately.

I am working on some new vintage topics to post, to try to increase activity in that sub-forum. Some of that is for toys I have, and others is for toys I need to upgrade or don't have yet. My main issue is that I will post about something people have long forgotten about and cause an Internet rush on the items due to nostalgia (or the anonymous lurkers) and price will shoot up artificially. It's kind of a double edged sword.

I really just want to see diecast stabilize if anything, but I think the market is going to split and the common stuff will tank in value and the rare stuff will continue to go higher.

There is also a rift (a little on this forum, a lot on others) where a lot of vintage guys take a "been there, done that" attitude towards vintage. That makes it tough for newer people like myself, and also for the vintage guys who stay active.

Anyone agree?

[KingboyD]

This is basically a reiteration of the thread in the jumbo section, so I think my answer still applies here. I will repost it for inclusion in this discussion in case others don't visit the jumbo forum.

Jul 24, 2013 10:58:31 GMT -5 KingboyD said:

Yes, I sort of noticed this too. I think its just that the diecast guys are getting older, and talked about everything already. I don't think there are very many new vintage diecast collectors entering the hobby. Most new entrants to this hobby seem to gravitate to the modern diecast toys, since they don't have a connection to the vintage. This could possibly be due to the following reasons: 1)they are younger and weren't exposed to the toys (they only remember the shows perhaps), or maybe 2) being new to the hobby, they now see modern and vintage toys side by side, and naturally the modern more detailed and more realistic toys have more appeal. They weren't exposed to the vintage toys when the modern ones were not around, and so did not grow accustomed to their charms and stylizations.

As to Jumbo lovers, there aren't really modern equivalents, so you can only gravitate to the vintage ones. Therefore, as new members enter the hobby, they strike up the conversations in this subforum. Most of the older (meaning older in terms of collecting years, not age) members are mostly silent, or only chime in to offer opinions. But its the new members who are starting new threads, having great passion, and looking into customizations.

Just my thoughts on the matter. So its just a matter of what you want to collect. If you want diecast, you have a choice, and if you are new, you are more likely to go to modern (which is also more readily accessible!). But if you prefer Jumbos, then its a whole other ballgame.

Also:

Jul 24, 2013 11:48:42 GMT -5 KingboyD said:

For vintage toys, if I get something new that has not really been featured much in the past, or is something that I never really noticed before until I finally got to hold one in my hands, then I try to create a thread for it (such as this: robotjapan.proboards.com/thread/21256/introducing-bionic-duo). But in general, everyone that collects vintage diecast is basically familiar with the more common items. I would certainly welcome someone just throwing up pics of random toys for the hell of it, trying to start conversations. If you have something new, or just want to bust out something old, then go for it!

All of that being said, I am continuing to discover new things about toys I had previously thought were "common". I will share some of these in the coming days. So again, with me, its more a matter of only when I get something new, then I will post about it. But we should just try to pull older stuff out, and shoot some shots. This goes for all.

Aug 14, 2013 7:03:49 GMT -5 admin1 aka Ed said:

Me, I'd argue that with many established prices and few "super rare toys" hitting market, we have little to talk about.

And just because something commands top dollar or is considered rare, that does not make it automatically more interesting than a more readily accessible and affordable item. I think too much focus is put on the rarity of items. Granted, it is certainly a good feeling to have something in your collection that most others don't. But collect what you like (this is not necessarily directed at you Ed, but your sentiments seem to be quite common among many collectors). I don't care if its the Danguard Ace Sky Arrow or whatever, if you dig it, own it. And show it here! I think that applying the tag of a "common" item hurts discussion. It could be that because something is common, it is actually talked about / photographed significantly less than rare items. So finding photos online of these is harder.

As to the other point about the diecast market going away, or prices dropping, I disagree. I have yet to see any evidence of this. I believe that the collectors are just more private, but they are certainly still out there and buying things up. I rarely find an awesome deal still to this day.

[cybermuton]

Good point about rarity/interest...
While I love rarities, there can be an inferred elitism when that's all anybody talks about, and that deters people from discussing the more 'common' figures. That in turn reduces chatter and interest.
I actually like Jumbos, and appreciate their scarcities. I also don't dislike new robots and appreciate their engineering, but my heart lies with gimmicky diecast as I am amazed what the designers managed to do with relatively primitive resources.
Having said I like jumbos, I'm moving house in 6 weeks, and I still haven't unpacked them from my last move, so I'm gonna move them on. They take up too much space!!
Anyone fancy a MIB U5 Gaiking, a MIB Mattel Goldorak, and a very basic Mattel Mazinger? I might let a couple of SOCs go too...but I'm keeping my old diecast!

[Mr. Ginrai]

Post up the Jumbos and SOC in the for sale section and cross post the jumbos in the jumbo section.

There are some guys looking right now for the exact jumbos you have.

[godaiking]

I'm still into vintage diecast, but I think I've gotten most of the pieces I want for my collection. But yeah, it does seem that interest for modern diecast and vintage jumbos are more in demand. In the case of the modern stuff (SOCs, brave gokin, etc), I guess it's more mind blowing to get something that boasts modern day engineering/design and, in my case, to open a brand new sealed box with the modern stuff is more gratifying (sometimes) than getting (usually) a used vintage piece. But, I'm an old fart (38 y/o) so the vintage pieces carry alot of nostalgia for me.

Personally, I'd love to collect some vintage Jumbos, but some of the pieces I want are just crazy rare and seemingly impossible for me to attain, especially in comparison to vintage diecast.

Also, I'm also interested in Hot Toys and american movies/pop culture collectibles too.

[admin1 aka Ed]

Amen on the time factor....me, possibly much of our group, is running thin on time. Work and kids are getting in the way of posts LOL

I'll keep the "elite" comment in mind too. Crap, I've had a hard time posting pictures on "normal" diecast because I've sold much. -BUT, I'd dig more posts on normal vintage d/c too.

I recently read an interesting article on collecting and cycles. In the article, it stated that collecting will cycle to less interest when fewer items are offered for sale publicly. We are seeing that. As morbid as it sounds, the article talks about death as rekindling interest.... estate sales bring the cycle back.

[prostockjohn]

I'm still collecting loose Popy GA, GB and GC, has gotten harder to find the ones I don't have like the early GA robots. I know Myles suggested I try Yahoo Japan or something, but I'm not sure how to do that. I have bought from here, US Ebay and French Ebay.