I didn't think I'd ever reach this point, but here I am. I have finally reached the point where I'm out of space. My wife mentioned that it's kind of like a museum where I have to rotate my permanent collection. I have a few items on pre-order, but I don't know if I should stop once they get released. I'm planning to move to a bigger space in a few years, but I'm not sure if I should just stop and pay eBay prices after I finally have space, or keep up and buy only a few items a year and send them straight to the garage. Any thoughts?
Proritize what hss to be displayed and what can't. If it can't then it can safely sit in a box until you want it to or it can.
Teĺl the wife she has too much crap everywhere. Throw all her shit on the lawn and bring in more detolfs.
Haha. No just kidding around. But if collecting is the thing, keep on collecting. Display the new and store the old stuff.
Personally, I'd stop, or sell of a chunk of the collection. I told myself I'd buy only what I could display on the furniture I had, but two Detolfs and some other shelves later, I've once again run out of room. I despise the "slippery slope" argument, but knowing myself and seeing what my collection has become, I refuse to let any of my figures sit in boxes, because if I keep that going, soon I'll run out of space for boxes and my place will be a nightmare.
At this point I'm just trying to finish up Titans Return and Combiner wars and I'll be MPs only. I'd really rather not sell my collection. I do rotate them out of the box and into the displays. Every month or so, I transform my display pieces back to where they can fit their original box, and I put those in storage. Then I'll pull some pieces out and put them on my display and transform them, too.
I'm also speaking as someone who has hardly enough storage space for things like clothes and classroom supplies that are more important than my figures. My fiancee uses most of her storage for holiday decorations and memory boxes. I'd rather not have any of these boxes (figures or otherwise) spilling into our living space (outside of what figures are already on display), so I either sell off some figures or rent a storage unit, and only one of those options makes sense to me.
That said, my collection is constantly evolving. I'll get on a G1 kick or a specific character kick or a certain scale kick. I'll also find "better" version of certain characters, making it easier for me to sell off older versions that I don't like/need anymore. Since they have to fight for self space (not literally, but that would be DOPE), only the best remain. Since you rotate your collection, it's certainly much easier to keep all of them, since you have that storage space and you don't see all of them next to each other on the shelf.
You are at a dangerous crossroads which many people here, including me, have faced. At the point you start buying to immediately put in storage, rather than display or enjoy in any way, you cross over from being a collector to having some kind of OCD-ish disorder. This habit of buying things that go straight into storage is something that can spiral out of control very quickly. My advice is to only have as much stuff as you can display at any one time. You may miss out on some figures, but keep in mind, there's always going to be new stuff coming out to buy. Forever. And a lot of the characters who get figures today will get better figures later. Old Classics figures get replaced by new release versions all the time in peoples' collections. So while you may miss something now, your chance to get character X will come back around. Just look at it like you are skipping one lap around the track. I agree with the people who say sell off a chunk of your collection. Be ruthless. It will hurt at the moment, but it feels good later. You can buy new stuff with a lighter conscience, without feeling like an aspect of your life is getting beyond your control. I think there's a certain therapeutic, stress-relieving effect to buying new figures for a lot of us. But there's also a kind of stress that comes from having too much, as it begins to take over your home and transitions from "collection" to "clutter."
Excellent points made by all. Perhaps this is where I can work on learning how to paint figures and picking up upgrade kits.
My plan is to one day build a garage thats a gym and has transformers all along the walls kinda like a detached man cave, but with toys droping in what they are i only want to finish classics and go mp only, come on beast themed line
Selling figures is therapeutic for me. I love helping people get what they need at a good price. Also I try to get the best chug and "mp" version of characters that I want. I had to make hard choices when my wife got pregnant and I lost my toy room. Going from a 10x11 room to a 7ft tall by 3ft wide cabinet was tough. I had to really trim the fat. So who wants to buy these figures that I have for sale? Make me an offer even!
I'm in the "sell some stuff" camp. It used to be hard for me but I had to draw the line somewhere and it's gotten easier over time. You can't be a slave to the plastic.
Sell the easy to replace stuff, 99% of the time, retail figures go down after their hype has died off.
Just sold off Visualizers and I miss those green chests already. But now that I have decepticon heavy hitters I don't need energon cube transporters anymore. Freed up space for Eligos!
