Interesting article about what the next generation will collect

[MR.COMICBOOK]

Videogames constantly create new characters while Marvel/DC continue to milk the same characters(Batman,Spider-man,Superman,Mutants). case in point, I bought my 8 year old son a Spider-man/Venom Todd Mcfarlane comic this Saturday morning. After about 3 hours, I noticed it was still in the bag and unlooked at as he was playing the X-box 360 Live, I asked why he didn`t even look at the Spider-man comic and he said he didn`t know how to open the bag up with the tape on it to get the Spider-man comic out and that he knew Spider-man would win because he always does, so why read it? plus he was having to much fun playing Mini Ninjas on the X-box 360. This is a 8 year old who considers Spider-man/Venom by Todd McFarlane battle boring. This tells me these things like music are generational and comics should now focus on getting young adults interested,especially the female audience as the young male audience rather play videogames.

Btw,I did take the comic out of the bag for him, he looked at it under 5 minutes and went back to playing the X-box 360.

[snitzer]

Does anyone out there collect basketball shoes?

 

Lots of people I know do.

 

I personally prefer wear Jordan XVII's.

 

It's my favorite show of all time. My latest pair ran me $300 with shipping.

 

 

I'm looking to pick up a few other shoes I've been fond of playing in. I'm not a collector though.

 

Yep. AJs and SBs are what dominant my collection. My busted up, from HS hoops, original AJ Vs #23s are the centerpiece of my collection My most recent purchase were the 2006 AF1 Halloween SEs.

 

I've also flipped a number of pairs, and used the difference, to pay for comics

[dekeuk]

 

I think the bottom line is that you can throw out the "rules" of the 20th century, because of the hyper-change we've experienced in society over the past 15-20 years. Collecting is destined to be less widespread, much more fragmented and ultimately less profitable than previous generations have experienced, IMO.

 

I think that the only cllecting fields GUARANTEED to survive are the ones that have been there the longest and are decorative in nature such as antique glass, antique furniture and antique paintings. There will ALWAYS be a demand for high end antique paintings among the rich people of any era.

 

I think coin collecting will also survive as long as they do not adopt an all electronic payment system and get rid of all coins.

 

 

 

 

[snitzer]

As for future pop culture collectibles I can only go by what my 2 and 4 YOs enjoy and the one "brand" that stands out most prominently is Thomas the Train.

 

Here's my case...train collecting transcends age and this series helps further that case by appealing to kids, young kids. The artwork and variation of the pieces themselves is really well done. They produce some items in very limited quantity and collectors are already searching out "retired" models. In fact, I was shocked to see some the prices for early pieces. Lastly, I've noticed with my kids that they actually take care of them and enjoy getting new trains and want duplicates of their favorite models. All tell tale traits of collecting OCD. Just sayin' (thumbs u

[Bronty]

2 to 4 is not the right age though. As Joe said what 12 year old boys are into is what ends up getting collected. At that age I played outside, read comics, played videogames, had sports cards. So I've collected all three of those things at one time or another. The toys I had when I was 4? I don't even remember what those would be.

[Bronty]

Carol Bergeron, who sells on Ruby Lane.com as Antiques on Canaan Street, wrote in a recent e-mail: “A current concern seems to be that maybe the tide has turned so far that the new generation has no need or interest in collecting. They are ‘into’ other things….” Carol is not correct. Collecting is an integral component of our individual and national psyche. There always will be collectors. The only question that needs to be asked is what will they collect?

 

I think he's wrong right off the bat here. Yes, there will always be collectors, for anything and everything, but there is not a shred of doubt in my mind that collecting as a whole will wane due to the exponential growth of other alternatives in the globalized digital era, as our entertainment options become either more mass-produced, interactive and/or disposable, and as the reality sets in that future generations may have less disposable income, space and bountiful investment returns than recent ones. There will always be collectors, for any and everything, but there will be fewer of them, they will spend less, and be much more fragmented. The last point is key - it is unlikely that another collecting hobby will emerge to become as big as coins, stamps, comics or trading cards from all the alternatives cited.

