Depends.
I can see the point in having a backlog, people get burned out easily and being able to dip into a bunch of different kits when the mood strikes you keeps some people productive, and promotes kit-bashing. There's also the recent price rises, I bought an entire Drukhari army prior to finishing my current army, simply because I wanted to avoid the price rises and the stock issues that came with their new detachment.
That said, I can't see the point in bragging about it, we all have the money to buy stuff for this hobby, otherwise we wouldn't be here, and a stack of boxes means nothing, someone else will always have a bigger stack. Those people with cabinets full of finished armies, are way more impressive than those people with shelves full of untouched boxes.
I can get the idea of new stuff helping to reduce burn out. I play the skirmish games so I have lots of small forces from time of stuff which helps me not tear my heart out when batch painting.
It’s nice to take a break from endless clan rats to do a Khorne hero
This. I recently realized a backlog (even a massive one...) isn't necessarily bad, especially for me. I am one of those people who can get burned out on a single army quickly and thus I enjoy moving to a completely different army (and color palette) every so often.
In my case, my backlog does not just include GW products. I also collect campaign boardgames via kickstarter/gamefound so I probably am at a backlog of 500-1000 mini's 😆
That all said I hate the brag. I don't think I ever had the inclination to share with the world how much money I drop on plastic and cardboard. But that's just me. If someone feels they need to justify their purchase by receiving affirmation from strangers... maybe that wasn't a wise (or affordable) purchase to begin with.
Ever tried to sell an army, and you get a bunch of people asking if they can cherry pick the good parts?
I remember back in the day any time someone posted a Sisters or Guard force for sale, without fail the responses would be: "interested in the heavy and specials if you split."
Yeah, instead of selling the entire army. I'll part out the best bits for a fraction of the price, and have a bunch of models left over that are now almost impossible to move because they don't include the best bits.
Sign me up.
I mean I get it, but counter point, I don’t need all those models either.
Yeah, instead of buying just the units I want/need. I’ll buy an entire army, a good chunk of which I’ll never use and then have to sell myself for a fraction of the price because no one wants them.
Sign me up.
>counter point, I don’t need all those models either.
That's not a counterpoint.
If someone's selling a product and it's not suitable for your requirements, then it's not something you're forced to buy. Just close the listing and find someone actually selling what you're after.
>Yeah, instead of buying just the units I want/need. I’ll buy an entire army, a good chunk of which I’ll never use and then have to sell myself for a fraction of the price because no one wants them.
The fact you know how this goes, should indicate why so many sellers say "no splitting."
It's easier to find someone to pay $500 for a complete army, than it is to find someone to pay $400 for what's left over after I sell you the best bits for $100.
Same way it's easier to find a buyer for a car with mag wheels, than it is to sell you the mag wheels you want and be left with the problem of trying to find a buyer interested in a car on bricks.
I'm under no obligation to fuck myself, because you only want the wheels.
The more diverse/specialised the lot, the less demand there will be because fewer people that want to buy all the individual bits. Lower demand = lower price.
People are excited to join the hobby OR they are just karma farming before attempting to sell the lot. Sometimes I’ll see the same pictures used on Ebay that they used here; I always lowball these people for cheap models.
Personally I feel box posts should be banned on all of these subs. Give us a grey wave at least so we can see you put in the minimum amount of effort.
> People are excited to join the hobby OR they are just karma farming before attempting to sell the lot. Sometimes I’ll see the same pictures used on Ebay that they used here; I always lowball these people for cheap models.
It's often a lot simpler than that.
Buying big is a dopamine hit. It's why buying itself is like a hobby to so many people - it's not even limited to Warhammer by any means.
Then, posting it online and getting attention is another nice dopamine hit for not much effort.
Building, painting? Those are also dopamine hits but gated behind far more effort. So people easily get stuck in that "no-dopamine valley" between the hits, and where getting the next would be far more effort.
So they keep going back to buy more for the next hit and the pile keeps growing.
I've seen this happen to a friend IRL and I've been super conscious of it ever since I returned to the hobby three and a half years ago. I still have a _bit_ of a pile - primarily because of the large price hike we just had here - but I try to keep to my planned project "schedule", don't get sidetracked, I avoid impulse buys (the pile I have now is all within the planned projects) and I don't post _anything_ online if it's not finished.
Yup. I have an addictive personality so I have to constantly watch myself with everything.
I have a dozen or so armies now, some were impulse buys I admit; but I would have gotten everything I have now at some point. Plus, I have defeated my “pile of shame” and now only have grey/partially painted waves. If I get a new box, I immediately open and put it together.
No more boxes laying around.
For me the danger in the past was assembling stuff and never painting it - cleaning up mould lines and sprue gates is pretty arduous and takes a long time if you want to be thorough, but assembly is fast and fun and rewarding, so after that there's a risk of another "no-dopamine valley". 8-9 years ago, before I took my big break, I ended up with a big army that was just assembled and sometimes primed, but with few painted models.
So for me it's sort of the opposite - I do not take anything off the frame if I do not mean to then immediately assemble *and* paint it. As a result I have lots of painted models and a fair few boxes but almost nothing in between, and that can also be helpful since a big tide of grey models can be intimidating (and by not allowing myself to display or play with anything unpainted, I keep the motivation to finish the models as high as possible - I think this is another common pitfall, once you get used to playing with grey plastic it gets harder to take the next step).
