I am starting this thread with just one experience, but figured that others could post up any experiences they have had. This is one of those things that doesn't really go in a feedback thread, but is deserving of a shout out so everyone can see what an awesome group we have here. I am just going to post this one about our very own commander Clint for now.

A few weeks or maybe less ago I found a collection of figures on a craigslist up in Toronto Canada. Knowing that craigslist sellers can sometimes be less than truthful I asked for help from a Canadian friend who was close (or I thought was close) to the location. Even though Clint lives over an hours drive away he agreed to help me out. He found the same listing on kijiji (a Canadian form of craigslist kind of) and contacted the seller. Clint made all the arrangements and took time out of his busy day to help me out. He has taken the time to get these figures in hand and now is forwarding them on to me and did all of this without asking for a thing. I have always had awesome friends here on TIG and this just confirms what a great bunch we have around here. Just wanted to say thanks to Clint publicly here for all the help he has given me.

If anyone else has others they want to acknowledge this thread is open for anybody.

Thanks Bryan

I'm just glad everything worked out and that I could help.

Great topic Bryan sometimes we get so wrapped up with life and all the bad in the world we forget about all the people that help out to make our lives just that more special and without expecting anything in return, a sign of true friends in my opinion.

For me I have also had help with getting Items from others here, Clint being one who picked me up a BSG vehicle that I found on Kijiji he went and checked it out and got it for me along with a box for another one I had that we didn't know the seller also had.

I also want to thank a few other for helping me pick up items that sellers wouldn't send to Canada, James, Chris, Alex hope I didn't miss anyone.

I also had the pleasure of all the help you all showed me and my wife which I will never forget I have John to totally thank for that as he started the whole thing and of course all of you who helped in every way from just listening and offering encouragement like I said you are all more then friends to me your family.

Clint is a true gentleman and a true friend

I can proudly say that about everyone that has posted here so far though , as well as many other guys here at TIG

Moving this to the main section (OT section doesn't do it justice)

Clint gets another kudo from me, he sent a nice lot of custom figures that TIG used as a fundraiser. Covered operating costs for over a year. Not shocking he's gettting "outed" in a good way.

I'll also say we have a consistent group of generous people. I'm always proud when we raise money for a cause and it's amazing the generosity that I see. What impresses me most is that it's done with little fanfare. Nobody beating their chest or doing a "look how much I donated"

ourchickenshack wrote:

Clint is a true gentleman and a true friend

I can proudly say that about everyone that has posted here so far though , as well as many other guys here at TIG

Too bad the same can't be said for you James.......just kidding   Your my next up in this thread.  The intent I had behind starting this was to shout out to guys that maybe deserve a shout out but not quite something to put in their respective feedback threads as they didn't do it for monetary reasons.  The chicken shack owner James certainly deserves to be in this thread for that.  James has helped me out plenty by letting me know when he has something may fall into my weird focus/side foci.  He has sent me a few paint stripped c3pos that are multi plastic colors (kind of a side quest of mine), and believe me he has listened to me rant and gripe about some things that I need to get off my chest.  

I recently learned of another side of James as well.  I won't share all of the intimate details of the story in case James doesn't want me to.  The basics of it are an elderly woman who was James's neighbor was beginning to go downhill.  She got where she could not drive and could not keep her house up.  James and his wife selflessly took this woman on as their own family.  Taking her shopping and keeping her yard work and flower beds done.  Any little work around her house.  They were her family (at least the family that cared).  I will leave it to James if he desires to fill in on some of the rest of the details as it's not my place.  

By the way John.  Thanks for moving this.  I saw it wasn't in the off topic and thought "why would that get deleted". Glad to see it wasn't.  I won't go for a comment a day in here, but I have a few more that I will share over time.  In the meantime it is up to everyone if they want to share their story of friendship here in TIG.

Dang it Bryan - people aren't supposed to know that stuff about me

I have a image to keep up and most people just think I push old folks down stairs

Bryan summed up the situation pretty well but I would like to add that I really give all the credit to my wife

Julie is a State Ombudsman - her job is to go around to all the nursing homes in NW Oklahoma and make sure that Elderly residents are being treated well and have all their rights as human beings met . Anytime there is any sort of problem she brings a whole world of hurt down on the offending parties

When Julie noticed our elderly neighbor having problems she immediately sprang in to action to help (not for her job but just because she cares) . I did pitch in to help of course but my wife had to stop me from pushing our neighbor down the stairs a couple times

We took care of her for about 5 or 6 years but unfortunately she passed away about 6 mths ago .

