All's now well. No more collecting issues :)

[E.Z.]

Over the past 1 1/2  years I've been collected Saga, POTJ, TPM, and POTF. I've built up a collection of close to 200 figures, including stuff like Sacul, and the Imperial Shuttle.

I do enjoy collecting them but I still need hundreds of figures, vehicles, and Star Cases to put them in. Not to mention the dozens of new figures made monthly. And if that's not daunting enough I'm in Canada and going to retail store to buy stuff will never happen due to biilingual cardbacks. And to top it off I have absoloutly no more room in the closets I'm using. It sucks being a completist.  

So my thought was collect vintage instead. That way I'll only have to buy what's been made, it will only take up a certain amount of room, and I won't have to worry about any exclusives, HTF figures, and hundreds of Star Cases.

But I know when Episode 3 roles around and the hype hits me, I'm going to want to collect the new stuff again, therefore defeating the purpose of selling my collection now.

Vintage seems like a tough racket with yellow bubbles, AFA, reseals, touch ups, and hard to find mint condition figures for a resonable price.

I had one vintage figure that I traded a while ago, it was just a ROTJ Klaatu, but I had more joy looking at that figure then I ever did any new item. I could sit there for 10 minutes just staring at the 77 figures on the back. It was so nostalgic.

So it all comes down to this. Do I sell or trade all my new stuff and switch to vintage, or keep on plugging away at getting the 300 POTF2-Saga figures, the 100 or so vehicles, and 300 Star Cases to house them in. Or do I stop now, collect vintage, and appreciate a smaller yet more displayable, more attainable, more satisfying, yet harder to find in good condition with a good price, and authentic.

I guess I kind of answered my own question afterall. Ijust don't want to make a rash move. So please fellow collectors any advice would be great now. Or maybe you've been down a similar road before and would like to share your story. I'm all ears.  

[dustrho]

Shawn, it's really hard to say what YOU should do with the way you collect Star Wars toys.  Here's a gameplan that you could think about doing...

1.  Stop collecting new items entirely.

2.  Focus on collecting loose vintage figures.  You could focus on collecting carded vintage figures, but that's going to cost A LOT of money.  If you have money to burn then go for the carded, but otherwise it would make more sense to collect loose figures (which still isn't going to be that cheap).

3.  You can then decide if you want to collect just one of each figure, or if you want to collect one of each figure from all three movies... plus all the POTF figures.

4.  You'll then have a definitive goal set, and will be easier to achieve because there are less than 100 vintage figures (versus 300+ of POTF2 and all the re-hashes in the Saga line).

But then again, you can do it however you want.  If you like vintage that much start making it your focus.  You really don't have to sell your current collection of more recent lines (POTF2, POTJ, EP1, Saga, etc) unless you need the money to buy vintage.

Hope that helps a bit for you.   Just keep us all posted as to what you plan on doing.  

[aka DaBigKahuna]

Well, I am in a similar situation.  I started piecing a vintage collection about one month ago and about $200 later I have about 42 figures, Jabba Playset, and Rebo Band.

However, I just saw some new stuff yesterday and purchased a Darth Maul, Snowtrooper x2, and Coleman Trebor.  I plan on stopping at Target on the way home.

That being said, I think it is wise not to make a hasty decision that you will regret later.  Change your focus to vintage for now.  

Why do you want to put all your figures in Star Cases?  IMO, that seems like an unecessary use of money, I would just put my prized figures in Star Cases.

My2Cents-

[E.Z.]

Well thanks for the help guys.

Chris it's looking like I'm going vintage. But it is going to be carded, that's a huge part of  the allure about vintage, the old style cardbacks.  

As far as selling my new stuff, it wouldn't be so much for money, but for piece of mind, and space saving reasons.

FishEyedLouie, the reason for the Star Cases is that I'm very crazy about newness. I know they'll never be worth anything, but I like them to look crisp and clean. Plus I am currently stacking everything in closets so they stack better in Star Cases.

Chris it's kind off funny that I got your items today. What kind of voodoo majic did you put in the box?  