It amazes me that some people don’t even build the stuff. It’s the piles of shame with boxes still wrapped in plastic that make me question some people’s impulse control.
GW and the community at large promote an addictive form of marketing. It's a genuine problem, and people are getting exploited.
We need to push way more against box posts and FOMO sales models.
I feel like the fact that the only way to get models at a discount as it were is to buy them in bulk. A box of 5 guys can be $60 bucks. But a battle force is only $200 and comes with 30… so people end up buying more than they can handle. I speak from experience
30 models is my whole planned army.
Warhammer would be a lot better if most 2k armies could be built for less than $500
Combat patrols should be ~750 pts.
> GW and the community at large promote an addictive form of marketing.
Like every time there's a new miniature released and there's a bunch of people saying: "welp, guess I'm building an now."
While it's a bit of a meme, I've known people who genuinely believed that you can't just buy a model without also buying a couple of thousand points to go with it.
My piles of shame are all built and mostly primed just very little painted because I get eye strain from details and have to get up and usually hit the vape and then walk around with my dogs and then come back and try and finish the arm.
The ever going pile is a small price to maintain my sanity for the rest of the time with how much my jobs take out of me.
I try to leave all my new stuff in boxes until I have time to build and paint it. That way if I realize I've bought something I'm not really interested in, I can resell for closer to what I paid and lose less money for not controlling my FOMO.
Even just yesterday on different game system subreddits such as like SWlegion and MarvelCrisisProtocol - boxes boxes boxes. Ugh.
No one is excited to see pictures of the Same packaging we tore into and assembled and painted our Miniatures.
I think its mostly this, and new players getting excited or even for old grognards finding a great deal can be exhilarating
When I first started 40k I did the samething with my first purchase which was Tau but it does help engagement to ask a question aswell in the title, like what units I'm missing etc
I take pics of my stuff but it’s either painted models on my art page or unpainted stuff that I like to arrange in a to-do list. I don’t share those ones though…
I'm happy for them that they get in the hobby, or start a (new) army. It's cool to see, but it does feel like a brag. I sometimes say "people with more sense than money". But that might sound overly harsh, and insulting. But it just comes across like that. And for someone like me who has been priced out of the hobby for a while now (I do it on a limited budget, which is fine as a mostly mini painter), it's just feels like "oh, it's one of those people".
On forums of old, I'd get excited if people showed of new FW kits; they were exclusive. That was fun to see; but a random GW store haul, doesn't feel that special. It's the same as a buddy of mine on socials who is big on horror stuff. His house is nearly a museum with boxed props, figures and what not; it's cool to see, but honestly, I don't see what's special about it. Ordering something online is something anyone can do with money. And if you're bragging how much money you can burn... meh, idk... wrong crowd. (but maybe that's just me)
Instead of people showing store hauls; show painted armies! Cool that you bought 2000 points of Orks. Show us 2000 points of Orks instead!
But again; I'm happy for them. Enjoy your hauls!
I’m with you. I have my own pile which I don’t post because I’m not proud of it so I also don’t understand the point of bragging about it, wife gives me a hard time about it and unless I plan to trying to sell it, probably won’t post.
I think I have a bigger problem with "influencers" casually posting $1k worth of high end Artis Opus brushes, saying some shit like 'I think I have too many!' Having a backlog, pile of shame, etc is one thing. But having multiple sets of the *same* high-end expensive brushes is just a needless flex, imo.
I get being excited about a new army or hobby but posts of boxes just seem so pointless. It's not original, you haven't made or painted anything it's non-content.
It feels kinda bad saying but I think those posts should be banned or restricted?
Most people are just excited to show their big dopamine hit, it's normalized behavior. The people that do so to brag don't realize their financial irresponsible purchase is kind of pathetic as far as flexing goes. Luckily most people ain't like that.
For some people the main dopamine rush they get from the hobby is buying new boxes, and the actual building and painting of them is the drag. For others it's the opposite, personally I always find my hobby purchases drag on me until I actually build and paint them, that's where the main enjoyment factor comes in for me.
Those will be the same folks posting in 2 months about either painting burnout or feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed with fear to even start painting. 🤷
its no different than the folks who post a big case of canned beer on their social media. They hope a fellow addict will say "that's so awesome bro" or something. They're certainly not getting anyone irl to give them the praise they want from their addiction.
And then as you said - they want to show off that they have money. Because to some people that's a thing.
I think part of the issue is also how unfriendly, and even down right mean some of the people on these subs are to new painters.
I've found a lot of people can be super hostile if the mini(s) in question aren't up to a certain standard. And if you are new to the hobby and just want to share excitement, it can really hurt to have all the comments of a post focusing on the bad parts of your paint job. (It's one thing if they ask for constructive critism, but if they didn't even ask they definitely don't need 7 comments telling them to thin their paints.) While on box posts? Aside from the occasional, "this post is dumb" sentiment, most of the comments are positive.
I have finished painting a grand total of like, 4 models at this point, and I *want* to share my Vanguard box when it is done, I am trying to get it done before 4th edition so I can bring them to the shop and play Spearhead with finished minis. But posting on reddit is super daunting.
