Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!

[The Lawgiver]

Ever since I saw the fucking shitload of 2000 dollar scalped earthbound carts at toomanygames months ago I've been occasionally getting clickbait or shit talking about about the ever spiking "value" of older games. Through this I found out withint he span of literally only a month or 2 earthbound is now apperently being scalped for nearly 3000 dollars.

This video in particular is weird because it has that kinda stilted stretched out feeling speech but it only lasts 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes like videos with that manner of speaking. There are SEVERAL points in the video which trigger the shit out of my gamer/pop culture knowledge autism like the claim that the game didn't sell well because it was "intentionally retro and 8 bit instead of 16 bit" when the guy also talks abut MOTHER, a game that actually uses 8 bit graphics as if there was no blatantly obvious graphics overhaul between the two. Other weird instances are the mention of the scratch and sniff marketing as if it was a significant factor in the game's intial failure of a launch accompanied by him fucking scratching and sniffing the part that isn't the scratch and sniff cards and claiming the game is "too vague on the enemy hitboxes or how much health you have left" as if a turn based rpg has more controls than just menu stuff and the whole scrolling HP counter and "MORTAL DAMAGE!!!!" mechanic isn't literally explained for you in the game itself.

There's so many copies of Earthbound out there and so many fuckers just SQUATTING on several of them for the last fucking decade or so it's insane to me. I hate the fact it's basically become the fucking "reddit game collector flex" game despite beign a mass-prodiced first party nintendo title so fucking much, and it's never escaped that fate even with the fucking SEA of bootleg carts out there that never ceased being produced and are mixed in with the scalped to shit copies. It's a funny passion project RPG game that never deserved this fate.

 

[Mega Negroid Gyroid]

Speaking of Metal Jesus, in 2015 he tried to have people fund him so he could go on a "tour" around the country so he could buy up all of the games at local stores.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vJwsJLRsapo

Man that dude is a fucking scumbag he also did shady shit with Limited Games. MJR and his crew helped the creator of a shitty shovelware platformer named "Bird King" by making it seem rare because it supposedly couldn't be sold digitally and only physically. This eventually led to a giant scam where Limited Games' employees were holding private auctions on of these "elusive" games on ebay. Tbh this video is a way longer than it needs to be but it does a decent job at going over MJR and his drama along with why Limited Run is a terrible company that is full of shit when it comes to "muh preservation."

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Pretty old and (possibly) late, but seeing Chris Chan’s incredible video game collection makes me glad emulation is still a thing. Wasting $30,000 on Sonic related and girl games only for them to be destroyed in a fire and still rebuying the same games is truly a life lesson on why video game consumerism can be abused when you have no impulse control.

Responsibility is still a thing that exists.

 

[El Iluminado]

He’s fake woke anyway. He had this weird meet up at a beach house he rented. Several of the girls later reported having their privacy deleted. It was a small fiasco back then. You can still find the beach house video and it’s creepy vibe. Bunch of skinny fat 40 year olds liquoring up young women.

Do you mean these ones? Lmao the comment section has some weird ass comments if you sort them by new. I saw some impliying that Reggie (the black one) had his way with the girls while the husbands where sleeping lol

There used to be a guy that did exclusively reactions to MJR an his crew that nuked his channel for some reason, he was called Afrogamer or something like that.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KP38XoF8vnc
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AUn9mOIE78s
Do you mean these ones? Lmao the comment section has some weird ass comments if you sort them by new.

There used to be a guy that did exclusively reactions to MJR an his crew that nuked his channel for some reason, he was called Afrogamer or something like that.

So fucking cringe. Classic gaming used to be more fun when the worst thing we had to deal with was the occasional smelly fat nerd. The inmates took over the asylum.

 

[Tootsie Bear]

So fucking cringe. Classic gaming used to be more fun when the worst thing we had to deal with was the occasional smelly fat nerd. The inmates took over the asylum.

The same with any other form of media or popular franchise. There's a thread on this site about "nerds" who basically consume and worship popular entertainment.
https://kiwifarms.net/threads/us-nerds-xd.35711/
What Metal Jesus reminds me of is the guy who's a "nerd" because it's popular and he spends all his money on whatever he can get his hands on.

 

[Dieter Laser]

Sadly the speculators and investors are moving into the TTRPG sphere. I’ve seen multiple people asking about getting D&D books graded. And the worst part is they’ve already blown the market apart trying to buy up copies. 50-100$ titles are going for 500$+, same with dice… sets that sold for 150-200 are going for 1500-2000$ easily. Anything remotely nerdy that has any rare items is being hit by these idiots.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

Sadly the speculators and investors are moving into the TTRPG sphere. I’ve seen multiple people asking about getting D&D books graded. And the worst part is they’ve already blown the market apart trying to buy up copies. 50-100$ titles are going for 500$+, same with dice… sets that sold for 150-200 are going for 1500-2000$ easily. Anything remotely nerdy that has any rare items is being hit by these idiots.

