# Made the mistake of typing in Polar Lights.com



## Chuck_P.R. (Jun 8, 2003)

I literally hadn't bothered trying to check out polarlights.com since a few months after the company was sold.

It is freakin' depressing!!!!!

You have to dig through old archives and files and past tons of pages to get to anything that doesn't have to do with freakin' cars or motorcycles!

Cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, 

AND MORE CARS!!!!!

*Click on a link about about Ertl collectibles that are under the heading of NFL or NBA.*

*Think you would get a figure kit about some famous Sports hero? NO!*

*What do you get?*

Cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, 

AND MORE CARS!!!!!


I certainly hope that Moebius makes a go of it, because I'm so freakin' sick of companies that make virually nothing but vehicles and armor I'm about ready to scream!

It's freakin' ridiculous!

Since when did the car industry completely take over the model industry?
You would think almost every freakin' manufacturer is owned by the big four automakers!


----------



## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

I'm Getting the impression you're a figure guy Chuck, but how do you really feel ???


----------



## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Did they say if they have any car kits?



:tongue:


----------



## Chuck_P.R. (Jun 8, 2003)

the Dabbler said:


> I'm Getting the impression you're a figure guy Chuck, but how do you really feel ???


I like certain figure kits, mostly Superhero and Trek.
I even like some armor/aircraft and have enjoyed putting together a battleship or two.
I especially like Sci-Fi spacecraft though.

I have no problem with there being car and armor kits, 

*but when that is 98.99999999999% of what's out there I have to ask what the heck is going on?*

*Do people have no imagination anymore?*

Has the lowest common denominators in popular culture sunk so low that to be profitable the only things we can see produced as kits that will sell is automobiles and armor?

Apparently producing kits that inspire people's imagination and appreciation of fiction or fantasy is almost a thing of the past.

I think a lot of it has to do with being P.Correct. I consider myself liberal on a lot of issues but it's become obvious to me in the last couple of decades that in order to keep from "leaving out" or centering on "traditional" heros we have gotten into a trend in the last twenty years where a lot of superheroes are not even human. Robotron, etc. Or they are aliens, or in the case of newer versions of the Batman Animated Series it's more about the technology and less about the ideals and issues.

Can't show one ethnic group as the only one espousing certain ideals, and since both Western, Eastern, MiddleEastern culture's values are roughly understood - let's not handle it by anthropormorphising creatures like The Mutant Ninja Turtles. Everyone's culture is displayed as having the same values, even when that is totally not the case.

So don't expect to see too many more remakes of Captain America.
Can't have a blatant ****** hero that people can get behind. Enjoying such hereos might offend somebody.

And don't hold your breath for a flood of either figure or sci-fi kits.

For heroes our kids will have to look forward to more poorer and poorer nostalgic remakes of the classics in movies occassionally - as Hollywood seems to run out of new ideas every other year.

Or they'll have anthropormorphised mutant animal heroes or robot-creatures/pocket mosters that solve crisis X, Y, or Z but never talk about the ideals behind why they do what they do, or what it means to be a responsible human being.

About the only exception I've seen recently and may see a couple of times more in the series is the new SpiderMan movies...

*Oh, if you do want to buy a kit related to the first of the new SpiderMan movies you can!*

*And it was even made by Polar Lights!*

IT IS A FREAKIN' *CAR KIT THAT COMES WITH A SPIDERMAN STICKER* YOU STICK ON THE HOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They did the same think for The Hulk movie. Find a kit no one is buying and slap a sticker on it creating something that has absolutely nothing to do with the movie and try and pass it off as a SpiderMan or Hulk "kit."

That's like that episode I saw on Saturday Night Live, in which Eddie Murphy played Mr. Rodgers. Who was charging kids in "The Neighborhood" $35 bucks to buy authentic "Cabbage Patch Dolls" which were cheap dolls with iron spikes for heads that had real heads of Cabbage shoved on them!

Genuine Cabbage Patch dolls!

Genuine Spiderman "kits!"


So much for imagination.


----------



## MitchPD3 (Dec 27, 2001)

Someone hold Chuck down while I administer his meds!!!!!


----------



## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

"Anthropomorphosing" ?? Dang near had to run to my Funk & Wagnell's.  

