The Great 2007 Collector's Challenge

[Jeff]

Time for... The Official Thread for 2007.   

For Reference:
The Great 2006 Collector's Challenge
The Great 2005 Collector's Challenge
The Great 2004 Collector's Challenge

[Madcow]

I'll play since I KNOW my spending will be nowhere near last years...

January:
- Vintage Pee-wee's Playhouse MIB $53
- 2005 Hot Wheels 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Treasure Hunt $1.05
- Millenium Falcon Transformer (Target clearance) $9.07
- TF Alternators Ricochet (Target clearance) $5.28
- The Batman exclusive 3 pack (Target clearance) $5.17
- 400% Jack Skellington Kubrick $50
- Gentle Giant Chewbacca Mini bust $45
- Set of 8 The Burger King NFL Bobbleheads $8.56

Total: $177.13

[Ben]

I gave up last year after buying the Sideshow Luke and Anakin figures, and scaring myself.

This year, I have to take it easy since I'm going to Vegas in early 2008 and actually have to watch my spending or get a second job.

At any rate, ten days in, and here's what I have, rounded out:

Three SW figures at TRU--Security Clone, 442nd, and AOTC Sergeant- $22
Beast Wars 10th Ann. Rhinox- $12
X3 Beast- $11
Chain Attack Ghost Rider- $8
Sideshow Darth Maul- $65
R5-J2- $7
Cantina Band tin set (on clearance)- $20
Spider-Man Origins Spider-Man/ Green Goblin set- $13
Iron Spider-Man- $8
Darth Vader's Sith Starfighter- $20
Battlestar Galactica Titaniums- Classic Colonial Viper and "Scar"- $12

Total- $198

Great. Almost $200 in the first month. Way to save for vacation, you putz.

[Brian]

I kept track last year, although I didn't like to look at it after awhile either.  Things got a lot more pricey than I had anticipated.  That spending considered, as well as the fact we have a baby on the way this year, I'm really going to make a concious effort to cut spending from last year in half - at least.  Its time to make the choices of what to drop and what to keep.  Here's my tally so far for January, and I don't intend to pick anything else up this month unless the second part of the "Final 22" shows up.

January
Darth Vader's Sith Starfighter - $25 (TRU)
2 Marvel Legends Figures ($10 each) - $20

[Morgbug]

I'm certain I'll drop out in short order after I start shaking my head at my own spending again, but thus far it's looking pretty sweet:

January:
Ebay purchase of Cordelia 'The Wish' figure: $12.00 after shipping. 

That's it so far Didn't last too long with that

Cordelia BTVS figure 12.00
MR Maul FX double bladed saber $115.28
Four Hot wheels classics cars $9.00
Iron Spiderman/2099 Spidey + 8 Titanium ships from Hasbrotoyshop $66.81
Three Battlestar Galactica titanium ships + shipping $21.20

[I Am Sith]

I'm new to the game but I'll play.  I'm not a big spender, at least in my own mind, but I know that I've committed to buying a lot of $20+ items for this year...

That being said:

January
WM Exclusive Cantina Band Tin:  $20
Ambush on Ilum BP: $20
Betrayal on Felucia BP: $20
Jedi Training on Dagobah BP: $20
Mace Windu MR Force FX Lightsaber: $65 30 (Got a refund)
Star Wars Poster Book: $9

Total:  $154 $124

February
TSC Basic Figures: $58
Star Wars Chronicles - The Prequels: $50
Droids, Droids Rebellion, Boba Fett Death Lies and Treachery, Boba Fett Enemy of the Empire tpbs: $13
Tales of the Jedi - The Collection tpb: $24

Total:  $145

[Dan]

I hadn't see this thread before, so '07 will be my first year of really looking at this. I'm sure glad my Kubrick series 7 binge was December... and I made a December 31st purchase of loose kubs from Doc, so those don't count

My prediction in one thread or another was that Hasbro would see a few hundred dollars from me this year, so I'll have to watch that one.

I'm also trading and selling some stuff, so I will just keep updating a number each month to adjust

January 07 $277 (that is after adjustment for items sold, $115)
Kubrick shadow trooper $72 (that makes 3  )
4 figures at target $29
Oscar cases for Kubricks $135
1 Mace's squad battle pack $11.00
AAT, Hailfire, sith fighter, $64.00
Felucia pack, $21.00
3 kubrick sandtroopers $60.00

February  $672 (that is after adjustment for items sold, $320.00)
13 figures at WalMart 77.00
1 GH set 6.00
Doc bricks 65.00
Jesse bricks 100.00
Jeff bricks 40.00
OCB bricks 60.00
carded Vader brick, Fett brick, and Sacul brick. $600.00 (Sometimes Sam Adams and the internet don't mix)
Toys R Us BOGO sale 1 ship 4 figures 2 titanium 44.00

looks like first quarter '07 is going to be expensive 

March $53.00
misc figures- some retail, some the local collector club $30.00
GH Durge set and Momaw set $13.00
Another gamorrean brick $10.00

April ($450 in the black)
I purchased a bunch of kubricks, cleaned out a bunch of stuff, and will be purging again soon. I am starting to thin out the collection, and I think it is time to make some more drastic cuts. But I bought a 400% shadow stormtrooper, so I guess I'm not completely out of the purchasing game...