 

I have and still do maintain that collecting videogame cartridges is likely to always be a niche hobby. I'm not suggesting for a moment it will go away or that prices won't escalate for certain items, but I doubt it will ever spawn the kind of collecting industry that, say, comics have. Videogames will thrive, but the collecting of them in the way *we* think of collecting (not just keeping old cartridges in the closet as you replace them with new games and consoles) - it will never get there, IMO. All the "well, if only 0.1% or 1% of all videogame players get into collecting arguments" are the same as the "well, if every American company can sell 1 Coke/car/stick of deodorant to the Chinese" that never seem to materialize. Based on how I see societal trends evolving, I'll bet against it.

 

Same goes for old cell phones, iPods and computers - that is destined to be an even more niche collecting hobby. Who wants to store and display all this stuff, and is there enough interest to develop a grading system, etc. for this kind of hobby? Will there ever be a market for price guides for this stuff, antique electronic conventions on the scale of the SDCC, etc.?

 

Conventions themselves are "antique"! I mean at the root of it, what a ridiculous idea... you fly halfway across the country to buy something you could buy at your desk. It made sense pre-internet... now not so much.

 

Whatever items end up being collected by future generations, the collecting itself will certainly look different, no doubt, and yes collecting will be more fragmented. I think we can all agree on that.

 

But I could see old cell phones going for good money one day... particularly the early models that are comically brick-sized. Especially if they actually work or are new in the box. There won't be a huge collector pool for them, but it will be enough for prices to rise... I don't imagine there are many old phones like that which weren't thrown out and they were a luxury good (small amounts made) at the start.

 

As for videogames, niche or not... maybe, maybe not. I could see people starting to read about some item going for 50k or whatever and that publicity getting people interested, kind of like the 1k action 1. There are cheesy news reports about "those old comics being worth big bucks" to this day, and I guarantee you there will be the same cheesy news reports about "imagine, those old games might be worth something" soon. Or it stays niche as you say, whatever. But I do think its a bygone conclusion that prices will rise on the best things even just with the current collector pool.

 

At the end of the day I think its a lot simpler and cuts through a lot of the BS to just try and predict what items will rise in value as opposed to what will be the next thing to have the big "collecting infrastructure" because those types of changes are organic, much in the way cgc led to gpa led to the overstreet book being obsolete. You can't predict where that stuff is going to go because the changes build on each other over time. All you can really do is look at what kids of the right age enjoy the heck out of and might be willing to plunk some cash down for.

[MisterX]

That was an interesting article.

 

I often wonder if "collecting," is something that is hardwired into our caveman brains (like the Fight or Flight response), and will simply never go away. Think about our prehistoric ancestors--it would be a good thing for them to collect lots of rocks with sharp points, sticks with sharp points, and so on. This kind of hoarding behavior gets passed down to subsequent generations through the millenia, gets a little bit modified here and there, and bingo, you've got a closet full of Pogs. Of course, you don't need the Pogs, but your caveman brain recognizes the pleasure you get from owning them and urges you on to collect more. (In the same way your caveman brain would recognize your ancestors sense of pleasure at owning lots of handy sharp and pointy rocks.)

 

It is also possible that "collecting," is really a frothy concoction of mental illness, materialism and nostalgia. Now, I don't know much about the Millenial Generation, but they are people, and I don't seem them being immune to any of those particular afflictions, because people have been influenced by them for a long, long time.

 

No generation, en masse, has ever completely rejected materialism, and I find it difficult to believe that Millenials,who were (for the most part) raised by a very materialistic generation (the Boomers), would be able to so.

 

(I also find it ironic that some Boomers also tried to reject materialism at exactly the same stage in their lives [their late teens/twenties], as their Millenial children. It could be that, as back in the late 60s/early 70s, the rejection of materialism is something of a fad.)

 

Will future collectors such as the Millenials have less money to spend? It's possible. Will they collect different things than the Boomers and Generation X? I don't think anyone here is saying they won't.

 

I'm not even sure the Millenials themselves know what they want to collect yet. The oldest now are, what, thirty? And certainly the current economic climate for young people is hard these days, and it may look very different in the future, with less money to be spent on collectible items.

 

I'll say it, although it's a generalization--I'm betting most Millenials haven't yet reached the moment in their lives where they even need Nostalgia, which may be the third and very key ingredient of the Collecting Affliction.

