Every collector has gone through that defining moment. You know it well – that moment you realize you’ve been sucked into a line and there’s no turning back.
For me, it was Hot Toys. It started innocently enough. Hot Toys released an amazing dual pack of Luke Skywalker based on his Bespin duel with Darth Vader from Empire Strikes Back. That’s my favorite movie, so I figured why not treat myself?
Sure, it was way more expensive than anything else I’d ever even considered buying, but you only live once, right? Besides, Hot Toys didn’t give any indication it would be going deep with the Star Wars license anyway. This was a one-off figure I could set up as the centerpiece of my 12-inch Star Wars collection. And then I got the figure. Uh-oh. In the immortal words of one L. Skywalker, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
This was the perfect Luke Skywalker I never even dreamed possible. The paint job! The expression! The likeness! The rotating eyes? Yes, even that. Suddenly every other Luke Skywalker figure I ever owned became ridiculously inferior. But hey, Hot Toys wasn’t doing a whole lot with the Star Wars license, so I was safe – for a moment.
Marvel’s The Avengers completely shattered and exceeded my expectations for a comic book blockbuster. And uh-oh, Hot Toys announced it was making a line based on the film. Common sense isn’t always in the largest supply for us collectors, but I managed to have the teeniest, tiniest bit of restraint and held out . . . for a while.
But in a rare moment where I was flush with cash — the bills were mostly paid off and financial responsibilities were few – I got the bright idea of buying the Avengers Iron Man. All those feelings I hadn’t experienced since the deluxe Luke? They came roaring back and then some. Die-cast parts, superior paint, and light-up features??? This wasn’t an action figure, it was a tiny work of art and it was all mine (cue Smeagol).
And despite what some folks would say, there’s more to the Avengers than just Iron Man, so I had to grab Black Widow (another home run with rooted hair!), Thor, Nick Fury, Loki, Agent Coulson, and the Hulk (the most massive figure I might ever own). I’d gotten sucked in and didn’t even realize it.
I got in too late to the line to get Captain America and Hawkeye at anything resembling a decent price. Hawkeye was routinely going for in excess of $500 on eBay and Cap wasn’t too far behind. So naturally that meant I absolutely had to get the Age of Ultron versions of Cap and Hawkeye. In the twisted bit of collecting irony, not long after I got both figures, I stumbled across the first Avengers film versions of Cap and Hawkeye for very close to original price.
Two mismatched Avengers would look silly on their own, so clearly Black Widow was necessary, and a sleeveless Thor made sense too. Oh and why not get War Machine as well? The dilemma then comes thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s busy release schedule. Since I haven’t suddenly inherited a billion dollars, getting every Hot Toys figure just isn’t feasible. Now it requires a lot of strategy.
So while I really dug both armors Iron Man wore in Age of Ultron, I held off on ordering either one until his Captain America: Civil War armor was revealed. And I’m glad I held out. It looks crazy amazing. 
Ditto for delaying on grabbing The Winter Soldier version of Falcon since the Ant-Man/Civil War attire is much more colorful. At times that strategy backfires. As nice as the John Romita/Alex Ross-influenced Spider-Man costume looks in Civil War, I probably should have just ordered that Amazing Spider-Man 2 figure since it looked like the perfect comic book version. And while it’s a nice outfit, I really wish I’d held out on the Civil War Hawkeye figure instead of getting the Age of Ultron version.
That’s probably why I haven’t grabbed any of the Force Awakens figures yet. While I loved the movie, I can’t help but wonder if the Episode VIII versions of the characters won’t be more my preference, just like Empire Strikes Back costumes compared to A New Hope. So of course I have most of the Hot Toys Star Wars: A New Hope figures. Some habits are just a little too hard to break.