Which brings me to why I told Bryan about this story to begin with . As some of you might have noticed I have not been as active lately here . It isn't because I don't want to be but I really haven't had much spare time . After Mary (our next door neighbor) passed away we found out that she had left us her house in her will . It came as a real shock to us but we are very grateful . She had never married and had no children and was not close with any of the rest of her family so I guess she decided we were the "Family" she wanted to have her house .

This is where a great deal of my time is being spent - I am giving the house a pretty serious remodeling job and we hope to be able to rent it soon and help us out with a little extra income

I am not a guy who likes to share my nice side with very many people , but , since Bryan let the cat out of the bag (or the old lady out of the cellar) I thought I would explain it a little better

ourchickenshack wrote:

Dang it Bryan - people aren't supposed to know that stuff about me
.................
since Bryan let the cat out of the bag (or the old lady out of the cellar) I thought I would explain it a little better

Sorry man, I keep secrets pretty well, but this was to good to keep to myself. Everybody needs to know what a pansy.....ummm I mean awesome guy you are.

On a serious note James did tell me this story related to something else we discussed and I did not ask for permission so James I am sorry if I outed something you didn't want public.  I don't usually do that, but like I told James when I first learned of this, he should be proud that he and his wife showed kindness and compassionate sides to this neighbor when most in this world are so busy they wouldn't have even noticed this little old lady in the first place.

Clint is a dude  he sent me some cool gifts and a very nice greeting card which is magged on my fridge.

Over the years I've seen some truly amazing acts of generosity and friendship shown by both ex members and current members of this site.
On a personal level I'll never forget the kindness shown to me when I lost a close family member a few years back.

From fundraisers to donations to giveaways to gifts to secret santas to prize competitions... there's a lot of good spirit here

@James - well done you and Julie helping your neighbour and giving her some comfort and friendship in her last years.
Good job you never pushed her down the stairs in the end or she'd never have left you that house LOL  
Now, if you rent it out make sure your tenants are not the nervous types and are fully expecting the full-on Halloween horror treatment each year  
Better get em to sign some clause in the contract

great thread and words throughout ............. I have to say this is by far my favorite forum for both attitudes and variant knowledge.

heres some stuff that has been done for me since ive been a member for 3 and a half months.

First off orangpendek (dieter) sent me a correct jawa for my correct vc jawa cape and wouldn't hear of me paying him even shipping from a foreign country... unheard of kindness in my eyes .... just totally touched by this still!!!

secondly Bryan (trappedtexan) has gone out of his way to letme know when things come up for my POCH OBSESSION.....ALMOST DAILY , thanks bro

Walkie (Stefan) has unloaded many rarities to me and been very kind to even work some pricing deals also . he also answers my many questions about all the things im curious about with paint schemes and such ...................

this site seems to truly welcome its new members and I feel very welcome to be here.........

I am in no way shape or form a new collector as ive been collecting on and off for over 25 years but I have to say ive learned more in the 3 months ive been here in all my yrs of collecting .... YOU GUYS RULE thanks for being cool to a newbie . this site has become part of my day every day like my morning up of coffee or my kiss from the wife at night before bed ,,, thanks for everything so far

Bill

From my own experiences, Clint and James are two true gentlemen.

Very nice of you Bryan, to put them in the spotlight.

Cheers,
Marco

Dr Dengar wrote:

From my own experiences, Clint and James are two true gentlemen.

Totally agree Marco, two of the very best

hellhippie wrote:

......  I have to say this is by far my favorite forum for both attitudes and variant knowledge...........

this site seems to truly welcome its new members and I feel very welcome to be here.........

YOU GUYS RULE thanks for being cool to a newbie .

Honestly Bill, I have seen new guys get torn on every forum I am a member of. It happens less here, but we have an understanding here that everyone is welcome.....so we try.

A lot of the times when you see a new guy getting thrashed it is all about attitude. If you want respect, you have to give it. You being a long time collector did not come in and act like you knew it all or come to us with an elitist attitude. You came eager to learn and we (the entire board) are eager to help you learn and learn some stuff ourselves. If every new guy came with that attitude (like most that come here) they would fit right in like you have.

