hmmm indeed interesting thread. My regrets would be not of toys I purchased but rather of missing out in buying the toys cheap - mostly these happened waaay back when I was a poor Uni Student when I was still in Philippines so it was not enough cash to buy a whole heap or I end up just getting what I thought at that time a good toy or just my general ignorance in TFs - I collected /bought Tfs then on the sole basis that I just get what looks good for me at the time. Little did I know that later my "what I want" would progress into... I want to complete G1 (at least to a certain degree - US based)...
These figures Im talking about are...
1. Individual G1 Dinoking figures - was sold for retail on clearance at Robinsons, they had a whole pallet and I just ignored coz I thought these were KOs( then termed as bootleg) coz I encountered the pretender monsters before and knew that the shells should be monsters not dinosaurs, pluys I thought the color scheme was rather dull... then after a month I see the Japanese Tf: Victory show on Star TV. Doh!!!... too late by then the whole pallet is gooone
2. Lio Convoy - again this is another case of , I didnt like the look of the toy then. Also I wasn't into Beast wars. I ignored the toy which was on clearance ( a whole shelf full) for 100 Pesos ( i think the exch rate was around Php 20-23 = AU$1 then) and settled to get the other toy which was on clearance and thought of better value for my money since Im getting 2 bots in one purchase - BB with Starscrem for Php600. I don't regret getting BB but not buying Lio COnvoy and now to find that it's hard to come by ( a whole wall shelf back then - shelfwarming, geez) cheap.. sigh.
3.G1 pretenders lots of em... they were being cleared out at Nova Fontana toy store for Php150 each coz these were toys that got damage boxes ( somehow their stock room got soaked in flood waters) so they were dilapidated looking but the toys are still good. I didn't like pretenders then.. thought the concept was stupid ( why am i gonna pay for immobile shells) plus I dont like the look of the innerbots - skinny and the alt modes look weird (still do but I like em better now) so I got only two then which piqued my interest a bit - Chainclaw and Catilla. Then got AM Megs and Prime in that purchase as well. Sigh looking back now I keep thinking I couldve easily completed the subsets in one go... some are hard to find nowadays and cost heaps even if the boxes are dingy I care less for the box anyways.
---- sub to this is I was choosing between getting Bludgeon or Stranglehold.. I didnt like the look of Bludgeon then SO I settled for the latter and went on my cheery way... years later after reading the comic book I fell in love with the character development of Bludgeon - ooops to late again the toy aint there anymore plus the store was going bancrupt (Nova fontana is now closed) so most of the old stock are gone coz apparently someone ( a toy collector most likely) as the story by the salesperson went came the other day and took all the Tfs in one go... all of it. How could a poor UNi student then compete with that someone with a lot of cash to blow. ah well....
4. AM Starscream - this was an old stock on clearance picked it up , umming and ahhing put it down coz I kept thinking "yeah it's Starscream but he doesnt transform, so maybe not"- the current TF series then was Beast Wars and I wasnt really buying TFs that time, just enjoying the show and wasn't actively collecting ... th efreakin non transforming toy is hard to find cheap now. and some are sold pricy as even when incomplete....
In the end though now, Im glad I finally got all these toys except for #1 and #2, ah well, some day
On newer toys, I don't regret buying the movie toys - movie 1 and 2 coz I ve been selective collecting again - just getting what I wanted.... I didn't get much from TF3 line - just what I wanted so even though ive boxed these up and kept them not on display atm, I still can;t bring myself to sell em or also same for the Unicron trilogy stuff coz those figures, I got only what I liked as well, not the entire line.
Nowadays those kinds of clearance doesnt happen anymore.. too many toy shops are owned by collectors themselves in the Phils so well, you get the odd clearance price, but yeah they're wise now on hard to find stuff as such. Ah well the good news only is that there is quite a lot more shops selling rather than way back when.
Wanted AM partner Vanguard, Myclones Dirge, G1 Victory Leo, e-hobby Dark scream ( the black version), e-hobby Magnificus
Parts- AM partner Basher-side guns, G1 Actionmaster Elite Windmill's blades[I][B]