Zen and the art of action figure collecting:
An observation by Harkonen
As a long time collector and reader of message boards, I’m amused by the rantings of fellow collectors concerning our hobby. Of late most notably the Marvel Legends Toy Biz brew ha ha has been burning up the boards. Boy are people pissed.
In case you're late to the party I’ll recap for you. Toy Biz has been making some wonderful toys based on the Marvel Comics and movie properties. Great articulation, detail, packaging, assortment, price and attention to fan favorites wanted but not available elsewhere has made Marvel Legends, well legendary. But as there always is to something great, there's a bad side. Ya know as Vader is to the force, STD is to sex...um well you get the idea. Ok where was I? Oh yeah, anyway Toy Biz, in they're infinite wisdom has limited some of the figures to 1 or less figures per case. Some of these figures have 'chase' variants that occur in approximately 1 in 10 cases. To make matters worse these rare figures generally are the fan favorites, characters that either have not ever been made or have not gotten the loving rendition fans have wanted. Examples of these are: The Red Skull, Dark Phoenix, Hawkeye, ect. This decision on the toy makers part has raised a storm of controversy. Frankly I find it all very amusing. When did collecting painted pieces of plastic get sooo important that we would go to war over them? Am I over stating the matter? I don't think so. Read some of the posts out there in the virtual world on any number of sites, Action Figure Times is a personal favorite. People it's a hobby, not a religion. Have some fun with it. If your collecting becomes a burden, be it by stress, finance or in my case lack of space maybe it's time to consider a new hobby. Go back to when you first began acquiring your plastic gold. What was your mindset then? 'WOW! That's the coolest! I have to
have it!!!' I guess the passion and enthusiasm we bring to our collecting can bring out many emotions. Part of the sheer joy of collecting for me is the hunt or perhaps the luck would be a better term. Walking into a store with no plan or expectations and discovering a treasure awaiting is almost indescribable. My girlfriend has been with me on some of these occasions and has remarked 'gee I wish you looked at me like that'. I guess the point I’m trying to make is keep it in perspective. It's only as important as you make it. When collecting becomes so engrossing that I anguish over not getting that special figure then I’ll quit. Life's too short to make such a big deal over such a little thing. Could Toy Biz or Mezco or McFarlane do a better job of getting the toys that we collectors want into our hot little hands? Yes. Have things gotten better over the years in this respect? Definitely. Personally I’m amazed at the strides that have been made. When I began I never thought I’d see a Howard the Duck, Monty Python, Scarface figures. Choices, choices, choices. I think Toy Biz has done a remarkably shrewd job of marketing. Crap it's all anyone is talking about! The anticipation is rabid for these figures and fans don't understand why Toy Biz is doing this to them? Hello? It's called creating a demand and you're playing right into they're hands. Bottom line: if you want it, it just might cost you a pretty penny to get it. Make a choice and live with it. I do it every time I think about buying a new figure. Do I really need this? Sometimes it's no. That's it end of story, if I was meant to have it I would. At the end of the day it's just a piece of plastic after all. Thanks for listening, good luck and enjoy the hunt.