We may both get moderated for this thread, but I have to agree with you Chuck. On both the politically correct thing and the model availlability. I guess the "kids" today are more inclined to vehicles, high tech, automation, animation... yada yada..! Most younger people never see B & W movies so are not familiar with the 'old/classic' subjects of figure models.

Witches and Halloween items are "evil". "American" heroes are tabboo. ( or "imperial running dogs ) Now "The Dukes Of Hazzard" are 'racist'. ( well that's one less car kit though ). One good thing about getting old, I won't have to see the end results of all this. Crap, now even Bugs Bunny is "too violent".

With Moebius, and maybe others, there may still be hope though.
Dabbler

Better save a shot of that for this old Conservative too Mitch.:freak:


----------



## GlennME (Aug 4, 2001)

I've always wondered why the new owners didn't simply sell off Polar Lights. Presumably someone out there would've been interested in obtaining the Polar Lights name, and the molds to Robby The Robot, Jupiter 2, the new versions of The Wolf Man and Phantom, etc. etc.


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

PL made cars!?!?


----------



## beeblebrox (Jul 30, 2003)

Ummm...Deloreans?


----------



## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Sci-Fi subjects like Star Wars and Star Trek were very long ago and kids today couldn't care less. And, realistically, there have been no phenomenal sci-fi television shows or films to replace them. Sure, some still have their audience--Firefly, for example--but that's a very select group; too small for most marketers to target.

Figure kits? Too much work. Kids can go buy the action figure and be done with it. No gluing, no puttying, no painting--a few minutes to rip open the box and put it on the shelf, and they can go back to their video games/iPods/text messages/MySpace website/whatever. Actually, I think the increased interest in pre-painted figures and die-cast collectibles has done more to kill this hobby than anything else.

Why cars? Why not? Like it or not, NASCAR is big business right now. Besides, car kits are probably the easiest to assemble (aside from pre-painted snap kits) and anyone with even the most modest skills can slam one together and have it look reasonably okay to most of their friends and family.


----------



## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

Beyond the GK industry and "nostalgia" styrene kits like those now being offered by Monarch and Moebius - the _commercial_ figure kit market is essentially dead. It's got nothing to do with "political correctness" and _everything_ to do with technology and demographics. _We_ didn't build balsa-wood airplanes or make toy soldiers out of lead or go to Lash Larue matinees on Saturday afternoons. I wonder why? You want figure kits? Buy from Moebius and Monarch. Buy vintage kits on ebay. Choose from the _thousands_ of beautiful figure kits available on the GK market. Times change. That's just a fact of life.


----------



## Guest (Mar 22, 2007)

I have to go along with points made by Zombie and Zorro.
On the prepainted/diecast side o' things, that IS big business and is still growing. Any of the hobby shops in my neck of the woods are now about 30% minimum prepainted/diecast and in some, the kits are just a few piled up in the middle while all the rest of the space is taken up by said ready made items.

Is this bad ? Well for some of us yes, for the retailers, distributors and importers, no it's not and that my modeling muckas is how it be. 

I recall times when the majority of hobby shops were normally run by those who were in the hobby and got gear in that sold to those like us. The hobby is in decline, so are the sales therefore so will the stuff that we would like to see.
Business dictates what seems to appear these days so the choice is made by what sells and from a retail side, that's all there is.

As for figure kits and the so called 'nostalgia', as far as i can see the GK mob have had the majority of that market for better than 2 decades variety wise at least with what's been available in this locale. 
The 'commercial' figure stuff has been kind of ok but not the greatest quality at times, The TOS Trek vynil figure kits spring to mind as possible examples from my perspective.

As to the politically correct mob, nothing new here. Ask anyone who recalls the hoo-ha over all the Airfix box art more than a couple of decades back. Changing that lot delt a fair finacial body blow to the company but pressure was given into. 

Seen it myself at one model exhibition a few years back where certain organisers wanted post-it notes placed on models to cover the areas that, technically and historically correctly had the swastika emblem on them.
I kid thee not!
The story long but the result was withdrawl by some and a near lynching of others and a general "why do i bother" attitude amoung the participants and not all of them were WWII Aircraft and Armour modelers.

All that said, times are changing as Zorro said and quite correct, we have little choice but to deal with it.

