I like watching how fast everyone mobs to something. The other day I hit new posts and the first page was all Star Lord.
I guess it gets to the annoying part when everyne flocks to something that you are not interested in or did not impress you.
Yeah, I guess I'd say it's less any specific thing, and more how quickly one subject becomes THE subject. In the old days, there seemed to be a little more variety (I mean, back in '99 when I first joined -- they lost my info after the board migrated, but it's true). Yes, there were tons of Star Wars threads, but there were also Indy threads and Matrix threads and other stuff, too.
Hail the decision to create the popular franchises forums !
All the related threads as mentioned by Rich are there.
Nothing against these movies at all, but at least, all the noise (cacophony IMO :lol) is nicely contained & muffled in there :lol
....... so I just don't visit :lol
Yeah, I have to say that was a HUGE improvement in the boards. Kudos to whoever came up with that.
Pep this pep that...every time an original or original cast and rare prop turns up the thread gets little view or replies but if its pep it seems very popular. I've seen some of the most awesome and rarely seen stuff get barely any attention and this kinda bugs me. Sure pep is cool and cheap and innovative but enough is enough sometimes.
Ben
darn kids :darnkids
sadly, that seems to be the new trend in the prop world. I can see why young kids do it, but there are better options out there. I seen some members try to educate the peppers, but they are adament on "their" design.
whats even more sad is seeing members pay for these finished pep props when they can spend a few bucks more and get a prop from a better source that has ties to the original...
So, here's what I think is up with that, based largely on speculation.
My guess is that pepakura -- which I understand is just layered paper -- is in many ways more cost-effective for folks. Or at least it is in theory. I mean, all you need is paper, right? You don't need a vacuform table, you don't need a well-ventilated garage where you can do all this stuff, you don't need a metal lathe where you can machine this or that, you just need a computer and a printer and a crapload of paper. Same deal with foam. I don't know if it's a more forgiving medium, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was related to it as well.
When I first got involved with this board, I toyed with the idea of doing several different costumes. A stormtrooper armor outfit, a Ghostbuster outfit, maybe a Fett outfit, etc. As I did the first bits of research, I realized that this would require a ton of power tools and a lot of space that I just didn't have. I could buy a dremel and a bit of thin sink piping to try my hand at a homemade graflex (it didn't work out well), but that was about the extent of my craftiness. As a result...I gave up on
making props, and settled on costuming. Then even that became a bit much for my budget, and I basically just...hung around here, shooting the breeze with like-minded geeks.
But if there'd been pep stuff back when I got started? Who knows. I might be making this or that armor or prop or whathaveyou today. To the extent that pep stuff allows people to stay involved in crafting at all, I'd say it's better for the hobby. Maybe some day they can afford to build a vacuform table or whatever other larger expenses. Or maybe they'll just use more affordable materials and stick with that. Regardless, at least folks are crafting, ya know?