submitted 2 months ago by Crikeste@lemm.ee to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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So, I just read 2 paragraphs of theory and it’s got me wondering: is collecting Hot Wheels cars antithetical to Marxism?

It would seem that, after my reading, while saving my money ultimately removes all humanity from myself, spending my money (especially in such a manipulative and exclusivity-focused market) is also enabling the very worst of the capitalist forces I aim to stand against.

How do I win? Also: Vroooooooooooom

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[-] comrade_pibb@hexbear.net 23 points 2 months ago

sorry sweaty, "liking" things is fascist

[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 18 points 2 months ago

OP isn't a hexbear user. I can't write paragraphs of sarcastic vitrol about how Hot Wheels' customers are lumpenproletariat scum

sicko-wistful

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

lmao I’m newish to Lemmy and am still figuring out instances and the fediverse and shit. So I guess I got questions: What is hexbear? Can I use it on mobile? And do I need a new account to use it?

[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 8 points 2 months ago

Sorry to come off as mean in the last comment. We all sorta know each other's vibe here and can be a be a bit sarcastic. But with newbies it just comes off as flat cruel.

Hexbear.net is our instance. We're the non-specific socialist, queer friendly, dirtbag leftist instance. Full disclosure: most of us live in the West, but we all hate Western military aggression and capitalism. Anyone from Reddit who's not already a leftist (socialist, communist, or anarchist) basically hates us. Our community really knows each other and we look out for each other in this capitalist hellscape. You might notice that we have movie and gaming nights.

Nearly all of us just use a browser on mobile, preferably Firefox, but honestly any browser works. Jerboa for Android does work for Hexbear, but you're missing all the cool emojis when you use the app like meow-knife-trans

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

Oh, no worry! I understood it was just jokin’ around. Thanks for all that info though. I’ll have to check out the website on my desktop. I thought I’d mention though, I use an app call Voyager on iOS, and I’m able to see all the cool emotes. Or at least, some appear. Like the ones you used in your comments, I could see them.

I also find the camaraderie really heartwarming. I’ve considered my slide left to be a humiliation fetish because of how much push back I receive in nearly every facet of my life. Even here (lemmy in general) I get called a tankie for defending Palestine lmao. It’s just refreshing to find a place where people are as pissed off as I am. ❤️

[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 3 points 2 months ago

I feel like everyone here makes the move to the left simply due to how terrible the right and centre act. I have a billion stories on liberals in my life acting like sociopaths and I'm sure you do too.

The Palestine issue has gotta be the number one shame of the West right now. To be a Westerner and not actively doing something about Gaza has real middle class 1939 German living my life vibes.

[-] trashxeos@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Eternity app displays the emoji, though I haven't been able to figure out how to use them yet, not sure if the emojis federate.

[-] D61@hexbear.net 3 points 2 months ago

next.hexbear.net is probably the best way to view hexbear.net, there's some issue with not being able to move to another page when using some mobile browsers with the vanilla hexbear.net

Don't need an account if you're from an instance that hasn't defederated from us.

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

Thanks, I’ll give it a shot! I’ve been using Voyager on iOS and it’s all I’ve really experienced Lemmy on, so I’m sure there are things I’m missing that I don’t even know exist lol

[-] Wheaties@hexbear.net 18 points 2 months ago

having a hobby is not antithetical behavior

neither is saving money

do what you gotta do

[-] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Under communism, everyone will be issued a Twin Mill, a Deora II, a Bone Shaker, a Power Pipes, and a Splittin' Image.

Original designs are the only good hot wheels, the ones that are just real cars are bourgeois. I'm sorry.

[-] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 15 points 2 months ago

In a true Marxist society everyone can have a full collection of hot wheels if they want one

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

Does Marxism have a mechanism to deal with scalpers?

[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 11 points 2 months ago

Give everyone jobs so no one has to turn to crime to survive.

[-] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 5 points 2 months ago

That’s a bit simplistic. Scalping isn’t a crime depending on what’s being sold, and just because I have a job doesn’t mean I care about other people and don’t want more money selling them something I know they desperately want.

