[MEDIA] Toy Fatigue

I'm not sure if fatigue is the right word or not. Maybe boredom? Ennui? Anyway.

I've found recently that despite how much I might anticipate getting a toy the actual enjoyment I get out of it is proportionate to the amount of previous media exposure I've had to it. In other words, the less I know about a toy beforehand the more I will enjoy it once I have it. That itself doesn't seem too remarkable. Lower expectations upfront makes for greater satisfaction.

But the problem is this - I'm not enjoying things as much specifically because they are meeting my expectations. Because of the over-saturation of reviews out there it's easy to get comprehensive expectations in a short amount of time. Again, this doesn't seem remarkable. Just avoid the reviews, right?

Expect that reviews have subsumed a large amount of the marketing dynamic at present. If you want to know what the latest toy is or what toys are coming you pretty much go straight to the review sites. You never go to the manufacturer's website since they are always out of date, incomplete, or absent. Hell, even the packaging on many toys these days forgoes the cross-sell entirely.

So it feels like you can either have no idea what's coming out (or when), or you have too much information available. No middle ground. And because of this the vicarious pleasure of a thorough pictorial review often matches the pleasure of actually getting the thing in the review.

Anybody else experiencing this?

Gcrush Wrote:
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> Anybody else experiencing this?

Nope. Maybe you should stop collecting crummy action figures. :P I kid, I kid! Go, Celtics! Oh wait--damn...that's gingaio! ;)

> In other
> words, the less I know about a toy beforehand the
> more I will enjoy it once I have it....Lower expectations
> upfront makes for greater satisfaction.

I don't get this. I mean, I understand what you're saying--I just don't *experience* this. Maybe I'm an outlier and am thus not really qualified to comment here simply because I'm interested in so few new toys, but I think I'm the opposite.

See, if I read NO reviews and hear nothing of the toy before buying it, I generally assume the best. My expectations are actually rather high. Damn hopefulness! As such, when I crack the thing open, I'm often disappointed by the various things that invariably go wrong...

For new toys (especially high-endish ones), I read THE SHIT outta every reliable source I can. I want the thing totally debunked before dropping serious coin. Case in point: Yamato's 1/3000 SDF-1. I need the media to trample my hopes and dreams, damnit!

So, ultimately, the media generally help me enjoy a toy more.

> And
> because of this the vicarious pleasure of a
> thorough pictorial review often matches the
> pleasure of actually getting the thing in the
> review.

^^ I can dig this. I still don't have a Yamato 1/60 2.0 VF-1, but I've handled a couple and I respect the toy design. But I'm lazy...I just haven't gotten around to buying one. Thus far, though, I've enjoyed all the CDX reviews of them and all the discussions here about them...almost to the point of making up for not having one!

Sanjeev Wrote:
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> I don't get this. I mean, I understand what you're
> saying--I just don't *experience* this. Maybe I'm
> an outlier and am thus not really qualified to
> comment here simply because I'm interested in so
> few new toys, but I think I'm the opposite.

Instead of saying, "Less exposure is more," I should have said, "Just enough exposure is more." Because it sucks when you buy a toy that has well known quality control defects without knowing about them yourself. It just feels like at present you can't get "just enough" - you can only get "nothing" or "too damn much".


> For new toys (especially high-endish ones), I read
> THE SHIT outta every reliable source I can. I want
> the thing totally debunked before dropping serious
> coin. Case in point: Yamato's 1/3000 SDF-1. I need
> the media to trample my hopes and dreams, damnit!

I've all but stopped buying anything "high-end". As in, "Anything more than $50." I wouldn't even think about the SDF-1. Not because I can't afford it. [You hobos.] But because I've identified that magic number as the cut off point for my diminishing returns with regard to buyer's remorse. I think Unicron was the last toy I spent more than $50 on and I'm still waiting on a stand for the damn thing. Haw!


> So, ultimately, the media generally help me enjoy
> a toy more.

