We will be setting up next week a spot for those who are attending the OTSN to post their thoughts and comments on the show. If you have any photos send them to pestad@gmail.com and we will be happy to post the photos and give full credit to you.
We will be watching the various sites and past along what we find out. I may as in years past call into the show to some people and see how the show is going. (I have to find some way use up my minutes.) As in years past Laurie and I will not be at the show. The cost to travel to show by air is crazy. It is cheaper to fly to Las Vegas which is further than to Chicago. Also a car rental at O’Hare is very expensive. We had thought driving out, but this year we hit a new snag, the same weekend as OTSN is PBR Bull Riding in Allentown. Laurie is a fanatic on the bull riding, I now know what a football widow feels like. She can not miss her bull riding and so I will drive her the to the event and then pick her. It is only a two day event. In between that I will relax with the boys until I need to pick her up.
It will be interesting on this year’s show on several fronts. In regard to the new material, we know that Lod Enterprises will have their Trojans/Greeks and Paragon will have their civil war figures. Several sources are reporting Barzso will have some small pirate ships for sale. No word on Austin Miniatures if they will have their WWII Japanese at the show. Likewise will the people see the long delay John Stengel JR figure project.
Old items will playsets hold their own as in years past or go down. I know some sources will be touting the positive, I am going to wonder the truth. Also what are figures and accessories are going for. I have seen in the last two years I have had to bundle items that I was used to sell separate. Finally was their much foreign plastic at the show.
So for now we will just sit back and wait for the show to begin.
I’m looking forward to seeing so many friends and familiar faces at OTSN, including Ed Borris and Mike Kutnick. And I definitely want to see Steve Weston and Ken Lodi, for obvious reasons.
And for your information, Paul, if you check TSSD’s site (Chicago Show section), it now says:
VIETNAM
is finally coming to OTSN!
Whether this means from John Stengle Jr. — or someone else — is anybody’s guess. We’ll all know shortly.
Don
Very likely it is Stengel’s long over due project, but like you I will sit back and wait and see.
If it is in fact Stengle Jr., Nick & DeAnna would know, since TSSD is one of the three selected distributors —- Tree Frog and Steve Weston (I believe) being the other two.
And if it is Stengle, I will be pleasantly surprised, since in my group conversation with him at Indy, listening to him describe the technical problems he was having in the manufacturing process, I became convinced the plastic process issues were probably unresolvable, without the application of massive resources which I didn’t think would be available to him.
One of the wisest toy soldier investments I ever made was acquiring my 20 Playmobile Palm Trees
Not only are they the best palm trees ever made, bar none, but they are invaluable in my French Foreign Legion set-ups, WWII Pacific set-ups, and coming soon, Vietnam War set-ups.
Fellow readers of my site, I have had to take down several posts due to TSSD being upset people were thinking that next set that they are proposing is Vietnam. The Vietnam figures are being done by Action Casting. We will have to wait until OTSN for further details.
Well, Nick certainly understands that “speculation” is not some kind of illegal activity — rather, it’s something that happens naturally when partial, unexplained, mysterious information is released or posted on a popular website.
Nick has now clarified his TSSD website comment by informing us the Vietnam figures he was alluding to as “coming to OTSN” are precisely the ones we’ve all been anticipating: the ones by John Stengle Jr. And Nick then further announces that “after the show” TSSD will be one of the distributors of these Vietnam figures.
Nick, nice reasonable guy that he is, even apologizes for “causing the confusion”.
But as to the larger issue — if we are not allowed to think, guess, anticipate, speculate, deduce, or simply try to figure out something so benign as to what toy soldiers are coming out next, because someone might get “upset”, then we might as well shut down all toy soldier discussion boards, because we won’t really have too much to talk about.
In other words, Paul, I think you were over-hasty in removing Mr. McIver’s innocuous comment about how he thought TSSD’s Project 2016 “might” be Vietnam figures.
Don
I removed it at Brian’s request. I took the others as they were in the same vein. Brian had been requested to get the comment taken down by Nick of TSSD.
Then I understand completely, and have no cause to complain. Thank you for the explanation.
Don I will like to mention ,there several others you may had not see yey-may be? very well done palms trees in plastic. They are not that hard to find if google well .
PECH,JECSAN and few others often sold not under toy category in eBay are excellent samples .