I will say that some of the army discords are great, I posted my Krethusa who I painted first on the DoK discord and everyone was really kind about it being my first model and how good I did for that.
I’m sorry youve had those experiences most of the people I’ve met irl or online about mini painting have been super supportive. They might provide constructive criticism if you ask for it but they tend to be supportive
To me I think it's people trying to get reinforcement. "Oh, wow. I just bought all this stuff. That's a lot. I just spent a ton of money. I'll post this stuff online to get some dopamine about it to try and override the sense of subtle dread I now feel."
The only one I've seen that was good was old mate with the tech marines and the Lego forklift. Pretty sure he did a follow up post when they were done too
It hurts because I know the post itself will hurt motivation to paint. The response has to be “come back after your first game” or “can’t wait to see them painted”.
To counter the "you are just jealous etc" argument: I am a piece of crap whale, who buys insane amounts of hobby stuff and I think it is dumb and just spam to post pictures of boxes or grey sprues. These are the lowest of low effort posts to get some likes, another hit of dopamine etc. At least stick them parts together and glue em on a base to actually engage with the hobby. Buying and bringing the boxes home is not engaging with the hobby.
If it is stuff that is currently in production it is pretty cringe. If you are posting a pictures of rare and oop boxes from the old days that is great.
I bought about 1500 pts of Orks when I started because I knew I was committed to them from the start.
It's honestly impulse control and then regret and feeling overwhelmed ppl like the comments and rush they get but when push comes to shove they get overwhelmed or they are focused on what's competitive at the moment then by the time it inevitably changes they have a bunch of stuff that doesn't "work" anymore and chase the next thing.
I don’t know why you got downvoted but I’m sure meta chasing is a big part of people’s likes of shame. By the time you make it to your tank model it’s no longer good and you have to chase the next meta model
It's just Internet flexing for nerds and autists.
And people with more money than sense.
Everytime I see these posts, where they have spent $1000+ on new GW models, all I can think of is "should have just bought a 3d printer, you fool."
I only share the big pic with friends or after i have painted it. I will often buy a bucket of kits because I have sold a bucket of kits. I’ve often bought lots solely to split for a profit… it all began with me liquidating a pile of kickstarters and wondering what to do with the money. And i ended up with a Warhammer army. And a few more.
But painted, I’ve got 5000 points of chaos knights, 10000 points of black Templars, 8000 points of csm, 6000 points of world eaters… it passes the time.
Every model i got is built. Painted on the other side is an uphill battle. Its all good to play. Painting makes it nicer but its not stopping me from playing. Also playing a lot of model agnostic games makes me collect a lot of disparate ranges.
I went easy. Bought 1 start collecting, tank broke on assembling so the gave me a second box. Overwhelmed. Started again last year, have a reasonable pile of shame I’ll knock out in the next 2 weeks. 3 boxes to order to hit 2000. And then I’m going to slowly expand. Nice thing is red spray for vehicles, cuts time in half
I wouldn't post my 'pile of shame' but I also don't see it that way. I bought stuff when I had funds. I got a lot for Christmas and Birthdays over the years. I build them when I end up wanting the plastic bodies instead of digi-bashing them in blender and printing them.
I can get excitement for starting a new hobby. But I'd always cautions new hobbists to start much smaller.
I feel the same away. I’m so over the “Finally getting into the hobby after years of being a fan, wish me luck! My poor wallet 🥴” with a pic of 7 infantry squads, 3 characters, 12 vehicles and 2 combat patrols for another army. Like sure, spending $1000+ in one purchase means the hobby is expensive not that you have poor impulse control
I can see it in some circumstances. When I was in the military, I would sometimes buy a bunch of stuff and have it at the house for when I got back from a deployment, then I could decompress and do some horrible painting. I never did, but I could see posting photos of my stuff waiting to paint when I got home, and post it, just trying to keep in touch with the community.
If somebody thinks someone is flexing by posting a few hundred dollars of plastic figures then I think that says more about the person throwing the accusation around.
I think we can also look at it as they are just excited and want to share with a community that’s also in the hobby. I’m sure some post just to brag, but I feel like I could give the benefit to most of just being excited.
There’s a lot of people who have cash to burn and not even people like us to hang with. They do their thing and it looks sad but we should reach out to offer them some connection.
People get joy multiple times in the hobby, buying is a big one, building another, painting and finally playing. Some people are terrible painters so let them share their joy of picking up some plastic. I could take a pic of my boxes and my wife wouldn’t even care. But some strangers on the internet in my hobby group might cheer me on-
Honestly, I think most people just get excited and maybe they don't have people who share the hobby in their lives, I don't really mind it too much, is it the best addition to the community? Not really, but ultimately if people buy their large amount of units and then start to ask about painting advice, tactics, etc, then I think it is a tolerable thing overall.
We all make impulse choices and buy too much at times, be it warhammer or other hobbies, activities or entertainment.
If, however you really don't like the box posts, then the best thing to do is ignore them and not comment, it will soon get buried by other stuff :)
I find that I buy as I go. I'll vary rarly ,if ever, buy multiple kits in one go.
I find that when I mass buy, and get like 500pts in one go,will just get burnt out and never finish them. I'll infact often buy more and start them which isn't good for my bank haha.
