Is the Hobby at an all time low?

[Zombiez]

Make more money make enough money and adulthood becomes better than childhood could ever be

[silentwinter92]

Originally Posted by ukshaun

I'm at an all time low with the Hobby, as i've gone cold turkey and banned myself from any more pre ordering, other than the few i have remaining. It's for the best. The plan is to stay stong any only order 2 more pieces during the whole of 2019 and maybe 2 Hot Toys, should i develop the shakes.

The question is what 2 pieces?
Domino from Sideshow? Scarlet Witch from XM, will HMO make Felicia reality? then there's Poison Ivy 1/3 from Prime 1
..then there's all the yet to be announced. Captain Marvel for example. Tough times.

Tough break, depends what you want more? If you are going to get poison ivy 1/3, you will need to get 1/3 huntress as well. Those 2 look so good togth.

Prime 1 is going to murder you if you get into the 1/3 game. 1/3 mera movie and comic, 1/3 power girl, 1/3 super girl. But everything comes with a 2yr waiting period.

Theres so much stuff alrdy at 1/4 scale, 1/4 felicias both colors, 1/4 Mai from kinetiquettes, XM mystique, XM scarlet witch. I'm still waiting for xm she thor and lady sif. Add the whole slew of X-ladies sideshow is releasing, and thats just the female genre.

[sith_apprentice]

Originally Posted by Zombiez

Make more money make enough money and adulthood becomes better than childhood could ever be

Exactly! Childhood was fun, but I couldn't drive to the 7/11 at 1am and eat a Hershey's bar if I wanted to lol

[Augen]

Originally Posted by Zombiez

Make more money make enough money and adulthood becomes better than childhood could ever be

The dreaded "real world" I was warned about growing up is so much better and easier than childhood.

[Jibber82]

Originally Posted by Zombiez

Make more money make enough money and adulthood becomes better than childhood could ever be

[Mepaphoros]

Originally Posted by Augen

My guess (unconfirmed)

Stripper cat lady! Nice!

[Shaughn54]

Originally Posted by Augen

The dreaded "real world" I was warned about growing up is so much better and easier than childhood.

ohh but the responsibility!!!!

[King Grimlock]

Originally Posted by Thundercats-NO

We're already in a recession (a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.)

By the time most people notice we're slowly coming out of a recession. What collectors ultimately have to worry about is inflation. This is not controlled by SSC.

Not true. We have the lowest unemployment rate since the late 60's. U6 indicator of marginally employed is at its lowest since the recession in 08-09. Wages have increased albeit modestly over past 2 years. GDP isnt negative and hasn't been for 2 consecutive quarters last time I looked. Yield curve, while inverted tends to proceed recessions by like 12-24 months. So we're definately not in a recession. This economy peaked in the summer of 2018 and started to level off and stagnate in the fall which spooked the stock market. Just a slow down, the recession smells like a 2021 event.

Anyways, getting to this post: It's at an all time high in regard to a sellers market if you produce statues (XM, SS, P1, Tsume, etc.), not for the collector reselling them on Ebay, especially if they've been displayed. As collectors it's all time high for all the possibilities we have to choose from. It's amazing, details and textures, dynamic displays, crazy dios, etc.

So lets rewind even 5 years ago it was a sellers market for the collectors where reselling made a profit or break even at worst, and the producers were still doing fine. They just saw collectors making profits and said ---- we need more of that pie. XM Magento comes to mind as the statue that kind of put this trend in motion. Sideshow (notorious for outrageous ES) says why we cant increase our 1/4 prices, XM does it and people will pay, and pay over retail too. Sooo higher ES, higher prices, coupled with increased shipping costs, customs companies coming out the woodwork and churning out 1/4 scales for $900+, and Prime1 essentially going rabid on the market with new lines after new lines, color variants and multitude of 1/3 scales, and you got a vicious cocktail of oversaturation at the highest prices this hobby has ever seen. Only recently have we started to see ES drop and MTO become more popular (XM). This could eventually tip the scale back to collectors, but it's probably too little too late honestly. And only one company employing these practices is not enough for the market as a whole.

You have to be smart, don't let emotion take over. Buy what you love because of the character appreciation and childhood memories. Thats why we're here guys. Don't get caught up in the newest release hype, you will end up overextended and probably leave the hobby. I for one will never leave. We as collectors need to adjust to the new landscape, circle the wagons, slow down, maybe go in a different direction, sharpen our focus, and become more strategic or practical in our decisions.

Cheers everyone I'm gonna go drink with Man-Thing and Hulkbuster and wait for Starscream to arrive.

[Subby1938]

Originally Posted by King Grimlock

Not true. We have the lowest unemployment rate since the late 60's. U6 indicator of marginally employed is at its lowest since the recession in 08-09. Wages have increased albeit modestly over past 2 years. GDP isnt negative and hasn't been for 2 consecutive quarters last time I looked. Yield curve, while inverted tends to proceed recessions by like 12-24 months. So we're definately not in a recession. This economy peaked in the summer of 2018 and started to level off and stagnate in the fall which spooked the stock market. Just a slow down, the recession smells like a 2021 event.

Anyways, getting to this post: It's at an all time high in regard to a sellers market if you produce statues (XM, SS, P1, Tsume, etc.), not for the collector reselling them on Ebay, especially if they've been displayed. As collectors it's all time high for all the possibilities we have to choose from. It's amazing, details and textures, dynamic displays, crazy dios, etc.

So lets rewind even 5 years ago it was a sellers market for the collectors where reselling made a profit or break even at worst, and the producers were still doing fine. They just saw collectors making profits and said ---- we need more of that pie. XM Magento comes to mind as the statue that kind of put this trend in motion. Sideshow (notorious for outrageous ES) says why we cant increase our 1/4 prices, XM does it and people will pay, and pay over retail too. Sooo higher ES, higher prices, coupled with increased shipping costs, customs companies coming out the woodwork and churning out 1/4 scales for $900+, and Prime1 essentially going rabid on the market with new lines after new lines, color variants and multitude of 1/3 scales, and you got a vicious cocktail of oversaturation at the highest prices this hobby has ever seen. Only recently have we started to see ES drop and MTO become more popular (XM). This could eventually tip the scale back to collectors, but it's probably too little too late honestly. And only one company employing these practices is not enough for the market as a whole.

You have to be smart, don't let emotion take over. Buy what you love because of the character appreciation and childhood memories. Thats why we're here guys. Don't get caught up in the newest release hype, you will end up overextended and probably leave the hobby. I for one will never leave. We as collectors need to adjust to the new landscape, circle the wagons, slow down, maybe go in a different direction, sharpen our focus, and become more strategic or practical in our decisions.

Cheers everyone I'm gonna go drink with Man-Thing and Hulkbuster and wait for Starscream to arrive.

Excellent assessment

[davi]

I personally prefer the level of craftsmanship in the posing/artists/anatomy/detail and effort put into designing fresh takes on characters that studios like sideshow are doing over the statues of older times.

I'm not saying every statue is better in terms of character representation or care for nostalgia and there have been a few QC messes up here and there, but I do prefer the craft and sculpts more now than then and I am willing to pay a bit more for that myself, and I understand how that would upset past collectors.

What people are willing to pay generally drives all markets; meaning there are enough people happily being part of the 'problem' too to keep this going.


You can go to the garage sale down the street and get a print off a grandma for $5 of a random artist from the '80s, or you can be willing to support & buy fine art prints from modern masters for $200-$2000. It's up to your personal interest and what you find these artists, in particular, to be worth to you. Mark Newman, Daniel Bel, Steve Lord, etc etc are worth a lot to me.