State of the Site - 01/11/2018

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
2018!

I thought the world was supposed to be way over by now?! :troll:

And yet.. here were are.. we just keep on keeping on. We're like to cockroaches of the internet.

2018.. quickly approaching our 9th year as a thing. What do you get someone for their 9th anniversary? The internet tells me pottery. I'm expecting a lot of fancy pottery from you guys. Maybe a mug. Or get mugged?

We've lost a few more people since my last update.. Mandingo and XOC were lost in the Partisan Politics Wars of 2016, and have moved on to left'er pastures on Facebook. The ol' #TrumpEffect.

I am sure we've lost some other people, but it gets hard to tell if people are gone for good or just taking a long hiatus. :grumpy:

The hobby is still in the dumps.. a few bright spots here and there.. but overall "1:18 military toys" is in a pretty dire spot. When the high point in a while is new PTE stuff that probably won't come to the US.. you're in trouble! It feels like the 2008-2009 era was just a dream, with actual stock on Target and TRU shelves.. GI JOE out the wazoo.. online stuff.. eBay overflowing.. yeesh.

All that being said, I am happy to see that what we've made here has transcended the crappy hobby. Sure, we still like it, but our little Sewing Circle has managed to survive the storm, mostly. Now lets look towards the future..

I am thinking about ditching these forums.

... for new forums! vBulletin is dead and buried. Well, I mean, it's still around, but its overpriced and outdated. We're running 3.8-something and they're currently on 5.0-something.. and it costs and arm and a leg to upgrade. 3.8 is incredibly not secure, is buggy as heck, and isn't easy to add new features without breaking something else. However, it's mostly worked for us over the past.. 7ish years? Since The Crush.

There is another forum software I've used a little bit elsewhere, xenForo.. whatever the hell that is. It's cheaper, newer, and has more features. I'm looking into it to see how feasible it is. I may do another mid-year Officer donation drive or something to help cover the $140ish cost.

Apparently it has a migration feature, so we *may* not lose any date in the migration, which would be pretty neat. Losing all the old posts/etc would be my only real regret from moving on with the forums. Though, to be honest, a lot of the old posts have broken images, banned users, etc. It's nice to be able to look back.. but how much everyday value is there in it really? I can't really decide.

So, yeah. As we approach our 9th year.. lets see what we can do :pirate:

As always, a big thanks to the people who continue to visit our stupid little site and post stupid little things. Extra special thanks to all the Officers who literally keep the lights on.

:eddieism:
 
Last edited:

G.I.*EDDIE

gobbles a LOT of cock
Founder
Mar 14, 2011
43,432
428
83
S.E. Mich :(
Moving sounds, interesting. Learning the new bells and whistles sounds fun and irritating. Heh, the same reason I hate getting a new phone.

As infrequently as I look back, I too would still hate to lose our "diaries". It's fun sometimes when I go back looking for something and unintentionally find myself rehashing the whole thread.

Anyway, thanks for keeping the "bar" open for us, Paul. Sure, the intended purpose has all but vanished, but we've moved past that and I'm glad that we all still have a place to BS.
 

ThunderDan19

Here Comes the Boom!!!
Founder
Mar 14, 2011
10,776
963
113
49
VA
Heh, with pretty much ALL 1:18 and GI Joe non-existent, I wonder what in the world they could be talking about on the 'stank these days... but I don't care enough to bother to go to check... :trollface:

I'm still enjoying it here. It's one of about 5 places I actually check on almost every day.

Not too excited about changing interfaces, but, yeah, it may be time.
 

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
"Who is the 2,456th most popular GI JOE figure.."

If its not too much work I might do the upgrade next week, we'll see. I'm notoriously lazy.

It has a lot of QoL (quality of life) stuff baked in. You can directly link Tweets like you do YouTube videos. There is personal notifications built in for when someone quotes you. Should run more smoothly.. etc etc. I think it is a lot more mobile friendly too.

I'll probably start a test one and play around with it for a short while. Probably combine a bunch of the sub forums as well.. we just don't really utilize most of them.
 

