Cool shit bro. I enjoy hearing the back stories from people on how they came to collect this and other things. With Legends specifically I've been collecting since the line began with Series 1, back in the TB days. My friends used to rag on me so hard over it, making fun of what they thought was a childish hobby. But I didn't care. I just kept right on with it. Now it's more accepted it seems which is cool. Either way, it's what makes me happy.
I got in to ML the second I saw the Jim Lee Cyclops and Rogue so I picked them up instantly when I saw them. I didn't see either of them often after I picked up mine.
You folks missing older figures need to go to toy shows. No, there's the odd figure out you won't find, like Rogue, but I pick up so much for $15-$30, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't done it. This weekend's RetroCon haul: MOTU 200X Teela - MOSC - $20 DCSH Supergirl - MOSC - $15 ML Jubilee - MISB - $20 ML Mysterio - MISB - $35 Prime First Edition Arcee - MOSC - $30 (marked down from $50) TF Animated Arcee - MOSC - $25 (marked down from $30) DB Stars Android 18 - MISB - $25 (impossible at retail) Combiner Wars Prowl - MOSC - $20 DCMV Wonder Woman (movie) - complete - $25 (OK, I got taken a little on this one, but I know the dealer, so yeah) This stuff, if you look online, could cost $400 shipped if bought separately but I just barely broke $200 running around a small convention hall. If I'd been faster or had more money on me, I would've had a half dozen other "rare and expensive on eBay" figures for under $100.
Series 1 TB and way before that for me. And yeah, don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks. I bet those same people who ragged on you are the same people who are all big on MCU now.
I went looking from ML figures at a con once and in the case of every figure I was interested in the guy would search eBay on his phone and chose the same price. And I was like "Dude, if all you're going to do is charge the same as the price on eBay I'll just go on eBay and buy it" LOL
I started collecting during the x-men warlock wave and I was able to find 2 cykes and colossus, and able to find green and hobgoblin. People come in late and can't afford to get everyone so you pick and choose and by the time you can get what you want its gone.
I collected back during the TB days too. Or more accurately, tried to. I remember distribution being way worse than it is today. WM was spotty as hell. You were lucky to even see any. No clue about Target, we didn't get any stores til a few years later. TRU was the only reliable place to look, but even then it wasn't great. Every time you looked it was nothing but the less desirable figs. Sometimes you'd get lucky and find some good stuff. I remember feeling like it was a miracle when I walked in one day and actually found a Phoenix. I found out why TRU was always cleaned out from a guy that worked there. I was looking one day, hunting for War Machine, and dude came by straightening the isle. We chatted for a bit. He said he collected too, and said it was practically a fight for things because the dude from the comic shop 5 minutes down the road always knew when they restocked and was there first thing in the morning when TRU opened, snatching all the good figs to flip at his store. And he was right. I ended up visiting that store when my older half brother stopped in to score some weed(for himself, I do not smoke) from a friend that worked there. Almost a whole wall of MLs, all priced double retail at minimum. And crazy prices on the few chase figs, I remember $60 price tags on Beta Ray Bill and Dark Phoenix. $70 for Stealth Suit IM. I begrudgingly bought the War Machine they had for $15. I was real close to ordering it from BBTS and figured cost plus shipping would come close to $15 anyway. But yeah, competing with a scalping store. In the end I think wound up with around a dozen TB MLs in all. Then they got bought by Hasbro and the Dark Days began, and I was more than happy to quit MLs and just focus on Transformers.
I got a lot of mine off Amazon back then. It was the secret spot before they blew up. They used to partner with TRU back then iirc. Definitely had a boots on the ground approach too though. Hit up the stores and didn't mind doing so at that point in my life. Now I hate searching at physical stores.
Talking about how I've been collecting ML since day one with ToyBiz makes me feel old. Honestly though I collected everything ToyBiz had to offer and then after Hasbro bought the property I kept collecting until the Brood Wave. That was the last Legends wave I bought until Return of Marvel Legends. There wasn't anyone particular reason I stopped collecting Legends around that time, but a bunch of little things just kind of added up for me. One thing I remember was not being terribly impressed with a lot of Hasbro's offerings as all their best stuff reused bodies ToyBiz had already produced and stuff like their Emma Frost that was a fully original sculpt (a character I'd waited a while for at the time) turned out really bad. That was also around the time Mattel launched DCUC and MOTUC (which while they don't hold up to today's standards were pretty exceptional back in 07/08) and I started focusing more on them. Plus I was buying more Transformers than I had in a long time as Classics/Universe had my attention as well as Animated. Came back during Return of Marvel Legends and haven't gone anywhere since. It helps that both MOTUC and DCUC are both dead so those collections are done for me and I haven't really collected many Transformers since Combiner Wars ended as I feel that they're getting too expensive anymore. I ended up selling all of my ToyBiz and early Hasbro Marvel Legends about a year ago without regrets as Hasbro seems to be intent on remaking everyone using their newer molds. I like the unified aesthetic of the newer molds as it makes the collection look more cohesive without having any of the ToyBiz or early Hasbro stuff mixed in.
