I SMOKED A JOINT AND CAME TO WRITE ABOUT STATUES

In fact, I was writing in my Portuguese blog first but am still under effect of marijuana. I quite like to write in this state, it’s one of the greatest pleasures of my limited life. I think we, collectors have a very specific type of consumerism, we buy mass produced pieces as if it was art. We give up of one of the rarest commodities in the world and in everyone’s life that is the amount of space to live, to stock those products, that most people sees as strange, ridiculous or childish. And we pay a high price for this, much higher than the cost of production, especially with the market overcrowded with the most expensive capital, human capital, due to the change of traditional hand sculpted method to digital, the higher offer tends to lower the price of the service. Also because of the multiplication of digital artists and the blind eye media industry is giving to their intellectual properties in the statues market, the number of independent non-licensed publishers is multiplying, proving the market is expanding and there is more public to the segment than imagined. A public with high acquisitive power. Wait, I’ll put more Coke and smoke a cigarette an put List 6 in Spotify since I finished hearing The Bends from Radiohead.

“[22:47, 12/14/2018] Mário Barros: Quer ver um filme de zumbi realista. Assista "Extermínio". Foi o mais realista que eu vi, você pode gostar.”

22h48. This (above) was me suggesting my friend (with whom I smoked the joint) to watch 28 Days Later since is the most realistic zombie movie I’ve ever saw and because he had told me he didn’t watch zombie movies because were too unreal. I don’t know if it’ll work, I guess not, most people watch just what they want not suggestions from other people. This let me wondering why people who buy figures asks the community what figure to buy. To me it is a so personal matter it need to fits so exactly my taste that I accept no suggestions whatsoever. It doesn’t even make sense to me. Oh, I need to put the sound.

23h23. I had to go downstairs the apartment building I live to take some wine bottles to my mother and the neighbors gathering around the swimming pool. I live in Brazil. Yet I’m back and coming back to my theme, many of who answers these polls if I can call this way will not even buy the said figures. I say it because one time or another I myself do that. Give my opinion about a figure I’ll never buy. If somebody comes to ask about which Batman Sanity version to choose, I’ll gladly say the painted version because I think it to need a lot more handwork to do, the characters and the scene is more distinguishable understandable and because the great accomplishment of the piece is to gather so many characters in so constraint space harmoniously. But I’ll never buy it. It is way beyond my means (money and space). One just wonders what passes in the mind of the ones who say, “Get both”. I think it’s irony most of the cases. I’m starting to feel hungry. I’ll go smoke a cigarette to send it away since to eat always gives me sleepiness. And I want to write at least one Word page for it to be considered a post by my standards. Oh, and I didn’t put List 6, put a remix album from Radiohead whose name is too complex for me do write down here, especially under these conditions.

23h45. I will change the music. No, I won’t. Sounds like ambient electronic now. If this genre even exists. I finished my collection; to be honest I surpassed that point and bought a statue I don’t really want, Blitzway Vito Corleone. I found it to be the most perfect portrait I’ve ever seen but this isn’t enough to give me pleasure to have him in my collection. I think I’ll resell it. Hope it capitalizes once sold out and sell it. I never saw most of my statues because they’re on the basement of my brother’s in US and because they’re yet to be delivered due to a consumerist surge I had or because there were simply too many statues I deeply desired launched this year and the year before. Statues I really want to have in my collection. Statues that are not an act of pure impulse (like Corleone) but of carefully consideration and bonding. Most females. Since Red Sonja Queen of Scavengers, Sideshow really amped the game regarding female statues, producing some of the best pieces the market have seen. Several enchanted me. Four to be more precise. Here they are:

My most beloved statues? Are four as well.

