Collecting Advice?
 

I will start by saying that my passion is TMNT, however, I have the whole collection from the new cartoon, the retro collection and 6" classic collection. I am pretty satisfied at this point. I would love to own every original character from the 80's and 90's, but that is a HUGE investment and that kind of takes the fun out of the whole collecting thing. I plan on buying the dozen or so new cartoon characters coming out and then I will consider the new movie figures.

GI Joe is my second passion. I loved the 25th Ann line because they are basically replicas of what I had as a kid. Once I complete this collection, I will probably buy some Snake Eyes in the other lines as I'm a huge SE fan. At this point I'm going to stop the whole 'completing the collection' idea I had. No sense on buying things I don't like... example: TMNT Snakeweed...lol

Fourth obsession as a kid was The Real Ghostbusters. Those figures were awesome! I see that they have a GB line from Mattel I believe, but I'm not sure what I want to do as far as collecting them.

MOTU was also a line I liked as a kid, but I'm thinking I might just buy the Classics He-Man and Skeletor and call it a day. Oh, maybe Orko too :)

As far as DC, Marvel, Transformers and Star Wars are concerned, I'm planning on focussing on one line at a time... IE: Marvel Universe will be my first focus and once I m satisfied with who and what I have, I will move on to DC or Trans or Star Wars.

Does that sound like a good plan? Am I thinking about this properly?

Please feel free to offer better advice if I'm headed in a silly direction. I want to be satisfied with my collection down the road.

Thanks in advance.

Matt

Just be careful with what you spend and stay within your budget. collecting is not cheap. Collect what you like. The only thing on your list is collect is Marvel and TF, so I can give you any advice in those area if you like.

If I was you I would focus on one line not go after every line..

I'll start with Mattel. If it isn't MOTU the lines are dead. So Ghostbusters, DC, and Voltron have been basically ended through bad management, who has the idea that they cannot put them on the shelves in stores, yet many stores cannot keep the items in stock when they are.

DCC/DCD has had a longer life and are still in Production (DC House Brand likely will never end)

Hasbro Produces Marvel Legends, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Transformers they have proven they are quite steady and ready to produce and supply for stores.

Marvel Selects is similar to DCC and DCD

Well, I wasn't into Marvel or TF as a kid, but as an adult I really want some in my collection. I can see it getting boring collecting the same figures. I like the Legends and Select stuff, but I am thinking of heading down the Universe path as I'm accustomed to smaller figures. Don't get me wrong, the Select stuff is extremely intriguing, but I feel like they are sculptures not action figures.

As people have already said - stay focused and budget yourself. If you have a collectors mentality you're in this for the long haul, saying "I'll only" do this or that is like an alcoholic saying they'll only have one more drink. When you have what you wanted you usually just find new things to want.

OK, I never thought of it that way. I guess Hasbro will be my focus. I just purchased some DCC New 52 stuff, but I think I will stop there. I just felt I needed a Superman and Batman.

I've recently discovered over about 2-3 years of collecting roughly that you should take your time , study the figure and what you want to do with it i.e stick it on your shelf , make an animation , and pay attention either more to articulation or detail , and i hope you get both. take your time like some say stick to your budget I'd suggest buy one at a time depending on the wave , look on ebay you can get bargain deals there and sometimes not but always worth a look. Happy Collecting

I really like to keep them on card. I'm sure it is nice to be able to pose them, but I really like the carded look.

if your trying to get into the marvel universe stuff, just remember there are at least 200 figures out there.

Yeah, I was thinking of just getting the stuff I really like.

Same with Mattel's DC and MOTU figures over 200 of each and that's just the 6 inch.

While it's nice to have a theme when you collect (as it can help to keep your collection streamlined and organized,) from your initial post, I can see signs of you being a completionist, which is something you might want to exercise with caution. It's a double edged sword that any collector who has been doing it for long enough will tell you has it's up and downs.

On the upside...there is a certain satisfaction to having a complete collection of anything. It's a labor of love, and a lot of hard work, scouring the internet, flea markets and trade shows, and stores, and it pays off when you view the big picture of it all.

That said...on the negative side, where being a completionist will bite back is in the most obvious spot...your wallet. It's easy to lose track of your purchases, and unless you do extensive cataloging, easy to purchase duplicates without realizing it. Also, there will be times where you will often find yourself overpaying for something you really don't even like, be it at a toy or collector show, Ebay, or local retailer, simply because you "have to have it, or your collection is incomplete...." This happened to me on more than one occasion, and while it's nice to complete the collection, it's really deflating to your bank account. I used to collect Super Hero Squad figures myself, and was a completionist in every sense of the word, but I can recall facepalming myself on a late night many times after purchasing a figure off of Ebay simply because I could not find it anywhere else, all the while telling myself..."I can't believe I just spent 50 dollars on ANOTHER repainted Iron Man....but at least I got Tiger Shark!" (as if that justified my purchase, especially when I didn't know or care anything about the character in the first place...)

