Random Vintage Collection Thought For Sunday April the 3rd

'Cause the good ole days weren't always good
And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems

That Billy Joel was some sort of oracle. Also, Keeping the Faith is a decent song. If a Metallica-fan teenage dirtbag can admit that, you can too. Neil Diamond is pretty decent too. Yes I said it. And don't get me going about Tom Jones. Okay, I'm getting off track, as usual, but it's Sunday morning and I'm allowed.

The point of the quote is pretty obvious. We tend to overly romanticize the past, and judge the present too harshly. TCV 1.0 wasn't all peaches and cream. As we all know, it lasted for a little under two and a half years. Through the first three waves in 2010 it was running like a bat out of hell (and the music references continue), but the wheels started to come off shortly thereafter. The Attack of the Clones wave was delayed and was leap frogged by the "repaint" Wave 5. It was a struggle from that point forward. The salad days lasted from August of 2010 until January of 2011. If you remember it differently, you're a kinsman of Roger Clemens.

Tim Whatley clarification: Roger Clemens was one of my favorite athletes as a kid to go along with Wade Boggs and Irving Fryar. I can pick 'em (though Fryar definitely made good later). I also loved Cam "Sea Bass" Neely, but no one can say a negative word about him.

With this less than idyllic history of TVC 1.0 in mind, I feel myself somewhat contented with the state of the Vintage Collection today. Sure, I bristle, and I mean seriously bristle, at the notion that Black Series is getting an Ewok village Leia (on sale for $15 in three months), but we have to remember that TVC has Lobot and The Mythrol. I'm also upset about the paucity of vehicles these days compared to TVC 1.0, but that's more a byproduct of modern economics than anything else. I would complain, but I don't want to be accused of yelling at clouds.

Question for CJ: Is "yelling at clouds" the modern day equivalent of "tilting at windmills"?

Anyway, between main line, Gaming Greats, and retailer exclusives, I'm getting a passable amount of figures per year. Would I take more? Of course. As I've stated many times, I'd like to see mainline expand to 8 waves per year. To me, that's what the market can support, but it would have to come at the expense of some of the retailer exclusives (and I don't think anyone would complain). But five-ish waves, supported by many retailer exclusives and Gaming Greats, is a decent amount of product per year. Again, I would take a little more, but it's not like it's 2020 anymore.

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