True Dat Bryan

I don't even participate in other forums because there is too much member bashing

All new folks are welcome here but , as you said , we expect to be treated the way any person wants to be treated Respect = Respect

Bill , besides being a downright cool dude , you also contribute photo's , show us your wares and take part in conversations - it is a lot easier to get to know new people and want to welcome them into the "Family" when they participate

Great thread, great read... Thanks for sharing. Well done fellas

I love reading threads like this when it seems like so many places are full of scammers and jerks. Well done.

This next guy is not around here anymore, but he damn sure deserves a huge shout out. Lee_m or to most of us just Lee. I am still in email contact with Lee on occasion and he is collecting other toy lines but still goes for some of the Star Wars variants on occasion. Lee is actually the guy who talked me into joining TIG in the first place. I was brand new on rebelscum just having joined the online collecting community and Lee posted up a sale thread with a top toys stormie that I had to have. I contacted him and said I was new and asked if he was cool selling to me. He was and a friendship was made. Lee has alerted me to sales of variants at great prices, talked me through all kinds of collecting questions, and just showed me a hell of a lot of kindness. Lee told me about this great little site called the imperial gunnery and told me to join up over here and the rest is history. (For those that don't like me here, well Lee is to blame so go get him). Lee is probably one of the most knowledgable variant guys I know and even though I haven't seen his whole collection, the few pics I have seen nearly made me cry. That guy has every freaking figure around (just about).

I owe Lee a huge thanks for his help, friendship, and just being an all around great guy.

Although I didn't have the pleasure of getting to know him better he did have some great items and was very knowlegable on things hope to see him pop in from time to time.

I've asked Lee M many many noob variant questions, he was always happy to help
Top bloke who also has one of the best loose variant collections around

trappedtexan wrote:

 (For those that don't like me here, well Lee is to blame so go get him) 

hue are they Brayan    lets .... them (j/k)

TIG is a Gentlemans house so a big Thanks to all making this happing to new and old members .

Nico wrote:

I've asked Lee M many many noob variant questions, he was always happy to help
Top bloke who also has one of the best loose variant collections around

Lee is always awesome and patient with the newbs. I was explaining about some variant one time, I don't even remember which one, and I must have typed probably a page and a half email with various crap and sidetracks and all sorts. Lee's response was something along the lines of "yeah it's a common euro one" or something like that. Short and to the point. Looking back on it now I think he probably was thinking "man this guy is touched in the head or something" but he never said anything. He still makes time to answer questions and catch up when I shoot emails to him.

That is one thing these guys are all good at, no matter if they think you was dropped on your head as a kid or not like me lol. When I first joined I had lots of stupid questions hell I still do . I never knew there was so much to learn about SW collecting when I was a kid it was Kenner when I got back into collecting then I found out how many different lines there were among other things. Without places and people like there are here one would be lost or led down the dark path by scum looking for a fast sale because you have no clue about what your looking at.

I figure it has been a bit and I should "out" another great Tigger here. I could probably say anyone, but this guy comes to the forefront as someone who has helped me out numerous times. The next person is our very own self proclaimed doctor Marco. Good old Dr Dengar for those who don't know his username.

Marco not only helped increase my ledy knowledge with his superb Ledy guide-thread and discussion stuff, but when I received a very odd mixed up yoda that I was sure was ledy Marco helped me to confirm and pics of it sit in the ledy thread somewhere. Marco goes above and beyond to be a great guy to answer emails and questions and even though he stepped down from his position here, he still is very good about getting back to people when they ask him something and contributing around here as a great member. I have never seen Marco's full collection, but I am sure it would put mine and others to shame, but he still posts in threads like the recent acquisitions thread and limelights making people feel like they just got the golden ticket to the wonka factory. This guy is a class act and for those who are new around here, well just take my word for it he is an awesome individual.

Couldn't agree more Bryan  

Marco is truly a class act and has been a great friend to me for many years  

Dang it has been a bit since I outed somebody.  Recent events got me to thinking of what a great friend I have made of late.  Paul is of course the person I speak of.  I am a bit green behind the ears when it comes to being a mod and I have a tendency to rant about pointless crap from time to time, well Paul has been the rock I have leaned on (a bit much for his liking probably).  Paul has helped me endlessly with his steady thinking and great wit.  He is very friendly (though he may not look it......... http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t4194-meet-the-tig-team?highlight=meet+the+team )   He spends endless amount of time doing projects for the gunnery and contributes on the main page also. He is just a great person who deserves a pat on the back.