Day: October 13, 2020

In praise of sculpted figurines

Here, we are going to take on some lighter fare. We are going to look at the world of scale figurines. And what a world it is!

Essentially, these are dolls in a certain precise scale that is accurately reflective of the person being depicted. As such they are really marvelous if there is a person or representation that appeals to your sensibilities.

“Rocket” from the movie “Guardians of the Galaxy”.

And since many of these figurines are of limited production builds (maybe less than a few thousand per model), they become collector items, that only get more valuable as time moves on.

These figurines run the range from pop cultural icons, to Hollywood characters, television characters, to historical figures, to fantasy presentations and to everything in between.

  • An old pencil drawing of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza sitting on their horses, by Wilhelm Marstrand.
    Space 1999
  • Thorin

Scales

Action figures come in all shapes and sizes and although it’s easy to break out a ruler and simply measure one of your action figures, that’s not going to help you to understand the scale references often used by toy companies and long-time collectors. Besides, it’s way cooler to tell a fellow collector on an action figure forum that you picked up some nice 1:10 scale figures. It’s all part of the lingo.

The term scale refers to the size ratio to a normal-sized object. In this case, we’re talking about smaller representations of the human figure. For standardization purposes, toy companies refer to the usual ideal human figure as being 6 feet tall (we’re usually talking about heroic figures such as Batman or Darth Vader, hence the height). Therefore an action figure that is also six feet tall would have a 1:1 ratio. A three-foot-tall action figure would have a 1:2 ratio and so on.

Over the years, some standards scales have been used in the action figure world. Take a look at the most common, starting from largest to smallest.

1:4 Scale (approx. 18″)

This scale is one of the largest common scales for action figures and is technically reserved for dolls if we’re going by the doll/action figure definition, as they often have “real” hair or cloth clothing. Examples of this format can be found in Sideshow’s Premium Format figures and the superhero dolls made by Tonner.

These are very BIG. I just cannot imagine anyone having one of them personally unless you all have a ton of room in your house.

1:6 Scale (approx. 12″)

This scale holds a special place in action figure history as it was the original size of the very first figure to sport the “action figure” moniker, G.I. Joe. This is also the scale of all the figurines posted in this article.

This was the reigning scale for action figures during the first decade or so after G.I. Joe hit the market and many companies toyed with 12″ figures of their own, including the 12″ Star Wars dolls from Kenner in the late ’70s and Mego’s 12″ line of superhero dolls, featuring Batman, Superman and a TV tie-in version of Wonder Woman.

1:9 Scale (approx. 8″)

This scale is pretty much exclusive to the Mego toy company’s World’s Greatest Heroes line of eight-inch action figures that ruled the toy aisles in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Other toy companies were quick to follow, such as Ideal with their famous monsters and Evel Knievel lines. This size became so popular that G.I. Joe himself shrunk down to this size (although a petroleum shortage needed to make plastic didn’t help, either).

1:10 Scale (approx. 7″)

For today’s collectors, the 1:10 scale seems to be the king of the hill. Several action figure lines are being produced in this format from Mattel’s DC Universe to Marvel’s Legends line. Mattel has made an even bigger splash with their Masters of the Universe Classics line that re-imagines the old school fantasy figures in a newer seven-inch scale. This size tends to be more popular with adult collectors than with children looking for play value.

1:18 Scale (approx. 3.75-4″)

Mego started it with their Pocket Heroes line in the late ’70s, followed shortly thereafter by Fisher-Price with their Adventure People line, but it would be Kenner’s massively popular Star Wars collection that would set the unshakable standard for action figures of this scale for almost 20 years. Figures in this scale were less expensive, easier to fit into vehicles and loads of fun to collect. Toy lines such as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero did extremely well in this size as did many movie figures, such as Indiana Jones and Tron and figures based on TV shows, like The Dukes of Hazzard and ChiPs.

Although 3.75″ was the standard in this scale, a proper 1:18 scale figure should be 4″, and a recent resurgence in popularity of this size has brought us several new figure lines from Marvel, DC Comics, G.I. Joe and Star Wars.

1:12 Scale (approx. 5-6″)

Chances are if the figure was based on a movie made during the ’90s (Last Action Hero, Congo, Jurassic Park, Super Mario Brothers) their action figures were this size. Throughout the 1990s, figures ranging between five and six inches took over the action figure world, pretty much killing the 3.75″ figures and setting a new standard. Although not very popular today, figures in this scale will never be forgotten.

1:48 Scale (approx. 2″)

It should be noted that with the rise in popularity and collectability of figures such as Lego “minifigs” and other miniature, yet fully articulated, figures from other building sets such as Mega Bloks, the two-inch-tall figure is starting to hold its own and is beginning to command respect in the collectibles world. These figures may very well one day be the reigning scale standard in the not too distant future, so they get an honorable mention here.

1/6 scale – the “GI Joe” scale

Here are figurines that are of the 1:6 scale. The (so called) GI Joe size. I think that they are awesome, but I really don’t have the kind of disposable money to indulge in collecting these figures. I just have to go to Hong Kong (Mong Kok) and look at the figures in display instead.

