Toy Soldier Trends (1 Viewer)

[VIRIATO]

I am 41, started with matte but am growing a greater and greater passion towards those lovely glossy figures ( Imperial, Trophy, Tradition, Britains, Fusilier, Tommy Atkins, Little Legion,Hiriart,Dorset they all now have a small place in my small collection ). Guess how I got into gloss: I saw a large collection of glossy figures at a Portuguese dealer in Lisbon and there was no turning back, gloss is what I want right now. Glossy figures can be relatively realistic ( faces, proportions, equipment ), they do not all have to be Mignot's ( with all due respect to these wonderful traditional figures, that just do not make my grade, sorry ). But I also love Dorset, those naive, romantic toy soldiers with beautiful glossy colours... A little hard to explain.
Now, this would be a fine point for brick and mortar shops, watching toy soldiers live can change your views. But also, the above Lisbon dealer also deals on the internet ( I suppose your potential market grows tremendously ).
And finally I am very pleased that E-bay exists: it makes it easier for me to find older stuff, to renew my collection by selling what I can not keep and get room for other options, while it doesn't exclude my buying at the Lisbon dealer or other Internet dealers. Also it sometimes turns this hobby more affordable, if you're prone to some hunting around... But as I said, I buy on E--bay or out of it without thinking much about it, I just try to get what I like. I do admit that brick and mortar shops have to adapt to competition, but well, I am a little out of my league here ( the seller's view of things ).

 

[VIRIATO]

Plarsics kept things ticking over in the 1970's and 1980's. We must give Britains credit for their Deetail range which for most children of the 1970's were the introduction to toy soldiers. Airfix with their fantastic ranges were also very important.
Regards
Damian

Children of the 1970's? Include me. Deetail, Timpo and Airfix brought me into this.

 

[ucla1967]

I,m 35 and started out with deetail and airfix ,
For me personally I like glossy for pre ww 2 and matte
for ww 2 onwards. I wonder if the rise in matte figures
and K and C in particular has to do with their focus on
ww 2 .Locally their has been a real upsurge in interest
in both world wars in particular ,their are always very large
turn outs to anzac day parades [lots of kids aswell].
I think if brick and mortar stores die out the hobby will
be in real trouble.With out seeing these figures first hand
at a show or store the chances of looking for them on the net
must be greatly reduced.
You just cant beat seeing the figures on masse in person.

Rob,

My recollection is that prior to K & C's WWII figures you rarely saw anything from that period. Now we have major player like Frontline, Conte, Britains, etc. joining K & C. I also believe that Britains Premier line by Charles Biggs started the interest in WWI around the same time that K & C started up its WWII production. Both K & C and Fronline started new WWI lines this year. This WWI and WWII emphasis would probably not taken place without the switch to matte paint and non-traditional action poses.

 

[ucla1967]

Plarsics kept things ticking over in the 1970's and 1980's. We must give Britains credit for their Deetail range which for most children of the 1970's were the introduction to toy soldiers. Airfix with their fantastic ranges were also very important.
Regards
Damian

No question that you are right, Damian. Both Deetail and Airfix were the high-end of plastic toy soldiers during this nascent period for metal toy soldiers. However, most hobby purists have given short shrift to plastic vis-a-vis metal, so history has always been focused on what happened in metal. So, when refering to the start of "new" toy soldiers, Blenheim is widely accepted as responsible.

 

[VIRIATO]

I wrote a letter about this last year in Toy Soldier Collector. I agree the internet in general has undermined shows and bricks and mortar stores but please spare a thought for those of us living in remote places like SA and Westenr Australia. We don't have ready access to these real worl places and for us the internet has been a bit of a leveller. We all have access now.
Regards
Damian Clarke

Great point. I live in Portugal, feel just like you.

