It’s been way too long since my last post! I’ve just had way too much to do lately, primarily designing CD covers for my friend in Finland. (Unfinished cover is on my flickr right now.)
Well, to the point of the post.. With my busy schedule, I’m not able to work, and I don’t have a car to work, so spending money is kind of out of the question nowadays. I’ve been meaning to order Kureha for a while now, but the price is just a little too high for me.
Being in this situation made me wonder if buying figures is really.. worth it? Don’t get me wrong, I love these figures, and would buy more if I could, but with prices so high, is it still worth spending the money? What I’m really trying to ask everyone is why they buy figures. There’s collectors out there that can afford an actual haul from time to time, but I want to know what drives average people to purchase. With that exception, we could agree that these figures just aren’t cheap.
I primarily buy these figures as artistic inspiration, and IMO they do a ton better as an anatomical display than the wooden models. Besides that, the collector side of me just wants something new to collect.
As a side note, I’m still debating whether or not I should get Kureha, despite the money issue. Is Kureha worth it enough to grab now and pay later? I’m just trying to avoid losing the chance, since she’ll probably be sold out everywhere in not that much time.
I grabbed the header from Muyaa, he’s got an awesome set of photos /review.
Also check out Danny Choo, and Happy Soda for more Kureha goodness.
Why do I collect? It’s a question I ask myself again and again, as I have been a collector(of things) my whole life. I collect these figures for much the same reason that you do: artistic inspiration. Beyond that, artistic appreciation. What some of these teams are able to achieve is astounding to me. In the end, the quality of the figure is ultimately what leads me to decide whether or not it is worthwhile.
That said, I should address the question in more broad terms. At the present time, collecting figures is a hobby I enjoy, and due to a few fortunate circumstances I am usually able to procure new figures for a nice discount on their retail price(mostly figures that see a legitimate US release). Over time I’ve bought a few, sold a few. As all things, this too will evolve. Either it will survive as few things do(love of reading, creativity, art, video games, films), or it will fade into a memory.
As a lifelong toy collector(starting with GI Joe and Transformers), Japanese PVC figures bring the same joy now(just picked up three new BOMES- WOW!) that Iron Grenadier Destro brought when I was a kid. Who knows what’s next?
Wow, that was long-winded.
mmhh why do I collect figures… good question ^^;
All started because of a nice resin figure of Cloud (FFVII) riding his Daytona motobike. I definitely wanted it to display in my room. Then I became more and more interrested in the domain, and purchased figures of characters I know and like…
but now it is just to decorate more and more with awesome anime figures ^^
Though, I’m starting to make more and more choice, cancelling a lot of preorder. As you said, those figures are expensive, much more expensive than when I started collecting them by the way.
Back to Kureha, she really is a perfect figure, with beautiful paintjob, nice props and amazingly gorgeous long legs hehe. If you still use figures as artistic inspiration, this one would be perfect :)
@11Zombies – I understand you completely. I’ve always loved collecting things since I was a kid, but never really stuck with anything because I was too immature. Now that I’m a little bit older, I can appreciate things more, like paint application or sculpt.
@lu-k – I’ve been wanting to collect more and more, I guess I’ll have to just suck it up and fork out the cash for Kureha as well. I want to decorate too, but it’s getting hot in the house so I put my figures back in their boxes. ^^;
Why do i collect?
I dunno. Probably got poisoned by other collectors esp. nice photo shots. Originally I collected gashapons, then moved to trading figures, ane now ended scaled figures. Since I dont have other motives besides liking the details and character itself, I limit myself to collect only from certain series and line-ups. Yeah, lately theres a hike in 1/8 figure prices too. Kind of scary to me, especially when i have yet to own a house ;__;
You know, I don’t collect figures, but Kureha is one figure I would love to have, sorry but she is amazing! But even if I did get her I wouldnt want any more unless they were in the same category of class as Kureha.
Sarg
Coming at you via Danny Choo.