It's my honour to finally properly introduce you to

[Wreck]

The former Play.com Product Buyer of SteelBooks.

All this time his identity has been kept secret. He gave the go-ahead to do this introduction and it's truly an honor / honour.

He's a hardcore collector now like many of you. And I may have had a lot to do with that.

Some things that he's responsible of making happen and credit to the HDN Staff as well. @digitalbabe @apsmith21

Winner of a 'SB Of The Year' award, the Terminator HDN voted inside art, an end to printed logos and rears, mandatory inside art, front & rear 'bossing, a few grail reprints saved and countless other industry firsts and disasters avoided.

He was one of the first and most active Product Buyers to work hand in hand with HDN for many things and it's been an absolute joy working with him throughout the years.

You all might know him as .... @zoneism

If you own any great Play Steels he had a lot to do with them and he's a Ninja for life!

 

[apsmith21]

I think a few people have rose tinted spectacles on when it comes to Play.com. They were the first company to really start milking the Steelbook cash cow and Zavvi just carried on where they left off.

Well to be absolutely fair, Paramount was pushing for a reuse of the Future Shop artwork for the play.com Iron Man and who would you guess had collectors in mind when he pushed for different art?

Just saying that there is a good reason for rose colored glasses, as a lot of thought and discussion was put into those early Play.com exclusives to bring something to the market that collectors could be interested in and proud of years down the line.

And as I remember, they had some pretty reasonable prices on their steelbook editions.

 

[Bobthesub]

Cheers for being part of quite a few of my favourite steel books! There have been a few good ones since play.coms glory days but when I look at the collection, many of my favourites are the play exclusives.

I don't want to steal zoneism's thunder here but while we are all making shock revelations, I might as well come out of the shadows and admit it.....




I'm the zavvi spine slasher

 

[digitalbabe]

haha @Bobthesub

 

[jono3000]

Thanks @zoneism for costing me so much money the last few years!

 

[snooloui]

Well to be absolutely fair, Paramount was pushing for a reuse of the Future Shop artwork for the play.com Iron Man and who would you guess had collectors in mind when he pushed for different art?

Just saying that there is a good reason for rose colored glasses, as a lot of thought and discussion was put into those early Play.com exclusives to bring something to the market that collectors could be interested in and proud of years down the line.

And as I remember, they had some pretty reasonable prices on their steelbook editions.

I agree. Play.com did a lot of great things for collectors. I own and cherish many of their exclusives but they did start a revolution where retailers and studios realised the potential profitability of Steelbooks for better or for worse.

 

[Deleted member 9789]

Zavvi just carried on where they left off.

I enjoyed being milked for under a tenner, though.

 

[ChrisIW]

Thanks for all your efforts @zoneism . The Predator exclusive from Play.com was my first steelbook and the one that got me into the hobby (and still one of my favourites).

PS - I'm sure "the Hunger Games spine saga" would never have happened under your watch

 

[Sigill]

I agree. Play.com did a lot of great things for collectors. I own and cherish many of their exclusives but they did start a revolution where retailers and studios realised the potential profitability of Steelbooks for better or for worse.

I don't think that was plays fault though. The majority of there releases were prices fairly. I remember several new releases at £10.99 and in general most titles were under £15. Unfortunatly the prices are being raised higher these days but I guess that was inevitable as the popularity of Steelbooks increased.

 

[Snollygoster]

@zoneism you are legendary! The best steelbooks to be released in the UK were from Play.com and at very reasonable prices compared to nowadays. Hats off to @zoneism

 

[Ask]

Awesome reveal and at the same time it makes complete sense - @zoneism you are such an essential presence here, it's no wonder you're actually a steelbook celebrity!! Thank you for everything you've done for the collecting community.

 

[mllNY]

@zoneism glad that you were able to bring us some really nice releases and advocated for this hobby

 

[Hartigan]

Legend for sure, and now I know why you like Asian releases so much

 

[blu78]

It's great that we've partnered with people who are involved in the retail and creation aspects of bringing us our awesome steelbooks! But, it's even better that these partnerships are with true collectors. Thanks for all your efforts @zoneism! Is it okay that I share this post with @zerox39 as well?

 

[zoneism]

This thread really is very humbling indeed. Thanks for all your kind comments.

To answer a few of the questions / points:

1. @dfoles @paulboland My favourite Play SteelBook is probably The Terminator. This was a true collaboration with the HDN team and was a result of much hard work to get the studio to agree to voted inside art, as well as securing WEA for a title which was being released in SteelBook format around the world at the same time. But there are loads of gems and The Raid was another proud accomplishment, especially when it got SB Of The Year!! Thanks to everyone who voted for that And Braveheart because @Wreck had lots of input in that one too The list goes on...

2. @justhedudeman Preventing the IM FS re-release was a very important moment in my opinion. I think that we all recognised it could hurt the hobby at that point in time and it was actually quite a crisis meeting we held to ensure we got different art. I know many will agree with that decision and others will wish it had been re-released, so I can only apologise if you were one of the latter and hope you can understand why we went down that route. You can blame @Wreck too! I reckon the Play IMs came out really nicely in the end so I have no regrets there.

3. @davhyl Yes, I have every Play exclusive. And in most cases I had to join the same queue as you guys to get them, even if I did have the advantage of knowing when to be at the front of the queue

4. @Ricker No, you didn't get me the job. But you did make it enjoyable buddy

5. @snooloui I wish I'd known we were supposed to make money on SteelBooks We weren't trying to start a revolution, but big things have happened / changed since then. Like you say mate, some for better and some for worse. Mostly for the better imo. Hopefully you agree.

I truly appreciate the recognition, but I'm a SteelBook collector first and foremost and want to be here with like-minded nutters. That's why I spend so much time on here. There are plenty of nutters here and I'm proud to be a part of it all.

 

[howiesteed]

Good to hear we had someone that cared about how steels look . Why can't we still have that .... didn't you have one of my mermaids @zoneism?

 

[zoneism]

Good to hear we had someone that cared about how steels look . Why can't we still have that .... didn't you have one of my mermaids @zoneism?

I did indeed get one of your mermaids mate. And what a beauty it is!!

 

[leelee17]

Play steels............ sadly missed!!

 

[C.C. 95]

Thanks for all the hard work and awesome steels @zoneism!

 

[snooloui]

@zoneism Are you still working in the industry? I can't help but notice that you are quite fond of Entertainment Store and often are the first to post about new releases.

 

[HUBMUSWELL]

Thanks @zoneism for your contributions to the world of Steelbook collecting

Sounds like a ref for a job? Hope you get it....And continue your knowledge and passion

Now, shall we "out" the Zavvi guys