Advice on Slimming Down a Collection?

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BazookaJoe

Freaked Out
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So here's the thing, I'm constantly finding myself in a vicious cycle of purging my collection down to what I think are my key pieces, only to then a few months later be scouring ebay again looking to pick them up.

I'm buying pieces that look good but I don't have any real emotional attachment to and I'm always worried that if I don't pick up a piece ill end up paying way over the odds later down the line if I decide I want it

So how do you guys do it? How do you have a nice, concise collection and not massive cluttering of figs? I can't even stick to a scale (I have 7inch through to 1/4 scale) and whilst I don't particularly need the money, my space is limited and I'd rather have a small appealing display than the random money pit I currently have!
 
gluttony.jpg
 
BazookaJoe said:
I'm buying pieces that look good but I don't have any real emotional attachment to and I'm always worried that if I don't pick up a piece ill end up paying way over the odds later down the line if I decide I want it
Click to expand...

Here is your biggest issue right here. If the characters don't mean anything to you or you have no emotional attachment to them...then why are you worried about how much you'll have to pay for them down the line? You should have no interest in them. Stay away from statues that just look good or are riding the hype wave. You are only buying these pieces because you are concerned with losing out on aftermarket value and keeping up with the hype train. These pieces are never about your collection...they are about everyone else's. Your collection should be about what characters you like and enjoy. Once you have an idea of what you want your collection to look like, stick to your guns. It'll keep you out of the vicious cycle you are in now.
 
^ Good advice there.
Personally I stick to Predator & Marvel movie characters now. Only go for 1:4 but just picked up all the 1:5 Predators as they look great together.
I'm guilty of ordering Red Sonja though :slap
 
I have the opposite problem. I buy the figures I like and that have a place in my collection--which makes it difficult to get rid of pieces when I start running out of space or display options.

I agree with what's been said. Collect what you love. Don't worry about missing out on a collectible and having to pay more later. I do think that a lot of people go through phases with what they collect, but you can't worry about paying more later for a piece you may or may not ever really want. This hobby is too expensive to spend money on stuff you hope you like someday.
 
Folks like this are taking collection to the next level, changing the hobby game into an investment game. But unless you are frequent buying/selling type that make purchase based on financial gains & not based on your emotion, chances are you won't make much out of them, and when you look back, you'll have such big stakes of collectibles that you have no idea what to do with it, and takes like 5 years to sell them off.

Things like this usually happen when you start running out of space, or have other priorities, & collecting starts to feel like a choir instead of a hobby. Many people quite due to these reasons.


filip629 said:
Here is your biggest issue right here. If the characters don't mean anything to you or you have no emotional attachment to them...then why are you worried about how much you'll have to pay for them down the line? You should have no interest in them. Stay away from statues that just look good or are riding the hype wave. You are only buying these pieces because you are concerned with losing out on aftermarket value and keeping up with the hype train. These pieces are never about your collection...they are about everyone else's. Your collection should be about what characters you like and enjoy. Once you have an idea of what you want your collection to look like, stick to your guns. It'll keep you out of the vicious cycle you are in now.
Click to expand...
 
Imagine how it's like for those Art Collectors that has no idea what they are collecting... they pay by the millions.


GeneralZodLives said:
I have the opposite problem. I buy the figures I like and that have a place in my collection--which makes it difficult to get rid of pieces when I start running out of space or display options.

I agree with what's been said. Collect what you love. Don't worry about missing out on a collectible and having to pay more later. I do think that a lot of people go through phases with what they collect, but you can't worry about paying more later for a piece you may or may not ever really want. This hobby is too expensive to spend money on stuff you hope you like someday.
Click to expand...
 
Buying collectibles as investments rarely works out the way people think it will--especially when it comes to sixth scale figures and statues. If a figure jumps $100 over retail after it sells out, so what? It's nice to know that if you decide to sell it you won't lose money but unless you bought 50 of them you're not making a substantial amount of money from it. Plus, it's difficult to predict which figures are going to explode after release. As an example, I bought HT Hawkeye because I knew I wanted to have a complete Avengers team. I never would have expected the market price to jump like it did after it sold out--but I'm also not selling it because he has a set place in my collection. For every figure that becomes a valuable collectible there are dozens that don't. I used to buy and sell figures, statues, and comics as a way to have a little extra money but that's all it ended up being--a little extra money.
 
This is like when someone asks how they can lose weight. They already know the answer, they just don't want to hear it.