Again, I should have qualified what I was saying. The excruciatingly thorough pictorial reviews that are the current norm sap all the juice out of it for me. By the time I actually buy a toy that I've seen in a review I usually feel like me owning the toy is really just some perverse way of verifying the review. It's almost like I could save the money and just enjoy the reviews. Why bother buying a toy then the vicarious pleasure is so... Accessible.

But then I couldn't put Revoltech boobies on an Alien figure. So, there's always that.


> ^^ I can dig this. I still don't have a Yamato
> 1/60 2.0 VF-1, but I've handled a couple and I
> respect the toy design. But I'm lazy...I just
> haven't gotten around to buying one. Thus far,
> though, I've enjoyed all the CDX reviews of them
> and all the discussions here about them...almost
> to the point of making up for not having one!

That reminds me - the 2.0 Valks were pretty good toys. I regret selling off the VF-1S I had. I should get around to replacing that...

Gcrush Wrote:
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> ...It just feels like at
> present you can't get "just enough" - you can only
> get "nothing" or "too damn much".

Can you give me an example? I honestly don't read many toy sites other than this one and a few smatterings on skullbrain, CDX, and the random TF site via links people send me.

I guess I've never encountered "too damn much". And I guess if I did, I'd simply not read it. Perfect example: before, if you recall, I'd expressed interest in the Transformers movie/leader/masterpiece/whatever Starscream. Well, I just saw this review on CDX. It's basically the definition of TL;DR for me. In fact, I'd likely rather pull my own teeth out with an old pair of pliers than read just about anything that particular guy vomits onto the internet.

So, yeah. Not reading it. Instead, I'd just rather go to youtube and watch a short, concise review by someone like "peaugh", who just shows the toy, transforms it, hits the few critical pluses and minuses...and that's it.

It sounds like that hasn't been your experience..?

> "Anything more than $50."

I'd probably call that "midrange", but whatever. It's different for everybody. But, yeah, for anything over $50, I'm likely going to do at least some damn research...

Another example: based on Graham's (again, brilliantly concise) video reviews of the movie SDF-1's transformation, I'm pretty much sold on the overall design. And that's what? $250? I skimmed his text review briefly for flaws...and that's good enough for me.

> I think
> Unicron was the last toy I spent more than $50 on
> and I'm still waiting on a stand for the damn
> thing. Haw!

Haha! The order's been placed. They're a-comin'...eventually. $30 plus shipping, I think was the final total. Comes with bompons. I just love typing that word. ;)


> The excruciatingly thorough pictorial reviews that
> are the current norm sap all the juice out of it
> for me.

Again, that's why I skim those...or skip 'em altogether. This is a hobby. It's for fun. Reviews are supposed to entertain; yes, more so than inform. If the review fails at that, then fuck it. Keep it moving.

> It's almost like I could
> save the money and just enjoy the reviews. Why
> bother buying a toy then the vicarious pleasure is
> so... Accessible.

Y'know, after thinking about this, I wanna amend my statement. I think I often vicariously share in the scores my friends make when they track down something hard to find or complete a line or whatever. Granted, this applies more to vintage toys than new stuff, but those are the stories I like hearing or reading about. Even if they're toys I'm not normally that interested in (like Fraser's zenmai scores).

But if it's a toy that I've decided I want in my collection, I generally go after it. Enjoying something I *want* vicariously via review really doesn't cut it for me: I like to own something so that I can really enjoy the physical nature of the thing (rowr!!). Dunno what that says about my psyche, but fortunately, the good news (for me) is that I find myself NOT wanting that much these days!

Nothing new here. It's a dynamic similar to movie reviews - you want enough to know that it's worth your time and money, but not so much that you SPOILER your experience if you decide to see the film.

If it's a film you're really looking forward to, the situation gets tricky (e.g., Iron Man 2) as you don't want reviews to SPOILER you, yet you can't get a clear read on whether the film is as good as you hope, YET (let's face it) you'd pretty much decided to see it long before it ever hit theaters, regardless.

The biggest confounder in our specific case is 1) the amount of money and effort often involved combined with 2) an increasingly irritating inability to ever see these things in person before purchasing them.