The last toy you simply were NOT able to buy?

I live in Japan. It's really wonderful for getting Masterpiece Transformers, but for a lot of the other lines I collect? It can be a bit difficult. Despite the fact that all the toys are made so close in neighbouring Asian countries, if the product is not intended for the Japanese market, we pay a ridiculous mark-up.

Some things I don't mind...I spend more than US retail for Star Wars figures and NECA stuff, but it's not outrageous. Hot Toys stuff is as exorbinant as ever though.

In the last 5 or so years, I've pretty much been able to purchase every toy I wanted for around retail price on the initial release. I hadn't really thought about that for a long time. Even things like exclusives or limited editions...if I wanted it, I ended up getting it. And I was lucky...I never GROSSLY over-paid for anything.

But now I'm trying to get my hands on the Previews Exclusive Batman from Mezco. I placed my preorder back in November. Huge mark up...but I was willing to take it. It was expected in March. Well now it's almost August and the site still says they're expecting it in March. No news...no mails. Nothing.

It was available on amazon for a slightly higher price so I jumped on that one too. After a few weeks the preorder was just canceled. No explanation. Just said it wasn't in and wasn't gonna come in.

And I got pissed, and that's embarrassing, getting pissed cause I'm almost 40 and I can't get my stupid toy I want like some kind of child wailing at a toy store. And I thought...maybe I just need to let it go? Accept that I simply don't get to have this toy in my collection. Sure, there are some on ebay now for like $200 and as much as I'd like to own this magnificent figure, I just can't justify spending $200 on it. So maybe for the first time in 5 years or so I'll actually having a "missing" toy. Didn't even realize how efficiently I'd managed to amass my collecton to the point where it was ALL stuff on my "WANT LIST" and one by one....they came out and I got em, just like that. And they join the others on the shelf.

I'm racking my brains here and trying to think of the last time I just said "hey" and ACEPTED there was a toy on my "must have list!!" that I simply was not going to get to have. I remember this feeling quite well from childhood...but in the last few years with enough disposable income and somewhat modest tastes and also taking advantage of incredible deals...I have ticked off ever toy or figure or accessry I've wanted for the last 5 to 10 years without ever coming across one that's been able to elude me. Until now. Feels strange.

Anyone have one that is just plain out of the question, either for cost, size, or availability?

Hot Toys RoboCop.

Thanks to world economy and politics, I'm unable to buy anything that cost more than $150 since November 2014.

None. My collection is the ****.

Haha so many of them. HT Hulkbuster, mark 45, PF batgirl, PF powergirl, HT Delorean and more. Simply because I am just poor without stable job, when I got money from project I just blow up buying everything and become poor again. But economy really sucks now, exchange rate over USD just ridiculous and inflation just everywhere. I'd decide to stop buying things and become more selective, I'll never buy anything cost more than $250 now.

Just one, the HT IM Mk 3 'Silly Thing' SDCC Exclusive. Ugly mofo of a fig fetches anywhere from $1,000-$2,000 now and is the only one I'm missing from an IM line that's entirely too goddamn long and expensive lol. I've seen it available for ~$700, but even with disposable income available at the time I just refused to pay that much over retail for it. ~$500 has been my ceiling for 1:6 scale figs reserved for what I'd consider rare or must haves, so I'm pretty certain that SDCC fig is one I'll never acquire.

There are lots of Premium Formats I'd love to own (Boba Fett, Wonder Woman, Batman, Vader), but even though I've got the money $470 still seems like WAY too much money to spend on one.

If I want something bad enough, I usually end up finding a way to get it. But a couple that have eluded me for years are carded, unopened Dusty and Crimson Twins figures from GI Joe (the original, A Real American Hero figures). I've run across them for prices I would otherwise be willing to pay, but at times when I didn't have disposable funds available.

But in the "high end" world, even if it took a long time, I ended up getting figures I wanted, like Hot Toys Hicks, and Premium Format Hulk and Captain America.

Otomofan said:

But now I'm trying to get my hands on the Previews Exclusive Batman from Mezco.

Click to expand...

Do you mean the Mezco exclusive? Seems like the Previews exclusive (the one with the yellow oval) doesn't sell for much more than retail at this point.

Voorhees27 said:

None. My collection is the ****.

Click to expand...

Your collection is indeed ****

Practically speaking, I could've bought any one I wanted. But, there have been several that I passed on for other, more responsible, priorities -- Captain America (a couple of times), DID Patton, Leonidas, Zod, Arkham Batman, some of the DCD Arkham line, Nicholson Joker, Depp Dillinger, etc.

I'm in the process of starting a law firm and paying off debt. Once I'm out of debt, and the business is up-and-running, I may revisit a few of those. The Leonidas is probably the most problematic of the group.

SnakeDoc

Hah was reading the thing like he was talking about Hot Toys... I was like $200?? That's not bad at all.

There's a few figs I want bad that I just cant justify price for. Billie Jean MJ ($700-1000). Davy Jones ($600+). These are getting harder to find by the day.

Think they were around the 200-300 range when I started collecting, but in those times that was a lot for a single figure even if it was a rare/grail.

I missed the Tyrion EX because I didn't know about it, and right now I'm hunting down a Avengers Loki.

The Hot Toys TIE fighter. I know it hasn't been released yet but I can chalk it off as one I simply cannot buy because of it's sheer size.

Probably the two that fit into the liked to buy/wished I'd bought/didn't buy/sometimes regret I didn't buy category (and revolve through all of them depending on the mood) are Star-Lord and DX-13 Terminator... To be fair, I was a little late to the hobby when DX-13 was around, but I do remember it being around when I bought my Drake PFF and used to read the site a lot...

Hot Toys '66 Batmobile.


(cause they won't release the damned thing).

Kenner JP T-Rex. Way back in 93? Still remember crying like a brat coz I didn't get one.

I you live in a country that has poor retail or distribution, look into mail/package/small freight consolidating and forwarding services. Then buy your stuff from "wherever" on the net, get it delivered to your forwarding address where they hold your goods until you decide to let them forward. Accumulate enough that it works out best for your shipping charges. A lot of my own customers do this because their locations are anything but stellar for retail. So for instance you might find a service in the US and then make all your purchases from US companies.

HT Iron Monger. After it sold out the prices got ridiculous. I made my piece with it.

Gandalf the Grey premium format. It goes for over $1000 now which is just crazy and a price I refuse to pay. It's the only LOTR PF I want that I don't have and I'll probably never get to own it.

The DX03 Michael Jackson - Bad
300 - Leonidas

These 2 came out around the same time, which I was going through financial tough times. Won't pay the rediculous current prices for them.

The DOFP Wolverine missed out too. Was just too lazy to go to Secret base to order during first 2 months. When I finally did, they just cut the orders, and now I refuse to pay the extra scalper price. Like it but don't love it.

The SDCC 2015 SH Figuarts Goku. I'll be damned if I pay over $100 for that thing on ebay.

My white whale is Hot Toys' Tumbler Batmobile. I've had it in online shopping carts numerous times, but I consciously passed on it both times it was released because I live in a one bedroom apartment and have no room for it. That's the only thing missing from my Hot Toys Batman collection that I still want. I could probably afford it at secondary market prices, but space will remain a problem for the foreseeable future, so I've basically conceded that I won't be getting it.

There are also a number of childhood toys I want that I could never get when I was younger because my parents didn't have the money; those toys consist mainly of old LEGO sets (generally the big sets), Star Wars Micro Machines, and some of the original Playmates TMNT figures. Acquiring those toys is still a work in progress.