I really hope the painting of Harley Quinn to be on par with the prototype, this is paramount for it to shine and succeed as a piece for me. More than the others. Specifically the unmasked portrait. If I find it non-acceptable when the production pics are released I will promptly cancel it. The positioning of the eyes of Wonder Woman is another essential detail that can destroy the figure to me. I saw some cockeyed EX portraits from Rebel Terminator that left me worried, I didn’t cancel it because I will display it with the usual damaged head. Well, how do the figures in the basement of my brother arrive here? Well when he travels to visit us or when my mother and I go visit him. Now with this rule of just one luggage for person it became even harder, even my brother having three kids. Thank god Sideshow lists the approximate size of its figures so I will be able to pass them to the architect who will plan my man-cave in February so she can take into account all of my collection. Although I said I finished my collecting, I’ll ask her to leave the space to two or three more figures, since nobody knows what tomorrow’s SDCC will bring. All I know is that every statue that arrives in Brazil stays in my collection since I throw the boxes away and there’s no way I can compete with people that ship their pieces from US. Plus, I tend to create a connection with them, they give me a sense of familiarity that I like. I always dreamt to display them properly, to have my magical fantastic room, unique, beautiful to me, friendly to me, that represents who I am. What I like and love. And the architect, or so I hope, will find a way to make it harmonious and cool (and creative, if possible). I spend 95% of my time (minimum), inside my room, I think it’s fair I transform it in the best place for me to be. I don’t mind no one else (well, I’m dating a girl I don’t know yet where it will lead but there’s one thing that I need to be aware about: the TV must be viewed from the bed for her to watch). I’m trying to like this girl and I feel I am getting attached to her, it’s the first girl I date in ten years, since my ex-wife. Loneliness has been my companion since then. I’m 41, she’s 19 have a slim body just the way I like, it’s a very hard to reach person, I have a lot of work to do to build affection on her. But if she’s giving a chance to a guy with my age is because something she saw in me. I don’t know what to be honest. It’s not the money because I don’t have any. All of my money is received and controlled by my mother. My credit card (which I’m not allowed to carry almost never) stays with her and he handles me the money I need when eventually I go out somewhere. Lucky me internet shopping doesn’t require the physical card, just the info on it otherwise it would be goodbye collecting a long time ago since my mother hates the figures. She swallow them as a bitter pill and I promised that by the end of March there will be no mores expenses in this regard. At least for a good amount of time if the architect finds a way to put some empty space in my room. Otherwise I’m pretty satisfied with what I have, not too many, not too much. Enough for me. And they will bring and keep bringing me the joy just like the first day with the aid of familiarity. Why want more? I know the answer: the urge never goes away and fantastic pieces are sure to appear. If I were to stop collecting for real, I would unsubscribe the Sideshow newsletter and stop visiting collectors groups. Avoid people and places that induces me to consume my “drug” of preference. It’s on the Narcotic Anonym’s textbook that saved me from the heavy stuff. So I’m aware I’m venturing myself through dangerous venues to my addiction but for now I believe I can help myself. I’m on the denial state as addicts call it. Thinking I can control the habit. Vito Corleone already proved me wrong. I shouldn’t buy him. But as I said on an earlier post it was 30% off using a trick to apply the discount for preorders which is not allowed by the shop. But I am Brazilian, so is my character, and I use the glitch on the system to my favor. I don’t know if they will charge me later, if they do, I’m screwed because I ordered Batman Beyond White Version, Sideshow new trinity Superman and Corleone among some smaller figures using this very trick, none of them available yet, amassing a total discount of over 500 USD. If the bill arrives to me I don’t know what to do, how my mother will react, though I said her about the trick and the possibility of it not work. It doesn’t matter, she’ll be completely enraged with me the same way. Hey, I wrote more than one page already. In fact I’m on the third page. Will finish with my most WTF piece. Thank you for reading, be you who you are. Sorry for my broken English. It was a pleasure to write about statues mildly stoned. Now, prepare the images, revise the text, post it, eat and sleep. First and foremost Coke and cigarette! Lol.

3h53. My mom came out drunk from the wine and talked to me since the moment she arrived. Was a nice conversation that only I will remember, she was too drunk and I presume will have a huge hangover later on. I don’t know if I have the courage to revise this now, think I’ll go to sleep as well. And eat. Ate nothing until now.

WHY IS SO DIFFICULT TO QUIT COLLECTING?

I’ve been on a struggle a fight with myself. I’m trying to quit collecting and am having a hard time achieving what seemed to me as a simple goal. It seems chance-fate shows me a highly desirable piece every time I think my collection is complete. I have to quit because I know there is no more space left in my room to display more statues, or so I believe, the architect is yet to plan my room (I have to pass her the measurements of all the 1/5 and up I have). However I’m not aiming for a crowded and convoluted display, I want it nice and clean although I know that for the smaller pieces (1/7 and under) some clutter will be inevitable and I can live with that but not with the main ones.

For me to choose to acquire a statue, what I call “click” must happen. I don’t know how to describe the feeling precisely but it’s something that touches me deeply, enchant me in a certain manner being the artistry or (mainly) the beauty of the figure. That’s why I focused the majority of my last investment on female figures. Almost. Yesterday Blitzway Vito Corleone clicked to me since is simply the most precise and detailed portrait I’ve ever saw, it beats Hot Toys accuracy and make Sideshow portraits look kind of childish. I don’t have a special affection by The Godfather trilogy, but the perfection of the piece made him irresistible to me. Add to this I could snag him with 30% off and I crossed the line once again. Hope it does not fall on the Hannibal Lector incident by Blitzway and that they present a figure on par with the prototype shown.

