by joesaysso » Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:58 am
- Weapon: Plasma Beam Rifle
As this thread DRAGS on, I'm all of the sudden confused. Is it not up to the person who owns the collection to decide what figure is considered what? I mean, all of this hub-bub about about an exclusive figure is out of control and the "fandumb" is getting borderline stupid in this thread.
Some people collect differently and I don't see the point in arguing over somebody else's collection. Some people would rather pay $75 for a $12 toy because its an official exclusive. And I could appreciate that. Some people would rather buy a $10 knock-off and give it a coat of paint. And I could appreciate that too.
After all, each figure is just a blank piece of plastic. It isn't until somebody puts some paint on it does it get an identity. Hasbro can take two pieces of plastic and paint one blue and red and the other blue and white and all of the sudden they are two different toys. Two minutes ago they were exactly the same thing but now they are different?
Therefore, why can't somebody else take a classics Starscream and paint it blue and call it Thundercracker. That person only did what hasbro does. They took one toy, gave it a new coat of paint and called it something else. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, people. If someone wants to buy a knock-off Cracker and give it a nice coat of paint and some stickers and call it Thundercracker, I applaud them for their effort.
Its a little ridiculous to disrespect somebody else's collection because they don't have the official Thundercracker. This isn't a "can't we all get along" reply. This is more of a "we all need a bit of perspective" reply. If person A can't get his hands on the exclusive Cracker but wants to have Cracker represented in his collection, what exactly is person A supposed to do? Just give up on Thundercracker? Maybe let botcon and/or Hasbro decide who gets what figure?
In this day and age, its the collector who decides what each figure is. If I get a knock-off seeker mold and give it a Thundercracker paint job, that toy has now assumed the identity of Thundercracker for the sake of my collection. And nobody else is going to tell that it isn't Thundercracker just because I didn't get it at Botcon. My Thundercracker is no less Thundercracker than somebody else's exclusive. They are both pieces of plastic that are molded the same and with the same paint job. My Thundercracker doesn't have to be your Thundercracker.
And another thing, some of you need to crawl out of Hasbro's back pocket. Quite frankly, Hasbro's toys aren't much better than some of the knock-offs anyway. How many official hasbro toys have you pulled out of the box and they had loose joints, weak pins, terrible paint, or pieces that don't quite fit together as they are supposed to. If Hasbro was so great, there wouldn't be threads all over the internet about home solutions to fixing the problems with the toys that they made.
In closing, there is enough room in this world for the Botcon Thundercrackers and the knock-off Thundercrackers to exist together. Let the buyers buy and the collectors collect. Everybody needs to enjoy their own collection for what it means to them.
One man's two cents
"Decepticons, transform and rise up!"
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