How bad does FOMO grip you?

[Mad Ax]

I'm sure we've all been there - had an NIB on our bucket list, or put off buying that body, or decided not to do that event this year, only to find the model becomes discontinued, the body goes out of stock due to global economic factors and the event is cancelled due to low attendance or the land being sold off for housing development.  I have lost track of the number of projects I've had to abandon or modify because stuff was no longer available, and there's more than a few events that I always thought "yeah, one day" only to find they're no longer running.

But just recently, it seems to be hitting really hard.  I think I have some underlying anxiety about the longevity of anything - my health, my career, my disposable income, the habitability of the world, and I'm doing what I always do - reaching out to my hobby for some reassurance.  Except it isn't being reassuring.

Like this, for example:

A couple of weeks back I bought a used scaler chassis.  I don't really need another scaler, but it came with a full haul of high-quality electrics, gave me a transmission I need for a stalled project (stalled because I need a transmission), and was a good platform to put under my Land Cruiser body, which has been sitting temporarily on a CC01 chassis for years.

Of course, this means I now have a spare CC01 chassis.  I'm a big fan of CC01s and for a few years I've had the urge to take a Pajero Sport and see how capable it can be made as a scale Dakar racer.  So I hopped online to find a Pajero Sport body, only to find they're discontinued - not just the Tamiya one, but the Killerbody one too.  There was a time, not that long ago, when the full Pajero Sport kit was sitting unsold on hobby shop shelves everywhere, but it seems they disappeared overnight.  (I'm really glad now that I bought the Pajero Lowrider Black Special kit from my LHS back in January - that was long discontinued but he'd had it out the back for years).  So, my plans of making a rally raid Pajero to go on a trailer behind my street Pajero have been cancelled.

This shouldn't be a big deal - I've got loads of other projects on, and many more planned for the future, including a Toyota Prerunner rally raid project on a CC01, for which I already have the most important parts.  But hey, that means I could get a Toyota 4Runner body for the spare CC01, and make it a tow truck for the Prerunner.  Proline sell a 4Runner body, and it has the right suspension layout for the CC01.  Great!  Let's put that on the list for a future body.

But I can only find one 4Runner body in the UK right now.  Does that mean they're thin on the ground?  Discontinued?  Likely to be all gone by the time I'm ready to start the build?  Does that mean I should blow the cash right now on a body that I probably won't be painting for another year..?

Every time I do this the list of "projects to complete" just gets longer.  Already this month I've had a big haul of parts arrive for various projects that I have no intention of working on until October at the earliest.  Is this healthy?

We have a frequent debate at home about whether limitations negatively or positively impact the enjoyment of the creative process and/or its ultimate outcome.  When I was younger, I felt that to be truly creative, and to make the best creations, one needs complete freedom and the best possible tools, supplies and equipment.  These days, I tend to think the opposite.  Sure, if I had a warehouse full of multiples of every body, paint colour, option part and wheel set ever made, I could churn out all sorts of awesome-looking projects every week.  But would they really be my creations, or would I just be an assembler of parts?  Would I get the same joy?  Would I feel the same level of achievement?  With all that stuff available, I should be able to produce awesome cars.  So should I feel disappointed when someone with a box of styrene and a sanding block creates a Land Rover that looks more realistic than mine?  (I've previously detected some small level of chagrin from people who have poured tonnes of off-the-shelf parts into a scale build only to find someone's thousand-hour custom build looks better; similarly I have seen people be upset that the build they hand-crafted from the ground up loses in a concourse to someone who wrote a blank cheque in the Scale Accessories section).

So, I figured I would just let it go, remove the body from my cart and walk away.  If it's still available when I'm ready to start, great.  If not, who knows what other great ideas will come my way in the mean time?

In the mean time, I did a price check on the wheels and tyres I need to progress my F150 race truck.  Looks like they're back in stock in the UK now - for a while they were all out.  I won't be ready to work on this build until September at the earliest, and I won't need the wheels and tyres until the truck is almost finished, but hadn't I better buy those parts now, while they're in stock..?