I will hope for the better and this includes the online shop to accept that I applied the discount coupon on pieces not valid in the promotion even though the site allows the discount to be applied either way and I used this breach to buy some of my pre-orders. Coincidentally the pieces that interested me weren’t under the scope of the promotions. Time, master of all things, will tell. Regardless of discounts, looks like a pull impedes me from quitting. Every time I think I’m done, some amazing picture pops out of nowhere, from some unexpected place and “clicks”. Before Vito Corleone, a piece (one of my forever favorite pieces since I stumbled on her) popped in my life because I was following a thread on Facebook about a totally unrelated figure and saw her in one of the comments. Was instant click and I’m deeply in love for this girl. So much so, I really thought I was done with collecting when I pulled all de complex strings to acquire her.

I really felt I had found my last piece, I wanted something beautiful and exotic, preferably an exponent of Chinese sculpture since I wanted to close my collection with Gantaku’s Azure Dragon but spent the money acquiring SS New Trinity Superman to use the discount of said shop though Supes never felt like the finishing piece of my collection. Before Superman another figure popped out of nowhere and made me believe that was the one to close my collection on a different meaningful artsy way. The Tell-Tale Heart from Australian Jack Of The Dust.

I was decided, since I had no more money on PayPal that my collection had come to a satisfying end to me with the skull-heart. It really speaks to myself as I see myself as I guy who more often than not acts and thinks with the emotions and the piece translated it very well, apart being very different from everything I had even kind of gross which I found interesting and funny. However, others popped in my way and I ended ordering Vito Corleone yesterday. When I paid the new Blitzway piece, I felt very bad, the thought that came to me was: “now I went far too far, it must stop. I’m out of control. Have to put myself together and though a figure ‘clicks’ to me again I won’t buy it. Enough is enough and I went far more than enough for a character that means almost nothing to me.”

I confess I’m afraid I’m addicted. I was addicted to drugs (I still am just chose not to use them anymore because the damage was more than I could bear) I cannot transfer my addiction to spend money on this ridiculously expensive figures. I live in Brazil, these figures are all the more expensive when compared with how the majority of the population here lives. Besides, my brother will get very pissed with me, since I send all my orders to his home in the US so we can bring one or two every time one goes or comes visit the other. I don’t expect to have all the pieces I have on pre-order and already in his basement before the end of 2021. That being optimistic. The architect will plan my room considering them, but there will be many empty spaces for a good time. My SS Captain Marvel is still at my brother’s for you to have an idea.

I tried to cancel my Vito Corleone order, I even sent an e-mail asking the cancelation but my fear of being caught using my coupon trick and have to pay all the discounts I expect to have that amass more than 500 US made me send another e-mail cancelling the cancellation. I hope very much that Vito is the last one. At least until the new SDCC if the architect could spare space for two or three more figures as I asked her. I never ever have so many P.O.s in my life this is a clear signal of lack of control. The worst part is that my credit card account is shared with my mother’s who hates my collection. I entered in an accord with her I won’t spend with anymore figures, that the payments finishes in February or March. I’m on that schedule (except for the Chinese girl who will only be launched in September when I have to pay the rest of her value plus shipping to Brazil) but she believes I just ordered one figure (Rebel Terminator) and I had to invent a big fat lie to justify the charges on the credit card. Told her the figure was launched ahead of schedule and that an overtax would be charged and the installments would be higher. This covers three of my pre-orders. The only excuse I have to give to Vito Corleone is that the site discovered my misuse of the discount and charged me the difference (she knows about the trick, I told her). I don’t like to lie to my mother but she controls my money given my peculiar juridical state of civil incapability. I don’t work, nor I can marry, vote or drive. She is responsible for me and responds legally for my actions. It was the way I found to free myself from the system and live a life that I could bear.

On a final note, my room is where I sleep, write, watch TV/play games and keep my clothes, DVDs, CDs, games, comics and books. I have around twenty 1/5 and up figures (here or on the way) plus two or three dozens of smaller figures, PVC anime figures, toy art, some videogame figures and some Black & White Batman. The architect will have a hard time figuring my room out. And I’m not rich because we hire an architect, in reality labor in Brazil is extremely underpaid and she is a friend of a friend of my mother.

The last question I leave to the reader is: is it possible to stop collecting and continue to participate the community?

