You being in the UK seems to have its own unique challenges from a shipping standpoint. I sent something there once and the dude qanted me to declare a lower calue so they don't rip him at the office. That's crazy.
Oh, I'm not in the UK. It's just that my English teacher was South African, and we generally use the UK spelling and pronounciation here.
I have recently been in another purge. Stuff I really didn't think I'd get rid of like Marvel Masterpiece set from 1992, Punisher statue from SS. All statues gone. Sold my Mara Jade statue and immediately was bothered by it. Interesting to think a small statue bust can get to you.
Thankfully bar some comics and videogames, I don't have anything else to get rid of, as I never went that deep before. However, I am in the proccess of getting some videogames and such I missed buying as a kid, and once I reached about 100+ titles in my "to buy" list, I knew lots of them had to go. You get on the net and you imagine everyone's getting everything, and you feel left out, especially as the years pass and you go from kid to teen, but then you realise one guy was into A & F, the other into B & K, but you spent the whole time trying to cover the entire alphabet. I had that other problem too, where if I enjoyed something, I wanted a physical representation of it. Then I realised that I really din't need a Lara Croft or a Nate; I like the games, but Indiana Jones is the only fictional archeologist I need to display as a high-end collectible. And I did the same throughout the board. Cleaned things up, kept one character/property out of a few similar ones. You have to be selective, otherwise why even do it?
I think it is good for me to endure that kind of conflict as it shows materialism had really got to me. I know evetually all these HT will be gone one day and that maybe I should have done it a long time ago. I like what I have bit might get rid of DX Joker and TDK Batman.
I want to be clear about it all before I place an order, because it's unlikely that I'd ever sell anything after. So whatever I buy will stay there, forever. It's why with Batman and Spider-Man, which are characters/properties I'm not crazy about anymore, but have some nostalgic attachment to, I'm only getting the bare minimum figures and calling it a day.
I fight this battle too. I make lists trying to keep down to a top 50, but then it slips to 52, then 57 and then 60. Do I prefer War Machine or Patrick Bateman, do I prefer John Preston from Equilibrium or do I prefer Lando Calrissian. Do I do the big 6 Avengers, or do I prefer Star-Lord and Rocket over Black Widow and Hawkeye. I feel the opportunity cost of doing this isn't worth it sometimes.
Exactly this. Although my list of wants flies past 100 and into 200. Which yeah, is a crazy number, and most of those characters would never get made anyhow. But I feel this need to write down everything, likely and not, and go about trimming it. When I debate characters I look into how much I actually enjoy them specifically, the property they're from, and where they'd fit in my collection. The way I see it, you can't have too many random pieces, as it becomes a hodgepodge. But you also can't realistically invest in multiple sets of tons of figures. You have to pick your licenses and groups very carefully. How will the Fantastic Four stand out if I have another team of 5 or 6 characters that I'm "meh" on next to them?
But yeah, you're right, it is tiring. Keeping up with news, trying to figure out how to display it all, money management; cutting down feels better than buying after a while. Which is why it's important to only get the absolute essentials with some exceptions here and there.
Parallel to these, I collect 1/12 manga/anime and comic characters. Do I need the whole crew from JoJo's Stardust Crusaders and their stands, or just Jotaro Juno and Star Platinum. My feelings are always different right after watching something compared to months later.
Apart from 1/6th I don't collect any other scales, but I do have holes to plug in my videogame, comic and movie/tv collections. As time goes on though, I find myself wanting less and less. The enjoyment starts being sucked out as you gather more and more plastic junk. I'm trying not to break into any new scales, but I try to collect Doom everywhere, so I might be tempted to get a Mezco or two if they announce a Doom. I have my eye on that Revoltech Jack Skellington as well.
Not sure how much Kylo Ren is at Toys Wonderland, but in Oz he's 269 Euro plus postage, and he's 315 Euro including postage at Toys Buying Agent.
I'd rather stick with TW as I've got points there, but thanks for the head's up.
