The main thing is that it has to fit with my other stuff. That usually means crude smoggy monsters. If there's a clear version I stick to that, especially a Bwana version.
I used to buy whatever I liked, but there's just too much. Now I'm trying to focus on a few things. Gives me a reason to say no once and a while.
Absolutely no rules except it has to be an exciting cool figure. I don't collect only certain toy lines or only certain types of toys. I like mashing it all up, again as long as they're all strong pieces in my mind. With the popularity of certain toy lines, I'm starting to follow them less and pushing myself to find other (less hyped, less mainstream) exciting stuff, and this is leading me to collect vintage and DIY. To me, the most exciting collections seem to have an organic, rather than linear, growth to them. Meaning that they cross over certain areas or lines and match up old and new or messy and clean lines etc. rather than the systematic completist collections which leave me cold.
I was not commenting on you, chris. my apologies. Just seemed like the natural progression of the statement. I buy what looks cool.. yep. try and stick to my favorite brands, but sometimes stray from gargamel and the base. Although, I wish I would not have strayed into tttoyz ttterritory.
My philosphy is similar to liquidsky's -I like to mix it up. I do try to stick to a few rules of what not to buy though, because I like too much stuff. I don't generally buy unpainted figures or more than one example of a sculpt. Or maybe two examples. Ok, no more than 4 or 5 examples of a sculpt.
I was ONLY buying Balzac stuff but now I want 1 of each sculpt of SB and some other companies. If they catch my eye I want it.
For me it is mainly about the sculpt. So here are my buying guidelines: 1. Only one of each sculpt (OK- maybe a few). This allows me to collect more different sculpts and I don't spend my $$ chasing rare colorways. 2. No unpainted figs because paint usually enhances the detail of the sculpt. 3. No transparent vinyl (unless it's mostly painted) because it tends to obsure the details of the sculpt. I don't really care what the inside looks like. 4. No GID (unless it's mostly painted) because I usually view my collection with the lights on. 5. Buy only at (or less than) retail. No flipper prices. Any sculpt I miss will be re-released soon enough in a another colorway. 6. No customs. 7. Buy from Super 7 if possible because they are good and fair people.
And so it starts... I really like yiminy's approach. I think my guidelines are a lot like his/hers. But I will go for an unpainted depending on what it is and if I want it customized. Unpainted clear is OK if I like the sculpt and color, but I usually want a solid "normal" version for reference if I do anything like that--and then I have to like the sculpt enough to want more than one. GID is wonderful, but unpainted GID is not my style.
I appreciate colored translucent vinyl not because I want to see the inside of the sculpt, but because I've always loved colored translucency, e.g. the brilliant stained glass objects that my aunt made when I was a kid and colored antique bottles and insulators that my grandmother set on window sills around her home. Great eye candy. The effect of light through translucent hues is beautiful, it has a visceral effect that most people find pleasurable. I arrange them by color, to some extent in chromatic order ... the "rainbow" effect is really cool. The trick is to place them in areas where they'll get lots of daylight, but not direct sunlight, as I learned the hard way with a pricey Western figure that was recently ruined by very brief exposure to some rays of morning sun. Live and learn. As for GID, I resisted GID objects at first because of all the wrong connotations ... cheap novelty, memories of smoke-filled dorm rooms with tacky black light posters, and the GID toys I had as a kid but didn't like very much LOL. Then more and more GID kaiju started coming my way, and I came to realize that in fact raw GID vinyl can show off sculptural details in a very pure way, and that the novelty of seeing the things glow when the lights are turned off is actually pretty fun. I have no plans to build a black light display but I can see why people do. If I had some of Koji's custom GID toys with flourescent paint, I probably would. Anyway, I like it when I get past any "I don't like..." attitudes. It's fun to broaden your taste. I find that each acquisition potentially presents a new theme or colorway or monster to collect more of, as toys grouped by such conventions tend to compliment one another. I started with translucent blue. For example, I bought a clear blue Marmit candy case Hedorah from a board member because I already had some clear blue figures. That made me want to get more of the Marmit candy cases, which I did. (Great little Hedorah sculpt by the way.) Similarly, when I realized that the S7 mini-Damnedron matched the toxic pink Blobpi, I grabbed a Charactics mini-Hedorah in the same colorway. This could go on forever to one's financial ruin, but I do like how each toy broadens what criteria one may use for some cohesion. On the other hand, I've intentionally collected RxH figures so far with an eye to diversity. No two that I own so far really match. That won't last for long, but as an RxH newb, it's made for a very nice, increasingly crowded shelf. For my part, my rules are consciously temporary, as I don't want to stagnate or become beholden to only one or two brands, monsters, or anything, really.
No unpainted ? NO unpainted ? Just got the blue gargamel blank minis. These are smoking hot. (Im likin em for right now at least) Im also liking the unpaited clear maxtoy desura. I can relate in MANY instances though. Wink PS. DenAce 4EVA !! Smile