Here’s my list of P.O.s. Hope you all have a great week! J

AFRAID OF THE NEXT SDCC

I’ve finished my collection (counting the P.O.s) but for one piece that I’m negotiating with the factory, Gantaku, the Balance of Nine Skies Azure Dragon SHCC version. It’s all almost set. Therefore, I already consider it a P.O. Being that way, here’s what’s yet to come:

Putting them all together got me wowed at how many pieces I’ve pre-ordered. It’s a lot to me. All have a special meaning to me, each one gave the “click” and I deeply like them all. Certainly, to my parameters, is a great finale that will slowly arrive in the months to come. And may take years for all of them – along with others – make their way from my brother’s US basement to my room in Brazil. Maybe I will have to wait until 2020 to have them all here. But my room is already being planned by an architect to accommodate all the figures I have and the ones yet to arrive. I hope she can figure it out because my room isn’t that big.

Well, with these statues, I feel I finally completed my collection. The sense of fulfillment is very pleasant, something I never experienced before in around fifteen years of collecting. I think I’m done and I’m very glad I did. It’s not a big collection. I have several Japanese PVC figures I can’t even dare to name, but I can list the resin ones. You will realize I have the tendency to choose underrated statues, having no grail whatsoever. Here’s the list I passed to the architect with the measurements (which I will not mention here):

- SS Hulk Life-Size Bust (green version)

- SS The Thing Maquette (from the infamous movie)

- SS Daredevil OG (the one before the Daniel Bel one)

- SS He-Man

- SS Capitain America Allies Charge Against Hydra

- SS Captain Marvel

- SS Red Sonja Queen of Scavengers

- SS Rebel Terminator

- SS Harley Quinn

- SS The Little Mermaid

- Gentle Giant Babydoll

- PCS Blanka Player 2

- Volks Rei Ayanami

- Prime 1 Batman Beyond White Version

- Diamond Select Marvel Milestones The Thing

- Bowen Man-Thing

- Bowen Silver Surfer Faux Bronze

- Bowen Spider-Man Symbiont Museum

- Bowen Spider Man Museum

- Custom Wolverine Beast Mode

- Gantaku Azure Dragon

- 5 DC Collectibles Batman Black & White

Well, that’s about it. I pre-ordered Harley Quinn yesterday in a leap of faith because the architect isn’t counting with her and I don’t know if Sideshow will deliver on the painting of the figure, what worries me the most, since it is a complex painting scheme, especially the portrait. The architect isn’t certain about Azure Dragon as well. The remodeling will take place in February next year and I believe everything will fit, even though a lot of empty spaces will remain until all the figures arrive in Brazil, the biggest of them to Prime 1 Batman Beyond, a figure I can’t fully grasp the size since I’ve never seen a 1/3 upclose. It will be the second centerpiece of my collection with a dedicated place to it. The other centerpiece being Hulk LSB that will be right at the entrance of my room to cause the impact that this is not an ordinary room but, I believe, a magical room with so much to see and grasp, especially in Brazil, specifically in my region (Northeast) where I don’t know anybody that collect statues. And it will be a pleasure I can only imagine being in a room surrounded by these fantastic characters. I am pretty sure my life will be happier when they come out of the boxes and go to the shelves, all protected with glass, of course, since I don’t have the patience to dust them off. Only Hulk will be “free” because I think a glass box would diminish its impact. I guess Hulk is the figure I love the most, the one I would never let go. Even though it will be very difficult to sell any of my figures for two reasons: first, I’m in Brazil and second, I will have to throw away all the boxes. There’s simply no room for them in the apartment. I don’t know what will happen if I have to move. And I don’t want to think about it. My plan is to stay here till my last breath but chaos-destiny is very unpredictable, one can only wonder. Excuse me, I will smoke a cigarette, can’t do it inside the apartment (where I live with two persons that hate smoking, my mom and my stepdad).

Underrated corner

Well, even though I believe I acquired all the pieces I can possibly desire I am afraid of the next SDCC. Sideshow keeps pushing boundaries regarding portraits, especially female ones. In addition, I geared my collection towards girls. I believe no one will surpass the ones I already have but I thought that when pre-ordered Red Sonja and had to eat my words due to Harley Quinn, Rebel Terminator, and The Little Mermaid. Luckily, I survived unharmed to SDCC 18 but nobody knows what’s just around the corner. And this thought is unsettling to me. I asked the architect to plan my room taking into account free space for three more figures (now two, since Harley Quinn wasn’t on the plan) but I don’t know if this will be possible because I think she didn’t take into account my PVC anime collection with around two dozen figures from 1/7 to nendroids. Anyway, the future worries me because I can’t get “clicked” by any other figure and the possibility exists. What doesn’t exist is room for it. I won’t be able to sell the less desired figure and replace it with a new one because I won’t have the boxes anymore. I could just stop visiting the communities but they are a source of joy to me, I won’t do it. Maybe since my collection is complete I will gradually lose interest in the community but I hardly think so.