Please share your stories of better-buy-now or FOMO anxiety so I know I'm not alone - or tell me about all those things you were going to do, only to have your plans ruined by lack of availability 

 

[JimBear]

Right there with you. The balance between anxiety-hoarding and "I'll figure it out whenever that fork in the road comes" is often there. I am at the moment, internally debating whether I should let go of the M-03 Mini (runner) since the M-03 chassis is gone, and any spare bodies go for gold, should I crash the one I have. Maybe it would be better to buy something that is still there (like M-05, but who knows? maybe that'll be gone in the near future too, given the MB-01)? And so on ...

As for the philosophical part on creativity, I tend towards that limitations are meaningful, since they urge you to go off where you haven't been yet.

[Badcrumble]

I have certainly had FOMO in my hobby time, felt that I ought to have one of those to feel 'part of the gang'. 

There has also been an irrational (?) fear that my good fortune would change and I'd need a stock of hobby gear to take me through some lean times.

My list of unbuilt kits is testament to that.  If I really needed them, I would have built and run them by now. As it is, I have more cars than I can handle.

I wound back my Tamiya involvement as a result and got into another hobby where the product marketing actually revolves around FOMO and limited production runs  

As a result, I have now have hobby excess in that hobby too! 

It has taught me a lesson to be more selective, not jump on the bandwagon, and I have learned to back away from the shopping cart, sales come round again.

Even the Fiat TCR1000 Abarth Shell I bought as 'rare' has come back with a new kit so I now have two!

I'm now back to dipping in to the RCs (part way through my M-08R build and have plans for the coming weeks) and my mini painting is giving me more discipline to finish a project before starting something else.  Let's see if I can transfer that discipline to my RCs...

[MadInventor]

FOMO doesn't bother me as I don't indulge in social media. I do have scratch built models that I used tamiya bits on I thought would be plentiful that are now very hard to get hold of and I wish I'd bought more spares for, high lift axles and TXT-1 wheels are the 2 main ones that spring to mind. 

With the creativity being impacted by parts availability, tools, etc, my personal experience is that having good tools does make a difference.  I was able to make the chassis rails for this

over the course of 2 days thanks to being able to accurately drill holes in it with the milling machine. Try to measure with a ruler and then mark holes with a centre punch and drill with a hand held drill would have taken a lot longer and the result would not have been as good

However I made this custom axle just using a dremel and a hand file.

So sometimes having great tools helps, sometimes not. Having the milling machine and the lathe has meant that I can be more creative, not having to rely on what I can find from manufacturers, the transfer case in the 8x8 is a custom job made by me, but again, it took about 3 weeks worth of spare time to make it.

 

 

 

[Willy iine]

@Mad Ax   I know the feeling.  With today's dynamic weather and economic /political climate there is nothing we can be sure of.  

I suppose if we did the best we could, then there is nothing further we need to think about..  

My pretendRCshop is a sanctuary for my RC needs.  It does include over compensated spare parts and bodies I may never use, but that is all part of enjoying this hobby for me.

[Mrowka]

Since my favorite helicopters are all long out of production, I have stockpiled parts enough to build many replacements. 

My great fear is that I will run out of one unobtainium part and be left with a bunch of helicopters and parts that I can't use,  all because some part can no longer be found and not so long ago, I could have bought all I wanted for $1.95 each.

[Kowalski86]

I've recently put myself into a similar situation.

I picked up some spare M-chassis body shells, then picked up a few M05s (that already have shells!) to throw them on, now I'm debating on buying a spare chassis just in case if they're canned once the MB-01 is released.

Otherwise, I'm not afraid of missing out on whatever's trending. If the "Joneses" had a race, I'd be lost in the woods somewhere. I look over at the BBX thread and complaints with their pre-order system and think "Why not just wait until it's out?".