Gallery

All the following figurines are in 1:6 scale. And we will start with a historical figure.

  • WWII German Wehrmacht Field Marshal (Karl Rudolf Gerd Von Rundstedt)
  • WWII German Wehrmacht Field Marshal (Karl Rudolf Gerd Von Rundstedt)

And now for some fun…

  • Ted Theodore Logan

Top Big Names

This world of action figures excites young and grown children for playing and collecting. It also excites me as I just really like to look at these things.

Of course, there are a number of fantastic online resources dedicated to action figures across the internet but it would be impossible to feature all of the great sites in one list. These are 10 of the more exhaustive sites in no particular order.

There is something for everyone on these sites, but do not limit your online experience to just these featured because there are many other online resources in the action figure collecting community.

First lets look at the big American companies that started this hobby…

Hasbro

Action figures simply wouldn’t exist as they do today if not for Hasbro’s influence on the creation of G.I. Joe in the 1960s. Their influence in the industry only grew in the ’80s with the re-envisioned G.I. Joe line and the introduction of Transformers.

On top of the lasting value of its own brands G.I. Joe and Transformers, Hasbro is possibly most recognized for its licensed brands, including Stars Wars and Marvel Comics. Because of these four brands, Hasbro’s action figures make up a huge portion of any modern action figure aisle, and this is all on top of their already dominant toy and board game presence.

Mattel

Mattel may be best-known for its doll phenomenon Barbie, but their presence in the action figure world has been a growing one. Mattel was primarily known among boys as the manufacturer of Hot Wheels until they stepped onto the action figure scene in a big way in the early 1980s with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. He-Man was one of the single most popular figures of that era, and the line thrived for a number of years.

After He-Man’s fall into obscurity, Mattel’s influence in the collector action figure world was rather small until recently, with the revamped Masters of the Universe Classics line and the acquisition of the DC Comics, WWE Wrestling, and Ghostbusters licenses. Mattel is once again a major player in the collector action figure industry, taking up their own fair share of toy aisles.

Bandai

Bandai may be the biggest toy company of which you’ve never heard. Behind Mattel and Hasbro, Bandai is the world’s third-largest toy manufacturer and has a large presence in the action figure industry as well. The primary difference is that Bandai is a Japanese company, whose influence in the United States is enacted through Bandai America.

Bandai’s single biggest action figure line in the United States is the Power Rangers and its various incarnations. Many of the figures that most collectors ignore as they move through toy aisles are the cartoon and TV show based properties that Bandai thrives on. Despite many brands not taking off with collectors, Bandai’s authority has grown recently thanks to the newly acquired ThunderCats license and its star Lion-O.

From the great Chinese SF Epic; “The Wandering Earth”.

McFarlane Toys

Todd McFarlane’s popularity in the world of comics in the late 1980s and early ’90s helped him launch two major companies, one of which was McFarlane Toys. McFarlane Toys made an impact on the action figure industry which is still being felt in many ways. They were the first to truly make action figures look good. Sculpt and paint techniques were taken to new heights, and that changed the direction action figures took. They finally started to become serious and grown-up.

The one major criticism of McFarlane Toys’ products is that they lacked the standard articulation that kids had become used to. That problem has been remedied with McFarlane’s newest products, as can be seen with the widely-popular Halo line based on the hit video game. McFarlane Toys is not as prominent a company as it once was, though its impact is still felt across toy aisles.

NECA

Figures produced by NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) may not be featured heavily in the average big box store’s toy section, but their strictly collector-directed figures feature heavily at toy stores and comic shops, as well as online. Despite NECA being a relative newcomer on the action figure scene, it has become a major player thanks to its video game and movie licensed figures.

The importance of NECA to the industry as a whole can’t be underestimated, as its products bring non-collectors into the action figure world. Video game or movie fans who have never purchased an action figure before are suddenly supporting the industry thanks to the fantastic quality and likenesses NECA’s figures offer.

Hot Toys

Hong Kong-based manufacturer Hot Toys makes this list for one very simple reason. They make the absolute best action figures in the world. Although extremely expensive and on a scale (1/6) many collectors don’t collect, the figures Hot Toys produces are the best looking and highest quality on the market.

A vast majority of their figures are based on movie properties, and result in eerily life-like representations of the major characters, down to the real cloth costumes they are wearing. If you have a lot of money to spend and want the very best, look no farther than Hot Toys.

Top 10 Action Figure Websites

01 of 10 Toy News International kirahoffman / Public Domain Toy News International gathers a staggering amount of news from the action figure industry, typically featuring multiple news entries every day. Also, there are tons of galleries and features to enjoy when not reading news updates. Toy News International’s best feature is probably its robust and active forum featuring thousands of collectors discussing various lines, companies, and figures.

02 of 10 Seibertron.com Many sites focus on a breadth of lines and brands, Seibertron.com focuses specifically on Transformers. The site features some of the most incredible, far-reaching, and expert opinions on the world of Transformers action figures. There are extensive galleries of every Transformers figure imaginable, a huge forum with an extensive number of collectors, and constant news on every single aspect of the brand. If you are a Transformers fan, there’s no better resource than Seibertron.

