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I apologize in advance for hijacking the thread about your wonderful MOC,
Jon, but...
=)
In lugnet.pirates, Jon Furman writes:
> Frank Filz always outbids me at the last second whenever I try to get more
> yellow!
I am probably the last person who should express this, especially since I am
about to go into a "lego-hibernation" for a few months and therefore Castle
Blacktron's full unveiling will be delayed by at least that much, but what
does Frank do with it all? It's not like I have seen the guy share something
as splendid as Puerto Bonita...and if he doesn't share something pretty damn
cool AND soon, then I DO kind of resent his competition with "true" builders
for elements! He must budget in excess of $1k a month for lego or something,
AND for what...?
The only relief I found was to play "jack-up the price" with Frank by
searching items by bidder -- "ffilz" and then doing the obvious (and I
invite others to play this game also!). Sometimes I had the benefit of
winning the items instead, especially if Frank was bidding by proxy only.
And in case you wondered, I did actually try to reason with him once and
arrange for things so that we would not compete against each other
pointlessly (presuming we were the two most likely to bid something up) --
but he wouldn't back off of anything. So that's how Frank ended up on my
eBay s**tlist...he does annoyingly bid certain items up to a ridiculous
price, and seems to be on some weird quest to own 10 of everything Lego ever
made. All that comes to mind is the word "sublimation"...if he has to win
at those prices, let him win! He seems to take some perverse pleasure in his
large lego collection and eBay habits anyway...
But this kind of stupid auction competition also just makes me mad at TLC
for not making bulk better and a lot more quickly. This is probably the
wrong time to bring up Sanjay's "Secrets of Bulk Ordering", but if one
rereads the thread one discovers that Lego Direct's current offerings are
appallingly bland compared to what some people have been lavished with bulk
order wise previously. And I don't even resent Sanjay's score, but why can't
bulk ordering be handled in "something" like the manner Sanjay described? I
have had cause to recently discuss these matters with another "serious"
builder, who shall remain nameless, and we both agreed that one has to
wonder at our personal motivations for sticking with this silly hobby --
what, with TLC's bulk ordering STILL being so paltry.
For myself, I am spending a lot of time reevaluating my position on Lego and
playing lately -- I don't have to be the biggest fish in this Lugnet pond,
but I do want to be able to build what I want to build without having to
wait forever to get the needed elements through competitive auctions like
eBay, or even at collector prices on Brickbay, Baylit, etc. When one
scrutinizes one's Lego spending and so on, it does beg questions...
...my personal questions have a LOT do with traditional art techniques and
materials. People may ask why Craig Hamilton has disappeared from Lugnet.
Perhaps we should ask why he was ever here to begin with? Anyone with
traditional art skills should have their head examined for playing with
these bricks at this cost and level of frustration. Ah well...
I am reminded of how much fun it is to just draw with paper and a common #2
pencil! Hear me, TLC? That's fun...!
The first rule of business is to K.I.S.S. -- Keep It Simple Stupid! Keeping
it economical wouldn't hurt you any either...
Hugs and kisses,
Hop-Frog
(just when you thought I had become a kinder and gentler Hop-Frog! NO!)
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In lugnet.pirates, Richard Marchetti writes:
> (just when you thought I had become a kinder and gentler Hop-Frog! NO!)
Yes, I *was* starting to wonder about that! :-) Glad to know you're back to
your irascible self, it wasn't the same with the new you around.
In defense of Frank, I know he's trying to build up a rather large fleet for
the pirate game at BrickFest. I'm not sure of exactly how large but he WAS
muttering about "filling the largest room at George Mason Uni with ships and
islands" in his sleep at INNs of America when we went to the non-wedding. SO
he's not buying just for himself.
And, yes, my wife has intimated that I do need my head examined along with
"the rest of that lunatic gang you hang with". Frank's not married.
On the topic of bidding stuff up out of spite, that's just plain mean. I
know you were kidding and that you really bid to the level where you are
comfortable and no farther... so I won't press the point.
For example I just bid on EVERYTHING that Jotnjab put up in his "classic
lego" auctions, but they all were fire and forget bids, I won't be upset if
I get outbid on most of them.
Take heart, Forbes Magazine confirms that the average price for collectible
stuff on eBay is trending downward. Sharply.
++Lar
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richard marchetti wrote:
>
> I apologize in advance for hijacking the thread about your wonderful MOC,
> Jon, but...
>
> =)
>
> In lugnet.pirates, Jon Furman writes:
> > Frank Filz always outbids me at the last second whenever I try to get more
> > yellow!
>
> I am probably the last person who should express this, especially since I am
> about to go into a "lego-hibernation" for a few months and therefore Castle
> Blacktron's full unveiling will be delayed by at least that much, but what
> does Frank do with it all? It's not like I have seen the guy share something
> as splendid as Puerto Bonita...and if he doesn't share something pretty damn
> cool AND soon, then I DO kind of resent his competition with "true" builders
> for elements! He must budget in excess of $1k a month for lego or something,
> AND for what...?
I do actually build occasionally. In fact, to be honest, one of my
problems right now is that I really don't have enough space to display
everything I've got built. I predict I will be building more in the
future. Believe it or not, but my purchasing is slowing down. One
measure of this is that I'm actually rapidly diminishing my pile of
unopened sets.
> The only relief I found was to play "jack-up the price" with Frank by
> searching items by bidder -- "ffilz" and then doing the obvious (and I
> invite others to play this game also!). Sometimes I had the benefit of
> winning the items instead, especially if Frank was bidding by proxy only.
> And in case you wondered, I did actually try to reason with him once and
> arrange for things so that we would not compete against each other
> pointlessly (presuming we were the two most likely to bid something up) --
> but he wouldn't back off of anything. So that's how Frank ended up on my
> eBay s**tlist...he does annoyingly bid certain items up to a ridiculous
> price, and seems to be on some weird quest to own 10 of everything Lego ever
> made. All that comes to mind is the word "sublimation"...if he has to win
> at those prices, let him win! He seems to take some perverse pleasure in his
> large lego collection and eBay habits anyway...
Believe it or not, I do actually let some people alone on bidding. I
don't remember the details of what I was bidding on when you asked me to
not bid, but I don't recall that I've bid on very many things you have
lately. There are other names I see a lot, and leave alone (unless I
REALLY REALLY want the item). I even will occasionally work a deal with
someone else to split a lot. Of course more often, another person will
e-mail me about splitting a lot, and name exactly the parts in the lot
which I was after.
There are certain things I'm questing for, and I'm willing to pay for
them. There are other things I could take or leave. There are a lot of
items that I'm basically done acquiring for now (Pirates for the most
part, though I may occasionally jump on a red soldiers lot now and then,
and as I've realized what parts the cutters for the Pirate Game use,
I've considered a bit more mast purchasing, octagonal walls, castle
stuff, town sets, and lots more).
Besides, I'm not looking for 10 of everything, I want 20 of
everything... No not really. There are things I want a lot of because
I've got all sorts of plans in my head for things to build, some rather
vague, others rather specific.
A large part of why I haven't been building much is that I decided that
I really needed to get my sorting under control. Like I said above, I'm
definitely winning the battle. My unsorted sets pile really is
diminishing. Of course I'm sure it will jump again in January when I
start hitting the clearance sales again, and there are 2001 sets that I
want to acquire bunches of, but I really do expect my eBaying to slow
down, though I'm always opportunistic. There definitely are some older
items which I want.
As far as bidding frustration, believe me, I've been on the other side.
When Serious Collector was a going thing, I basically gave up on bidding
on Train sets because Larry kept coming in and bidding more than I was
willing to pay.
Frank
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