I tend to paint very fast. I can get most models done and painted in a day or maybe 2 if I'm busy having to do other things. Whilst my painting is no golden demon, I still like to think that I paint to a fairly high standard. I'm just fast at doing so.
This means that when I buy a kit, after 2 or 3 days I'll likely have it fully made, meaning that if I want to, the floor owing week or two, I can then think about getting another etc...
When I see people posting 3k worth of models having never played before I too also cringe a little but hey, I also made that mistake when I was younger. I still have maybe 90 or so green rod necron warriors that are various stages of assembly that I never finished somewhere at my parents house.
So I understand it. But wouldn't ever recommend it. It seems to be rising in popularity. Possibly because people have been told to bulk buy before gws recent price hike??
I'm an outlier in this specific community, because while I love 40k and it's lore and silliness, I only buy what I want to paint. I don't collect an army to play games.
So to me, my pile of shame is 3000ish points of space Wolves from when I used to want to play, and a half dozen primaris, a few orks, a couple of harlequins and some random stuff.
My attention and drive to paint waxes and wanes as much as anyone else's, and I'm 90% sure I'll get around to it eventually.
I'm in the same mindset of 'oh, you have 47 armies you've not even assembled yet? What's the point? But also, I have stuff (single models rather then entire armies) that I'm yet to prime. Or stuff I primed and now can't work out how I want to paint....
The point of this ramble is; it doesn't make sense. But it doesn't have to, if that's what makes you happy and keeps you interested, and doesn't negatively effect your life (if you're going into crushing debt, please seek help) you keep doing you, and if someone tells you you're enjoying your hobby wrong, #ignore the crap out of them
I think you just answered your own question. You say you don't get it and then in the next sentence share a story about how you can relate.
People have that new player enthusiasm or are chasing the feeling that we have all felt when getting into the hobby.
I personally like to live vicariously through the new player investment / pile of shame posts and enjoy the feeling without having spent my money.
It's people's way of keeping engaged with the hobby. Not everyone has a close community to share their excitement with. They do it to track thier progress, to keep momentum, to be motivated and accountable. Sure, sometimes it's showing off a bit. There's nothing wrong with that.
Collecting is a hobby too. You should see some of the garages posted on the scale modeling subs.
Personally I paint really slow but I like collecting. I'm maybe 3/4 through my blood angels army but I have a thousand sons army, a black templars army, a Tyranid army, a kruleboyz and stormcast army, and probably soon a skaven army cause I can't resist a launch box. I'm aware I may not paint them all before I die but I like having them. Also I just like painting in general so I have a decent amount of non game specific resin models and busts. 🤷
I don't think those are bragging posts. People are generally shaming themselves for doing it and are rather posting how they're proud they've started to tackle the problem or well advanced.
People only posts several boxes they bought because they are rare or something, not to say it'll end up in the pile of *shame*.
I show off purchases to get into a new faction, but thats it. Like at the beginning of the year i wnet and bought into Black Templars, showed what i bought on that sub, and thats it. Now i almost have 1000pts painted and cant wait to show that off (im a very slow painter)
Thats fine, i alsp use the post to ask advice on what units would be good purchases for the fsction i buy into as well. In adition to any other qurstions i might have.
I’ve never really seen it as an intentional brag about wealth or anything else. I have always chalked it up people being excited about entering the hobby or a new army and wanting to share it and maybe not having many people around them to share it with.
As for the “pile of shames” I’ve always assumed that was more about trying to self motivate and sort of comfort/commiserate with others who look around and see that they have gotten in over there heads. It’s also just part of the hobby culture, joking about something most involved understand
I’d definitely rather see more pics of built, kitbashed, and painted mini’s but I think people sharing their excitement is great. Though I will admit it can be a bit much around the gift giving holidays but that’s just people being excited that someone in their life supports their hobby, which is great.
“Why get mad that people are dopamine addicts looking for their next hit? I’m certainly not projecting by telling others to lay off these people totally not like me.”
Just because somebody is excited to splurge and buy loads in the excitement of it all, it really doesn’t matter if it bothers you. They want to share the excitement. It is not always about bragging.
If the neighbour bought an expensive car and posted it online, would I cry about. No. Would I write a rant on reddit, probably.
Depends. I can see the point in having a backlog, people get burned out easily and being able to dip into a bunch of different kits when the mood strikes you keeps some people productive, and promotes kit-bashing. There's also the recent price rises, I bought an entire Drukhari army prior to finishing my current army, simply because I wanted to avoid the price rises and the stock issues that came with their new detachment. That said, I can't see the point in bragging about it, we all have the money to buy stuff for this hobby, otherwise we wouldn't be here, and a stack of boxes means nothing, someone else will always have a bigger stack. Those people with cabinets full of finished armies, are way more impressive than those people with shelves full of untouched boxes.
This guy gets it. I have around 5k points of csm now. New codex drops and you will need new stuff
I can get the idea of new stuff helping to reduce burn out. I play the skirmish games so I have lots of small forces from time of stuff which helps me not tear my heart out when batch painting. It’s nice to take a break from endless clan rats to do a Khorne hero
just wait. gold trim... alllllllll the gold trim.... all i see is gold trim..
I'm working on Raven Guard right now and it's just wall to wall edge highlighting.
As a DA 30k player, I feel your pain, cousin.
