Greatest toy regret of my life...what's yours?

[samurainoir]

I keep thinking about this box of Power of the Force 1 carded figures sitting in a cardboard box at the Pickering Flea Market in the late eighties... at fifty cents a pop they couldn't give those away and I didn't buy any because star wars was old hat by then and I wash't a toy collector as a teen... didn't even know there was such a thing.

[4NDR01D]

I've spent more money on Stretch Armstrong toys than I care to admit considering the issues I have had with them and the depreciating value of them.

[toys2cool]

I keep thinking about this box of Power of the Force 1 carded figures sitting in a cardboard box at the Pickering Flea Market in the late eighties... at fifty cents a pop they couldn't give those away and I didn't buy any because star wars was old hat by then and I wash't a toy collector as a teen... didn't even know there was such a thing.

yea I remember seeing those at 2 for $1 at KB toy stores at one point.. In fact my aunt bought a few for a baby shower give away for kids.. i remember I one a game and she told me to pick a toy and I picked the POTF trench coat Han...

[JWLJN]

Bonnie Steamboat, Ricky's ex-wife, was selling off carded LJN WWF figures that they had picked up on the road during the '80s. They were $50 each, and among them were the single carded British Bulldog figures, which are the rarest of any of the single carded tag teams (they usually came together boxed). I picked up Dynamite Kid (one of the Bulldogs) and...Miss Elizabeth. I had always wanted a carded Liz, but still...I even found another one a few years later even cheaper. And "value" wise, I won't even get into the difference, but I always say it's the value to you personally and not monetarily.

-J\/\/

[Fitski]

I know those individual Bulldog figures very well, I got them both, for xmas along with another 12 - 15 wrestlers my parents opened them all up and put them in the WWF ring so it looked like a battle royal, I had to fish the posters out of the garbage! I think of the thousands and thousands of dollars in WWF LJN series 5 black cards and Series 6 figures I opened up... in Canada we got flooded with those I got them for every birthday, easter, xmas, bribe to be a good kid etc..! The one that gets me is one of my earliest toy memories of going to Simpsons and buying my cousin a 3 pack of Empire Strikes Back figures (luke, yoda, R2D2) and giving it to him for his birthday, thinking the whole time I'm giving him way better figures than I have!

[ovenmitt]

In 1986 my hometown Super X drugstore went out of business and had 75% off including ALL Power of the Force with COINS for $1 each! Everybody including me was burned out on Star Wars so I passed. *sniff*

[The Bat]

When I first started collecting I saw a loose MINT Mego Romulan at a Star Trek Convention for $150...and I thought, ridiculous! Who would pay the much for a toy??

Today...I WOULD!!

[MegoSteve]

There are many times I wish I'd focused more on vintage rather than buying new, but that's very easy to say now when you couldn't find vintage stuff as easily as you can now.

I don't really have that many regrets. In the pre-internet, pre-"everyone takes credit cards" days; most of them involve me not having enough money. Back in those days, there wasn't an AuctionZip, so I'd scan the auction listings in the local newspaper and go to the ones that sounded good. The best one I found was a rural auction for a collection of Star Trek/sci-fi items; the collection was so big that it was spread out over two days. There were a couple of women buying everything for a fraction of the value even though I bid on everything. Toward the end of the first half (it was split into two Saturday auctions), they brought out a tray lot of Mego Trek aliens including the Romulan and the ladies finally ran out of money, but so had I. I think they sold for like $7 each.

I guess the biggest regrets I have were shooting my mouth off when I shouldn't have. Around 1988-9 when I first started collecting toys, I was talking to a friend at a local comic shop about how I found a whole bunch of bilingual carded Super Powers at a local toy liquidator (I think they were $1.99 each) and bought as many as I could, but there were still plenty left. Next time I went there, they were all gone. I found out later that someone overheard me and had run there and bought them out.

A similar situation happened around that same time... I was at another auction and it didn't look that great. I ran into a collecting acquaintance and made the mistake of telling him I was going to ditch the auction and go to an antique mall where I knew there was a boxed Batman desk set for relatively cheap. When I got there, though, the desk set was gone... that guy waited until I left the auction, then outraced me to the antique mall (which was about a 45 minute drive away) and bought it out from under me.

Both those guys were supposedly my friend, but neither hesitated to stomp on me when it came to turning a quick buck or getting something they wanted. Those formative lessons in collecting taught me to keep my mouth shut about things until I had them in hand, or only talk to people I really trust.

[Gorn Captain]

My regret is buying a collection of figures for cheap, $3 each, and selling them at $50 a piece, which was a great deal, I'll admit.
But a year later, when Ebay started, I saw they went for between $500-1500 each.
I had still made a good profit, but it could have been so much sweeter, as the collection was over 100 figures.

[4NDR01D]

My regret is buying a collection of figures for cheap, $3 each, and selling them at $50 a piece, which was a great deal, I'll admit.
But a year later, when Ebay started, I saw they went for between $500-1500 each.
I had still made a good profit, but it could have been so much sweeter, as the collection was over 100 figures.

that's a story I want to hear.

[Gorn Captain]

that's a story I want to hear.

But will you pay for my therapist afterwards?

[rykerw1701]

I had the Mike Mignola Batman Black & White statue in my hands at a comic store for $70...and passed. Decided it was ugly. A year later the thing was going for stupid money and worse I decided it was pretty cool. I'm sure there's some other stuff I've thankfully stricken from memory.

Mostly I regret the boxes and boxes of Star Trek Playmates. The 5 inch ones. The 9 inch ones, and the 12 inch ones. I thought I was selective at the time, but seeing them in my basement 20 years later, most all of which are unopened and never displayed, makes me think maybe not selective enough. And I agree with whoever said GI Joe Classic Collection. Nicely done figures, but cripes they take up a lot of room in the boxes next to the damn Playmates Star Trek. And like those, they're worth squat. I also have much more Playmates Simpsons than I want now. All three lines were great for the time, but I went overboard.

At least I pull stuff out and give to my son to play with sometimes, though he could care less about the characters. And I donate or yard sale some for pennies on the dollar once in a while.

I don't regret any of my vintage Mego or 12 inch GI Joe, though. Those are my two favorite lines to collect and I'll always enjoy having them.

I also got burned a couple of times by buddies at toy shows. We collectors can loose all perspective at times. I quit actively collecting for years once because I was so disgusted by the greed that can take over with this stuff.

[jwyblejr]

yea I remember seeing those at 2 for $1 at KB toy stores at one point.. In fact my aunt bought a few for a baby shower give away for kids.. i remember I one a game and she told me to pick a toy and I picked the POTF trench coat Han...

K-Bs also had the Tri-Logo cards cheap too. I passed on those back in the day. Another one was when Sears had ROTJ figures for around $.30. That's the problem with outgrowing being into toys as a teenager.

[Boshek]

I also have a regret with MOTU classics but mine is a little different.

Half way through last year I ran out of money and missed the second half of my subs and didn't get the figures. The same thing happened this year too; I ran out of money and am missing the figures.

Up until then I had all of the figures and even made a few custom ones. It was the main toy line I collected and put all my effort in. They are all on display in my room. It breaks my heart that I am missing out on new ones. I can't even go to heman dot org.

One day I hope to get my finances back in order to collect the ones I missed. At the top of my list is Stong Arm, Sea Hawk, Flogg ...

[Toy Timelord]

I missed out on a boxed Rom Spaceknight a couple years back for less than $80. Box wasn't mint but the figure was complete and functional.