Where’s everybody at? What happened? (1 Viewer)

mblair1977

mblair1977

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Jan 8, 2023
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I collected years ago, mostly WB, and there was a lot of eBay action and several busy forums. What happened to the hobby? The detail, painting, sculpting and scenery has all just improved over time, but there seems to be a lot less “collectors” out there. What do you think? {sm3}
 
The hobby is aging. Collectors are dying off at a higher rate than being replaced. I also think there are a lot out there who don't join forums.
Mark
 
marco55 said:
The hobby is aging. Collectors are dying off at a higher rate than being replaced. I also think there are a lot out there who don't join forums.
Mark
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I agree with you 100%. A lot of the younger crowd aren’t really into history either.
 
mblair1977 said:
Interesting! Which groups? I haven’t been able to find any active groups.
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All of the below are Facebook groups. Most are private that you have to request to join. They are well worth it and have lots of posts daily from members. There are also more than these that you can find under a simple search on Facebook, but definitely recommend these three.

William Britain Toy Soldier Collectors
John Jenkins Designs Collectors Group
King & Country Toy Soldier Collector Club
 
I don’t think it’s necessarily people don’t like forums, it’s that this hobby is aging and people have dropped off or out. I belong to a music forum for all kinds of music and there are thousands of active and participating members. The number of posts you see here in a day they probably do in an hour.
 
Not a problem for some - but I think you will find a fair few collectors have been priced out of the hobby :(
 
On the Forum front page near the bottom it tells you how many people are viewing the forum at present, as I write there are 232 visitors but only 11 are signed in members who are able to post on it and those kind of figures are pretty regular.
These other visitors may one day sign up and join in the forum discussions and contribute or continue to lurk in the background, the choice is theirs of course but a shame as I'm sure many would have much to contribute.
Not all forums will be in English of course, I remember members talking about forums in French and German and other European languages, so I'm sure there must be and are others such as in Malaysia as Andy of K&C and Chris Tay posted many times from there.
Not all cultures, have children played with Toy Soldiers as we all did as youngsters ourselves, in some playing with human shaped figures is frowned upon because of their religious concerns and of course in our own in recent times because of the Military aspect being frowned upon.
So finding fellow enthusiast and sharing the joy of collecting on forums is a pleasure on the whole, though you do get the odd wretch who just has to vent his spleen for whatever reason !
 
Well said!

I’m not sure at what age it started for me, but as far back as I can remember I’ve had some form of toy soldier. The little plastic green “army men” were all over the house and yard.

Now kids in that age range already have a cellphone and a tablet to entertain them.
 
1. Hobby is expensive.
2. Less and less young people are interested.
3. Toy soldier shows are either: going away, get consolidated, change to smaller venues.
4. Toy soldier shops are almost gone: how many in the USA...four/five? in a country of 331million people.
5. Hobby magazines are almost gone: down to one magazine.
6. Not to sound morbid but what do you think will happen when the current owners of toy soldier brands start to retire/move on?
7. I started the topic about forum members age: I was surprised that at 50 I am considered a younger member :)
 
All good points. Reality is best faced head on. At 53, I am also probably one of the younger collectors out there, yet I have an adult son who (with is wife) is an active RPGer who paints and collects those miniatures, and he still reads everything from Kenneth Roberts to CS Forrester so the future can't be all bad!

I have long since decided that all of my hobbies are in their post-Golden Age twilight:

1. Toy soldiers (toys, not military miniatures; I like British hollowcast)
2. Mid 20th century miniatures by Rose, Stadden, G&B, Imrie-Risely, Scheid, etc...
3. Tobacco pipes (try that with the Millennials!)
4. The novels of RF Delderfield, Evelyn Waugh, and any book by RM Barnes or the Funckens

Oh, I like drinking Rob Roys, too.

It could be worse, we could all be obsessed with this hobby and be in our twenties - imagine what it might shrink to by the time those folks have grey hair.

Cheer up and let's play with our little men and horses.
 
One thing that I’ve noticed is collectors hang on to more of their pieces than ever before. It’s hard to find popular pieces even from a couple of years ago. There used to be a lot more trading and selling as collectors moved on to new era’s or other brands etc…
 
mblair1977 said:
What happened to the hobby? The detail, painting, sculpting and scenery has all just improved over time, but there seems to be a lot less “collectors” out there. What do you think? {sm3}
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Check the nursing homes.

And Cemeteries.
 
Old Bill said:
Not a problem for some - but I think you will find a fair few collectors have been priced out of the hobby :(
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This is me, exactly. My enthusiasm for the hobby and all the wonderful things that are available continues unabated, but being retired and on a fixed income, the hobby prices are simply out of my reach at this point. Figures @ $50+, tanks and planes in excess of $350+ are just way too high. I can still look and ooh and aah but I just can't buy. Not to mention the space problem... -- Al
 
mblair1977 said:
Interesting! Which groups? I haven’t been able to find any active groups.
Click to expand...

Lo1863 said:
All of the below are Facebook groups. Most are private that you have to request to join. They are well worth it and have lots of posts daily from members. There are also more than these that you can find under a simple search on Facebook, but definitely recommend these three.

William Britain Toy Soldier Collectors
John Jenkins Designs Collectors Group
King & Country Toy Soldier Collector Club
Click to expand...

Another Facebook group is www.mytoysoldiersandme.com

Not sure about not finding any more groups on Facebook; a search on "toy soldiers" returns a number of hits, and if you drill down to any of the pages or others, Facebook starts offering suggestions for others to look at.

This topic comes back from time to time, though. It's really a matter of your individual perspective. As others have noted, the number of people who collect "collector's toys", as they are sometimes called is dwindling, that's true. But that's just one niche or segment of the broader hobby. If there are fewer people buying historical miniatures, there are many, many more who are interested in subjects like fantasy wargame figures. And they tend to paint their own, too. The same change is underway among those of us who paint our own toy soldiers and figures. There might not be as many new fans of Napoleonic French hussars, for example, but there are a lot of people painting Orcs and space marines. And many are outside the Anglosphere, so you might not be aware of them. So while tastes and subjects change, the hobby itself thrives.

Prost!
Brad
 
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