condition and character

[Onslaught Six]

The catalyst for this thread was the original Ghost In The Shell manga I picked up at Half-Price Books in Monroeville over the weekend. The place is literally what it says on the tin--everything is half the cover price. (Except comics, which are totally cheaper!) The inside of it is in fine condition but the cover's quite a bit beat up. It looks like a bad college textbook. But this thing is hard to find, and it's definitely readable--the cover's just not perfect. But I don't mind because, like one of my friends said--it's got character. It's an individual book. It's "my" book now. I'm the only one with a copy exactly like this!

I seriously think the book's relative rarity is part of why I grabbed it. (Also I paid $12 for it, so yeah.) I mean, for something so hard to find and out of print, it's going to be difficult to find a mint copy for less than possibly the original retail--of which I totally paid only half. In that respect, it's a tradeoff--in a lot of cases, I'd rather have something that's not in the best condition for less money than pay more for something in pristine condition. That's not to say I don't care about the condition of most of my stuff, mind. I'd like everything to ideally stay in the same condition I bought it in.

Another similar thing is NES games. I collect them (because I still play them, especially on my new FC Twin) but there's a couple I have where the labels are faded or slightly ripped or even a few that have someone's name scribbled on the cart in Sharpie from twenty years ago. But I'd rather pay $5 for a shitty copy of Mega Man than $30 or $40 for a new one, you know? Because the important part of that is 'playing Mega Man.' Even with the advent of emulators and stuff, I still like to play the original carts, because hey, why not?

I suppose I'm the same way with vintage toys, too. I bought a G1 Hoist recently for $3 at a toy show. Because he was $3, and Hoist. He's missing his fists and his launcher and his paint is chipping, but he was $3! I wasn't going to spend that $3 anywhere else.

[BWprowl]

I suppose I'm the same way with vintage toys, too. I bought a G1 Hoist recently for $3 at a toy show. Because he was $3, and Hoist. He's missing his fists and his launcher and his paint is chipping, but he was $3! I wasn't going to spend that $3 anywhere else.

Dude, you spent unimportant, minimal, vintage toy-show money on *Hoist*?

[Dominic]

...On reflection, I really don't think I spend enough money on Transformers to be called a "collector". I'm just a fan.

Yeah, money spent is not an issue. My skip rate is must about 100% now. And, there are plenty of toys I am skipping for money reasons, (mostly imports and the like). But, I do not consider myself less a fan for it.

Being a collector is similar. I set my screens high. But, I still have a collection that I seek to expand.

And for the time, it was pretty cheap. Of course, nowadays, I could get a complete one for about fifty bucks thanks to the reissue, but whatever.

I am also price wary. But, I am not price motivated. Even if a toy is cheap, I am going to skip it if it is missing pieces. (I would rather save the money and put it towards something I might actually display.) And, I would rather spend the extra money to get a better copy, even if it (realistically) means having fewer toys.

I suppose I'm the same way with vintage toys, too. I bought a G1 Hoist recently for $3 at a toy show. Because he was $3, and Hoist. He's missing his fists and his launcher and his paint is chipping, but he was $3! I wasn't going to spend that $3 anywhere else.

$3 is a bottle of Mountain Dew, or the tip at the Indian place that I really cannot afford to eat at as often as I might like.

And, that Hoist is in terrible condition. That is what I do not understand about "character" or buying because something is cheap.

Others, like Night Viper and TM Airazor...well like I said, the less I remember, the better.

Failed custom projects are a learning experience though. Take that much away from it.

Most of my stuff wound up getting sold at garage sales with the thought that I would eventually lose interest in toys. Who knew?

I made clear to my parents, very early, that my toys were mine. Of course, sloppy organization in my teens led to some accidental sales. My childhood Soundwave and several of the tapes were actually in pretty good shape. Too bad I forgot they were in that box of stuff I brought to the local comic shop.

But this thing is hard to find, and it's definitely readable--the cover's just not perfect. But I don't mind because, like one of my friends said--it's got character. It's an individual book. It's "my" book now. I'm the only one with a copy exactly like this!

I can see being more forgiving on a rare item. But, I would still prefer that my copy not have so much of what is politely called "character".

Frankly, right now I'm living the dream.

That is kind of a different question. But, yeah, not all of us collector/fan types are retreating into the past. The hobby is good now, and nicely compliments the present.


Dom
-needs to purge the old collection again.

[Gomess]

And, there are plenty of toys I am skipping for money reasons, (mostly imports and the like). But, I do not consider myself less a fan for it.

I don't consider myself "less of a fan", just "not a collector". I like, but I don't collect.

[Dominic]

I addressed the collector question a bit further down.

[Onslaught Six]

I suppose I'm the same way with vintage toys, too. I bought a G1 Hoist recently for $3 at a toy show. Because he was $3, and Hoist. He's missing his fists and his launcher and his paint is chipping, but he was $3! I wasn't going to spend that $3 anywhere else.

Dude, you spent unimportant, minimal, vintage toy-show money on *Hoist*?

Yeah! Hoist sucks. That's why I got him.