PROVOST

Colonel in Chief
Officer Club
Jun 28, 2011
30,592
39
48
Terra Australis
I'd like this comment, but that's a security issue according to Rebel Scum :trollface:





TheForce.Net forum just did a massive forum upgrade and the name xenforo was bandies around.

They too were running on an old platform that had a lot of glitches.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NSA

Slaymaker

Mostly Ignored
Officer Club
May 13, 2011
2,777
64
48
51
Iowa
1:18 has a lot of new stuff via independent vendors...

Zombie Labs has zombies and civilians
Boss Fight has had several new waves
PTE new Military stuff and their robot line
Cowboys and old west characters
Acid Rain
WOO figures in 1:18th scale
a new player called Planet Green Valley - sort of a near future astronaut / apololypse look
Animal Warriors of the Kingdom - completely new universe of animal characters
Marauder Modern / Near Future
Marauder WWII
Hell Screamer Space Stuff
Eagle Force and Monster Force
Even CORPS now has gotten 2 movie deals and are using new sculptors / designers

There may not be the usual suspects when this place opened - but really a lot of options out there and am surprised (sorta and sorta not) that there is not more talk about it here.

Lots of new 1:18 stuff in my opinion...
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
I'm all for new forums, but I echo the desire to keep all the old crap if possible, if nothing else so we can occasionally search for posts about jettits, nephews, and all the other shenanigans.

Plus, I want the option to quote myself from old posts when I give PCS shit about Alex Smith. :p

If not, we'll survive and just write new crap to search on later!
 

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
Slaymaker.. I imagine the biggest issue is most of us don't even play with our toys anymore. Some do, but I am guessing the majority are just looking at new stuff and seeing if somehow it is cool enough to bring them out of collecting retirement.. I know I am!

I probably won't get to it this weekend, but next week I'll see what the process is to get things backed up/etc. Worst case scenario.. well, worst case is a meteor hits an we all die, but for this scenario, work case should be that I can leave this forum in archive mode, where you can search and read but not post, and have the new forum move on from there. From what I read though it should be pretty easy to import things.. so we'll see.

And yes PCS I think there is a like button!
 

Gungho-joe

Enlisted
Apr 1, 2011
592
22
18
50
Ohio
Moving sounds, interesting. Learning the new bells and whistles sounds fun and irritating. Heh, the same reason I hate getting a new phone.

As infrequently as I look back, I too would still hate to lose our "diaries". It's fun sometimes when I go back looking for something and unintentionally find myself rehashing the whole thread.

Anyway, thanks for keeping the "bar" open for us, Paul. Sure, the intended purpose has all but vanished, but we've moved past that and I'm glad that we all still have a place to BS.

I echo Eddie!!! As much as I hate change, learning new stuff can be fun. I am just glad after my very long hiatus that you are all still here to see whats going on. I dont belong to any other site and thid has become a home away from home. Looking forward to 2018
 

ThunderDan19

Here Comes the Boom!!!
Founder
Mar 14, 2011
10,776
963
113
49
VA
Regarding the hobby, for me it is a matter of a few things:

1.) There's no nostalgia for any of the new lines for me. That was the big driver for the 25th GI Joe line, the whole reason I even found my way to the 'stank and ultimately here.

2.) There's little to no recognition for anything from the new lines. Cool as they may be, the stuff currently being produced aren't anything I'd recognize as a well done scale version of any modern equipment or recognizable operator/soldier/pilot/etc. I like the idea of the professional operator type stuff that's being introduced, but maybe there's one or two I'd like, but to collect... not so much.

3.) The costs are significantly higher than the big lines. This is nobody's fault. It's just reality. Combined with the lack of nostalgia and recognition, I haven't bought a single 1:18 scale item since the first offering from MGs and the F118 figure. What I have bought (though only occasionally) are a few Marvel and SW 6" figures - for the nostalgia/recognition and a few smaller scale military vehicles - also for the recognition/quality and relatively good prices in most cases.

All that to say this: Yes, there are some 1:18 options that work for some people, but there are extremely few that have wide(ish) spread appeal anywhere near what Joe, 21st and BB/Elite Force had.

