Downsizing my 3 3/4"collection never felt so good!

[Devo]

Every year I say I'm done with the PT, then Hasbros latest Episode I or II figures lure me back in. Either the prospects of tonnes of new OT stuff coming out and the cost of all that or the newest onslaught of Hot Toys figures, taking my attention completely off Star Wars, make me think that something has to give - and I always say 'clearly the PT toys have to be one thing to go'...then Hasbro shows some new figures.

ROTS figures however hold little to no appeal to me -ever. With exception of great versions of the core characters I find it easy to avoid ROTS stuff such is my epic disapproval of that film.

[bigbarada]

Every year I say I'm done with the PT, then Hasbros latest Episode I or II figures lure me back in. Either the prospects of tonnes of new OT stuff coming out and the cost of all that or the newest onslaught of Hot Toys figures, taking my attention completely off Star Wars, make me think that something has to give - and I always say 'clearly the PT toys have to be one thing to go'...then Hasbro shows some new figures.

ROTS figures however hold little to no appeal to me -ever. With exception of great versions of the core characters I find it easy to avoid ROTS stuff such is my epic disapproval of that film.

I got rid of all my Ep1 and 2 prequel figures back in 2003, but I've purchased a few figures here and there when I get an idea for a cool display. The most recent, big prequel toy purchase was when the AT-TE came out. But I ended up giving the vehicle away when I got the BMF and just didn't want to devote the space to displaying both of them.

I did buy Rum Sleg last year (then traded him to JT for the grey Ugnaught), Concept Ki-Adi Mundi (only for the droid part), and Honda Ohnaka a couple months ago, but I don't think buying one figure here and there really qualifies as "collecting."

As it stands right now, the OT had over 20 years to firmly entrench itself into my psyche during the formative years of my life. The prequels are just some mildly entertaining movies that I watched a few years ago. There is no real emotional investment for me, so it's easy to see prequel related merchandise as disposal and ultimately worthless.

[dindae]

I was full bore back years ago getting loose and card and all the variants. For years this was fine because there weren't that many variants and until the Hall of Fame Line there weren't many repacks. But then I started feeling ripped off by Hasbro because "they were gouging me for money". Due to that, running out of room, and getting ripped off by Kebco toys for a bunch of preorders I stopped collecting on card altogether. I sold my whole carded collection to Brian's toys for $2500 which was probably around $3 a figure. Immediately I enjoyed collecting again. I still was keeping a complete loose collection. That stopped right after the Mandolorian packs. I got those in the mail and opened them and was like "Why the hell did I buy these?". So now I ask that question before hand and if I don't have an answer I don't buy it. However now it seems that Hasbro is doing the job for me. They cancelled Titanium, Comic Packs, and Evolutions. I don't collect Clone Wars and Galactic Heores (since I got fed up with multipacks having 2 new figures early on). So now it is pretty sparse. I figure for the years between 99 and 03 I bought about roughly 150 figures a year and now maybe 40 this year. As far as storage I have one storage closet for each movie in my garage. I have a some EU figures in my computer since I don't really have a spot picked out for them. I plan on making some shelves for some ships (like jedi starfighters and republic gunships) so I can free up some space in some of the cabinets.

[bigbarada]

But then I started feeling ripped off by Hasbro because "they were gouging me for money".

I tried collecting everything for a short period of time and I found that I would frequently start to think this way. Even though Hasbro has nothing to do with it (they just want to sell toys and make money), I found myself feeling resentful that they were "forcing" me to spend money. Which is ridiculous, the only person forcing me to spend money on Star Wars toys was me.

After only a few months of being a completist, I gave up on it because I would spend every penny in my bank account on new stuff, which caused me to miss out on more new stuff later on, then I would have to spend all of my next paycheck trying to catch up on the stuff I missed, which then caused me to miss out on the newest stuff. It was a horrible, never-ending cycle and it was probably the most miserable I have ever been as a Star Wars collector.

[Ando]

[FONT=Courier New]I have backed WAY WAY WAY down on my Star Wars collecting and I feel much better about it. I have a new rule that has helped me cut back: If I find at least 3-4 figures that I want at the same time, I get them. If there's only 1 or 2, I leave them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]And since my wife just lost her job last Friday afternoon, collecting ANYTHING (I also collect pocket knives and other misc. stuff) will probably be curtailed until she finds a new job.[/FONT]

[Darth Jax]

exclusives and the ever increasing repacks broke me of completist urges. target exclusives are easy enough to come by. while there is a kmart nearby, i never venture into it. WM is a blackhole for exclusives near me. there isn't a TRU nearby. i just won't drive all over the state to try to find an exclusive (and since they are more expensive they should offer more value, rather than typically less). if i manage to find a wave of figures i'll pick them up, if not i don't miss them (since i've never seen them). most of my figures are in boxes or closets due to lack of space to display them.

eventually i'll move into (and own) a bigger place and then i'll start devise display strategies. i'm sure many of the figures i have won't make the cut at that time and i'll downsize. but until i have an idea of how much space i'll be allotting for display and the manner in which they will be displayed they stay carded and boxed. when i run out of space to even store them, then i may downsize some - but that's unlikely. aside from the large vehicles, i'm buying fewer figures and hardly any vehicles now.

[dindae]

I tried collecting everything for a short period of time and I found that I would frequently start to think this way. Even though Hasbro has nothing to do with it (they just want to sell toys and make money), I found myself feeling resentful that they were "forcing" me to spend money. Which is ridiculous, the only person forcing me to spend money on Star Wars toys was me.

Exactly and really after the first scaling back the rest were not even hard decisions.