my only problem collecting is competing with my wife for who gets to spend extra (if we have it that month) on their current plastic addiction.
ive lost about 2 months in a row, and the house now has a little too much pony love within its walls.

=[

my golden rule is never spend above my means and enjoy what i can allow myself.

I agree try to keep it under control. I try to restrict myself to certain MU's, and now if I have 2nd doubts about it, I'll pick it up anyways and can always return it later. (Love 30-90 day return policy:P) Because now I'm chasing ones on ebay that I know I could have picked up at a cheaper rate!!! That and I try to make up for it by selling on ebay as well. Trying not to be a scalper just enough to pay for my "Habit" =)

moderation. plain and simple, only collect what you like. I only collect 3' 3/4" figs. mostly MU, but I do grab an occasional thor, cap, or spidey. but you just gotta keep a balance. Shoot, Thundercats figs. have been out for a while, and I
just finished the first wave tonight.

its crazy when someone u dont even know can have the same issues you have or have had. i was the same way early last year. i had all these figures & comics in my closet, so one day i decided to roughly add up everything. then thats when the depression started. i think it was close to $2700 with legends, universe, dcuc and comics. started thinking of everything i could have done or needed to do with that money that i bought plastic and paper with. after awhile it just kinda faded out, mostly due to me cutting dwn to 1 line while picking up 1 or 2 random figs from another line every now and then.

its just something that if u sit dwn and think about it too much it can depress u real fast. now a days money it tight for alot of ppl, and yet we all still find away to include our plastic companions in our lives. dont let it get u dwn. hell if it comes to it, post up pix of that archangel and hold a box cutter next to it then say u going to use it for a custom and see how many ppl go off. it'll make u feel better cause they care about it lmao...

hmm i had a moment of "what the fuck am i doing?" when i was 15 or 16. this was roughly ten years ago when I was collecting the Robots in Disguise toys back in like 2000. Im probably gonna sell those here:), its pretty sizeable and all MOC. Its the only reason i collected the stupid line. Im pretty much only collecting MU and any TF generations toy i can afford/want. Im not a completist, thank god, but im a student and i still have expenses. Plus, im in a good position where i live at home and dont have to pay rent so...

Good luck to the OP... but I have to say.. if toys became such a drama in my life.. I would definitely walk away without a second thought.

I mean you say that collecting this stuff is the 2nd biggest regret in your LIFE!!.. then go on to say that you will still collect. Sounds like a good plan.... :confused: Im guessing you are just trying to be dramatic. ;)

A lot of good points in this thread and I hear you man on everything you have to say. I have a small 1 bedroom apt at the moment as my wife and I have a contract on the house waiting on approval but in the meantime my collection is growing so much that everything is all over the place and Im starting to have to box up almost half of my stuff.
Makes you wonder on whats worth it but at the end of the day, as long as you make ends meet and your lifestyle doesnt worsen because of your collection then it should be all good. You might want to drop being a completist or stop collecting all together this line if you are losing out on other facets of your life and cant buy new clothes.
Great points by neatogecko.

I wrote an entire thing on how I live alone and collect MU and save money so I can afford luxeries even though I live in an apartment with my dog. wrote it on Hisstank.

I dont plan on ever getting a house. too much. If I win the lotto, sure I'll get one. when my parents pass away I know i'll inherit my childhood home, which Is cool. I like the place.

I think its the massive hunt that gets people burnt out. the obsessing over the figures. Its not that hard to collect MU if you know where to spend and what to spend.

I buy sets from BBTS, thats roughly 60 bucks after shipping. so 60 times 6 and its 360. not that bad. 360 dollars out of 30,000 a year? add another hundred for comic packs, 50 for gigantic battles, hundred for masterpiece. thats 610. dosent include other Marvel lines, I wont count them.
then I trade or sell the ones I dont want from the sets. so I'm pretty sure I've only spent nearly 2000 on it in the 3 years I've collected it.

I also buy old toy playsets, fix them up and complete them, and then sell them for a profit. I'm currently fixing up a Eternia playset I was able to purchase from an old friend. I'm expecting profit.

no disrespect, but I dont see how you could spend 5 grand on these, Andy. I really dont

btw, if anybody is wondering, I hardly have any debt. I'm just good at managing my money

This might be why I started displaying my figures in a dio. It make it feel worth it to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a plastic toy, rather then just keeping them MOC on a wall or in a box or in the closet. It takes time to setup this dio and have the figures stand just right. So it really does make it fell more like a hobby then just having it to have it bc of some personal defect I/we have.

I made a decision that I would truely only collect MU. BC at one point or another we will get the comic characters in the line. I only pick up the ones I want for my dio. Other then that I really try to stay away from the movie lines. I also dropped my other hobby Buy and modding cars. I use to enger IFOs and Showdowns on my free weekends But when those cars break they cost MONEY. I just couldn't collect and keep up with that sport. It had to be one or the other for me. I made my goals in the car world. Beat who I had to beat. Got the times I was aiming for. So I decided to move on and just focus on my collection.

Very good advice my friend!

I regret buying MU Archangel... that was my first MU. LOL. But it is kind of too late already. I have already passed the point of no return... for me it makes more sense to just continue buying my fav X-men/mutants than to quit. I currently only have 7 MOC MU figs, and when I look at future waves there are only a handful more I want, so it is not that bad for me.

My biggest regret: Spending so much damn money on MU lol

I remember when me and Tiberius first saw MU figures. We were looking for some figures (most likely Star Wars) when we came across them. The first figure in the row was The Thing. Who's my personal favourite super hero. I was thinking about buying it when Tiberius said "Don't bother, it's just going to be another thing to collect". Yeah, that backfired lol.

And no, I don't regret collecting MU figures. But I just regret always spending money on them.

I switched cigarrettes for action figures so each one is a pack that I wont smoke

Awesome.
That's why I never feel guilt over collecting- most everyone with a job can trim something minor from their weekly spending and afford an MU figure.

Now if it were Marvel Legends at $18 a figure, I'd say no way- that's pretty pricey in my opinion, but I like the smaller scale best anyway.

That's the best way of quitting smoking I've ever heard. It's quite genius.