Have you ever "Quit" collecting Steelbooks?

Wreck

Is Here To Serve
Staff Member
Jan 26, 2009
32,986
USA
I thought this might be a slightly different and interesting topic.

Ever so often I see people quit, and some come back etc.

So have you ever "Quit" collecting steelbooks only to start later on?

For those who are reading who have quit entirely, what made it easier for you? Just stopping, selling some, all etc?



Me personally, I started like gangbusters but then toned it down to great degree to where I'm able to collect moderately :)

So yeah, I have no plans of quitting ... this is just a unique (me thinks) topic for our community. :p
 
I think my steelbook journey is similar to many. I stumbled on them by accident and by the time I knew what they really were I had Drive, Thor and Cowboys and Aliens (All HMV) which I then started adding to. At first I wanted everything and anything in steel but then took a step back and just started collecting tings that "fit" the titles I have and go nice in a set. I wouldn't say I had quit but definitely cut down!
 
I posted in this thread over 9 years ago, crazy. I still collect blu ray/4k steelbooks, amarays etc. I took up poster collecting about three years ago but mainly just gig/music posters for bands I like.
 
I have semi-quit twice. This year due to personal circumstance I have massively thinned the collection and I am being very selective going forward. No matter how hard you try, if you once loved the steel, there will always be that one release to pull you back in when you think you're escaping it's clutches! I am mainly collecting 4k amaray's with slips now but I think I will always dabble a little with that love for a gorgeous steelbook!
 
I have went from about 2000 steelbooks as I was a fanatic buying them for sometimes just the artwork and also multiple releases of the same title to .......... 23 Kept the ones I really liked and sold the rest. Every now and then I still buy one but the last one was Evil dead 2 4K Zavvi. Think main reason was starting a family and generally not having enough space. Glad I was there in the early grail days but the ammount of re releases of nearly every other title killed the love for me. Happy memorys though.
 
I quit in 2018, now the only steelbooks I buy are Marvel ones. It was the conversion to 4K that killed it for me. I realized I was more interested in 4K PQ than having thousands of easily-damaged steelbooks that I was going to replace anyways.
 
I quit in 2018, now the only steelbooks I buy are Marvel ones. It was the conversion to 4K that killed it for me. I realized I was more interested in 4K PQ than having thousands of easily-damaged steelbooks that I was going to replace anyways.

Exactly this @JCC I was just slower on the uptake haha. I was all about the steel/artwork and it was making me forget the whole point from the start, the film was the first love and it was high time that became the focus again, thanks to 4K.
 
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With more than one mouth to feed, I only buy films I really really want and thats still artwork dependent. If the arts bad I'll just get the standard version. I still buy Marvel/DC premium editions from Asia and the odd other slipped versions they do but I'm lucky if I buy one every 2 months or so now

The first few years were a lot of fun, but the same joy in receiving one isn't there anymore. the market is saturated with poor steels and now they want everyone to buy a 4K version too, when I can just buy a 4K for the better art I have. With 8K just around the corner they'll do the same again with more poor art and finishes

:naughty:
 
Yeah i basically quit 3 years ago, last steelbook i bought was in 2017. It just took too much money away... I still love steelbooks and premiums and a part of me wishes i could buy everything. I still lurk here quite often to be honest and i haven't sold my collection but unless its a movie that really made an impression on me, i'm not spending my money on them anymore and even then the artwork and package have to really please me these days. For example, Parasite was one of my favorite films of the last decade but i ended up not buying any edition because no premium was released and the 2 artworks available didn't really do it for me. Im still actively looking for one particular title i missed out on though...

But maaaaan i do miss the good old days of receiving packages every week and the excitement it brought.... :smuggrin:
 
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Well, i havent bought any for a very long time. That may be because there isnt any movies worth buying for me right now.
And the biggest source of steels, Zavvi, costs more that it tastes when you have to pay 10-15 bucks for import nowdays. So thats completely off the table.
 
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Yeah i basically quit 3 years ago, last steelbook i bought was in 2017. It just took too much money away... I still love steelbooks and premiums and a part of me wishes i could buy everything. I still lurk here quite often to be honest and i haven't sold my collection but unless its a movie that really made an impression on me, i'm not spending my money on them anymore and even then the artwork and package have to really please me these days. For example, Parasite was one of my favorite films of the last decade but i ended up not buying any edition because no premium was released and the 2 artworks available didn't really do it for me. Im still actively looking for one particular title i missed out on though...

But maaaaan i do miss the good old days of receiving packages every week and the excitement it brought.... :smuggrin:
Yeah man. The package arriving is kind of like Christmas day for me. Especially if it hasn't been bent in half like my Color of Money was. Fortunately Zavvi took care of that situation wicked fast.

I had gotten to the point where I wouldn't even buy anything other than a steel, and let many amray releases pass me by hoping for an eventual steel. But releases like the Force 10 From Navarone set, which is awesome if I say so myself, have gotten me to switch it up. Like you, I get pumped up and excited big time when I see the package has arrived.

Like I said previously, I'm not hog wild about grabbing every steel under the sun anymore. I almost hope, when I hear of one showing up, that it's pop art so I can easily pass on it. Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Stripes, and countless others. Love the movies. Hated the steels.

That said, when something like 3 Days of the Condor shows up I just have to have it. If not only because I'm pretty certain it won't be rehashed and revisited countless times over like Marvel.
 
Question for the staff members, in the past 11 years has their been an uptick in traffic, downturn or just steady of ninjas? Just curious on your thoughts for how the Steelbook society is doing.
People leave, but new people come in ... we used to be busier, but we also used to only have literally 2 other forums to basically compete with in regards to just where 90% of steelbook community collectors spent their time. Now there is just so many places , its more spread out, facebook groups, other social media has came to the forefront within the last 11 years. IG, twitter, snap etc.

That in and of itself has its pros and cons for the SB community at large. There really isnt much innovation compared to other collectible hobbies etc. But being spread out also really weakened our voice. While we may still have some power to sway, I think more of it just happens organically via feedback at large ... where as in the past I could create a poll or topic and get a lot of engagement to the point that I could then use that to force changes. I don't bother with it much anymore as we're all so spread out.

I was able to get big corporate companies to change packaging, get inside art, vote on inside art, get quotes on backs of movies, get them to work on addressing spine slashes, all sorts of things, Not the same anymore in that front.

In some ways I kinda wish steelbook had more competiton, which would force more innovation or business models (rarity etc) that perhaps might have a ripple effect into other areas as well.

Our engagement , post count , thread creation, is the same as it was last year ... but it was more active many years ago , but like I mentioned, things are more spread out now ... which in hindsight hasn't allowed the good actors to be able to push for change, innovate themselves as much. Things are now more of a marathon, some technical innovation was more afforded at a "sprint" way back when.
 
@Wreck did you help to change the art on the sixth sense back then, I remember there was a particular art coming up for that release but there was so many folks mad that in the end they changed it.....