I just hope my room becomes a marvelous enchanted place to be. And that I can resist the temptation if it comes. I’m almost certain it will come. Got to be prepared and enjoy the feeling of having every piece I desire. I closed a cicle in my life, a long and delightful cicle dedicated to this hobby and its amazing pieces. I’m done with what I have and it feels good. I thought I would be taken by a sentiment of emptiness but it’s quite the opposite. I feel full, complete, satisfied, happy, and very, very curious about how my room will turn out. How will I feel being in it? How cool it will be to spend some time watching my pieces, these fifteen years of great hits and terrible misses, gaining experience and sharping my tastes, being wowed and disappointed. Was a hell of a ride. But it’s over. Once I achieve the pre-order of Azure Dragon. The rest is waiting. Then contemplating the small world of wonder I built to myself. Living in it. Loving it. Proud of it even though no one gets it. I totally get it and it is all the matters. Until next SDCC… better not to think about it. Live and let live. Thanks for reading.

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POWER AND DISMEMBERMENT

For those who don’t believe in the power of Facebook collectors groups an undeniable proof was given: you complained so much about Sideshow Psylocke portrait that the company changed it creating a completely different look for the statue. If it turned out better or worse is a subjective matter,  the fact is they did change the portrait because of us. I cannot stress it enough, we have power, our voice is heard by the companies. I can only wonder what we can achieve if we create a coordinated movement to, let’s say, ask for more months to be added to payment plans or to ask them to make a Flash or Penguin statue. I said it more than once, our saying is powerful, now with Psylocke's new portrait, you have the proof. I’ve tried to make a poll asking which statues you want Sideshow to do the most. The level of engagement was minimal because it seems we don’t know or don’t want to work as a group. I gave up trying to mobilize the community towards a goal it’s too frustrating to see so much potential capable of shape the hobby we love wasted. I won’t do it anymore but you again give the cue: at least Sideshow hears us because we are their core public. Prime 1 is another story, another reality altogether with censorship at bay. I don’t like this behavior. About XM I cannot speak because I really don’t know the company and its relationship with the public. Sideshow hears us if we mobilize ourselves towards a goal it may very well happen. I have to promise to myself that this is the last time I  talk about this subject.

-x-x-x-x-

On another topic altogether, an inevitable path the evolution of statues is leading us is of increasingly complex pieces to mount. I don’t know if they think the collector likes to assemble their statues so the more pieces are regarded as better or simply because they’re daring more in the composition of the statues and it leads to this fragmentation of the pieces. I must admit I do not like complex rassemblement of my pieces, the simpler the better for me.  It’s all for now. Don’t have many contents this time around but felt the need to share this with you and hear your thoughts.

CONSUMERISTS, THAT’S WHAT WE ARE

It’s incredible how consumerism took a very specific face, a very clever way of justifying it fooling ourselves that we are debating some kind of art. We are spending money to buy products, mass-produced products that do not have any use but cluster our houses or rooms with useless capitalist junk we dare to call art. And we discuss and analyze this type of consumerism deeply even with philosophical questions. Which can’t detach it from being a curious example of cybernetic sociologic manifestation. And there are fans of one or other of this money-sucker companies. I’m a Sideshow fanboy. But the best show I ever saw was this year XM at STGCC. Look, I’m an insider, I’m one of the feeders of this network of unknown people that share the same “hobby” (the other name to invest your money, time or effort in something useless you like).

