When someone first finds the figures, do they deserve armies of their favorites?

**Tycho** · 03-25-2002

SirStevesGuide.com continues its "Collector Ettiquete Survey" with a look at raising armies at home. Now droids and Clones are quite common in the Star Wars universe, but in private fans' collections, there is a whole variety of varying tastes for varying quantities of these guys.

With most stores stocking overnight, and learning from our last poll that roughly only 16% of collectors rush the action figure isles no sooner than the doors open for business the next day, we ask what does the broad range of our readers think about those who take Chancellor Palpatine's Army Creation Act with the utter most seriousness?

At 7 am, if someone finds the latest new assortment of Star Wars figures, do they deserve armies of their favorite droids or soldiers?

Keep in mind that 38 % of our readers said they could only be going to work or school at this time, and 23 % said they'd rather sleep and find the figures at their leisure - in spite of frustrations with distribution being common amongst collectors.

So to Army Build or Not? And how can the "nice collector" do it?

**dr_evazan22** · 03-25-2002

I voted "yes" mainly b/c of the old saying "The early bird gets the worm".

Having said that, I would also point out that a lot of restocking gets done at night, before the store closes, be it TRU or W-M or whatever. The folks who have to work or sleep in could have the oppurtunity to shop at closing time.

I would also like to say that I'm not an army builder, so when I find new fig's at 9 or 10 a.m. I'll only buy one or two of each(I will snatch up any $2 CTC Stormie's I can find!).

**brentfett** · 03-25-2002

I voted YES, because unfortunately things have to stay on a first come first served basis. But that doesn't mean I have to like it though. I feel these 7 AM types are all either scalpers or people wasting way too much money building armies. Buy one or two of each figure, SAVE the rest of your money.

**Amanamike** · 03-25-2002

I voted other because nothing ever comes here. Poor distribution!! Otherwise Id be there first thing in the morning!!!

**spacelord** · 03-25-2002

In the free market, what you want/find + what you pay = what you get. I would not begrudge anyone that no matter what it means I cannot have.

I suspose if you want to be nice, buy one now and more later. Who of the army builders did not buy Battle droids for $1.99 at TRU? Will this work for Tantive Defenders? Probably not. But being nice is almost always harder than being selfish.

**JEDIpartner** · 03-25-2002

For as many times as I would have liked to have gotten multiple figures I DIDN'T! The reason for this is because I have a little more consideration for my fellow collector than to snag up every last figure I see. In the event that I wanted multiples of figures, I went back to the stores after they had been around for a while and picked up one or two more of them if I ran across them. The rest I had bought on the internet long after they had been on the pegs. The battle droid was not an issue. There were so many of those to be found... EVERYWHERE. I went back every couple weeks to buy one or two more until I was satisfied. Everyone deserves to be able to find the figures without having to suffer the exasperation I and countless other have- driving all over town and still coming home empty-handed.

**reebo72** · 03-25-2002

I havent found any figures in stores for months now. All my shopping is on line now. Its so much more simple. Please post tie bomber sighting. Thanks

**Deoxyribonucleic** · 03-25-2002

I also leave figs behind one, so others may get them and two in the hopes that someone may do the same for me and I may find "harder to find" figs.

In fact, I was lucky enought to stroll into TRU one day and they had just put a whole HUGE bin of commtechs out....there were about 15 - 20 r2-holo leia's and me and this guy only took 4 each of which two were for myself (one to open, one to leave in the package to hang on wall

) and the other two were for fellow SW collectors. So, there were 10 R2's left in the bin for others. We could have totally been jerks and snatched em all at a 1.97 but we didn't

**stillakid** · 03-25-2002

Originally posted by JEDIpartnr
For as many times as I would have liked to have gotten multiple figures I DIDN'T! The reason for this is because I have a little more consideration for my fellow collector than to snag up every last figure I see. In the event that I wanted multiples of figures, I went back to the stores after they had been around for a while and picked up one or two more of them if I ran across them. The rest I had bought on the internet long after they had been on the pegs. The battle droid was not an issue. There were so many of those to be found... EVERYWHERE. I went back every couple weeks to buy one or two more until I was satisfied. Everyone deserves to be able to find the figures without having to suffer the exasperation I and countless other have- driving all over town and still coming home empty-handed.

That's exactly the way I've been operating! When it comes to Stormtroopers or Battle Droids, etc., who doesn't want to amass a hundred of these guys?! However, especially with Stormtroopers, finding one is difficult enough. I rarely find new figures right away anyhow, so the issue of how many to take is usually moot. But, I don't see the fairness is emptying a shelf or a bin. I've got a bunch of the battle droids because of the variety of the types that were released and they tended to just sit there week after week. Troopers are a different problem because they are practically never available anywhere, and I have to believe that is because a) more people want them, and b) more people horde them immediately because they are more popular. That just isn't right, in my opinion.

**Maximillian Phokas** · 03-25-2002

I am all for building up armies, but like some of the other opinions already posted, I too want to be considerate to my fellow collectors. Building an army when new figures first come out is not only inconsiderate, but rather expensive, with many SW figs being anywhere between six to nine dollars depending where you go.

I usually take one of each if I can find them at first. And knowing the potential for army building, the troops, especially stormtroopers, go fast! My suggestion is waiting a couple of months for the prices to go down on older figures. Two years ago, I was in the local TRU and saw an ENTIRE BIN of Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Sandtroopers, Royal Guards, and Rebel Troopers (Tantive IV, Echo Base and Endor), all on clearance and going for $2 a figure! Talk about a deal! For 30 bucks I got 15 figures, with plenty leftover, as opposed to 3 or 4 at original price.

So unless there are dozens of them leave the multiple army figures on the shelves for others. If you want an instant army as soon as possible, shop online. Otherwise, wait for them to go on clearance and save yourself the financial crunch.