As far as limitations go...as an artist, some of my favorite works are ultimately creations that were built from garbage, yet from garbage one could create "art". Limitations exercise the mind.

[skom25]

My problem is like above. I did not finish model but I have already whole second model in spares. Why? Because I am afraid, that I will break tiny element and part will be no longer available.

How it is in reality? Probably most of parts will never break and if it will happen, spares will be available because my models are on still popular chassis.

It makes me comfortable but from economic point of view, it is totally stupid.

 

[Sogogi]

For me FOMO is mainly for old chassis I have never tried. (Hence some purchase from japan auction). Once i try those (scratch my itch) and if it is something that i wouldnt enjoy, i move on.

But one exception is TA01/02 and grasshopper series. i really like them apart from modern onces (such as gf-01)

[svenb]

What's FOMO?

[Twinfan]

2 minutes ago, svenb said:

What's FOMO?

Fear Of Missing Out

[GToddC5]

3 minutes ago, svenb said:

What's FOMO?

Fear Of Missing Out - and yes, I have my own degree of it. For me, it's not knowing when kits will be discontinued before falling off Tower's inventory. There are several kits I want for my collection, but it's silly to not wait until they have a 4x points sale, for example. Now the stress is higher thanks to their current status. I also have a hard time deciding if a kit I want that's only available on the Bay is really worth the high price, but there's only so many people willing to unload their collection and prices won't get better. 

[Kpowell911]

Immensely. I was working on a job with no access to my phone and missed this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256164182454?hash=item3ba49339b6:g:1CMAAOSwGxtkx9T0&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4FSBw38PJUk0nekGZ0Jn24x%2B3kDrjQp6bWfyy3%2Bz8HB9S0WZ89ngKfQNfeWyE%2F7cFoSHnJSlXy4OFmcX0SLiINpq%2Fe3tNTXToz%2F009kymkLyUA%2BmfWIDdqgXecA5SHK68LLqNrX6HBkJnjtEhpnRoDtnABL4%2Fo0hTvI9MiWM%2Bbz8n90BRusWNJingouBdUd9TdpZ%2FTH9LiP0BabgRjbqNwoJb1tiVlzwcCpuozGTFAMr5ZXxp7ySSZMOLFSziiymvAXaEbjG97%2BP9Sam3yv7yIa3m%2BrXOHY5XaS3ymoSWbpa|tkp%3ABk9SR4CRs_27Yg

It was on my watch list at a higher price, an offer was sent out and I missed it. I’ve genuinely been in a bad mood for the past few days about it

[Sogogi]

Haha.. i missed $250 NIb cc-01 pajero  

[svenb]

It would seem I've been missing out on some of the latest trendy acronyms 

53 minutes ago, Twinfan said:

Fear Of Missing Out

 

[87lc2]

Doesn't bother me in the slightest to be honest.  I tend to hoard parts for race vehicles since I definitely don't want to be without those, but if there's something I have my eye on and it goes out of production or becomes scarce I just move on, it's a hobby and doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.  Sometimes Tamiya will be nice and re-release it or I'll find the car/part along the way and makes it that much sweeter when its available again and finally get it.  Also - you can always get what you want if you decide to pay for it...Case in point, always wanted a Big Wig and missed the re-release a couple years back but not bothered by it.  I could go and spend $$$ on one if I wanted to, but don't care that much.  Hopefully it will get released again which will be a nice little surprise.  if it happens great, if not oh well.

I think the real FOMO of RC is what most people don't even realize they are missing out on - using their toys.  if you're not regularly racing or at least using your RCs you really are missing out and don't even know it.  I like building as much as everyone else, but the real enjoyment is putting what you built to work. 