I am also price wary. But, I am not price motivated. Even if a toy is cheap, I am going to skip it if it is missing pieces. (I would rather save the money and put it towards something I might actually display.) And, I would rather spend the extra money to get a better copy, even if it (realistically) means having fewer toys.

It's a weird thing, I guess. Hoist is actually semi-displayable, despite missing fists and weapons. (He can shuffle to the back somewhere.) Whereas, say, my Terradive is broken in half. He can't be displayed, he's...well, broken in half. I wouldn't buy a broken in half Hoist.

$3 is a bottle of Mountain Dew, or the tip at the Indian place that I really cannot afford to eat at as often as I might like.

Damn, dude! Here you can get two bottles of the Dew for $2. (When you buy two.) And that's if you're at an overpriced convenience store. Glad I work in a small city.

And, that Hoist is in terrible condition. That is what I do not understand about "character" or buying because something is cheap.

I dunno, it's this mentality I have. I buy cheap things because I like having lots of things. A damaged Hoist is better than no Hoist, I guess, to me, whereas you'd rather wait and save up to get a more expensive Hoist. (Part of me likes the idea of Hoist being beat up though.)

I can see being more forgiving on a rare item. But, I would still prefer that my copy not have so much of what is politely called "character".

I've decided I'll take some pics of this book just to show exactly what I'm dealing with here. In any case, it's long been out of print so finding it for less than two or three times its original retail is probably difficult. Incidentally, I feel better about doing this for books or DVDs (in terms of the cases, not the actual discs) than I do toys.

[Dominic]

Hoist is a great character.

Damn, dude! Here you can get two bottles of the Dew for $2. (When you buy two.) And that's if you're at an overpriced convenience store. Glad I work in a small city.

In some places, Dew is $2 for 2 bottles. But, in other places around here, it is the better part of $2 for a single bottle. At BC00, I was struck by how many people were complaining about the prices of soda in the convention center, when those prices were normal for the corner store near home. Convention center prices are in the $3 range.

I've decided I'll take some pics of this book just to show exactly what I'm dealing with here. In any case, it's long been out of print so finding it for less than two or three times its original retail is probably difficult. Incidentally, I feel better about doing this for books or DVDs (in terms of the cases, not the actual discs) than I do toys.

In theory, I can get behind this. But, with printed matter, the product (content) is inherently bound to the package (the book itself), so problems with the book could impact the content. And, yeah, I will exceptions for rare items.


Dom
-happily bought a used copy of "Achtung Panzer!" a few years back.

[Shockwave]

But, with printed matter, the product (content) is inherently bound to the package (the book itself), so problems with the book could impact the content. And, yeah, I will exceptions for rare items.

No it isn't. This why people say "don't judge a book by it's cover". Because the cover of the book could be beat up to hell and back, but if all the pages are there and whole you can read it and thus it's content is intact and unaffected. Now you COULD be right if said book suffered something like a forklift going through it, but barring something extreme like that I call bunk.

[BWprowl]

All this talk of 'character' with well-worn printed media got me curious; as a guy with a rather large amount of manga, I skimmed over it wondering if I had any that would fit that definition. Now frankly, I'm more like Dom when it comes to the condition of these things. I bought a whole new copy of Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition vol. 1 because my old copy had been loaned out so much and read over so many times that it's omnibus-huge spine had been creased in several areas, and the whole thing was just worn out. And dammit, I wanted a spiffy, nice-looking, full set of Gunsmith Cats manga! I also need to go out and replace one of my volumes of Negima, since I recently discovered the spine on one split, and that just won't do (though my copy of vol. 5 has some tearing on one page that I patched up with tape, which oddly doesn't bother me much). Anyway, I did eventually come across what may be an example of what we're talking about: my copy of Tsukihime vol. 1. Now, I bought this thing 'new' at a Barnes & Noble, but it's integral to the story that it had clearly been there a while when I found it. The covers were loosened up, and the whole thing was just floppier than a crisp new volume, the pages were actually a touch yellow, and the ink inside had some vague blurring. But you have no idea how excited I was when I found that thing! I had just gone full-crazy for Melty Blood at the time, not even aware that the series it was based on was called Tsukihime, when I pull this weird, old-looking manga off the shelf and there's Arcueid looking at me! It just seemed so arcane- it was a clearly old, languishing volume from some publisher I'd never even heard of, but it was the series that spawned Melty Blood! I had to have it, and the weird 'old-ness' about it just made it seem more special and interesting, I guess.

I also almost bought a somewhat battered copy of Yu-Gi-Oh vol 1 once, even though I technically already own one, because it was Viz's first run, 'uncut' version (later printings toned down some sexually suggestive dialogue, and less majorly, changed the color of the cover's background from black to white). Ended up not getting it though, since I had to budget my manga buying more carefully at the time (I don't buy nearly as much now as I used to).

[Onslaught Six]

Aaaaand I didn't take pics last night. But I did get Duke Nukem Forever! And the Dreamcast Collection, used, for $20, which is $10 less than if I bought Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure individually on XBLA.