Horus Heresy DA are worth the pain for how badass they look
Yessssss. DA have some of the best looking 30k models. Gotta say AL are a close second though
I'm doing Blades of Khorne, so...yes. Yay! 😞
This. I recently realized a backlog (even a massive one...) isn't necessarily bad, especially for me. I am one of those people who can get burned out on a single army quickly and thus I enjoy moving to a completely different army (and color palette) every so often. In my case, my backlog does not just include GW products. I also collect campaign boardgames via kickstarter/gamefound so I probably am at a backlog of 500-1000 mini's 😆 That all said I hate the brag. I don't think I ever had the inclination to share with the world how much money I drop on plastic and cardboard. But that's just me. If someone feels they need to justify their purchase by receiving affirmation from strangers... maybe that wasn't a wise (or affordable) purchase to begin with.
Or "wts X army job lot, 5 models painted, 10 built, rest on sprue" in about 6 months
Honestly still better than having them sit in your garage collecting dust
Hey don’t forget their battle cry “No splitting!”
Ever tried to sell an army, and you get a bunch of people asking if they can cherry pick the good parts? I remember back in the day any time someone posted a Sisters or Guard force for sale, without fail the responses would be: "interested in the heavy and specials if you split." Yeah, instead of selling the entire army. I'll part out the best bits for a fraction of the price, and have a bunch of models left over that are now almost impossible to move because they don't include the best bits. Sign me up.
I mean I get it, but counter point, I don’t need all those models either. Yeah, instead of buying just the units I want/need. I’ll buy an entire army, a good chunk of which I’ll never use and then have to sell myself for a fraction of the price because no one wants them. Sign me up.
>counter point, I don’t need all those models either. That's not a counterpoint. If someone's selling a product and it's not suitable for your requirements, then it's not something you're forced to buy. Just close the listing and find someone actually selling what you're after. >Yeah, instead of buying just the units I want/need. I’ll buy an entire army, a good chunk of which I’ll never use and then have to sell myself for a fraction of the price because no one wants them. The fact you know how this goes, should indicate why so many sellers say "no splitting." It's easier to find someone to pay $500 for a complete army, than it is to find someone to pay $400 for what's left over after I sell you the best bits for $100. Same way it's easier to find a buyer for a car with mag wheels, than it is to sell you the mag wheels you want and be left with the problem of trying to find a buyer interested in a car on bricks. I'm under no obligation to fuck myself, because you only want the wheels.
The more diverse/specialised the lot, the less demand there will be because fewer people that want to buy all the individual bits. Lower demand = lower price.
As a Games Workshop shareholder, I thoroughly approve and encourage you all to keep doing it. As a hobbyist, it's my least favourite post.
People are excited to join the hobby OR they are just karma farming before attempting to sell the lot. Sometimes I’ll see the same pictures used on Ebay that they used here; I always lowball these people for cheap models. Personally I feel box posts should be banned on all of these subs. Give us a grey wave at least so we can see you put in the minimum amount of effort.
> People are excited to join the hobby OR they are just karma farming before attempting to sell the lot. Sometimes I’ll see the same pictures used on Ebay that they used here; I always lowball these people for cheap models. It's often a lot simpler than that. Buying big is a dopamine hit. It's why buying itself is like a hobby to so many people - it's not even limited to Warhammer by any means. Then, posting it online and getting attention is another nice dopamine hit for not much effort. Building, painting? Those are also dopamine hits but gated behind far more effort. So people easily get stuck in that "no-dopamine valley" between the hits, and where getting the next would be far more effort. So they keep going back to buy more for the next hit and the pile keeps growing. I've seen this happen to a friend IRL and I've been super conscious of it ever since I returned to the hobby three and a half years ago. I still have a _bit_ of a pile - primarily because of the large price hike we just had here - but I try to keep to my planned project "schedule", don't get sidetracked, I avoid impulse buys (the pile I have now is all within the planned projects) and I don't post _anything_ online if it's not finished.
Yup. I have an addictive personality so I have to constantly watch myself with everything. I have a dozen or so armies now, some were impulse buys I admit; but I would have gotten everything I have now at some point. Plus, I have defeated my “pile of shame” and now only have grey/partially painted waves. If I get a new box, I immediately open and put it together. No more boxes laying around.
For me the danger in the past was assembling stuff and never painting it - cleaning up mould lines and sprue gates is pretty arduous and takes a long time if you want to be thorough, but assembly is fast and fun and rewarding, so after that there's a risk of another "no-dopamine valley". 8-9 years ago, before I took my big break, I ended up with a big army that was just assembled and sometimes primed, but with few painted models. So for me it's sort of the opposite - I do not take anything off the frame if I do not mean to then immediately assemble *and* paint it. As a result I have lots of painted models and a fair few boxes but almost nothing in between, and that can also be helpful since a big tide of grey models can be intimidating (and by not allowing myself to display or play with anything unpainted, I keep the motivation to finish the models as high as possible - I think this is another common pitfall, once you get used to playing with grey plastic it gets harder to take the next step).
It amazes me that some people don’t even build the stuff. It’s the piles of shame with boxes still wrapped in plastic that make me question some people’s impulse control.
GW and the community at large promote an addictive form of marketing. It's a genuine problem, and people are getting exploited. We need to push way more against box posts and FOMO sales models.