 

[Pylon80]

I think the marketing strategy of nearly every RC company in existence is entirely based on FOMO. Excuse the cynicism, but I believe this applies to Tamiya (pour a smallish sized production run on the market then stop; make another one a few years later out of the blue then stop again; re-release decades later and so on). I have also seen it with RC helicopters: you fall in love with a model then it goes out of production when there is absolutely nothing wrong with the design and everyone would love to keep flying them. And then RC planes: in the 90's you had to build them so FOMO did not apply, however over the past 20years or so they became cheap, ready to fly (or to crash...) gorgeous models that are only available for less than a year then disappear, never to be re-released again. So people "consume" them. You KNOW you must panic buy when something comes out if you are ever to put your hands on it. I think this is by and large dirty business

Over the years I have had to mature to that FOMO marketing strategy. So I try to tune-out social media (which I am obviously not doing completely since I am typing a reply on a forum right now :D). I avoid browsing online shops... which is difficult to do when I actually need something! And I avoid getting excited by anything new I see, unless I have finished everything I was currently working on.

Be strong!

[ChrisRx718]

3 hours ago, JimBear said:

I am at the moment, internally debating whether I should let go of the M-03 Mini (runner) since the M-03 chassis is gone, and any spare bodies go for gold, should I crash the one I have. Maybe it would be better to buy something that is still there (like M-05, but who knows? maybe that'll be gone in the near future too, given the MB-01)? And so on ...

How apt. I went down the same rabbit hole lately, I have an M-03R on the shelf which I was always planning to use. Sold my other M-03 years ago with a "beater" Racing Mini body (ha!). Had the same thought process as you - the M05 has been around for what, 10+ years now? Must be easy to find parts for a car park basher. 

Nope.

I've sourced bits from all over the world but now it's far from a "budget" build. I got the main plastics from Plaza Japan and a Clubman body from L&L, but I'm probably £200-in by now - so I'm fully committed and can't turn back either!

1 hour ago, svenb said:

It would seem I've been missing out on some of the latest trendy acronyms 

 

"FOMO" has been around longer than you! 

[Gebbly]

I tend not to suffer from FOMO too much, I try not to think about other models until I am ready to start building something new. Having said that I do sometimes simply miss out when I look for what I would like to do next only to find the thing I like the look of isn't available any more. For example...

A little while back I thought something that would be completely different and a big challenge was one of their tanks. After a load of reading I decided the Pershing was the one for me. Turns out its discontinued. There are some on ebay for silly money and some scammers too.

Recently decided a TT-02 would be a nice second build. Very different from my GF-01 but not too huge a leap. Narrowed it down to the standard TT-02 and maybe a couple of hop-ups and then after a lot of looking at pictures on tamiyabase of the various bodies I decided my favourite was the Ferrari 458 Challenge. Spent quite some time last night searching only to find the 458 was released in 2013 and is discontinued.

[Sogogi]

2 hours ago, ChrisRx718 said:

How apt. I went down the same rabbit hole lately, I have an M-03R on the shelf which I was always planning to use. Sold my other M-03 years ago with a "beater" Racing Mini body (ha!). Had the same thought process as you - the M05 has been around for what, 10+ years now? Must be easy to find parts for a car park basher. 

I recently snagged m03r recently which i plan to build and run. I think parts wise it is better than m01/2 (by no means it is easy to buy). For me if i get enjoyment out of cars, i am happy. 

[J@mes]

Tamiya capitalise on fomo & I was along for the ride for a while I stockpiled anything that was going…. Limited Editions, Anniversary Editions, discontinued this & that, back orders, pre-orders etc. etc.. Now I’ve still got 50% the collection left but minus the stuff I probably never would’ve built, like the 2x Watanabe Hornets for example.

 

 

[Saito2]

I had to look up what FOMO meant too. Yes, I think I was caught up in this a one point.

What I noticed on this forum over the years is a change in content. At one time it was a place of knowledge about old, long dead models. It was about tales of discovering an old model and painstakingly restoring it to its former glory. It was about what people did, not what they owned. Personally, I almost feel guilty/embarrassed about the size of my collection and if I do post a pic, its usually as a warning. I guess the re-releases began to change that, though not at first.

