How Much Did You Spend on Toys in 2009?

[Ji'dai]

I spent $6,938.58 on toys in 2009. (That’s an increase of $2,932.44 over last year’s total of $4,006.14).

What did I collect this year?

LEGO: $4,009.54 (An increase of $2,725.12 over last year’s total of $1,284.42).
I spent more on LEGO than any other toy line in 2009 (and more than I did on all toys combined last year!) Since I started collecting LEGO again as an adult in 1998, it has become my primary focus. So what did I buy? I purchased 119 LEGO sets in 2009, and received another 27 sets as gifts. My favorite themes of 2009 were Star Wars (40 sets), Indiana Jones (38 sets), City/Town (14 sets), and Space (11 sets). I also purchased 16 sets from such various themes as Pirates, Castle, basic bricks & accessories, Duplo, Creator, Spongebob, Toy Story, and Atlantis.

Hasbro Star Wars: $942.91 (An increase of $580.85 over last year’s total of $362.06).
I purchased 96 Hasbro Star Wars toys in 2009. That total breaks down to 80 basic figures, 1 deluxe, 9 comic packs, 3 battle packs, 2 multi-packs (the McQuarrie Concept Figure sets), and 1 vehicle (Clone Turbo Tank). I started collecting The Clone Wars figure line in 2009 so I think that’s what contributed to the increase over last year’s Hasbro SW expenditures.

Indiana Jones Toys: $741.24 (A decrease of $1,217.06 over last year’s total of $1,958.30).
Indiana Jones Media/Collectibles: $193.34 (An increase of $103.74 over last year’s total of $89.60).
For a product line that really ended in 2008 I sure spent a lot of money on Indiana Jones stuff in 2009. I picked up quite a few Hasbro toys on clearance in the first half of the year, but most of the money was spent on Sideshow’s 12” Indiana Jones product line. I purchased 19 basic figures, 7 deluxe, 8 vehicles, 4 Titanium die-cast vehicles, and five 12” figures (including 4 from Sideshow). In the media/collectibles category, I bought 3 comic book omnibus trade paperbacks and the Noble Collection Staff of Ra Headpiece prop replica.

Video Games $559.57 New for 2009!
I bought a 160Gb Playstation 3 in June. It was my first video game system since receiving the Nintendo 64 for Christmas in 1996. The PS3 is a versatile machine. It’s not only a game console but will play Blu-ray discs and does a fine job up-scaling DVDs to high-definition. Plus I can use it to store still photos I take with my digital camera and also home video I shoot with my HD camcorder, and view them all effortlessly on my HDTV. I also purchased a remote control near the end of the year to make using the PS3 a little easier than relying on the game control pad all the time.

Mattel Ghostbusters: $271.40 New for 2009!
Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies, and I was thrilled when Mattel offered the first realistic action figures of the film’s main characters in the Fall of 2009. It’s an expensive line to collect and only available online, but I plan to see it through to the end. I purchased six 6” scale figures and two 12” Ghostbusters figures in 2009.

Miscellaneous Toys: $149.39 (An increase of $10.20 over last year’s total of $139.19).
I only bought one basic Star Trek figure in 2009: Uhura (she‘s now a ‘working girl’ in Jabba‘s Palace). Most of the money in this category went towards the 7 sets of Minimates figures I purchased that were based on the excellent spaghetti westerns A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I also bought the Back to the Future 3 Minimates set with “Old West” Doc, Marty, and “Mad Dog” Tannen. Rounding out the miscellaneous toys for 2009 were two NECA Pirates of the Caribbean figures I found on clearance that I’d missed when they were originally released.

G.I. Joe: $71.19 (An decrease of $190.98 over last year’s total of $262.17).
My interest in G.I. Joe fell this year with the release of the live-action movie (which I’ve still not seen) and the end of the great nostalgic 25th Anniversary line. I purchased 9 basic figures in 2009: four 25th Anniversary, three Resolute, and two Rise of Cobra figures.

Ancillary Costs: $355.19 (An increase of $166.83 over last year’s total of $188.36).
These costs include storage, totes, displays, or protective cases or the like that have become a part of any collecting hobby. I purchased twenty 65-quart clear totes and 8 “hanging file folder” totes in 2009 to store more stuff. I bought most of these totes near the end of the year as prices were lower than usual for these things. I also bought comic bags and boards, photo refill sheets, and sheet protectors to store comics and the multitude of toy instructions and mini-catalogs I’ve accumulated over the years. And I built an acrylic display case in August as well to protect my prized LEGO sets I have on display.

I don't keep track of gasoline costs; though that is a significant collector expense. I'll admit some trips were made solely for toy hunts. Still, I think most of my toy shopping is done while on necessary trips, or at least under the rationale "I'm driving by or near there anyway, so I'll stop and look."