 

[VIRIATO]

On future trends, I sincerely hope places remain for both gloss and matte, for diversity. Personally I prefer matte for WWII and gloss for Victorian, WWI, ACW, Napoleonics, colonial, etc... Can not explain why, I just feel that way, maybe it's the uniforms. I have not been collecting WWII, but I think K&C is the absolute matte champ for this era and indeed rate their WWII stuff above all the rest of the K&C stuff ( although I have some great Napoleonics matte and rate the matte Crusades stuff very highly indeed, hard not to like it ). I am curious about what K&C could do in gloss, especially for those earlier, kind of more romantic toy soldier periods...

 

[damian]

I accept that Blenheim and the Britains tourist packs really got the " New Old Toy Soldier show on the road. I am justlu nostalgic about Britains Deetail as a 10 year old I would save all my pocket money and during my holidays my mother would drive me to Pinetown about 20 minutes out of Durban to a shop called the Toy Soldier to pick out some Deetail figiures, which I still have to this day. I still resent the fact that I was only allowed to buy the Eyes Right Confederate canon and not the Limber as well and the opposing Union canon and Limber . The canon cost six rand and teh limber 12 rand. My mother felt that this was very expensive. I mean it makes you want to cry when you see these sets being autcioned toady for several hundred pounds

Regards
Damian

 

[maloyalo]

The deetail figures came just at the end of my childhood collecting & I only got a few knights & turks in maybe 71?. It is amazing how long some of those deetail series have lasted. Some are still going I guess (I haven't followed them lately) after 35 years. Those metal bases on deetail and the new metal figures seemed to come at the same time. I didn't like the metal bases myself, but more recently collected many different series anyway for army building & my kids. That is when I finally appreciated the metal bases. Nothing compares to their ability to conduct operations on carpets, beds, lincoln logs, etc.

With metal soldiers soldiers in general, I noticed the split into: soldiers that matched old more stylized ones and more realistic. I read here much on matte/gloss & wonder if that is related to pose styles or just painting alone. Plastic had different splits, but I have not thought much about it. There are realistic ones and then more carticature-like or fantastic. Another is painted/unpainted.

Although I definately lean towards realism, sometimes my son was attracted to the most goofy series. He could set up britains, but instead plays with Lido knights! (look they fell under a steamroller). And I too sometimes find a simple style appealing. Like a Thomas mtd Roman, in silver.

Another split is Collector model and Toy, with some grey areas probably. I can't explain why, but I never have been drawn to collector models. I see the quality of the work & appreciate it...but for the most part only get things that are or were toys. Some of that is probably that I had kids to play with them, but there is something else, I can't put my finger on.

 

[vandilay]

Rob,

My recollection is that prior to K & C's WWII figures you rarely saw anything from that period. Now we have major player like Frontline, Conte, Britains, etc. joining K & C. I also believe that Britains Premier line by Charles Biggs started the interest in WWI around the same time that K & C started up its WWII production. Both K & C and Fronline started new WWI lines this year. This WWI and WWII emphasis would probably not taken place without the switch to matte paint and non-traditional action poses.

Hi Mike
I,m a big fan of the premier line [although it was a little heavy on artillery pieces and light on infantry ] I feel ww 1 works realy well in gloss,but
cant imagine buying glossy ww 2 figures.
It does apperar to me now [and i could be way of base] with the surge
in ww 2 production other earlier conflicts seem to be getting neglected
a little,
Hopefully their is still the interest their and companys will take a
good look at zulu wars/boer war and the victorian wars which all
work so well in gloss.
cheers Rob

 

[ucla1967]

I have K & C BoB and Frontline WWII sets in matte in my collection, but I also have traditional styled glossy Hiriarts from WWII. I would have to wait a long time to have an Italian CV33 light tank, Finnish Infantry, Kreigsmarine U-Boaters, 13th Demi-Brigade of the FFL in Syria, German Prinz Eugen SS Mountain Division, Churchill and the Royal Navy, DeGaulle and the Liberation of Paris, German Infantry in long coats, Japanese Sailors with Adm. Yamamato, etc.

 

[vandilay]

I,ve never seen Hiart figures in person ,or glossy ww 2 stuff for that matter
[another disadvantage of not getting to see a range of manufacturers in a store]
I guess you should never say never .But ww 2 is the one area I realy like
the matte figures.