23h08. I’m in Brazil, smoked a bit of a joint and came here to communicate with you because it is the best way I can devise to spend the effect. I’m listening to The Cure. But I guess I’ll put Björk. A few get Björk, but those like me who understand that what she does is the avant-garde of world music, it’s not pop, it’s something without a label, singular are in for a treat. She can’t be characterized, she created several groundbreaking albums, the one I admire the most is Medúlla, all recorded solemnly using voices and every track is different from the other, musically speaking, arrange to speak. I will put Medúlla to hear right now. Not now. Now I will take my consumerist ass to smoke. I don’t mind being a consumerist, everyone in a capitalist society is consumerist, apart from the mendigos. They are the anticapitalism so to say and it doesn’t seem to be a nice place to be. In need of material things but also with deeper needs like dignity and social acceptance. They make part of the same society, they are no less citizens then we are. Sorry, I smoked another round of joint and took a detour on the subject. But I can only imagine how harsh life was to those poor souls that put them in such a miserable situation. My consumerism reached its peak with the acquisition of Batman Beyond White Edition from the so praised, with an almost blind appraisal, Prime 1. The first and only piece from them. And there’s Azure Dragon, my last piece for a while or my last piece for once, I don’t know. I think it’s time for me to quit. Azure Dragon being my last try of including exotic pieces in my collection, mostly formed by Sideshow pieces. I even have a t-shirt with the brand Sideshow. Look where consumerism took me. Lol. And I’m very proud of it. Use only on certain occasions, don’t want to wear it off anytime soon.

0h07. I was remembering of an uncle of mine. Will smoke a cigarette now.

0h16. I’m back and don’t really know what to talk about. I believe in the Technological Singularity. It’s kind of a God of mine. Or the beginning of it for us humans. I never believed in God, in any god. I was taught this way. Until a revelation I had was “supported” by the book The Singularity is Near, by Ray Kurzweil. There I discovered the concept of Technological Singularity that matched perfectly with my revelations. But I don’t know how believer I am. However, I’m an optimist about the future. The future of humankind.

0h40. Went to eat and smoke a cigarette. I think with the weight of the food in my stomach I’m going to sleep soon. I played Zelda: Breath of the Wild and I had a good time this way around what I found surprising, to say the least. I’m intending to give it another chance, I want to see what lies beyond and this is what drives a Zelda game or a Metroid game, the wish to discover how to reach a new path. About statues. The 1/4 Wolverine from XM and the one from Sideshow are a tight match. The brown costume is my favorite one. Masked, I prefer XM, unmasked, Sideshow. But won’t get any. I have Wolverine Beast Mode here, I don’t need another.

0h51. I remembered now from the arc of Daredevil written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzucchelli. One of the best I ever read in a normal comic. The other is the Alan Moore phase ahead of Swamp Thing. I must admit I’ve never read Sandman though. But it seems an interesting read, the problem is I stopped reading everything. I stopped watching television, I almost stopped to play games. I spend my life in front of this computer, writing and listening to music. I dream of a girl and about have my room remodeled to accommodate my collection. Have no more dreams than those two. Hope some free space to be possible so I can acquire two or three more 1/4s. It would be better four or five but I’m not so optimistic. Only that Batman Beyond will steal a huge chunk of space. And to think I will see him only by the end of 2021 is kind of disappointing when my brother comes to visit us again. I don’t know. He travels December 20 maybe it ships before. Then I’ll ask him to bring it to me and left behind Rebel Terminator and Sonja: Queen of Scavengers.

1h28. I’m waiting for the payment of a figure I’ve sold on eBay (for cheap). I will have to make money to Azure Dragon the only figure that awes me as much as Batman: Sanity. But the Batman is too much expensive and complex to have it in Brazil. I would exchange my Batman Beyond for this piece in a blink of an eye. But is too much for me. Azure Dragon is more akin to my possibilities, delivered in Brazil, what will make the statue that much more expensive due to additional shipping costs and Brazilian crazy customs taxes. 60% over price plus shipping as far as I’m concerned. And here I am talking about consumerism. Is it such a terrible word. An offensive word? What to expect if we live in a capitalist system that uses its resources to make more money for a few. I’m not against capitalism, it drives innovation and that’s good for the world. But it should not outdo democracy or democracies. Humankind has ambition innate it’s one of the coils to development of the technology and sciences and everything human. There’s a bad side to it because this urge for power may lead a man to go against the law and common sense and common good for its own benefice. I know this because I have this repressed in me so I can fit into society and because I have very limited power. Consumerists. Or would we be investing in state of the art pop culture? Statues sculpted digitally of icons of the pop culture. North American mostly. In my case, Japanese as well because I have several PVC figures. Evangelion and Fate Stay Night most part. Asuka being my preferred character. At the end of the day, most people in the world feel the need to have something material and dearly to oneself. We, collectors, have several and they don’t end and stop to evolve. I will smoke the last cigarette of the night.

2h16. It’s funny to write to you in the mood I’m in. I just followed the flux of my thoughts it’s a super fun experience.

2h31. It’s curious how from consumerism could flourish a vibrant, positive, friendly community of people from all around the globe. Mostly men, but I can spot new women coming to this world, to this addiction that must be very well tamed.