Grand Total (Toys + Collecting Costs): $7,293.77
So the grand total for toys and ancillary collecting costs for 2009 was $7,293.77, an increase of $3,099.27 over last year’s grand total of $4,194.50.

So, how much did YOU spend?

[LusiferSam]

Oh boy, I'm not sure I want to know. It's not something I really keep track of (maybe I should).

Modern Lego: $2,500-$1,500 range. I know with this where the bulk of my toy spending goes. I'm sure I spend less than Ji'dai does because I don't as much as he does and about third of my stuff comes from my family. It's simple to buy and I always have a list of current sets I want.

Vintage Lego: $459.56 Vintage sets and bricks for projects. I bought more vintage sets this year and fewer projects bricks. But I think it's about the same as last year.

Vintage SW: $351.89 This number is way up because of the vinyl cape Jawa. Because the items I'm looking for are rare and hard to find this number is all over the map.

[Darth Jax]

i don't know. might make a fun spreadsheet for 2010 though. imagine it's a lot more than most males (but maybe not as much as some collectors), particularly males without any kids.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Mine would only be a guess, and I'll put it at no more than $200 (did much more from online sources than stores than in previous years), maybe under $300.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

My total Star Wars purchases (toys or otherwise) was my second highest total ever at nearly $2,900, slightly ahead of 2007, but over $200 short of my all-time high of 2002.

Over 10 years of collecting, and here are the year-by-year totals:

1999 - $1,606.32
2000 - $1,909.61
2001 - $1,054.11
2002 - $3,169.26
2003 - $1,533.35
2004 - $2,196.38
2005 - $2,386.27
2006 - $2,365.17
2007 - $2,832.98
2008 - $2,357.39
2009 - $2,885.11

I think 2001 was low because I had caught up on most of the POTF2 that I missed, and the POTJ line wasn't near as big as what we would get each year after that.

I don't really collect any other toys, and the only other thing that I separate out of the Entertainment category would be music purchases.

[Blue2th]

I didn't do the math, otherwise I would probably be shocked, but I bought every new figure for each BAD wave. There were a few repeats figures in there that were unnecessary because I bought them before in earlier years in Evolution packs or what have you. Still able to complete every BAD so far, so Hasbro was considerate in that regard, and I appreciate that.

Also give or take a few Clones from CW I bought every character so far there, and in their other outfits.

I bought a few vehicles, but cut back on those.
The only vehicles I bought were the Droid Tank, AT-ST, and Octuparra, and both beasts the Rancor and Dewback. So I'm missing a few vehicles I'll have to play catch up on. Most are still available, but are Clone Wars mostly aside from the Turbo Tank which just doesn't thrill me.
I haven't decided to commit to many vehicles from the series aside from the awesome Octuparra.

Other toys were some new Star Trek Hot Wheels, and figures on clearance as I wasn't planning on those.

Some money in a few 1:18 warplanes, but only 2 or 3 of those. They were as expensive as any large SW vehicle.

[Rocketboy]

Not including video games, I'd guess less than $100 total.

[Ando]

There's no way I could put down an accurate number, but I probably spent less than last year. If I had to guess, somewhere around $1500-$2000. I really didn't buy that much Hasbro and more than a few LEGO sets were gifts.

I would say this to cover all my bases: More than I should have, less than I could have, and probably right around what I did spend.

[pbarnard]

I only bought the Walmart Droid Factor, 2 Walmart Evo, the Walmart Comics (in 2009), the other comic packs and 3 waves of BAD plus 2 extra figures. That's in the 400-500 neighborhood.

GI Joe spending is a bit tricky because I sold off a bunch of the 97-06 o-ring figures to basically buy the same characters in the 25th style. And still had to spend some money, about $100 over when all said and done.

And I bought about $200 in SW books (RPG and continuing series).

[jamesbondo07]

If I had to make a estimate it would be around $1,500 for 2009.

[JediTricks]

I just mathed it up, came to approximately $800 between Legacy Collection, Clone Wars, and Titanium Series, plus another $300 on Sideshow. That's $1100 over 12 months, averaging to $92 a month.

I forgot to count the other brand I collect, Transformers. TF was an exceptionally poor year, and I got a few big items as gifts or on sale, so I'd guess I spent about $150 there.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Mine would only be a guess, and I'll put it at no more than $200 (did much more from online sources than stores than in previous years), maybe under $300.This is on toys, as my books purcahses are almost always the most.

[pbarnard]

This is on toys, as my books purcahses are almost always the most.

I joined a book club for the fiction books. It saved me about $40 overall because of the introductory offer. I'm just not happy that each successive Saga edition book from WotC is almost as expensive as the Core Rules but has half the number of pages!