I was completely out of the hobby for over a decade. Everything was packed away. I just found a boxed HT RE Krauser today, that I forgot I had. It's unclear if his muscle body has survived or if that black T shirt has bled into his skin or not. It's been so long, I've forgotten some of what I have. So I'd occasionally look at brick and mortar toy aisles over the intervening when I was shopping for something else, but never looked at prices. I suppose part of the sticker shock for me was that, that I was out of the game for a long while. Only recently did I look at price tags again, I'm helping another collector look for a few items, and it's a vast difference. I remember in the mid 90s, when Star Wars 4 inch Power Of The Force was released, the base price was like 7.99. And that was a pretty rough price point because Spawn figures were like 6.99 ish or so, and you could see the value difference. That was back when KayBee had clearance figures for 3 for 5.00, things like that.
Recently I looked while I was in a Walgreens for other items ( My Depends right! OK, maybe not) and a Star Wars Black Series figure was 27.99. I saw some toy hunt videos on YouTube recently, to get a feel for what was in some other stores, and I saw some price tags that looked like it reached 39.99 to 45.99 or so. ( Looked like some of the NECA guys, hard to say)
On the flip side, when I was in Ross, I picked up a McFarlane Warhammer figure for 8 bucks. He looks about 8 inches tall or so. Clearly he cost more before he ended up in a clearance outlet. I've also found some 1/6th Buzz Lightyear stuff for my nephew for 4-8 dollars. So it's a little odd, some things cost way more than I remember, and some things (with improved technology, paint, quality control, etc, etc) cost less than I remember.
So as an adult, we can sort of pick and choose what we want, for the most part, within our budget. But as kids, nearly all of us, we had to deal with what we got on occasion and there wasn't much control for most of us on what we got in total. We had to make due and make the most out of it. Which forced more creativity I suppose. When I was a kid, there were so many toys I wanted. But as a kid you don't really have your own money. Not to the degree to collect a full line.
So I suspect I've come full circle now. If I see something cool on clearance, I'll consider it and if it looks fun, I'll get it. Otherwise I'm pretty much priced out by personal choice. I just can't do the 280-320 range for a figure. Maybe once in a while if it's a grail. But my days of racking up 150 dollar Hot Toys figures like stacking bricks is over. Some of my shift was getting older, but a lot of it was my little nephew. Now everything I spend is in relation to what best serves his future. I sort of get better now why married guys and guys with new kids dropped out of this hobby.
Anyway, so I agree with you. One and 3/4 AT-AT's is too much to spend on a sub 4 inch single figure. ( You see, if I keep doing this, everyone will do it too eventually. It's like how people get hooked on crack, sort of like that.)