May ($300 in the black)
More selling and returning, plus some small purchases. I'm in for about $75 worth of clearance order 66 packs, and may get a few more if I can find them. I caved and bought the Kubrick 07 5 pack on ebay, because I fear BBTS isn't going to come through. If they do, I end up with a couple more snowtroopers, so I can live with that. This month's total is more of a guess, but it should be pretty accurate.  If I can unload the carded collection, I may end up on the plus side by July.

June sucked for many reasons. Call it even, I don't think I bought or sold a thing.

July-  $520
Commander Cody bust
CIV figures from Matt (jedimoses)
Lego Sail Barge
A few misc items from local group
Kubrick Carded Han in Carbonite
Kubrick 5 pack

Sold a few items, but it was still expensive.

I had to go through old bank statements and paypal records to figure these last few months out.

August- ($200 in the black)

September - ($300 in the black)

October-  $150
Looks  like I found a rash of figures I liked- I ended up getting more stormtroopers than I originally intended (22 instead of zero)

November- ($1800 in the black)
90% of this was selling my pinball machine

December- darn near even as close as I can tell.
I picked up the battlefront sets, target GH sets, 4 hoth battle packs that I parted most of out and sold a bunch of stuff I just didn't want to keep moving around.

So put me down for actually coming out $1300 or so ahead for the year. My collection changed a bit, I picked up more TAC than I originally intended, but not anywhere near what I did with saga in 06. Now it is time to break out the TAC figures and find out exactly how many I ended up with.

[Brian]

You know, something that has really amazed me since taking part in the "challenge" and keeping track of things is how easily things add up with collecting.  I rarely, if ever, buy anything that would be considered "high end" and mainly stick to the Hasbro/cheaper stuff.  I think I had two purchases that were $50 last year - a GG Chewie bust and a POTF2 AT-AT (thanks Mikey!)  Even though the prices sometimes seem high for the figures, it is probably one of the cheapest things to collect from the Star Wars universe, on an individual basis.  But really, just collecting that can put you in the $800-$1000 range.  I collect a few things from Spidey/Marvel and DC on occasion too, but I'm not completist with any of my collections and things still seem to get out of hand.  I was in the $1000 range for the year last year (a lot for me), and hope to cut back considerably (half) this year.

I thought to myself, well the Marvel stuff should be slowing down overall, so I'll basically be sticking to Star Wars and some Spidey beyond that, so that should be cheaper.  But, when you start figuring the Star Wars basic line - without buying duplicates or anything - you're looking at at least 60 figures, probably more, 12-15 comic packs, some battlepacks, basic ($20) ships, most likely a couple of exclusive beasts/ships, and some other miscellaneous stuff along the way.  If you just bought one of each of those, or most of those, you'd be spending quite a bit.  I remember collecting in the POTJ days on a budget of $25-$30 a month, and as much as I'd like to do that now, it is more of a struggle.  Anyways, back on topic, it has just been amazing (and eye opening) to me how quickly this "little stuff" can add up in the course of a year.  Yikes.

[JesseVader08]

it has just been amazing (and eye opening) to me how quickly this "little stuff" can add up in the course of a year.  Yikes.

Amen, Brian.  Amen.

[Morgbug]

Bah, just stop buying the little stuff then.  Or, buy bigger stuff and suddenly all those little things really don't add up that quickly it seems.  Honest, one Master Replicas helmet really makes 20 Hasbro figures seem pretty inexpensive.   

[ruiner]

It's a difficult decision to make - case in point - the 12" Jabba setup.  I'd like to buy the complete environment and in order to do so, I'd have to purchase the following:

-12" Jabba - $120
-Throne - $200
-12" Creature pack - $30
-12" Boussh Leia - $55
-12" Bib Fortuna - $55

So that's $460 (factor in $50 for shipping) so we're at a cool $510.

Now if we take that and divide it by $6.66 (the cost of a figure shipped from NF) I come up with almost 76 figures.  That's almost a whole year's worth of releases. 

What would you do?

[Jeff]

-12" Jabba - $120
-Throne - $200
-12" Creature pack - $30
-12" Boussh Leia - $55
-12" Bib Fortuna - $55

Don't forget today's $40 Bubo pack... that's another 6 figures.   

[Brian]

12" Jabba - $120
-Throne - $200
-12" Creature pack - $30
-12" Boussh Leia - $55
-12" Bib Fortuna - $55

Don't forget today's $40 Bubo pack... that's another 6 figures.

At one time, I was really considering trying to collect the Sideshow 12" line - just sticking to the OT characters/figures to keep it more "manageable" - but this is an example of why I decided not to.  Although their product is amazing, and I'm glad I picked up the Bespin Han, it just gets way too expensive for me personally.  Even if I could somehow give up the 3 3/4" line (which I don't think I could), I wouldn't be saving anything, because I think it would be more expensive in the long run, throughout a year's time.  Again, its great product, but I just can't afford it.

[ruiner]

-12" Jabba - $120
-Throne - $200
-12" Creature pack - $30
-12" Boussh Leia - $55
-12" Bib Fortuna - $55

Don't forget today's $40 Bubo pack... that's another 6 figures.  

Right - I deliberately left that one out because personally, I could live without it.  The first creature pack was included only because of Salacious. 

You can't have Jabba without that little bugger!

[Dan]

So I received a $50 target gift card as a work bonus. Do I need to count it as money spent if I use it on toys, or would they qualify as a gift?    Yup, I'm looking to split hairs...