So much this. I bought Arashi after watching Emgo's generally positive review of Susanoo. Then i get him in & am blown away how disappointing he is. Pity nobody else would buy everything off DNA-D & redo it but better.

 

lololol I've heard tons of frustrated consumers wish that to Nike, Rolex, Yeezy, Audemars Piguet, Patek Phillippe. The limited run isn't a bug, its the main feature.

Overall I think it's a beneficial for the companies to have limited runs, though it sucks for consumers who end up having to play into the game.

Having a limited product, over and over, drives up the desirability of the brand. Let's be honest, there are a lot of things that people partake in just because other people can't.

Additionally, knowing that a product is hard to get your hands on, guarantees that product will sell out, reducing risk for the manufacturer. Take a look at all the other 3P manufacturer (or companies in other industries). The fact that you know that product will be there, waiting for you, allows you to pause and make rational decisions, possibly losing a sale on the product. However, if you see that every site has sold out pre-orders, and you come across a place that has pre-orders available, you're more inclined to purchase it immediately, for fear of losing out. You rationalize that even if you don't truly love it, you can sell it, possibly at a profit.

Take a look at Rolex, their Daytona and GMT Master-ii models are made from stainless steel, which is way cheaper than their precious metal counterparts. However, authorized dealers get very very very very limited numbers of those models, and cannot meet demand, therefore a watch that retails for $9k, fetches double that, $18k on the secondary market, whereas precious metal models never see that kind of appreciation. Same with Audemar Piguet, Patek Phillippe, and sneakers from Nike and Yeezy. These are seen as prestige brands, unlike Omega, or even Takara Tomy Masterpieces (their expensive, but readily available for purchase anytime and their qc sucks).

 

Okay, here we go...

Fansproject Roadbuster - I like the visuals, but he was a loose, floppy mess out of the box.

Fansproject Dinobots - These figures looked great and seemed like a bargain when I bought them, but the mystique wore off quickly. Lots of floppy joints, transformations that weren’t fun, and very noticeable duck-lips. They didn’t hold up, and I eventually replaced them with the Planet X Dinobots. Speaking of...

Planet X Paddles - You know what’s fun? Get a Dinobot with a long neck that needs to fold up along the spine of the bot. Then, be sure not to include and tabs or clips to hold it in place. Make sure the friction needed is weak, too, so it won’t stay up. Now give him terrible forearms - I mean make them fiddly and impossible to keep in place.

90% of Titans Return - I bought up a lot of this line, and it was stuffed to the gills with junk. Most of the figures were floppy messes, and the Voyagers I bought were barely any better. This line was so bad I nearly quit the hobby. Brainstorm prevented that, followed by Triggerhappy and Slugslinger. The Monsterbots and Perceptor were okay. Six shot was decent enough to warrant an upgrade kit purchase. But good lord, was it a mistake to buy that Powermaster Prime and the upgrade kit. That piece of crap would explode out of its tabs if you so much as stared at it.

OS Warbotron KO - There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this figure. He’s sturdy as hell and even survived a shelf dive, but he just doesn’t fit in with any part of my collection. He’s in storage indefinitely.

 

I kinda regret getting xovergen trailerforce...

But on the other hand, I kinda regret not getting their godbomber for $80 when bbts had him on sale :v

There's also a bunch of other figures I wound up skipping for some reason or another

 

Funny you mention that. I recently sold most of my MMC except for Kultur and Deadlock. Actually, my favorite MMC release did become Kultur, and i kind of want to keep him as a solo or duo with deadlock, which i also like, but Kultur just much more. That said, i am always re-evaluating on keeping them or not.

 

I've replaced a dozen or so figures since I started collecting, but there are only 2 I regretted as soon as I opened them... SXS Gears and KFC Perceptor. Immediately I knew they weren't going to work in their respective displays... but I eventually got decent money back for them.

All the other figures that have come and gone, I liked and displayed for a time (even the KO's of Red Alert and Lambor with their non-tabbing chests), and when I got rid of them, I got good money for them... except for the mentioned KO's, which I simply gave to my brother.

My biggest regret though, is...

...but not for the same reason. I already had MMC's Feral Rex (still do), and wanted individual MP Predacons. I really liked the MMC Stylisation, and knew that the Jinbao KO's would scale correctly, but had a few issues. I bought the set, then the replacement parts set for the hands and Razorclaw's chest/lion head, then bought correctly sized heads from Shapeways for all of them, got the correct paints, and spent a few weeks painting them up.

All that effort, and literally within a few weeks of getting them finished and on the shelf, Cang-Toys showed their renders of Ferocious, and they immediately became placeholders.

I spent 3 days wrestling with transforming Susanoo before giving up and keeping it in 'bot mode. I should regret that purchase, but it just looks so bloody good on display, I can't get angry at it.

