I browse the forums at Hisstank from time to time and have come across some posts that are less than kind to those of us that custimize figs. One poster actually put customizers in the same category as scalpers and hoarders. The reasoning, I guess, is that customizers tend to buy several copies of the same figure and it leaves less product on the shelf for other collectors.

Personally, customizing has become a large part of the hobby for me. If I ever stopped customizing, I would lose interest in collecting very quickly.

I have never been to Joecon, or actually met other Joe collectors in person. Has anyone here had experiences with collectors that hate you for customizing or is it just a few people on one website that have a problem?

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to start any flame wars (I guess if there are any customizer-haters here, they are in the wrong forum ), just trying to understand other collectors point of view.

OB

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Yeah at hisstank you saw it, but over all I don't get the idea that customizers are not liked. it used to be that way several years back. Back before the Toys R Us 3 packs and the topic of conversation was "do you think G.I.Joe can come back".

Everyone at the convention seemed nice though. Even the few people you might would bump into that could be a jerk on the boards, they won't act that way in person. They need that keyboard to give an attitude.

But no I don't really think that customizers are disliked. Only a few people that will think of negative things to say (online), will be the ones to say something about customizers. But they'll be making posts about something negative anyway. Pick any random board and there will be at least 2 or 3 people like that on the board.

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You mean the 'collectors' that buys one item to keep mint and another item to open?

By doing that, they are including themselves in their own category of 'buy several copies of the sam efigure..."

I have been fortunate to have seen many different types of customizing (1/64 farm toys, 1/6th farm toys, 1/32 vehicles and emergency equipment, 1/24 and 1/25 cars, various scale model railroading, etc).

Anyone who equates customizing with scalping and hoarding doesn't have their head on straight.

EVERYBODY customizes.

-Model Raildroaders
-Model Aircraft builders
-Groundskeepers at Ballparks
-T-shirt makers
-etc

-Have any of these people ever built a model car/plane and painted it different from the box?

-Have they painted their house a different color?

-Added hubcaps, seatcovers, antenna toppers, bumper stickers, or changed the set-up of their car from it's original condition?

-Changed their wardrobe and/or physical appearance?

-Changed the appearance and/or function of their own house (curtains, furniture, bedding, carpets, landscaping, etc)?

Scalpers are despised by both the collector and the customizer. They make it hard or impossible for collectors AND customizers to find what they want.

I think there is a difference between hoarding and army building. Army building has a specific purpose (like having a squad of troops as opposed to just one), while hoarding just is keeping something from anyone else so they can't have it.

For these collectors, how am I supposed to justify having one of a character that is plural? Am I supposed to just have one of any type of Viper to represent the character?

I don't hoard anything, but I have been known to Army-Build a lot.

[eyes all the Indy Russian Soldiers, boxes of loose GIJOE figures, and boxes of Star Wars figures]

If they are so concerned about somebody else buying just one extra figure, why didn't they buy the figure to begin with? If they passed on purchasing something they have no right to talk bad about the next person that comes along and buys it.

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Personally I don't care what people think about me or my hobbies. I live my life to the best of my ability and do what I can to help others every chance I get.

If some anonymous internet user has a problem with what I do with my time and my money, I ain't losing any sleep over it.

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it's weird how someone in say, OH can go to the store one day a week and not see anything, and automatically blame scalpers/hoarders/whatever, when they could have missed a new shipment being put out a few days earlier and slowly bought up. yet they go online and see someone else Texas, for example, has a lot of what they don't. so they get mad and blame it on them. quite childish actually.

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Any of you guys have a copy of that 1984 promo flier form Hasbro that "teaches" kids to customize their figures? It has a picture of Duke and a sharpie pen on it. Oreo, you should make that image your avatar or in your signature or something.

