selling paper toys: a discussion on nicepapertoys.com and my own personal impressions
Marshall clued me in on a vibrant discussion thread currently on NicePaperToys.com - with regards to the concept of "Selling Paper Toys" (a question posed by Ben The Illustrator, creator of Speakerdogs).
Nigh thought-provoking read, IMHO.
/// CLICK THRU for my personal incoherent-ramble, if you so please :p
Personnally I feel that the (Designer/Urban) Papertoy-"scene" / community is a delightful "abnormally" in this commercially-saturated Toy-(Sub)-Culture - whereby creative works and ideas are available for FREE (amidst the worldwideweb) for anyone to download and use. And in many instances one of the more readily collaborative platforms for designers to trade ideas and concepts, while utilizing each other's templates. Such is the allure of the papertoy-culture, for an amateur enthusiast like me :)
For the end-user - Papertoys are perhaps an "effort-based" hobby - whereby there is the need to print out, cut and paste, to achieve the final product, as opposed to say; having to physically leaving the house and going down to the toy-shop to saite thy toy-desires and needs (with a heap-dash of *ker-ching*), or even a "add-to-cart" instant-gratifying click away (multiple browser windows opened for online auctions, notwithstanding :p).Unfortunately, I'm the schmuck whose printer is perpetually dead (at least for printing color, and I can hardly afford a new one) and the sad part of it all is, with all my blog-features of papertoys, I've not had the privilege and pleasure of printing any out and making them! ...and that, is just plain effin' sad ... so I make do with empty toilet-paper-cores, innit? *sob*
The next evolutionary commercial-step, I reckon, is to perhaps provide the consumer / end-user with something more than what they are able to do on their own now (which is to simply download online and print out the templates on their personal color-printers). Provide a higher-quality printout on better / higher grade paper (as Matt Hawkins had done, eg. Mechanical Man) and perhaps even explore print enhancing processes like embossing or spot-varnish. Enrich the tactile quality of the product, perhaps? A3-sized print outs are fab too. But of course these do entail an investment of finances, as well as commitment of time and effort for the execution.
Or at the end of the day, it could just well be a swell poster of a template, yeh? heh. (a holdover from my foolish days of collecting Trading Cards, where I'd also collect uncut poster-images of said trading cards :p)
The recent Dookie-Poo Paper Jam contest that I'd run on TRE recently was an experiment bourne from Manny Galan's concept to incorporate paper-play with his existing Dookie-Poo vinyl figures. Perhaps an exploration into crossovers with other toy-genres?
Papertoys provide a level of "playability", moreso compared to "collectibility", IMHO. Tear away the thin veneer of secondary market speculation, and you have something disposable (altho that may mean less "valued") - and hence not need too much of an (financial) investment, but yet fun to have. Too many a times the collectible toy market crosses the murky line of "dollar value", which perhaps dilute the "art" - but on the other hand, does provide a source of income? (Sustainable-Secondary, or Primary).Deny not the "power" of creation, I say! - Least of all in the hands of the end-user ... The satisfaction of a papertoy well made compared to a toy-score online or at events / shows / shops? Or am I alone in this notion?
What I envision and would love to see is a scenario whereby an entire community gathers to erect a whole dioramic Paper-City, populated with everyone's paper-creations :)
*Disclaimer: Do pardon my incoherent ramblings (thy fetid mind doesn't churn as smooth at 4am in the morning :p), as I let my train-o-thought run wild first, and perhaps revisit this blog-post with renewed clarity, and perhaps add my reply unto the NicePaperToys-thread when I make more sense - heh*
