It's as fair as one baby being born healthy and the next dying in infancy.
That, I'm afraid, is life.  

Don't feel guilty about what you enjoy, unless you stole it of course!

And like many have said, why not donate toys? I've been wondering what to do with my old Armada figures that are all but polluting my shelves now, no one'd buy em so I might just package them as best I can and take them to a charity shop.

 

Don't worry so much about it, GrimlockAutobot. You could always donate to Toys for Tots. I did the last time I was in Toys R Us.

 

Sigh, I feel guilty enough about many things in life but it doesn't include my collection. I donate at Christmas and donate blood all year long when I can. I think saving lives is more important.

 

I follow you, but if you keep going by those standards everything you own and have worked for you might as well give to charity during the whole year and not just at christmas time.
Once I donated to the left and to the right but I never saw the effect of the donations or if they actually got there. It may seems harsh but you can't save all, I've learned that and therefore I'm focusing on helping the ones I love and know who have a diffcult time, because if I help them then they'll too get a relief in their everyday and may help others they know too, and then you'll have a "rings in the water effect ".
So sometimes you don't need to look far to make some one happy, they may be within "your world"   I try doing this all year and not just at christmas both for children and adults alike.
Donating toys for Christmas to children is a good deed and it does give them some relief for a short while, but in the long run it won't help them much afterwards, so I'd rather focus on the "core problem" and help out there if I can.
I don't feel guilty about my collection, but I feel guilty not helping out if needed.

 

I understand but I dont collect toys, I collect collectibles, MIB G1 is not for playing with ( anymore)

 

Thomas Malthus.

 

I helped the ladies at work get thier hands on a ledaer prime and deluxe BB. ( impossible to find around here). all these kids wanted for christmas were transforers. So I used my hunting skills and got them both. I told myself if I wasnt able to find them I would bring in my own MISB ones. It made me work harder to find them. lol

 

i subscribe to this belief/philosophy too, kudos to you dear sir.

 

Pick out your least favorite TFs and donate them to good will. The figure you hate a needy kid will cherish.

 

just dont em giveaway armada sideswipe man. thats just cruel.

 

Donations are alright, and they make good use of them, but I like the food donations, especially when you know it's keeping people alive in the winter. Also anything that I can participate in the giving. Seeing it firsthand makes a ton of difference to me. And like SureShot90, helping in "your world" should take a precedence.

 

that has got to be the main reason i go through my collection one day each month throughout each year .

to decide which figures i want to customize and keep, whcih figureas i want to pass on to the younger kids in the family and which figures i want to pass on to charity when it comes to the local goodwill/ salvation army stores.

more often then not when it comes to the figures i keep and customise they wind up being a more modern day take and at the same time faithful take on one ofthe classic characters from the 80's cartoon and toyline.

say for example alternator mirage being bashed up into being sideswipe for the robot mode and colorscheme

or for that matter movie ironhide rachet and jazz kitbashed into g1 ironhide trailbreaker and japanese g1 ricochet

if possible i try to keep this set of kitbashed figures in the rid,armada, energon, cbertron size scale when it comes to each figure being somewhere between say the size of armada bendy prime to say at most the size of cybertron metroplex at the most extreme individual figure sizescale

 

It's better that they might not get the toys they want, then they won't want the toys, then they get intrested in something else such as sport or martial arts, even revise as such.

no toys for christmas = better generations to come

if only i can obey to thos logic  

 

Well, no, I don't feel guilty about this type of thing. Like smkspy said; I really don't have a care in the world if a bunch of children were going without toys or something this Christmas. Does it suck? Sure and I know from personal experience what it's like as a child to not get something because mommy and daddy can't afford it, but that's what donations are for.

I donate to various programs through Church or other places (Toys for Tots is good and so is the occasional Cans for Kids drive) and I trust those programs to do right with the donations that I make.

At the end of the day you have to realize that some are less fortunate than others and that you can't help everyone again, like smkspy said, there is always going to be someone in this world going without something whether it's toys, food, shelter, education... you name it and someone somewhere doesn't have it... especially in other countries. Toys, to be honest, are really at the bottom of the list and really aren't as necessary for children as food, a warm bed, education and shoes/clothes.

Myself, I'm thankful for what I've got and what I've worked for and where I've brought myself (and my mother) from. We've both worked hard since leaving my father 14 years ago to make better lives for ourselves and I'm very thankful for everything that I have. Being thankful for what I have reminds me to help others when the opportunity presents itself, but sometimes it's a good idea to be a little selfish too... otherwise there's no sense in working as hard as I have.

Heh, I remember you telling me you did that. Show off!  

Well, no, we can't fix the world's problems because many of the people in the world with the problems don't want them fixed. People can only help someone so much before the person has to start helping themselves... unfortunately in many places of the world many people are happy to continue going on the way they have.

That's my concern as well. It's all great to give to Toys for Tots at this time of the year, but I'm more interested in food drives and educational drives. I also like to help support the missions work at my church (gone a couple times when I was younger too) as they go and help kids with education, food and clothes (of course, there's the religious aspect of why they go, but to me that's secondary to the initial issue of helping these people have better lives when we can).

 

A couple of years ago, I had a lady at my work who went through some REALLY tight financial times and almost lost their house, and has 3 young boys........I was going to sell my whole loose collection of RID, and my collection of Universe figures, and I ended up donating the whole box of goodies to them, the figures were all loose, but in excellent condition, and it totally made the triplets boys' x-mas that year. They still play with those figures all the time. I feel I made a great decision and am very happy I gave them those figures.

-Gregg

 

remember my roots

I remember where i came from- and geez, there are times when i feel like i am still there today when i want a Macross figure and realize it is not practical- and it makes doing something for others easier.

i have a godchild that i absolutely refuse to give a single TF to because he doesn't appreciate it. seen him break birthday presents in minutes and i hate that.
but that is because he gets toys each week, and he kinda expects a replacement in a matter of days.
but a kid who quietly stares at the toys on the shelf for hours, the one that will actually pick up a toy someone dropped on the floor and he puts it back in its place like an ornament fallen off a tree....That kid deserves a metroplex or a Supreme christmas.

can't solve the world's ills alone, but i volunteer and do what i can because i know where they are, where i came from.

 

Some children have no gifts under their tree not because you, or anyone else bought up all of the toys. It's because their parents are not well off enough to be able to afford to buy toys themselves.

If I felt that bad about it, I would spare my collection and buy new toys to give away!

 

I feel bad sometimes also during the holidays too, but what I started doing was for everything I got myself, I would buy 5 times or more then that amount for charity. Example: one year I bought a G1 Ultra Magnus, A new leather coat and 3 music cds. I turn around and bought 7 toys for the "Toys for Tots", 5 coats and hats along with 9 backpacks full of school supplies for kids that where living in a near by Homeless shelter. It dosent seem like alot and in some cases we cant help feeling bad sometimes, and we wish we can do more. but remember every little bit helps even if its making someone a sandwich or givng a old coat or blanket.

 

Although the holidays are over. Here's something to consider for this year and any other time.

You have to think of others less fortunate than you and try in some small way to make their lives a little happier. Donate some of them to a hospital or charity.

That's how I'd do it.