I will post pictures of them one day so you guys see. I had acquired then during years for very low bargain prices. The same in the regular trees and cactus done by those company and for the 60 mm scale figures, so very tall and nice multispecies done
Man, I’m getting itchy, OTSN!!!!!!!! Let’s do it, free beer in my room, no purchase necessary, but all offers welcome, preferably high offers. None of that I’ll give you 14 cents for that Powder Blue Rin Tin Tin character figure set.
ups;that what happen when speculation ball roll the slid down fast!!
Well, I’m glad I stayed out of that one.
VIETNAM is the next big untapped goldmine for the toy soldier hobby!
I feel that the age of NAM in plastic is about to begin!
Watch everyone jump aboard!
SELLTOY start on a HUEY CHOPPER NOW!
AGREED!!!
That’s 1/3rd of the hobby!
Anticipation, debate and speculation!
Don, I could not have said it better. We were all just guessing, speculating. In know way were we stating it was a fact. It’s just part of the fun and hype that goes along prior to every OTSN.
Speaking of OTSN and this will be my 23rd consecutive show. Now that we are down to single digits counting the days to the show. Does anyone else start to get anxious that something will come up preventing you from going? I know I do.
Gary
Gary, I don’t so much get anxious about whether something will prevent me from going, as I do wondering if the date of the show will ever actually arrive at all! Sort of like a child two months before Christmas thinking it’s never going to actually get here. This anxiety becomes especially acute as I get down to single digits before the OTSN weekend.
Incidently, I and my roommate attend the show coming from different parts of Michigan — me from metro-Detroit on the east side of the state, and my roommate (Bill Skinner) arriving from the west side of the state (Kalamazoo area). May I inquire, Gary, where you are coming from?
I try not to think of disasters prior to OTSN, I just curse myself if I think too much.
I think that Viet Nam will be a niche type release, as I do not believe that there is enough demand for soft plastic releases.
For a lot of people, Viet Nam is still a sore spot. Especially if you lost a friend or relative over there.
Look how long it took for Korean War figures to finally be released.
More than 60 years.
Just because 10 or 20 or 100 people write emails in favor of Viet Nam figures, that doesn’t translate into enough sales to make the venture worthwhile.
Which is why plastic figure makers have to pretty much stick to the popular stuff.
Just my observation, you may disagree.
But another way to view things is that any particular war is a niche within the world of toy soldiers, and the world of toy soldiers itself is a niche within the world of toys in general.
It’s just that Vietnam hasn’t been done on any appreciable scale before, unlike all our other wars. So a new venture that finally comes up with quality sculptings filling that gap generates enthusiasm among toy soldier collectors, niche or no niche.
I can assure you, at last year’s OTSN, when John Stengel Jr. unveiled his Vietnam War prototypes, the excitement among the attendees was there.
Mr. Stengel envisions a large line consisting of Viet Cong, North Vietnam Regulars, provincial villagers, U.S. Marines, and Green Beret Special Forces, along with supporting terrain features. TSSD jumped at the chance to be one of his two selected U.S. retailers, as did Steve Weston to handle the European share of the trade.
To be sure, John Stengel Jr. knows his product is not a mass market item, which is why he spent so much time and effort to come up with a process which wasn’t as expensive as traditional injection molding.
It may be a niche, but filling niches is what successful entrepeneurs do, so we shouldn’t be overly disparaging of his efforts to bring some new life into this hobby.
I remain excited to see the first product offering in Chicago next weekend.
Ohhh, I think we can find things to talk about. There are always toy soldiers to be evaluated ,collected and identified. Shows to discuss, things to argue about. I think we can entertain ourselves. If not, I think we’re all in trouble.
Don It remains to be seen. Talk doesn’t always translate into sales and you are correct about a niche within a niche, which means an extremely small market of buyers.
And Johnmay “envision” all those wonderful things, but that doesn’t mean that they will come to pass.
As for Nick and Weson being distributors….really what does it cost them?
There’s no downside for them.
I know John since he was a small child. If anyone can do i,t I’m sure it will be him.
I just think that it’s a very, very small market.
Bill I agree with your saying too.