They started to move into VHS/Betamax tape collecting too, for a long time a hobby of mine I assumed because it was an inferior format was safe from speculator/"investors" con-men.

The grading people are parasites, I don't care what hobby it is. The range for a grade can be extremely broad (especially for comic books). There is no special magic to it. Anytime I've bought something that was in one of those gay cases I've removed the item and smashed the case to pieces.

 

[BroccoliBrain]

This is her most recent video.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=UcFBoldXLWk
They are really nice and you can get one for $15.
View attachment 3561450
Yeah it's not the same as hers, but it's also a showerhead. If this is "luxury" you can have luxury every day in your own rental apartment with $20 and 15 minutes.

Watching the lashes being applied to her eyelids made my skin crawl, they remind me of insect legs or a whole hairy caterpillar on her eye when she blinks. Looks ugly as fuck and she should have spent her money fixing her awful skin. All that cash can't buy you class.

 

[Dieter Laser]

The grading people are parasites, I don't care what hobby it is. The range for a grade can be extremely broad (especially for comic books). There is no special magic to it.

The IGC are the worst, them and the ones doing the game grading. The grade you get determines your price for having it graded with some of the services, like that’s not suspect. Plus there’s a few auction houses running private auctions and trading them back and forth… it’s all so gross. None of them are actually selling to collectors, just from auction house to auction house, to generate a history of price increases.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

The IGC are the worst, them and the ones doing the game grading. The grade you get determines your price for having it graded with some of the services, like that’s not suspect. Plus there’s a few auction houses running private auctions and trading them back and forth… it’s all so gross. None of them are actually selling to collectors, just from auction house to auction house, to generate a history of price increases.

To be honest it almost looks like money laundering and if I remember right one of the heads of these graders got in trouble for a prior scam involving was it baseball cards or coins? I can't remember but it's a bit like how supposedly real rich people will launder money through Art collecting

 

[Gar For Archer]

Sadly the speculators and investors are moving into the TTRPG sphere. I’ve seen multiple people asking about getting D&D books graded. And the worst part is they’ve already blown the market apart trying to buy up copies. 50-100$ titles are going for 500$+, same with dice… sets that sold for 150-200 are going for 1500-2000$ easily. Anything remotely nerdy that has any rare items is being hit by these idiots.

Yeah but with D&D, unless you’re a super ultra nerd you can just play for free, since all the resources are mirrored online. Of the people who do buy the content I’d wager most of them are buying it digitally rather than physically, which allows them to more easily use expansion content with a virtual tabletop like Roll20, D&D Beyond or Foundry.

Paying $150-200 for one set of dice is already hardcore consoomer behavior, they’re fucking dice, there is literally zero functional difference between a $200 set of dice and the $5 pair I picked up at B&N, as long as they roll fair.

 

[Lobster Cult High Priest]

Yeah but with D&D, unless you’re a super ultra nerd you can just play for free, since all the resources are mirrored online. Of the people who do buy the content I’d wager most of them are buying it digitally rather than physically, which allows them to more easily use expansion content with a virtual tabletop like Roll20, D&D Beyond or Foundry.

Paying $150-200 for one set of dice is already hardcore consoomer behavior, they’re fucking dice, there is literally zero functional difference between a $200 set of dice and the $5 pair I picked up at B&N, as long as they roll fair.

Usually cool looking dice you can buy by the cup at any kind of comic con like event for fairly cheap.

Why would people even want to have a matching set of dice anyway

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

It’s been five years, and this still hasn’t been proven wrong. Funny enough, it was around that time when Funko Pop and fidget spinner collecting was on the verge of reaching its peak.

 

[Alligator Alcatraz]

You've heard of collectors of useless plastic valued $5-30, but have you heard of a useless $13,800 hand-painted polystone, pvc, abs plastic die cast statue of a fictional character that requires a down-payment?

Introducing the Final Fantasy VI 1/6 scale statue!

600 will be created to litter the planet with each uniquely numbered. Tell the wife you won't be able to get her that standard transition 2022 Nissan Versa, your childhood waifu is at stake here!

Has two interchangable kneeling Terra designs (the girl), one interchangable seated Terra, 3 moogles (the white teddy bear creatures), and a title plate of the video game the statue references.

My sister's hospital fees to give birth to her daughter were nearly $30,000 so this statue is worth half a living, healthy human being birthed into this world.

https://store.na.square-enix-games....x-masterline-final-fantasy-vi-16-scale-statue

 

[NoReturn]

I don't want to shit on this because it's a small shop, but I disagree with it as a matter of principle.

