[behindthemask]

I've seen some members her in the collections section, who have amazing collections and some it or all of it is army builder type dioramas which look awesome.. I see a lot of people do that with STAR WARS with the clone troopers, as you can find them on ebay opened in bulk for cheap, and I see a lot with MU figures for hydra agents,shield angents, skrull soilders, hand ninjas. At what point do you say I'm going to buy 4/10/20/100 etc of the same figure for pretty much display purposes?

I can justify trying to collect an entire line even variants but buying a case of 10 skrull figures , isn't as easy a sell for me for some reason. About a month ago I was at my local Zellers and came across the tru 2 packs of MU figures, I picked up 3 of the wolverine, black ninjas to have 3 sick black ninjas I have 1 red and ronin leading.. its the start of my mini army builder, other then my Iron man aromoury. I did this mainly because at the time everywhere i went had nothing but the same pegwarms I already had.

So I ask who here has, is, or wants to army build? if so what figures which line and are there any you find over rated, under rated, not thought of.. ex I read someone's post of a collection on here who had ML Sasquatch figures in with MU the scale fits perfect and looks amazing in size profiling,.. ie battle scenes. I would like to hear you think.

[trebleshot]

I don't army build mostly because I lack the space needed for those epic displays. But there are times where I will buy multiples of a toy for a small display, or because of a particular aspect of the character/toy.

For example, Transformers toys. Several characters share molds in the various TF lines, most notably the Seekers (Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp) and the Autobot Cars (Prowl, Silverstreak/Bluestreak and Smokescreen). This was originally done to help recoup the costs of the toy molds and beef up the otherwise small initial lineup of toys. Not only does that reasoning still hold, but now we have 27 years of tradition to back it up. We expect Skywarp to be a black and purple version of Starscream's toy.

Another exception that I'm currently working on is Star Wars. Normally, I only get one of each figure and lately it's only been figures I really liked. Recently, I was able to get the new version of the AT-AT and now I want to load him up with Imperials. The nice thing about doing this is that the AT-AT also functions as a storage container as well as an interactive display base.

I also plan on picking up at least two of RtS Wreck-Gar, so that one can ride the other which mimics the scenes of the Junkions in the '86 movie. I might do the same with Crossovers Ghost Rider, but I've only ever seen him at retail once (and he's not that great of a mold to start with).

[brianregan09]

I would love to be able to army build but with figures being so tough to get where i'm living i take what i can get, On you're Sasquatch point i totally agree i plan on gettin him for my Mu displays and i already have Marvel Legends Man Thing for the same reason

[Nexodusrex]

when it comes to army building, I usually go with a bare minimum. the max i'll ever buy a figure is 4, the least is 2. and its always the grunts. I have 4 skrulls and aim troopers and ninjas and shield agents and hydra agents.

[MegaPrime33]

WHen I was collecting heavily back in the day, I used to army build stormtroopers. Actually I remember back in the day having a ton of foot soldiers too. At one point I was a fan of it, as I use to create dioramas with all the figures, but now, not so much.

[ludovicotek]

I tend to build very small armies if it's a character that A) I like and B) makes sense that you could have multiples. I think a lot of it has to do with my compulsiveness to have to buy a toy when I take a run. Sometimes, as behindthemask mentioned, there are no other figures that I want and I'll kind of just give in and buy one or two of an army builder type figure. I don't set out with any intention to buy a certain amount of any. I just buy a few until I think I'm good with that character. I also tend to only buy if I notice that the figure peg warms.

Sometimes I'll end up really liking a figure and immediately want to get multiples, like with MU AIM Soldier and GI JOE POC Alley Viper. I also couldn't resist building when they're on sale, like with the Shield/Hydra/Hand pack from TRU. I bought 6 of them at TRU for $9 each. Couldn't help it.

I hear you all about not having the room to display. I'll set up a display somewhere, take some pics and then tear it all down until next time. The best part of army building, though, is that when you do make a set-up the scene really fills out more. I've attached a few pics that I've taken with some of my army builders.

[Crazy Jetty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

For example, Transformers toys. Several characters share molds in the various TF lines, most notably the Seekers (Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp) and the Autobot Cars (Prowl, Silverstreak/Bluestreak and Smokescreen). This was originally done to help recoup the costs of the toy molds and beef up the otherwise small initial lineup of toys. Not only does that reasoning still hold, but now we have 27 years of tradition to back it up. We expect Skywarp to be a black and purple version of Starscream's toy.

That doesn't really fall into the classic definition of troopbuilding, though, since each one of those is a defined character with a name, and personality, and fictional history all his own. And none of them share an origin with any others, either. Prowl, Silverstreak, and Smokescreen are all completely independent of one another, with the only thing they have in common is a body frame. Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp as well.
Quite simply, none of them are generic enough, nor share a colorscheme.

Actually, Transformers has a poor track record of troopbuilding generics.
To date, only the Vehicons, Sweeps, Sharkitcons, Autotroopers, generic seekers, generic decepticon cassettes, and generic Junkions have been troopbuildable.
And the generic seekers, junkions (until now), and cassettes have never had toys. And I'm not even talking about the botcon releases for the others (Even though they also count).

For me when it comes to troopbuilding with transformers, the same criteria has to be met as with other toylines. Identical decoriation, and (at least nearly) identical designs, personalities aside. Even though there was only one Gnaw, and one Scourge, you could still use that same toy to troopbuild their drones.

I guess in hindsight, Beast Machines was the only trasnformer line specifically geared to troopbuilding.

EDIT- I forgot about the Virulent Clones.