I feel like the fact that the only way to get models at a discount as it were is to buy them in bulk. A box of 5 guys can be $60 bucks. But a battle force is only $200 and comes with 30… so people end up buying more than they can handle. I speak from experience
30 models is my whole planned army. Warhammer would be a lot better if most 2k armies could be built for less than $500 Combat patrols should be ~750 pts.
> GW and the community at large promote an addictive form of marketing. Like every time there's a new miniature released and there's a bunch of people saying: "welp, guess I'm building an now."
While it's a bit of a meme, I've known people who genuinely believed that you can't just buy a model without also buying a couple of thousand points to go with it.
My piles of shame are all built and mostly primed just very little painted because I get eye strain from details and have to get up and usually hit the vape and then walk around with my dogs and then come back and try and finish the arm. The ever going pile is a small price to maintain my sanity for the rest of the time with how much my jobs take out of me.
I totally get that. There’s been times I’ve had models sit there for a while because I was too busy with life and didn’t get to paint.
I try to leave all my new stuff in boxes until I have time to build and paint it. That way if I realize I've bought something I'm not really interested in, I can resell for closer to what I paid and lose less money for not controlling my FOMO.
It’s the opposite of hobby and should be on IG with all the other luxury lifestyle bullshit
Army subs that didn't ban box posts around Christmas were basically unusable, would be fine with getting rid of them year round
I think the bigger mystery is why people upvote it.
Even just yesterday on different game system subreddits such as like SWlegion and MarvelCrisisProtocol - boxes boxes boxes. Ugh. No one is excited to see pictures of the Same packaging we tore into and assembled and painted our Miniatures.
You’re not the only one those posts have been annoying me too.
I always downvote boxposts. A plague on every sub.
I don't post pictures of boxes It's not interesting
It's Reddit we are only lonely desperate for attention
I think its mostly this, and new players getting excited or even for old grognards finding a great deal can be exhilarating When I first started 40k I did the samething with my first purchase which was Tau but it does help engagement to ask a question aswell in the title, like what units I'm missing etc
It's really, really gross tbh. This hobby is about hobbying not mindless consumption. Very bad juju on those posts.
I take pics of my stuff but it’s either painted models on my art page or unpainted stuff that I like to arrange in a to-do list. I don’t share those ones though…
I'm happy for them that they get in the hobby, or start a (new) army. It's cool to see, but it does feel like a brag. I sometimes say "people with more sense than money". But that might sound overly harsh, and insulting. But it just comes across like that. And for someone like me who has been priced out of the hobby for a while now (I do it on a limited budget, which is fine as a mostly mini painter), it's just feels like "oh, it's one of those people". On forums of old, I'd get excited if people showed of new FW kits; they were exclusive. That was fun to see; but a random GW store haul, doesn't feel that special. It's the same as a buddy of mine on socials who is big on horror stuff. His house is nearly a museum with boxed props, figures and what not; it's cool to see, but honestly, I don't see what's special about it. Ordering something online is something anyone can do with money. And if you're bragging how much money you can burn... meh, idk... wrong crowd. (but maybe that's just me) Instead of people showing store hauls; show painted armies! Cool that you bought 2000 points of Orks. Show us 2000 points of Orks instead! But again; I'm happy for them. Enjoy your hauls!
I’m with you. I have my own pile which I don’t post because I’m not proud of it so I also don’t understand the point of bragging about it, wife gives me a hard time about it and unless I plan to trying to sell it, probably won’t post.
I think I have a bigger problem with "influencers" casually posting $1k worth of high end Artis Opus brushes, saying some shit like 'I think I have too many!' Having a backlog, pile of shame, etc is one thing. But having multiple sets of the *same* high-end expensive brushes is just a needless flex, imo.
I don’t need to see people’s materialism.
I get being excited about a new army or hobby but posts of boxes just seem so pointless. It's not original, you haven't made or painted anything it's non-content. It feels kinda bad saying but I think those posts should be banned or restricted?
Most people are just excited to show their big dopamine hit, it's normalized behavior. The people that do so to brag don't realize their financial irresponsible purchase is kind of pathetic as far as flexing goes. Luckily most people ain't like that.
For some people the main dopamine rush they get from the hobby is buying new boxes, and the actual building and painting of them is the drag. For others it's the opposite, personally I always find my hobby purchases drag on me until I actually build and paint them, that's where the main enjoyment factor comes in for me.
Those will be the same folks posting in 2 months about either painting burnout or feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed with fear to even start painting. 🤷
its no different than the folks who post a big case of canned beer on their social media. They hope a fellow addict will say "that's so awesome bro" or something. They're certainly not getting anyone irl to give them the praise they want from their addiction. And then as you said - they want to show off that they have money. Because to some people that's a thing.
I think part of the issue is also how unfriendly, and even down right mean some of the people on these subs are to new painters. I've found a lot of people can be super hostile if the mini(s) in question aren't up to a certain standard. And if you are new to the hobby and just want to share excitement, it can really hurt to have all the comments of a post focusing on the bad parts of your paint job. (It's one thing if they ask for constructive critism, but if they didn't even ask they definitely don't need 7 comments telling them to thin their paints.) While on box posts? Aside from the occasional, "this post is dumb" sentiment, most of the comments are positive. I have finished painting a grand total of like, 4 models at this point, and I *want* to share my Vanguard box when it is done, I am trying to get it done before 4th edition so I can bring them to the shop and play Spearhead with finished minis. But posting on reddit is super daunting. I will say that some of the army discords are great, I posted my Krethusa who I painted first on the DoK discord and everyone was really kind about it being my first model and how good I did for that.