 

Another thing about the article that struck me as odd was the author's assertion that there would be no more Model Fords out there for car collectors. This struck me as wrong because--

 

A) by 2030, most collectors who owned Model Fords would be dead, and it's possible their collections would be sold, bringing even more Model Fords onto the market, and--

 

B) although I know nothing about car collecting, it seems that something like a Model Ford, which has significant historical importance, would always be "the cream of the crop." Aesthetically they may not appeal to all the car collectors of 2030, but surely most of them would acknowledge their significance.

 

In comics, we have our few bullet-proof keys that will most likely stand the test of time, in part because of their importance, and the fact that they have become a commodity, much like other high-end, cream-of-the-crop collectibles in other fields (Tiffany lamps, Old Master paintings, etc.)

 

(Yes, cars and comics were mass-produced, but as we all know, in that case the condition of the object is vital to it's worth, and the best-of-the-best is always seen as a good buy.)

 

Articles like the one we're discussing strike me as being less about predicting the future and more about lamenting our own mortality, and the mortality of our collectibles. It is sometimes painful to realize that nobody will care about that issue of G.I. Combat or Night Nurse that I payed alot of money for. And I sure wish I had a crystal ball so I could stock up on Tamagotchi or Shonen Jump or whatever they're going to be paying big bucks for in 2030, but I don't.

 

The trick then, I guess, is making peace with your own collecting habits, and it seems like many folks here on the boards have done just that. (Me, I'm a work in progress...)

 

I would be interested to hear from any boardies who actually are Millenials. Your thoughts on the collecting habits (or future habits) of your generation would be appreciated, I'm sure.

 

P.S. Mr. Comicbook, don't take this the wrong way, but I've found that (at least with my kids) getting them to do anything while they're playing a videogame is next to impossible. The house could be on fire, Santa Claus could be standing outside with a huge bag of toys, nothing, nothing gets them to divert their attention from the glowing screen.

 

I read comics to my kids at night, but they are younger than eight. I'm guessing your eight-year-old might not think that was too cool. Are there other ways you can introduce him to the hobby? Maybe bagging, sorting and boarding? (No pressure to read?) Then he could see all the cool covers, ask questions, etc.?

 

 

[AtlasFan]

Mark my words...2020 is the year that POGs make their comeback. They were big in the 90s and they will be even hotter in the 20s...

 

Yep.

[Bronty]

That was an interesting article.

 

I often wonder if "collecting," is something that is hardwired into our caveman brains (like the Fight or Flight response), and will simply never go away. Think about our prehistoric ancestors--it would be a good thing for them to collect lots of rocks with sharp points, sticks with sharp points, and so on. This kind of hoarding behavior gets passed down to subsequent generations through the millenia, gets a little bit modified here and there, and bingo, you've got a closet full of Pogs. Of course, you don't need the Pogs, but your caveman brain recognizes the pleasure you get from owning them and urges you on to collect more. (In the same way your caveman brain would recognize your ancestors sense of pleasure at owning lots of handy sharp and pointy rocks.)

 

It is also possible that "collecting," is really a frothy concoction of mental illness, materialism and nostalgia. Now, I don't know much about the Millenial Generation, but they are people, and I don't seem them being immune to any of those particular afflictions, because people have been influenced by them for a long, long time.

 

No generation, en masse, has ever completely rejected materialism, and I find it difficult to believe that Millenials,who were (for the most part) raised by a very materialistic generation (the Boomers), would be able to so.

 

(I also find it ironic that some Boomers also tried to reject materialism at exactly the same stage in their lives [their late teens/twenties], as their Millenial children. It could be that, as back in the late 60s/early 70s, the rejection of materialism is something of a fad.)

 

 

 

brilliant post!

[t3quila]

[snitzer]

2 to 4 is not the right age though. As Joe said what 12 year old boys are into is what ends up getting collected. At that age I played outside, read comics, played videogames, had sports cards. So I've collected all three of those things at one time or another. The toys I had when I was 4? I don't even remember what those would be.

 

Trains span all ages. I believe most of the 80s toys were played with by kids as young as 4...Smurfs, My Little Pony, heck, Cabbage Patch Kids. Even Hot Wheels and action figures are for 3 and up. As for video games, I can't tell you how many my 4 YO already has. She loves 'em.

[Bronty]

I don't have a kid (yet - on the way ) so I won't pretend to have direct experience with everything they play with... but jeez I just can't see masses of kids getting excited about a form of transportation that's barely even relevant today

 

but maybe I'm making assumptions here. what kind of trains are we talking about. Anything like our father's toy trains I just can't see kids getting excited about.

