And we though being Star Trek fans was bad

[Locutus of Bored]

/.../ my mom decided before we moved that a fourteen-year-old was too old for Star Wars and G.I. Joe action figures and gave them all to my young cousin /.../

This is not the first time I've heard about something like this.

It always makes me wonder what kind of parents it is that don't respect their children enough to also respect them as human beings: I mean, the same people probably wouldn't dream of taking a bone away from their dog.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say she didn't respect me as a human being or anything that drastic. I was upset, sure, but my initial post may be a tad hyperbolic in describing how mad I was for humorous effect.

For my mom, it was a combination of us having to move a lot (so getting rid of things was frequent) and with both of my parents being raised in households with seven and ten brothers and sisters, respectively, where passing your toys and clothes down to the younger kids was commonplace and expected (I only had younger sisters, so they didn't want most of my toys, thus my cousin got them). Plus, she had this thing about "no clutter" passed on from her parents, and I am admittedly a bit of a pack-rat.

Exactly, LEGO isn't a kid's toy - It has multiple uses in a grown up world! -Whenever you need a little thingemagoo you can either go to the DIY shop and pay a fortune for it -or build it in LEGO (or Mechano -of course- if that's all you've got)

Lego Digital Designer is not quite as fun as working with the actual pieces, but still pretty cool. And it's free.

 

[trekkiedane]

I was being a tiny bit facetious (as you've probably guessed as it wasn't clear enough from my post)

But my point stands: parents shouldn't do that sort of thing! -Sure they can nudge and bribe their kids to leave the more childish parts of their youth behind but they should never just take away the 'toys' they don't understand themselves from their children... (IMHO of course).

Yep, LEGO is a hands-on experience that cannot be digitized.

Not a big feat of engineering, just something I threw together at some time when I had people coming over for dinner one time:

 

[Sephiroth]

Was that the SDF-1 from those really awkward 80s commercials?

"RO-BO-TECH." "What's that, in the sky?" "RO-BO-TECH." "IT'S THE SDF-1!" "RO-BO-TECH."

I never saw that commercial, mine came from the back of a comic from a generous uncle

 

[Captain_Nick]

Thanks for sharing that MC, I had a great laugh.

 

[doubleohfive]

I'd never go so far as instituting a scorched earth policy, but I can certainly sympathize with this guy's plight after undergoing the Great 3¾ Inch Holocaust of 1988, where my mom decided before we moved that a fourteen-year-old was too old for Star Wars and G.I. Joe action figures and gave them all to my young cousin Matt, who promptly destroyed them in an ADD-fueled orgy of anti-toy violence that left dismembered plastic limbs with Kung Fu grips all over the killing fields of his bedroom. It was a dark time for the Rebellion.

Of course, I was fourteen and not a thirty-year-old living in my mom's house, so there's a slight difference.

I was fifteen when my mom did the exact same thing with all my old LEGOs.

There's this shop in Westminster Mall nearby that sells antiques and collectables, and it still enrages me when I see the Ewok Village, Death Star, Millenium Falcon, and Star Destroyer I had being sold out of the box for hundreds of dollars.

Where is it? I've been there many, many times (the mall) and have never seen it!

 

[RJDiogenes]

My Mother was terrible for deciding whether or not we needed stuff (and the verdict was always in the negative). The worst time was around 1971 when I came home from school to find my closet empty-- that morning it had been quite full of nice comics from the 60s. Think of it: FF, Magnus, From Beyond The Unknown, plus a bunch of Disney and Harvey and other stuff. Would be worth a fortune now (but priceless to me). And a couple of years earlier, she had stumbled upon my collection of Sunday Flash Gordon strips that I had painstakingly cut out and preserved for several years. Sigh.

In any case, the guy in Japan is mentally ill and not representative of any kind of Fandom.

I hate this thread title. I never thought being a Star Trek fan was bad.

Really?

Really. That's generally an opinion held only by denizens of pathologically dull mainstream society.

 

[Emher]

I've said it before: Gundam fans are fucking crazy, man!

I have some Macross mechs, but most of all I have a shitload of Transformers. I only have a few of the latter on display in vehicle mode though.

 

[Finn]

Ah. Memory lane. I just remembered building a starship bridge with LEGO. These were the days.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

There's this shop in Westminster Mall nearby that sells antiques and collectibles, and it still enrages me when I see the Ewok Village, Death Star, Millenium Falcon, and Star Destroyer I had being sold out of the box for hundreds of dollars.

Where is it? I've been there many, many times (the mall) and have never seen it!

It was called Small Wonders IIRC, and was on the upper level of the JC Penney side of the mall.

[edit] This site has a review with some pictures of the interior. I don't see the glass case filled with the out-of-the-box Star Wars toys in any of the pics though, so I don't know if they still have them. It's been a while since I've been there. There are other Star wars collectibles pictured though.

http://www.howagirlfigures.com/2008/12/09/figure-retailer-review-1-small-wonders/

 

[Sephiroth]

I've said it before: Gundam fans are fucking crazy, man!

I have some Macross mechs, but most of all I have a shitload of Transformers. I only have a few of the latter on display in vehicle mode though.

which brings me to my second question, were these the storebought figures or those expensive-assed master grade model kits

oh, and for my robotech loving friend, that big SDF-1 is hanging from the ceiling of my den in mock battle with my Emeralds (Capt. Harlock)

 

[exodus]

It amazes me how parents can simply take their kids' stuff and throw it away without even asking.. shows huge disrespect towards their own children for not even taking them serious for a moment.

Usually by the time a parent does it, we aren't kids anymore and need to stop playing with toys anyway. Everyone has to grow up sometime. Most folks outside the sci-fi, comic book crowd find someone over 17 and still having toys a little odd and immature. Most parents don't want their children viewed that way.

