Military collectors that haven't a clue...

tosborne3 · Post by **tosborne3** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:22 am

, Hello all. The reason I'm posting this is that its become clear to me that quite a few people dont know about x/d....Weird huh? Well, my point is that my wife and I have been going to the columbus toy shows for the last few years and no one has any x/d, and when asked about it they "havent a clue." So my wife and I are going to educate them on the finer things in life..ie, X/D!!!... This really bothers me that x/d isn't as well known as other lines of collectibles. Take into consideration that the columbus toy show is a military toy and collectibles show???? If this is the fact, why don't any of the dealers selling toys know about x/d? Most of them have never even heard of 21st Century toys????? Awhile back I sold a bunch of old gi joe spare parts to two dealers at the columbus toy show. They came to my house and when they seen my collection of x/d they were blown away. They had never seen anything like it before.

I found this very strange but most of the dealers at the toy shows are only selling gi joe, star wars, etc. So my wife and I are going to take a bunch of my x/d figures to the toy shows this year to educate people on extreme detail. I'm not going to sell my figures, but I'm going to show them off. I am an x/daholic and proud of it. If there's anybody on the forum from columbus I would suggest they do the same when they attend the toy shows. We must spread the love my friends. Thanks to all for listening.

Threetoughtrucks · Post by **Threetoughtrucks** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:18 am

Every 1/1 MV show I attend there are always a few dealers with toys, usually 1/18 but some smaller scales and usually at least one 21C 1/6 Stuart with a plain silly inflated price on the Stuart. I think it's just an attraction for them to sell 1/18 and 1/32 stuff, and the stuff is selling.

The word is definately out in the 1/1 MV world.

TTT

tosborne3 · Post by **tosborne3** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:38 am

That's cool, I wish that was the case here in Columbus.

exether_mega · Post by **exether_mega** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:37 am

That's the same here in Belgium. A lot of friends were amazed with my collection and some are now starting their own.

21st Century are not well known and not at all in shows. We don't have any distributor too so we have to purchase our goodies in the US (the only distributor I know are in Germany and in the Netherland but prices are far too much expensive).

grunt1 · Post by **grunt1** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:02 pm

Have to agree. Went to a local military toy show in March (or so) of last year and of the thirty booths not a single one had any XD, at all..... Or really any of 21C's 32x line either.

Two booths had a good selection of then current FoV.

Most were the traditional lead/steel figures and the Brittians/King and Country type items.

I think to the average attendee, the idea of purchasing a 1:18 Tiger with crew for same price as 3 1:32 metal figures would have been perceived as a helluva deal..

The other thing I noticed about the show was that at least two manufacturer's reps were also present to show new un-produced items and gauge interest. So a side effect might be them taking feedback home about how cool everyone thought the big detailed plastic stuff was.. and potentially making some of their own.

This pretty much how I perceive the 1:72 market went from interesting to the total release-fest it is now..

tosborne3 · Post by **tosborne3** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:22 pm

Thats so crazy,

You would think that the ongoing interest in old 80s gi joes would be enough to get people excited about x/d and everything else 21st makes. This really shows how out of touch with reality toy-pirates, oh I mean toy venders are at some of these shows.

Some of the guys I met at the Columbus (toy-soldier) show had never even seen the BBI stuff. I wonder how long they have been living under that rock.

MiG29K · Post by **MiG29K** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:52 pm

Maybe it's hard to get over the Kungfu Grip?

Dubar1 · Post by **Dubar1** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:30 am

The last 3 train shows I've been to had vendors selling 1/18 planes and tanks, something I hadn't seen before. Better late than never!!!

Threetoughtrucks · Post by **Threetoughtrucks** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:47 am

Maybe the whole problem is that you guys are looking at the wrong market. We really don't consider them as "toys"...do we?.

As I said, we are seeing 1/18 and 1/32 advertise in 1/1 MV magazines, we see them at MV shows. That is our market....collectors of military stuff.

Anybody who collects anything military would love a 1/1 Sherman or a Tiger but how many of us are going to get one? The guy from New Jersey who just bought a 1/1 T-34 mocked up as a Tiger and a couple of "big bucks" guys are the only guys who are buying 1/1 tanks but a 1/6 or 1/18 tank is within the reach of everyone. Scales get mixed but the common thread is military. I mean, any serious collector has at least a 1/6 21C Stuart and their main collection of XD and they look at 1/32 for things not yet made in 1/18. I'll look everywhere, in any scale, from 1/1 to 1/144 for models I like.

Sure these things are marketed as toys but maybe our real hope is limited production runs marketed to us, not mass produced to the kid toy smashing public.

TTT

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:28 pm

Hi,
I think I know why you dont see much XD at Toy Shows. The reason has to do with space. We go to only one show a year in New Jersey and have to rent a van just to accomodate all the stuff we bring. For us to pack it with oversized boxes typical of an XD plane or vehicle, defeats the purpose of why we attend. We try to bring as much variety as possible while still trying to make a few dollars.

Have you seen the size of the latest 1:18 Avenger from 21st Century Toys? Its humongous, Sure, maybe we could bring a few to the Show, but we're banking on turn and higher margin items, not selling a few low-priced toys that can be had at WalMart for a song in the clearance aisle.

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

tosborne3 · Post by **tosborne3** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:14 pm

Yeah, I do agree with both, Threetoughtrucks & Lightning2000, I guess I never really put those factors into it. It's still a shame though that these beautiful products aren't as well known as some others.

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:47 pm

Hi,
One last point. When people go to Walmart, they have a price in mind for an XD item, especially after the holidays when merchandise is being cleared out. Now, if an online seller or brick-and-mortar hobby shop tries to sell these things at a Show, immediately someone will come up to him and want to know why he cant sell the items at those same Walmart prices. Obviously, we dont pay the same sheet cost as a Walmart so for us to sell it at a Walmart price, we're basically taking a loss. Now, who in his right mind is going to sell stuff at a loss unless they have tons of inventory?

I'm afraid you cant have it both ways...

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

BadCatMatt · Post by **BadCatMatt** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:13 pm

In the past, we had a booth at airshows during the summer months. In fact, we had a booth before we opened our online store. I was always surprised how poorly 1:18 sold at these airshows. If they were taken out of the box and displayed nicely, they would attract a lot of attention but few people would be willing to fork over the unplanned $60, then have to lug the plane around all day (of course, we always offered to hold it for them until they were leaving). Nevertheless, 1:18 was a real dog at the shows while cheap $2 junk toys sold like hotcakes all weekend long. However, at $2 each it was tough to generate enough volume to make it worth while. If we cleared $200 from a weekend show, we were doing pretty good.

Online was another story for 1:18, of course.

I've spoken to other dealers about their show experience with 1:18 and some have had dramatic success. Maybe we weren't doing something right.