**** it, I am done here, but someone needs to step in on this bull ****. This site used to be the best thing in the hobby, but all we see now is those that care about the hobby's integrity are gone, while we have entitled opinions of newbies running rampant. This guy was already told by a MOD in a different thread repros aren't allowed here, but he continues to whine and plead his case. Well, since I made the decision about a month ago to no longer post here due to this crap, I am not scared to post what many others in here are wanting to say but not willing to risk their memberships for. After this, I expect I'll get to join the ranks of guys who have put so much into this hobby like JoeY or _Lee_, guys who have been pushed away while the forum becomes populated with repro apologists. Not that it matters, since so many of the top people in this hobby seem to have either given this place the goodbye themselves or post WAYYYYYY less than they used to. Way to stick up for what this forum claims to be.
I thought I had joined a great forum, but geez you really have to watch your p's and q's around this joint. Is there a different Star Wars forum that is more suited for people such as myself that enjoy custom vintage star wars that is for personal use and decor? I've been a member less than a month and have gained a great deal of knowledge, but this just ain't worth it. You arent gonna stop or put a dent in that industry, so why chase off good people? .
You've been here a month, and have been a part of what, 3-4 threads dealing with repros, each of which has had very few replies, since most take the high road and not comment rather than speak what they feel.
No, you won't find such a forum. ALL of them, as well as virtually all the Facebook groups, have no interest in dealing with the scourge repros are. At one time, many years ago, repros were seen as a cheap and convenient way to complete your loose figures - and then the ramifications of that were felt, resulting in a complete change of opinion. Want to know those ramifications? Want to educate yourself, as you claim to be doing in this post? Read......
Guest collector – Ian Cowley: The Hazards of Reproductions on Vintage Collecting | VINTAGE STAR WARS COLLECTORS
Well, by spearheading campaigns such as creating a poll to ban repros here, yes, we did put quite a dent in that crap. It was adopted across all forums. Pretty much the only place to get them now is ebay, and private sales when you can find them. I'd say we did a good job reducing it. And no one wants to chase people off - we want to educate people on why it's bad. If they are still too stubborn and/or selfish to continue after that, most of us simply won't miss you.
Well, I'm not going to lie.... if I had thousands of dollars invested, I'd probably fight too. There's probably just as many or more people trying to scam others rather than trying to display for personal use such as me. I know for a fact I wouldn't be comfortable as a new collector purchasing MOC's due to repro market without having it graded which is unfortunate but a fact of life now a days. I'm on the fence. Knowing I'm not gonna dish out thousands for 12 figures on cards, and I'm too OCD to have ripped up old cards with a figure taped to them, I'd like a good set of repros for my basement. It would have been nice to discuss on here, but I do respect others investment and the wealth of valuable information that comes with it.
I see. You have nothing invested in this hobby, therefore you don't care. You don't care that by supporting this ****, you promote those idiots making this ****, which will continue to defraud collectors in the future and drive up the prices of already overpriced graded items - putting them even further out of the reach of people like you who feel they're already too expensive. It comes full circle. What you are describing though, in wanting to buy repro 12 backs simply because YOU don't want to pay for the real deal, is in direct contrast to your claim of respecting other's "investment's" (oh, how I HATE that term - people who collect to invest are not true collectors).
if you collect repro items, then you aren't a vintage collector. The purpose of being a vintage collector, is the hunt for the genuine vintage items. I never understand why that is difficult and why anyone thinks genuine vintage collectors wont get upset when bell-ends start promoting and defending fake reproductions by people who only want to make money out of your nostalgic desire. the "its staying in my collection" argument is ********. These things reappear in the wild quickly. Repros are the gonorrhea of vintage collecting.
this does not mean customs. they are cool.
Best post in this thread. To the point, and not sugar coated. Good work.
Yeah....exactly...that's a load of crap right off the bat trying to categorize me as a collector lol. I collect the way I want. Not the way YOU WANT me to. I'm neither an exclusive vintage collector nor exclusive repro collector. Certain things I want to keep vintage and others, not. I like loose items so others and myself can touch and feel them unlike boxed items. I have loose figures, but the original packaged figures are neat to handle. Not neat to handle at over a thousand a pop though. Then it's just scary. I applaud your efforts in trying to put a label on me and others though.
Oh, you can be categorized all right. A selfish collector, buying for your own personal wants with no care for the hobby itself. Of course you collect how you want. That's how in various threads here you've managed to discuss how you're buying/making repro death star foam, death star repro stickers, repro 12 backs, etc. Funny though how you express a desire to hold a packaged figure. Too bad those repros won't be the same thing.
A nice clean setup. I'll give you that. Not much in it, and with your approach it looks like several of the vintage pieces are not really 100% vintage, but looks nice. When you show off the collection to people, and after they "oooh and ahhhh" over it, do you tell them plenty of it is fake, or mass produced modern stuff? Doesn't that take some of the shine off what you're showing off?
Lets be honest, theres no better place in the forum to post. Seems like everyone is scared to voice their opinion due to a few vigilantes. I guess I was just hoping for a little more tolerance for others collecting habits when they're not trying to scam others. Most impressive in putting a dent in the industry and I'm not trying to "belittle" anyone, but I hate to inform you it was fairly easy for me to locate the recarded figures without uitilizing the forum. Just saying...
You've already been linked to a better place. The custom forum.
Who is scared to voice their opinions? There are a half dozen or so repro apologists who seem to have united and now raid threads discussing repros, ganging up on the few collectors who care about the hobby and still have the resolve to speak out against your fake ****. No one else agrees with repros on this board. The few who like them aren't afraid to let their voices be heard. In contrast, it's those guys trolling the hobby, and backed up by moderation who threaten membership privileges on this board to those who speak out aggressively against this ****, that has resulted in far less opposition to the very thing this forum claims to fight against.
There is little to no tolerance for an aspect of the hobby that only serves to fool cheap ass or selfish 'collectors' into pretending they have something they don't, and the absolute ass clowns who make it available in the first place.
Maybe if you found it easier to locate your fake **** elsewhere, you'd be better off frequenting that place.
Yeah, AFA is one giant racket and I'm not a fan of red tape either. I'm sure it's easy to identify with homework, but certification is such a small precentage of the value now. What is it less than 1%? I guess it depends on the item though.
Graded items are ridiculously over priced. Far more than a 1% spread between graded and ungraded of items in similar condition.
I'm not surprised you aren't interested in doing your homework to learn how to authenticate though. Forget about the repro situation. You're also a guy that posted a sarcastic reply to his own thread when you got no offers of a vintage X-wing for a modern version or a broken, incomplete modern AT-AT - the same day! You're also the person who started an entire watch out thread for selling an item on ebay and getting no response from your buyer after ONE day! Despite acknowledging your listing state 7 days to pay, even. This is so typical of the modern collector. Everything is now...now...now, and me....me....me.
No, I'm not wanting to pay more than a few hundred bucks for a decorative set of 12 back MOC's for display purposes
Which makes you a cheap ass, willing to put selfish wants ahead of what's good for the health of the hobby for the majority. What you are displaying here is a sense of entitlement. No one is owed these items. You want them, they come at a cost. Feeling repros are justified because you feel you deserve a set of 12 backs but not at going rates is just not true.
Okay. I'm done. I expect to be chastised by moderation for this post, but it really doesn't matter. I was already finished here. Just couldn't see this garbage going on without one final post to get this **** off my chest. See you all on FB or SWFUK, where this repro **** isn't tolerated at ALL.
Ian
Give me time to write this one up.....
