The “going negative” attitude in collecting
Believe it or not the era of robot collecting is coming to an end. A simple look at ebay reveals no one is bidding on toys anymore. Why is it? I think it’s because of the “going negative” attitude many people has had in the past. What do I mean? In the last years people started whining screaming and complaining about the prices that many pieces fetched at ebay or were sold at elsewhere. Every time there was the suspect of a profit involved in the sale the crowd would arise like villagers in chase of the monster. Those crowds simply didn’t understand that screaming like that could only worsen their situation. I believe that many lost interest in robot toys, they don’t appeal people anymore, the magic has gone. Why? I don’t believe because of the toys itself but because of the people involved in the hobby making it be more a war than a pleasure. You can’t write anything on a forum without being flamed. People used to buy everything in the past, used to enjoy the toys. Trading is part of collecting. If you can’t count on that be sure that everything will end. No one wants to have something other people think is rubbish or not worth buying. If everyone starts to say: that’s a steal! That’s a steal! Death to the guy. Let me know who would want to buy anything anymore without having to be considered a loser who paid say 10$ more than what other people think the item is worth. I think this whole attitude makes toys very undesirable. I look at my collection nowadays and I think: wow, these things suck. The beauty of collecting is also sharing the joy with others. People today can’t say they have big collections or important pieces because the crowd would scream you are a scrooge (remember W.Schwartz?). That’s my two cents. I think many feel like this.
