So here is something I realized the other day...

I refused to buy the new Star Wars AT-ST at full price, and was even a little gun-shy at $22. I refused to pay full price for the Marvel Universe Giant Battles packs, and still won't at $13. I wouldn't pay $30 for the new Star Wars Dewback, and was hesitant at $15.

All of those thing are things that I wanted, and things that interest me. Yet the prices, kept me from running right out and buying them.


Now I look at the current custom figure I am working on, and I just added up that I have spent over $50 making this one figure, and he isn't even finished yet!

I wouldn't pay $45 for the kick-ass, big, new, AT-ST. With driver. Sometimes I have a hard time justifying $8-$10 for a new figure, that I want (just passed on the new Luke in Snowspeeder outfit the other day because of price) But I have spent more than $50 to make one figure.


I guess perspective is everything...


Anyone else ever notice something like this?

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well I am into the hobby for the customizing, not the collecting (though you might not know that by looking at all the unopened crap in my workspace), so I am with you on this one. If I think i'm buying it without a custom in mind (like some of the big SW vehicles you mentioned) it must be on a nice clearance for me to take it. I'll still consider customizing it later, even then. But when I have a must-finish idea that I need to get out of my head, look out. I've dropped $10+ on a BBI figure, for the head alone, $15 plus for a new release Joe, and who knows how much on the smaller necessary parts, without batting an eye. And I've done so more than once. lol. Now I try to stock up on clearance fodder also, and try to condition myself to make use of what I have.

But to the core question of Collecting vs. Customizing, it's not even a question to me.

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I've found Cost to be a driving factor in what keeps me customizing ARAH figures.

Vintage figures are available in such bulk that for almost any basic custom I'm able to keep the cost of parts used under $2.

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I don't think of myself as cheap. More like frugal. I've been into toys long enough to know that I can always get something later even if I'm in gotta have it now mode. I have a set price in my head that I'm willing to pay when I see something. I'll splurge depending on the items availability, how much over my price it is, and really, how badly I want the item. It isn't that I'm waiting for a clearance. I'm waiting for the item to come down to what I'm willing to pay.

So if Marvel Universe figures usually sell for $8 a figure, but a 3 pack is $30, I'm going to pass on it. If a set of RoC figures is $25, but only comes with 2 figures I really want, I'll pass on it.

When it comes to customizing, I have the same mentality. How much am I willing to pay to have a custom meet my artistic vision? Also remember, I get something out of the customizing process that goes beyond adding another figure to a shelf. It is a hobby and so their are expenses to further my enjoyment of the hobby. Brushes, paint, sculpting material, glue, and of course, figures all cost money. So when purchasing any of it, I have a set price I'm willing to pay. Sometimes I splurge. Sometimes I can get more when there's a sale. Most times I'll wait until I can get it for my price.

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I'm willing to pay $10 for some SW figures knowing I'll rip the head off just to make one of the little characters that runs around in my head.

I bought a few Lord Asriel figures from the UK just so I could make a few James Bond.

Same goes for 1/6 figures. I'll never pay $100 or more for a military figure, yet I will pay $8 for a gun, $15 for a shoulder rig, etc to achieve the "perfect" look for a figure.

The reasoning behind this is I wont pay much for something that just lies there, but I won't hold off expenses for a creative project.

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I can totally relate. I even buy expensive parts for customs I *may* do one day.

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One thing I've learned about myself is that I like to build things. I like to accomplish something. Collecting in a sense is an accomplishment in that you have to find the items you want. In the end of collecting though you buy it and it goes on a shelf or something to display it. Basically like a hunter mounting a deer head if you want to look at it that way, hehe.

With customizing you are doing a lot of stuff to get those items you need to build the figure or vehicle. Or even building it from scratch. At the end of the build you have something more that you have done besides just going to the store and laying down money for an item. You made this item and it's a little more of a proud feeling to display it. You tend to be more open to spend more on something you are actually making as well.

