Do you have any New year's resolutions this year? (Toy related)

[Alexander Quinn]

There’s a lot of upcoming stuff I’m interested in, so basically I want to stick to my gut and just pick up the figures I really want. Sometimes I find I’ll pick up figures that everyone else really likes thinking I’ll have a change of heart.

[Vorahk]

To finally pick up the samurai team from transformers go this year.

[wervenom]

Originally Posted by Vorahk

To finally pick up the samurai team from transformers go this year.

Reach out to Slayback. That is where I got my set and he has the best price going

[innermanchild]

Sell off my CHUG collection and focus on G1 MP's.

I like the CHUG scale and am hoping to continue to have an IDW style collection for that scale. Some are just duplicates that I have as MP's anyway and they are taking up space that is starting to get in limited supply.

[Chigimus]

Originally Posted by 79transam

Interesting theme here. Is this foreshadowing to a slowing market? It's almost as if everyone has a year long plastic hangover.

The market isn't slowing down, far from it really when you look at what's coming soon or has been teased as future productions.

I think for a lot of people it's our struggling economy and shitty buying power of our dollar. Price points continue to rise for both official and 3rd party products. Meanwhile the loonie still hasn't (and may never) bounce back to the level it was at 5 years ago. That's not just our struggles vs the USD. Even against the yen, this past year saw our lowest conversion ratio against Japan's currency in a long time which means for people that were used to pre-ordering their official Takara MP's from the JDM, it has also become more consistently expensive to order right from the manufacturing country of origin.

Back on topic though, my own personal resolution is to actually get my displays set up. I never intended to be a MISB collector. But real life adulting takes up so much frickin' time that I never really get a meaningful amount of time to build shelves and cabinets and get everything out on show the way I would want to see them instead piles of shipping boxes.

An already expensive hobby is becoming more so than ever before. Short of significantly increasing your income somehow, most have no other choice but to be more disciplined with what they buy or get out of the hobby altogether.

[wervenom]

Originally Posted by Chigimus

The market isn't slowing down, far from it really when you look at what's coming soon or has been teased as future productions.

I think for a lot of people it's our struggling economy and shitty buying power of our dollar. Price points continue to rise for both official and 3rd party products. Meanwhile the loonie still hasn't (and may never) bounce back to the level it was at 5 years ago. That's not just our struggles vs the USD. Even against the yen, this past year saw our lowest conversion ratio against Japan's currency in a long time which means for people that were used to pre-ordering their official Takara MP's from the JDM, it has also become more consistently expensive to order right from the manufacturing country of origin.

Back on topic though, my own personal resolution is to actually get my displays set up. I never intended to be a MISB collector. But real life adulting takes up so much frickin' time that I never really get a meaningful amount of time to build shelves and cabinets and get everything out on show the way I would want to see them instead piles of shipping boxes.

An already expensive hobby is becoming more so than ever before. Short of significantly increasing your income somehow, most have no other choice but to be more disciplined with what they buy or get out of the hobby altogether.

Well said but far more complicated than what my reasons are. The market isn't slowing down as near as I can tell and the dollar being crap doesn't help. The main reason is POTP should give me almost everything I want to finish off the G1 cartoon line up. If they do Outback and the Autobot targetmasters then who is left to be released? Anyone who clicks on the "my collection" link in my sig can easily see that it comes down to no more space more than anything else.

[79transam]

I talk to some blokes from Australia quite regularly as well as the UK and they both seem to eminate the same tune as we do in Canada, that comparatively to the US, it's becoming increasingly expensive to play in this hobby.
It's been said that Japan is the driver in this field, yet it seems (at least to me) that the greenback is the financial model. I can't help but feel like the high prices the rest of the world pays (exchange rates aside, I mean hours worked per purchase) is essentially subsidizing the US buyers to get a better deal on goods.
I get frustrated when I see US collectors pay half a months rent for something like Toyworld devastator and it would cost me a full months rent. Seeing this is definitely playing a role in my forward collection thinking.

[canprime]

Originally Posted by 79transam

I talk to some blokes from Australia quite regularly as well as the UK and they both seem to eminate the same tune as we do in Canada, that comparatively to the US, it's becoming increasingly expensive to play in this hobby.
It's been said that Japan is the driver in this field, yet it seems (at least to me) that the greenback is the financial model. I can't help but feel like the high prices the rest of the world pays (exchange rates aside, I mean hours worked per purchase) is essentially subsidizing the US buyers to get a better deal on goods.
I get frustrated when I see US collectors pay half a months rent for something like Toyworld devastator and it would cost me a full months rent. Seeing this is definitely playing a role in my forward collection thinking.

Yeah I can see that side of it as well.

I will put forward another couple of "theories".

I think Transformers are now starting to get to the point of Star Wars. So much product, over so many lines, over so many decades, is leading to buyer fatigue. Much like with Star Wars, how many times can you buy essentially the same figure/character? I know that is part of my thought process more and more. As well, unless you have unlimited resources (money/space) the brand has long since left most of us behind in terms of how much product we can realistically buy.

Another aspect that is fairly unique to Transformers (though not exclusive) is third parties. I'm not talking about ko's, but rather the companies eating up a piece of the pie from Hasbro/Takara. Not only do we have to decide on official product, but we also get stretched by unofficial 3P product.

Finally, age is a factor. I'm in my 40's with a family, and while we are well off, I imagine many others are in the same boat. Meaning that time to dedicate to this hobby is getting smaller and smaller.

Basically my long rambling point is that many factors appear to be creating headwinds for collectors in our hobby. Granted I'm making some generalizations here, but from what most people have posted in this thread these are some of the assumptions I'm making.

[PrimeCron]

I will keep focusing on my Mastermind Creations collection.

[PrimeCron]

Originally Posted by mrluthor

Not to pre order anything this year.

I totally agree with you - I found it a lot less stressful!!