The Great Collection Curation Support Group Thread

[Enforcer]

Today is the day. I've taken nearly 450 figures off the shelves. They are being sold tonight. Bulk. For thousands of dollars. Toy Biz and Hasbro Legends that have since been replaced by superior versions, in some cases many times over. Spider-Man and X-Men Classics that have also been updated or simply look too outdated to stand with current quality Hasbro Legends. This includes some BAFs like Blob, Galactus (which I have both a HasLab and that Marvel universe release I'm still keeping), MODOK, Mojo...

My Legends collection currently resides in 10 of those older Ikea pine display cases. Considering how many figures were taken off, you can barely tell.

My rationale is that I basically collect all of these so I could produce whatever action photo I want, given the availability of certain characters or teams. So I don't need 6 older Tiger Stripe Wolverines that have poor articulation or very dated sculpts. I now have 12 with various head an belt swaps on the modern Hasbro bodies It was nice having every single Legend, but it became a question of "why". Outside of sitting on the shelf, being sort of an eye-sore... and nostalgia of the hunt to originally buy them and excitement to own that character. At the time some were grails for me. McFarlane Spider-Man... selling. At one point this was like an impossible notion... but the Hasbro stuff now is just so much better with consistent aesthetic. I'd have no use for it outside of saying "I have that." At times I feel great about it. I love how the shelves look now. At times, I wonder if it's a huge mistake and for some reason I can't think of now I'll regret not having the ugly Rogue, Scarlet Witch or super-hips Black Cat on my shelves hidden slightly toward the back. I know I won't. But they represent over 20 years of the collection. Sure the Toy Biz stuff features unique hand-sculpted molds... and that was cool... but some of them are so laughable now.

I know this sounds like I've done something pretty profound and sensible - maybe. But, I also still have so many multiples of some figures that it's ridiculous. I got 5 Extremis Iron Men, and 2 more of the 2 pack update. I have 5 or 6 80th Caps with different head and belt configurations. Some Pizza Spideys are gone, but I have many of the Retro, RYVs and Amazing Friends still. Each represent a different era to me. Some people have a "one of each character" rule, which by comparison is so... so much saner.

So it's time. They're binned and ready.

Anyone else at a similar point in their Legends journey? Getting out? Buying more now than ever?

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Good for you. I've said it here 100 times, but I went through something similar twice. When I started collecting as a kid, I had most Toy Biz Marvel Legends and their offshoot lines. It didn't occur to me to store the duplicates so that I could have a coherent shelf display. Instead, everything was displayed together. It was like, six Spider-Men standing next to three Daredevils. I eventually came to resent my collection and sold every last figure.

Five or so years later, I started collecting again. I had a similar—though much smaller and less drastic—purge. I've been maintaining that balance ever since. Ironically, having less brings me far more joy. I hope it's the same for you.

 

[renfield75]

@Enforcer Are you going through eBay? I've mentioned this before but I'm looking to unload a lot of old figures too and eBay seems too time consuming. Curious to hear what you're doing and any updates on how successful it is. And to be clear, I'm not looking to make a ton of money, I just want to clear them out and can't bring myself to outright throw them away.

 

[PanchaMaestro]

I eBay constantly. Just chip chip chip away. Rome wasn't built in a day.