Pretty hard to do my friend when you were a hardcore fan of SW, Joes, and TF as a child of the 80's. Money is getting tight now on the collecting front no thanks to the Joe resurrection. I'm just glad I didn't feel impelled to go back in time and collect everything vintage as I did with TF's. Saved me a few bucks. I picked up some lame collections over the years that were not needed like Ren & Stimpy, Invader Zim, Fairly Odd Parents, Hellboy, etc. that I will sell off.
So true. The nostalgia is what sucks me into things like Joes, MOTU, and to a lesser extent, Transformers. If budget and space were unlimited, I'd probably get a little more of that stuff. Thanks for the advice too Greg, I do appreciate it. I'm not a completist in any sense of the word really, although I will admit that the last couple years has been a bit closer to it than usual. I too got sucked into a few figures I would have normally passed on for the coins last year, and this new Build A Droid concept is doing much the same. I'd probably pass on the majority of Wave 3 in the TLC collection if it weren't for wanting the BaD. I'll take my time on that wave though and see how it goes.
I think more the problem for me, like many, is the accumulation of stuff after collecting for 10 years (or for some, more). I didn't get back in the collecting game right away with the POTF2 release, but kind of trickled back in slowly. I picked up the "big names" from POTF2 loose, and had a nice little shelf in our computer desk with Star Wars figures. Then it became two shelves. Then the Falcon...and an X-Wing...and so on. I think a lot of us have similar stories about things slowly piling in, and who knew we would be buying figures of Dice Ibegon and Wioslea all these years later. Heck, many of us were just happy to get figures of ones that should have been in the vintage line (Tarking, Stormie Han, Slave Leia, etc.)
Collecting additional lines doesn't help matters any, and I know that. Star Wars takes up enough space (and budget) the way it is. I've gotten a little better at staying away from some temptations (in the past like Muppets, Simpsons, etc.) - and sticking to things that I've had an interest in since my childhood (SW, Marvel, Indy, DC, Joes, and maybe later MOTU). The only exception to this now is one shelf of LOTR figures, which although I was tempted at the time to get more, I'm quite happy with the 9 that I have. Of course, all said, it would probably be simpler if I just passed on all the "other" stuff and focused in on SW and maybe one or two other favorites (like Spidey in particular). The "build-a" concept has made a sucker out of me in some instances though. Although all the figures are well done, I don't need to own every DCUC figure so far (through three waves), but I do. I originally had a plan of getting the Batman "world" of characters, and then the big names from the JLA/DCU (and maybe one main baddie from each). Then I wanted figures like Grodd and Grundy, and I end up owning things like Superman Blue and Etrigan. They are nice figures, but I probably didn't really need them. I think I might try going forward to focus in again on just the main characters in that line, and if I have to focus it further - finishing out my favorites would be enough too (Flash, Green Arrow, etc.)
Anyways, sorry for another long post, but its nice to see some other perspectives on this stuff. It seems like a crossroads a lot of us are coming to (or have already gotten to) within the past few years - be it a combination of many years of collecting, many lines to collect, or just the fact that there really hasn't ever been so much product (and good product at that) out there for collectors as there is now. I mean, this isn't even touching on all the well made high end stuff out there these days. Its a great time to be a collector, and yet it isn't...with budget, time, and space constraints factoring in. Its probably good to reflect every once in awhile on the "why" of collecting, and I know its a question I ask myself every so often. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy what I collect - but when it comes down to it, it really is just a pile of plastic - and I have to remind myself that. I don't
need the AT-TE, I just want it, and there's a difference there. Anyways, thanks for the comments, I look forward to reading other people's thoughts and solutions to their own collecting troubles and/or crossroads. Its always nice to see you're not alone in thinking about what you can cut back on, cut out, etc.