[ultraman zoffy]

So I guess practicing and getting better at something is no longer cool? After being unhappy with certain figures and getting tired of waiting for specific characters to MAYBE get released officially (in addition to seeing the crazy aftermarket prices for characters I wanted but missed out on at retail), I bit the bullet and decided to just learn how to make, repair, and mod figures myself. Yeah, I wasn't any good initially and am still learning to this day, but the thing is even though most of us feel like we shouldn't have to mess with something we paid $20 or more for, the reality is we ARE paying $20 or more for stuff that we're frequently not happy or satisfied with. The choice is to learn how to do something about it, or sit around and hope for things to get better, which is something I don't care to do.
I acknowledge that it isn't for everyone; I'm a very DIY type person that enjoys designing solutions for things. I also am weird in the sense that I've got a high pricing threshold for stuff I won't hesitate to cut up or alter to fit my tastes, because I barely think of toys in terms of their cost or worth... I personally don't care if Emma Frost fetches $90 or more on the secondary; if her crappy heels mean she can't stand for sh*t, then I'm drilling holes and gluing magnets on that hoe without a second thought... lol. Immediately after taking a brand new toy out of the box, my first thoughts go to what sucks about the figure and whether it's something within my skill set to improve. Usually it is, and if it isn't, I hit the forums and websites to see if someone else has come up with a solution that I can use.
Toys are a crappy, expensive hobby, but we all obviously wouldn't be here if we didn't love the stupid things. =) For me though, I love the toys more than I love the collecting aspect of them, so their dollar value is secondary to how fun a given piece is to play with. If some pricey Legends figure turns out to be crappy but fetches top dollar among more "collector" minded toy buyers, I'll sell it to one of them for what they're willing to pay, then use the money to buy the parts I need to make a better toy of that character.