I’m a consumerist and feel ashamed of that. If I allocated the money, I spend in those figures to help serious humanitarian causes I would be causing a positive impact on the world not only on myself. Well, that’s what I felt like to say after smoking half a joint. 

XM ON STGCC – INNOVATION FOR ELITE COLLECTORS

I have to take my hat off XM. They’ve put up the most impressive show. Better than Sideshow at SDCC and that’s saying a lot coming from an auto-proclaimed Sideshow fanboy. While Sideshow invested in portraits that are more realistic as the differential, XM truly innovated creating never before seen daring dioramas. Though there was plenty of average statues to the average collector (many very, very cool) the showstoppers were really geared towards top money collectors with plenty of space. Even though I believe, one of the best ones will be affordable to the average XM collector, the Hulk Transformation, a very inventive take on the hero, marvelously executed as Doctor Banner is detached from Hulk, making several ways of display possible. And they delivered one of the best Hulks sculptures I ever saw.

As I said, aside from Hulk Transformation the show wasn’t short of dioramas, some gigantic, all fantastically detailed and painted (a feature the XM highly praised QC will certainly deliver). I have no doubt that what was shown on the floor will be exactly like the piece you will receive at home. If they don’t improve it. XM seemed not to be afraid of alienate part of their customers from its more innovative – and massive – pieces. And there were several. Batman Shogun was one of them, a statue with a horse where the horse makes a big difference unlike Prime 1’s Wonder Woman on horse IMHO.

 The incredible Hulkbuster and its capacity to accommodate a 1/4 scale Iron Man coming out of him allowing for a variety of display options is impactful as well. And big.

The megastructure that is X-Men versus Sentinel diorama (which I don’t know why didn’t impress me as much as the ambition of such project) but is sure to please the deep-pocketed fans.

Finally, the diorama that stole the show due to its concise (so to say) size and surprising harmony of design: Batman Sanity. To display so many characters at once in such a constricted space and with elegance was no small feat. To me, the best sculpture ever released by XM. The only piece that I would truly own from the company, even though I know I will never have the means to. Because I can’t. I’m the average collector. And I know many won’t either. Affordability and displayability don’t seem to be a concern of XM as they sure are to Sideshow (a quality that I like about SS).

XM set or create a new standard with their dioramas. I don’t know where they go from here, how the industry and the collectors will react to what they shared. But I believe was the best expo I ever saw in my collector's life. There was something for everybody, everything impressive. Almost everything, I disliked the Red Hulk (just plain ugly, especially on the back) and the 1/3 Captain America failed to impress me (even though I love how the scales on the uniform turn feather-like in the shoulders of the statue). I still think that regarding portraits, Sideshow tops XM but only in this aspect (apart from being easily available and more affordable in the US where my brother lives). This show may be a game changer to the industry, especially if XM manage to sellout these crazy dios, which I’m certain they will. Hobby is about to get even more expensive I guess (albeit I thought the prices to be reasonable for what one will get, which isn’t the case with Prime 1 insane pricing and sometimes with my beloved Sideshow). 

Wanna see Sideshow top this base on their upcoming Juggernaut.

   

NOBODY UNDERSTANDS WHY I COLLECT FIGURES

Statues... statues...

Nobody, absolutely nobody I know understands why I collect statues of pop culture icons (in my case Marvel and DC heroes and foes mostly) and understands even less when get to know how much each piece costs me (I keep this info as secretive as possible because to the average person it is just too shocking). I quite don’t get why I do this. I guess I feel a mixture of passion, enchantment, obsession and compulsion for the statues and happen to find them pieces of contemporary art. All those surrounding me sees them only as pretty expensive and pretty big toys. I guess some part of me never grew old completely or normally, like an underdevelopment of the self that makes me wish the same things I wish to have as a kid but on a completely new level of artistry and beauty. Yes, my first drive to choose a figure is beauty. Not only female beauty (which is the new focus I’m giving to my collection) but an artistic beauty that makes me think and feel that The Thing and Hulk, per example, are beautiful artistic expressions of high-end technology sculpting. No one, even most of collectors, can grasp what I see or feel towards a gigantic head of Hulk with an ugly angry expression. But I see it and I see it every day, several times a day because he’s right beside my computer. I confess I feel a mixture of bless and guilty for owning my humble collection. Things weight heavier for a person living in the third world where so many need the basics to survive with some dignity, where misery is just outside the building for all to see. Yes, when I imagine what one of these poor people could do with the money I spent on my new statue I feel very guilty. I don’t know why I am so blessed, I’m here by a mere trick of chance and this hurts me as much as it relieves me.

