topson wrote:
1. I posted the pics of the few testshots I own on Joe Intel and I have gotten numerous emails from people wanting to buy my stuff and who did I buy them from. I did not place an ad under those pics and I spent a lot of time researching who worked for Hasbro and creating relationships with some of them. They do not want me to give out their information and almost all of them did not have anything for sale. Some of them I am lucky enough to call a friend and I am not going to do that to them. They typically do not care about GI Joe, it was just a job. Besides, almost everything I do own I got off of ebay. If you want it, buy it.
Heres a thought. Put your big girl panties on. Personally, if you showed me "rare item A" I wouldn't contact you to buy it. The most I would do is thank you for sharing. I'm sure that a majority of people you showed them to would not contact you, in fact. In every hobby there are fanatics, and that is just something you have to deal with.
topson wrote:
2. Some items out there cost $1000's of dollars. If you paid for it, then it is yours and you can do anything you want. You guys need to deal with it. There are millions of art pieces in private collections around the world that are lost in private collections. It is a fact of life. Those Techno walkers are the only thing unique from that website that is not already known on yojoe. The owners of the technowalkers have been trying to find out the story behind those characters before pics were posted and now they are writing an article that does not have all the anwsers to the questions they have.
Art pieces? These are toys. Little pieces of inconsequential plastic that in the end will be somethin your children or your children's children will throw away. I can certainly appreciate that the owners of the items are wanting to write an article but people have been telling us "regular fans" for years that an article/book is forthcoming.
topson wrote:
3. After spending all that money, some people do not want to see their special item reproduced by others and sold in bulk. Some of you may not care about repros or if they cheapen the originals, but the guy who paid the big bucks does care. I am glad that Ron got the LH sketches and he decided to sell copies. That is his right, because he owns the originals. Some of you may rember the thread on yojoe last year about the guy who was making custom backercards with the art that belonged to other people. He was profiting from someone elses stuff with out their permission. Alot of people thought the owner of the art was in the wrong, because he posted a pic on the internet to show the world. The owner thought everyone had the right to see it. Just like you's are claiming to have the right to do. Yet the moment someone steals the image, he gets tons of posts about how he was stupid for posting it and it is his fault. The owner of the item has rights.
Ok, so posting an image on the internet will somehow make these unproduced items come into existence? I get how that is a problem with artwork. That is the downside of the internet, though. You put it out there, and it may get used in a way you didn't intend. You can always watermark artwork, if that is your paticular gripe.
topson wrote:
4. You all belittling people that own these items and calling them joeilluminati only make it worse. Why should they show you something after you have called them a name.
We "belittle" them, because they hold themselves away from other fans. They splinter their community by witholding information. They care more about having rare pieces and patting other 1337 collectors on the back, then they do trying to enrich the community as a whole.
All over stupid little nothing.