 

[ucla1967]

I,ve never seen Hiart figures in person ,or glossy ww 2 stuff for that matter
[another disadvantage of not getting to see a range of manufacturers in a store]
I guess you should never say never .But ww 2 is the one area I realy like
the matte figures.

Rob,

If you want to take a look at some Hiriart sets, there is an Italian dealer who must have photos of at least 100 sets on his website www.saimextoys.it. On the left side you will find Hiriart, click on that, then countries come up for you to choose from. In the English version, click on a country, then click on the three dashes under the country name to see the sets from that country. You can click on the photo to make it larger.

 

[ucla1967]

I read an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times business section about an old fashion hobby shop's travails. It was run by the same owner for 30 years in the same location; he has no web site. The shop sold model kits and so on, but no toy soldiers. The owner has seen a drastic drop off in his business; it peaked in the early 1980s. Most of his customers are men in their 50s. He seldom sees children anymore. The youngsters today have so much more to chose from than model kits or toy soldiers. Our only hope for the future of the toy soldier world is that King & Country has generated interest in the hobby in a whole new generation of collectors.

 

[kilted vampire]

I read an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times business section about an old fashion hobby shop's travails. It was run by the same owner for 30 years in the same location; he has no web site. The shop sold model kits and so on, but no toy soldiers. The owner has seen a drastic drop off in his business; it peaked in the early 1980s. Most of his customers are men in their 50s. He seldom sees children anymore. The youngsters today have so much more to chose from than model kits or toy soldiers. Our only hope for the future of the toy soldier world is that King & Country has generated interest in the hobby in a whole new generation of collectors.

I cheat at train meets and shows. Quite often I will see a polite child with a parent or grand parent and give the kid a car or sometimes an engine that I just feel like giving to them. I hope that may encourage them but just once in a while it is nice to practise random acts of kindness. I heard one young man sleeps with the locomotive I gave him. I hope that they remember the nice man at the show and think about the hobby.

 

[modwalls]

I read an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times business section about an old fashion hobby shop's travails. It was run by the same owner for 30 years in the same location; he has no web site. The shop sold model kits and so on, but no toy soldiers. The owner has seen a drastic drop off in his business; it peaked in the early 1980s. Most of his customers are men in their 50s. He seldom sees children anymore. The youngsters today have so much more to chose from than model kits or toy soldiers. Our only hope for the future of the toy soldier world is that King & Country has generated interest in the hobby in a whole new generation of collectors.

The only hope for the future is, these metal companies start putting out their products in plastic. Don't forget, most of us were drawn back into this Hobby from our plastic soldier days. I would love to see all the major metal companies do their products in plastic. How can a young boy afford these metal figures. If the toy soldier companies were really serious about picking up a new generation of toy soldier collectors, they would do this. I see Conte does it, some have done it and gone back to metal. Their are so many different plastics now, you would think it could be done. But I'm sure it's a very costly endeavour, and would scare away some. But in order for this Hobby to stay strong, you need to bring in a new younger generation of collector. Mike

 

[maloyalo]

I read an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times business section about an old fashion hobby shop's travails. It was run by the same owner for 30 years in the same location; he has no web site. The shop sold model kits and so on, but no toy soldiers. The owner has seen a drastic drop off in his business; it peaked in the early 1980s. Most of his customers are men in their 50s. He seldom sees children anymore. The youngsters today have so much more to chose from than model kits or toy soldiers. Our only hope for the future of the toy soldier world is that King & Country has generated interest in the hobby in a whole new generation of collectors.

I don't think the future of that interest has much to do with any one particular company. Even great companies fold, when people stop buying their product. The making and collecting of toy soldiers, once it became affordable to common people, taps a basic human instinct i believe. That being to recreate life in model/toy form. It has actually exsisted at least since recorded history, but usually associated with very wealthy people, like kings and pharoahs. I think it will remain, unless computer generation satisfys that basic desire, and it is available thru out humanity. At that point it might become anacronistic and rare, like people who hunt with crossbows, or practice swordfighting, etc.