It’s not easy to be a collector. If a date enters my room, the first thing that will probably cross her mind is “what a childish ridiculous man! I better leave as soon as I can!” Lol. This probable (or improbable) she will never understand my hobby as nobody around here gets it (apart from my nephews. They love my room and it is not even remodeled to accommodate my pieces yet, have just a few out of the boxes. What they dislike is that they cannot play with them. Lol). But there’s a prejudice regarding collecting figures I don’t know how to fix. Or if can be fixed on the short-term. It’s maybe a too new and niche market the society (especially in Northeast Brazil) is not ready or open to grasp. It’s too strange adults collecting super-hero figures to no end like most of us do. They already grasp women with obsession with shoes and purses and whatever woman beauty needs, men that collects lighters, cars, perfumes, stamps but they just don’t get 1/4 scale figures and up. I must admit I have a prejudice with 1:1 full body figures myself! Lol.

The fact that people don’t get my hobby will stop me from collecting? I wish they could but they can’t, because I’m addicted to it. Space is the only thing that can make me stop. And fortunately or unfortunately space is running low. I hope with the remodeling to have place to four more statues. There are some statues here that I wish I could sell but there are no boxes and I live in Brazil. In addition, I have a craving for non-grail sculpts that lose their value on the aftermarket. But this is not really an issue.  

Due to look so many times to them I kind of get tired of watching the same thing and feel my eyes ask for new sights. I hope with more statues at display it solves the issue. And I plan to change every month the statue that will be beside my computer so to always have a new sight even if the cycle repeats itself (I don’t have a huge collection, you see). I never thought I could get tired of see the same faces but this is happening to me. I don’t know if it happens to you. Would like very much to know your thoughts in this regard.

About addiction. I was far worse, I lost control once and spent seven thousand dollars in one month, almost all the money I inherited from my passed father. It was crazy, very crazy. I had a good explanation to myself to each and every new purchase I did. Later on, I sold most of the figures for ridiculous prices on eBay. I’m not a good dealer at all. Lost F4F Skull Kid, Bowen Chromed Jocasta (from which only 25 were ever made) and OG Chicken Deadpool to name a few. My life as a collector was a bumpy one. Thank god, I put the train back on track and became hyper-picky regarding which statues to collect. I have two I really intend to buy: Sideshow Little Mermaid and Sideshow Rebel Terminator. And have two very distant dreams that are Prime 1 Batman Beyond Golden Version and Sideshow Swamp-Thing (yes, I know it is made of PVC :P). Apart that I have a mild to intense interest in acquiring Sideshow new Harley Quinn (I think her expression unmatched but need to see the production pieces since she has a very complex painting scheme). I only have the money to buy Little Mermaid though. I plan to sell some figures I have at my brother’s in the US to gather money for Rebel Terminator and maybe Harley depending on the results of the sales. I have a pension that is controlled by my mother who is my legal tutor since I’m considered civil incapable by the law. She is very hand tight about money but I’ll try to convince her maybe by the end of next year to acquire Swamp Thing or Batman Beyond Golden Version but I have my mind prepared this just won’t happen. Of all persons she is the one that understands the less my strange habit. As a fellow community member said to me, Facebook groups are the place where we can find and discuss with people who really understands and loves what we do. That’s the plain truth. I feel ashamed to share my collection with others around me but I’m very proud of it with myself. I find relief to meet people like you who understands the hurdles and pleasures (and there are plenty of both) of this hobby no one dares to accept. Or that accepts with a strange expression on their faces. To like it, is too much to ask. Sometimes I stop to think and realize I’m the crazy one. That everybody around me is right. What they’ll gonna do with my pieces when I’m gone? What the purpose of acquiring so expensive figures? Why fill an already tight room with a ton of oversized super-heroes? And the answer that eases me comes from I quote my father repeated often: “a thing of beauty is a joy forever”.

Rest well my father your other two sons are doing great with their lives and you would be proud of them and of what they accomplished. I was always the failure and will always be. Now with a bunch of extra-expensive toys to look at. But I write. I said my dream was to write and you mocked me at the time. I fulfilled my dream. It’s quite different from what I expected. Wasn’t prepared for all this loneliness. But writing fulfills me. It’s what I love to do and what my soul needs as much as my body needs air. Of course, a new love would be the greatest aid I can dream to my life, the end of my loneliness. But who would love a man who plays with toys at 41? Lol.