So looking at it in that way, customizing can be more fun. At times it can overshadow collecting. But there's also that little thing about time. If you lack a lot of time and can not devote much to customizing, collecting sort of feels like a fall back. Hopes that the idea you have may be made by one of the companies so you can at least have some form of what you wanted to make.

I do enjoy collecting but not as much as I used to. That's mostly due to volume more than product. I've just been overloaded these past few years. So again the customizing takes center stage since I can't make near the amount of what comes out.

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Totally agree withthis one...

also, when factoring in price of a custom, you forgot the long term costs:

a 4 dollar bottle of paint can be spread out over several figures. Same deal with figure parts, sculpy, and so on (but I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know)

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Totally in agreement here!

I am no longer a "collector", I consider myself a "customizer with a collecting side habit" as most of what I now own is customized, even if it's just to fix hasbro's (sometimes) wonky paint apps. I rarely pay full retail price for anything anymore nore do I have a "gotta have it now!" mentality, even if it's parts for a custom as I know that they will eventually find their way into my fodder boxes or my display shelves if I am patient. I will buy the hell out of clearance stuff if I have the extra $$ laying around (here's to hoping that some of those $6.99 Geonosis Arena Packs at target are still present when I get my next check!). I get a majority of my stuff (both collection and fodder) through trades now anyway

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I'm an extreemely cheap customizer; I've accumulated "scrap" bins of both figure and vehicles that are either incomplete, damaged, or unwanted. My customs come exclusively from those piles. I've never dipped into my collection or bought a brand new item to finish a custom. I just have a hard time taking something new or in good condition and modifying it. Not saying I think it is wrong, it's just hard for me to do it myself.

On the plus side, sometimes it challenges me to be creative and make something from scratch that I might have otherwise bought.

Now when it comes to the diorama maker in me, I've definately bought and hoarded items just for pieces to use in my diostories.

I consider myself a customizer. The problem is that my ideas are more plentiful than my time, so I have a bunch of figures in various states. Opened, unopened, whole, pieced-out, headless, etc.

I do collect a little bit. I have some unopened Firelfy stuff, an unopened Effects figure, but I only have two shelves of figures in their original (not customized) form.

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I love the hobby aspect of what I do as a customizer. I've sold almost all of my collection, and even took some pieces I could have sold to customize something fun (my Op: 84 figure). There's something about creating a piece over buying it that I get so much satisfaction out of.

I do not collect 25th or RoC, but I have about 50 figures that I got in a lot, that I am scrapping for customs of another group that never had 3-3/4 figures, which I've always wanted. Well worth it in the end because I can say "I made that"

John M>still trying to get his son to point at his diaper and say "I made that"

Thinking about title, mine isn't so much a "vs" as it is simply I "collect to customize".

When I am not stockpiling the stuff people discard for use as something more creative, I used to love to grab a figure or a creature with the sole intent of tearing it to pieces. I don't know how many an Egyptian Spawn figures I scored at $1.99 red sticker, to take clippers and Xacto to it so all that remained was just the bare, broken, limbs. I once bought a Dragonrider Tyr figure just for the dragon skulls that were in his accessories, and the gold accents around his armor. It all comes down to how one can fulfill that artistic vision within the means of what is available, and how far one can go to see it through.

To see any idea realized, I made the sacrificial decision long ago that any figure I have, whether pricey or rare, is game for the custom. The only exception are custom gifts, and figure gifts that the memory of the gift is more sacred than the vision I could make from it.

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i am a collector and a customizer... and barely successful at either!

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I don't collect much anymore. It has to be something super well done or special for me to want it just the way it is (City Strike Snake Eyes comes to mind as a recent example of something I was happy with right out of the box).

I love customizing. Strangely, when I want to customize something, THAT'S when I get into a "gotta have it now" mentality. For instance, I want a clear-variant Wraith for my collection (I love clear figures), but I can continue to wait until I can find one at a reasonable price. I'm in no hurry. Conversely, I want an Aliens Evac Fighter for a custom project, and I am seriously chomping at the bit to get one, even though the second I get it, I'm going to take a saw to it.

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