03 of 10 Online Action Figure Entertainment Online Action Figure Entertainment maintains a number of interesting features throughout the years, such as editorials, comics, and a strong forum. The reason collectors keep coming back to the site is the variety of reviews posted regularly. The group running the site is made up of long-time collectors with bold opinions on their figures, and they are not shy about sharing them. OAFE reviews are detailed and honest, and there are a lot of them to peruse.

04 of 10 Figures.com This website takes advantage of the constant stream of action figure news that some other sites might miss. Every piece of news seems to make its way to the slick homepage, giving buyers and collectors tons of fresh content. There are also active forums, a variety of reviews, and a network of great sites like Yo Joe! and ​One Sixth Warriors in the Figures.com pantheon.

05 of 10 MWCToys.com MWCToys.com goes by many names. It is Captain Toy, it is Michael’s Review of the Week, and it is MWCToys. No matter what you call it, it is the ultimate home of action figure reviews by expert action figure reviewer Michael Crawford. When it comes to reviewing toys, Crawford is an absolute expert in the industry. The ​photos are incredible, the reviews are well-written, and the number and ​breadth of toys reviewed are astounding. To top it all off, this is the home of the Poppies, one of the most widely-recognized annual action figure awards.​​​​

06 of 10 The Toyark The Toyark is a news site with one of the Internet’s most active action figure discussion forums with great photo galleries and related features. News from every genre and brand of action figures is gathered on the Toyark, but collectors seeking more specific sites can enjoy popular stops like HissTank and TransformerWorld2005, a part of the Toyark network.

  • Saving Private Ryan
  • An old pencil drawing of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza sitting on their horses, by Wilhelm Marstrand.
    Gladiator

07 of 10 Pixel-Dan.com The online shopping world for action figures has always been a little behind other hobbies. In particular, video reviews of action figures lagged behind, but Pixel Dan changed all that. This site is the most prominent and professional video reviewer of action figures, and the archive is well maintained. This resource includes news, editorials, and a number of other exciting features.

08 of 10 He-Man.org Everything He-Man and Masters of the Universe can be found here. This site rose up to meet collectors‘ needs. It features everything imaginable that is related to the He-Man universe, including but not limited to, dedicated discussion forums, a plethora of news and features, action figure archives, photo galleries, and a comprehensive encyclopedia.  Continue to 9 of 10 below.

09 of 10 Action Figure Insider Action Figure Insider is one of the most widely recognized and widely perused action figure sites on the internet. It features every conceivable piece of action figure news, has extremely active and vibrant forums, features well-written editorial pieces, includes a variety of checklists, and has wonderful event and convention photo galleries. Action Figure Insider has been around a while and will likely continue to be one of the best sites about the action figure industry for a long time to come.

10 of 10 The Fwoosh The Fwoosh has a good repository of news about action figures and maintains an active forum for discussion about figures, how to find other forums on a specific topic, and much more. The Fwoosh has its own line of super-poseable action figures and its own YouTube channel for recent action figure news and information.

  • WWII General Der Fallschirmtruppe
  • WWII General Der Fallschirmtruppe

Conclusion

Yeah, I think that they look awesome. And while fundamentally they are just really super-detailed dolls, the detail and the appearance is attractive to me. As I have stated earlier, I cannot afford these figurines (or to put it plainer and more accurately) I cannot prioritize these figurines over other items that I cherish. You know like cases of wine, frolics with chicks at KTV’s, and diapers for my youngest child.

So, what I do when I am tired of the “news”, I go out and explore the various sites on the internet. (This used to be known as surfing the net.) And some of the sites that I explore are those of figurines.

Over the years there have been some rather amazing figurines that have been (how can I convey the impact) spectacular in design, detail and appearance. And while I cannot (and it is not my intent) to convince people that these figurines are contemporaneous artistic renderings of popular culture, it is something that I earnestly believe is true.

If you find yourself with some extra time on your hands, a stroll or browse through one of the above websites might be of colorful interest.

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Oh! Those God-damn busy-bodies are at it again! Can’t we ever get a break?

The rewriting of history is a hallmark of tyranny.

And today, just like what happened in China during the Cultural Revolution, “modern” and “progressive” busybodies are active in changing society to embrace their own idea of perfection. And much of that involves erasing history, and rewriting it to fit their ideas of perfection. What ever they might be.

Here is a great story of one such event. Here, a “busybody” is successfully rewriting history to pave the way for more aggressive progressive changes in her realm of control.

Crazies inhabit both sides of the political spectrum. Both are dangerous to the stability that us “normals” need to conduct our lives in peace.

  • ‘Pet Shop Karen’ Calls 911 After Being Told to Put On Her Mask – Towleroad

The following is an article titled “How did the Unassigned Lands become unassigned?” By Michael Bates on September 15, 2020 12:09 AM. It was edited to fit this venue and all credit to the author.

How did the Unassigned Lands become unassigned?

