decepta-scott wrote: For me, more than half the fun is finding the new figs on the shelf. It brings back that nostalgic feeling of being a kid.
I don't disagree with this at all. However, I would like to point out that it is also a very fun feeling to come home to see a large box waiting for you from some online store. Even though you already know whats inside, its still fun ripping open the box and digging through whatever packing material is in there to get to the treasures that await inside.
I look at it as collecting for the technologically smart generation. Too many people look at the scalper market from the very perspective you do. They want that great feeling of going to the store and finding that gem of a toy waiting for you. And don't get me wrong, so do I. But age and technology have altered the experience from what it used to be when you were a kid, not the scalpers.
Examples: When you were a kid, you went to the store hoping to find that figure that you want so badly. And when you found it, you were over-joyed. Today though, thanks to the internet, you know when and where a specific toy is being released. So when you go looking for it either A) you get it and your happy but not over-joyed because you expected to see it there or B) your mad because you expected it to be there but it wasn't there because they either sold out or the scalpers got them.
Also, back then, neither you or your parents knew what was supposed to be in the store, so if an item got scalped you didn't really know about it and you left the store happy with what you got. Again, thanks to the internet, you know when and where the toys are supposed to be and having this knowledge really ruins the experience when you leave the store not getting what you wanted because for whatever reason it wasn't there.
The fact of the matter is, that experience that you are after, the one where you can feel your eyes light up when you see that toy that you want on the shelves like when you were a kid; it still exists. It exists within today's kids. I see it all of the time when my son walks down the toy aisle. Because the mystery is there for him. He doesn't know what awaits him when he walks down the aisles.
If you want to blame scalpers for ruining your experience then so be it but you might as well blame yourself too. Because by being on the net in forums like this and researching what figures are coming out and when, then you are destroying half of the experience already yourself. Because you are taking away the mystery aspect of toy buying that made the feeling so good when you were a kid. If you want that feeling back, then you need to leave the internet behind for good and keep the mystery in tact. Then walk the toy aisles like a naive child who has no idea what awaits him around the corner. Thats when you'll get your experience back. But don't just blame the scalpers for killing the experience. The experience was forever altered when the internet was created. Its not better or worse now, its just different.
The majority of the nostalgia should come from physically holding and owning the toys. To get what you want, you have to adapt to the way toys are bought in 2011. If you do that, you'll get what you want. If you don't, you'll be a disgruntled collector who blames the scalpers. Its not impossible to get every figure you want without dealing with a scalper, you just have to utilize more resources than simply going to the store.
Izzat the stereotypical look of a toy scalper?
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