The dreaded day.
 

That day when you realize you can't afford your hobby, that it's become an addiction, and you need to drastically cut back until you know you can control it, and you have a larger paycheck to support it. Girlfriend says you need to work on your priorities and grow up a bit before you start doing kid stuff again.

It's not fun.

I was clean for a week. Then I slipped up and bought a Hulkbuster squad guy on eBay in the middle of the night while I was half asleep.

My name is Michael Ramsey, and I'm addicted to plastic.

Man, it really can be rough. Especially if the disposable income isn't there. I swear, it's an honest-to-God addiction. lol And coming on here and seeing everybody's cool shit really doesn't help too much either. But what can you do? I had stopped heavily collecting for years. I would still buy McFarlane stuff and a few select items here and there, but nowhere near how I am now. GI Joe 25th stuff got me back into it again big time. They were just so cool and the nostalgia I felt for them was insane. Then I slowly started picking up some Marvel Legends and DCUC and then MU came out and it was over for me.

MU is probably my main focus right now, but I buy NECA stuff a lot. Especially the Cult Classics stuff. Mezco's Cinema of Fear is another favorite of mine. Anything Universal Monsters. I try to limit what I buy but it's very hard. MU right now is the only line where I absolutely have to have everything. All the other stuff I collect I can easily just buy a few choice figures and leave the others alone.

I know how you feel man. About a two years ago. I had lost my previous job but had a lot left in my savings. So I figure I would take a break and just focus on my hobbies. Which was cars and collecting at the same time. Time passed savings went down and realize I was about to crash and burn real fast. My ex told me that I need to stop spending money like I still had a job. Told me to choose one hobby and pace my self.

I'm gonna see if I can limit myself to 2 figures a month or something... maybe that'll work. Right now I'm working part time, 16 hours a week... but I sitll live at home so I have a LITTLE bit of a cushion... still. gotta cut back a lot.

Just put an end to it, you are seriously worrying me. Feed yourself and take care of your own, and that should be your priority in life. I wish you well, but I hope you choose to do what is best for you and your family.

I'm only 18, living at home, going to community college. Taking care of my family isn't a concern QUITE yet. :) But I do need to reduce this from an obsession to a hobby in preparation for the future.

Dude, that is enough to worry about. Your hobby is noble in the nerd world, but get back to your studies,.... fuck, I need to do the same.

Well I went to college for my last two years of highschool, so I'm ahead enough that I don't need to worry RIGHT now. And I had a big upset with my planned career path, so now I'm actually taking a quarter off to do some research into other tracks to follow. I'm thinking counseling or ministry.

I think it's easy to get carried away with any type of collectable if you have an addictive personality and crave the latest and greatest and are a completist or a customizer/army builder you're gonna end up buying a bunch of toys, life will go on, but if your spending gas $$ , lunch $$ or rent to buy a figure then you need to reevaluate your priorites. If money is the main issue then you need to figure out a budget. How much do you make biweekly/month, subtract fixed costs like rent,food,gas, cellphone, anything that's a consistant bill/month, What you have left is yours so from there you need to find out do u want to go drinking on the weekend and partying with friends or bank the $$ for some MU figures. The best thing for you to do would be figure out what amount of your monthy income is expendable and set a limit. If you set yourself a figure cap like 1-3 figures/month you could end up buyin 3 sentinels and have no $$ for food, but if you have a limit of say $30/month to spend then you stick to it, do your hunts, and if you don't find anything then the $$ goes into a jar for next months hunt, and so on and so on. Before you know it, you maybe have 2-300 $ in there and buy yourself a hot toys figure or something badass. Just a suggestion, MU saving jar to the rescue.

I myself have become a victim of loving too much plastic crack, between drooling over dioramas and fellow collections, I find myself wanting more. Sadly my average income doesn't allow for a ton of extra spending so I try to limit my toy hunts to 1-2/month and if I don't find anything of importance I leave with my $$. I've been trying to buy more from ebay and focus on the figures I'm missing and really want. Ideally I want to have every 6'' Iron man figures, and there's about 10-20 I'm missing, mainly variants, but it's something to pick away at and piece by piece cross off the list.

If you got no cash! Just use a credit card and charge it to the game! by the time your $10,000 in debt of marvel products. Just wait 10 more years and hopefully your collection will be worth double that to pay back the debt with interest or file for bankruptcy and keep the collection. JK MAN

Don't charge it to the game! Watch your budget!