[BucOne-migration]

Mark my words...2020 is the year that POGs make their comeback. They were big in the 90s and they will be even hotter in the 20s...

 

Yep.

 

 

POGs?

[BucOne-migration]

Yeah, I am also surprised at the authors lack of insight. Atari, NES, SNES, and PS1 have already become collectibles with games going for over $1,000 for each of these systems. In fact someone recently paid $17,500 for an NES game.

I heard about that too. First time I heard it I thought it was a joke!

 

That game was limited to 100 copies when it was made to pimp Frad Savage's movie, I believe. I wouldn't read much into that specific transaction.

 

Nevertheless, vintage video games will be collected for decades.

 

 

 

RPG's do very well. Most of the games and systems need to be brand new

for big money.

 

[COI]

I see no future collectibility for video games and the machines on which they are played and computers.

 

Couldn't disagree more.

 

It's not even a matter of agreeing or disagreeing really, he is simply wrong. Video games are already collected, and the generation that grew up with NES is just now reaching the age where they have serious disposable income. If the hobby is already doing well, it has nowhere to go but up in the next 10 years.

 

+1

 

People is dumb.

[dikran]

When our generation dies off and we're done selling each other our books, our kids won't give a if we had JIM 83 or AF 15 sitting in the closet because they won't have anyone to sell to. Without new blood in the hobby all our books will be worthless within 50 years and this hobby will die.

 

So you might as well all sell me your SA keys at 10% guide NOW, before it's too late!

[COI]

I have and still do maintain that collecting videogame cartridges is likely to always be a niche hobby. I'm not suggesting for a moment it will go away or that prices won't escalate for certain items, but I doubt it will ever spawn the kind of collecting industry that, say, comics have. Videogames will thrive, but the collecting of them in the way *we* think of collecting (not just keeping old cartridges in the closet as you replace them with new games and consoles) - it will never get there, IMO.

 

It's already is there.

 

 

[snitzer]

I don't have a kid (yet - on the way ) so I won't pretend to have direct experience with everything they play with... but jeez I just can't see masses of kids getting excited about a form of transportation that's barely even relevant today

 

but maybe I'm making assumptions here. what kind of trains are we talking about. Anything like our father's toy trains I just can't see kids getting excited about.

 

Once your kid arrives (congrats BTW!) and discovers Thomas, you can kiss a portion of your comic budget away. Kids are relentless about their brands. The detail/types covers the range from high end to low end: Plastic, wooden, metal, electric, battery, push powered, etc. You can pretty much find whatever suits a kid's interest and level of complexity. I think Hobby Lobby had some HO/O gauge packages even. I was like WTF?

 

On a comic note...printing out B&W versions of famous comic covers is a cheap, affordable way to create some very cool coloring books Nothing like your kid instantly recognizing Batman or Spider-Man.

[Bronty]

I don't have a kid (yet - on the way ) so I won't pretend to have direct experience with everything they play with... but jeez I just can't see masses of kids getting excited about a form of transportation that's barely even relevant today

 

but maybe I'm making assumptions here. what kind of trains are we talking about. Anything like our father's toy trains I just can't see kids getting excited about.

 

Once your kid arrives (congrats BTW!) and discovers Thomas, you can kiss a portion of your comic budget away. Kids are relentless about their brands. The detail/types covers the range from high end to low end: Plastic, wooden, metal, electric, battery, push powered, etc. You can pretty much find whatever suits a kid's interest and level of complexity. I think Hobby Lobby had some HO/O gauge packages even. I was like WTF?

 

On a comic note...printing out B&W versions of famous comic covers is a cheap, affordable way to create some coloring books Nothing like your kid instantly recognizing Batman or Spider-Man.

 

 

 

Great idea about the coloring books! Archie, Casper, Ducks... other kids lines would be great for that.

 

As for Thomas... I guess its one of the little surprises I have to look forward to!

 

 

[Bronty]

Whoop! caught you mid edit. I'm actually going to steer away from the superhero fare for coloring books I think. Don't want to push the kid that way if he isn't into it, Dad will already have too many geeky things around the house for the kid's own good. A lot of those Harvey books had very clean lines that would be fun for coloring though. Thanks for the idea.