I'm also not saying I'd never buy another 1:18 offering. Heck, I'd buy a properly detailed and scaled A-10 tomorrow, as long as the price wasn't entirely prohibitive. Probably the same for an F-22 or an F-35. For that matter, I'd probably buy most anything I liked that didn't fall into at least 2 of the items above. The point is that there's currently nothing that doesn't.
 

G.I.*EDDIE

gobbles a LOT of cock
Founder
Mar 14, 2011
43,432
428
83
S.E. Mich :(
Dan nailed it. While most or all of the 1:18th stuff being offered is definitely cool, it doesn't hit me in the feels and it's too pricey for me for the size. I know it's highly detailed and weathered in most cases, but I don't even have the desire to purchase "premium" JOEs at that price. So why would I buy figures with no nostalgic connection at the same price or higher? It's just so difficult knowing how much we were paying for this scale. 2-3x the price is just, INCONCEIVABLE!

About the only figure I can see myself coughing up that kind of money for in thee scale is one of those super cool Astronauts. Wowzers!
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
Yep, you guys hit it. Just nothing that screams "You must own me, or else your childhood self will come forward in time and kick you in the jewels!"

Cool stuff, yeah, but I'm not going to collect a full line of $20-30 kickstarter figures that aren't going to get much mileage and don't push the nostalgia buttons.

As for the forum, it must be saved in some form. Won't somebody think of Onwu?!?!?!
 

pcsguy88

Deuce Deuce
Staff member
Mar 14, 2011
12,421
635
113
KC
www.fighting118th.com
Regarding the hobby, for me it is a matter of a few things:

1.) There's no nostalgia for any of the new lines for me. That was the big driver for the 25th GI Joe line, the whole reason I even found my way to the 'stank and ultimately here.

2.) There's little to no recognition for anything from the new lines. Cool as they may be, the stuff currently being produced aren't anything I'd recognize as a well done scale version of any modern equipment or recognizable operator/soldier/pilot/etc. I like the idea of the professional operator type stuff that's being introduced, but maybe there's one or two I'd like, but to collect... not so much.

3.) The costs are significantly higher than the big lines. This is nobody's fault. It's just reality. Combined with the lack of nostalgia and recognition, I haven't bought a single 1:18 scale item since the first offering from MGs and the F118 figure. What I have bought (though only occasionally) are a few Marvel and SW 6" figures - for the nostalgia/recognition and a few smaller scale military vehicles - also for the recognition/quality and relatively good prices in most cases.

All that to say this: Yes, there are some 1:18 options that work for some people, but there are extremely few that have wide(ish) spread appeal anywhere near what Joe, 21st and BB/Elite Force had.

I'm also not saying I'd never buy another 1:18 offering. Heck, I'd buy a properly detailed and scaled A-10 tomorrow, as long as the price wasn't entirely prohibitive. Probably the same for an F-22 or an F-35. For that matter, I'd probably buy most anything I liked that didn't fall into at least 2 of the items above. The point is that there's currently nothing that doesn't.

[Like]
 

Digler

Officer
Officer Club
Nov 28, 2012
819
88
28
Vancouver,BC Canada
www.facebook.com
I don't know what you guy's are talking about.....I have never been so busy..... I am not a collector, nor do I have any nostalgia in the Joe line. I had 2 Joes in 1982 or 83....Breaker and the Infantry guy. Those I will never forget. Nor will I ever forget C-3PO, R2, Han Ben and Luke....I had the first originals. But this stuff is a hobby, as I love DIORAMAS ...and making all this stuff. My boy's love it too. Now my little girl is starting to spend time in dad's room.

ps: I love Trump the Great.
 

lancelot

Ď̵͓̲̬̮͜͝ȉ̶̜̝̙͙͕̀̽ͦͯ͗ ̟gͨ
Mar 19, 2011
2,963
9
38
33
Video games and toys suck now. The only thing I've had to look forward to in the past year was playing tabletop RPGs with friends on the weekend, and that has turned to all kinds of shit too.