Designate a certain space for display, sell everything you don't want in there and don't buy it back. If that space fills up, sell more stuff or stop collecting. If you're buying things just because you think you might want them later on down the line, you never really wanted them in the first place.

 
TheObsoleteMan said:
This is like when someone asks how they can lose weight. They already know the answer, they just don't want to hear it.

Designate a certain space for display, sell everything you don't want in there and don't buy it back. If that space fills up, sell more stuff or stop collecting. If you're buying things just because you think you might want them later on down the line, you never really wanted them in the first place.

Click to expand...


:goodpost::exactly::clap
 
One scale.
One type (statue or figure)
Either a single license (say Avengersm Star Wars, Batman) or a small range if each is singular (for me - Conan, Bruce Lee, Indy!)

And then stick to 1-2 of each.


Good luck ...and remember that you can appreciate how awesome something is by looking at pics here. It doesn't mean you have to own it.
 
So the best option would be going for Hot Toys Ironman 1/6 scale Movie Masterpiece line, which includes the Avengers.

That way TS won't be running out of starage space.

SAB said:
One scale.
One type (statue or figure)
Either a single license (say Avengersm Star Wars, Batman) or a small range if each is singular (for me - Conan, Bruce Lee, Indy!)

And then stick to 1-2 of each.


Good luck ...and remember that you can appreciate how awesome something is by looking at pics here. It doesn't mean you have to own it.
Click to expand...
 
potato said:
So the best option would be going for Hot Toys Ironman 1/6 scale Movie Masterpiece line, which includes the Avengers.

That way TS won't be running out of starage space.
Click to expand...

The Ironman line is part of the Ironman move series, not Avengers :) ... but if some people want to choose all of that to collect then fair enough.
Personally if doing that, I'd say 1 to represent each character.....you don't need 4 Thors and 5 Captain America's .... 'completing a line' is just an excuse to waste money.
 
TheObsoleteMan said:
This is like when someone asks how they can lose weight. They already know the answer, they just don't want to hear it.

Designate a certain space for display, sell everything you don't want in there and don't buy it back. If that space fills up, sell more stuff or stop collecting. If you're buying things just because you think you might want them later on down the line, you never really wanted them in the first place.
Click to expand...
Very sound advice.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys, already starting to box up the stuff I don't "need" (as if any of this is actually a necessity)

I think I'm going to stick to 1/6 from here on in with the odd 1/4 scale fig, I'm keeping one detolf and and working on a one in one out basis from here on in. Even resisted the urge to double up on the new terminator fig

I think my problem lies in that I try and stick with the stuff that 6 year old me would have been overawed by, but there's quite a lot of licenses that I like and in the time when there's nothing on the horizon (batman returns I'm looking at you) I find myself picking them up. I've also sold some stuff in the past and regretted it, particularly DX09, where trying to reaqcuire it for a decent price is a nightmare which has made me hold onto stuff I might now be blasé about

Like I said before it's not the money aspect, I'm good at saving and would never overspend on anything never mind collectibles , but when you can't really appreciate the pieces because your collection is overwhelming then what's the point in having that many
 
lulz 1 detolf, i would imagine it'd look like sardine cans in no time. good luck keeping with 1 detolf.

BazookaJoe said:
Thanks for all the replies guys, already starting to box up the stuff I don't "need" (as if any of this is actually a necessity)

I think I'm going to stick to 1/6 from here on in with the odd 1/4 scale fig, I'm keeping one detolf and and working on a one in one out basis from here on in. Even resisted the urge to double up on the new terminator fig

I think my problem lies in that I try and stick with the stuff that 6 year old me would have been overawed by, but there's quite a lot of licenses that I like and in the time when there's nothing on the horizon (batman returns I'm looking at you) I find myself picking them up. I've also sold some stuff in the past and regretted it, particularly DX09, where trying to reaqcuire it for a decent price is a nightmare which has made me hold onto stuff I might now be blasé about

Like I said before it's not the money aspect, I'm good at saving and would never overspend on anything never mind collectibles , but when you can't really appreciate the pieces because your collection is overwhelming then what's the point in having that many
Click to expand...
 
I think considering how much I'm cutting down on my collection, at least for the foreseeable and based on what's coming up so far in the year it will be fine. 1/4 EB Bats and Neca Keaton on the bottom, Two DX 13 in the Middle and MMS 136 and the new MMS238 T1 figs on the top shelf
 
If you really want to focus then your best bet is to stick with one scale and a particular theme. Otherwise the temptation would be too great if you mix .
 

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