I for one have confidence that even with the apparent decline, some producers will be here in some form and folks like us will still be around in one way or another. Wether it be kit builders, kit bashers or scratchbuilders, someone will still be doing it.
I for one have no intention of worrying about it and will most likely be slamming a scale summat together untill i kick the bucket or can no longer build (whichever happens first)...if its the former then i don't think the state of the hobby market is something i'll be worrying about 

Go easy all


----------



## BigH827 (Mar 17, 2007)

If you want to build figures, go to E-Bay they come out of Japan by the billions, yes few are palstic but you have to builed them. The same for sci-fi, the Bandi Star Treck kits are snap kits but they look as good as the old Polar Lights Enterprise. Tanks and cars will always be big because most people can relate to them, plus they are not as hard to build as the figure kits. And they almost always sell good, even though the tanks are not PC.


----------



## Old_McDonald (Jul 5, 2002)

Zombie_61 said:


> Figure kits? Too much work. Kids can go buy the action figure and be done with it. No gluing, no puttying, no painting--a few minutes to rip open the box and put it on the shelf, and they can go back to their video games/iPods/text messages/MySpace website/whatever. Actually, I think the increased interest in pre-painted figures and die-cast collectibles has done more to kill this hobby than anything else.
> 
> .


I have to agree with this. Kids today are really bad when it comes to having patience. My own nephew quit trying to fix a problem with his computer after only trying for 5 minutes and then called me to walk him thru it. 

Today, one can find pre-made figures with such accurate likenesses that who would want to take the time to build, putty, sand, and paint? One can buy ships like Art Asylumn's trek line that are as good as most amateur modelers can build. There are die-cast models of star wars and trek ships that are better looking than most kids can build. I feel that most modelers today are those older guys like us who do have a certain nostalgia foar the hobby while kids today go for the instant gratification of dvds, gadgets, video games, etc.

Also, car models are a subject where companies don't have to pay licensing fees like the highway robbery that Paramount takes.

PS. even I balk at paying 200+ dollars for a millenium falcon from Fine Molds. I'm saving up right now to pay the 100 dollars I need for the upcoming 36 inch Seaview that is due out in Dec. Car models are still 15 dollars and less on a 50% off Hobby Lobby sale..


----------



## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Times have changed. Welcome to the 21st Century, the future! 
It used to be that any grocery, drug, department stores, and more, used to carry models. Now most are in hobby/model shops, and online. 
If I was not here, I would never really know about the new Seaview and TOS Enterprise coming out.
So much for a bright future!


----------



## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

I think it's more than just that this is the 'instant gratification' age, it's also the age of low self esteem, or maybe just plain laziness. WE don't get models to just sit on our shelves as trophies, WE want to BUILD & PAINT them ourselves. It's the personal touch and creativity we enjoy. Six of us can build & paint the Wolfman and they will all come out differently according to our own interpretations, all just as "good", but with our own personalities infused.

This may be the "cookie-cutter" age where kids don't think for themselves or have immagination, just computer programmed activities. The old joke about getting a new item and the "kids would rather play with the box" showed ingenuity and imaginative skills that may have been lost now. A "kid" may not want to try models today because " I can't paint" and it won't come out "perfect" like the store-bought figure. They're looking at the end result instead of the enjoyment of 'getting there'.


----------



## Duck Fink (May 2, 2005)

the Dabbler said:


> I think it's more than just that this is the 'instant gratification' age, it's also the age of low self esteem, or maybe just plain laziness. WE don't get models to just sit on our shelves as trophies, WE want to BUILD & PAINT them ourselves. It's the personal touch and creativity we enjoy. Six of us can build & paint the Wolfman and they will all come out differently according to our own interpretations, all just as "good", but with our own personalities infused.
> 
> This may be the "cookie-cutter" age where kids don't think for themselves or have immagination, just computer programmed activities. The old joke about getting a new item and the "kids would rather play with the box" showed ingenuity and imaginative skills that may have been lost now. A "kid" may not want to try models today because " I can't paint" and it won't come out "perfect" like the store-bought figure. They're looking at the end result instead of the enjoyment of 'getting there'.


Interesting perspective and well put. I have not given it that much thought.


----------



## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

Yes...indeed! Very well put!


They make model cars?


----------



## modelgeek (Jul 14, 2005)

Ut Oh!! I think I may have a problem..But thank god you guys helped point it out !! The last 2 kits I have built have been ...dare I say ? CARS! Yes I admit it !! I thought I had it under control but it happened..The last car model I built was when Dale Earnhart was only a 4 time Winston cup Champ and that was years ago.. (insert un controlable sobbing here ) But it gets worse the last 2 CARS I built were for TEENAGERS .. So now I guess I am an enabler as well!! Help me Help Me!! obi wan kenobie your my only hope!!!