Since we're sharing collector stories... I starting collecting the Infinite 3.75in wave first and wasn't interested in any larger toy sizes. Then the Black Series for Star Wars hit its stride while the 3.75in line (whatever they were called at the time) kind of stagnated. Since I was now collecting 6in figures, collecting Marvel Legends just made sense. At the time, the GoTG wave one was out and I hesitated on picking up the whole set when I saw it at TRU only to decide to get them the next day and be missing Gamora and Rocket. I did find them later and all but one of the Mandroid BAF. Not going to lie, I actually like the BAF aspect, though I completely understand why it's an unholy nightmare for some of you, especially when the BAF of a wave is all you want. Anyway after Black Widow and completing the Mandroid, that was it. I collected all of them from them on out. Though I do need to go back and get the first two Marvel Subscription Service figures (Rocket and Ultron).
I got into Legends because of the Juggernaut wave. I'd been holding off on buying Legends since they came back, preferring to focus on the 3.75 line along with all the other crap I've been collecting (Transformers, Kamen Rider & DBZ Figuarts, MonsterArts, Robot Spirits). It was kinda like missing the start of the TV series, and constantly pushing off binging the earlier seasons to catch up for a new one; it'd take too long, I already had other stuff to do/buy, and it'd be expensive. Then the Jugs wave was shown off, and it was just perfect. All X-characters I was familiar with, Jugs was legit impressive for a BAF. The X-books were what I primarily read when I was a kid (I had subscriptions by mail to Uncanny, X-Men, and Wolverine at various points up into junior high, until the Onslaught story ended) and hit my nostalgia just perfectly. I bought the wave from EE, it arrived promptly, and after that it became a lot easier to look around and go "I can get this figure here and there" and "This wave is nice" and "Well here's a good sale, might as well" and so on and so forth. The 3.75 line dying a limp, quiet death admittedly made things easier to switch gears.
So you found the dealer equivalent of the mook that stands in my booth, scans every single item on Amazon, and then goes "buuut Aaaamazon?" I always tell those folks, yes, I can pack this toy in a bag and kick it around for a few minutes to knock 99c off if they'd like. I know what the going rate for stuff is, rarely feel a need to pull out a phone for comparison, and feel dirty if I do because of how much I hate people doing it to me. On the power of Amazon...I had a kid yesterday ask for a break on a Boba Fett I was selling (I sometimes pick up lots to part out). Then he tells me they are $50 on Amazon (don't worry, I gave him the break - though I did say not to tell me that)! Sure enough, he was right. And, yet, my favorite toy store still has them for $25 (what I sold mine for). Then there was everybody asking for Revan, on sale at the same store. And disco Dazzler. If BBTS would put a stack of business cards in my next order, I'd hand them out at every show I set up at. I have such a hard time believing stories like that because they're so different from my experience. My local comic shop has always gone through Diamond and _struggled_ to sell Marvel Legends, to the point that he would only order them if you prepaid for an entire case. Half the time, those idiots would send him the wrong assortment. My friend and I had to go to Boscovs (and pay a whopping $8 each) to get the Sentinel wave because of such a mixup. And to hear $60 for a $7 ToyBiz figure? Really? If Dark Phoenix was released today, for $20, she'd be hard(ish - regular Phoenix was a shelfwarmer) to find at stores, but sit around _maybe_ $35 for a year or so (like WS Black Widow, Rogue, Spider Gwen, and probably Rescue). Of course, she'd be a regular figure and not a variant like back then...
I wish Diamond would get overthrown and collapse. They suck ass. It's such a antiquated system perpetuated solely for their benefit.
You know, when I go to a con, I try to know what everything costs in advance or at least have an idea of the maximum I would pay for it (I'm someone who is willing to pay more in person than online). I get that people want the best price but come on, don't be rude and pull out your phone to check right in front of the dealer. I also hate when someone does this and then think they have the upper hand while haggling. If I don't know the price off hand and the item is something I want, screw it, I'll just buy it. Usually I only overpay at most $20 this way so it's more of a, "Oh darn," moment than a scream at the wall and tear my eyeballs out moment. On the flip side, I hate dealers who don't have prices on anything and anytime I ask, it's either, "Let me check Amazon," or, "Well, how much do you want to pay?" At that point I just walk away. Yeah, they're pretty terrible. I know the owner of a collectible shop and sometimes collector grade items arrive like they've been punched into the box and Diamond's response is usually lacking. Lately though, his items appear to have been packed better but that's just an assumption as I haven't heard him talk about it lately. But back to Marvel Legends, they put out a fresh case of Retro collection so I picked up a Storm for my friend. This never happens. I'm getting oddly lucky at an out-of-the-way Target. They even had 5 Siege Rainmakers there (though only three remain).
So a Wal-Mart I don't go to often had a bunch of the 80th movie two packs for $15, but none of the comic ones. Shame.
I would see that red and black Spidey everywhere and occasionally it would sink in how many times I missed Mysterio. It feels like I did something at this point.
I started with ML wave 1 Iron Man right after Spider-Man Classics but didn't go borderline completionist until years later. I've slowed way down, partially because I don't want some of the figures I got anymore and also because hasbro's been redoing some of the figures that sorely needed redoes so I can wait for better versions down the line. It took them years to get to a consistent standard but right around 2014 was when they started getting more cohesive in a good way. There are still some Toy Biz figures that remain unsurpassed. I do regret passing on Spider-Man Classics battle damaged Spider-Man. Their Bishop and Omega Red are still decent. Mecha Hulk is awesome. I also like the grey Cyber Spidey. On the other hand Hasbro's Archangels are much better than the Toy Biz one with the missle backpack. And the brown costume Wolverine by Hasbro surpassed the Toy Biz one. The Toy Biz one was definitive for about a decade.