Now, its more a about acquiring. Look what I have. Look what I bought. I got all the toys, I won, etc. All that plays into this FOMO business that the RC manufacturers capitalize on and it $ucks.

It began to crystalize around the Optima Mid's re-re. Somehow I got passed over at Tower and didn't get my pre-order fulfilled until months after everybody else got theirs, even those that ordered after me. When the car finally showed up, it sat until I joylessly assembled it out of duty. It clicked with me that I'd been swept up in all this build-up and it wasn't fun anymore so I pretty much stopped buying kits at that point. If RC manufactures want to play the hype game, let them. I don't have to play.

Its a hard habit to break, being gradually tricked into this mindset. The BBX reeled me back in and I pre-ordered it, partly because I was so happy Tamiya seemed to listen to what we'd been asking for. Delay after delay became frustrating and when I realized that, I cancelled the pre-order. Now, after many many months of further delays (plus watching "Youtubers", don't get me started, happily playing with theirs) I've never been so relieved that I stepped off the hype train. I feel bad for those still caught up in this, frankly, botched, product launch from Tamiya (feel free to theorize on their motives or make excuses for them, I don't have a horse in the race anymore), but its great to be free of it.

This recent JJ '87 Worlds Ultima has been harder to turn down, as I love the story of that car and the Worlds upset that year. Still, I watched the hype train spool up and folks scrambling for pre-orders and said "no thanks." All the cool legit tribute builds put together lovingly over the years, tracking down those parts and now anybody with money to burn and a quick trigger finger on the pre-order button can have one. Eh, not for me. Besides, I can literally feed my family for a month for the cost of that buggy. I certainly don't trust Tower not the somehow screw this up like they did the BBX or Kyosho with their flaky trickling out of kits to pull this off without frustration (almost makes Traxxas, with their constant stream of replacement parts look like good-guys and that's kinda gross). The hobby's supposed to be about fun not panic of acquisition, or look at all the stuff I can buy.

I know that all sounds a bit bitter, but its more just lament on my part at the changing trends. I'll be darned if I'm going to by 3 of one kit and stockpile it because who knows when it will appear again, if ever, even if its just for spares. I've got my core Tamiya runners, like Clods and Blackfoots that they seem to keep in production so I can get replacement parts for. Its much more fun at this point to create and resurrect than to buy the newest thing.  

 

[bRIBEGuy]

I find for myself, FOMO is almost certainly linked to my mental state.  When I am happy, healthy, and generally doing well, I find that I don't get too caught up in online trends, don't fuss too much about what comes and goes in the hobby, and am generally pretty happy to just do my own thing and tinker with the toys I have.  That being said, when I do go down the FOMO rabbit holes, it seems to be when things aren't as peachy.  It seems I'm looking for some "other" way to improve my life, and it seems that is often to "improve" my projects, or to "improve" my collection.  I don't think I'm generally too bad with parts... I stock pile those with actual intent and purpose... but I've certainly spent good money on a lot of kits and cars just because it seemed like a good deal that I didn't want to miss, or because I was worried I wouldn't have another chance for that model.

Social media is a dangerous double edged sword that can inspire and motivate me to do better, or just beat me down leaving me feeling lowly and unsatisfied with what I have and what i can do.  As @Saito2 pointed out, this forum in a way had become similar.  Less restorations, less build threads, less creativity (obviously these are somewhat overgeneralized statements here...)... and more and more "Look what I bought" posts, and even worse, links to (likely monetized, or hope-to-become-monitized) off-site social media content. 

I miss the video's people used to post because they were running a project that they passionately built and detailed that with documentation on this site..... now it feels like threads are becoming more of a shill as everyone tries to cash in on becoming an influencer.  That bums me out... which in turn drops my happiness and makes me start searching for the next thing to make me smile.  Maybe I should grab a BBX while they're still available?