 

[Warrior]

One of my biggest model kits suppliers (VLS Corp) sold out to Squadron out of Texas due to a steady decline in sales over the past few years. I have spoken with numerous model kit collectors who tell me that end of the hobby has gone south because people do not have the free time they used to in order to build model kits.

Funny thing is several I spoke with told me the advent of forums on the internet has killed the kit business too; far too many modelers spend most of their free time chatting on the internet and not enough time building kits.

I feel badly when I hear of a mom and pop store having a tough go of it; bottom line is without a website, I don't see how you can make a go of it. One of the more well known toy soldier dealers in the industry has no website or mail order business, but he goes to loads of shows, so there you go. I've said it a million times, the shows are huge, you have a captive audience of collectors who are looking to spend their money at shows.

Sorry Mike, plastic is not the way to go. Andy had given some thought several years ago to making a playsets with plastic figures in it, but scrapped the idea due to the cost. If Andy doesn't buy into something, that tells you something as he has been on the cutting edge of the hobby for quite some time. When I started in the business eight years ago, plastic was strong, especially original and reissue Marx; it is my feeling that market is slowly going south.

Mr Conte revived plastic when he burst onto the scene several years ago; he found out pretty quickly how expensive the production of plastic is. The costs are staggering.He has gone over to almost all metal; at this point in time, metal is where it's at. I tip my cap to TSSD and Ron Barszo for producing plastic figures and playsets to go along with them, both are true credits to the hobby.

The same dealer I spoke of earlier made his reputation in plastic sales and has told people for long time he will never give up the plastic end of the business, that is where his customer base is. In the past four months, he has added Britains, ONTC and Blackhawk, so who is he kidding. The production and sales of metal toy soldiers is what is driving the hobby at this point......................

 

[sceic2]

Change occurs without regard to emotion, customs, or any other understandable reason. Hobbies change as do people as does life. It is sad sometimes that these changes result in a loss of something that some of us find has some value but never the less change happens. I am almost certain that at some point in the future our children and grandchildren will all be lamenting the loss of video games. They too will become old and out of touch with the in-crowd of the moment. Something new will replace them too.

Just think of all the changes that have made simple things like your grandma' recipe for home made what ever no longer exist because the newer generation just did not care to cook her way. Think of all of the changes that have been made since you were born. My goodness, the internet did not exist as a market place 20 years ago. It too will change and some will miss it too. There is already tech talk about replacing the existing internet with a new and better something else.

I do remember in the 1950's going to my hometown hobby store and being completely captured by all of the models, trains, and other boy toys. Owl Hobby in Rapid City, S.D. is long gone, but not in my memory. Its all just a part of life we must either accept or take the effort to make the change different. If we don't make the effort, who will. And why should we make the effort. Maybe the local hobby store is not what we really want. Who knows.

 

[ucla1967]

I have often wondered how many toy soldier collectors there really are out there in the world. Generally speaking, it seems to be a hobby found in western culture. It is probably many times smaller than the train collector world. One way to estimate its size would be to get our hands on the subscription base of the three hobby magazines: Toy Soldier & Model Figure, Toy Soldier Collector, and Old Toy Soldier. If we took, say, 75% of the subscription base of each and added them together, we might get a rough idea of the hobby's size. This is based on the assumption that most serious collectors subscribe to at least one or even two of these publications. Some collectors don't subscribe to any of these magazines and they are ipso facto not serious collectors. The last comment was meant to be provacative.

 

[ucla1967]

I cheat at train meets and shows. Quite often I will see a polite child with a parent or grand parent and give the kid a car or sometimes an engine that I just feel like giving to them. I hope that may encourage them but just once in a while it is nice to practise random acts of kindness. I heard one young man sleeps with the locomotive I gave him. I hope that they remember the nice man at the show and think about the hobby.

I have a box of Toy Soldier of San Diego's plastic American GIs in bags. At the next West Coaster, I am going to give a bag to each child (Mike, I'll make an exception for you if you want one) who comes into my room.