We've all done it. Hopefully not too often, but we've all nabbed a 3P figure we didn't reeeeeally have the money for.

For me, I had sold PE Warden because I was annoyed at how out-of-proportion he looked with the leg extensions. But damn, he was all I could think about once he was gone. I missed how much fun the figure could be, as much of a partsforming mess as it was. So I whipped out the credit card and paid. full. price. again.

It's been a good lesson, because as much as I liked having that figure back, I winced every time I looked at him until I paid the card off. And so I've waited on things that drove me NUTS, like the Spartan rerelease, because I don't ever want to associate that nasty feeling with a TF again.

Still, damn, that NBK Yellow Devy set is tempting, even if my money all went to Christmas presents...

 

Mmc Skylynx. I'd written him off as not being in the budget, I already had my next few months' toy budget planned out, and I figured he'd be sold out by the time I found money for him. My wife and I ended up with some extra money in the budget and I convinced her to let me get him but it took up all the extra and a little more. I was grateful but then I felt bad because she hadn't gotten anything out of it. I ended up making it up to her the next month but I still feel a little bad about it.

 

Ummm... that would be yesterday. Having promised myself that I would slow down a little in preparation for the many figures coming out in the first part of the year that I have pre-ordered, I saw three A’s knight prime for the first time, fell in love, found a “deal”, and viola. Anyone need a kidney?

 

that would be the majority of figures in my collection  

 

No way man. I pay my CC off every month cause fuck interest charges. I just wait til i have the money. Now buying shit that later on I’m like Why lol. Plenty of shit to sell for impulse buys. Right now I’m selling off crap to get the tfc intercontinental ballistic missile carrying Optimus Prime.

 

I did something similar. I clung to CHUG for a long time before grudgingly switching to MP. One figure I basically missed out on until it was nowhere to be found was Phoenix, and that was a bummer because even before I went MP I'd see reviews and thought it looked like an amazing figure. Now that I was in the MP game I really wanted one

Now, in the interest of collecting responsibly, I have a set monthly budget for spending on Transformers. And one particular month I'd spent it all. I should have been a good boy and waited until the next month to buy more toys. But a board member let me know he wanted to sell his Phoenix and for a fairly reasonable price. I didn't hesitate for a minute, I just put that sucker on my PayPal credit card, figuring (correctly) that I could use the 6 months with no interest to pay it off gradually.

I guess the biggest difference in our stories is that I don't really regret it. Phoenix is easily my favorite thing FT's ever done, I paid off the credit card before I got hit with interest, and the credit car payments weren't a serious burden on my budget.

 

I was a fool when I could have gotten Skyfire for $189 and passed on it cause of my space issues. Ended up paying $275 and no regrets!

 

When I was maybe 21, I had a really shitty day at work. Stopped by Guitar Center, and walked out with a used USA Rhoads. It was like $450.

It was just about my entire paycheck. Wife was MAD.

I dont do that shit anymore. Dont have to.

 

In the near future, MP-44 will be the #1 answer here.

 

I’ve been good this year from a spending standpoint, was easier because there weren’t a ton of releases I was interested in. Next year will be tougher with some really nice but high-ticket items, like Mmc deathsaurus which is just beauty on ice;
and the iron factory djd, oh lordy.
And for some reason I’ve become interested in magic squares mp prime so I’ll be fighting those demons next year :/

Edit:

I certainly hope not. Does it have that much over MS’s, other than $300 more and a trailer?

 

The anti-3P crowd thinks so.

 

The Dibots. I was just getting into 3P, and these guys showed up. I thought at the time they were pretty awesome (and they still are, to be honest, as a set). Gah, I spent a ton of cash that I didn't really expect to spend all of a sudden.

 

No... that was kinda my point. Though, I guess, this IS the 3P forum... the wiser end of the TF spectrum IMO. I'd hardly call an interest in MS's Prime a "demon"... I think that's an Angel on your shoulder vs. the official V3 demon.

 

I bought all the fanstoys mp dinobots in 1 day, my wife was like "hey uhhhhh, did you spend $1k on something?"

 

I don't have a 'I don't have the money for that, but I just spent it anyway' story to share, but I wonder why buying Devil Stinger for $200 was so daunting to me when I've spent more than that on a single Diaclone Reboot figure. I think it's the shear size of the thing in my modest living space...

 

I don't buy it if I can't afford it. I have regrets though.

I regret selling my MMC Reformatted Carnifex with the upgrade kit when I divested of my CHUG. I kind of miss Commotus as well. I think that's about it. I didn't do much display-wise with them when I had them, I don't know the characters as I never read the modern TF comics, and I shouldn't have any real attachment to them, but I just really, really miss their aesthetic design and presence. They wouldn't really have a place in my collection proper, but I think I could have found somewhere to put them.

That regret is part of why I've hung onto the eight CHUG Azalea mold fembots, the two versions of Vos, Seraphicus Prominon, and the three MakeToys Battle Tankers (Nemesis, Hypernovae, and the other one). None of those fit with the G1 MP collection but I like them enough to hang onto them and I would probably miss them like Carnifex and Commotus. The two Vos would probably be the next to go, though.

 

I haven’t done it... yet Fortunately!

 

its another rabbit hole in that my collection is almost anti-toon, so if I buy ms-01 as a stand-alone, Pandora’s box is open: as more and better toon-esque items are released I’d use toon Optimus as to justify toon-Megatron and eventually, essentially doubling my collection with toon versions if everyone.
Demon.

 

Hmm. Can't point to a specific purchase I can point to - probably the most expensive 3P figures I bought were MMC's Kultur, Anarchus, and Cynicus, but the real budget-busters were actually TFCC figures - but I can empathize with the snowball effect. :8)

I've learned my lesson, and am working on the art of saving up for (or finding reasonable sellers of) figures. It's become clear that prices only skyrocket for 3P, and when MMC's Nickel and the Pet hit the States, I'll be ready with money I saved to pay for the pre-order.

(Single most ridiculous impulse buy, though, was a Generations Metroplex. IIRC, I plunged about $250 into him and barely made it back on resale.)

 

Daaaaaaaamn!!

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!!!