Thinking about quitting this hobby.

[DPrime]

I was once where you are. Probably much worse. And I hit rock bottom and made some tough decisions. Since then (becoming debt free), I have lived a cash-only lifestyle and it's worked just fine. I at least have peace of mind I never thought was possible when I was being crushed under credit card bills.

How are you possibly able to do this in this age of online preorders and Ebay?

As much as this is good advice for "normal people", this isn't an option for a lot of us without a good toy/collectible store nearby...

 

[jstep13]

I think your answer might be "learn to stop being a completist". Unless you honestly think its better to not collect anything at all rather than miss a few IM suit marks (etc.). I think once you actually give it a try you'll get over the fact that you're missing a few figures here and there. Give it a try.

This is great advice. I never understood the whole "completest" attitude. Just buy what you absolutely like.

For example, right now there's some fool haunting the commerce section who is buying every 1/6 figure that comes available, including customs, no matter how bad the figure looks, just so he can add a new figure to his collection. He's hit this hobby so hard that he's bound to burnout and move on to something else that can give him a better "fix." Every time he posts his new gets, I just laugh and think, I give this guy 6 months before he's "getting out of the hobby." Guys like that don't last very long.

At any rate, good luck to you Sanshou and like everyone else said, if you're truly thinking of quitting this hobby, come up with a number of figs you would like to keep, maybe 10, sell the rest and see if you can enjoy quality over quantity.

 

[stunna]

my advice would be to buy what you can afford and dont buy what you cant, this hobby is a luxury not a necessity. if ur a baller and CAN afford to buy the entire line to complete it then great, but if you cant (like most of us) then obviously you cant afford to be a completist, you live within ur means as with anything in life.

Should ask yourself what the point is to completing an entire line, do you absolutley feel that u need every character in that line to satisfy what you love about that movie or story? if not then just buy what you like to get that sense of fulfillment.

I have pondered completing an entire line but then i thought whats the point, a few key characters is all thats really needed to represent what i like about the movie, also thought about how the figures would appear when displayed and it occurred that if friends came to my house and saw my collection they would prob only recognize main key characters anyway,

if i was a completest the whole collection would look too much and messy, less is more i say, this completest mentality doesn't make sense to me and to go to the extent of either completing a line or not even collecting seems too extreme, good luck hope u figure this one out

 

[teemu]

please dont quit the hobby because you lose a pinch of your soul if you do. if its money thats grinding you its okay to be in debt, its the american way.

its not okay to be in debt....anytime your in debt,its means you're a slave to the lender.

American way? try a bunch of indoctrination BS to say people 'should' be in debt....

 

[SanShouXMA]

If that's the definition of being a completest then I'm in no means a completest. I can pass on figures easily especially given my financial position. When I mean completest I have to have a nice looking display. For example my Iron Man display: I bout 5 of those light up armor display stands for each of the suits plus WarMachine. Then I have a Tony Stark figure in suit to display them all. I was going to use the suit up gantry in the middle but that costs 3/4 of my rent. So I'm not a completest in terms of need every figure out there but I am in terms of needing all the figures I want. I hinkni have 2 DX batmans. One for reg Dark Knight and one for the backpack Dark Knight.

 

[Deak Starkiller]

Self off a few and get rid of that debt, I'm not trying to get all nutty Dave Ramsey on you but you'll feel better. Trust me, everyone has a price, some of these expensive figures only make me think of money...money to fund other figures.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

so if everyone is going to be selective and buy only certain figures the hobby suffers because the companies will not be selling and profiting as much and less figures of other films and shows will be made in the future, is that what you want to bite the hand that feeds you?

this makes no sense

 

[Darth Snoopy]

so if everyone is going to be selective and buy only certain figures the hobby suffers because the companies will not be selling and profiting as much and less figures of other films and shows will be made in the future, is that what you want to bite the hand that feeds you?

Your post makes no sense to me.

 

[IronLungs31]

Do whatever you have to do to settle your debt. After that, make decisions based on what you can afford without digging another financial hole.

