Well said man.   This sentence truly speaks volumes about the rut many of us 80's kids can find ourselves in nowadays thanks to the targeted marketing of all the various companies and their competitive clamoring for all of our disposable income. Nostalgia is a cruel and evil mistress indeed.

And I must agree with what others have been saying - this thread is very cathartic to read. I've downsized tremendously since 2010 myself and have very little left now. I have some regrets, but not many. Those that I do lament letting go of are some Classics and my Animated stuff.

I've firmly been on the fence for a while now about going all-in on Masterpiece, but after seeing a local friend and fellow board member's collection up close and in person, I have to say the temptation is growing. Even if they take ages to make all the characters I want, that kind of appeals to me now in a strange way. I'd rather have a few really nice figures to look forward to every year than loads of impulse buys at retail I turn around and regret in no time flat. The QC issues are mainly what scare me about diving in to Masterpiece. It's hard to have much grief over shoddy quality control on cheap retail product, especially if you try and be picky when buying them in the first place. Major issues on figures pushing $100 or more scares me to death though, especially when you have no control over what you're being sent and how they're usually packaged.

 

Do it now before the market crashes and yes it eventually will. If you are patient, you can probably regain what you've lost at truly a fraction of the price you get now.

 

I'll go against what I perceive to be the grain and recommend you dump classics first.

If you are considering going all-in on MP, that is G1 at its apex. Ask yourself if you really need or want classics versions at that point?

When I started paring down stuff about a year ago, Classics and Alternators were the first in the crosshairs. They were always pretenders to the G1 throne that MP and some 3P offerings are now claiming. As such, those were the most redundant lines to me. I decided I did not want or need to settle for "sort of G1" stuff anymore. Sure, they're a boatload of classics at this point, but that just means there's more to sell for funding MPs  

 

If you aren't going to be doing anything with various lines, then it might be best to move them out and let somebody else have a turn.

An example would be Animated (a line I have no familiarity with, but that's irrelevant). Not buying any more figures from that line? Watching the cartoon/show doesn't make you want to break out your collection from whatever box they're in? If the answers are "yes" and "yes", then it's hard to see what will excite you about having them in the future. Might as well move them out. And, hey, they're only toys. So don't burst your brain over it.  

 

If you've been bit by the Hot Toys bug, then do it. You'll appreciate having the Hot Toys figures more and they'll take up less space (in terms of quantity). Plus, you'll need that extra money for them. Once they're gone, you won't lose any sleep. If you're not appreciating your current toys, then they have no purpose in your collection. Don't confuse hoarding with collecting!

 

I thought about starting a thread like this a couple weeks ago. I'm going through the same exact thing and it seems like a lot of posters in this thread are too. Like someone else said, sometimes there's a sentimentality attached to the older figures. Like for example I remember opening classics Starscream, Bumblebee, and Hot Rod back when they came out and just being floored. Now I look at them and the memories are there but the excitement is gone.
It's funny how 10 years ago it was all about increasing the collection count, and now it's about decreasing (and keeping only what is most important).

 

Seriously,I do not think that you are crazy,is just that it is a sign of maturity from you,cheers.

 

nope. you've gone crazy.

 

id love to go MP exclusive buuut I really really like my city bots, skylynx, godmasters and pretenders and MPs of those are impossible and unlikely(and im not a fan of the marvel approach of citybots scaled evenly with typical transformers lol)

cant say i blame you, but part of me really loves my g1 collection, but part of me really wants to go mp exclusive and get-to-the-point of this. if and WHEN theres a Cyclonus, then there will be no more questions as to where my loyalties lie lol! and that new mp Ratbat, Ultra Magnus and Star Saber coming out...

 

Whatever you're hesitant on selling, do this: store it away for a while. Sell the things you are absolutely sure you want to get rid of. But if you're hesitant on some things, you're likely to regret getting rid of them. Having things "out of sight" but still in your possession can help give you further understanding about what exactly you want to keep.

 

Well after some consideration I decided to sell about 80% of my collection which is all listed in the B/S/T threads. Need to get out of credit card debt. If I am able to get out of credit card debit my wife and I can get a bigger house and have more kids.

 

I wish I had the balls to dump all my collection to keep just the MP-level stuff, but I'm not ready yet.

 

I'm considering doing this but I'm not whole heartedly there yet...

The new line doesn't excite me anymore. I dunno, maybe I got saturated with the Prime/RiD/BH line. When the pics of the AoE figures came out, wasn't even excited. Didn't help that we haven't gotten the recent Generations wave here either.

MP is what's pumping my blood right now.

 

Do what you like. Buy what you like. Keep what you like. Get rid of anything you really don't want or bought out of some weird sense of "obligation."

I bought all those stupid POTF2 SW figures for years...had hundreds of them. Dumb crappy characters I didn't even want, just cause I thought I "needed" them all. One day I went through them, kept the 40-50 I really loved, and gave the rest to my nephews who beat the hell out of them playing with them every day. They don't care who the characters are or how over-muscled some of them are...they're toys and they loved them.

Buy what you like and you'll be much much happier. You don't "owe" anyone to keep buying stuff to "complete" lines or collections. That's just obsessive compulsive behavior that collectors have a hard time shaking.

I only collect MPs and Encore and very very rarely a CHUG that looks amazing to me, like Drift. And I'm much happier that way.

I look at the new stuff that's coming out for the movie and I just shake my head...it looks like such utter, insultingly bad GARBAGE. To ME. That's my opinion....if you like it, I'm not calling you an idiot...I just simply can't fathom spending money on such dumb looking crap. But apparently Hasbro/TT thinks it's gonna sell a lot. Well, I don't care either way. I'm not buying it.

(In another thread people were gushing about how cool Galvatron looks in the movie...how can anyone tell any of the robots apart? At least the Autobots have some car parts sticking out...the Deceps are just these big piles of jagged metal sticking out all over. Meh. Not for me.)

Buy what you like. Get rid of the rest. If you think you'll even remotely miss something when it's gone, hold on to it. If you have ZERO attachment to it, sell it, give it to goodwill, give it to nephews. You'll be a lot happier with a streamlined collection that you LOVE.

 

The thing I think about with collecting, once I have it what do I do with it?
Usually that means nothing, perhaps I see it out of the corner of my eye sometimes and to me thats not worth the space.

I mostly get by with looking at other's toys but I personally don't feel the need to brag about having X number of whatever.

In short, I don't think you are crazy, but sane.

 

I pretty much went MP only recently, whether it be third party or official, but I am a geewunner so it only made sense for me as I don't care for the other toylines.

 

if you have beast wars and youre thinking of dumping it then yes! you've gone crazy (otherwise no)

 

I did this when I considered selling my collection, and I am really happy that I did. In the time that I had my TFs stored, I really regretted the idea of selling my classics, so I decided to retain my classics and sell everything else. It was an easier decision for me to make because it wasn't influenced by a need to uphold financial responsibilities.

 

I think my only hesitation at considering sacrificing a classics collection would be that we're soooo close to a complete seasons 1-4 cast of G1 characters through classics (+ 3rd party). And the smaller size of classics allow for displays that don't take up that much space.

But I can totally understand the move toward an MP-only, clean/limited display of high quality pieces.