My second biggest regret.
 

Is collecting Hasbro/ Marvel 3.75" figures.

As I write this, I am staring at a pile of bankers boxes filled with every figure sans Wave 16 ever made. Perhaps some of you have seen my collection, if not, its below.

I figure via retail and online I have spent $4500-$5000 in the past two years on this collection.

Now sure, its a better "habit" than heroin, or alcohol or hunting wild animals or wild women, but shoot, it certainly isn't any cheaper. I live in a 619sq. foot apartment in downtown Atlanta. I may or may not one day own a house with a precious mancave where I currently plan on displaying that. BUT:

a. I may never have that home
b. Even when/if I do, I may lose the desire to display them.

They are MOC. I do not put them in poses or dioramas, I do not play with them, I strictly collect them. And when I think of the bills I could have paid off, or improvements to my wardrobe or less gas money, etc etc etc its literally depresses me.

The bottom line is after some soul searching, I've decided I am NOT going to stop collecting. Wave 16 is en route. I am looking forward to what 2012 and beyond brings. But what the f**k am I going to do with this stuff?

Yeah I'm just rambling at this point, but when I think about the fact that I have a MOC X-Force Archangel, and the first Gigantic Battles among others tucked away, it's disheartening, and really brings the conclusion that material items, no matter what your poison, do not bring true happiness. It's a fleeting thrill and nothing more.

Unless of course someone loves their Havok variant so much they ______ off to it, then well, to each their own.

My biggest regret? Choosing Karin over Michelle. I will rue that day to my grave. But that's for another forum.

Sorry to hear that. My wife embraces my nerdyness, keeps me out of trouble. As far as bills go. Don't go overboard with spending. You can have your cake and eat it too. Limit yourself to a couple figures each pay check.

Or pay some meth addict to steal them for you (kidding)

I use to find collecting a shallow victory when I kept them tucked away. But now that it has it's own room to display I have a greater appreciation now that I can see them. To be honest your collection is one of the reasons I have been hunting so hard for the past year. I was like if someone out there has all of them I have to have it too lol. I am very competitive.

I feel you man.
I'm in a similar situation.
My advice is get a display(I have a IKEA deltof)
And start displaying some stuff.
yea you can't display it all at once but you can rotate it.
avengers for a month then xmen or just villians etc.

Well..at, say 200 fiures times ten bucks a pop, you've only spent about two grand- that's nothing worth getting upset over.
Hell, that's a weekend in Vegas or taking that swing at a cap and posting bail.

Or fixing your car when some ass hits it in a parking garage and drives off- think of that. Would you regret that more than actually having somethng?
Sure you would.

Money is just a tool to get us what we want- you really did not want to pay those bills anyway!
SCREW BILLS!;)

It's a peaceful reminder of a simpler time, like when I was a kid collecting every star wars exclusive/character I didn't have. I'm no where near as hardcore about it as back then, but I love my MU collection. My wife's kids always ask me "who's that" and I enjoy explaining to them. and when my son gets old enough he'll have an appreciation for action figures, not just destroy them like some kids do.

I need a new display cabinet, something my baby can't mess with. I had a single shelf as a starter. My collection is at about 60+ figures right now. The shelf has a ten pound weight limit on it. It was coming out of the wall even with the anchors and supports I used.

My biggest regret is not getting a bigger place when moving. I am going from a 3 story townhouse to a 2 bedroom apt. Stupid bay area being twice what i pay for a smaller place mumble mumble mumble. LOL But everything aside, I have had worse habits than collecting.

Man...If I cold afford the Bay area, I'd be there right this instant!

Crazy prizes.

I used to spend more on beer than ANY amount of figure collecting.

It might help if you weren't paying $30 per figure, because there haven't been anywhere near that amount of figures made.

theres no doubt my impatience has cost me, literally and figuratively in the past. I am much wiser to the game now.

post of the night.

I have problems with my wife over collecting, my problem is I collect multiple lines!!!!

you know, I deactivated my Facebook about 4 months ago because I was entirely all set with hearing about some kid in my 9th grade homeroom 20 years ago telling me about his kid's first day of pre-school.

I like coming on here and talking with you jokers far better. ;-)

Google+ is better anyways :)

see thats it. In addition to my MU addiction, I am also very fond of running shoes and baseball caps. Its a tough financial juggling act, but godamnit I refuse to give any of them up! I'm going to take up a second job as an adult video star.

Folks, take a vacation to an all inclusive resort, drink as much tequilla, eat as much rack of lamb or lobster, go swimming in the ocean or swim-up-bar, lay on the beach and soak in the sun.

Do that every day for the 7 days your there and you'll completely forget about all these pointless toys and put perspective into what really matters in life. You may even stop collecting altogether...which can be a great thing.

Sad! But take heart, every single collector goes through this same thing. It doesn't matter if it's vintage purses or action figures, at some point you ask yourself, "What's the point?"

In your case, you've got them all, and that makes it tough. As hard as I'm working to catch up to you biggies, the loss of the hunt is going to be devastating at some point.

You'll be alright, just take those figs out and look at them all. They're still fun! Then look at any of them that have minor damage to the box and try to trade up!

That's interesting, I'm trying to catch up to you!

Who can afford that? Especially while buying all these figures!

LOL Man, I'm no where near Andy's collection. I may only be missing like 3 single carded retail figures. But the Variants only are killing me!!! I started wayyyyy to late. Hell he's the whole reason I have this page:https://picasaweb.google.com/1024176...K6Zj_7EkbSFXA#. Which I still haven't been updating lol. hmmm I might do that now.

Wow, that's an awesome page, I had forgotten about it. I'm sure you have a bunch of Cap and IM2 figures to put in there now too...

I really want to do the same thing with all mine, just to watch the beauty of the slideshow. Do you keep track of how much you paid for them or where you bought them?

I've been really lucky with some of the variants, as I'll post in a minute. ;)

Andy, I completely understand how you feel. There have been many times that I've stood in my basement full of toys packed away in boxes and thought "what the hell have I done with my money and time!" Here are a couple of things I've come up with that have helped me:

1. I realized I'm a collector. At every time in my life I have collected something. Whether its genetic or neurotic, its just a part of who I am.
2. Find another aspect of the hobby to explore beyond just the collecting. For me, I've recently started to try out customizing in addition to completing my moc collection. It helps it feel more like a hobby and less like an OCD mania that way.
3. Pick one collection and stick to it. I've chosen MU and associated lines and given up all other collecting. It helps me feel a little more sane if I can tell myself that I've limited my spending and obsession to this one thing.

To each his own really, but these are things that have helped me get past the momentary depression and get back to enjoying my toys!

I think I feel better already.

I say whats the point of money if not to buy what we want too. No matter what it is. Clothes toys tatoos whatever. At some point we will say. Why?

Also if you feel burned out start focusing on another line or collection you have. I put my heroclix, retro video game, movie/music collection, comic collection (except the occasional return or death of a character) all on the back burner and only focus on the MU now, I always wanted a smaller scale legends line I think they are perfect mainly because of the plethora of characters and the space I save, I've got them all except the skrull giant man/bucky cap and goliath iron man pack (blue/yellow) and the iron fist variant oh and the giant sized and ff team variant sets. Just do what you feel is right and never put material items before the ones you love or the necessities of life.