This past April 22, 2020, was the 131st anniversary of the land run that opened the central part of today’s State of Oklahoma to homesteading by non-Indian settlers. These were lands owned by the U. S. Government and not assigned to any organized territory nor to any Indian nation or reservation. It was the first time and one of a handful of times that land was allocated based on who could get there the quickest. Tent cities with populations in the thousands sprung up in a matter of hours after the guns were fired to start the run. The land runs, particularly the first land run in 1889, constitute an aspect of Oklahoma’s history unmatched by any other state, and, as far as I’m aware, any other region of the world.

For many years, April 22 was marked at elementary schools across Oklahoma by land run reenactments. Kids would come to school dressed in cowboy hats and denim overalls or bonnets and gingham dresses, would line up at the edge of the football field, some pulling Radio Flyers made up as covered wagons. At noon, they would rush across the sideline to drive a stake in the ground, claim a homestead, and eat a picnic lunch.

But this fun, child-friendly introduction to Oklahoma’s unique history is threatened by a handful of busybody killjoys who distort the real story of how the 1889 Land Run territory came to be available for settlement and by the school officials who cave into their demands. I’ve done some digging into the treaties and agreements leading up to the 1889 run, and what strikes me is that the U. S. Government bent over backwards to give the tribes that previously held the land a fair deal.

When I was a third-grader, our land-run reenactment was the culmination of a few weeks of focus on Oklahoma history. We learned to square dance. We studied the map of tribal lands before statehood. We learned about the Trail of Tears. On land-run day, teachers led a re-enactment of the one-room school house, complete with dunce cap. One of the covered wagons, belonging to a young Chip McElroy, was motorized, thanks to the assistance of his dad, Art McElroy, then head of McElroy Manufacturing. KOTV covered the re-enactment that year, and the closing credits of that night’s newscast crawled over footage of one of my classmates relieving himself, pioneer style, against a tree.

All of my own children have participated in land-run re-enactments — at “The Barn” at 109th & Louisville, on Augustine Christian Academy’s grailball field, and at Harn Homestead in Oklahoma City, where Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb signed the homestead claims. It’s a fun event that provides a memorable hook on which to hang a beginning understanding of our state’s unusual origins.

Unfortunately, Leftist activists have been persuading schools to drop the land-run reenactments by claiming that Land Run reenactments are celebrations of genocide and land theft. In 2014, the Oklahoma City school board banned reenactments. A Leftist activist named Sarah Adams-Cornell had already persuaded all but one classroom in the district to drop the activity — this in a city that owes its very origin to the 1889 Land Run — making unsubstantiated claims that 10,000 Indians were made homeless by the Land Run and that “in many cases land grabbers walked right into a house and took over.”

As far as I have been able to find, Adams-Cornell offered no evidence for her claims. The first instinct of a typically risk-averse school bureaucrat, when confronted with a claim of oppression by someone who ticks several intersectional boxes, would be to capitulate immediately, without asking for evidence. To resist in even the mildest terms would bring protests and bad publicity, but immediate compliance would bring praise for virtue-signaling.

There is no question that American Indian nations suffered great oppression and hardship at the hands of the U. S. Government, particularly in the passage and enforcement of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. But the guilt that attaches to the actions of Andrew Jackson or, say, gold-hungry north Georgia settlers, doesn’t necessarily attach to the ’89ers who staked claims on the Unassigned Lands. We need to look at the documentation and understand exactly how these lands came to be unassigned.

Indian territory: compiled under the direction of the Hon. John H. Oberly, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, by C.A. Maxwell, 1889. Click on the map to view a high-resolution version on the Library of Congress website. The map shows various tribal assignments and cessions, using colored numbers and outlines and a numbered legend in the upper right corner. Significant treaty dates are noted on the map.

The Unassigned Lands were part of the lands purchased from the Creek and Seminole Nations under the 1866 treaties following the Civil War. The two nations had signed treaties with the Confederacy at the start of the war, in violation of their treaties with the U. S. government. Despite official Creek and Seminole support for the rebellion, the Federal government didn’t simply claim their lands as spoils of war. Instead, the U. S. paid the two nations for their western, unoccupied lands, ($975,168 to the Creek Nation, $15,673,385.66 in 2019 dollars; $325,362 to the Seminole Nation, $5,229,283.55 in 2019 dollars, less $100,000 to the Creek Nation for a new reservation), and then settled several Plains tribes on the land, including Pottawatomie, Iowa, Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Some of the funds were earmarked for paying reparations to Creek and Seminole citizens who remained loyal to the Union during the war and suffered losses as a result.

When the U. S. wanted to open the Unassigned Lands — lands that had not been reallocated to other Native peoples — for non-Native settlement, they had to get permission from the Creek and Seminole Nations, because the 1866 treaty only allowed for other Native tribes and freedmen to be assigned reservations within the ceded land. In 1885, Congress authorized new negotiations to remove the deed restriction on the land:

Most of the enthusiastic home seekers did not then know of that clause in the treaty of 1866--whereby the surplus lands of both the Creeks and Seminoles were ceded back to they United States for the purpose of "locating other friendly tribes of Indians and freedmen." While no other Indians or freed Negroes were to be located on the land, yet the government claimed that while the cloud was on the title, no white citizen would be permitted to make settlement. 

