Age of Collectors Poll (1 Viewer)

[nmrocks]

I'm 52 and sick and tired of my body doing what it **** well likes and not what I want it too, we fight constantly! If I want to do what I did when I was 12, I should be able too!
Youth is so wasted on the young!
Ray

 

[Canadian Samurai]

I know this Forum isn't exactly a representative sample of the toy soldier world (I majored in stats in college ), but it does give an interesting slice of toy soldier collecting on the internet.

Simply by being an internet Forum does skew it younger - but it also shows that younger people are out there.

Hey, if you turn your head at an angle the bars depict a pretty normal distribution curve, so who knows, it might be pretty accurate stat-wise. Though of course I'm in the tail of the curve being in the 20-29 range. Who else shares this esteemed range with me? Speak up now!

 

[King & Country]

Hi Guys,

Re this age thing...As far as it goes I’m a devout “MARXIST”...Groucho Marx that is!

Groucho said it first and said it best...

“You’re only as old as the women you feel!” and...

“I’ve got the body of a sixty year old...and the brain of a fourteen year old...and he was glad to get rid of it!”

‘Nuff said...

Andy C.

 

[eborris]

Speaking of Groucho Marx, somewhere in my belongings is a photo copy of his death certificate.

 

[aujj65]

Hi Guys,

Re this age thing...As far as it goes I’m a devout “MARXIST”...Groucho Marx that is!

Groucho said it first and said it best...

“You’re only as old as the women you feel!” and...

“I’ve got the body of a sixty year old...and the brain of a fourteen year old...and he was glad to get rid of it!”

‘Nuff said...

Andy C.

LOL

My wife once said she had the body of a 21 year old!!......I said give it back before you ruin it!...I've still got the scar

Jeff

 

[desk11desk12]

Gees, the results of the poll appear to be almost a perfect "Bell Shaped Curve". I wonder if it's a valid sample size of the collectors who are buying newly released sets.

Carlos

 

[wadepat]

Hi Carlos,

You raise an interesting question. I would like to add another question to yours. My question is as follows:

Assuming the collecting population is accurately refected in the distribution presented above, is the interest in gloss vs. matte finish also distributed in like manner? Or does age seem to be a factor in the preference of one finish vs. the other?

So often I have heard it said by forum members that the glossy finished figures are associated with the older collector who collected such figures at an earlier age. I am not at all certain that such statements are truly valid. Rather, I think the frequent assumption by some collectors that the preference in finish is somehow related to age may represent a false impression. I have recently seen another poll which suggests the preference in finish is split almost 50-50 among collectors. It would be interesting to have some statistical evidence on which to base a conclusion concerning the true preference in finishes among the entire age range of the community of collectors. In short, do most younger collectors usually prefer matte finished figures and older collector usually prefer glossy finished figures? Or could there be some surprises found within such poll data? It would be interesting to know the true answer to my question.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[jac28]

Hi Carlos,

You raise an interesting question. I would like to add another question to yours. My question is as follows:

Assuming the collecting population is accurately refected in the distribution presented above, is the interest in gloss vs. matte finish also distributed in like manner? Or does age seem to be a factor in the preference of one finish vs. the other?

So often I have heard it said by forum members that the glossy finished figures are associated with the older collector who collected such figures at an earlier age. I am not at all certain that such statements are truly valid. Rather, I think the frequent assumption by some collectors that the preference in finish is somehow related to age may represent a false impression. I have recently seen another poll which suggests the preference in finish is split almost 50-50 among collectors. It would be interesting to have some statistical evidence on which to base a conclusion concerning the true preference in finishes among the entire age range of the community of collectors. In short, do most younger collectors usually prefer matte finished figures and older collector usually prefer glossy finished figures? Or could there be some surprises found within such poll data? It would be interesting to know the true answer to my question.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

Don't forget the question was directed at collectors in general - so the other aspect is whether the respondants collect metal OR plastic or both... I myself, collect plastic.

The age distribution doesn't really surprise me. It shows that 75% of collectors are 40 yrs old and older... I could easily see that at OTSN! I do believe that younger people are getting into the hobby in general... I saw quite a number of kids at the show and it seemed like more than usual..

Jim

 

[jazzeum]

You probably could do a poll where the choices are collecting matte or gloss and have it broken down by the age categories above.