-CJack

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I know around here they are selling. They're selling very well for the first few shipments. Beyond that they start cluttering the shelves. I would say whatever scalpers are getting any, it would be within the first shipments. Beyond that it's the fans and kids. Beyond that it's us customizers that pick up a lot of the extras. It's just waiting for that amount of shipments that's the hard part and there's no way to know if there will be enough. The Wild Bill wave still hasn't shown up beyond 2 shipments at 1 single Target in my area. Meanwhile the next wave is what keeps showing up.

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I've had one person in my entire live say to me "Why would you do that? You ruined a perfectly good figure!"

Now he's amazed that by "Ruining" a figure, I can support myself and pay bills, go on vacation, etc etc.... when I sell my "creation" as he calls it.

He also tells his friends about what I do... it's amazes him.

Oh, and that person was my dad.
A few days after he bought me some Joes and I made them "better".

I was 9.



And I have that promo somewhere.... I kept one of each paper item I had left over from the store - it was part of a "newsletter" type thing. lol

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Well, I hate customizers. Most of them are better at it than I am, and they flaunt their superior work on the boards.
Nah, I've never had to deal with anyone blaming me for ruining the line for anyone else, but this is the only board I post on, an YoJoe and JoeSightings are the only two I lurk on, and they're both pretty customizer-friendly.

I say: "Screw 'em! If they don't like what we do, tough."

I have been enjoying customising since 1984. Fast coming up to the 25th Anniversary of my hobby, with over 700 customs under my belt. Morons like that are not going to stop me enjoying it.

I joined this site about 3 years ago (or thereabouts) and the worst response I have had to any of my customs are polite critiques and suggestions to improve them. Some I have acted on, some I haven't.

Personally, I believe that the customising fraternity is a lot closer-knit and friendlier than the hardcore collecting community. At least, that is the impression I get.

My father has a wicked sense of humour about customising. Whenever I buy figures for customising, he shouts at them: "Run for the hills, lads! He's getting his screwdriver and scalpel out!"

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I'll have to say I have saw some of the same comments over at Hisstank and what it usually boils down to is they are mad because they only spend 1 day week looking for about 30 minutes and can't find any product. If you can't blame scalpers they next person down to blame is the customizer. I never you used to enjoy customizing figures and was alway envious of some the great customs here when I first joined. I started out doing Vehicles mostly and even then I when I post my vehicle customs on Yojoe or places like that I would also get a comment about how I could ruin perfectly good vehicle for my custom. I have found that most people who complain about customizers just don't have the ability or creativeness to make customs of their own and they tend to become jealous when they see something they like but cant have it. Blaming us like they are blaming scalpers is just their way to get back at us nothing more, nothing less. I personally buy 2 or 3 of each figure 1 to keep the others to customize and have done so since wave 1 came out. Sure I have used some and some are still sitting on my shelf to this day waiting to be opened. Thankfully I live in an area where there aren't to many joe collectors so I don't have a problem finding stuff at retail and I'm lucky enough to have route to and from work that passes by 3 walmarts and 2 targets if I go one way or 2 Walmarts and 2 Targets the other way with out going out of my way. I'm not a MOC collector so everything I have will be opened at some point or traded off if it is not used and heres a pic showing everything I haven't opened so far. So if people want to dislike me for Customizing, have at it.

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Yeah, I've read those same comments, but not just at Hisstank, but other boards as well. What the complainers of not finding product fail to see is, that the competition is much more stronger than when ARAH first came out. Back then u basicly only had other kids to worry about, in terms of finding stuff. Today, not only do you have kids looking, but you have army builders, customizers, scalpers, and MOC & loose collectors. It's just more people in the game now.

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I think the beginning of the problem is that you took something that was said on Hiss tank seriously...



Don't sweat them.

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People dislike something, somehow, somwhere and feel the need to express it, not a big thing really IMO.

I am sure there are segments that hate customizers, just like those who hate people who keep figures in thier boxes, or those who ruin MIB items, ect ect.

esp. not if they've been banned from here

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