 

[The Lawgiver]

You've heard of collectors of useless plastic valued $5-30, but have you heard of a useless $13,800 hand-painted polystone, pvc, abs plastic die cast statue of a fictional character that requires a down-payment?

Introducing the Final Fantasy VI 1/6 scale statue!

600 will be created to litter the planet with each uniquely numbered. Tell the wife you won't be able to get her that standard transition 2022 Nissan Versa, your childhood waifu is at stake here!

Has two interchangable kneeling Terra designs (the girl), one interchangable seated Terra, 3 moogles (the white teddy bear creatures), and a title plate of the video game the statue references.

My sister's hospital fees to give birth to her daughter were nearly $30,000 so this statue is worth half a living, healthy human being birthed into this world.

https://store.na.square-enix-games....x-masterline-final-fantasy-vi-16-scale-statue

View attachment 3582134

View attachment 3582135

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I've noticed the fucking prices of these kinds of statues fucking SPIKED within the last few years and you can't just pin it on "inflation". A vague few years back these kinds of things would be $200, $500, $899 in chronological order or whatever. If they were handmade I'd understand the expense but when it's a factory made product painted by hired artists to make each one look identical, yeah I can't see the fucking "value" in that. The way it used to go was the $30 ones were made of plastic but the ones in he hundreds were in that polystone ceramic stuff. Now though? a lot of the plastic ones are just as expensive as the polystone ones usted to be or CURRENTLY ARE. Only exception to this I've seen is the shit like the first4figures miniature sonic statues or the goodsmile pop up parade shit which all run like $34 or some shit but even that latter one is gradually increasing in price to the fucking 50 dollar range. Like yeah it looks cool but when you get to the point that literally the majority of people buying your product are people attempting to squat on it to sell it for a higher "value" you have a fucking problem.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

Of the people who do buy the content I’d wager most of them are buying it digitally rather than physically, which allows them to more easily use expansion content with a virtual tabletop like Roll20, D&D Beyond or Foundry.

It really depends on the player and the specific game you're playing. I buy physical copies since they just plain last longer as with a TTRPG you can play the same game for twenty or forty years so long as you still have the rules, it also can be slightly easier to transport physical print than to fuck with a laptop or tablet if you play physical sessions, especially if your group has a "no tech" rule at the table like mine tend to. The other thing is that if you play games other than D&D (specifically fifth edition D&D too, the older editions don't have the same online support), PF2E, or Shadowrun4E, a lot of VTTs will not have proper support for you and will require either custom macros or just a webcam and physical dice anyways. Grognards like me who play mainly older games and war games are better off just buying the physical books and meeting in person, Tabletop Simulator is nice but it lacks the same sort of good atmosphere that a physical game has.

EDIT: Spelling

Second edit: Something else that I just thought of is that there are some TTRPGs that even torrent and pirate sites will not host because their author and/or publisher is both very competent at finding illegal copies of their books and also super aggressive with effective take down demands. Chainmail and Zweihander are both really good examples of this since those books tend to get entire pirate sites nuked all on their own.

 

[Dieter Laser]

Yeah but with D&D, unless you’re a super ultra nerd you can just play for free, since all the resources are mirrored online. Of the people who do buy the content I’d wager most of them are buying it digitally rather than physically, which allows them to more easily use expansion content with a virtual tabletop like Roll20, D&D Beyond or Foundry.

Oh I agree, but there are a lot of people who prefer to play with physical copies. And with 5e being mostly digital and SJW bait there are a lot of people moving to 3.5e

And several of my campaigns are online and it’s great, but I still like having my physical books to reference.

Paying $150-200 for one set of dice is already hardcore consoomer behavior, they’re fucking dice, there is literally zero functional difference between a $200 set of dice and the $5 pair I picked up at B&N, as long as they roll fair.

To be fair the sets that carried that value were because they are incredibly gorgeous and rare, because it’s illegal to produce them any longer. The glitter used is a controlled substance in the EU where they are manufactured, as it’s now used as part of the anti-counterfeiting measures on the Euro bank notes. So dice nerds really love them and ngl they are gorgeous. But I paid $5 for my sets. Just nuts to look at your dice tray and know that some weirdos would give you 6k for just what’s there. I’d never sell em though.

 

[Caligura]

Sadly the speculators and investors are moving into the TTRPG sphere. I’ve seen multiple people asking about getting D&D books graded. And the worst part is they’ve already blown the market apart trying to buy up copies. 50-100$ titles are going for 500$+, same with dice… sets that sold for 150-200 are going for 1500-2000$ easily. Anything remotely nerdy that has any rare items is being hit by these idiots.

Imagine the day when people begin scalping Varg's TTRPG game.