Anyways I'm going to do this like a band aid (rip it off fast), and just put up everything at RS and JD tonight. Anyone that has helped me with building my collection will surely get an extra something included or a reduced rate, my way of saying thanks.

[jcecil]

Your exactly where I was a few years ago.  I must admit, when I do find that hard-to-find Saga figure my first instinct is to grab it off the shelf, but then I remember that I'm not a completist post-95 collector anymore, and I have to tell myself to put it back.  Still, I'm happy with how things turned out.

And don't think you have stop buying the new stuff entirely, just pick up what you really like or want to open, keep it fun.

good luck.

[E.Z.]

Well a couple weeks into my newfound interest and things are feeling pretty good. Sold everything but a handful of figures which will be used as birthday gifts for any young family members. I am however keeping one, the best figure of all time imo, my Freeze Frame Zuckuss that I just picked up from Cyberscout. It's the only figure that I've ever considered opening and I did just that. Besides the Shaak Ti which my wife convinced me to let her open and keep.

So now that I'm really into this vintage thing, I was going to post in this section more often, but no one else does. C'mon guys and gals post away.  

[dustrho]

Glad to hear things are going well for you Shawn.  That FF Zuckuss figure is an awesome figure, and unfortunately I still don't have one in my collection.  I've seen it up person, and it is gorgeous!

[Membraneman]

Shawn, well at least you lnow the Klaatu has a good home... Keep going with the Vintage I say. You won't regret it...

[dark side]

I have another suggestion for you.  I have collected both new and vintage.  I tend to like the loose vintage better than the carded for two reasons.  One, because they're cheaper, and two, because they are cooler to look at and dispaly.  That's my opinion at least.  I treid to get into the carded stuff but I don't like the idea of just hanging them an the wall.  I take all my playsets out of the box, put the box away and display them loose.  It's kind of like you're showcaseing a piece of art.  Like a sculpture.  You don't spend as much money on the stuff either.  But it sounds like you've already started on the carded toys so I won't try to talk you out of it.  Another good reason to collect vintage is they don't come out with new stuff every month so it's easier to concentrate on finding a certain piece without having to spend your funds on a new toy every week.   Have fun!

[CorranHorn]

Well it sounds like had you already made your decision earlier in the month by selling off your modern collection. I guess my reply will be for those who may be in similar situations, of course in the end always do what you think is best. I would however suggest that you keep your modern collection, in fact keep collecting those things you like and collect alongside with vintage. I have been collecting vintage for 15 or so years now, and when the modern line came in 95 it did hamper my vintage collecting a bit as I spent more money on POTF2 than vintage, but I didnt stop with the vintage, I just put it on hold every now and then. In fact recently I made my first vintage purchases in two years (my first on ebay in 4 years) and I'm ecstatic, a couple of the items I got in fact will go alongside some of my modern toys. Unlike many vintage collectors who believe modern toys are a bane on the existence of star wars toys and think they're mass overproduced junk (remember vintage toys were extremely mass produced, something like a quarter of a billion figures were made in a 7 years span), I find that they complement each other in many ways. That may come about as I tend to display all my toys in a diorama like fashion and its nice to see mixtures of both lines in to make one huge battle scene. Hope that helps someone down the road...  

[E.Z.]

Well I got back into modern as well as vintage.  

However I am an official loose collector now. My goal is much simplier now: collect 1 of every loose figure made. I'm still doing the carded vintage thing, but buying loose has been a real eye opener. The bonuses are insanely cheap shipping, low prices, more enjoyable to look at and display the figures, no more worries about dinged bubbles, and creased cards, and last but not least; due to biilingual cards in Canada I have not bought a retail figure here in a very long time, now however the doors of retail have been swung open.  

[CorranHorn]

Loose is definitely the way to go when it comes to modern collecting, just because most of the packaging nowadays looks weak and the toys look so much cooler loose. In vintage its the way to go because its just so much cheaper. Welcome back to the fold in both regards

[E.Z.]

Shawn, well at least you lnow the Klaatu has a good home... Keep going with the Vintage I say. You won't regret it...

Glad to hear it Bob.  

Was the bubble clear on it? When I first bought it I knew nothing about yellow or clear bubbles. I was so green.