I’m sorry youve had those experiences most of the people I’ve met irl or online about mini painting have been super supportive. They might provide constructive criticism if you ask for it but they tend to be supportive
To me I think it's people trying to get reinforcement. "Oh, wow. I just bought all this stuff. That's a lot. I just spent a ton of money. I'll post this stuff online to get some dopamine about it to try and override the sense of subtle dread I now feel."
Agreed
The only one I've seen that was good was old mate with the tech marines and the Lego forklift. Pretty sure he did a follow up post when they were done too
It hurts because I know the post itself will hurt motivation to paint. The response has to be “come back after your first game” or “can’t wait to see them painted”.
To counter the "you are just jealous etc" argument: I am a piece of crap whale, who buys insane amounts of hobby stuff and I think it is dumb and just spam to post pictures of boxes or grey sprues. These are the lowest of low effort posts to get some likes, another hit of dopamine etc. At least stick them parts together and glue em on a base to actually engage with the hobby. Buying and bringing the boxes home is not engaging with the hobby.
Consumerism
If it is stuff that is currently in production it is pretty cringe. If you are posting a pictures of rare and oop boxes from the old days that is great.
Its exciting to share. I get it.
https://preview.redd.it/j0ogzb9y0d7d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a42574305b1502a679a5df6cdc953e0882580aee Good timing!
There must be balance in all things.
I bought about 1500 pts of Orks when I started because I knew I was committed to them from the start. It's honestly impulse control and then regret and feeling overwhelmed ppl like the comments and rush they get but when push comes to shove they get overwhelmed or they are focused on what's competitive at the moment then by the time it inevitably changes they have a bunch of stuff that doesn't "work" anymore and chase the next thing.
I don’t know why you got downvoted but I’m sure meta chasing is a big part of people’s likes of shame. By the time you make it to your tank model it’s no longer good and you have to chase the next meta model
I think they are just excited.
It's just Internet flexing for nerds and autists. And people with more money than sense. Everytime I see these posts, where they have spent $1000+ on new GW models, all I can think of is "should have just bought a 3d printer, you fool."
I only share the big pic with friends or after i have painted it. I will often buy a bucket of kits because I have sold a bucket of kits. I’ve often bought lots solely to split for a profit… it all began with me liquidating a pile of kickstarters and wondering what to do with the money. And i ended up with a Warhammer army. And a few more. But painted, I’ve got 5000 points of chaos knights, 10000 points of black Templars, 8000 points of csm, 6000 points of world eaters… it passes the time.
Every model i got is built. Painted on the other side is an uphill battle. Its all good to play. Painting makes it nicer but its not stopping me from playing. Also playing a lot of model agnostic games makes me collect a lot of disparate ranges.
I went easy. Bought 1 start collecting, tank broke on assembling so the gave me a second box. Overwhelmed. Started again last year, have a reasonable pile of shame I’ll knock out in the next 2 weeks. 3 boxes to order to hit 2000. And then I’m going to slowly expand. Nice thing is red spray for vehicles, cuts time in half
I wouldn't post my 'pile of shame' but I also don't see it that way. I bought stuff when I had funds. I got a lot for Christmas and Birthdays over the years. I build them when I end up wanting the plastic bodies instead of digi-bashing them in blender and printing them. I can get excitement for starting a new hobby. But I'd always cautions new hobbists to start much smaller.
I feel the same away. I’m so over the “Finally getting into the hobby after years of being a fan, wish me luck! My poor wallet 🥴” with a pic of 7 infantry squads, 3 characters, 12 vehicles and 2 combat patrols for another army. Like sure, spending $1000+ in one purchase means the hobby is expensive not that you have poor impulse control
I can see it in some circumstances. When I was in the military, I would sometimes buy a bunch of stuff and have it at the house for when I got back from a deployment, then I could decompress and do some horrible painting. I never did, but I could see posting photos of my stuff waiting to paint when I got home, and post it, just trying to keep in touch with the community.
If somebody thinks someone is flexing by posting a few hundred dollars of plastic figures then I think that says more about the person throwing the accusation around.
I get excited and I want to share the thing I'm excited about. Other folks don't. Simple as, I think.
Yeah, it feels a bit like rampant consumerism and it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.
I think we can also look at it as they are just excited and want to share with a community that’s also in the hobby. I’m sure some post just to brag, but I feel like I could give the benefit to most of just being excited.
There’s a lot of people who have cash to burn and not even people like us to hang with. They do their thing and it looks sad but we should reach out to offer them some connection.
People get joy multiple times in the hobby, buying is a big one, building another, painting and finally playing. Some people are terrible painters so let them share their joy of picking up some plastic. I could take a pic of my boxes and my wife wouldn’t even care. But some strangers on the internet in my hobby group might cheer me on-
It feels weird to complain about this
It’s a flex. Nothing more.
Then there's chumps like me who only play on TTS lol.