I disagree somewhat. I know women who still have their Barbie dolls, grown men who collect tin-plate toys, men who play with model trains.

My aunt collected die-cast cars until she died (aged in her mid-80s).

I sold my swap card collect (Coles and Woolworths cards from the 50s and 60s) on eBay one card at a time. Most of the people who bought my cards were middle-aged women who had kept their childhood collection and then decided to add to it. made a total of about $1900 for my collection and about the same for my sister's collection.

I collect rubber ducks for my bathroom.

Are we talking toys or collector items?
Usually model trains are sold in hobby shops, not regular toy stores or Wal-Marts. The article and most here are talking about action figures, so that's what I was basing it on.

 

[exodus]

It amazes me how parents can simply take their kids' stuff and throw it away without even asking.. shows huge disrespect towards their own children for not even taking them serious for a moment.

Usually by the time a parent does it, we aren't kids anymore and need to stop playing with toys anyway. Everyone has to grow up sometime. Most folks outside the sci-fi, comic book crowd find someone over 17 and still having toys a little odd and immature. Most parents don't want their children viewed that way.

Says the guy I shot PMs back and forth with for 6 months while we both hunted down the ROTS action figures.

6 months like 5 years ago.
I also said, those outside the sci-fi/comic book crowd.
Posting here, still makes me part of the posse.
So

 

[Miss Chicken]

Are we talking toys or collector items?
Usually model trains are sold in hobby shops, not regular toy stores or Wal-Marts. The article and most here are talking about action figures, so that's what I was basing it on.

Many toys are collector items, and often a good investment. I imagine this man's collection was quite valuable and went beyond being just toys.

 

[Rincewiend]

I don't think I have ever met a Star Trek fan this obsessed

A Japanese man has pleaded guilty to burning down his family home after his mother threw away some of his favourite robot toys.
Yoshifumi Takabe told Kobe District Court in western Japan he became suicidal after losing the figures, which he says were partners he wanted to spend his life with.
The 30-year-old, who lived with his mother, torched the family home in retaliation, saying he wanted to die with his robots in the fire.

The robots were from the from Gundam animated TV series

SOURCE


I have never bought many collectibles. I have a Legolas (but I have lost his bow) and a Supernatural mug and Supernatural book and a handful of Star Trek books but I would rather spend my limited money on DVDs.

Well, some are really weird...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsikPswAYUM[/yt]

 

[captcalhoun]

my parents didn't toss my toys. they're mostly in the loft.

i have my RiD Megatron (aka Gigatron) sat atop my PC tower. my Bayformers Prime, Sideswipe and Bumblebee are atop my (defunct) TV and i have a row of Joe figures on my desk in front of my stereo. i've also got a Captain Calhoun figure, a MM Action vehicles Falcon and an old NCC1701 diecast on my bookshelves.

my other Joe figures and my Action Force are stored in a box under my desk. I got into collecting them last year and have spent ~£1100 over a year and a half...

i now have 55 Joes (up from 15 as a kid), 40 Cobras (up from 9 as a kid) and 42 AF figures.

the vehicles are mostly in boxes in my wardrobe.

 

[RandyS]

I hate this thread title. I never thought being a Star Trek fan was bad.

Really?

Really. That's generally an opinion held only by denizens of pathologically dull mainstream society.

You mean pathologically stupid, don't you?

 

[exodus]

Are we talking toys or collector items?
Usually model trains are sold in hobby shops, not regular toy stores or Wal-Marts. The article and most here are talking about action figures, so that's what I was basing it on.

Many toys are collector items, and often a good investment. I imagine this man's collection was quite valuable and went beyond being just toys.

No toys or collectors items are an excuse to burn down your mothers home.
While I know you weren't trying too, let's not making any excuses for what that guy did.
If they were that valuable and spent enough too overrun his moms home with them, then he could afford his own place and he never would've had to worry about his stuff getting thrown out.

Once again, it depends on what types of toys we're talking about.
For example, the original Star Wars toys are more valuable because most folks didn't keep them or keep them in the packaging. So the valus increased over time. Modern one might not reach that value due to a higher abundance of people collecting them and keeping them sealed & in great shape. So oddly enough, our parents throwing our toys out is what increased their value. It's a good bet the low production run of Indiana Jones toys might be a good investment for the future.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Really?

Really. That's generally an opinion held only by denizens of pathologically dull mainstream society.

You mean pathologically stupid, don't you?

Not necessarily. That's what makes it so sad. I've known many people, a few in my own family, who had a lot of potential, but were victimized by their own insecurities.

 

[Emher]

I've said it before: Gundam fans are fucking crazy, man!

I have some Macross mechs, but most of all I have a shitload of Transformers. I only have a few of the latter on display in vehicle mode though.

which brings me to my second question, were these the storebought figures or those expensive-assed master grade model kits

oh, and for my robotech loving friend, that big SDF-1 is hanging from the ceiling of my den in mock battle with my Emeralds (Capt. Harlock)

Storebought transformable models. And they're awesome. Wish I had a SDF-1 as well.

 

[Whofan]

Most Gundam kits are snap-together models-probably not valuable at all, but some of them do take time, money (for paint, glue if you want to look absolutely good) and effort to build and look good. Maybe that's why he was upset....not because of the valuable nature, but because he took so much effort into them...


Some of the kits are well designed, others are not. The plastic is fairly brittle and the kits do have a tendency to break if not done perfectly-I've had to toss my fair share of them in the past. Weird thing is, I actually one a modelling contest about a decade ago based on one of my crappier completed models! (A 1/100 Shining Gundam from G Gundam, one of the wackier spin offs).

Although there are pre-assembled Gundam figures out there-but they're small in scale and detail compared to the more expensive kits. Plus some (Mainly the FIX series) are more expensive than the kits!