I really believe this is a rivet counter vs nostalgia discussion. The new breed of collector ,coming from scale plastics, that they would accurately detail, paint and mount in realistic dioramas have found that the world of toy soldiers can give them instant gratification, without all the hard work ,that in the past ,required so much time, talent and effort to make a piece of plastic look real. The old time collector, as we look at our figures, over the years, could have cared less, if the different mfg. did not match up in scale, size or paint job. It was the uniqueness of each piece, each mfg. that made us buy them. As new blood enters the hobby, is was inevitable that there would be a culture clash. It has pushed the new mfg. to offer more realistic models and figures to cater to the new demands, as our old time mfg. of the past ,one after another close their doors. Some say that this new realism has no increased cost to it.........$300 Figarti Tiger, $200 K/C Sherman, $200 K/C Command Halftrack, HB raising rates because of adding more details to new models and then there is the cost of the constant verbal clashing of " that model is good enough, as is ",vs "it is not accurate enough"...And then ,there is the "how does H mfg. match up to K mfg..?." How different were the old Britains, Mignots, Trophy, Steadfast, next to each other and we never cared about mixing them in the same display.. Pat's and so many other's collections say things like ecclectic, unique, shiny, toylike, childhood, and fun. I am sure that others can add even more sentiments. I am just afraid that the new collections will soon say highly realistic, very accurate, but in the end, they will all look the same........Michael
