Evolution of Action Figure Collecting

[Geb]

Well...this has been a long time coming, but I have been involved in multiple web sites dedicated to action figures and collectibles for well over 20 years now...and I have YET to determine what the collector community REALLy desires in a web site dedicated to action figures.

I created The Green Dragon several years ago and maintained it, modified it, grew with it for 10+ years and truly wanted it to become a bit more 'mainstream' with respect to LOTR collectibles and the like, but alas, I just couldn't justify all the work going into it with the little 'fruit' that it bore year to year.

So...I ask YOU, the collectible enthusiasts and action figure COLLECTORS. If you were to have a definitive web presence dedicated to your HOBBY, what would it include and NOT include. Obvious from forums like this, information and sharing is paramount...but isn't collecting more than this? While I appreciate forums (and have to say this is one of the best for our hobby), they are SO darn difficult to navigate and find anything of VALUE without sifting through all the 'crap' that goes along with it. FOr every GOOD post, there is at least a hundred of no value.

Basically, I am looking for IDEAS...and am willing to venture on a journey with all of you...if you care to help!

Geb

 

[Darklord Dave]

What I'd like this place to become - news, reviews, no snooze.

The newer versions of vBulletin are designed to have that kind of format - news in the front, party in the back (i.e. forums).

 

[Something Sexy]

I ask this myself every day.

 

[Lejuan]

What I'd like this place to become - news, reviews, no snooze.

The newer versions of vBulletin are designed to have that kind of format - news in the front, party in the back (i.e. forums).

Sounds good to me!

 

[SwedishHeat]

Basically, I am looking for IDEAS...and am willing to venture on a journey with all of you...if you care to help!

I mentioned this a while back, but THIS site has music news. Basically each topic has it's own icon, each band (yes, there's tons), there's an icon for politics, gossip, general site news, misc. band news, etc. The cool thing is that you can filter out bands/icons you don't want to see. If you hate reading about politics on your music news site, you can just ignore all posts with the politics icon.

So, transfer that feature to this forum, and if you hate Hot Toys and don't want to see Hot Toys, then you can filter out Hot Toys posts. If you're tired of Iron Man, then filter out Iron Man posts.

News in the front, party/forum in the rear is basically what that site is. The whole thing is built on a forum, but the interface gives the front page a blog format. You can comment on every news article, and there's still a forum in the backend.

 

[Geb]

Excellent ideas and I love the filtering options. Implementation is a bit tricky, but doable I think.

Keep em coming...

 

[abake]

I think the forums and the people posting in them are what make people come back. The insanity is what makes these places fun.
What I would have however, are specialized news and reviews areas.

You could have tabs where all the announcements are made, so instead of the having to go to each individual sub-forum to look for the specs and pics of the latest HT Iron Man or Sideshow Clone, you can just click on the HT News or Sideshow News or Medicom News or whatever tab and find the latest pics and specs of your favorite line or character.
And if you want to discuss it, then go to the forums.
And I'd keep another tab for reviews. So if you don't want to sift through all the mess, you just go there to look for OMG's latest pics.

 

[Geb]

Thanks gents for the ideas...thinking I can make TheGD.com work again...perhaps

 

[The Skull]

I'm not sure how to tell you how to design a website as its not my expertise, however I find myself checking out websites that are connected to youtube news and toy reviewers. Perhaps if you were to make short 5-10 minute videos every week or month with a taste of what your website offers you might get more exposure. you could link your website to every video and incourage viewers to visit.

 

[Patterson]

Amazing content generates traffic, so having a look at niche relevant sites and using there decent ideas is a good starter.