 

[panda1gen]

I was 50 last weekend. I like the matts as more realistic....but I do appreciate a nice glossy

 

[sceic2]

Since "Fearless Leader", His Royal Highness the Prince of Toy Solderiania (often called "Pete") is a statistics guru (or at least that is what he claims ), I think he would agree that the surveys conducted on the Forum are about as unscientific as they could possibly be. They, the surveys, are a result of a select group (forum members who represent an unknown sample size and quality of the total toy soldier population) who are choosing to respond. I find these surveys only slightly interesting. Sorry.

 

[jazzeum]

Michael,

I agree with your premise that it represents only the votes of people who belong on this forum and vote. However, I disagree that it's not necessarily representative of the toy soldier population because I think the people who participate here are representative of the toy soldier collector population. Do I have facts to back that up? No, but when these kinds of polls are run, I know that manufacturers and dealers take note and look at them. So, they are more than mildly interesting and the more people that vote in them the more meaningful they become.

While I don't dispute your right to express your opinion as to their significance, at the same time I also don't want your comments to influence or persuade people from not voting.

 

[MCKENNA77]

Since "Fearless Leader", His Royal Highness the Prince of Toy Solderiania (often called "Pete") is a statistics guru (or at least that is what he claims ), I think he would agree that the surveys conducted on the Forum are about as unscientific as they could possibly be. They, the surveys, are a result of a select group (forum members who represent an unknown sample size and quality of the total toy soldier population) who are choosing to respond. I find these surveys only slightly interesting. Sorry.

I have to disagree with what is said here. The sample taken here is totally random and the results are pretty close to a perfect bell curve. Just my take, but it doesnt get any more statistic then that. But I guess you can take the Winston Churchill approach of "theres lies, **** lies and then there is statistics"

MCKENNA

 

[Louis A. Cortez]

I have to agree with Brad on this one. Yes, it is a small representation of the Toy Soldier collectors, but it is a slice of our general population. And even a small slice representing our interests would be interesting to the manufactures, in my opinion. Isn't this what straw polls are all about in politics? I see the same thing here. Interesting and informative but not quite accurate. None the less, still informatiive.

 

[eborris]

Numbers are numbers and you can spin them just about anyway you want to fit your needs. However, I've attended quite a number of shows and without actually checking peoples id's, the age split shown here is about what I would expect. Granted not everyone who collects goes to shows nor did they vote in this poll , but I think the people that attend shows and the people that voted here gives us a good representative number.

 

[Eazy]

I turned 38 in August and had toy soldiers for my birthday. Fallschirmjagers!

Hmm

Yep we are all big kids whatever we might say to pretend otherwise.

 

[binder001]

Physically 56, emotionally about 13. Mentally, I'm still stuck in the era of dime store plastic soldiers. Still remember seeing my first MPC DUKW with a full compliment of fully equipped ring-hand troops at about age 7. That was about the age my dad got me an Ideal "Atomic Cannon".

By the way this old guy collects only matte finish miniatures. Shiny is for the car guys.

Gary

 

[jac28]

Physically 56, emotionally about 13. Mentally, I'm still stuck in the era of dime store plastic soldiers. Still remember seeing my first MPC DUKW with a full compliment of fully equipped ring-hand troops at about age 7. That was about the age my dad got me an Ideal "Atomic Cannon".

By the way this old guy collects only matte finish miniatures. Shiny is for the car guys.

Gary

Gary - That Ideal Atomic Cannon is one awesome toy! I wrote an article for Playset Magazine about it with photos I took of the one I now own. The box I have even has a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on it! It's a great example of 1950's - 60's toy making at it's best!

Jim

 

[wellington]

37 years old...


WELLINGTON

 

[maloyalo]

Looking at the results, the rough peak is about 55 years old. Which meant they were ten in 1963. I was 5 but remember seeing The Longest Day, The Great Escape, etc. That was also about the height of plastic soldiers & playsets, so I am surprised so many collect metal figures. I had thought most metal collectors were older and had those as a kid. Unless metal figures were still made then, and I just didn't know it. It seems now, that most just moved on from plastic to metal. I stayed with plastic, for different reasons I suppose, but I think the most important was that I was introduced to the Britains Swoppets, Herald and Timpo at 10.