By an Act of March 3, 1885 [48th Congress, Session 2, Chapter 341, Section 8], a commission was appointed to negotiate a new deal with these two tribes whereby the clause as to the "friendly Indians and Freedmen" would be stricken from the treaty of 1866 and the unassigned lands would be, without question, public domain and opened to homestead settlement. The negotiations were concluded and the price agreed upon before the country was opened. 

("Colonel Crocker and the Boomer Movement, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 13, No. 3 (September 1935), p. 275 [21], hyperlink added)

The 1889 agreements required the U. S. Government to pay a further $2.2 million to the Creek nation [50th Congress, Session 2, Chapter 317] and $1.9 million to the Seminole nation [50th Congress, Session 2, Chapter 412, Section 12] — that’s in 1889 dollars. The only people authorized to live in the Unassigned Lands between the sale of the land in 1866 and April 22, 1889, were railroad workers and Federal marshals.

From Rand McNally, 1889, “Map of the Indian Territory showing Oklahoma country “

(And who had the land before the Creeks and Seminoles? Nearly all of present-day Oklahoma was part of the land ceded by the 1825 treaty with the Great Osage and Little Osage Nations. The Osage tribes, with a population of about 4,000 in 1807, had villages in western Missouri and a colony along the Grand River that was founded circa 1796 under the leadership of Chief Clermont (namesake of Claremore) and with the encouragement of fur trader Pierre Chouteau.

With the 1825 treaty, they ceded all their claims for a 50-by-150 mile reservation in southern Kansas. A small number of mixed-blood Osage were granted homesteads along the Grand River. The specific territory that became the Unassigned Lands might have been used as hunting grounds — Washington Irving’s party came across Pawnee and Osage hunters and warriors in the region — but don’t appear to have been settled by any tribe.)

At noon on April 22, 1889, guns were fired and settlers began streaming across the border into a region known as the Unassigned Lands, trying to stake a claim on one of the best quarter-sections for homesteading or a good lot in the new townsites along the Santa Fe railroad, like Guthrie, Edmond, Oklahoma City, Moore, and Norman. They were beaten to some of the best land by “Sooners,” who were in the territory illegally, having stolen across the border ahead of the gun, and by federal officials and railroad workers, who were in the territory legally but were legally barred from competing for lots and homesteads. Collectively, these settlers became known as the Eighty-Niners — the original settlers who were renowned for their grit and determination to survive the harsh conditions on the prairie.

A first-hand account by William Willard Howard, published a month after the Land Run in Harper’s Weekly, paints a vivid picture of the chaos and hardship of those early days. (A note to the reader: Howard uses the name Oklahoma to refer specifically to the Unassigned Lands opened by the ’89 run, not the larger Oklahoma Territory or present-day State of Oklahoma.)


A year later, in 1890, Congress and President Benjamin Harrison would approve the Organic Act for Oklahoma Territory, establishing Oklahoma Territory as a non-contiguous collection of the Unassigned Lands, the Public Land Strip (better known as No Man’s Land and the Panhandle), and the tribal lands that had been assigned after the end of the Civil War (e.g. Pawnee, Tonkawa, Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie). This excluded the portion of the Cherokee Outlet that had yet to be assigned to another tribe or opened for settlement, and the area that the act would, for the first time, officially designate as Indian Territory: the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes, and the tribal lands overseen by the Quapaw Agency near present-day Miami.

The Cherokee Outlet lands would be added to Oklahoma Territory at a later date. The territorial capitol would be at Guthrie, and the territorial government would be elected by the residents of the former Unassigned Lands and No Man’s Land. Greer County, the land between the north and south forks of the Red River, was also excluded from Oklahoma Territory until the boundary dispute between the State of Texas and the Federal Government could be settled by the courts.

The Organic Act makes references to agreements made with the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation, ratified by Congress on March 1, 1889, and with the Seminole Nation, ratified by Congress on March 16, 1889. The western lands that the two nations had ceded to the United States in the post-Civil War treaties of 1866 could only be occupied by peaceful Indian tribes. In order to open the lands to non-Indian settlement, the government had to negotiate an additional treaty with the Creeks and the Seminoles, which included a significant amount of money.

Pursuant to the 1889 agreement, the US made an immediate payment to the Muscogee Creek Nation $280,857.10, and held an additional $2,000,000 in a trust account at 5% annual interest, to be paid to the tribe semi-annually — $50,000 every six months, in addition to the government’s existing financial obligations under earlier treaties. That’s an immediate payment of $7,760,264.84 in 2019 dollars, and a semi-annual payment of $1,381,532.61. An 1890 tribal census counted 14,800 Creeks. These interest rates were set at 5% at a time when the economy was deflating — prices declined by 3.16% in 1889. In the 18 years between 1889 and statehood in 1907, prices rose only by 2.17%

The Seminoles received $412,942.20 immediately, and an additional $1,500,000 in a trust account at 5% annual interest — $37,500 every six months. In 2019 dollars, that’s $11,409,862.30 immediately and $1,036,149.46 every six months. The 1890 census counted 2,427 Seminoles.

