A Special Message for: Collectors

October 25, 2001

Dear Star Wars Collector,

Welcome to Figures of Fortune, a freely-viewable webzine, primarily dedicated to 12" Action Figures. FoF offers reviews, photos, articles and even comic book-style photo stories for 12" Action Figure collectors- primarily GI Joe and Ultimate Soldier.

Recently, FoF decided to do a 12" photostory using Star Wars 12" action figures. To this end, I posted a message on two Star Wars Collector Forums, seeking out individuals willing to sell, or even give away, loose weapons, uniforms or equipment left over from 12" customization projects. No one replied to the message for several days. Then I received this message:

"Hello, I'm JediTricks, one of the moderators here at the SSG forums. I've been told by the admin to remove your 2 threads, "WANTED: 12" Action Figure Weapons, Uniforms and Equipment" and "WANTED: Damaged Republic Cruiser", because these forums are not a place to be begging for money or toys unless you are talking about a charity. While I wish you luck in your project, as a forum moderator, I cannot have you pan-handling at the readers."

I immediately wrote "JediTricks" back, to clarify the nature and intent of my messages:

"Dear Jedi Tricks,

I'm not "panhandling" for anything. I'm interested in buying loose ends for a photo project. I'm not interested in paying through the nose for museum quality pieces to restore figures for collecting. I don't even collect Star Wars figures.

I was searching the net looking for loose pieces, but was unsuccessful. SirSteve suggested I post a message in this forum.

In the Joe-collecting community, it is common practice to list projects you are working on and pieces you need. Collectors, myself included, often give away odd pieces for free. I did not realize Star Wars collectors were not so generous.

I in no way intended to offend any of your forum readers. If my post is removed, I would definitely like notification, so that I may post on my own website a request that Star Wars collectors not view my webzine, which is intended to be for free, and for the enjoyment of other collectors.

Thank you for your time,

Charles Martin"

Today, I got a response back from JediTricks:

Re: your threads
Charles, please understand that it was SirSteve himself who asked me to remove your threads from Micro Machines and Customizing. I cannot verify what he told you, but on our forums, comments like "(On a budget here). Donations welcome" are considered panhandling, if Steve and I misinterpreted your meanings, it was because they were not clear.

However, if you are interested in buying certain pieces, no matter what quality you are looking for or amount you are paying for them, posts like yours go in the forums' "Classifieds" sections, not the discussion areas. This is very commonplace in our SW collecting forums, and you are certainly welcome to post your ads in the classifieds and then discuss your project separately from those ads in the Customizing/Dioramas section, but if you decide to post classifieds, be sure to let the readers know that you're willing to buy -- that's where the confusion began. If I had known your posts were interested in buying, I would have moved them to the proper section instead of deleting them (the previous Private Message you received was stating that your posts were deleted).

By the way, the Republic Cruiser from the Micro Machines line was never mass-released, however there is an easy-to-acquire Action Fleet one and a somewhat difficult-to-get Die Cast one, both are in the "Micro Machines" sub-lines.

I am sorry if the confusion has frustrated you, I hope things have been cleared up and you can get the pieces you are looking for. If you need help wording a classifieds post, let me know and I'll be glad to help.

I also posted these messages in the Sandbox (alt.toys.gi-joe- a newsgroup for Joe collectors) and on the Unofficial Ultimate Soldier Fan Club Message Board.

I have received many responses from my fellow Joe/Sam collectors. I could post them all here, but the end result is the same: JediTricks' answer and the response I got from my request of the Star Wars Collecting Community sucks.

FoF is free- to be shared with others. Sure, contributions would be nice. I'm not Lucasfilm, I don't have a vast budget to buy toys then photograph them. Fellow Joe Collectors have given me free stuff before- prior to any of my photo projects. I've given unused items away. I don't think stating that I would accept freebies is so heinous.

So, if you are a Star Wars Collector, and agree with JediTricks' statements, please leave this website immediately. A lot of hard work goes into this webpage, and the many photos herein. If you can't share your toys, then don't try to play with someone else's.

-C.Martin