Do you buy action figures based on if it's a character you like, brand loyalty/team building, or if it looks cool?
Character is key, but I try to pair it with a company I at least trust to a degree. I sometimes see something that just looks very cool and also cave in even if I don't know anything about the company or property.At my worst I was buying anything that would give me even the tiniest amount of nostalgia, but that's a dangerous road that can turn you into a hoarder fast.These days I try to stay away from a completionist mindset, be it property or line and I try to limit myself to figures I know I would most probably really like, and not something I'm gonna take out of it's box say "neat" and then put them on display.
>>11042093>Do you buy action figures based on if it's a character you like, brand loyalty/team building, or if it looks cool?honestly I'm not really able to do this. the industry is so concentrated around a few IP that I don't have the option to biased towards any of my favorites.
>>11042093Only if it's a character I really like. I tried collecting the other way and you run out of space REAL fast.
I only buy characters I like. I buy sofubi too though.
>>11042093I largely just buy favourite characters, but also a few ones that look cool or scratch an itch I have for a particular archetype. I pose everything together with no brands in particular being favoured so they’re all mixed together.I can no longer to buy everything I think looks cool, it was way easier a decade ago.
Does the character have to have a specific design? Like does it have to be 100% canon?Found some great concept art of Gambit + MGS. It won't probably ever happen but Gambit as some sort of Big Boss villain would be amazing.
>>11042093im really open to new characters and series if they have good figures. I really like the shy figuarts and watched the show after buying them. theres a few times where i hate the show or series, but most of the time i really like it. My biggest error was buying jujutsu kaisen figuarts, because i thought the show would be alot better than it actually was. the figures are also really boring. basically just hoodie people in sweat pants.
>>11042497Looks like shitty ai slop.
>>11042093>character you likeI'd say 70-80% of my figures are from a series I care about. The rest are just cool looking.Vanillaware and Kemono Friends are the properties that will get me to buy something I might normally not.>team buildingI like to have sets. Like, I'm not going to not get all the characters from the show.>brand loyaltyThe only brand I'd call myself "brand loyal" to is Parfom and that line is dead.Real bummer that the Senran ones weren't their default costumes. My only complaint about that line.
>>11042093desu after youve bought a character from every franchse you care about, you realize how much you dont care about that franchise. I like spiderman, but i really dont need every spiderman side character. now i dont even buy the villains. i just buy the main spiderman, and im done with the wave. just buy cool toys. ive been buying snail shell recently, and they dont even have a franchise. they just look better than every other figure for 50$. cant wait for my bunny girl preorder. so unique, and not like anything figma or figuarts would give us.
>>11042965I like the JJK line, the simple designs make them quite easily poseable and they’re pretty solid and nice feeling, I usually grab one if I wanna just mindlessly play with something. I wouldn’t pay those aftermarket prices though.For Shy, those thigh mold lines really made me hesitate on picking her up. I might get Pepesha.
>>11042093I buy characters I like or that are at least from a series I enjoy. I used to be more prone to buying figures just because they looked cool, but when it came time to make some shelf space those were the first ones I ended up getting rid of because I had no emotional attachment to them. That said, often a good looking figure tempts me into checking out the source material which can lead me to buying it. Don't really care about brand loyalty beyond sticking to 1/12-1/10 lines in general.
>>11042497There's pretty much nothing in there that says Gambit. He doesn't even have his stick.
>>11042967The garbled ‘text’ at the bottom kinda confirms it.
Within the type of (admittedly self-imposed) limits I set for myself, I stick to one 'brand loyalty' (the exception being one particular movie of a franchise and one character of another franchise, mostly because I also limited myself to a very VERY limited set of purchases there).And within what I buy, how it looks is also important to me. For example, if my Hall Pass franchise was Doctor Who, even though it's an iconic design, Daleks are just honestly just canon fodder; similarly the Cyberman. So my hall pass would be something a little more distinct, say humanoid Time Lord characters -- assuming they actually have a really good (attractive plus well-made, able to articulate well) figure, not just that they have a cool actor or a cool look.For the main stuff I do buy, it's definitely also brand loyalty, but not in a team building way. There are some MC in that brand that I am not interested in, but that is as much a function of my interest in the actual brand (e.g. if it was Star Wars, GI Joe, or DBZ, how I feel about the character(s) in the underlying fandom.) And yes, it's a fandom with a deep base (like SW, Star Trek, or Pokemon).
collecting all the gi joe classifieds. skipping some that look cringe to me/dont fit with the rest i own. like the newest Alpine is a skip. he looks like a really cool figure, he just doesnt match my ensemble.other military-style toys are indie import only and quadruple the cost, and they'll do things like 1 soldier from 1 country and then move on, so you cant make a huge roster. thats the only reason im loyal to classified. i'd be open to do any company, but hasbro has a monopoly on military as far as im concerned.