Critics may argue with the amount of money that was paid, or the way in which it was paid. It’s fair to say that the Creeks and Seminoles were not in a strong negotiating position after the Civil War or in 1889, but, nevertheless, the U. S. Government didn’t simply say, like Darth Vader, “I am altering the deal; pray I don’t alter it any further.” If the U. S. Government had simply forced its will without compensation — claiming the land as spoils of war and later modifying its deed restrictions — who would have stopped it? Instead, whether from moral convictions or from concern for its reputation for treaty fidelity in the wider world, the U. S. Government negotiated and paid for the changes it sought.

The result was an unoccupied region of two million acres to which the U. S. Government had clear legal and moral title, ready for settlement by Americans who were desperate for land to farm.

NOTE: I started writing this in April of 2019, hoping to finish in time for that year’s anniversary of the 1889 Land run, but it has been sitting in draft since that time. I had in mind to delve deeper into some details, but at this point, I simply want to publish what I have, as I find I keep referring to the information in online discussions.

Conclusion

It is so easy for us to politicize everything. The progressives are bad, and the traditional conservatives are good, and all that “rot”. But the fact is that most people are just trying to live life in the best way that they know how, and in America today there are no “speed brakes on the roller coaster”. No one is reining in the crazies.

Busybodies are crazies. They are people with serious mental illnesses and they tend to be unemployed because they simply are unable to function within society. They are on BOTH sides of the political spectrum.

  • Progressive crazies tend to be SJW types.
  • Conservative crazies tend to be neocons.

This is just another story of a busybody, and just because no one is reporting on their lunacy, doesn’t mean that it isn’t going on. It is, and it’s “off the rails” out of control. As this simple article illustrates.

In this case, what’s their disconnect? WTF? Don’t they have better things to do with their time?

Apparently not.

And in our modern contemporaneous life please recognize that the “news” does not report events. They try to manipulate. And much of what is going on all around you is indeed all sorts of social re-engineering by dangerously crazy and malevolent individuals.

Head’s up.

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Fuck Social Security. Vending Machines are the way to obtain income during your retirement.

Ok. The fact is that I have numerous avenues funneling small amounts of money to pay for my retirement, and little pleasures in life. I guess that life has taught me that you just cannot rely on one source of income. But rather, you need to have a lot of tiny sources of income. The more, the better.

But you know, it wasn’t always like this.

All my life I was told that if I got a job working for a “good company” that I would be set for life. That I could retire with a pension when I hit my middle 40’s and would have a great life with all my medical needs taken cared for.

It did not happen.

My life has been a constant struggle. And on the employment scene, it’s been a “gig economy” long before the rest of society caught up with that reality.

Over the years, I have tried to set up various mechanisms for earning and making money. Most of the time, however, I had (out of necessity) taken jobs working for others. Most of which didn’t deserve me. Today, I have a combination of low-income venues that provide a steady income. It’s not what you read on the internet or see in Hollywood. It’s just enough for a comfortable life, but there are no Maybach or Ferrari’s in my life, thank you.

One of the mechanisms that I use to earn a few bucks is to incorporate a few vending machines to my income stream. And I do mean incorporate. You add these elements of extra work to your daily routine, and you include the revenue income into the family budget for the wife to handle.

It’s a matter of persistence and trial and error. Like anything else, you invest some money, and you learn how things works by serving the machines. Many locations are terrible. Some locations change and cause upsets, and every now and then you “hit a pot of gold”. Don’t poo-poo this.

In my mind anything that puts some extra money in your wallet is something deserving of consideration. Anything.

Here’s a pretty good article on this subject.

The following article is titled “The economics of vending machines”, written by Zachary Crockett | @zzcrockett October 3, 2020. It was edited to fit this venue. All credit to the original author.

The economics of vending machines

The pandemic has boosted interest in vending machine ownership. But just how lucrative is the business? We spoke to 20+ operators to find out.

Three months ago, Jalea Pippens — a phlebotomist at St. John Hospital in Detroit — had her hours cut.

In the midst of the pandemic, the 23-year-old found herself in dire need of a second income stream. One night, while scrolling through search results for “ways to make extra money,” she came across vending machines.

The daily minutiae of owning a vending machine seemed a bit dull: buying bulk candy at Sam’s Club, stocking machines, collecting weathered bills and buckets of coins. But Pippens saw an opportunity to be her own boss.

She partnered up with her boyfriend and another business partner, bought a vending machine on Facebook Marketplace for $1.6k, and plunked it down at a local auto parts store, where it now grosses $400 per month.

“I’d never really thought about vending machines,” she tells The Hustle. “I didn’t even know you could own one.”

Pippens is one of thousands of individual operators who make up the bulk of the vending machine ecosystem.

During the pandemic, the relatively low barrier of entry has attracted a new generation of vending machine entrepreneurs — schoolteachers, nurses, mechanics, students — who measure profits in $1 bills and utilize new technologies to monitor and scale their operations.

But are vending machines really a viable side hustle? How much does the average machine bring in? And what does the job entail? 

To find out, The Hustle surveyed and interviewed 20+ vending machine operators all over America.

