Golden Age of Toy vSoldiers Over? (1 Viewer)

[Deitz]

For me it is the golden age of collecting, although I have only been collecting for about 8 years. We have the internet now, magazines, I am not sure if we have more or less shows now and dare I say we have EBAY.

I think the type of age Golden, Silver, or over depends on each collector. If your favorite figure producer went out of business your Golden Age may be over but a for a new collectors their Golden Age is just starting. I think collectors will always find a new favorite producer of figures. So that new Golden Age for each collector is always out there they just have to find it.

 

[HistoryfortheAges]

Don't forget Tradition, TedToy... marvelous figures. There are still many choices for collectors to stick to one maker or painting style or like in my case, diversify amongst makers and painting styles!

 

[damian]

If you collect matt German WWII figures and vehilces it is a platinum age. If you are into gloss then things are not as good I am afraid. Trophy are no more and that is a great loss. Tradition is still readily availbale. Teh new WB stuff looks good but is a bit small for the Trophy sets. Little Legion is really good but difficult to get hold of. There are some other great gloss lines like ATS ect which I do not collect purely because I am not Bill Gates.

 

[marco55]

I think the Golden Age is coming to an end for the simple fact that many collectors are cutting back quite a bit due to the economy.Less spending means less capitol for the manufacturers to be able to develop new product.
Mark

 

[Njja]

I think the Golden Age is coming to an end for the simple fact that many collectors are cutting back quite a bit due to the economy.Less spending means less capitol for the manufacturers to be able to develop new product.
Mark

Far to early to support a statement like that. I haven't altered my buying

habits and don't intend to.......of course wife may have a different view about

that.

Actually, I don't care because I'm the boss around here........and she's out

shopping......and doesn't read the Forum.

 

[marco55]

I've heard quite a few say they have.I know I have and I like to spend.
Mark

 

[eborris]

I think that it is quite possible that the golden age for platic collectors may be coming to an end soon, the rising costs of doing business with China may cause a cut back in the number of new figures and sets being produced. Of course for some time now we have been spoiled

 

[lancer]

I believe that producers going out of business is pretty typical of any niche market. Small business is really tough. I also believe that this is a tremendous time to collect. Even with the closed companies there is a huge range of choices for the collector. Now, if only price hikes would slow down (I know, I live in never-never land). -- lancer

 

[Combat]

We may need gold soon to continue collecting. There were just too many companies in this market to be sustained. The fact that some have fallen recently is not a surprise. The manufacturers have improved quality - grudingly in some cases - but have failed to recognize that continued price increases in the face of an economic downturn just isn't going to work in the longer term. I've read more comments about collectors cutting back in the last few months than I can ever remember reading on these boards in the last three years. That train wreck will take a while to filter back to Asia.

 

[jazzeum]

We may need gold soon to continue collecting. There were just too many companies in this market to be sustained. The fact that some have fallen recently is not a surprise. The manufacturers have improved quality - grudingly in some cases - but have failed to recognize that continued price increases in the face of an economic downturn just isn't going to work in the longer term. I've read more comments about collectors cutting back in the last few months than I can ever remember reading on these boards in the last three years. That train wreck will take a while to filter back to Asia.

I've made this point recently and it seems that something has to give at some point. Unabated price increases just can't continue. Certain groups of collectors but I believe that certain groups will no longer be able to afford product.

 

[Spitfrnd]

We may need gold soon to continue collecting. There were just too many companies in this market to be sustained. The fact that some have fallen recently is not a surprise. The manufacturers have improved quality - grudingly in some cases - but have failed to recognize that continued price increases in the face of an economic downturn just isn't going to work in the longer term. I've read more comments about collectors cutting back in the last few months than I can ever remember reading on these boards in the last three years. That train wreck will take a while to filter back to Asia.

As far as it seems, producers are not raising prices to increase profit but rather to cover increased costs. If you price below cost, each sale actually increases your loss; not a sustainable circumstance. I think producers are well aware this is a niche market and that there are limits to price elasticity. Of course, they can try and reduce costs, as I think they are, by seeking great efficiencies in materials and labor but there are limits. There will always be economic downturns and producers with relatively higher unit costs that they cannot pass on may not survive. Such is the way of markets. When the next market phase emerges, more will be able and encouraged to produce.

 

[Combat]

As far as it seems, producers are not raising prices to increase profit but rather to cover increased costs. If you price below cost, each sale actually increases your loss; not a sustainable circumstance. I think producers are well aware this is a niche market and that there are limits to price elasticity. Of course, they can try and reduce costs, as I think they are, by seeking great efficiencies in materials and labor but there are limits. There will always be economic downturns and producers with relatively higher unit costs that they cannot pass on may not survive. Such is the way of markets. When the next market phase emerges, more will be able and encouraged to produce.

