This is what I do. The only display constants are eighty Primes/Convoys. I have a top-of-bookshelves display that goes on rotation and is currently on "Other MP figures".
I sold/eliminated my Spawn collection in an effort to make room. (18 waves of spawn figures= 2 bedroom house,lol) and then i had to put my Gundam collection in that Rubbermaid carbonite chamber. Then i eliminated my DC/JLU figs and put my BTAS in storage. Now i am in trouble. All i got left in my room to move out are TFs, a few GI Joe & Star Wars vehicles and my bookshelf that actually holds books. why didn't i collect Pokemon cards instead?!?!??! (don't answer that, i think i know why.) with buying, i am not a completist anymore. i have the must have list, and then when there is a lull and clearances, i will give a couple figures i was iffy about a shot. Like RotF Brawn is on that list now. And even my list of figures to get from past lines is not as expansive as when i first started collecting. ya think all this is some divine motivation to get a Ph.D, big job, a big house and not get married?
I have slightly over 200 but i am also facing the same dilemma... having no space to store/ display your ever growing collection sucks. Oh, and yeah, selling some "dead-wood" from you current collection does wonders, believe me!
I'm currently putting a load of TF into storage because I simply don't have enough room to display any more. And I seem to have purchased quite a few big figures recently so space gets harder to find just because of that. Not to mention the missus is back soon from her job overseas and she'll be expecting there to be enough room for two people. It's nothing new though and I've run out of room and had to store many times since I started collecting TF back in 1984. It's actually been really hard over the last few years to store anything away because I really enjoy having my Classics/Universe and Animated and select BayFormers out on display, so it's built up and up. Even a load of G1 has snuck back out from storage. I have no intention of selling anything so it's just a case of finding spaces in my storage for more. Anyway, it's just part of being a collector and having a lot of the stuff.
I have 5 crates full under my bed. I am only allowed 3 shelves, I try to keep #1 filled with G1 and re-issues, #2 is generally whatever line is current, #3 is for miscellaneous ones, like Alternity, 3rd party, etc.
I love trying to figure out new ways to display my stuff. I have no intentions of ever selling my figures, even the ones I bought and was less than impressed in the aftermath. I'll just store them away, no big deal.
I ran into this problem a while back, too. For me, it wasn't just too many TFs and a lack of space--I needed the money as well. I realized I had let myself drift too close to being a MISB collector, actually trying to buy 2 of everything to have one sealed and one open (and I even kept the boxes of the open ones). It was out of control, so I made up some rules for myself: 1. If it was open, I could either sell it or keep it. Generally if I had more than one version of the mold, they all got sold except the one I liked the most. 2. If it was sealed, I could either sell it or OPEN it. At which point Rule #1 took effect. Usually I determined whether the figure was worth more in the box or not (store exclusives tended to be worth more sealed, mass retail figures I considered to be worth more [in the sense of enjoying them more] open). 3. Store and con exclusives got a special exception rule: if they were exceptionally rare and/or valuable, I could keep them without opening them. But if they were common, they were on the chopping block. These rules, coupled with continually reminding myself that selling my collection didn't mean I was no longer a fan, helped me get my collection back under control. It's still a struggle, but I don't stress out about it as much. And if I ever weaken, a trip to a secondhand store, flea market or con often helps: seeing shelves and shelves of the same stuff I have at home reminds me that I DON'T have the only remaining sealed version of X figure in the world, no matter what my brain tries to tell itself.