A glimpse at the market

It is estimated that roughly ⅓ of the world’s ~15m vending machines are located in the US.

Of these 5m US-based vending machines, ~2m are currently in operation, collectively bringing in $7.4B in annual revenue for those who own them. This means that the average American adult spends ~$35 per year on vending machine items.

What makes the vending industry truly unique is its stratification: The landscape is composed of thousands of small-time independent operators — and no single entity owns >5% of the market.

(Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Some big corporations, like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, own their own arsenal of machines. But vending requires so many moving parts and brings in such slim profits per machine that it’s better suited for smaller operators who can minimize overhead costs.

According to a 2020 IBISWorld report, the nation’s 2m in-use machines are owned by 17.6k small businesses, the vast majority of which employ just a few people.

The vending industry is broad and encompasses everything from $0.50 gumballs to — well:

Oddities aside, the majority of vending machines (72.4%) house standard snacks and beverages — what are known as “full-line” machines in vending parlance.

(Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Several things attract new operators to vending:

  • Relatively low startup costs: An operator can find a decent machine and buy inventory for <$2k.
  • Scalability: Early revenue can be reinvested in expansion to leverage economies of scale. 
  • A largely passive routine: Restocking and cash collection can be reduced to a few times per month.
  • A flexible schedule: Like the gig economy, vending allows operators to set their own hours. 

But starting out in the business comes with its share of hurdles — the first of which is finding the right machine.

A new machine straight from a manufacturer can run from $3k to $8k+ — though used machines can be purchased on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for as little as $300.

As Paul Valdez, a 39-year-old Miami operator, learned, those machines often end up being more trouble than they’re worth.

“I bought 4 machines on Craigslist for cheap and fixed them,” he tells The Hustle, “but they were all so crappy and old that no business wanted them.”

Once an operator like Valdez has secured the right machine, the next obstacle is finding a quality home for it.

Location can make or break a machine’s success — and finding a good one is often a steep challenge for people who are new to the business.

Zachary Crockett / The Hustle

Many of the best locations — places with heavy foot traffic, or large worker populations — are already saturated with machines.

Some owners we talked to have to make 100+ calls before landing a decent location. In the end, they often end up paying the owner a commission of 10%-25% of gross sales to drive home the deal.

Other owners resort to buying pre-established “routes” — machines that are already placed on-site somewhere — or attempt to knock out existing operators by offering a better service.

“It can be dog-eat-dog,” says Alyssa Howard, a 28-year-old who owns 22 snack machines in Colorado. “You have to treat it as a zero-sum game.”

The reason for this competition is simple: There is a tremendous variance in how much revenue a machine can bring in, based on where it is.

Good margins, small volumes

We surveyed 23 vending machine owners with various-sized operations and found that the average operator in our sample owned 13 machines that gross $309 per machine per month.

But self-reported revenue per machine per month ranged from just $75 to $650.

Note: This data comes from a survey of 23 operators and isn’t meant to be definitive; some vending machines make far less than the figures listed here; others make far more. (Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Most vendors we spoke with noted big differences in revenue across their own machines.

“I have one machine that does $25 every 2 weeks, and another that does $600,” says Everett Brown, a 32-year-old Lyft driver from Minneapolis who vends part-time. “Every location is different; some places suck, and others are gold mines.”

Jaime Ibanez got into vending in 2018. Fresh out of high school, he dropped $2.5k — about half his savings — on a refurbished snack machine and found a home for it at a local barbershop in Dallas.

Today, he owns 35 machines that gross $10k in revenue every month. His best location, a hotel, earns him $2.8k; his worst sometimes only sees $200.

And remember: these figures are pre-expenses. The business comes with its share of overhead costs.

For starters, ~50% of revenue goes toward the cost of items that go in the machines.

Many operators buy their wares in bulk at Sam’s Club and Costco and sell them for roughly 2x the price they paid. Here’s a look at how a typical vending machine’s margins might look by item:

(Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Among the other operating costs reported by vending machine owners:

  • General liability insurance (~$500/yr for <$100k in annual sales)
  • Commissions paid to locations (5-25% of revenue)
  • Transaction fees for card purchases (~5-6%)
  • Card reader analytics fees ($10/mo)
  • Storage space for unused machines (~$100/mo)
  • Gas and transportation ($50-$100/mo)
  • Taxes (10-37% of adjusted gross income)
  • Routine maintenance and vandalism repairs ($50-$250/yr)

Even something like logistics can be a burden: Vending machines are extraordinarily heavy — 600-800 lbs. — and often require special equipment to pick up and move.

All costs considered, an operator who makes $5k per month in revenue might take home something like $2k in profit.

To make vending work as a full-time gig, an operator typically must implement economies of scale, building the business up to dozens of machines that collectively generate a livable wage.

Operators like Ibanez are constantly reinvesting in expansion.

Ibanez with a few of his 35 vending machines in Dallas (via Jaime Ibanez)

The biggest input cost of all — the amount of time a vendor spends on-site — has been minimized by technology in recent times.

“I can visit all my machines in 2 days and not have to go back for 2 weeks,” says Ibanez.