Hello I also have a addiction last week I lost my job n the paid me for 3 weeks of work yea I could of paid my car off ok I could have paid a few credit cards off yea I could have got my Pitbull fixed so he stop humping my lil cuzzins n my friends kids. I could have done all those things but then I wouldn't b able to buy the guardians of the galaxy 3 pack n the dcuc green lantern 5 pack n a few other things I picked up off eBay

My name is Steven Quipp n I'm also addicted to plastic

You guys are making me feel old as hell and I'm only 28.

u can try what i was doing @ one time. instead of limiting yourself to 1 or 2 figs a month, take $10 a week and look for 1 figure. that week u dont find anything then put it up for next week. then next week you'll have $20 to hunt with. call it a a figure fund and every week u dont find something put that $10 up and before u know it if u dont find anything atleast u would have enough 2 grab a sentinel. i tried this and it does work, a little hard to get used to at first tho

Dude, that is an excellent idea. I will keep that in mind for the future. This has been my hobby since I was like 5, I don't plan on giving it up... just doing it more responsibly. I spent about $500 over the summer in loose figures... :(

I talked it over with my girlfriend (she's really good at helping me reason through things... I'm scattered, she's logical) And I think if I can make it through October without any major purchases and prove to myself I can go without them, then I can ease into some online purchases. No more hunting. Just careful selection from places like Smalljoes and BBTS. Just a couple a month tops, after I get my ducks back in a row. I can do this.

Dude...it's not that bad.
You're 18, living at home (no rent, I'd guess) and collect action figures.

Compare that to your peers habits: pot, ciggarettes, booze...hell even a Starbucks coffee a day is going to equal three MU figures a week!

Then there's other expenses we dont associate with splurging: eating out, fast food, other hobbies, going to movies, bying video games, etc.

All of those could be slightly pared down on a weekly scale to equal the money that goes to MU.

Take this new wave of figs- Six figures at about $10 a pop-$ 60 dollars per wave. Sounds like a lot until you factor that it's only every three months that waves are released- that's $20 per month, or $5 dollars a week!

Really man, $5 per week is do-able for something that gives you such pleasure.
Just cut back on something else or work that extra half hour at work once a week!


I'd say do it this way: have a small piggy bank put aside- somethng opaque so it's not tempting to get the money. Put a dollar a day into piggy. It's pretty easy to save a single buck a day.
By the time a wave comes out, you're all set and then some!

Just stay off Ebay and Amazon- impulse buys are the killers when trying to save!

Or, sell some old stuff to pay for new stuff!
You probably have exrtras and such for trade with fellow Arkers...

BTW, the girlfriend sounds like a keeper!

Well, that's the thing. I don't eat out, I don't play video games, I only see the summer action movies, and I only do one hobby at a time. And I don't just collect MU, so it's more than that. I've been building up XMO, IM2, Captain America, Thor, all of it. And I work at a grocery store where all overtime must be pre-approved, and my particular position isn't union, so I don't get to just have better hours... I get two hours at each store to clean.

At any rate, I'm almost done with IM2, I'm pretty much done with Thor (wouln't mind having King Loki too) and I'm totally done with Cap unless they release the Howling Commandos... so I could level out soon if I learn some control!

I CAN DO IT

And yeah, she really is a keeper. Best friend I've ever had.

yea man u can do it. everyone here is addictid to plastic but the 1st step is admitting it and u my friend have taken that step. but adding 2 what i said, there is always the option of trading on here. i know u got a trade list, start pressing it. sometimes u have to use what u got to get what u want (that came from a movie i know it lol) hit the comic shops to see about trades, flea markets whatever. i been where u at and any tips i can think of then i'll let u know

Hmmm...sounds like a good plan.
I'd suggest you collect only Comic Heroes.
Meaning you skip the hundred "Cap in Pajamas" variants or the sixteen Thors...limit yourself to one of each character- you dont need three Venoms! Five Spideys! Three Caps! One hundred and forty seven bullshit Iron Man Armors!

Heck, if you only collected the comic book versions and actual movie versions, the IM2 Line is cut down by like two-thirds!

or, if you want to really restrict yourself, only collect villians- that's like one or two figures per wave- and none this wave at all (sadly!)

Yeah, trades. I've had a hard time finding people who have what I want, and want what I have to offer.

Whatya still need?

Well, I've been pretty good about that. I only bought movie Cap, Winter Soldier, Red Skull and three Hydras from that line, and Thor I've only got one of each. Iron Man is my downfall though. I love Iron Man so much, enough that I go for the concept stuff too. I did avoid the classic armors though... I just want modern WM and Stark Racing and I am DONE with that line.

Yeah...I feel ya. I've been an IM fan since age twelve or so- I actually bought two of the Silver Centurian armor- just 'cause I wanted one of a bookcase on display and the other with mu IM figs!

Of course, you'll need to refrain from the Marvel Legends figs- those are gonna be $15-17 per figure....
I'm not buying any of those unless it's MU scale (like a Dreadnaught or Atlas or something).

I've never like 6". They're just too big. Articulation is better, sure, but I just like having small figures. Easier to store, transport, and display. Also, I was raised on Power of the Force.

I think it also sucks when you have what you think is disposable income to spend on your hobby and then you have to pay a $1500 vet bill and then just as your feet are back under you, you find out your car needs a new radiator and a new catalytic converter... FML

Yeah I got in a collision at the beginning of summer I'm slowly paying off. Insurance covered a lot but I still owe a couple hundred to my parents. Needless to say, I'm setting stuff aside in savings just in case.