You know what I also found out? Earth's orbit is filled with so much shit that it may become too dangerous to launch shuttles in the near future. Even my dream of leaving this planet filled with every kind of mouth breathing evangelical homicidal tiki taliban (and original taliban) mother fuckers to die on its own accord over a worthless patch of dirt in the Mediterranean filled with hypocritical apartheid and terrorism. Robert Heinlein was right, but we're fucked now. The whole human race will go extinct, and we'll fucking deserve it. I don't believe for a second that God would be sympathetic to humanity, or that there is such a thing as heaven, we're all going to hell or worse.

I hope alien bugs start eating everybody.

PS: and the worst part is that I can't get Movie Battles II to install for Jedi Academy for some reason. FML
 
Last edited:

pcsguy88

Deuce Deuce
Staff member
Mar 14, 2011
12,421
635
113
KC
www.fighting118th.com
Our 12 members are like cockroaches and will survive nuclear fallout. We’d rebuild the web just to show off whatever we found in the ashes that day and to talk shit on the Raiders.
 

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
I don't know what you guy's are talking about.....I have never been so busy..... I am not a collector, nor do I have any nostalgia in the Joe line. I had 2 Joes in 1982 or 83....Breaker and the Infantry guy. Those I will never forget. Nor will I ever forget C-3PO, R2, Han Ben and Luke....I had the first originals. But this stuff is a hobby, as I love DIORAMAS ...and making all this stuff. My boy's love it too. Now my little girl is starting to spend time in dad's room.

ps: I love Trump the Great.

Dioramas and customs are really the big things going these days, I don't think anyone will really tire of those, as they're cool as hell to look at. I think the problem with most people is that there just isn't much driving us to create said dio's and customs.

GI JOE fans don't really have anything 'new' or 'nostalgic' pushing them in any direction, and there is only so many times you can mock up your Scarlett/Snake-eyes make out dio..

Those also require time (and energy) which is sometimes hard to come by when you're old and have responsibilities/etc. Unless toys/dios/etc is made a priority, its very easy to run out of time during the day for something like that.

Our 12 members are like cockroaches and will survive nuclear fallout. We’d rebuild the web just to show off whatever we found in the ashes that day and to talk shit on the Raiders.

:crying:
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
I spent 8+ hours with my son yesterday filming what will be, when edited, just over a single minute of footage for our hot-wheels race movie, so yeah... creation takes time. You have to be really dedicated to bother making something cool. In this case, I get to do something fun and have it double as father-son time, which is always good. My son isn't really into Joes, but at least this is something we can both get excited about.

But as a general rule, time is in very short supply.

As far as the hobby goes, I don't NEED them to produce more Joes. Good lord, I should be trying to rid myself of 80% of what I've got, not trying to accumulate more. I could never use even a fraction of the stuff I've acquired in an epic dio battle, even if I had time. So I'm ok with Hasbro et al taking a breather.
 

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
Yeah I suppose I am in the same boat, lord knows I don't need MORE stuff.

But new stuff builds hype and keeps people interested, so it is important to maintain some sort of release schedule otherwise people just move on. I'd say its the same with 1:18 vehicles.. when there is literally nothing.. people get bored and move on. The dedicated people will come up with interesting ways to keep on keeping on.. with customs.. other brands.. whatever.. but the majority will just latch onto something else

Also, without 'cheap' mass market alternatives, the hobby is slowly turning into (A) people who can afford to buy/craft their new stuff and (B) people who are content just spectating others creations and being vicariously involved. Nothing wrong with this, but it is interesting, as I feel like there was a higher % of people involved directly in the past, either through creating their own customs or whatever.
 

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
Server will be on and off during this week as I work on finding a way to migrate the data.

First time was a colossal failure (typical), however I've learned to back things up, so it didn't damage anything over here :D
 

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
Nothing that bad thankfully.. making progress! It sort of finally looks like this site.

Amazing how hard it is to recreate something you made like.. 7 (?) years ago? The posts/etc SHOULD export, but the styling doesn't.. and of course the two forum software's do not share the same wording on anything so it's a lot of trial and error.
 

NSA

Brotherhood
Admin
Mar 13, 2011
28,536
918
113
Southern California
www.fighting118th.com
Site note.. one of the reasons it kept failing was likely the pitiful memory allowance we were getting from the hosting provider. It SHOULD be upgraded now.. which I am curious to see if it fixes any other problems we've been having..