Twenty years ago, operators had to drive to each machine on a semi-daily basis and jot down the items they needed by hand. Today, telemetry tools have largely allowed newcomers to operate remotely.

Roughly 70% of today’s vendors use some form of tech (card readers, apps, iPads) to monitor sales and inventory in real-time.

On a typical site visit day, Ibanez will get up at 6am, check his apps for inventory, and load up on his bestsellers — Honey Buns, M&M’s, and Snickers — at Sam’s Club. After restocking, collecting money, and doing an occasional repair, he’s home by 4pm.

This seemingly dull routine has piqued the interest of hundreds of thousands of young entrepreneurs on the Internet. 

Ibanez’s YouTube channel, which chronicles his life as a vendor, boasts 362k subscribers and now earns more than his machines.

“People love to see the stacks of cash getting pulled out,” he says.

But something else is driving this fascination: the allure of a semi-passive income has led to a spike in vending during the pandemic. 

The COVID-19 boom 

Barry and Lori Strickland, a married couple in San Diego, run The Vending Mentors, an educational resource that offers an online course ($297) and ongoing consulting services ($97/mo) for new vendors.

Their journey into vending began back in 1989, when Barry — then a 30-year-old special education teacher — bought a few machines to make extra income during the summer.

Eventually, the couple grew the business to 250 machines and $500k in annual revenue before selling it.

Lory and Barry Strickland have seen an uptick in their vending machine course during the pandemic (Barry and Lory Strickland)

Since the pandemic, the Stricklands say they’ve seen a huge uptick in interest. This year, 200 vendors have signed up for their course.

“A lot of blue-collar workers are realizing their jobs are not as secure as they thought they were,” says Mr. Strickland. “We’re getting tons of interest from people who lost their jobs, or had hours cut, and are turning to vending to take things into their own hands.”  

Mr. Strickland says that most vendors he knows have seen a 10-50% dip in revenue this year due to the stressors of the pandemic.

Radical shifts in consumer behavior, physical interaction, and health guidelines have shifted the vending landscape. Vendors who rely on schools have been hit especially hard; other locations, like nursing homes, have continued to perform well.

Despite the shakeup, Mr. Strickland maintains the market is ripe for entry.

“Vending machines are relatively safe compared to food prep — there isn’t as much human contact,” he says. “It’s also a business that a lot of people consider to be recession-proof.”

In particular, the Stricklands have noticed an uptick in Black and Latino vending machine owners — a trend they attribute to accessibility and relatively low startup costs.

VendingNation, a popular private Facebook group for new venders, has grown from 6k to 14.5k members since January — a 142% increase — and many of the new members are from underrepresented groups.

Jalea Pippens with a new machine — one of 15 she co-manages with her partners, Steven Lee and Gabriel McKinnon, in Detroit (Jalea Pippens)

Among them is Jalea Pippens, the phlebotomist from Detroit. 

After buying her first machine 3 months ago, she launched Literally Lit Vending with her boyfriend (a nurse), and his best friend.

“The pandemic made us into entrepreneurs,” she says.

Over the past 3 months, Literally Lit has grown to encompass 15 machines all over Metro Detroit. Recently, they landed their biggest deal yet: 5 machines at a steel manufacturing warehouse.  

Collectively, the machines now bring in $4k in monthly revenue — most of which is being reinvested into the company.

“When I used to see a vending machine at the hospital, I’d spend at least $5,” she says. “Now I’m on the other side, collecting the bills.”

Conclusion

Yes. I know. I can (personally) make great money with my knowledge and experience and uniqueness. After all, I am a Rocket Scientist, who speaks multiple languages and who lives smack dab in the middle of manufacturing central. In fact, I have interviewed for positions that pretty much were talking about paying me about ten times that of a commercial airline pilot. Which is a lot of money. A lot of fucking money.

But…

Is that all there is?

Money.

What about being your own boss? Having a relaxed lifestyle? Eating fine food, drinking wine and cavorting with pretty girls?

What about those things?

Is money all there is to life?
What about “cavoring around”?

What about spending time with your children? Not being stressed out? Walking out in the early morning and setting down to your daily routine without your phone ringing off the hook?

What about those things?

We all have to make a determination on what our life is to be, and we all need to make an individualized determination of how that will manifest. For me, it is the following…

  • A membership in a community.
  • Multiple sources of income that I control.
  • Doing the the kind of work that I love.
  • Meeting up with interesting people.
  • Living in a beautiful location.
  • Eating and drinking good delicious food.
  • Surrounded with love.

I suggest to the reader to forget about all that Hollywood nonsense.

  • Think small. Not large.
  • Think many avenues of income, not one.
  • Think many friendships and relationships. Not a few.
  • Think about having a lot of free time, not a little.

And you all might want to consider vending machines.

It will not make you rich. But it will pay for by-weekly steaks, pot roasts, and fine delicious sea food. Not to mention cases of fine delicious wine, and an unlimited amount of cigars.

Just a thought. You all.

Think small. Think community. Think skill. Think resources and relationships. Think about participation. Think about contribution.

Think about lifestyle.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness Index here…

Life & Happiness

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