From Hot Toys to Mezco: The Evolution of a Collector Part 2

It was March 31st 2018, and my Marvel Legend's collection that began with Black Panther on my 31st birthday on March 3rd had now begun creeping over 50 figures.  My wife and I had bought a bookcase from Ikea with glass coverings known as the "Billy", that served the duel purpose of housing literature, and my growing Marvel Legends Collection.  There was only one problem: I wasn't enjoying the process of collecting.

Continued after the break...

Rather than cherishing the latest legend I had obtained it was always off to the next incarnation of Groot or another Iron Man Armor.  Unlike my hot toys collection that was pristine in

an ikea "Detolf" the Legends always seemed cluttered, and unfocused not matter how nice of a display I used to hold them.  

It soon became a pain to reorganize them, as the domino effect took hold of my collection.  So many times I would be changing up my display when one figure would topple to knock over 20 more, resulting in myself wasting precious time setting up my display once again.  I even experimented with multiple stands tailored toward Marvel Legends, but nothing seem to fix my toppling problem.  The collecting of Marvel Legends also began to feel like a job.  Every time we went to a place that had a toy isle I felt the pressure to stop, and see if they had the latest MCU legend, something that made my wife dread trips to Target.

  
A lot of source this extra "hunting", and toy runs as collectors call them was Harbro's use of the build a figure model.  More

often than not if you wanted to complete a team like Mantis with the Guardians of the Galaxy you were forced to buy figures you didn't really want or worse pay as much for the parts on Ebay as you would for one figure.  I understand the business model Hasbro has behind the build a figure, by preventing peg warming of lesser-known characters, but at the very least give me the option to buy a complete "BAF" at premium price point.

After spending upwards of $350 on Marvel Legends in less than a month I came to the realization that these were never going to make me happy as a collector.  Despite the new face printing technology implemented by Hasbro in 2017 to up their likeness game, they just would never compare to the satisfaction of Hot Toys.  This when the thought crossed my mind that for all of these lower end figure; I could have had at least one higher end figure that I would enjoy more, that's when I decided to sell my Marvel Legends collection.

After flirting with multiple buyers on Ebay, I finally decided to let my collection go to a fellow collector in Miami, FL who bought the lot for $365, after shipping this made for a slight loss, but the peace of mind was worth it.  The question quickly became what's next? My first instinct was take the

money I had been spending on Marvel Legends, and put that toward two to three Hot Toys a year.  After much contemplation, and discussion with my wife I decided against the potential money loss of SideShow Collectibles non refundable deposits.  

At this point the thought of not collecting even crossed my mind, after all as my wife stated: "if I can't decide if I want something, do I truly want it that bad?" That's when I begin to consider Mezco One:12 collective, the main reason was the excitement and joy that my podcast co-host Jerry 'Barbecue 17' Reed seemed to be getting out of that line reminded me a lot of how I felt when I bought my first few hot toys.  This is when I decided to take the leap, and buy my first Mezco.

To be continued in Part 3!