This must have been posted before, but I didn't find anything recent, so here goes. What's your collecting style ? By that I mean how do you decide what to "invest" in ? Do you collect only Star Wars ? Only Jedi from Star Wars ? Only Marvel ? Only Classic Movie Characters ? General Fantasy or Sci-Fi Figures ? Do you just have a hodgepodge "museum" of characters you like in general ? I'm interested in knowing where the majority falls. Focusing on one or two specific things or just branching out. For example I see shelves with all of the Colonial Marines from Alien, and the same guy is missing, say, a Spider-Man. So he's focused on Aliens, no matter what. Is he "sacrificing" other figures (meaning that he'd like a Spider-Man or a Thor, but he's commited to a complete Alien self) or he's just not interested ? That kind of stuff.
Personally, I took a long absence and came back. Put down some Pre-Orders. Got in line. The thing is, I have a pretty big backlog. It's alright, I can wait. Re-Releases and all. Most figures stabilize on the aftermarket about a year later, too. Anyway, POs aside, I wanted to buy something right now for Christmas. Put it under the tree. Thus far my collection is a bit of a hodgepodge. Upon some thought, I figured that I should invest on the Sith. I've always preferred them to the Jedi, they look cool and it's an easy enough group to assemble. I'm waiting for a RotJ 1/6th Vader, so I had to backtrack with Maul, Dooku and the Emperor. I was ready to buy Maul & Dooku, but then it hit me. Do I really like Maul & Dooku ? Eh, sure. They're Sith. I like them on principle. But I can't say that as characters they're on the same level as say, Vader or Revan for me. And they are largely boring designs in black robes. Sure, Dooku is Christopher Lee and Maul has a cool "demon" head, but they are just two guys in all (mostly, in Dooku's case) black. And it's what I feel about the Jedi, which is why I prefer the Sith edginess aside; they're guys in brown robes (I'm happy that the Clone Wars line is giving us the armoured looks of Anakin & Obi-Wan). Anyhow, both of them, shipping included would get me to 720 Euros. I expected that, and they're not getting any cheaper. But I looked around. I'm still missing a Jack Sparrow, for example. A T2 T-800. Vader & Sidious are my absolute favourites, and amongst my favourite charaters in all of fiction, yet I'm still missing them. Vader I'm waiting on, yes, same with the Emperor; I'm gunning for a RoS or RotS/Palpatine look. But still, should I shell out so much money, in this economy, on two characters I'm "eh" on, simply to complete a set, years down the line, when I'm missing the "stars" of the show ? Maybe when I binge TCW I'll change my mind. But the point is that I should get Vader & Sidious first, then go back to get the rest of the Sith. Maybe it's because I just find the designs too boring. Because I like Qui-Gon's character for example, but he's just so... plain, that I can't justify the price tag.
In the end, it got me thinking whether how much I like a particular character, or how to best complete a certain set, should be the determining factor. Personally, I'm leaning towards the former. I have an IM on PO. Should I have also gotten Endgame War Machine and Rescue to complete the "Iron Set" ? Maybe. But I have a Tommy Shelby on PO, who doesn't really fit with anything in particular. I had the same dillema a few months back when I wanted to go all in on a Batman collection and POed Batgirl. But was I ready to shell out 250 Euros on her and every subsequent Bat-Family Member, just to complete the Set, when there are tons of characters I love ? No, and it's why I cancelled her. If they ever make a Thrawn I'll jump on him immediately. But would I need to also buy some Stormtroopers, Tarkin, Krennic, other Imperials in general, to pair him with ? And so on and so forth. You get my point. I remembered that teased Patrick Bateman figure, which I'm anxiously waiting for. That's a grail. Maul ? Eh, not so much. I like him, and his general arc, but I'm not "attached" to him at the moment. It got me thinking that it's very easy to start pilling up and up, and therefore lose focus. If such figures are not carefully selected for one reason or the other, then you just end up with legions of them. They lose their shelf-presence and "importance".
I think in my case it's because I "like" the Sith as a consequence of me liking a couple of characters that belong to them very much. As an ideology, they're a bunch of literal edgelords, to contrast with the Jedi being emotionless autists. Hardly attractive on principle. But Vader, Sidious and especially the Old Republic era Sith, like Revan, Nihilus, Malak, Traya, they've got great designs and agendas. Darth Bane and Plaguies, characters where I've invested time reading and playing, not just watching some movies. Those I'd PO instantly. But the PT ones ? I don't know. I've read bits and pieces form the Dooku book and he's grown on me, but I need to "see" more. In theory, him being just a pragmatist who wants to set up a sort of "Imperium Of Man" instead of being an edgy psychopath appeals to me. But he did so little in the PT that there's no "connection" as of now. Had I watched TCW maybe I would've had a different opinion, but I just hate Ahsoka so much. She's Filloni's waifu, and she's just the same kind of OC Donut Steel that sours IPs. I tried getting into the show years back, in 2013 or whatever, and I just couldn't do it. So aside from the odd clip and cliffnotes, I have no investment in the larger character arcs of Dooku, Maul, Grievous and so on. Meaning that dropping 300 Euros on each one of them is hard to justify. Especially right now. Generally I was prompted to do a little bit of "soul searching" to really make up my mind.
