First order was ROTLA Indy, but first to arrive was ANH Han. I've been poor ever since.
I had seen an ad for Indy on the digital bits website, which was the first time I had ever heard of Sideshow. Up to that point I would just buy some random Hasbro figures and vehicles but nothing serious. At around the same time, my friend had been telling me about high end military 1/6 figures and sending me links to Michael Crawford's reviews, but I wasn't biting.
But when I saw Indy, it completely turned me. I remember lusting over the 12" Kenner Indy way back in 1981, but it was too expensive for me back then so it remained a big hole from my childhood. Raiders is my favourite movie. I've always liked it better than SW.
So I had to think really long and hard on whether I should get Indy. After all, $90 was a lot to pay for a toy, especially when I would quibble over $10-$20 Hasbro crap. My wife stepped up to the plate and offered to get it for me for our anniversary, which I gladly accepted!
Then once I started exploring Sideshow's site and saw all the SW figures, forget it! I saw Han for $65 which seemed pretty reasonable compared to Indy's $90, so I thought, "what the hell" and placed the pre-order for that. Once I actually got Han and saw the excellent quality and details, I was completely hooked and I started tracking down via ebay any other figures I liked. I found the Freaks forum too and have been involved with this hobby ever since.
I see people here picking apart the tiniest flaws in Sideshow's figures. But I still remember what the alternative used to be: the crappy Hasbro figures. And I see what a significant improvement Sideshow is from them. I know Hot Toys, Enterbay and Medicom are the true competition to Sideshow and are better in many ways. But Sideshow is still miles ahead of mainstream 1/6 figures and I'm still in awe of their quality and am having a blast with them!