If you really can't collect without being a completist you should find a hobby that suits your budget. Stressing your finances takes the fun out of anything, IMO.

Hit the nail right on the head here.

 

[IronLungs31]

I hear ya. I recently joined this community and unfortunately that's also when I started going into debt. I wish I had better will power to not buy all this cool stuff.

This is why we call it the....SICKNESS!!!

You can say what you want but this hobby can be just as addicting as a drug habit.

 

[averone]

"learn to stop being a completist"

That is sound advice. I have the same issues as most here, but I am starting to realize that I dont need 4 different colors of the same statue! (Ex. Chun-Li's coming out with 4 different colors)
Also, I do think that by selling a portion of your collection you can live without, you may be able to finance all the new HT you like to buy.

 

[BadMoon]

I sold just about everything. Still have a few items to sell off. I realized this hobby was wasteful to me and the items I purchased really meant nothing to me at the end of the day.

 

[grphyx1]

And if you ever want to part with one of your white queen statues pm me.

"learn to stop being a completist"

That is sound advice. I have the same issues as most here, but I am starting to realize that I dont need 4 different colors of the same statue! (Ex. Chun-Li's coming out with 4 different colors)
Also, I do think that by selling a portion of your collection you can live without, you may be able to finance all the new HT you like to buy.

 

[Jmlsuperman]

Remember, there is no Credit Card jail.

 

[IronLungs31]

"learn to stop being a completist"

That is sound advice. I have the same issues as most here, but I am starting to realize that I dont need 4 different colors of the same statue! (Ex. Chun-Li's coming out with 4 different colors)
Also, I do think that by selling a portion of your collection you can live without, you may be able to finance all the new HT you like to buy.

So are you saying that you're not going to get all 4 colors for Chun-Li?

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Rule 1. Don't get into or stay in debt because of this hobby.

This is a luxury. Buy what you can, keep what you can.


Sell if you need to. Break free from the completist mentality.


It's a prison. Eventually you'll have figures you don't really care for but have to keep the collection complete.


That is NO FUN. And you'll eventually run out of space.


Ask yourself, if there was a fire and you could only save 10 figures, which would it be?

I'd go from there.

Great advice

I hate not having every HT IM figure as well, but I sold my Whiplash and passed on the Black Widow b/c I could care less about those figures when it all comes down to it. The same goes for EB Bruce Lee's, I have all but 1 of those releases and I've opted to pass on the last one repeatedly simply b/c I don't like it and I can use the money for more important things.

I hope you don't up and quit the hobby b/c you can't have every single figure you want, I think it's pretty safe to say that 95% of us can't afford to do that.

 

[Jen]

Or, if you want to have a nice complete Iron Man collection (if that is your favorite) get rid of everything else and just focus on that.

There were too many HT figures coming out that I was drooling over. Realized I can't afford to get them all so I decided to focus on just the Johnny Depp characters. Once I had a clear focus of what I would enjoy the most in my collection, it was easy to let the others go.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Or, if you want to have a nice complete Iron Man collection (if that is your favorite) get rid of everything else and just focus on that.

There were too many HT figures coming out that I was drooling over. Realized I can't afford to get them all so I decided to focus on just the Johnny Depp characters. Once I had a clear focus of what I would enjoy the most in my collection, it was easy to let the others go.

the only HT stuff I've ordered is from my favorite movies

 

[RagingBull]

I only collect two figures from a film now or some times even one because that's all I feel I need. I love this hobby but it is expensive & you also need to think about space because there's only so many figures you can display. I remember thinking I'd never sell any of my figures but that's all changed now. I only buy characters that mean alot to me rather than just buying because I think they look cool. I'm also only sticking to 1/6, I was really tempted by the Joker PF & EB 1/4 T800 but I've decided against that because thats another temptation I don't need.

 

[averone]

So are you saying that you're not going to get all 4 colors for Chun-Li?

No! I am not. Thats just , they are all the same sculpt.
Im done collecting every single piece of Pop Culture, just what I think looks good. I do like the Alpha and may get that but not exactly sure, got to see more pics.