----------



## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

There may be hope for you yet, but you will have to attend meetings and openly confess your failings. For penance do two Three Stooges Models, and post the results.


----------



## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

*Old McDonald* said:


> PS. even I balk at paying 200+ dollars for a millenium falcon from Fine Molds. I'm saving up right now to pay the 100 dollars I need for the upcoming 36 inch Seaview that is due out in Dec.


$200?!
$100?!

I balk at paying $*20*+ for a kit!  
That's why I liked the AMT/ERTL kits from years ago: $10!
The 21st Century Toys airplanes at Wal-Mart are $9.
What a deal! :thumbsup:


----------



## phrankenstign (Nov 29, 1999)

Chuck_P.R. said:


> You have to dig through old archives and files and past tons of pages to get to anything that doesn't have to do with freakin' cars or motorcycles!
> 
> Cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars, cars,
> 
> AND MORE CARS!!!!!


It looks like you miscounted. There should have been at least one more "cars" in there.


----------



## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

the Dabbler said:


> I think it's more than just that this is the 'instant gratification' age, it's also the age of low self esteem, or maybe just plain laziness. WE don't get models to just sit on our shelves as trophies, WE want to BUILD & PAINT them ourselves. It's the personal touch and creativity we enjoy. Six of us can build & paint the Wolfman and they will all come out differently according to our own interpretations, all just as "good", but with our own personalities infused.
> 
> This may be the "cookie-cutter" age where kids don't think for themselves or have immagination, just computer programmed activities. The old joke about getting a new item and the "kids would rather play with the box" showed ingenuity and imaginative skills that may have been lost now. A "kid" may not want to try models today because " I can't paint" and it won't come out "perfect" like the store-bought figure. They're looking at the end result instead of the enjoyment of 'getting there'.


 

_*Kids!*_
_*I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!*_
_*Kids!*_
_*Who can understand what they choose to play?*_
_*Kids!*_
_*They are impatient, unimaginative oafs!*_
_*Noisy, crazy, dirty, lazy, loafers!*_
_*While we're on the subject:*_
_*Kids!*_
_*You can talk and talk till your face is blue!*_
_*Kids!*_
_*But they still just do the hobbies they want to do!*_
_*Why can't they be like we were,*_
_*Perfect in every way?*_
_*What's the matter with kids today?*_
_*Kids!*_
_*We've tried to raise them the best we could*_
_*Kids! Kids!*_
_*Laughing, singing, surfing, downloading, morons!*_
_*And while we're on the subject!*_
_*Kids! They are just impossible to control!*_
_*Kids! With their ipods and their rock an' roll!*_
_*Why can't they build like we did*_
_*What's wrong with Frankenstein?*_
_*What's the matter with kids today!?*_


_.... Apologies to Charles Strouse and Lee Adams.  _


----------



## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

Hey, we've got our very own Frank Jacobs here! (Now there's a geezerific obscure reference...)


----------



## spencer1984 (Nov 3, 2005)

Very interesting topic...it's not a subject I can weigh in on, but I do have to add one minor point:



Old_McDonald said:


> Also, car models are a subject where companies don't have to pay licensing fees like the highway robbery that Paramount takes.


Actually, they do. GM, Ford, Damlier-Chrysler, etc. all require their cuts of the profit. As do Good Year, Firestone, BF Goodrich, and other tire manufacturers...which is why most cars have smooth tires now. Sidewall detail means more licensing fees. If it's a movie or TV property like the Dukes of Hazzard kits, then the movie companies get a chunk too. Forget about tracking down the licensing needed for NASCAR or other racing kits, as every single sponsor needs to be paid before a kit can exist. That's why they've almost all gone to diecast, as the model companies can't sell enough kits to make it worthwhile. NASCAR even went as far as to shut down aftermarket decal makers, so unless you want five color variations of one driver's car in diecast, you're out of luck.

Even model railroading is being slammed by railroad companies (even if the company doesn't exist any more, the current owner of the name charges for it).

Military kits are the only ones exempt from licensing fees at the moment, but Lockheed and Boeing want to start charging as well.


----------