The manufacturer has to pick their poison in risking that many collectors may be priced out of the market. At some point they just will not be able to sell much product. That's a cost consideration as well. It's also been discussed before, but the price fixing policies that companies like KC engage in to avoid "price wars" doesn't give me a lot of sympathy for them in times of increased production costs. I consider that to be Andy's problem not mine if I can't get a price break when the market goes the other way. If they pass on a 100% price increase like the recent KC King Tiger then a lot of collectors will pass or cut back on other KC purchases to afford it. No extra dollars going to them. I'm picking on KC a bit, but this applies to all the manufacturers.

 

[Davout71]

I am pretty new to this hobby so I don't know about any golden age only that I really like what is out there.
I come from a manufacturing background so I can see that the future of these products as they are is limited. They are labour intensive, with a large variety of units,short production runs, a high price tag and a limited demand. I can't think how prices can be reduced unless the companies themselves can expand into other areas to support the higher quality models.
Personally I will always have a limited budget for TS. If the prices continued to increase I would just buy fewer. Being in NZ the currency conversion and postage is not insignificant either.
I may be wrong and whatever the case I hope these companies continue to produce these fascinating works of art.

 

[Fleurbaix]

From what I've seen, the Golden Age of Toy Soldiers actually ended in the early 2000's.

When I had been managing the store in NYC in the late 1990's, there were so many producers I could product from in a relatively fast time frame (even cottage industry British producers) that I never was lacking for something different coming in nearly every week and at really good prices given better conversion rates. I mean, a great St Petersburg figure was $65 to $90 for a foot figure and mtds for like $175 to $250.

When I took over the store in 2004 I was really saddend to see a number of makers had folded, passed away and 6 month + wait times for products.

Frontline couldn't ship one of my orders so they sent me a hodge-podge shipment, Trophy was near impossible to get, Conte had major wait times past what they committed to, Britains was still run by RC2 and the product was awful, TAW gone, HECO gone, a few other makers were very sporadic, Tommy Atkins 9 months +, etc.

The only reliable makers were K&C, FoV and Tradition.

I know a bunch of you will not agree or argue the point but this is just my 2 cents.

Dear Gideon
TAW is not gone it is alive and living and Fleurbaix is making them.
Thanks Fr Greg

 

[OzDigger]

Sad to say I suspect this year may be the last year for some time when you could get a well detailed matt painted model or figure set at a reasonable price.

Collectors will always find some way to add to their collection. However the rising production costs in China together with the economic downturn in the US etc will restrict the average collectors to must haves only.

The more affluent collectors are likely to have a flight to quality and concentrate on low production run, high quality products.

Therefore I expect that most astute manufacturers will tend to concentrate on bringing out products that they are confident will sell rather than take risks on an unproven range or set. And I doubt that dealers would want to take risks on stock they think may be slow sellers.

 

[nmrocks]

The slacking economy will hit China just as hard as it will hit here, maybe worse. Look at Las Vegas as an example of an economy that relies on others for it's existance. Not 2 years ago the fastest growing city in america, now already in the depths of the recession. Housing prices through the floor, job cut backs... If America takes a hard turn to less and it's starting to look like the europeans are in an even worse prediciment, China will have nowhere to sell it's goods. Manufacturing will slow to equal the world slowdown and There red hot economy will slide faster and farther than the west. Less demand for material and manpower should bring the cost of luxuries down as well.
Still not a good scenario as I would suspect some more marginal enterprises will go bellyup.

 

[Njja]

I thought not a week or so ago, but the current economic situation could

change all that.

We will have to see what the new year brings, and hope for the best.

 

[nmrocks]

I talked today with a friend who's wife works for an american company who manufactures all there product throughout China, He told me his wife has had to spend alot of time in China lately because of manufacturers closing shops. Apparently there is acredit crunch in China as well and one of there largest manufacturers went belly up. The difference is in China, you don't make payroll and the gov't ceases all the assets and sells them off! She's been struggling with the courts to prevent their intellectual property from being auctioned off!

 

[trooper]

I talked today with a friend who's wife works for an american company who manufactures all there product throughout China, He told me his wife has had to spend alot of time in China lately because of manufacturers closing shops. Apparently there is acredit crunch in China as well and one of there largest manufacturers went belly up. The difference is in China, you don't make payroll and the gov't ceases all the assets and sells them off! She's been struggling with the courts to prevent their intellectual property from being auctioned off!

That should set alarm bells ringing among the "China" companies in our game. If a similar thing happened to the companies they deal with to handle all their production it would put a huge dent in their capabilities. Let's hope things ease up soon.

 

[Njja]

I talked today with a friend who's wife works for an american company who manufactures all there product throughout China, He told me his wife has had to spend alot of time in China lately because of manufacturers closing shops. Apparently there is acredit crunch in China as well and one of there largest manufacturers went belly up. The difference is in China, you don't make payroll and the gov't ceases all the assets and sells them off! She's been struggling with the courts to prevent their intellectual property from being auctioned off!

That sounds like one massive headache!

Kind of difficult arguing with someone wearing a gun and a frown!

"You go Now"!