And if Stengel Jr had spend as according to him the thousand he had I could well said he may had already done it in regular standard mold. So if in trying to save to do small runs he spend the much amount of cost for long run of one to two sets I will say he should think back and decide soon or too much wasted by now already. Now I do not know if those numbers are right, correct or accurate.
I’m curious to see how Vietnam War figures will sell. It was less than 20 years after WWII (a much bigger war, entailing much more loss) before we got Germans and Japanese for WWII set-ups. Yeah, a lot of negativity over the whole Vietnam affair, but I know 2 Vietnam War vets that are dying to get their hands on these guys. For me, I won’t do Afghan War or any recent stuff. Not fun for me, too close to a lot of bad things. With the release of WWII figures, the target was kids. Today, the target demographic is us old guys, so I can see the desire being a little less. A tough one to guess. I’m going to bet they will do well, but I wouldn’t lay big money on that bet.
Greg I agree with your general idea and an interesting fact about this hobby is still most made out of mid to old generation is the fact that according to several retailers selling AIP brand modern us/nato and Taliban set. These sets had not sold well enough to the surprise of many versus other.
Either too early, too political or not too much importance for mid and old generation .
To me even they are fun and realistic part of actual history, are last to be collected.
About Viet Nam again it involve a lot of political feeling .But same time and ironically, it was indeed the war era that brought down the fury of plastic toy soldier in the market for children and let generation half way happy because or the political/consequences and pacifism movement. So a war that killed the war toys joy!!should be one day brought back to honor a lost memory, least in very minor sale scale I think but the sale will be slow in my opinion.
One of my overseas contacts is working on making 1/32 NVA
Kent
That is very interesting Kent. since you have mention these possible new figures, I might as well get the questions started. How many different poses are they doing? Will the figures be in soft plastic or hard plastic? Will the figures be one piece construction or put together figures like Expeditionary Force? Is this a new company or an old company? When will they be out? Will the be sold in a bag or a box? How much will they cost? I am sure Kent since you opened the door there will be other question by the readers.
The new 1/32 Vietnam NVA will be standard single piece toy soldiers. I have seen some of the sculpts and they look nice. I believe there will be 4 poses in soft plastic. The maker is one you have heard of and I will ask if it is OK to say more and get pictures to share.
Kent
Thanks for the update, now the speculation will be who is making them. If they are only four poses in the set, that sounds like Call to Arms. We wish the person well.
This is my personal opinion and observation. I prefer to talk about the past and the present rather than speculation. I do not like to dream of what could and could not be done, as it will, in the end, tease me and unfortunately, in this hobby, leave me disappointed, especially if things do not come together.
I am a realist rather than a dreamer. At the end of the day, unless something has officially been announced with some pictures or I see the item myself, I know these ideas are dreams and will very likely disappear. Too many of those ideas are already in the museum of forgotten dreams, never done by the plastic toy soldier production companies.
This hobby is more unrealistic than others when it comes to speculation. It is a sad but true fact.
There is plenty to talk about in the hobby, like what has been done so far and about rare figures. Other things we can talk about are the history of factories, molds, sculptors, owners, playsets, others toys, etc. Speculation only leads to empty words without real concrete true ideas or facts and often create more issues than enjoyment. I have seen many collectors over reacting about recent production, then calm down after they see it in person. It is the joy and excitement of the hobby and a very interesting reaction to see; but to expect something that had not been done and would be done soon by a particular company, due to the few words out of context by people is like a child’s Santa’s wish in the bed pillow. A dream!!
But should somebody feel “upset”, Erwin, just because a few hobbyists on the internet want to “guess” about what toy soldiers might be coming down the pike? Isn’t that a bit of an overreaction?
Don;agree it is overreaction the upset part; but once again my point was not about the upset part but other=speculation with out concrete ideas facts and plenty more talk about that in the hobby,that was all. Any how it was my personal view and any reaction is consequence of any cause, unfortunately today some people take too personal others comments and jump out the loop. You know ,too delicate way we live today, any you said has to get filter .
I think someone might be upset over a rumor like that because some people can get nasty when they are disappointed in a set not being released.
Yeah, you have to remember for the most part this hobby is full of crabby old men, like me.
Ed, I’m with you there. I often say I used to be an angry young man, now I’m just a grumpy old fart.
A flatulent fellow you say? Anyway, what we’ve been through to get this far we are entitled to be crabby.