Collecting the Whole Toy Line?

[jjwr]

Curious if anyone out there feels compelled to collect the entire line of a particular toy. I know its cool to have a complete set of something but with some of these toy lines its so damn hard.

I think its easier for lines that are already over, that way you know whats out and have a good goal in mind, but with new stuff you never know whats gonna come out and if it'll be exclusive, etc.

Outside of the price of some of the figures I think the easiest line to collect would be the Original Star Wars line, they're a ton of them out there and just about everyone knows whats in the line, I think that makes it a very collectible and onbtainable gole to get the whole line.

The line that brought me to this Dilemma though is the G.I.Joe 3 3/4" toys, on a Joe mailing list the question popped up of how many figures are there in the line, the general consesus was around 560 different figures...560!!! I think I've got maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of that total, but a lot of dupes, its just a huge number. Then there are variants and all the international variants out there which are still being discovered so the number could go up even though the line has been closed down for 6yrs.

I'd love to have them all but its such a daunting task, and some of these figures are very hard to find and push the $100 mark. And this is just figures, don't even want to go into the accessories, I think at the time Joe was pretty unique with the number of accessories its little guys came with, some guys had up to 10 things with them, finding just one little gun or knife can be extremely hard sometime. Then there are the ultra small pieces that every kid lost(Firefly's cellphone, Lifttickets Mouthpiece, Little visors that went on the helmets of the first few years). As a Kid I was lucky enough to have a gun left over let alone a mouthpiece thats not even a centimeter long!

Anyways, enough rambling, just curious what everyone thinks on this.

[Bromine]

While I too find something compelling about collecting a complete line, there's a couple things holding me back: First, it costs a LOT. You can actually work out ahead of time how much it's going to cost you, since you know roughly how many figures are released in a quarter year, and looking at those numbers can turn my stomach. Second, by committing to collect the whole line, you're going to end up with some crappy figures you didn't really want. Notice the people complaining the most about POFT2 are the completists who buy all the figures whether they hate them or not.
It's different with a small line like the X-Men movie figures. It's relatively inexpensive to get the whole set and you pretty well know you won't get many resculpts.
The way I get around the dillemma of whether or not to be a "completist" is to decide to collect part of a line, like all the Jedi Council members.

[Jedieb]

I consider myself a completist when it comes to the POTF2 line. But there are different kinds of completists. I for one never cared much for card variations. They just didn't interest me. I value MAJOR variations in the figures themselves. A typical example; tan vested Luke & open hand Hoth Han. I've got versions of both of those because I liked them and they were relatively easy to find at the time. On the other hand while some people consider the half circle and insignia paint variations on the early Boba Fetts to be a major variation I never thought much about them and thus never went after them. I basically try to get one version of every new SW figure. Bottom line, it can be a pain in the ass.

Collecting a complete set of vintage figures would probably be cheaper and easier. But that's only if you stop with POTF. If you feel the need to go on to the Ewok and Droids figures then you're going to shell out some serious cash. Those two lines could add over $1,000 in expenses. Eventually, my vintage collection will be complete when I finish off all of the SW-POTF figures, a few select playsets and ships, and a few select Droids figures.

As for G.I. Joe, jjwr you poor bastard! 560 figures! And I bet you've got you're heart set on some of the playsets as well, don't you? You're looking at thousands of dollars. I know a set of complete loose vintage figures (SW-POTF) can run a collector from $2,000-$4,000. If you buy it piece by piece it becomes more expensive then if you manage to buy an entire set of figures in one shot. I wish you good luck. But you're going to have to make a decision with the new Joe releases. Are you going to go after them, or concentrate on the new stuff? It's hard to do both. I've had to lay off vintage stuff because of POTF2, EP1, & POTJ. Hell, all the new stuff that's come out these last few weeks has run me over $250 and I still haven't snagged the 12" Maul with Speeder.
Being a completist is just so draining. I wish I could treat the 3 3/4" line the way Bromine does, or the way I treat the 12" line. But freakin' Hasbro has me addicted to the toys of my childhood. Evil bastards!!!!!

[Jedi Master Kyle]

I tried to get the entire POTF2 line, but they keep putting new figs out and it is impossible to keep up.

[jjwr]

I never put my thought into card variations, though I do like to get MOC items(though only older stuff).....I always thought there was something really cool about a older 80's toy MOC, I had one SW figure(Gamorean Guard) but I traded him for G.I.Joe :) MISB Vehicles are cool too, only have one, but they're still cool :)

I still have no idea if I'll go for the whole set, I think it would be great, but then again thats a pretty big task. I think I may just stick to the ones I like the best and building up armies of various troops and what not.

As for the playsets luckily I've got most of the big vehicles and playsets already, I bought a collection a few years back for $450 that has the Aircraft Carrier and Cobra Base along with a lot of the vehicles, but then theres the Defiant Shuttle Complex which would set me back at least $200...sigh.

I'm definetly gonna buy all the new ones that come out this year, if they start the whole line up again I don't know what I'll do, the figures are going to be about $4 a pop so it wouldn't bet that bad to get them all, and the Joe vehicles aren't that badly priced($20 for a motorized tank with 2 figs) so I'll probably get those too.

[Jedieb]

What I've found is that the availability of the "new" stuff puts your vintage figures on the back burner. Finding vintage stuff really isn't that hard, but when you can find the new stuff right at your local WalMart or TRU you can't help yourself. The sad irony is if I'd never picked up on POTF2 I'd have a killer vintage collection right now and I probably would have saved a couple of grand. :(

I hope this doesn't happen to you jjwr.
MTFBWY