My personal blog aside, this little instance made me wonder how other collectors deal with this; what limits they set, how they operate, etc. Personally I just stay away from those big, Hulk-like figures with rubber, for example. Vinyl is more resistant, so something like Venom is tempting, but I'll never buy a Hulk. Or a Thanos, who also looks like too much of a toy for me to justify all the money. I vastly prefer the figures with mixed media and clothes. Anyway, I figured that such a thread/question would make for some interesting discussion so... here we are !
Personally, I took a long absence and came back. Put down some Pre-Orders. Got in line. The thing is, I have a pretty big backlog. It's alright, I can wait. Re-Releases and all. Most figures stabilize on the aftermarket about a year later, too. Anyway, POs aside, I wanted to buy something right now for Christmas. Put it under the tree. Thus far my collection is a bit of a hodgepodge. Upon some thought, I figured that I should invest on the Sith. I've always preferred them to the Jedi, they look cool and it's an easy enough group to assemble. I'm waiting for a RotJ 1/6th Vader, so I had to backtrack with Maul, Dooku and the Emperor. I was ready to buy Maul & Dooku, but then it hit me. Do I really like Maul & Dooku ? Eh, sure. They're Sith. I like them on principle. But I can't say that as characters they're on the same level as say, Vader or Revan for me. And they are largely boring designs in black robes. Sure, Dooku is Christopher Lee and Maul has a cool "demon" head, but they are just two guys in all (mostly, in Dooku's case) black. And it's what I feel about the Jedi, which is why I prefer the Sith edginess aside; they're guys in brown robes (I'm happy that the Clone Wars line is giving us the armoured looks of Anakin & Obi-Wan). Anyhow, both of them, shipping included would get me to 720 Euros. I expected that, and they're not getting any cheaper. But I looked around. I'm still missing a Jack Sparrow, for example. A T2 T-800. Vader & Sidious are my absolute favourites, and amongst my favourite charaters in all of fiction, yet I'm still missing them. Vader I'm waiting on, yes, same with the Emperor; I'm gunning for a RoS or RotS/Palpatine look. But still, should I shell out so much money, in this economy, on two characters I'm "eh" on, simply to complete a set, years down the line, when I'm missing the "stars" of the show ? Maybe when I binge TCW I'll change my mind. But the point is that I should get Vader & Sidious first, then go back to get the rest of the Sith. Maybe it's because I just find the designs too boring. Because I like Qui-Gon's character for example, but he's just so... plain, that I can't justify the price tag.
In the end, it got me thinking whether how much I like a particular character, or how to best complete a certain set, should be the determining factor. Personally, I'm leaning towards the former. I have an IM on PO. Should I have also gotten Endgame War Machine and Rescue to complete the "Iron Set" ? Maybe. But I have a Tommy Shelby on PO, who doesn't really fit with anything in particular. I had the same dillema a few months back when I wanted to go all in on a Batman collection and POed Batgirl. But was I ready to shell out 250 Euros on her and every subsequent Bat-Family Member, just to complete the Set, when there are tons of characters I love ? No, and it's why I cancelled her. If they ever make a Thrawn I'll jump on him immediately. But would I need to also buy some Stormtroopers, Tarkin, Krennic, other Imperials in general, to pair him with ? And so on and so forth. You get my point. I remembered that teased Patrick Bateman figure, which I'm anxiously waiting for. That's a grail. Maul ? Eh, not so much. I like him, and his general arc, but I'm not "attached" to him at the moment. It got me thinking that it's very easy to start pilling up and up, and therefore lose focus. If such figures are not carefully selected for one reason or the other, then you just end up with legions of them. They lose their shelf-presence and "importance".
I think in my case it's because I "like" the Sith as a consequence of me liking a couple of characters that belong to them very much. As an ideology, they're a bunch of literal edgelords, to contrast with the Jedi being emotionless autists. Hardly attractive on principle. But Vader, Sidious and especially the Old Republic era Sith, like Revan, Nihilus, Malak, Traya, they've got great designs and agendas. Darth Bane and Plaguies, characters where I've invested time reading and playing, not just watching some movies. Those I'd PO instantly. But the PT ones ? I don't know. I've read bits and pieces form the Dooku book and he's grown on me, but I need to "see" more. In theory, him being just a pragmatist who wants to set up a sort of "Imperium Of Man" instead of being an edgy psychopath appeals to me. But he did so little in the PT that there's no "connection" as of now. Had I watched TCW maybe I would've had a different opinion, but I just hate Ahsoka so much. She's Filloni's waifu, and she's just the same kind of OC Donut Steel that sours IPs. I tried getting into the show years back, in 2013 or whatever, and I just couldn't do it. So aside from the odd clip and cliffnotes, I have no investment in the larger character arcs of Dooku, Maul, Grievous and so on. Meaning that dropping 300 Euros on each one of them is hard to justify. Especially right now. Generally I was prompted to do a little bit of "soul searching" to really make up my mind.
My personal blog aside, this little instance made me wonder how other collectors deal with this; what limits they set, how they operate, etc. Personally I just stay away from those big, Hulk-like figures with rubber, for example. Vinyl is more resistant, so something like Venom is tempting, but I'll never buy a Hulk. Or a Thanos, who also looks like too much of a toy for me to justify all the money. I vastly prefer the figures with mixed media and clothes. Anyway, I figured that such a thread/question would make for some interesting discussion so... here we are !