And that negative only lies on the buying part...nevermind the days (not to mention time and gasoline) spend searching high and low for things that you don't have yet. It can quickly turn collecting from something fun and passionate, into something more of a chore. While I'm still proud of my Super Hero Squad collection (of which, I'm only missing the Iceman/Beast holy grail two pack) I look back upon it as a learning experience, that for a while greatly soured my love for toy collecting as a whole, and it is something I will never be pulled into again.

The main thing with collecting for me personally now, is to enjoy myself, and get the stuff that I like most. No more overpaying for something simply because it'll fill in the spaces missing in a collection. And since then, it's been far more enjoyable, even if my collection is a bit more scattered and all over the board. There will always be stuff that you can start collecting and enjoy, but only if you continue to love and enjoy doing it. =)

I'm also fairly new to "collecting" (and brand new on the site, hi!), although I suppose I've been gathering figures for years now... just without really looking into it as a collection all that much.

The idea that there's hundreds of figures in all these lines is just way too overwhelming, you really have to just get the absolute favorites.

I have most of the Mattel DC figures (completed nearly every wave from 4 - 20 with the Majority of the 2 packs all CC exclusives ~I am still lost for what the 2012 one was that Mattel claims was made~ there are ways to get some exclusive stuff without declaring mortgaging your house. E.G. the Wonder Twin 2 pack with Gleek goes for $300 i paid under $100.

Thank you for all the great advice.

I really envy the TMNT collections I see on YouTube. The Turtles have always been a childhood obsession, but I really don't want to invest that much money. There's a guy who has almost every carded figure ever made. I can only imagine the dollars invested. I was considering buying the most important figures on card, then buying a bunch of others opened.

My goal is to not buy anything I don't care for. This is why I wont be a completeist pretty much ever. If you prefer loose and are patient it's easy to get deals from people selling in lots on eBay or friends on places like this clearing out space. Only pay double or triple retail for figures you fee you must have. Like if your favorite character is Deadpool or something.

By the sounds of it you love TMNT, you can buy vintage figures loose on eBay, off fellow arkers, fleamarkets/yardsales etc for a few bucks or cheap for a bulk lot. Whatever you collect find yourself a complete checklist so you know what is out there. It's always good to know what's been made, what's rare, what's scarce, and then check sold listings to see what going prices are. It's okay to pay $$ for rare items or the last thing in a collection, but it's not cool to overpay/ pay scalpers for common items. Buying multiple lines at once gets very expensive, and hard to complete. So I'd say find out which lines are cheaper/easier to track down, do that first, then move onto the next. Use the saved search tool on ebay, check out b/s/t listings on here, make yourself a wanted/trade page. Know your limits on what to spend, set $$ aside from every check for toys, if it's $2 or $200, if there's stuff worth buying buy it, if not hang onto it and 1 day you'll need it for that rare auction nobody seems to be bidding on, or get something for a steal. I don't collect any of the lines you do, But Motu/ghostbusters isn't huge collections in terms of new items, but are pricey due to SDCC and mail away items. Transformers can be cheap but imports and add on kits will kill your wallet. Gi joe is cheap for retail but exclusives add up and if you collect vehicles and play sets prepare to have another room free. Buy what you like, what you can afford and go from there.

One major piece of Advice if you shop on EBay look where it's sold from be careful of Asia. A lot of times these figures are fake or Pre Release and if they are selling them for very cheap the price might be to good to be true because it's might not be the real figure

For MU and other 3.75" figures I'd say those are safe. I've bought quite a few of them and never had an issue other than one broken figure, which was replaced for free. The 6" ones have been a bit more shaky with quality. I do have a number of DCUC I'm very happy with from those sellers though, like Blue Kyle and Yellow Hal.

I haven't either but I usually go through US Sellers

Thanks again.

What do you guys think of the TMNT cartoon line out now?

For me it was cool, but I stopped collecting it and sold off what I had just cause the figures were starting to look a lil less friendly IMO, and I wanted to pass them down to my son but didn't like the latest figures that came out.

Regarding the other stuff yes stay in budget and try to be picky as possible!

Hi collecting figures is addictive you just cant stop. I can't believe how much I amass over the years. Now Im thinking of selling them. Im a customizer and it makes me feel good doing my own take on certain characters. As a collector Im not a completionist I dont have all versions of Robocop or Wolverine. The only line I completed is the Predator lost tribe. Now im more careful at what I buy. I stop collecting MU and ML due to scale. Im just focus on NECA, MS and DcD because their almost same in height. So if you want to collect make sure that its what you really want not just because the character is part of the line.

Since most of the ones that actually ship to Canada charge $25 or more "flat-rate" shipping I don't often go that route.