Collecting Pondering

[Gouki]

Go pick a random figure. Play around with it for a bit. Transform it, try out any gimmicks. Put it down and think: did this toy work for you? Did it make you happy? Does it make you think "well, it's good, but..."? Do you just kind of stare at it blankly?

Really if it's anything other than the first answer, it's not a figure you need. As someone who has gone from trying to get pretty much everything to just specific figures I want (basically anything that can fit in my Classics or can be repurposed as such), and while making that decision and parting with some toys has been very hard, I haven't been happier as a toy collector in a long time. It's less stressful, takes up less space, I spend more time with each figure, and it doesn't cost anywhere near as much. Selling off your whole collection will no doubt lead to a lot regret, best thing to do is streamline it first. I know you probably don't want to hear "well, take it slowly", if you need money quickly but that's the best thing to do. Don't be rash.

And, yeah, TF aftermarket prices are crazily inconsistent, so good luck with that.

[Paulbot]

Go pick a random figure. Play around with it for a bit. Transform it, try out any gimmicks. Put it down and think: did this toy work for you? Did it make you happy? Does it make you think "well, it's good, but..."? Do you just kind of stare at it blankly?

Really if it's anything other than the first answer, it's not a figure you need.

This is similar to what I did last year. I sorted my collection by series and at the same time gave it a good "do I need this figure" question. Got rid of quite a lot then, but still kept many Now I have no idea how many I have.

I'm clearing out collections of things at the moment (non TF toys, comic books, dvds etc) but more for space matters, losing money, but I look at it as its okay since things are going to people who want them rather than something who just has stuff sitting in boxes.

But the stuff I have isn't a well looked after MISB collection like Zippo's.

[GoktimusPrime]

Most people I know who have sold off their collections either in whole or part regretted it later. My advice would be - go down that path only as a last resort.

That's why I think liegeprime's suggestion of selling off doubles is a good idea. That way he'd be selling off toys that are essentially surplus, and later if he misses those toys then he would still have them (just not in duplicates). But considering that he's not even "army building" with those doubles that he keeps in storage and never sees the light of day, I personally don't think he'd lose out on much by offloading his spares.

[Zippo]

There are some damn good points and I have heard that selling off the collection is always a bad move (ie, I will regret it down the path) and it does have me wondering if I do sell, what will keep me 'sane' later on down the line (ie what just will I do with all my spare time ... stare at online stores and then one day start collecting again)

I don't really have the doubles that makes selling them off easier than selling the collection. I have a bunch of the same figures twice yes, but one is sealed and one is opened and in some cases actually on display somewhere (while many more live within a tub/tubs in my storage shed). If you talk doubles as in Japanese vs American (Henkei vs Universe) the I could get rid of one but it would leave my collection incomplete - since I have a couple of complete sets.
- However I guess over the last couple of years I HAVE been offering up the doubles as space to display anything new dries up (take a look at the sale list - labelled as 'Zippo's to open sale' - these are toys I brought two off one for the collection and one to open. I never opened the second and so am offering that for sale. Some toy lines like TFPrime where always going to be a line that I didn't keep a single item sealed but I never opened them either - so they are in the sale list now.

[GoktimusPrime]

1 sealed. 1 loose <--- you have spares. You can either choose to sell the loose ones or sell the sealed ones. Either way, you'll still have one set of those toys, you won't actually lose those toys.

e.g. When Beast Wars Metals came out, I bought 2 X9 Ravages. One to open and the other to keep sealed. A few years later, I traded off my sealed one for some loose G1 and G2 toys. Okay, in hindsight had I kept the sealed toy longer I would've gotten a lot more for it -- but I don't necessarily regret offloading the sealed figure per se. I wasn't as if I "stopped having" a BW X9 Ravage, I just went from owning 2 to owning 1. I have a few other doubles that I'm keeping sealed, and I have no immediate intention of parting with them -- but if I were desperate enough, I'd sell the sealed ones (simply because they're worth more... if I offloaded the loose ones, I'd just open the sealed ones anyway (I wouldn't keep a toy sealed if it were the only one I had).

So I'd start by offloading your straight up doubles first. That way you won't have regrets because you haven't really lost anything other than surplus. If after that you still feel the need to offload more toys, then I'd start looking at offloading your Hasbro/Takara variant sets.

If you talk doubles as in Japanese vs American (Henkei vs Universe) the I could get rid of one but it would leave my collection incomplete - since I have a couple of complete sets.

Then I would consider offloading one entire set.
e.g. if you prefer Henkei, then offload all of your Universe toys. That way you'd still be keeping the better variants anyway (and possibly more difficult/expensive to re-obtain on the aftermarket too).

[Zippo]

Take this scenario

Binaltech vs Alternators

BT - have all except BT-17 (Black Convoy which was really expensive even when released). Also have all BTA and Kiss Players
Alternators - complete set including two box variants

Binaltech is (to me) the better line - die cast, better paint scheme and 'they feel complete. So naturally if I was to keep any BTs or Alternators it would be BT all the way ... HOWEVER

Alternators have 2 completely new castings (Rumble and Ravage v2) that have not been released as Binaltech, along with 3 recolours (Decepicharge, Swerve and Camshaft), 1 cheaper recolour (Nemesis Prime) and 1 better casting than BT (Mirage). If I said I was going to sell off Alternators and keep Binaltech would I have to give up the new castings and the recolours and have just a BT set, or do I keep a few selected Alternators mixed in with the BTs.

... *ponders*

[Sky Shadow]

keep a few selected Alternators mixed in with the BTs.

Do this.

[Kapryiath]

do exactly that
i'm taking stuff from your words here but you sound like a bit of a completionist (there's nothing wrong with that ) perhaps you just need to look at it a little differently . If you keep the best represented figure from each line whether it be alternators or binaltech , you still end up with having a complete set of those figures and you get to keep the best representation of that figure

[UltraMarginal]

what he said ^

[GoktimusPrime]

or do I keep a few selected Alternators mixed in with the BTs.

... *ponders*

As others have said, do this.

i'm taking stuff from your words here but you sound like a bit of a completionist (there's nothing wrong with that ) perhaps you just need to look at it a little differently . If you keep the best represented figure from each line whether it be alternators or binaltech , you still end up with having a complete set of those figures and you get to keep the best representation of that figure

That's all well and good unless:
1) It's impeding on your ability to manage your finances (such as repaying loans).
2) Usage (whether that be active play or even just static display). Do you have the space to display it all? As Zippo says, a lot of what he has is in storage which he hasn't even seen in a jolly long time. IMO if you haven't even looked at a toy in over a year or so, then what's the point in having it?

Being a completist is one thing, but when it starts affecting your life in an adverse way in terms of finance and just wasting space (which is really what cold storage is, as opposed to more meaningful uses of space, like display or 'warm/hot' storage (i.e. the toys are stored in boxes/containers, but are taken out for use occasionally (say at least once a year -- any less than that and your Xmas tree is seeing more action than your toys! ).