[Badcrumble]

I get where you are coming from @bRIBEGuy, when I started the hobby, Real Life had thrown a curve ball and it was a welcome distraction. The dopamine hit from a purchase helped too - still does, if I'm not careful!

I have found running one of my early buys, the Dual Hunter, puts things in perspective - it always puts a smile on our faces. 

New kit purchases are more selective now - what will be an interesting build, like the M-08R or the MB-01.

[Mad Ax]

Wow, some great responses on this thread!  Seems a few people mention the hype on social media / keeping up with the Joneses.  I guess I can be thankful I don't get that much - I think I did when I first joined here, I had 1 car and it seemed everybody had hundreds, I felt that I really had to have more in order to fit in.  I bought a lot of stuff because I felt like I had to have it - and back then I was in debt and didn't have much disposable, so it was really hard to amass that collection.  It took me a while to realise a lot of what I had was bought on to fit in, not because I really wanted it, so I let a lot of stuff go.  Now my collection is still big, but it doesn't hurt me financially, and it only includes stuff I'm genuinely interested in.

I was excited when the BBX came out, but at the same time, I knew the pricetag would make it a considered purchase, not a must-have.  I'm not saying never, I'm not saying no, I'm just saying, maybe one day, if I want to go down that route.  But after asking Tamiya for it for years, I feel now I'm more inclined to make my own take on it.  Unless someone starts a race series for them, in which case I probably have to jump in - I don't want to miss out on that! 

19 hours ago, 87lc2 said:

I think the real FOMO of RC is what most people don't even realize they are missing out on - using their toys.  if you're not regularly racing or at least using your RCs you really are missing out and don't even know it.  I like building as much as everyone else, but the real enjoyment is putting what you built to work. 

This is where I struggle.  This year was good because I raced my custom Hotshot and SRB at the Revival, but class regs and competitive racing make that hard.  It's why I've always loved the idea of Monster Truck racing, and why I initially disliked the LMT for moving the game from "build-race-modify-repeat" to "buy-race-win" - but since nobody here is doing MT racing at all, the point is moot.

Most of what I custom build never turns a wheel competitively.  Much of it never turns a wheel beyond a test-drive on the lane, to be honest.  My garden is too small for big stuff and too rough for small stuff, but there's not much joy in hauling my cars out to the countryside to drive alone, and there's nobody around who wants to come out and play with me.  The Tamiyaclub bash meets of 15 years ago are long gone.  The closest I get to running my custom builds is at the Tamiya Junkies meets, but when I say close, it's 400 miles, 8 hours behind the wheel, £140 in fuel and probably £80 on a hotel and food unless I want to red-eye it.

It's one reason why I love the scale crawler scene - it really doesn't matter if you turn up on the trails with a budget RTR on stock tyres, a full custom-built rig with 100Kg winches and a scratch-built body, or a top-end Traxxas that's had the entire Proline, Fastrax and RC4WD scale accessories catalog glued to it, it's all about having a good time and it's about trucks-against-world, not driver-against-driver.  If I can get over an obstacle and the truck behind can't, I'll offer them a tow.

14 hours ago, bRIBEGuy said:

I miss the video's people used to post because they were running a project that they passionately built and detailed that with documentation on this site..... now it feels like threads are becoming more of a shill as everyone tries to cash in on becoming an influencer.  That bums me out...

Interesting point there.  I've been thinking on-and-off for the last 3 years about changing my build threads to Youtube videos.  There's a lot of RC youtube channels out there but nobody really doing what I do.  But then, I was worried about it feeling more like a job than a hobby, and having to spend my entire time either behind a camera or in front of an editing suite.  I hadn't considered the negative impact of people thinking I'm only doing it for exposure or money (I'm not really sure Youtube monetization is as lucrative as it once was anyway).  Food for thought, thanks