And there's only only one figure I regret missing, and that's FT's Cyclonus. I've got XTB's and like it a lot... it looks great with Andras and Sovereign... but the IDW parts for Quietus eventually sold me on it... and I don't want to pay the late tax on it now.

 

I dont know, i just downsized alot, and i feel fantastic about it... It is very liberating. Heck, i wanna downsize some more, lol.

Other than getting some of my money back, i get to pick the ones i want/love the most TODAY, and appreciate them alot more, and not take up so much space. So i decided to concentrate on the FT / MP figures with compact Bot and Alt modes and in the S1 and S2 only (except Arcee, and maybe future OM autobot tapes), as well as smaller Macross / other chogokins. Also, this way, i get to enjoy the latest and greatest, and if it doesnt please me in hands, or after time, i get to not feel regret by re-selling it. The greatest liberator is to NOT want to collect them all, just the ones that please me the most at the moment.

As for time and effort spent / wasted... yea, i aint getting it back, and that is just how it is. I did enjoy it at the time, but if i were to go back, i would restrict myself to preferably 1 shelf of say 30" to 40" length, and spend most my time instead on meditation / learning to be self sufficient / exploring the world / facing and conquering my fears / exploring living in misc types of low cost housing.

 

Most if not all of them are from the official line actually.

1. vintage dinobots and predacons are overpriced garbage compared to what we have now as collectors.
2. lg thrilling 30 springer- one of the most overrated figures. It had a spectacular head sculpt but a visible hollow torso, fake ankle rockers & no finger articulation
3. classics jetfire- no waist swivel, ankle rockers and finger articulation.
4. official bayverse stuff- self explanatory
5. selling IT Megatron- I still think about whether I made the right decision selling it off
6. Maketoys Jetfire- He is painted like Jetfire and has colors like Jetfire but he is definitely not jetfire.
7. IF sky shadow- little to no waist swivel
8. Not getting a chance to buy FT sovereign
9. Not getting a chance to buy MMC Kultur
10. Buying other toys other than 3rd party transformers (I don't know if that counts).

 

Other than the typical self-loathing about spending money on something as useless as a Transformer, I have no regrets.

 

Starscream's MP KO is horrible material

 

Getting into the MP line. Could have saved a bloody fortune!!

 

You can still get MMC Kultur there's a re-release planned.

 

I don't know... My mind doesn't work that way, I buy things because I like them not because they are rare, exclusive or expensive.

 

So far nothing, but I do have a fear that after reading so many horror stories, I will open again the boxes of the KBB TC and SW and probably I will find dust, instead of two f15s.....

 

Yup I pre-ordered it right away when I saw it. Thanks!

 

I still think this is one of the best molds of Springer among all the official and 3P Springers.

My own regrets usually comes from pre-orders from 3P. Because often the 2nd batch comes with the fix, the better paint or even more accessories.

 

my only regret...not making enough money to buy all of them... ALLLLLLLLLLL of them...
   

 

i have been slowly doing that with my hot toys/sideshow star wars , i only have 10 left thinking of keeping vader , the 2 storm troopers ,emperor palpatine , boba fett and yoda but even then i might end up selling them   with my transformers collection and record collection they already take up a lot of space so one had to go and in reality it was just too much money spent and space being taken up   good thing about 1:6 scale star wars some shoot up in value made a nice profit on what i have sold so far and don't miss them like i thought i would

 

I have not many regrets and they all center around official MP and MMC.

1. MP Laserwave, Star Saber and Black Convoy V3. They are all either lacking in paint, fit and finish, articulation, build quality or all of the above (looking at you Star Saber)
2. MMC Boreas. What an horrible release. Cheap, unimaginative repaint of a figure no one wanted. Terrible use of cheap material. A massive let down from my then favorite company. Only Reformatted toy that went straight to storage.
3. Passing on the FT Insecticons thinking MMC would easily surpass them. I‘m regretting this decision every day when I think about the bug shaped hole in my MP collection.

 

Not jumping on Ocular Max Hellion when I had the chance. Ocular Max is my preferred 3rd Party MP line and I wanted a Cliffjumper for my collection. I had chances to get it when it was still $70, but never did and now it's $250+. I'm still hoping for a reissue down the line because hey, Calidus is actually getting one

Not jumping on Fans Toys Phoenix. Same deal with Hellion, I really want a Jetfire for my collection, had a chance to get him but never did. Heck I'd be fine getting that Daca Toys version everyone seems to hate, had a chance for just $100 and never took it. Now he goes for $400 for both

Not getting most Fans Toys when they were significantly cheaper, especially since even just their reissues tend to double in price. I don't even want to start on the aftermarket prices

As for ones I do own. My first 3rd Party MP was Omnigonix Spinout. Next was DX9 Invisible. Surprised those didn't kill 3rd party collecting for me. Took getting Saltus for me to say "hey 3rd Parties can be pretty good"