Hunk a Junk
Sr Member
I think you missed my point, holtaa. I have no problem with a company targeting kids. I like kids. I have kids. In fact, I agree that targeting kids is good for the long-term viability of the hobby. But there's no reason to sacrifice reasonable accuracy just to get kids interested in building kits. Make the kits easier to build. Make them snap kits. Make them a reasonable size. Heck, even put in a sound board and simple lights. No problem. But why dumb down the details and the accuracy??? Why make the kit's proportions wrong??? Those have nothing to do with attracting younger modelers. In fact, I think they go against the whole reason a person -- a kid or an adult -- wants to build a kit in the first place. I know when I was a kid I wanted something that looked like the ship on the screen. I'd also argue that the assumption that "video game kids" are less discerning is false. Kids today have WAY more access to images of subjects than us older modelers had when we were kids. A quick Google search and a kid can see screen grabs or detailed jpegs of this ship or that. When I was a kid I couldn't even pause an episode of Space:1999 to look closely at a detail on the Eagle model. It's far easier for kids nowadays to immediately see that a kit looks "wrong." Kids are smart. They know when they're being talked down to --and that's what Revell is doing. In my opinion, a kid who wants to build a model is a kid who is creative -- who wants an experience and a product that is something more than a toy. If you're just selling them an inaccurate toy that they also have to put together, then what's the point?
Besides all that, I don't believe that targeting "younger modelers" is Revell's main motivation. I think it' an excuse for not wanting to spend time and money to make their kits better. They're only making them as good as they can get away with -- and using "kids" as their 'dog ate my homework' excuse for lackluster effort.
Besides all that, I don't believe that targeting "younger modelers" is Revell's main motivation. I think it' an excuse for not wanting to spend time and money to make their kits better. They're only making them as good as they can get away with -- and using "kids" as their 'dog ate my homework' excuse for lackluster effort.