>>11042093Character > Looks Cool > BrandI get characters I like, but do sometimes get stuff just because it looks cool. While it's not exactly "brand loyalty," I do gravitate towards Figma because they're so easy to kit bash and do custom shit with.
>>11045828me again.i want to add that i do not want repeats under almost any circumstances. so doing something like buying 19 Superman figures is just never going to happen for me. never.variety and consistency is the appeal of GI JOES to me. variety, theyre all very different looking dudes. consistency, they're all the same height and compatible accessories and similar paints and molds.
>>11042093Generally, I only buy an action figure if it's from a source material I enjoy. I have occasionally purchased toys from stuff I'm unfamiliar with, but only because they can work as generic grunts or stuff like that. Like I got a few of the Fortnite playing card dude because they could work as Joker henchmen. As for things like team building, if I'm building a team, it's because I like all the characters on that team. I don't understand the people that shit on team builders by saying they're buying characters they don't care about just to complete a team. Like isn't the reason I like the team because of the members? It's a really weird cope for people who can't afford to finish off teams I think. Brand loyalty is also stupid. I'm just going to buy a figure of I like it. I'm not going to buy a McFsrlane or Revoltech figure I normally wouldn't just "to support the line". I see that posted in the Jada threads and I baffles me. Why buy shit you don't want? The faceless corporation doesn't care if you buy the toy or not. It's really weird to me.
>>11045896Not even if it's a Superman in a totally different costume/scale/style? Maybe Spiderman or Batman is a better example there.
>>11042211Feel the exact same way anon. I rarely experience that consumer mentality of buying merch from a show I like because they rarely make merch from shows I like.>>11042980OC character figures are always the best. Good art concepts and not being tied to any franchise or plot makes them better at laser targeting certain archetypes and themes. It transcends how fickle and temporary being a fan of a franchise often is.
>>11046160Yeh, but you run out of space fast if you collect like that because you have no limits.
>>11042093Yes.
>>11046285Thats going to be an issue whether you collect merch from shows or buy figures only based on looks. The worst hoarders are definitely those completionists obsessed with western toylines like Star Wars, Marvel or Transformers. You need to have limits regardless of how you collect your figures. Not being obsessed with every flavor of month slop show is a good start for franchise merch buyers. Sticking only to specific themes is a good start if you buy based on looks.Both types of collectors would also benefit from having high standards and being picky in general. Buy a superior import whenever possible, try to pick the definitive version of a character so you dont buy multiples, avoid impulse buying and shills and avoid shitty figures no matter how appealing like the Shf Berserk figures etc
I don't buy a single thing that's from a licensed IP or some gayass "collab". If it's not an original idea from the manufacturer then it's automatically dismissed. Seeing "franchise", "series", and "_ x _" makes my blood boil
>>11042093First consideration should always be whether it's a good toy. Character and aesthetic are of course important, but you don't want to let yourself feel that you have to buy a sucky toy just because it's all that character has. Spare yourself the trouble. I was just looking at Taki art thinking it would be cool if she had a toy, but the Storm Collectibles figure sitting ten inches away on my desk is so mediocre that I forgot its existence.
>>11042093they ought to make action figures that incorporates modelling clay/playdough into the designlike the bio-skin regenerator terminatorhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVrZEh6YNs
>>11052322Countless toylines experimented with this.Long story short, if you're catering to adult collectors then you need to use materials that hold up over long periods of time.
>>11042093IP for me. I'm a completionist and currently have about 10-20 i stick with. Occasionally new ones are added, like YYH with the SHF yusuke or if they ever made a Fairytail line.I like a display to be deep, so unless there is a big risk of scalper prices for lesser series I'll let a line get 4-5 deep before jumping on the bandwagon.I'm also an autist for scale and chronology, so I like to buy and display the characters in order of appearance and I as long as they look good together I don't mind mixing lines.
I would never buy a figure from a franchise I don't like. I don't want to misrepresent my interests.That's why I have zero Elden Ring merch but tons of Dark Souls stuff because Elden Ring is shit.
>>11052353Gamers buy toys?
>>11052353>I don't want to misrepresent my interests.That's rather insecure. I dislike the Mutant Mayhem movie but I have some of the toys of characters I really like.
>>11042497That's honestly the coolest Gambit rendition I've seen, but they should've integrated the eye mask into his normal cowl