[-] RNAi@hexbear.net 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

But what if they want to be gay and do crime?, calling them ultras won't stop them

[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 6 points 2 months ago

Calling people ultras is the highest form of Marxism

[-] RNAi@hexbear.net 10 points 2 months ago

Dialectical Gulags

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

I was think’ guillotines lol

[-] Southloop@hexbear.net 13 points 2 months ago

Only if you’re one of those guys on YouTube with the channels that are downhill Hot Wheel racing series involving crafted storylines and intricately built miniature villages.

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

I follow one of those channels and I’ve wanted to build a track ever since I subscribed! lmao I have a little music/curio room that would be so cool to build a track in

[-] Southloop@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago

That’s the spirit! Be ambitious! Everybody's always going on with “Train set! Train set!” Fuck that! I want a functioning miniature spaceport! Mixed civil and military use at that!

[-] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 12 points 2 months ago

When the revolution comes, all Hotwheels owners will be forced to turn their toys into Gaslands play pieces for re-use in re-educating Games Workshop paypigs.

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Bro what and the hell is this? Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that in fact a car racing board game? That is AWESOME

[-] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 3 points 2 months ago

It's a tabletop wargame with different scenarios, including a death race a la Twisted Metal. Gaslands takes place in a Mad Max style future where players convert and paint old Hotwheels and Matchbox cars into post-apocalyptic war machines. Some examples I pulled from Google:

The original pic I posted was someone's table they built for playing the game. Personally, I don't play it but I know it's a good game to get wargamers into because it gets them used to things like scratch building, model agnostic rules, and away from Games Workshop products.

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Bro this is such a cool hobby, thanks for introducing me to it. I actually build Gundam models, and I feel like using parts from those kits would be perfect for game pieces.

Damn. Just another thing I’ll probably start spending waaayyyy too much time and money on…. My favorite! lmao

[-] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 3 points 2 months ago

Oh if you're into gunpla you already have everything you need lol. Use leftover sprues to make weapons and whatnot.

[-] tombruzzo@hexbear.net 10 points 2 months ago

I've been thinking about Hot Wheels from the production side recently.

All the cars have copyright on the underside of the year they were designed. I have one I bought brand new that goes back to 1986.

You could design a car for Hot Wheels and they can keep selling it as is for 40 years. Do you see any return on that for yourself?

Also, you'd think their biggest competitor is Matchbox, but they're both owned by Mattel

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Any return on it for myself? That’s an interesting question. I guess from a consumer stand point, it can have variability and also an aspect of favoritism. I think that the models copyrighted that long ago have also had dies redone and the quality and detail nudged up a bit to meet the ‘current standards’.

As for Mattel owning Matchbox, they bought it in the 90s and it’s pretty odd it wasn’t blocked by antitrust. But as it stands now, they don’t try to pit them as competing products per se. For instance, at Mattel Creations, both brands are featured in their own ‘individualized’ manner. Hot Wheels products and Matchbox are pretty distinct from each other, at least to a collector.

Fun weird note about Matchbox: Their newer cars made in Thailand have a little elephant symbol on the bottom. People think it represents their democracy(lol) and the honor of the laborers who build them. 🦾

[-] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Marxism is a set of tools to view and analyze different aspects of life. Doesn’t have much to do with you personally collecting things, unless it’s seduction of each other’s wives, then you are bourgeois.

Generally speaking, your relation to production - both objectively (how you acquired that money) and subjectively (your relative/social relation, e.g., are you an actor who sells your labor but have tens of millions of dollars or a software engineer who makes 6 figures and have dinner with the CEO) - and how you interact with society within these relations are more important to determine if your personality, goals, and actions are aligned with capitalists or not.

You’re not gonna find anyone who doesn’t save money unless they live paycheck to paycheck, a trust fund kid, or unnecessarily make poor financial decisions. If you do shit like FIRE or day trade and sit by your computer all day staring at screens trying to become a millionaire or investing dogecoin or flipping housing - i.e, if your entire waking hour or your only goal is saving money, you have indeed lost your humanity. If you set a budget for different categories, you will find yourself enjoying your hobbies while using your money to contribute to other things such as aid, relationships, education, going go bars, etc. which will make you less isolated from humanity.