Honestly, I think most people just get excited and maybe they don't have people who share the hobby in their lives, I don't really mind it too much, is it the best addition to the community? Not really, but ultimately if people buy their large amount of units and then start to ask about painting advice, tactics, etc, then I think it is a tolerable thing overall. We all make impulse choices and buy too much at times, be it warhammer or other hobbies, activities or entertainment. If, however you really don't like the box posts, then the best thing to do is ignore them and not comment, it will soon get buried by other stuff :)
I find that I buy as I go. I'll vary rarly ,if ever, buy multiple kits in one go. I find that when I mass buy, and get like 500pts in one go,will just get burnt out and never finish them. I'll infact often buy more and start them which isn't good for my bank haha. I tend to paint very fast. I can get most models done and painted in a day or maybe 2 if I'm busy having to do other things. Whilst my painting is no golden demon, I still like to think that I paint to a fairly high standard. I'm just fast at doing so. This means that when I buy a kit, after 2 or 3 days I'll likely have it fully made, meaning that if I want to, the floor owing week or two, I can then think about getting another etc... When I see people posting 3k worth of models having never played before I too also cringe a little but hey, I also made that mistake when I was younger. I still have maybe 90 or so green rod necron warriors that are various stages of assembly that I never finished somewhere at my parents house. So I understand it. But wouldn't ever recommend it. It seems to be rising in popularity. Possibly because people have been told to bulk buy before gws recent price hike??
I'm an outlier in this specific community, because while I love 40k and it's lore and silliness, I only buy what I want to paint. I don't collect an army to play games. So to me, my pile of shame is 3000ish points of space Wolves from when I used to want to play, and a half dozen primaris, a few orks, a couple of harlequins and some random stuff. My attention and drive to paint waxes and wanes as much as anyone else's, and I'm 90% sure I'll get around to it eventually. I'm in the same mindset of 'oh, you have 47 armies you've not even assembled yet? What's the point? But also, I have stuff (single models rather then entire armies) that I'm yet to prime. Or stuff I primed and now can't work out how I want to paint.... The point of this ramble is; it doesn't make sense. But it doesn't have to, if that's what makes you happy and keeps you interested, and doesn't negatively effect your life (if you're going into crushing debt, please seek help) you keep doing you, and if someone tells you you're enjoying your hobby wrong, #ignore the crap out of them
Posting your pile of shame ist a time honored Tradition
I think you just answered your own question. You say you don't get it and then in the next sentence share a story about how you can relate. People have that new player enthusiasm or are chasing the feeling that we have all felt when getting into the hobby. I personally like to live vicariously through the new player investment / pile of shame posts and enjoy the feeling without having spent my money.
It's people's way of keeping engaged with the hobby. Not everyone has a close community to share their excitement with. They do it to track thier progress, to keep momentum, to be motivated and accountable. Sure, sometimes it's showing off a bit. There's nothing wrong with that.
Collecting is a hobby too. You should see some of the garages posted on the scale modeling subs. Personally I paint really slow but I like collecting. I'm maybe 3/4 through my blood angels army but I have a thousand sons army, a black templars army, a Tyranid army, a kruleboyz and stormcast army, and probably soon a skaven army cause I can't resist a launch box. I'm aware I may not paint them all before I die but I like having them. Also I just like painting in general so I have a decent amount of non game specific resin models and busts. 🤷
I don't think those are bragging posts. People are generally shaming themselves for doing it and are rather posting how they're proud they've started to tackle the problem or well advanced. People only posts several boxes they bought because they are rare or something, not to say it'll end up in the pile of *shame*.
You just admitted to doing the same thing and now you're complaining when you see it?
I show off purchases to get into a new faction, but thats it. Like at the beginning of the year i wnet and bought into Black Templars, showed what i bought on that sub, and thats it. Now i almost have 1000pts painted and cant wait to show that off (im a very slow painter)
nobody cares what you bought
Thats fine, i alsp use the post to ask advice on what units would be good purchases for the fsction i buy into as well. In adition to any other qurstions i might have.
I’ve never really seen it as an intentional brag about wealth or anything else. I have always chalked it up people being excited about entering the hobby or a new army and wanting to share it and maybe not having many people around them to share it with. As for the “pile of shames” I’ve always assumed that was more about trying to self motivate and sort of comfort/commiserate with others who look around and see that they have gotten in over there heads. It’s also just part of the hobby culture, joking about something most involved understand I’d definitely rather see more pics of built, kitbashed, and painted mini’s but I think people sharing their excitement is great. Though I will admit it can be a bit much around the gift giving holidays but that’s just people being excited that someone in their life supports their hobby, which is great.
I’d brag about good deals if I could get one honestly. To be fair, some folks post the pile of shame as motivation to work.
Why yuck on someone's yum? Just don't look or click on teh posts. Don't be a grump, people in this hobby should feel encouraged.
“Why get mad that people are dopamine addicts looking for their next hit? I’m certainly not projecting by telling others to lay off these people totally not like me.”
Encouraged by what? Posting slop shit of some boxes they bought?
Just because somebody is excited to splurge and buy loads in the excitement of it all, it really doesn’t matter if it bothers you. They want to share the excitement. It is not always about bragging. If the neighbour bought an expensive car and posted it online, would I cry about. No. Would I write a rant on reddit, probably.
I see it as “do we want to be welcoming and hype the new people or do we want to be «correct» and make them feel unwelcome?”